NATURE
No. 3908
SA T U RD A Y, SEPTEM BER 23, 19-44 Vol. 154
CONTENTS
Scientific and Industrial Ressarch.— V
373
Fossils and Rock Chronology. By Dr. L. R. Cox
377
The Consequences of Frustration. By Dr. John Cohen 378
Berkeley’s Philosophical Notes. By Prof. A . D. Ritchie 380
An Astronomical Text-book. By Prof. H. C. Plummer,
F.R.S.............................................................................380
Chemistry of W heat. By Dr. D. W . Kent-Jones
381
Meteorites or Springs as Geological Agents? By Dr.
E. B. Bailey, F.R.S........................................................ 383
Pavlov’s W o rk on Higher Nervous A ctivity and its
Development in the U.S.S.R. By Freda M. Thomas 385
The Royal Naval Scientific Service
.
.
.
.
388
Obituaries :
Sir A rthur Smith Woodward, F.R.S. By Prof.
D. M. S. W atson, F.R.S........................................ 389
Prof. S. P. Mercer, O.B.E. By Dr. A. E. Muskett . 389
Prof. Leo F. Goodwin. By Sir Robert Robertson,
K.B.E., F.R.S......................................................... 390
Dr. M. C. Mott-Smith
.
.
.
.
.
390
News and Views
.
.
.
.
. 391
Letters to the Editors :
Phytic Acid and Phytase in Cereals.— Sir Edward
Mellanby, K.C.B., F.R.S........................................ 394
Catelectrotonic Potentials in the Dorsal Roots of
the Spinal Cord.— Prof. John C. Eccles, F.R.S. . 395
Mechanism of Burrowing in Arenicola marina L.—
Dr. G. P. W e l l s ..............................................396
Sewage Bacteria Bed Fauna in its Natural Setting.
— Dr. LI. L l o y d ..............................................397
Imperial Forestry Institute, Oxford.— Prof. H. G.
Champion, C.I.E. .
.
.
.
.
.
397
Structure of Cellulose.— Dr. F. T. Peirce
398
Cloud Chamber Photographs of Penetrating
Showers.— Dr. G. D. Rochester
399
Volcanic Contributions to the Atmosphere and
Ocean.— Prof. C. A. Cotton
.
.
.
.
399
The Deflexion of Light and Relativity.— Prof. V. V.
Narlikar
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
400
The Commutation of Annual Subscriptions.— Dr.
David Heron .
.
.
.
.
.
.
400
Mr. W . L. Sclater.— K. H. Barnard
. 401
Occasional Whiteness of the Dead Sea. By Dr. R .t
Bloch, H. Z. Littman and Dr. B. Elazari-Volcani
402
Indian University Architecture .
.
.
.
.
403
East African Archaeology. By M. C. Burkitt
404
Quartz Crystal Model
.
.
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.
.
.
405
Colour Television
.
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.
.
405
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SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL
RESEARCH.-V
I
N our survey of the strategy of research we have
already noted th a t, in addition to their functions
in training the research workers required by the
nation, the universities have an essential place in the
organization for research, especially in regard to
fundamental research. We have still to consider the
tactics By which the fullest use can be made of the
universities in this organization without detrim ent to
the highest traditions and ideals of the universities,
either in teaching or in the intellectual and spiritual
service of the community. Furthermore, in con­
sidering the broad objectives towards which our
programmes of research should be directed we have
seen the need for some co-ordinating authority in our
research structure, competent to review the broad
programmes, to assess th eir importance and relevance
to national needs and to determine the gaps which
m ay require filling or the sectors which m ay require
strengthening, either from the point of view of
scientific advance or of the needs of society.
We come now, therefore, to a fuller consideration
of the type of organization which is required to serve
our strategy and the tactical modifications or
developments which m ay be desirable in the existing
structure to fulfil our purposes more effectively.
T hat existing structure has received strong criticism
in recent months, and it is appropriate in the first
place to consider th a t criticism in fuller detail. In
the m ain such criticism has been concerned with the
lack of co-ordination particularly w ith reference to
the planning of research, as was pressed in the House
of Lords debate last year and again in the debate on
research and scientific knowledge in the House of
Commons last April. Dr. P. Dunsheath urged in his
Atkinson Memorial Lecture th a t industrial research
requires a live central co-ordinating secretariat. That
was also the main reason for the London Chamber of
Commerce proposing, in its report on scientific
industrial research, the establishment of a strong
central research board to act as a co-ordinating and
directing body for all research organizations and to
be the link between the Government and the research
activities of the country a t large.
