SCIENTIFIC MOUNTAINEERING IN INDIA.1 HR.H. the Duke of the Abruzzi undertook this expedition chiefly in the hope of contributing to the solution of the vexed problem Saddle, 20,784 ft. On July 12 a height of 23,458 ft. was attained, but bad weather forced them to retreat. On July 17 another start was made, and that evening they pitched their two diminutive FIG. 1.-Jhula bridge at Karmang. From "Karakoram and Western Himalaya." as to the greatest height which can be reached by mountaineers. But, as usual, he supplied himself with such a staff as would be able to make good use of every opportunity which his journey might afford for scientific research. The basin of the Baltoro glacier was chosen for the attempt, owing to the number of high peaks at its head. K2 itself proved to be unclimbable, in spite of several strenuous attacks and much close reconnoitring, and on July 1 the Duke turned his attention to Bride Peak, 25,110 ft. Such were the unexpected difficulties encountered that it was not until Mummery tents at 22,483 ft., the highest strictly authenticated camp to date, though Rubenson and Monrad-Aas probably camped as high on Kabru. Next morning at 5.30 the Duke, with the guides Petigax, Henri and Emil Brocherel, started on what they realised was the final assault. At first all went well. But as they climbed mists settled on the mountain, and the snow got so soft that they sank in 2 ft. or more at every step. Yet "their fatigue was not very great" until at 24,278 ft. they reached a steep outcrop of rock. "Directly they had to climb with FIG. 2.-Southern view of K2. From "Karakoram and Western Himalaya." July 10 that camp was pitched on Chogo Lisa 1 "Karakoram and Western Himalaya, 1909: An Account of the Expedition of H.R.H. Prince Luigi Amedeo of Savoy." By Filippo de Filippi. With a preface by H. R. H. the Duke of the Abruzzi. Vol. i., pp. xvii+469+ plates; vol. ii., plates and maps. (London: Constable and Co., Ltd., 1912.) Price 634. net. hands as well as feet, great difficulty in breathing became apparent," and it cost two hours to reach the highest rocks at 24,600 ft. A steep corniced snow-ridge stretched vaguely up into the mist. The recurring tragedies on the Lyskamm are an eloquent warning to all climbers against persistence in face of such dangers. The Duke waited vainly for two hours in the hope that the mist would lift, but at 3.30 p.m. was forced to retreat. Fortune was against the attainment of the highest peak-and in high mountain and polar regions weather is fortune-but the "man-level " was raised by 700 ft. It is almost impossible for the uninitiated to realise the courage and fortitude called for by such a feat. For seventeen days they were never below 18,000 ft., and of these nine were spent at or FIG. 3.-Empty basin of glacial lake. Himalaya." some branch of physical science. He appears to be familiar with the whole of the literature of his region, and gives so many references to the writings of his predecessors and other authorities that his book has the further merit of being, in the best sense, a work of reference. The author's suggestive discussion of the past history of the Indus valley is of particular interest, but cannot be dealt with in this brief notice. Naturally glacial phenomena occupy most of his attention, and he throws new light on several vexed questions. The puzzling fact that the greatest glaciers of this region lack terminal moraines is ascribed to the immobility of their lower reaches. In a very long glacier lying in a narrow trough any increment shows itself by a rapid advance of the snout. The glacier overshoots itself, and if the increment is only temporary and the excess of pressure abates, this overshot portion becomes, in effect, merely a mass of stagnant, dead ice. mers has reached, quite independently, a similar conclusion in regard to some of the glaciers of Russian Turkestan. Probably the few large boulders which do reach the snout of these great glaciers quickly sink below the surface of the water-soaked plain of glacial débris which is such a typical feature at the snouts of most of these glaciers. Rick The fact that the most careful barometric readings consistently gave lower values than trigono. metrical observations suggests a reference to variations in gravity. It is by research on the lines adopted by Burrard that we may eventually look for an answer, and this problem is one of the many which the author has placed on the programme of his expedition to Baltistan and Ladak for 1913-14. The author agrees with Ujfalvy in ascribing to the Baltis an Aryan rather than a Mongol ancestry. It is pleasant to read of the excellent relations existing between the Italians and their Balti coolies, for whom the author has nothing but praise and admiration, and to whom he frankly acknowledges much of the success of the expedition was due. The geological results are specially dealt with in an appendix. The most striking discovery was that the main axis of the Gasherbrum range consisted of sedimentary rocks, notably conglomerates and marbles. These are continued into the Teram Kangri range north of From "Karakoram and Western the Siachen glacier, and quite probably still further to the eastward. above 21,000 ft. None of the party suffered from mountain sickness, and it is obvious that the limit of man's endurance has not yet been reached. The barometer stood at 12'35 in.: a further drop of only about 16 in. would be registered on the top of Mount Everest. But the successful aspirants will be very exceptional individuals-and of a consummate resolution Dr. de Filippi has produced much more than an interesting and readable account of a memorable mountaineering expedition. Almost every chapter gives him occasion for the discussion of The narrative is enriched with numerous illustrations by Vittorio Sella, that prince of mountain photographers; it is impossible to praise them too highly. In a separate case, uniform