JULY 15, 1909]

NATURE

a museum, and in their fourth report the Commissioners State: While it is a matter of congratulation that the British Museum contains one of the finest and largest collections in existence illustrative of biological science, it is to be regretted that there is at present no national collection of the instruments used in the investigation of mechanical, chemical, or physical laws, although such collections are of great importance to persons interested in the experimental sciences. We consider that the recent progress in these sciences and the daily increasing demand for knowledge concerning them make it desirable that the national collections should be extended in this direction, so as to meet a great scientific requirement which cannot be provided for in any other way.' Since these words were written a National Science Museum has been established, and the collections in it have been steadily enriched by many important acquisitions. These collections are at present housed in the old buildings at South Kensington known as the Southern Galleries and the Western Galleries. They now include models and copies of historical and modern philosophical apparatus of the greatest value to all interested in the progress of British science, and a large number of machines, instruments, and models of great interest as illustrating the origin and development of our most pregnant British inventions, together with such special collections as the unique series of models illustrating the history of shipbuilding.

a

sum of

"In 1876 the Royal Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851 offered to the Government of the day a site on the Commissioners' 100,000l., together with ground, for the proper housing of this collection, under the condition that the Government should undertake its In 1878 the Commissioners repeated their maintenance. offer, and in 1879 this was declined by the Government. In 1888 the land to the south of Imperial Institute Road, reaching to that conveyed to the Government in 1864 for the erection of the Natural History Museum, and containing 4 acres, was sold to the Government for 70,000l. This land has now been in part permanently allocated to the main section of the new buildings of the Imperial College of Science and Technology and to the building in course of erection for the Meteorological Office and a post office. The remainder of the site is at present occupied partly by temporary buildings and partly by the old buildings-the "Southern Galleries "-which now afford accommodation for the machinery and naval architecture collections of the Science Museum. This portion of the site, adjoining as it does on the north the Imperial College and on the south the Natural History Museum, is well regarded as an ideal position for the long projected Science Museum, which would complete the magnificent group of museum buildings already erected at South Kensington.

"The cost of acquisitions for the current growth of such a science museum, it may be noted, is far less than that of a The value of art products in· corresponding art museum. creases rapidly with age, whereas the scientific implements, machinery, and apparatus, interesting from an historical point of view, have rarely any great commercial value. The art collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum are now in possession of splendid buildings. If the buildings provided for the science collections were equally worthy of the interests which they should serve, the objects now in the museum could be exhibited to much greater advantage. Moreover, those lacunae which mark sections of recent activity in discovery and invention would be more readily filled than they can be while the obviously temporary character of the accommodation suggests to those who hold objects of interest in the history and advance of science that the authorities have but little appreciation for such things. "Other countries, notably France and Germany, have recognised the importance of preparing suitable buildings for their National Science Museums. In Paris the Museum of the Ecole des Arts et Métiers has a world-wide renown; and a National German Science Museum is now being built in Munich at the cost of 300,000l. England, the mother of so many great inventions that have proved to be pioneers in industrial arts, stands alone in having made no adequate provision for exhibiting and arranging in proper The undersigned venture to order her unique collections. urge upon you that the time has now arrived for action. Land sufficient for the purpose is in the Government's hands, and the Royal Commissioners of '51 if approached

by the Government with a definite building scheme would
doubtless give it due consideration. The need is great,
and the mass of British science workers will hail your
favourable decision with gratitude."

in his remarks, Sir Henry Roscoe said that what is
needed is a building adequate to the proper exhibition of
the present collection, and one worthy of British science.
The grant for science purposes is 18ool.; that for art
11,260l. The fact that with so small a grant the national
science collections have reached so important and in many
respects so unique a position has been partly due to the
fact that the cost of acquisitions for the current growth
Land sufficient for
of such a science museum is far less than that of the corre-
sponding growth of an art museum.