T hat criticism is also reflected in the statem ent of
the Association of Scientific Workers, “A Post-W ar
Policy for Science” . The survey of the organization
of science contained in this statem ent leads to four
m ain comments. First, the latest developments in
our war-time organization have not in many fields
satisfactorily linked research to requirements.
Secondly, lack of central direction has produced a
lack of balance in the development of science, as
shown by the entirely disproportionate lack of
development of biology as compared w ith the physical
sciences. Third, the same cause, and the practice of
private industry, lead to unnecessary and wasteful
use of scientific effort. Finally, the whole scale and
scope of research appears to be inadequate to supply
the country’s needs after the War.
Some of these points are made also in th e severe
374
N A T U R E
criticism of the existing structure to be found in an
article, “Research, Intelligence and A dm inistration”,
by Prof. H arold J . Laski in a series of articles on “PostW ar Machinery of Government” in The Political
Quarterly. Prof. Laski argues th a t there is little co­
ordination, no effective machinery for publicity, and no
real attem p t to integrate th e work and needs of
government departm ents w ith those of outside bodies.
All m ajor scientific institutions—th e Royal Society,
the Royal Institution, th e university laboratories,
the B ritish Association—depend on private bene
factions for their m ain opportunities.
Of the sixteen points in which Prof. Laski finds
the present organization defective, some are clearly
m atters of tactics rather th an organization, though
they m ay be due p artly to bad organization—for
example, the inadequacy of th e salaries and status
of Government research workers.
Mostly th eir
relevance in th is connexion is clear enough, and
w ithout necessarily accepting their validity they may
be briefly summarized as follows.
The funds a t th e disposal of research are utterly
inadequate. The p attern of adm inistrative organiza­
tion is awkward, lacking in integration and defective
in comprehensiveness. The relation of research to
adm inistration is gravely defective, and th e control
of research is m ostly in the hands of men w ith no
serious acquaintance w ith the possibilities of either
natural or social sciences. There is no properly
thought out policy for long-term research or any
planned attem pt to use th e universities or bodies like
the Royal Society to conduct independent investiga­
tions into problems w ith which th e com m unity is
concerned.
No proper m ethod exists in any government
departm ent for securing awareness of relevant work
achieved by scientific workers in foreign countries—
a defect which is specially m arked w ith regard to the
U.S.S.R.
The present system also sacrifices the
endowment of research to th e easy m ethod of direct
subsidy to industry, indicating a tendency to the
short-term in place of th e long-term view, which in
such fields as n u tritio n is clearly detrim ental to the
national interest.
Relations between th e Government and the social
and natural sciences are in Prof. Laski’s view
dominated by the theological inheritance of our
society and by th e individualistic approach. Again,
he takes exception to th e age of those who are
charged w ith th e direction of these relations and he
also points to th e dangers in th e implications of the
relation between th e adm inistrator and industry in
the existing system. Finally, he comments on th e
inherent inertia or desire of departm ents to let well
alone, and on the slight opportunity for th e research
worker in th e natural or social sciences to show his
powers as an adm inistrator save by a c c id e n t: all
the vital places are in effect reserved for th e adm inis­
trativ e grades of th e Service.
Now th a t is a formidable list, and th e gravamen of
th e indictm ent is increased b y th e fact th a t most of
the criticisms are substantiated b y comments in
Parliam entary debates and in th e numerous reports
and papers on scientific and industrial research from
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944,
v o l.
154
different sources which have appeared during the last
year or so. Prof. Laski’s thought, however, is very
clearly coloured by his political approach, as is
evident from th e nature of his observations on the
m ajor changes th a t are required. Furthermore, his
preoccupation w ith the political—and it might be
argued th e p arty—aspect of the problem has led
him to ignore the m erits or advantages of the present
system, and the principles which our consideration of
th e strategy and objectives of research has already
led us to postulate.
Prof. Laski’s conclusion indicates th a t he is con­
cerned more w ith a political thesis th an to elucidate
the form of organization which will best serve
the principles and objectives which have been
adum brated in our survey of the strategy of research.