with the narrative volume, are placed a very remarkable series of large panoramas. These with the maps combine with the letterpress to give an extraordinarily vivid description of the region dealt with, especially of the Baltoro glacier. A useful innovation is that the indices are placed in a loose fascicle along with the panoramas and maps, which obviates the difficulty of reference so distracting with a heavy volume. A CRITICISM OF MODERN METHODS OF MEDICAL EDUCATION.1 THE report drawn up by Mr. Flexner for the Carnegie Foundation is a sequel to the report on medical education in the United States and Canada issued in 1910. Primarily intended for the guidance of medical education in the United States, the report deals so fully with conditions in Germany, Austria, France, England, and Scotland, and adopts so critical an attitude towards them, that it must compel the attention not only of those directly concerned, but of educational authorities everywhere. The report opens with an historical sketch of the rise of modern medicine, and is followed by a chapter on the number and distribution of physicians in the countries under review. We learn that the medical profession is overcrowded both in countries like Austria and Germany, where the practitioner is educated entirely on a high university basis, and in countries like our own, where medical qualifications of varying standards, some undeniably low, are obtained partly in universities and partly in proprietary schools under the control of the medical and surgical corporations. A later chapter in the report shows how quackery flourishes in Great Britain and Germany, a phenomenon Mr. Flexner attributes solely to the laws which permit it. Incidentally he remarks upon the inconsistency of British law which throws all manner of restrictions upon properly qualified men of science in experimentation upon the lower animals, but allows medical and surgical practice upon human beings without evidence as to training, competency, or skill, provided only the practitioner does not assume an unearned title. From a purely educational point of view the most interesting part of the report is that which deals with the nature and standard of the medical preliminary examinations, and with the position of the preliminary sciences, physics, chemistry, and biology. The conditions in Germany, France, and Great Britain are closely reviewed, and much valuable information is collected. The German system of secondary-school leaving certificates, and the somewhat similar French system, are favourably considered; the want of method, multiplicity, and low standard of some of the British medical preliminaries receive severe condemnation. The work of the General Medical Council in raising the standard of the preliminary is acknowledged, but the condition of secondary-school education in England, though improving, is still lamentably poor, proprietary interests in the medical schools, and even in the universities, constitute a formidable barrier to progress, and the General Medical Council is not vested with sufficient legal authority to enforce everything it deems desirable. The existence in Great Britain of proprietary interests in the teaching of medicine meets with severe criticism throughout the report; again and again vested interests are held responsible for inefficient teaching, low standards, and other evil influences. While we can agree with the author in many of his strictures, it must be remembered that the proprietary conditions have often been the only ones possible in a country which prides tions. It must be remembered, too, that this reitself upon the voluntary character of its instituport is drawn up for an educational body in the United States, where the proprietary medical school is a source of much scandal. The president of the foundation, in an introduction to the report, states that if the lowest terms upon which a medical school can exist abroad were applied to America, three-fourths of the existing American schools would be closed at once. Mr. Flexner advocates the omission of physics, chemistry, and biology from the overcrowded medical curriculum, and would have them taught in the secondary schools. Much of this part of the report is a plea for the development of efficient secondary schools in which higher mathematics, the sciences, and German must replace the timehonoured classics. Laboratory development is found to be very uneven in Great Britain as compared with Germany. Anatomy is too much drilled into the students by repeated lectures and demonstrations; more practical work is necessary, but is largely restricted by insufficiency of material. British physiology receives a high tribute, but is hampered by the student's lack of preliminary training in physics and chemistry, and by the anti-vivisection laws. Pharmacology barely exists but for a few notable exceptions. Pathology suffers by the separation of its laboratories from the post-mortem departments of the hospitals, by lack of funds for research, and by sentimental objections to pathological experimentation which carry great weight in hospitals chiefly supported by voluntary contributions. Clinical instruction, the medical curriculum, and the position and standard of the professional examinations are each considered separately in the case of Germany, Great Britain, and France. Clinical education in England is essentially practical, and at graduation the English product is more dexterous than the German, but the latter is held to have received the more stimulating scientific training, and one which will eventually carry him further. The English graduate lacks ideas, the German lacks practice. Criticism is abundant and frankly bestowed. The clinical school in Great Britain is accused of being unproductive of research, and wanting in scientific ideals. The German clinician and the British physiologist seek advancement by scientific achievement. The English