The Natural History Society

content himself with imposing fines on some fifty of the burghers and removing the Sheriff, John Marshall, from his office. Retribution for this ghastly massacre, which sent a thrill of horror throughout European Jewry and erased the name of York from the list of Jewish communities in England for years to come, was singularly mild and ineffective. All the culprits escaped with their lives and, indeed, with their booty. Shortly afterwards the precious treasures plundered from the Jews' houses of York were disposed of in the markets of Cologne and other German towns.

But one important reform resulted. The effective cancellation of the Jews' bonds by the bonfire in York Minster hit the royal pocket. Sooner or later considerable pickings from the monies involved would have found their way into the King's Treasury. Accordingly a special Exchequer of the Jews was instituted to supervise all financial transactions between Jew and Gentile. All bonds were to be drawn up in duplicate and one copy deposited with the royal officer. This meant in effect that a record was kept of all loans on security, since usury was forbidden by the Church, and the Jews were the only moneylenders. From this time, whatever misfortunes might befall the geese themselves, their golden eggs were preserved intact.

Fortunately such outbreaks of anti-Semitism are rare in our history. Indeed less than a century after the York outrage the Jews were expelled from the kingdom altogether by Edward I. The Italian bankers, and later the goldsmiths, financed England's enterprise. When, in the reign of Charles II, they were officially permitted to return, the country's economy had developed without their aid, and no festering, incurable sore such as disfigures most continental countries developed upon our body politic. The legislation of the 19th century has given the Jews every freedom and opened every avenue to his undoubted genius. It is a far cry from the high honours which have been earned by distinguished representatives of the race in our day to the barbarous persecution of the middle ages, exemplified, in fiction by Isaac, the Jew of York, in "Ivanhoe", and in fact by the dreadful tragedy of Clifford's Tower.

L.B.

The Society started the term with the usual open meeting to elect the officers. J. R. Bird was elected Secretary and the names of some 60 members were recorded.

In an attempt to make the members of the Society run the activities themselves, no lectures from outside the School were arranged. This unfortunately caused a falling off of interest but in the result by the end of the term only those members who were genuinely interested in Natural History attended the meetings. 38