The validity of his particular criticisms m ay be
adm itted and measures m ust be adopted to guard
against th eir effects in whatever type of organization
of research m ay be set up. The nature of th a t
organization, however, should not be dictated
prim arily by political considerations b u t by the
requirements of research and the principles which in
practice have best secured its effective im plementa­
tion, even though the tim e m ay be ripe for im partial
re-exam ination of the whole question of the structure
of industry from the point of view of social and
economic efficiency and research.
T h at is the main reason why, in spite of wide­
spread recognition of m any of the defects in the
present organization, there has been little evidence
of a demand for fundam ental change. Prof. A. E.
Trueman in his pam phlet “Science and the F u tu re”,
for example, examines the situation far more
objectively th a n Prof. Laski, and concludes th at, so
far as the planning of science is possible, it can su it­
ably be achieved w ithin the organization already
available. The existing organization is loose and
flexible, b u t provides a sound basis for extending a
working combination of Government assistance and
direction w ith the help of voluntary workers. While
it makes possible a general control, it leaves a large
measure of individual liberty, and in particular the
intellectual and professional freedom which is
vital.
The development or modification of existing
institutions which w ithin their respective spheres are
effective is so in accordance w ith the tradition of
B ritish methods th a t strong reasons should be forth­
coming before we proceed to discard them entirely
and replace them by fresh instruments. No such
reasons are forthcoming in Prof. Laski’s criticism,
which, it will be noted, is in the m ain of the adm inistra­
tive side. Much of it, moreover, is in keeping with
the essential point in the criticism of the machinery
of government to be found in the reports of the
Select Committee on N ational Expenditure, in the
Planning Broadsheets and in the earlier report of the
Haldane Committee : we need effective machinery
for the planning and co-ordination Of general policy.
In research as elsewhere, our organization must
provide, in the words of the Haldane report, “for
th e organised acquisition of facts and information,
and for the systematic application of thought, as
no.
3908, S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944
N A T U R E
preliminary to the settlem ent of policy and its sub­
sequent adm inistration” .
I f a modified or developed organization meets th is
requirement we shall have- m et th e m ain points of
Prof. Laski’s criticism, in so far as th a t is properly
relevant to organization and is not concerned either
with the quality or ability of adm inistrative per­
sonnel or w ith th e financing or endowment of research.
There are, however, other and even more v ital con­
siderations to be taken into account before deciding
on w hat form our structure of research should take,
or what modifications m ay be required in th e existing
organization.
F urther, there are certain special
problems a t the present tim e which m ust be handled
by th a t organization and for which new instrum ents
may be required.
First, it follows from w hat we have already said
regarding the precedence of personnel over organiza­
tion, th a t our organization for research m ust be such
th a t not merely does it secure th e most effective use
of research workers in furtherance of our research
objectives, b u t also it m aintains th e enthusiasm and
initiative and originality which are vital factors in
creative work.
To keep the adm inistrative side im aginatively
al ive to such issues and sensitive to trends of opinion
may well involve further attention to the question
of intelligence as p a rt of our research structure, but
th a t aspect can be more profitably considered w ith
reference to th e broader question of education and
information in relation to the utilization and support
of research. This question of freedom in relation to
organization and planning is also of vital importance
in considering some of those problems in th e organiza­
tion of research which are specially prom inent a t the
present tim e, particularly in regard to th e place of
the universities. As has been pointed out in a recent
article in The Economist, all the evidence points to a
growing dependence of our universities upon State
assistance as compared w ith fees or private and
independent endowments.
T hat circumstance of itself would demand extra
vigilance to ensure th a t there is no weakening of the
independence of the universities and of the essential
freedom of inquiry and of teaching. The desirability,
if not the necessity, of relating the universities more
intim ately w ith th e research effort of th e country as
a whole so as to facilitate the planning of th a t effort
more effectively, and th e obvious importance of some
further measure of co-operation between th e univer­
sities themselves so as to secure the adequate endow­
ment and staffing of whatever additional schools of
research or teaching may be required while avoiding
redundancy, also compel consideration of new
measures of reorganization from m uch the same
point of view.
