摘要:

THE many recommendations submitted to and passed by the delegates of the recent Imperial Agricultural Research C ce have a familiar ring. In substance are almost identical with those endorse e delegates ,c4 fe Colonial Office Confere ce h d eafti f! yIar, and in principle they do not di er m those which were submitted to the Imperi onference of 19 6 by the Research Sub-Committee over wh' Lo d Balfour presided, or those contain d 4he R of the Imperial Agricultural Re ear h Co ttee which was published this year Unfortunately, this Conference, like those which preceded it, has not been able to base its recommendations upon an assured income guaranteed by the Imperial Parliament or the beneficiary governments of the Empire. It has not even been definitely promised that necessary financial provision will be made for any part of the programme of activities outlined in the recommendations. The Conference had to be content with vague hints that support for various schemes of scientific research and technical development would be forthcoming from the Empire Marketing Board, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and other bodies with public funds at their disposal, and the expressed hope that Dominions and other overseas governments might be found willing to contribute to a central fund. The sub-committee of the Conference which dealt with Recruitment and Training' emphasised the need for the" immediate reinforcement of activity" to attract candidates of the highest class for the colonial agricultural service and to equip them with the best possible training. They are to be attracted by the "immediate betterment of emoluments, facilities for work, and superannuation arrangements.""The inducement in the form of scholarships of any kind" must be considered "wise and fair only if the service be made to pro. vide really good careers." This sub-committee realised that persons with a d:istinctflair for research must be offered special inducements to take up duties in comparative isolation in any of the existing or proposed links in the chain of the overseas research stations. Yet in introducing the report on Research Stations' Major Walter Elliot suggested that £20,000 per annum was "the sort of figure which one could have in mind in considering the setting up of a station" for the running of which "something like 10 highly qualified men will be necessary as the superior staff."It is difficult to see how really good careers are to be provided out of this estimated annual cost of running a research station, which is to include the salaries of the staff (superior and minor), equipment and materials, and presumably, travel- ling expenses a eonsider&1e item. It is not without significance that this estimate passed unchallenged by any member of the Conference. Of even greater significance, perhaps, is the fact that throughout the Conference no authoritative and definite statement was made as to what scale of salary was regarded as synonymous with a really attractive career. Undoubtedly there are other important considerations to be taken into account. The intrinsic interest of the work, the facilities offered for and the degree of freedom in research, the scope given for trying-out large scale experiments, will directly influence the choice of a research worker for a particular institution. But these are the considerations which weigh with those who have already specialised in a particular branch of science. Those which usually carry most weight with headmasters who are advising boys on their choice of subjects at the universities are the material rewards offered by the careers associated with their university studies. However deplorable it may be that very few facilities exist in our boys' schools for biological training, the fact has to be faced that there is little demand from parents for such facilities, the absence of the demand being determined by the present comparative material unattractiveness of biology as a career. Once it is realised by parents and head- masters that not only are trained biologists essential for the development of certain branches of industry, but also that governments and leaders of industry are sufficiently appreciative of the need for such services to offer substantial inducements to those who can provide them, some training in biology will be provided in the schools. This Conference was given every facility for putting the claims of scientific research before the Empire. Those responsible for the press arrangements did their work most efficiently; it is the members of the Conference who are to blame for not making better use of their opportunities for publicity, the quickest and surest way of stirring the imagination of the public. From beginning to end of the Conference no speech was delivered which dealt arrestingly with the problem of agricultural research as a whole, which attempted to place before the public even a rough estimate of the annual cost to the Empire of the neglect of research, or of the annual yields to the Empire of certain specific results obtained in agriculture through the application of research.For example, no reference was made to the triumphs of Clouston and Howard in India in connexion with crop production, the amazing rapidity with which application followed research: no estimate was given of the value of the work of Theiler in stamping out the rinderpest in South Africa: the public was provided with no accurate information regarding the additional area placed under cultivation in the Empire as the direct results of experiments in plant aeclimatisation and adaptation to soil conditions. Similarly, none of the arresting and illuminating statistics were given of the losses sustained by agriculturists through the ravages of insect pests, fungi, unsound irrigation and faulty drainage, or those due to unscientific storage, packing, and transport. Diseases afflicting domestic stock in various parts of the Empire were mentioned, but no emphasis was laid upon the financial aspects of animal disease, or the disastrous effects of cattle epidemics on the social life of the primitive peoples for whose welfare we have assumed responsibility. Again, no clear picture was drawn of the fallow but potentially crop-producing area in the Empire, the possibilities of British tropical and sub-tropical Africa as the greatest cotton-producing area in the world, of the future