medical man is able and practical, makes a good physician and surgeon, but is empiric, and only occasionally a contributor to scientific knowledge. The report is bound to excite adverse criticism, for it is often detailed and very frank. It is the work of an educational expert who has certain ideals, and does not hesitate to show how far existing conditions differ from them. Strong opinions are given on the vexed question of the London hospital medical schools, and on the constitution of London University. How far the recommendations are practical is a question that must be left for the authorities concerned to decide. It is certainly desirable that London as a teaching centre of medicine should not occupy a position inferior to the great schools of Berlin, Vienna, and Paris. Whatever we may think of some of the author's criticisms, one cannot but admire the ability and thoroughness with which he has collected information and drawn up his report. Educationists generally, and medical teaching authorities in particular, owe a debt of gratitude to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. LIQUID IN CRYSTALS AND THE X-RAY WORK. N two memoirs contributed to the current volume of the Verhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins, Karlsruhe, Prof. O. Lehmann gives a valuable summary of his wellknown researches on the so-called liquid crystals, and reviews the proofs now available of molecular structure and of the operation of molecular forces, and especially the tangible proofs of the actual existence of molecules. Naturally, the most interesting part of such a communication from Prof. Lehmann is the expression of his views concerning the most recent of such proofs, afforded by the experimental work of Laue, Friedrich, and Knipping with X-rays and crystals at Munich and Zurich. The events leading up to this remarkable development are clearly indicated, and their individual significance emphasised. From the initial stages of the kinetic theory of gases in the days of Count Rumford and Robert Mayer-the former of whom was connected with Munich, and is there represented by a fine statue-to the reflection of X-ray electromagnetic waves from the invisible parallel planes of atoms in the interior of a crystal, and the impression of the systematic symmetry of the crystal on a photographic plate by the reflected rays, is a long step. It will be with universal consent that Prof. Lehmann hails this new work as of richest consequence not only to crystallography, but to general physics. He considers it the first practical proof of the existence of those molecular forces which he has so long contended for as causing the deposition, layer upon layer in regular order, of the chemical molecules in their erection of the edifice of a crystal--that is, in the production of a three-dimensional grating or "space-lattice." One of the surest signs of the magnitude of the discovery made at Munich is the fact that the experiments, as on the occasion of the discovery of radium, are being repeated and extended by numerous workers all over the world, as the columns of NATURE, in which many of the results have been described, have lately abundantly test fied. It is a generally accepted maxim amongst men of science that the pioneer of a new discovery should be permitted to work out undisturbediy its further development, and it is sincerely to be hoped that Prof. Laue and Drs. Friedrich and Knipping will be able to carry their work to its logical conclusion. The bearing of the discovery on Prof. Bragg's theory of X-rays has, however, fully justified its further independent investigation by him and by his son, Mr. W. L. Bragg, who has crystallographic knowledge, and has added very considerably to the subject, both by further experiments and by an explanation which agrees with the crystallographic facts in a most remarkable manner. There are indications that the near future will see a surprising further development in the direction of arriving at the absolute dimen sions of the cells of the space-lattice-that is, of the actual distances separating the chemical atoms, thus converting the topic axial ratios, which have been so useful a conception for affording us the relative dimensions of the cells in related compounds, into absolute spacial values. Moreover, the dimensions of the material parts of the atoms themselves appear likely to be also determinable within definite narrow limits, for the reflector, the atom, must be larger than the wave reflected, and it is now clearly proved that an ordinary reflection, and not a diffraction effect, is in question. Another secondary result is that the intensity of the reflection is proving a direct function of the density with which the atoms are strewn in the reflecting plane, thus affording us an experimental means of carrying out Prof. von Fedorow's quest for the primary facial planes, so as to arrive at a proper descriptive setting for the crystal; for these primary planes, sometimes obscured by fortuitous better development of other planes on the exterior of the crystal, are invariably those most densely strewn with the atomic points. For a discussion of the physics of the whole subject, especially as regards the position immediately before the Munich discovery, the two memoirs of Prof. Lehmann forming the subject of this notice may with advantage be consulted. A brief abstract of some of the most recent work of Mr. W. L. Bragg will be found in the report of the proceedings of the Mineralogical Society of June 17 (see NATURE of June 26, p. 441). A. E. H. TUTTON. THE PILTDOWN skull. AMONG the questions discussed by the anatomical section of the International Congress of Medicine was the date and reconstruction of the famous Piltdown skull. At South Kensington the fossil portions of the skull have been put together by Dr. Smith Woodward so as to represent a being partly ape, partly human, and named Eoanthropus dawsonii. From this model the brain gives a capacity of 1076 c.c.