These are the reasons th a t have led to some
attention being redirected to th e constitution and
functions of the University Grants Committee. T hat
Committee, Mr. Attlee stated, has recently been
reconstituted so as to perm it the association w ith it
of persons whcse services are not actively engaged in
connexion w ith a university. In the opinion of some,
such as Sir Charles G rant Robertson, such a re ­
375
inforced Committee should be able to sift the pro­
gramme of development of each university and to
analyse and value th e needs not only of each
institution b u t also of university education as a
whole. I t should probably also be competent to
co-ordinate special departm ents so th a t there will
not be avoidable duplication or overlapping, and a
single university m ay be selected to be the institution
where a particular subject can be most efficiently
pursued.
T hat opinion is not universally shared. The British
Association Committee has suggested th a t the
U niversity Grants Committee m ight function as a
Committee of the P rivy Council instead of, as a t
present, directly under the Treasury, b u t its report
also proposed the establishment of a universities’
advisory council, entirely free from Government
control. T hat was also the proposal of the P arlia­
m entary and Scientific Committee and of the
Association of U niversity Teachers, and has received
some support in the more recent report, “Science in
th e Universities”, issued by the Association of
Scientific Workers. While, however, the Association
of U niversity Teachers visualizes the proposed council
as possessing advisory functions only, some means of
providing more effective central control appears to
be required, as the Parliam entary and Scientific
Committee and the Association of Scientific Workers
clearly recognize.
The Association of Scientific Workers contemplates
th a t the power of such sub-committees would be
lim ited to advising when and where new departm ents
were needed for the investigation of newly opened
fields of knowledge. The U niversity Grants Com­
m ittee would normally act on th eir advice and
provide funds accordingly, and the research com­
m ittee which it is proposed each university should
establish to watch over departm ental activities and
present a to tal research budget to th e university for
transm ission to the U niversity Grants Committee
would also m aintain contact w ith such sub-com­
m ittees. This scheme would avoid rigid planning
and divorce the direction of research activities from
th e Treasury, b u t it does not appear to provide a
means of dealing effectively w ith the problem of
present redundancy to which Sir Ernest Simon has
so pointedly directed attention.
We m ay postulate, therefore, th a t in regard to the
universities our organization for research m ust pro­
vide some effective means for consultation and co­
operation between th e universities themselves,
whether through th e development of the U niversity
Grants Committee, through a universities advisory
council or in other ways. N ext, it m ust establish
right relations between the universities and public
bodies in which th e universities recognize th a t they
are in large p a rt public institutions w ith public duties
to perform, in providing the education and producing
th e graduates the country requires. The means pro­
vided for both these purposes m ust safeguard the
independence of th e universities and of the fullest
freedom of investigation and teaching while securing
responsiveness to the creative forces a t work in the
nation as a whole.
376
NATURE
In this question of contact between th e universities
and the community in th e organization and planning
of research, contact w ith industry is of special
im portance. We have stressed th e importance of
such contacts from th e point of view of personnel, but
more organized contacts are required from th e point
of view of th e planning of research itself. T hat is the
significance of th e Jo in t Council set up by th e
U niversity of Manchester and th e Manchester
Chamber of Commerce.
Looking a t the sphere of research for which
the Government m ay be held directly and prim arily
responsible, it has long been recognized th a t th e work
required to m aintain accurate standards of length,
tim e, weight, etc., is properly a Government respon­
sibility. Research in such sciences as astronom y and
geology also requires a large measure of Government
security. Similarly, it is right th a t such specialized
forms of industrial research as factory lighting and
ventilation, and on industrial safety should be carried
on largely under Government auspices and financed
out of public funds. Much the same applies to research
into questions of soil erosion, forestry, plant diseases,
w ater supply and m any other problems in th e
domain of agriculture or health which have a social
as well as an economic bearing.
I t is, of course, not easy to draw precise lim its as
to the extent of Government responsibilities. Already
a number of Government research stations, such as
those concerned w ith building, fuel, food, agriculture,
are in effect carrying out industrial research, but
generally speaking it m ay be said th a t this applies
to industries which are fundam ental to th e life and
well-being of the nation. I t is to be expected th a t
the Government will always have a special interest
in the industries serving these fundam ental needs,
and th a t there should be adequate provision of
research into such problems under Government au s­
pices, especially when the industries concerned are
not easily able to organize such research themselves.