capacity of Canada and Australia for wheat cultivation, or of New Zealand's exceptional advantages for cattle-raising. More serious still was the omission of detailed statistics regarding the cost to the various governments represented at the Conference of those departments dealing with the inspection and cure of ailing plants and animals. This cost was not compared with the sums made available for applied research, although it appeared to be realised that the results likely to accrue from research are incalculably greater than those from the application of empirical specifics. None of the parliamentarians present took the opportunity of bringing to the notice of the delegates or the country the sums allocated to agricultural research by the United States or by Holland.It may be urged that information on these several points was already in possession of the delegates. Even if this were true and it certainly is not advantage should have been taken of a favourable occasion to place such information before that larger public which is still indifferent through ignorance to the claims of scientific research for more generous treatment. Since it was not, we can only commend to the attention of the Empire Marketing Board the possibility of bringing some at least of this information before the public through the medium of posters. The work of Lawes and Gilbert, although the beneficence of its scope is not confined to the British Empire, places them on at least an equal footing as Empire builders with the statesmen, soldiers, and sailors whose portraits adorn our hoardings. It may be a vain assumption, but we incline to the opinion that were the facts regarding the beneficial effects of research on agriculture and, industry in general better nown, the' public would not merely acquiesce but demand greater provision for expendi/ ture under this head.From many points of view, however, this Conference was a success. It brought together experts and those responsible for the administration of the agricultural services from the overseas parts of the Empire to co-operate with those who bear like responsibilities at home. Not only the overseas delegates, but also many of the home delegates, were granted exceptional facilities for making themselves acquainted at first, hand with the work of the staffs at most of the important research institutions bearing on agriculture in Britain. The series of reports resulting from their joint. labours are invaluable contributions to the cause of agricultural research. The principles enunciated in the report on Recruitment and Training" are unehallengeably sound. The only pity is that no appendix was attached with information regarding existing methods of appointment and conditions of service in the various home and overseas departments of agriculture and research institutions, together with an estimate of the number of vacancies likely to occur within say the next five years. In the report on "Tropical and Sub-Tropical Research Stations," the opinion is expressed that "the control of a station should be so vested as to ensure that the work of the institution should not be diverted from a programme of free research" and that such research should be of "long range" and "wide range" character, serving the needs of several territories, reinforcing but neither impairing nor replacing the scientific work properly undertaken by the agricultural department of ahy government in its vicinity.. In addition to the existing stations, namely, the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad, and the Amani Institute, Tanganyika lately resuscitated the provision of five new research stations is indicated. The Australian Commonwealth Government already has a definite plan for the establishment of a station to deal chiefly with animal husbandry, nutrition and pathology, and other stapis are contemplated in Ceylon, the FMerated Malay States, and an additional centre in East , Africa for animal diseases research, although the rOp'ort indicates that the South African Animal Researh Stat4i at Oudersteport must have first consideration as the primary centre for such work. This particular report concludes with a recommendation for the establish- ment of a central research station to investigate the subject of irrigation, including its engineering, agricultural, chemical, and physical aspects.The third report on administrative matters deaLs with the establishment and development of effective clearing-houses for the interchange of information of value to research workers in agricultural science throughout the Empire. The committee recommended and the Conference agreed to the establishment of three bureaux, a Bureau of Soil Science attached to the Rothamsted Experimental Station, a Bureau of Animal Nutrition attached to the Rowett Institute, and a Bureau of Animal Pathology in London. In addition, it:is proposed to set up correspondence stations, for animal genetics at Edinburgh, for agricultural parasitology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, for plant genetics at Cambridge and Aberystwyth, and for fruit production at the East Malling Research Station. It is estimated that the three bureaux will cost £13,000 per annum, and the four correspondence centres £7000 per annum. These last recommendations stirred Sir Daniel Hall to the observation, "I grudge every penny of research money which is diverted to the administrator, to the editor, to the indexer, and people of that type. . . . £20,000 a year represents an estimated cost on an Empire Research Station of the first order." His objection was overruled, both by administrators and research workers. But the' principle underlying his objection is sound. It is not more administrators of research that are wanted, but more research workers, and although the sum of money involved may seem an insignificant item of expenditure spread over the budgets of the Empire governments, it assumes significant proportions in relation to the expenditure of these governments on true agricultural research. We can only suggest that the research workers themselves give their serious attention to the diversion of their energies on matters of administrative routine having little bearing on high policy, and be ready to present a working plan of their own for the interrelation of their activities to the next Conference, which is to assemble in Australia in five years' ti