the required purpose is in the hands of the Government,
and the Royal Commissioners of 1851, so long ago as 1878,
offered to contribute 100,000l. towards a building for the
of the Royal Society desired him to express its keen sense
Science Museum. Sir Archibald Geikie said that the council
of the importance of the collections and the need for better
housing for re-arrangement and expansion. Sir David Gill
said that, confining his remarks principally to the astro-
nomical collection, he was much impressed with its extreme
Mr. Alexander
value, as it included apparatus of all periods, from the
Siemens, expressing the view of the Institution of Civil
earliest days down to the present time.
Engineers, said that in the interest of students of engineer-
ing it is of the utmost importance that the collections
should be housed with plenty of space, and should be as
complete as possible. Sir Hugh Bell, as president of the
Iron and Steel Institute, said his national pride was hurt
when he went through the building at South Kensington
and saw the collections housed in a place erected about
fifty years ago as refreshment-rooms or something of that
sort. Paris, Munich, and Berlin are very much in advance
Dr. R. T. Glazebrook, director
of London in that matter.

of the National Physical Laboratory, said that the physical
collection at South Kensington is very inadequately housed
and quite fails to represent the growth of that science in
England. Mr. W. M. Mordey, president of the Institution
of Electrical Engineers, said there is at present no adequate
representation of their work in this country. Sir William
Ramsay said it is practically impossible to gain any notion
of the progress of chemistry from a visit to the collection.
Sir George Darwin said that in going over the museum
or three things-first, the great
he was struck by two
interest of the collection; secondly, the overcrowding of it;
and, thirdly, the extreme deficiency of the buildings in
which it is housed.

am

Mr. Runciman, in the course of his reply, said :-The memorial which has been presented to the Board of Education and to me on the subject of this museum is one of the most weighty memorials that I think has ever been received by any Minister. We not only provide, or intend to provide, an exhibition for the exposition and demonstration of the principles of science, but we provide illustrations of the applications of science and arts to industry, including models and actual examples of outstanding inventions which are of historical importance, and, as Sir Henry Roscoe has desire to maintain historical industrial processes, and we said, are absolutely irreplaceable. We have the greatest have special collections, such as those in which I myself enormously interested-namely, naval architecture, models of machines, and astronomical instruments. The But I quite recognise whole of these are of priceless value. that they are in many respects incomplete; and I am also the building in which that collection is housed, that the impressed with the fact, as indeed everybody is who knows housing has a great deal to do with the collection in the I recognise that the buildings in their present state. at the present day, is dreadfully overwe have found crowded. The best illustration of that lies in the fact that collection, even in the cases now erected in the museum it necessary to provide for what may be called a basement exhibition. When one passes through the exhibition one sees a considerable number of persons kneeling down on the floor in order to see what is in the basement of these Anyone who is responsible for the museum hardly avoid being ashamed of that condition of things. It is true that some parts of the galleries were put up as temporary buildings. They were part of the exhibition, I think, of 1862, and it is remarkable that they have lasted

cases.

can

JULY 15, 1909]

NATURE

Reviewing the results of seven years' work on the comparative and experimental investigation of cancer, says the general superintendent in his report, one is struck by the difference between the nature of the problems before us seven years ago and of those now being considered, as well as by the freedom one feels in investigating the problems presented to-day, without the incubus of having to consider them from the standpoints of the many hypotheses now proved to be untenable. I do not think that too much is claimed by asserting that the arduous labour of the past seven years is gradually effecting, and in several respects has actually effected, a complete revolution in many aspects of the cancer problem. But it has done still more in opening up new vistas in biology. Seven years ago no one conceived it possible that portions of the mammalian organism could be kept growing for a period four times the length of life of the whole animal. But to-day the number of different kinds of tissues now being propagated separately make it theoretically possible that the majority of the tissues may be so grown and segregated. In other words, a living animal can be analysed into many of its living component tissues. The finer relations of various kinds of tissues to another have been revealed by the application of the new methods. The biological alterations which living mammalian cells may undergo suddenly, as well as gradually, under the influence of experimental conditions, can be studied. These and many other achievements in the field of general biology are the most important practical fruits which have accrued from the experimental study of cancer, upon which they have only Indirect bearings. Their Ultimately they are bound to be of far-reaching general biological importance, although to-day they are merely the weapons that have been forged to attack cancer. further development and their utilisation for the solution of purely biological problems will probably precede the solution of many of the problems surrounding the nature and causes of cancer.

one

now

While some chance opportunity may yield results of immediate practical moment, the outlook on therapeutics in the meantime is in the direction of preventing dissemination or metastasis. The means of explaining why inoculated cancer can undergo spontaneous cure have been greatly enriched by the acquisition of fresh strains of propagable tumours behaving in a variety of ways in this respect, and presenting all gradations from some growing progressively in every animal inoculated, to others which, while developing for a time in every animal, are ultimately got rid of in all cases by the active resistance which the tumours induce against themselves.