From this point of view the D epartm ent of Scientific
and Industrial Research has unquestionably proved
its value and should be retained in our structure of
research. B ut over a far wider field th e Government
should be constantly on w atch for new developments
in scientific knowledge which m ay be of economic or
social value to the nation. I t was very noticeable in
the House of Commons debate last April th a t research
into medical and health problems, even where they
closely affect economic productivity, was largely over­
looked. Nor was anything said of economic a n d .
social research, and particularly the use of scientific
methods in the study of relations between hum an
beings.
I t is clear th a t even from the point of view of the
organization of research under direct Government
auspices some means of ensuring a wider view and of
effectively correlating th e work of th e Advisory
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the
Medical Research Council, th e Agricultural Research
Council and the Colonial Research Council is essential,
and th is m ust cover also th e whole social and
economic field and provide th e Government w ith the
best im partial scientific advice on all m atters of
Septem ber
23,
1944,
v o l . 154
industrial development on the application of scientific
knowledge. Obviously such an organization capable
of supplying the necessary central direction m ust be
related to the Cabinet and to the policy-making
bodies of the various sections of the Government if it
is to be aware of the national problems concerned.
These could well be the essential functions of the
Scientific Advisory Committee of the W ar Cabinet,
and Dr. H aden Guest’s proposal th a t this should
form a perm anent p a rt of our machinery of Govern­
m ent m ight in principle meet the need, though its
term s of reference as set forth in the W hite Paper
on Scientific Research and Development m ust be
enlarged and the details will require elaboration. The
Association of Scientific Workers has suggested the
establishment of a N ational Research and Develop­
m ent Council responsible to the Lord President of the
Privy Council. The suggestion of a Ministry of
Science is unlikely to be as satisfactory for reasons
which were well stated by Mr. Attlee in a reply to
Mr. W ootton-Davies in the debate. Co-ordination is
not the same as centralization, and it is im portant to
retain as much flexibility as possible in our organiza­
tio n and to aim a t the permeation of all Departments
of State w ith some understanding and appreciation
of the scientific method and outlook.
W hen we have thus provided for the effective
organization of research in the universities and under
direct Government auspices there will remain a large
field of applied research to be undertaken by private
industry. I t m ust be recognized th a t here there can
be no question of formal organization from outside,
any more th a n there can be such organization of
fundam ental research a t the universities. In the
discussions on industrial research during the last two
years, while it has been clearly recognized th a t the
Government has certain responsibilities in this field
and th a t neglect of research has been an im portant
factor in the depressed condition of some industries,
w ith consequences in the national economy which no
Government can wisely ignore, there has been no
suggestion th a t the Government should do more than
provide the most favourable conditions for stim ulat ing
research, whether in its fiscal and taxation policy
and by the allowances made for obsolescence or by
its attention to the supply of scientific workers
through an adequate policy of scientific education.
The essential function is th a t of encouragement, and
the Nuffield College statem ent firmly rejects the idea
of direct financial aid to the research expenditure of
private firms, beyond w hat may be granted in the
form of ta x remissions.
One reason for rejecting any such proposal is th at
no such concession would be made on general lines
w ithout extending public control over the research
thus aided, and such control over industrial research
in the direction of the discovery of new products and
new processes or on the improvement and simplifica­
tion of existing processes and the discovery of new
raw materials would probably be both unwelcome
and impracticable. None the less, industrial research
m ust be included w ithin the general framework of
the nation’s organization for research, partly because
of this recognized responsibility of the Government
no. 3908, S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944
N A T U R E
for encouraging such research in appropriate ways,
partly also because of the S tate’s responsibility for
seeing th a t th e field is adequately covered, and partly
for the reason th a t th e invaluable interchange of
personnel between pure and applied research and the
contacts which are so stim ulating cannot be secured
w ithout some regard on th e p a rt of th e State to the
general conditions of industrial research.
There is another reason for some closer considera­
tion of applied or industrial research by th e State.
We have already seen th a t in certain industries
fundamental to th e national welfare th e Government
has already in its own research stations assumed
direct responsibility for much of th e research required.