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120905a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

THE new edition of Prof. Stewart's account of recent advances in organic chemistry conveys an immediate impression of the immense current activity in this field, since the author has now found it necessary to expand the work from one volume to two. The rising tide of research papers in chemistry, and particularly in organic chemistry, has, indeed, become something of an embarrassment during the last few years. Despite the introduction of a rigorous scrutiny of contributions, the publication committees of chemical periodicals find difficulty in compressing the material submitted within reasonable limits; librarians are becoming concerned at the increasing demands which are being made upon their housing accommodation; and last, but not least, individual members of chemical societies view with pardonable disquietude their unenviable duty of making pecuniary provision for the printing of a vast output of literature, which for the most part is so highly specialised as to carry little general appeal. Notwithstanding this state of affairs, few chemists will welcome the recent suggestion to observe a ten years' armistice in research. Moreover, although many may be able to accept in its literal sense Prof. Stewart's opinion that if seventy per cent. of the known organic compounds had never been synthesised, we should not miss them, few will regard the task of preparing them as a work of supererogation. Cannot that somewhat pathetic array of still-born organic compounds' the epitaphs of which, according to our author, are inscribed in Beilstein's truly monumental "Handbueh be regarded more hopefully as byproducts in the acquirement of experience in research Formerly, it was lamented that so little chemical research was being conducted in Great Britain. During the last few years, however, there has been a growing demand in the British chemical industry for chemists with a postgraduate experience of research; and this demand is being fulfilled, Whether suitable candidates for such appointments have gained the Ph.D. degree or not, it may be admitted that each one of them in a sense "represents so many new compounds," and thus contributes to the enormous flood of synthetic material " for which Prof. Stewart holds the German university and factory system ultimately responsible. Granted that a supply of properly qualified candidates for industrial posts has been achieved at the cost of several thousands of new but relatively unimportant compounds, we shall scarcely hesitate to pay in full this price of admiralty, although we may regret the necessity of supplementing it by some £125 for the new 18-volume edition of the monumental Beilstein. After all, it falls only to a Lavoisier to achieve originality in chemical science, and yet to discover "no new body, no new property, no natural phenomenon previously unknown."A work of the nature and scope of Prof. Stewart's book must inevitably raise many interesting problems concerning teaching and investigation in organic chemistry at the present time. One of the most important of these considerations is the trend of contemporary research. It is striking that the old lament over the neglect of organic chemical research should have been succeeded within the space of a few years by a growing criticism of the alleged tendency towards over-indulgence in formal and comparatively barren investigations, which, in Prof. Stewart's words, do not "lead to a fresh avatar of the subj ect." This state of affairs is attributed in part by Prof. Stewart to a transference of the more original minds from organic chemistry, which, on the theoretical side, "is apparently resting on a dead centre of perfection," to the more mobile and spectacular fields of inorganic chemistry and radioactivity. Is it not due also in part to the nature of the Ph.D. system, which accounts largely, although by no means wholly, for the greatly increased output of research in recent years ? The Ph.D. degree is granted for organised research under supervision, and is the hall-mark of the potential rather than the mature research worker. The provision of appropriate subjects for research, which shall yield results suitable for publication withih a limited time, is often a matter of considerable difficulty; and there is little doubt that much of the formal work appearing in the current journals is an outeome of conditions which often compel an aspiring junior investigator to play for safety. Adjudicators of Ph.D. theses would do well to consider to what extent a bold conception, backed by competent practical work, may be allowed to weigh against a succession of negative results: a sympathetic handling of such cases would do much to lessen the formality of iesearch work conducted under the agis of the Ph.D. system.Prof. Stewart does not despair of the future of Qrganic chemistry. Like many of his contemporaries, he foresees the acquirement of renewed inspiration and vigour from a return to the study of compounds produced by natural methods in plants and animals. There is, indeed, much to be said in favour of an increasing diversion of the activities of organic chemists to investigations dealing with. the manifold chemical problems pre; sented by living matter. For example, nine-tenths at least of our laboratory reactions lie outside the temperature- limits under which the plants and the animals exist, yet plants and animals succeed in producing quite considerable yields of certain, materials which we can obtain in the laboratory only with some difficulty. It seems not impossible that a study 9f reactions which can take place at ordinary tern peratures and in the absence of violent reagents, might open up an entirely fresh line of development in organic chemistry. Our increased modern knowledge of catalysts and their action makes this field much more promising than it once was; and' the possibIlities involved in the use of colloidal reagents need only be mentioned in order to suggest lines of investigation which could hardly prove unfruitful. There is one obvious advantage which would be conferred by a return to Nature such as is here suggested. Research of this kind would clearly centre round the very simplest of our known reactions the addition or removal of the elements of water: for these two processes evidently play a prominent if not a predominant part in the natural syntheses. Thus some incentive would be given tO a study of the mechanism of our simplest chemical changes, a subject which would certainly repay a good deal of investigation."it s nowadays a generally accepted dictum that vitality in teaching is dependent upon a correlated appreciation of contemporary research. In organic chemistry, the delicate equilibrium which exists between teaching and research has been disturbed in recent years by several influences, and not least by the remarkable growth of the subject. It is no longer possible to offer a fairly complete conspectus of this branch of chemistry t the advanced student'. Excessive teaching, like excessive formalism in research, inculcates the spirit of - Beilstein and represses that inborn spirit of adventure which is as essential in the scientific investigator - as "in the Arctic explorer: Wherefore, the rise teacher selects certain fields of work for special treatment, fixes a judicious limit- tn the number of his lectures and to the amount of infbrnation which he strives to impart, and gives discreet indications of subjects suitable br independent readiog and study. Such a teacher will approve of the plan of Prof. Stewart's work, the general character of which will already be familiar to him.The first volume of the new edition contains a treatment, designed for third-year students, of' a series of themes which the author regards as a convenient basis for discussing the recent investigations presented fri the second volume. These themes are not necessarily concerned with recent work; for example, the development of the chemistry of the menthones and other monocyclic camphors has not been traced much beyond 1907. The second volume, to which the title is more particularly applicable, will be appreciated by honours students and researchworkers who seek compact and up - to - date accounts of carbohydrates, sesquiterpenes, alkaloids, anthocyanins, chlorophyll. depsides, organo-alkali compounds, abnormal valency, theories of the natural syn theses of vital products, and applications of electronics to organic chemistry. The selection of themes for a work of this kind must obviously be determined to a large extent by the particular interests and predilections of the writer the general tenor of the author's introductory remarks, however, would seem to call, inter alia, for a consideration of recent work on hormonesand on the application of catalytic methods in the production of simple organic compounds. The fruitful field of modern organic cheituistry has been harvested by a multitude Of labourers; muh of the grain necessarily remains in their, but upon his thrashing-floor of 769 pages PrQf. Stewart has rendered yeoman service in purging a good deal of it from the superabundant chaff.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120908a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