In acknowledging a vote of thanks, the Prince of Wales said, during the course of his remarks:-" When presiding over this committee on previous occasions I have expressed the view that immediate results in regard to the cure of cancer must not be counted upon, but that rather we must look forward to steady and consistent progress in accordance with the experience of all scientific investigation. There can be no doubt, however, that the seven years' work already accomplished by the fund has brought about a complete change in the standpoints from which cancer should be studied. The many and varied lines of research are being pursued with the utmost perseverance, and every development, as it occurs, is followed up with During the past year an important the minutest care. work-the third scientific report-has been issued from our laboratories, and has been received with appreciation by all those at home and abroad who are competent to express opinions on these highly technical researches. This of itself marks a steady and valuable advance, and one of which we have every reason to be satisfied.

SCOTTISH

EXPEDITION TO SPITSBERGEN.

DR. WILLIAM S. BRUCE, of the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory, is conducting another expedition to Prince Charles Foreland and other parts of Spitsbergen. One of the chief objects of the expedition is to complete the survey of Prince Charles Foreland which he began in association with H.S.H. the Prince of Monaco in He will also connect this sur1906 and continued in 1907.

vey with the mainland of Spitsbergen across Foul Sound,
thus joining up the work of H.S.H. the Prince of Monaco,
Isachsen in the north-west of Spitsbergen.
the late Captain Guissez, Captain Bourée, and Captain

In 1907, Dr. Bruce brought back geological collections
which have been described by Dr. G. W. Lee, of H.M.
These rocks and
Geological Survey of Scotland, in a paper read to the
Royal Physical Society, Edinburgh.
fossils entirely change previous opinions of the geology of
Prince Charles Foreland, which was thought to be Silurian,
whereas the rocks of Prince Charles Foreland consist,
ites, and non-fossiliferous shales and hard grey limestones;
first, of a series of metamorphic crystalline schists, quartz-
secondly, of the fossiliferous limestone, probably permo-Car-
mains of dicotyledonous plants of Tertiary age. This time
boniferous; and, thirdly, of grey shales containing the re-
Dr. Bruce will carry with him a specially strong geological
staff, and he hopes to clear up definitely the whole geology
of Prince Charles Foreland and the neighbouring coasts of
the mainland.

A special study of the botany of the Foreland will be
made, Dr. Rudmose Brown carrying on that special part
of the work. Dr. Bruce's staff consists of Mr. J. V. Burn
Murdoch, who accompanied him to Prince Charles Fore-
land in 1907; Mr. John Mathieson, of H.M. Ordnance
survey work; Dr. R. N. Rudmose Brown, late botanist of
the Scotia, at present lecturer on geography, Sheffield
Survey of Scotland, who will take entire charge of the
Bruce in 1906, and has since been attached to the meteor-
University; Mr. Ernest A. Miller, who accompanied Dr.'
last year. Mr. H. Hannay and Mr. A. M. Peach are the
ological and magnetical service of the Argentine Republic,
having wintered at Scotia Bay, South Orkneys, during the
geologists, and Mr. Alastair Geddes will also accompany
the expedition.

Dr. Bruce has chartered the steamer Conqueror, which is being specially re-fitted for the purpose, and has selected as master of the ship Captain Francis Napier, who has been kindly lent by Messrs. James Currie and Co., Leith. The expedition will leave Leith on Monday next, July 19, and is expected to be absent about two months.

We understand that this expedition, which will be Dr. Bruce's ninth visit to the polar regions, in no way interferes with his future Antarctic plans.

contributes an

BIRD NOTES.

account of the life-history of the bastard nattergale." icterine tree-warbler (Hypolais icterina or H. hypolais) in To the May number of Naturen Mr. O. J. Lie-Pettersen Norway, where it is known as the

66

The dates of arrival in the neighbourhood of Bergen during,
a period of eleven years range from May 16-20 inclusive;
birds of the year take their departure about the middle of
July, and old birds some weeks later. By the middle of
August nearly all have vanished, although an occasional
straggler may be seen up to the end of that month, and
one specimen was so late as September. Among the trees
haunted by this species the hazel is the favourite; nesting
takes place at the end of May or early part of June, and
the period of incubation is thirteen days.