Suggestions have also been made th a t there is need in
Great B ritain for institutions of the type of the Mellon
Institute of Industrial Research or the Massachusetts
In stitute of Technology to provide either an organiza­
tion in which research workers can be delegated to
study specific industrial problems or to cover problems
which are common to m any industries but th e con­
cern of none in particular, as, for example, chemical
engineering.
The problem is well p u t in th e Nuffield College
statem ent, b u t th a t statem ent makes no recom­
mendation th a t public funds should be applied to
this purpose. Clearly any such project m ust be care­
fully examined from th e point of view of existing
research stations or research associations and their
development, and also in regard to developments a t
the universities. No decision on such a point could
well be reached except a t th e level of such a
Scientific Advisory Committee as we have already
adum brated.
The place of th e research associations demands a
little further attention. D oubts have frequently been
expressed as to th e extent of their effectiveness, b u t
in view of th e num ber of small units in m any
industries and th e growing cost of equipm ent, co­
operative research of th is type m ust probably find
a more or less perm anent place in our research
organization. Large laboratories m ay be required for
research both of th e convergent or divergent type,
and it m ay also be advantageous for some of the
smaller industries to attach themselves to research
institutions m aintained by larger industries which
are technically related to them . Moreover, considera­
tion m ust also be given to th e question of th e extent
to which th e research associations themselves would
be responsible for some of th e fundam ental research
required, thus supplementing th a t in progress a t the
universities.
The assistance or encouragement which th e State
may be expected to give to industrial research will
thus vary w ith th e nature of th e industry and w ith
the size of the constituent firms. I t is thus imperative
th a t our organization should be flexible and th a t th e
Government policy should be as fully informed as
possible—a further and fundam ental reason for a
co-ordinating secretariat and inform ation centre for
industrial research. No scientific advisory council can
function effectively unless it is provided w ith
adequate and efficient fact-finding instrum ents unon
which its policy can be based.
377
FOSSILS AND ROCK
CHRONOLOGY
Index Fossils of North America
A New W ork based on th e complete revision and reillustration of G rabau and Shim er’s “N orth American
Index Fossils” . B y Prof. H ervey W. Shimer and
Prof. R obert R . Shrock. Pp. ix + 837 (303 plates).
(New York : Jo h n Wiley and Sons, Inc. ; London :
Chapman and H all, Ltd., 1944.) 20 dollars.
CENTURY and a quarter have passed since
W illiam Sm ith’s “S trata Identified by Organized
Fossils” (1816-19), w ith its figures of some 160
B ritish fossils, made the long-delayed announcement of
the discovery indicated in its title. The subsequent
correlation of sedimentary rocks throughout the world
has largely depended on the application of this dis­
covery. Included microfossils now often enable the
oil geologist to ascertain the horizon of the smallest
sample from one of his borings ; coal seams m ay be
identified by fossil shells in the associated shales. In
such ways has the study of fossils become of great
practical help to mankind.
There is no doubt, however, th a t the field geologist
is now very diffident about attem pting to deal per­
sonally w ith any fossils he m ay collect, so extensive
is the literature and so intricate are m odem schemes
of classification. The work under review is a notable
attem p t to remove such difficulties by presenting an
epitome of modern knowledge of American inverte­
brate palaeontology. Although nominally a revised
edition of Grabau and Shimer’s “N orth American
Index Fossils” (1909—10) it contains so much new
m atte r th a t it m ay well claim to rank as a distinct
work. Many leading American palaeontologists have
collaborated in its preparation.
An index fossil, we are informed in the introduction,
is “one which identifies and dates the strata or suc­
cession of strata in which it lies” , but since ideal
index species—forms w ith restricted stratigraphical
range and broad geographical distribution—are
comparatively rare, “a genus which has narrow stratigraphic range and rath e r broad geographic distribu­
tion is now considered an index fossil”. N otw ith­
standing its title, however, the work is by no means
restricted to genera of lim ited range, for “some genera
w ith long vertical ranges have been selected, not
because of any particular value as index fossils b u t
because they are common”, and it has, moreover,
“been thought proper to give some representatives of
each of the main taxonomic groups which m ay be
encountered in th e field” .