BEFORE we can explain the origin and life cycle of a tropical cyclone, it is essential that we should have accurate pictures of the air motion at all levels throughout the storm. Dr. I. M. Cline, of the U.S.A. Weather Bureau, endeavours in th work before us to give such a picture for all tropical cyclones' that have moved in over the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic regions during the twenty-five' years 1900-24. Th number of observing stations falling within the storm area was always small, but, with hourly readings' of'the ordinary meteorological instruments' available, each was made to furnish the equivalent of a number of simultaneous scattered observations, by plotting the hourly readings on a single diagram of the cyclone divided into four quadrants. These quadrants were fixed with reference to the instant- aneous movement of the cyclone and not according to the points of the compass: thus the two front quadrants lay on either side of the line of instantaneous motion and were separated from the rear quadrants by a line drawn perpendicular to the line of instantaneous motion. With such an arrangement the observations from each station when plotted form a chain running across two or even three quadrants of the cyclone.The distribution of surface winds, of upper winds deduced from the motion of clouds, and of rainfall, was obtained with a reasonable amount of detail for sixteen storms; and the diagrams, constructed in the manner just described, themselves suggested an appropriate grouping as follows: I. Large cyclones (diameter more than 450 miles) that continued to advance after moving inland.IT. Small cyclones (diameter 300-450 miles) that continued to advance after moving inland. III. Small cyclones which did not continue to advance after moving inland.The observations from all the cyclones in each of these groups were plotted as though they had been made in a single storm. In this way three composite cyclones, representative of the three groups, were sketched in great detail, Justification for the method adopted for plotting the hourly observations was then apparent, for where the chains of observations for two different cyclones crossed, the wind directions nearly always agreed well. It seems scarcely possible to improve upon this method of making the most of a limited number of observing stations, and no other part of the world liable to tropical cyclones can at present supply a closer network of well-equipped observing stations near sea-level. The value of the work is greatly enhanced by the publication in full of all the hourly observations. We may now consider the diagram representing the winds and rainfall in cyclones of Class I. The wind system here depicted differs greatly from the symmetrical whirl around the small central eye of light winds and lowest barometric pressure that one is led to expect from general descriptions of the tropical cyclone. It is only in the two left%and quadrants, where on the average the winds outside the eye are least strong, that such motion is found: a large part of the front right quadrant contains winds flowing in towards the centre, while in the right rear quadrant the motion is almost entirely parallel to the direction of motion of the centre. A considerable amount of con- vergence results from these last two currents, a little in advance of the line separating the two quadrants, and the distribution of hourly rainfall shows a maximum hereabouts, with a general absence of rain in both rear quadrants. It appears as though the right rear quadrant contains a current of air which, ascending and turning to the left, condenses its moisture so as to supply most of the rainfall in the cyclone.In the case of the small travelling cyclones (Class II.) the above general description applies equally well: the similarity between the wind systems and the position of the region of maximum rainfall is striking and suggests that the observational material used has been sufficiently accurate and abundant to reveal for the first time essential features of tropical cyclones at least of those passing through this region along normal paths. Turning now to cyclones of Class III., that is to say, those which failed to pass on inland, the distinctive features of the winds in the two right-hand quadrants are no longer evident, and the cyclone as a whole has much more the character of a circular eddy. At the same time the precipitation is no longer jocalised, the amount in the rear half being at least equal to that which occurs in the front half. These storms were found to die out before long, or to move away as very weak, ill- defined disturbances. The winds considered so far have been those observed at the surface, and those deduced from the motion of clouds of low and moderate elevation; the convergence between the winds in the right sectors that is so marked at the surface appears to diminish at higher levels, a fact which is in accordance with the suggestion made above that the winds that enter the right rear sector and supply the bulk of the precipitation turn to the left as they ascend above the opposing barrier of the winds of the right front sector, The wind at the height of the cirrus clouds (about six miles), so far as may be judged from the scanty observations of the motion of these clouds available, has little or no relationship with the winds in the lower layers, and shows little regularity. It appears that the direction of motion is often about the same as that of the cyclonic centre in the large travelling cyclones, whereas in the smaller travelling storms it is generally across the cyclone from left to right. For those cyclones which ceased to advance, left to right movements also predominated; the number of cases where the motion had a corn- ponent opposite to that of the centre was greater than for the other two classes of cyclone.There is little to add to the above summary, which includes the most striking features of the storms revealed by this new method of analysis. It must be remembered that the results obtained do not necessarily apply to the cyclones of other tropical regions, or to the earlier stages of the same storms. It may be assumed that those con-sidered here had nearly all been in existence for several days; they were as a rule approaching the time of their recurve out of the tropical belt of easterly winds into the westerly winds of temperate latitudes. One would like very much to know the origin of the air that enters the system through the right rear quadrant, but since this would normally arrive from some point between east and south, i.e. from the open sea, the construction of trajectories can scarcely be possible, owing to paucity of observations. The author was unable to find in the surface temperature records any traces of discontinuity between the converging wind currents, but since both supplies of air must generally have been over warm ocean for many days, this does not prove that they were not in reality of widely different origin when traced sufficiently far back. In conclusion, it may be said that although an explanation is still wanting of the precise mode of origin of tropical cyclones, a notable step forward has been made. Dr. Cline is to be congratulated on having produced a collection of facts which must prove indispensable to anyone seeking to provide such an explanation.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120909a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