The April number of the Emu contains the minutes of
a conference on Government bird-protection in Australia,
held at Melbourne in November, 1908. A large number
of species and subspecies were recommended for total pro-
tection, among these being lyre-birds, coach whip-birds,
emeus, and cassowaries. Owing, however, to the confer-
ence being unable to prepare a protection Bill, on account
of the relations existing between the Commonwealth and
its constituent States, it was eventually decided that the
list of species and groups recommended for protection should
be submitted to each State for favourable consideration.
The urgent need for efficient legislation in this direction
is made evident by a statement on another page of the
same issue with regard to a recent wholesale slaughter of

To Mr. L. J. Cole we are indebted for a copy of a paper a means of studying from the April number of the Auk on the importance of or marking, birds as tagging," It is pointed out by the author that we their movements. are still nearly as much in the dark as regards the true

DR. E. KNECHT has been appointed professor of techno- narration, description, exposition, and argument." History logical chemistry in the University of Manchester.

JULY 15, 1909]

NATURE

THE new laboratories of St. Paul's School, built to celebrate the quatercentenary of the foundation, were opened on Wednesday, July 8, by Lord Curzon. In his address, Lord Curzon said he noticed how the school had kept pace with the spirit and reforms of the day, how during the last hundred years its numbers had increased from 153 to 600; how the modern side had grown to equal the older side in numbers and importance; and he told how great had been the achievement of the school under the late high master, Dr. Walker, one of the great school-masters of the nineteenth century. Lord Curzon went on to say that we lived in an age of self-depreciation, of a too great selfdepreciation. Foreign critics were always coming to our public schools to learn how, having their superior equipment and their excellent organisation, they might obtain also that training in character, that sense of moral responsibility, that spirit of civic patriotism, that ordered sense of I personal liberty which were among the chief and most honourable characteristics of our public school system." So while content to learn from others we were not to forfeit that in our educational system which had done so much in the civic government of the country and the empire. The Bishop of Manchester referred to the conditions, so different from those obtaining now, under which he had learnt at St. Paul's School; yet he had learnt there that most valuable of lessons, to think. The high master, Dr. Hillard, said that St. Paul's had taken its full share in all those changes in educational method which began with Arnold's life at Rugby.

64

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES.

LONDON.

Geological Society, June 16.-Prof. W. J. Sollas, F. R.S., president, in the chair.-The Carboniferous Limestone of County Clare: James A. Douglas.

neasure

measures.

The district forms the westernmost limit of the central Carboniferous LimeThe stone plain of Ireland. The area, for the purposes of main districts. description, is divided into two northern region is formed by an elevated plateau of Viséan "CoalLimestone, which rises on the north and east in terraced cliffs, but to the south-west dips below the series. The surface is of bare rock, devoid of vegetation. The southern district is not formed of limewest of Coalstone; the high ground on the east is of Old Red Sandas two antistone and Silurian rocks, that on the The older formations appear clinal flexures, forming the mountains of Slieve Aughty and Slieve Bernagh. The margin of the syncline is formed by Tournaisian shales and limestone, while the Viséan The limestone fauna show limestones occupy the core. that the Geological Survey boundary between the Upper and Lower Limestones corresponds with the transition from a Tournaisian to a Viséan fauna, and the Middle Limestone contains a fauna distinct from that of the Upper, although they are not separable on lithological grounds. The Old Red Sandstone is succeeded by a series of sandy shales containing brachiopods characteristic of the Cleistopora zone; at the base are found modioliform lamellibranchs. The Zaphrentis zone is well developed. These beds show The most remarkable portion of the whole sequence is The fauna is included in the Syringothyris zone. evidence of deposition in shallow water. compared with that of the Waulsortian phase of Belgium. The incoming of a Viséan fauna is well marked at the with base of the Seminula zone; in the middle of this zone an important bed of oolitic limestone, abundant gasteropods. The Dibunophyllum zone attains a thickness equal to that of the Midland area.-The Howgill Fells and their topography: J. E. Marr, F.R.S., and W. G. Fearnsides. The Howgill Fells form a monoclinal block, from which the Carboniferous rocks have the The northern slope probably corresponds been denuded. On the with the sloping plane of unconformity between Carboniferous rocks and Lower Palæozoic strata. south the slope to the Rawthey is along a block-fault. The chief drainage was originally north and south from the watershed at the summit of the block. The tract was foreign" ice was glaciated by its own ice, but " terminous with the local ice on all sides. The rocks are, from the point of view of erosive effects, nearly homoThe chief erosive effects of glaciation were the geneous.