The prim ary object of the work is thus to serve as
a guide to the identification of genera, although it
will enable m any species, some of use as s tra ti­
graphical indexes, to be named incidentally. B y its
aid it should be found possible to ascertain to w hat
formation any assemblage of American fossils should
be referred, b u t in subdivided formations it is no
guide to the very precise horizon. Detailed zonal
work, such as has been carried out a t m any horizons
of the stratigraphical sequence by the intensive
study of such groups as the graptolites of the
Lower Palaeozoic and the ammonites of the Mesozoic,
receives no m ention. The inclusion o f a glossary
or table of form ational term s adopted in the work
would have been useful, for most non-American (and
probably m any American) readers will probably be
as ignorant o f th e positions of such formations as
A
378
N A T U R E
the “K inzers” , “Hosselkus” , “Steam boat” , and
“Pinecrest” as is the reviewer.
Grabau and Shimer’s work consisted of two
volumes totalling 1,762 pages ; its successor contains
more subject-m atter, b u t consists of a single volume
of 837 pages. The reduction, probably enforced by
w ar-time paper restrictions, has been accomplished
by th e adoption of a larger form at and more closely
spaced typo (in double columns), and b y the grouping
of all illustrations in plates. Considerable additions
have been p a rtly provided for by th e omission of
artificial keys to genera and species (such keys seldom
prove of m uch use to th e palaeontologist), by the
curtailm ent of specific descriptions, and by the
omission of chapters of a general character. Owing
to their com paratively insignificant type, names of
orders and suborders unfortunately appear sub­
ordinate to th e generic names. The illustrations,
9,400 in number, occupy no fewer th a n 303 plates,
and their general standard is excellent. Their p ro ­
fusion, even if it has m eant th e sacrifice of a certain
am ount of text, is am ply justified. In no other work
will the palaeontologist find assembled a series of
figures illustrating so m any genera of all groups. The
figures are p a rtly new and p a rtly reproduced from
standard monographs.
The search for oil in m any p a rts of the world
during recent years has given an im petus to the study
of m any groups of organisms, particularly those of
microscopic size, th e value of which as stratigraphical
indexes was formerly unsuspected. The Foram inifera
are a case in point. In the m uch enlarged section
dealing w ith th is group J . A. Cushman describes the
smaller forms, L. G. Henbest th e Fusulinidae of the
U pper Palaeozoic, and W. S. Cole th e Orbitoids of
the Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary. In other new
sections E. 13. Branson and M. G. Mehl deal w ith the
Conodonts and a group of specialists w ith the
Ostracods. A lthough fossil plants as a whole do not
fall w ithin th e scope of th e work, a concluding
chapter contains notes on a few such remains, p a r­
ticularly Charophyta, likely to be found in rock
samples searched for other microfossils.
Far-reaching changes in classification m ust always
present a problem to writers of reference books.
K iderlen’s inclusion of the Conularida in th e Ccelenterate class Scyphozoa, although far from con­
vincing, is accepted, b u t the im portant work of
Kozłowski on th e affinities of th e Graptolitoidea
(which he transfers from th e Ccelenterata to the class
Pterobranchia of th e Hemichorda) is ignored, as is
also W ithers’s separation of Turrilepas and its allies
from the Cirripedia as a new group, th e Machasridia.
A new section on th e Crinoidea, th e work of R. C.
Moore and L. R . Laudon, is one of th e outstanding
features of th e work ; particularly notable are its
clear line-drawings illustrating generic morphology.
G. A. Cooper’s section on th e Brachiopoda, also new,
deals mainly w ith th e Palaeozoic genera, those of the
Mesozoic receiving scant mention. The section on
the Pelecypoda has been curtailed w ith only slight
revision. Some genera (for example, Ptychom ya) of
real value as index fossils are now om itted. Much
more m ight have been said about th e stratigraphical
value of th e R udists (of importance in Texas and
Mexico) and of certain groups of Trigonia. Among
the genotypes cited th a t of A nthracom ya (“Naiadites
elongata Dawson” ) is incorrect, th a t of Pecten (“P .
adscensionis Osbeck” ) very debatable, and th a t of
Jan ira (“J . nitemudia,” [? intermedia]) hopelessly
misprinted. Revision of th e Gastropoda section has
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944,
v o l.
154
m ainly affected the Palaeozoic forms, dealt w ith by
J . Brookes K night. The section on the Trilobita, in
which several authorities have collaborated, gives
descriptions and figures of a large num ber of new
genera founded in recent years.