THIS is a small book, but an important contribution to the study of mental imagery in general, nd in particular of that kind of imagery which is experienced in the hypnagogie state. Many people, just before falling asleep, or waking fully from sleep, pass through a stage in which they have visual (and sometimes other) imagery of a very striking kind. The fact has been known and reported upon in psychological literature for something more than a ceniury; but the interesting problems to which it gives rise have for the most part been cursorily and not very satisfactorily dealt with. Dr. Leroy limits himself to a psych logical treatment of his subject, and puts his book before the public as a contribution to the psycho- logy of hallucinations and dreams. For the physiological and pathological aspects of hypnagogic imagery he believes that methodical experimental work is still greatly needed; but in the present investigation he relies mainly upon his own experiences and those of persons whose sincerity he is able personally to guarantee. In a very careful and detailed description of hypnagogic visions,' for which he has drawn upon the available literature as well as cited number of original accounts, Dr. Leroy passes in review and compares with them after-images, phosphenes, entoptic glow (Jii'genlicht), and the like. He then turns, in a second chapter, to an examination of the conditions of emergence of these images. This chapter is closely reasoned and particularly well documented. It leads to the important conclusions that such images are frequently hindrances to thought (which may go on in this transition stage between sleeping and waking), and that an appeal to the unconscious to explain their occurrence is "to invoke the deus cx machina of embarrassed psychologists." Psychoanalysts will scarcely agree with this opinion; and, indeed, Dr. Leroy omits altogether any consideration of psychoanalytic doctrine from his work.Chapter iii. is concerned with the interpretation of hypnagogic imagery, which is here compared with normal memory imagery, the eidetic imagery reported by Jaensch, hallucinatory imagery and illusions. The characteristic most insisted upon is the involuntary nature of the hypnagogic images. The will can only influence them indirectly; and they require for their development a certain degree of psychic automatism. In the final chapter, hypnagogic images are compared with those of the dream; and the transition from the ha]f-wakiiig state to that of sleep is discussed. The images are spectacles at which we passively assist; the dream is an adventure in which we take part. Over and above the interest attaching directly to these different kinds of images in themselves, there is the greater interest in the different mental states which give rise to them. In theory and in practice the question is one which concerns both pure psychologists and psychotherapists; and Dr. Leroy's book will be read by both with profit

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120911a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

THE author rather seeks to disarm criticism by stating in the preface that much ground was of necessity left untouched, and that the critic who cavils at this restriction must be even more ambitious than herself ! It is not so much the ground which has not been covered, but the whole point of view from which the book is written which calls for criticism. It deals briefly with the structure and life histories of those animal types which students of biology are required to study during their course in social and household science at King's College for Women. There are already a number of text-books of zoology which do the same sort of thing, and since this is a specialised course, which has special reference to social science and applied biology, it surely would have enhanced the value of this book if those applied aspects had been dealt with in detail, and the student referred to one of the general text-books for structure and anatomy. Such important questions as the control of venereal disease, treatment of children for infection with Nemathelminthes and Platyhelminthes, and the ridding of houses of insect pests, etc. , are not described with any practical detail, and for the average student who does not know where to look for further information, and has little or no general scientific knowledge, the treatment of the subject is too scanty. One feels that a valuable opportunity has been lost of producing a book which might have opened the eyes of social workers, and incidentally of a large section of the general public, to the importance of applied biology. Much might have been . done through a text - book for special courses, and by helping the students by a carefully chosen range of reading, but there is not even a bibliography appended.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120912b0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

THIS book is devoted to a detailed account of the methods used by the division of Laboratories and Research at the Department of Health for the State of New York, situated at Albany, with a branch in New York City and numerous associated laboratories throughout the State. General bacteriological technique, preparation of media and glassware, and diagnosis, for the greater part bacteriological, are fully described, and a large section (326 pp.) is given up to the preparation of vaccines and sera. A chapter deals with sanitary chemistry, and at the close of the book a brief account is given of the general organisation of the institute. It is, altogether, a very interesting book and should prove a useful reference to those engaged in public health laboratory work and the manufacture of biological products. One is left with an impression that the institution concerned has developed a high degree of efficiency in routine work, a fact which tends toward making the presentation of the work outlined a little stereo- typed.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120913b0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