occurs

con

truncation of spurs, the formation of conchoidal scoops
in the concavities of the valleys, a general widening of the
valleys, and but slight deepening. A feature of interest
is the contrast in this small area between these glaciated
valleys and others of V-shaped cross-section, which are
Glauert. Some
typical water-carved valleys unaffected by glacial erosion.
Sthenurus: L.
-A new
species of
reptilian remains from the Trias of Lossiemouth: D. M. S.
Watson. The fore-limb of Ornithosuchus woodwardi is
the Manchester Museum.
in
shown
a specimen in
Ornithosuchus is restored as an animal walking on all
fours, with the head carried rather low. The proportions
A description is
are identical with those of Etosaurus.
as recalling tosaurus in its armour.-Some reptilian
given of the skeleton of a very small reptile, interesting
tracks from the Trias of Runcorn (Cheshire): D. M. S.
Four types of tracks which occur on the slab
Watson.
It is suggested
of sandstone from Weston Point, described in 1840 by
Dr. Black, are discussed in this paper.
that some of these prints may quite well belong to such
thecodonts as Ornithosuchus.-The anatomy of Lepido-
phloios laricinus, Sternb.: D. M. S. Watson.

Linnean Society, June 17.-Sir Frank Crisp, vice-president, in the chair.-The growth of a species of Battarea : J. G. Otto Tepper.-The deposits in the Indian Ocean : Sir John Murray.-The Sealark Penaeidea, Stenopidea, and Reptantia: L. A. Borradaile.-The_ Sealark Lepidoptera: T. B. Fletcher.-Report on the Porifera collected by Mr. C. Crossland in the Red Sea, part i., Calcarea : R. W. H. Row.-The African species of Triumfetta, Linn. T. A. Sprague and J. Hutchinson.-New species of Malesian and Philippine ferns: Dr. H. Christ.-The acaulescent species of Malvastrum, A. Gray: A. W. Hill. DUBLIN.

new

Royal Dublin Society, June 22.-Dr. J. M. Purser in the chair. The fossil hare of the ossiferous fissures of Ightham, Kent, and on the recent hares of the Lepus variabilis group: M. A. C. Hinton. The paper describes the fossil remains of Lepus variabilis, Pall., obtained from the rock fissures at Ightham, and deals with the osteology of the recent and fossil hares of the L. variabilis group. The Pleistocene hare of England is referred to a as the immediate ancestor of L. variabilis hibernicus, its subspecies, L. variabilis anglicus, which is to be regarded relationship with the existing Scotch form not being so close. The subspecies anglicus and hibernicus are shown to be the most primitive members of the variabilis group. The most important conclusion reached is that, contrary to the prevalent view, the variabilis group of hares has The author north. The value of benzidine for the detection of minute originated in temperate latitudes, and not in the high traces of blood: Prof. E. J. McWeeney. began by explaining the chemical nature of benzidine, which is a di-p-diamino diphenyl. This substance, when dissolved in acetic acid and brought into contact with blood in presence of H,O,, at once undergoes oxidation with formation of a brilliant blue colour. The reaction is in Van Deen's or Schönbein's guaiacum test. principle the same as that with guaiacol, the old-fashioned base from guaiacol differs from the benzidine colour-base in the same way as an amine (aniline) differs from a phenol, or an aurine from a rosaniline dye. The test is ten-fold more delicate than that with guaiacum, and detects blood in solution as weak as 1/500,000; but for medicolegal purposes it is preferable to bring particles of the suspected matter into contact with the reagent, when The reaction can be observed under the microscope. The each granule, if blood, at once strikes a most brilliant blue. test worked well with blood-stains many years' old, and seemed to be independent of the nature of the substratum. tial, and the sensitiveness of each batch of benzidine had Controls, and a time limit of about a minute, were essento be worked out beforehand. Of all the substances tested, none gave the typical blue colour so speedily as blood, save fresh vegetables and fruit, which at once struck an intense blue, at first limited to the fibro-vascular bundles. Boiling deprived them of this power, owing to the destruction of the oxydase, whereas blood solutions gave the blue reaction at once after five minutes' boiling. The author recommended this test to the attention of medical jurists.

The colour