-an amount intermediate between the highest anthropoid and the highest form of man. Dr. Smith Woodward fixes its date in the very early Pleistocene period, contemporary with the well-known Heidelberg jaw. Prof. Rutot, of Brussels, assigns the Piltdown stratum of gravel in which the remains were found to the latter part of the Pliocene period. If these views be accepted, it is of much earlier date than the remains of Neanderthal man recently discovered in France; and while Prof. Rutot estimates the duration of the Pleistocene period at 150,000 years, Prof. Penck, one of our greatest authorities on the Glacial period, estimates its duration from half a million to a million and a half of years. On the other hand, Prof. Keith, of the Royal College of Surgeons, has articulated the portion of the skull to represent a large and well-modelled human head with a brain capacity of 1500 c.c in amount slightly above the average of modern human brains. The difficulty of accepting Dr. Smith Woodward's reconstruction is in believing that Eoanthropus could be transformed into modern man in the short period represented by the first half of the Pleistocene period. On the other hand, to quote the admirable summary of the question in The Times of August 11, "if Prof. Keith is right, then it is quite possible that mankind may have reached the stage represented by the Galley Hill remains before the middle of the Pleistocene period. If Dr. Smith Woodward is right, we have to seek the beginnings of our modern culture and civilisation at the middle of the Pleistocene period; if his opponent's reconstruction is well founded, we have to go a whole geological period further back-perhaps a million of years-to find the dawn of modern man and his culture." In the discussion which took place, reported in The Times of August 12, the weight of scientific opinion seems to have been decidedly in favour of the views of Prof. Keith. But the importance of the question is so vital to the science of anthropology that we may be well advised to await further developments of the controversy. HELMINTHS AND CANCER. IN a memoir recently published,1 Dr. Johannes Fibiger brings forward strong evidence in support of the view, by no means novel, that the lesions of the tissues produced by parasitic worms may act as the starting-point for the development of cancerous growths and tumours. The author found in wild rats a disease of the oesophagus and stomach characterised by an epithelial proliferation and inflammation leading, in pronounced cases, to a papillomatous growth which was the precursor of a malignant epithelioma. Examination of the primary lesions revealed the presence of a nematode worm, an undescribed species of Spiroptera. From a series of experiments it was concluded that cockroaches (Periplaneta americana and P. 1 Oversigt Kg Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Forhandlinger, 1913, No. 1. orientalis) serve as intermediate hosts for the Spiroptera. The cockroach becomes infected by ingesting eggs of the worm which are passed out in the excrement of the rat; the eggs develop in the cockroach and the embryos of the worm become localised in the striated muscles of the prothorax and the legs. The rats become infected by eating cockroaches, and the embryos of the worm, set free from their cysts, attack the epithelium of the stomach, sometimes also that of the oesophagus or buccal cavity, and develop into the adult nematode, the cause of the lesions already mentioned. From his investigations the author concludes that all the anatomical alterations are due to toxic products of the nematode. From the primary lesions caused by the nematode secondary metastases may be produced in other organs. The metastases contain neither the parasites nor their eggs. The development of the metastases is ascribed to the faculty of the epithelial cells to multiply in other organs independently of the parasite. The author thus confirms the view put forward by Borrel and others that nematodes may produce malignant tumours in rats and mice, and considers it not improbable that in human pathology also cancerous tumours may owe their origin in some cases to the presence of helminths. NOTES. A CIRCULAR from the Institut International de Physique Solvay informs us that a sum of 20,000 francs is available for the encouragement of experimental work in physics and physical chemistry, particularly for investigations on radiation phenomena (Röntgen rays and those of radio-active bodies) and for studies of the theory of energy quanta and of molecular theories. Grants from the fund will be awarded, without distinction of nationality, by the administrative commission of the institute on the recommendation of the international scientific committee. The administrative commission is composed of Profs. P. Heger, E. Tassel, and J. E. Verschaffelt, Brussels, and the scientific committee of M. H. A. Lorentz, president, Haarlem; Mme. M. Curie, Paris; M. Brillouin, Paris; R. B. Goldschmidt, Brussels; H. Kamerlingh-Onnes, Leyden; W. Nernst, Berlin; E. Rutherford, Manchester; E. Warburg, Berlin; and M. Knudsen, secretary, Copenhagen. Applications for grants should be made before September 15 to Prof. H. A. Lorentz, Zijlweg 76, Haarlem, Holland. They should state precisely what problems are to be investigated, the proposed means of inquiry, and the amount required, in order that the committee may have before it all details necessary in considering the awards to be made. An exhibit illustrating the damage caused to biscuits sent out in soldered tins for the use of the troops in South Africa-especially during the Boer war-Gibraltar, Malta, Ceylon, &c., has just been placed in the central hall of the British Museum (Natural History), where it will be kept open about a month. The larvæ of certain minute moths and beetles were the active agents; and it appears that since these |