IN NATURE of Feb. 7, 1925, p. 195, Prof. Raymond Dart announced the discovery of a fossil skull of a young anthropoid ape which had been found in a lime-stone quarry at Taung, l3eehuanaland. This discovery brought to light an extinct kind of great anthropoid, which differed from the three living genera—the gorilla, chimpanzee, and orang—in having a long or dolichocephalic skull. After having read Prof. Dart's account, Prof. L. Bolk, of Amsterdam, drew attention to the skull of a gorilla in his collection which was quite as dolichocephalic as the Taungs skull (Kon. Akad. van Wetensch. Amsterdam, 1925, vol. 28, No. 2, p. 1). In the same year, Prof. Wingate Todd, of the Western Reserve IJniversity, Cleveland, Ohio, informed me that the accepted idea of round-headedness or brachycephaly prevailing amongst gorillas was wrong, several skulls in his collection being dolichocephalic.In 1926, Dr. H. A. Harris, of University College, London, examined Lord Rothschild's collection of gorilla skulls, 49 in number, and found that when the shape of the cranial cavity was determined by an exact radiographic method, the head form of the gorilla was highly variable running from a low dolichocephaly to a high brachycephaly (Amer. Jour. Physic. Anthrop., voL 9, p. 157; 1926). The width of the cranial cavity, he found, might be as low as 72 per cent. of the length, or it might be as high as 868 per cent., the mean width of all 49 specimens being 79. 1 per cent., the intrinsic skull form of the gorilla lying therefore in the upper register of mesocephaly. Thus in the gorilla, which the majority of authorities regard as manifesting a greater structural resemblance to man than any other living form, there is found as wide a range of cranial proportions as is found in any mixed group of human skulls. As Lord Rothschild's skulls came from widely separated districts, it was possible that the high degree of variability was due to a mixture of local breeds or races. A collection of gorilla skulls, 42 in number, which my friend Dr. N. A. Dyce Sharp has presented to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, shows this is not the case all the skulls come from one locality, where there can be no question of mixture of races, and the vaiiation in them is just as great as that found by Dr. Ifarris in Lord Rothschild's collection.Dr. Sharp was stationed as medical officer in the Ossidinge division of the British Cameroon. In the forest upland of the northern part of this division is found the ultimate distribution of the gorilla towards the west of Africa; Dr. Sharp believes that the habitat of the gorilla extends only a very short distance beyond the Eastern Nigerian frontier. The native villagers of this area hunt and eat both the gorilla and chimpanzee, the gorilla being the more highly esteemed as food. After a village feast the skulls are thrown aside, and it was from the remains of such feasts that Dr. Sharp gathered his specimens. Unfortunately, brains are also valued, and hence some of the skulls were not so intact in the occiput as a craniologist could desire. Five years ago, Mr. F. W. IL Migeod visited the same area of the Ossidinge district and succeeded in obtaining five skulls of gorillas, which he presented to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, so that I have at my disposal 47 gorilla skulls from the same area on which to determine the variability in size and shape of the skull. The specimens represent both sexes and all ages, from the full eruption of the first permanent molar teeth upwards. The dimensions of the cranial cavity were taken by direct measurements. Dr. Sharp also presented 20 chimpanzee skulls from the same district. They show a much higher degree of uniformity than the gorilla skulls. In 23 skulls of male gorillas from Ossidinge the mean length of the cranial cavity was 12 1 -6 mm. , the mean width, 958 mm., the width being thus 788 per cent. of the length, but there was a range from 72 per cent. to 88 per cent. from pronounced dolichocephaly to ultrabraehycephaly. The mean cubic capacity of 17 skulls of adult maleswas 503 cm.3, varyingfrom 355 cm.5 to 620 cm.3. In a local group of gorilla the brain varies in mass just as much relatively as among members of any human community. In 24 skulls of female gorillas from Ossidinge the mean length of the cranial cavity was 1 12-2 mm., and the mean width 91 3 mm., the width being 813 per cent. of the length, but this figure fell as low as 72 per cent. and rose as high as 87 per cent, As in human skulls, that of the female is the rounder or more brachycephalic. The capacity of the female skull is much smaller than that of the male to a greater degree than is the case when human skulls are measured, The mean capacity of the adult female skulls (19 in number) was 4258 cm,3, varying from 370 cm.3 to 530 cm.3. The sexual differentiation is more pronounced among gorillas than in any other group of higher primates.The degree of variability in gorilla skulls is even more pronounced when external measurements are taken in a manner which gives dimensions comparable with the length and width as usually taken on human skulls. The external length varied, in male skulls, from 1 13 mm, to 155 mm., the mean being 138-3 mm, while the mean width fluctuated between 92 and 101 mm., the mean being 97.2 mm. The width thus varied from 60 per cent, of the length to 798 per cent., the mean cephalic index being 66. In female skulls the mean width was 686 per cent. of the mean length, the proportion varying from 61'7 to 806 per cent. There is even a greater variability in the form of the face of the gorilla. In the Ossidinge breed it varies from being short and wide to long and narrow a variation of a similar kind being also noticeable in all human communities. The Kivu gorilla, which represents the most eastern distribution of the genus, shows the same variability in form of face. It is interesting to compare measurements taken on Dr. Sharp's collection of chimpanzee skulls with those taken on gorillas from the same district. In 10 male chimpanzee skulls the cranial capacity varied from 325 cm.3 to 430 cm.3, the mean being 368 cm.3. The range was thus 105 cm,3 compared with 265 cm.3 in the male gorilla skulls. In female chimpanzee skulls the capacity varied fr9m 330 cm.3 to 395 cm.3, the mean being 358 cm.3, and the range 65 cm.3, compared with 160 cm.3 in the corresponding group of gorilla skulls. The mean difference between the capacity of male and female chimpanzee was only 10 cm.3, the sexual difference among gorillas being 76 cm.3, The length of the cranial cavity in 10 male chimpanzee skulls varied from 98 mm. to 108 mm., the mean being 105'7 mm., while the width fluctuated between 86 mm. and 92 mm, the mean being 893 mm. The mean proportion of width to length was 84'S pen cent.; the chimpanzee being thus markedly brachycephalic. The index or proportion varied from 796 to 90 1, a range of iO5 units, as compared with 16 1 units the range of variation in the skulls of male gorillas. If external measurements are compared, the skull of the male chimpanzee has a width which is 75 per cent. of the length, but it may fall to 7 1 or rise to 78 per cent. In female chimpanzee skulls the internal length varies from 98 mm. to 1 14 mm., and the width from 86 mm. to 93 mm., the mean length being 1055 mm., the mean width, 888 mm. The mean width is thus 84-1 per cent. of the mean length, but the proportion varies from 789 to 918 per cent. Thus there is no significant difference between the form of the cranial cavity of the male and female chimpanzee, whereas in gorillas the difference is of a decided character. One other point relating to the differentiation of species amongst gorillas and chimpanzees may be mentioned here. Lord Rothschild has directed attention to the external characters which distinguish gorillas of one district from those belonging to other districts. There should be no hesitation in distinguishing a gorilla of the western frontiers of Uganda from one native to the eastern frontier of Nigeria, but when I have sought in skulls for recognition marks, I have hitherto failed to find any certain distinctind constant mark. It is quite true that it is possible, in a certain proportion of cases, to distinguish the skull of a Kivu gorilla from those from other districts, but for one which can be picked out from a miscellaneous group there are four which cannot he identified, except by their labels. I am sure Lord Rothschild is right in dividing both gorillas and chimpanzees into local races or subspecies, but the degree of differentiation has not yet affected the cranial or dental characters to a degree which permits the racial identification of the majority of individuals.1 Dr. Sharp's collection was exhibited at a meeting of the Zoological Society on Nov. 15, 1927.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120914a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

SIR NAPIER SHAW—facile princeps, in the group of disheartened but persistent advocates of reform in our heterogeneous units of weight and measurement—proposes in volume 1 of his “Manual of Meteorology” a consistent dynamical unit based upon the C.G.S. system for records of solar (likewise terrestrial) radiation. The unit he suggests is the kilowatt per square dekametre per minute, that is, 0.0143 of a gram calorie per square centimetre per minute. It will perhaps be granted even by those who favour the retention of the calorie that the minute is not a desirable interval; and that it will be better to use the hour. Thus we are in agreement with electrical measurements of light and power. A gram calorie being approxinately 4.183 jules, it will require 860,300 calories to equal 1 kilowatt hour.This unit equals 3411 British Thermal Units, and it is worth noting that there is constant liability to confusion here with British Trade Units. Some teachers still prefer to express work in foot-pounds, and energy output in horse-power, but even these must grant that the horse is fast disappearing from highways and is even replaced on farms by tractors. Hence in a few years this unit h.p. (0746 kilowatt) will go the way of barley corns, once sub-multiples of the inch. It would seem to those desiring simpler fundamental units that Sir Napier Shaw has a strong case when he says that the gram calorie per square centimetre per minute " is only tolerable when radiation measure- ments are regarded as belonging to aseparate physical compartment and the transformations of energy in the atmosphere which are the natural results of radiation are ignored, although the comprehension of those transformations is the very purpose of the measurement of solar and terrestrial radiation so far as meteorology is concerned."The use of the new unit has been opposed on two grounds; namely, (1) that uniformity is desired and (2) that future measurements may be easily compared with older results. It will appear below that uniformity is best secured by a unit which is not confined to heat capacity alone. As for the second objection, this would be a case of bringing the colours back to the regiment instead of bringing the regiment up to the colours. The old values are easily read, remembering that one calorie per square centimetre per minute equals 1161 kilowatt hours per square dekametre. (The square dekametre is 1076 square feet.)A good start in the use of the new units has been made by Dr. H. H. Kimball (Monthly Weather Review, April 1927, p. 157), who has assembled values for different observatories. As the table may not be generally known, it is here reproduced. AVERAGE ANNUAL AMOUNT OF SOLAR ENERGY RECEIVED ON A SQUARE DEKAMETRE OF HORIZONTAL SURFACE IN KILOWATT HOURS:Habana . Lincoln -.Mt. Weather .. .184,488 160,906148,824 Loureno MarquesJohannesburg . Davos Platz .169,462 175,696174,043 WashingtonMadison . .. 145,403139,523 Rothamsted .South Kensington 83,13378,569 Toronto .New York . .. 106,46097,856 Stockholm . .Sloutzk . . 79,26770,296 Chicago .

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120915a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

THE older text-books indicate a transit of Mercury on May 11, 1937. Thus, Rev. S. J. Johnson, in “Eclipses and Transits in Future Years” (1889), p. 6, says: “Mercury on the sun from 8 h. morn, to 9.2 h. approximately.” On the other hand, Prof. S. Newcomb, in his paper on transits of Mercury in vol. 1 ofPapers of the American Ephemeris, describes the event as a near approach. It does not appear, however, that this statement was the result of accurate computation; it was merely an inference from the large diagram of transits contained in the paper.I have lately made a computation from Newcomb's tables of the sun and Mercury; I obtain the result that, while there will be no transit in the northern hemisphere, a portion of the planet will encroach on the sun as seen from some southern stations. The time that I chose for computation was May 1137755 U.T. The actual least distance of centres was a few minutes earlier. I obtain true heliocentric longitude of Mercury referred to mean equinox of date 230° 12' 12"86 latitude 19' 15"81,log. radius vector9'6575860. True longitude of sun 50° 15' 23"78, latitude + 007", log, radius vector 00044402; true semidiameter 949"84. Least distance of centres (geocentric) 957"96. The apparent least (listance is 1"65 greater through differential aberration. Since the differential parallax is 7"l and Mercury's semidiameter 6"O, there is an overlap at the point of greatest phase of 13" 1 8" 12 1"65, or 3"33. If the tabular places are exact, there will be a small encroachment of the planet on the sun a seen from Port Elizabeth, but probably not from Cape Town. The occasion will be a favourable one to search for a ring round the outer portion of Mercury, due to refraction in its atmosphere. In England the least distance of Mercury from the sun's limb will be about 6", so it should be possible for spectroscopists to see it projected on the chromosphere. Such partial transits of Mercury are very rare, occurring only once in several centuries. When they occur, we get two May transits twenty years apart; thus there is another short transit in May 1957, this time at the sun's northern limb. It happens that the other rare event of two November transjts at an interval of six, years also occurs this century, in 1993 and 1999. In consequence, the number of transits in the century, fourteen, is slightly above the average.In the course of this work I detected an error in the Nautical Almanac for 1878, p. 402; the least distance of centres of sun and Mercury should be 4' 47" 4, not 3' 47".4 It is well to note this, as it is likely to confuse those who are using the 46.year cycle to predict the circumstances of future transits. I used methods of this kind in my paper on transits of Mercury in the Ob8ervatory for 1894, p. 394. I there obtained 16' 1" as the least geocentric distance of centres in 1937; this estimate took no account of perturbations, but its close agreement with my present more careful result serves as a check on t

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120916b0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature

摘要:

THOSE results in the mathematical theory of relativity that have received experimental confirmation are connected with problems that might be classified as the single-line type. These problems are in the same category as those discussed in particle dynamics and their analogues in geometrical optics.When, however, we come to problems involving a congruency of lines, logical difficulties arise. It seems clear that we can no longer identify any one of the fundamental co-ordinates with time.' Thus, consider the question of volume.' In the classical theory the element of volume is invariantive. In the case of a four-dimensional continuum, it is the fourfold element that is invariantive, whereas the threefold element is defined by the four components of a tensor. Now, taking the four-dimensional continuum, the ground-form of which is given by the equation, ds2 = dx42 dx12 dx.22 dx32, we readily obtain a group of a type similar to that of the rotations about a point in Euclidean geometry, which forms the basis of the treatment of the angular velocities of a rigid body. This, however, simply provides us with one fourfold continuum suffering displacement through another, which is not exactly what is required. We have, in fact, introduced a fifth variable, namely, the parameter by which the infinitesimal transformations of our group are defined. Thus a supplementary relation, preferably of a differential type, is needed to define our moving system, and this must be invariantive in character. The above- mentioned parameter will then furnish a time measure for the system as defined. It seems that in only some such way can we provide a logical geometrical picture of rotation, which is an undoubted physical phenomenon.At present difficulties arise through the necessity of using the old technical nomenclature in connexion with the new ideas, and thus often for purposes for which it was not strictly intended. In the case of the historical dispute concerning the measurement of force,' the difficulties were eventually dissipated by the emergende of the concepts of momentum' and energy.' It may be anticipated that something similar might happen with regard to the new theories. Einstein has lately indicated that he has not found the new differential geometry any more capable of giving the required generalisation of the electromagnetic equations than the older Riemannian geometry, though the former was introduced with this purpose in view. May it not be that too close an analogy with Maxwell's equations has been contemplated? Thus one would suggest the introduction of a time measure for the electromagnetic field by some such general method as indicated above, together with compensating addition to the set of equations.

ISSN:0028-0836    

DOI:10.1038/120917a0

出版商:Nature Publishing Group    

年代:1927

数据来源: Nature