The high price of the work no doubt results from
the profuseness w ith which it is illustrated. European
palaeontologists will find it m ost valuable for reference
notw ithstanding its purely American scope.
L. R . Cox.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF
FRUSTRATION
Frustration and Aggression
By John Dollard, Neal E . Miller, Leonard W. Doob,
O. H . Mowrer and R obert R . Sears, in collaboration
w ith Clellan S. Ford, Carl Iver H ovland and Richard
T. Sollenberger. (International L ibrary of Sociology
and Social Reconstruction.) Pp. ix+ 150. (London :
Kegan Paul and Co., L td., 1944.) 1Os. fid. net.
IG H T members of the Yale In stitute of Human
Relations have co-operated to produce this book.
The result is not a mere juxtaposition of unco­
ordinated viewpoints b u t a u n ity of aim and con­
sistency in presentation which m ake the m ultiple
authorship alm ost undetectable. W hatever judg­
m ent one m ay m ake about the value of the hypo­
thesis elaborated in the book, there can be little
doubt th a t the intim ate collaboration of a team of
specialists, each w ith a distinctive training, is a
profitable way of examining a problem which has
no clear-cut frontiers and which does not fall neatly
into one of the conventional com partm ents of social
study.
The authors begin by indicating the m any diverse
forms of aggressive behaviour ungeneralized under
any one explanatory principle, and to meet this
apparent need they set up a twofold hypothesis,
first, th a t frustration always leads to aggression and,
secondly, th a t aggression is always due to frustra­
tion. They proceed then to show how the theory
provides one conceptual framework for a variety of
hum an phenomena including the process of socializa­
tion in infancy and childhood, the adjustm ents
necessitated in adolescence, criminal behaviour, the
effects of differences in political organization and the
structure of a prim itive society.
The frustration-aggression hypothesis, in one form
or another, is not new. This is recognized by the
authors, who attem p t to go farther th an earlier
theorists by giving special prominence to w hat they
regard as the inevitable consequence of frustration
on one hand and the sole cause of aggression on the
other and then scrutinizing the explanatory value
over a wide field of a hypothesis stressing this twoway relation.
Apparently, it was considered less im portant for
the purpose to examine the validity of the assum p­
tions underlying the hypothesis th an to deduce
corollaries which follow from it. Since the hypothesis
is presented not w ith any finality, b u t tentatively,
to stim ulate and guide further research, this attitude
can be justified. Nevertheless, the effect will be to
m ake m any readers regard the book as an exercise in
deductive ra th er th an inductive reasoning without
giving them sufficient confidence in the inductive
foundations on which it is based.
E
No. 3908 , S e p t e m b e r
23,
1944
N A T U R E
379
To make prem ature deductions from a generaliza­ upon the m ost obvious and im portant kind of
tion insecurely founded inductively leads to diffi­ aggressive behaviour of all, namely, collective
culties. Thus, on the principle th a t aggression is a aggression or warfare. A n early promise (p. 19) of
catharsis th a t reduces instigation to all other acts th e authors to bring “wife-beating and w ar” w ithin
of aggression, together w ith the principle of displace­ a common universe o f discourse appears to be over­
ment, it is deduced th a t various forms of aggressive­ looked in subsequent pages. The only serious refer­
ness should vary inversely if original frustration is ence to the subject is the fam iliar observation (p. 64)
held constant. One has difficulty in reconciling this th a t in view of th e process of displacement of
with the continued aggression in m any directions of aggression from in-group to out-group, “one, though
aggressor nations whose original frustration has p re­ only one, of the conditions of avoiding w ar is to
sum ably remained unchanged. Aggressive acts fre­ diminish intra-social fru stration” . I t m ay be noted
quently seem to have a way of reinforcing the instiga­ in passing th a t there are weighty considerations
tion to other such acts ra th e r th a n to operate in against any view which sees in a group phenomenon
inverse relation to them .
like m odem warfare merely a sum m ation of the
Until fairly recently th e belief th a t aggression is effects of the frustrations of individuals. F or th a t
determined by a prim ary instinct was widely accepted. m atter, it is exceedingly doubtful whether individual
This instinct was regarded as existing, as it Were, in frustration or, indeed, any process of individual
its own biological right and m anifesting itself, so to behaviour as such, can be given any prim ary signific­
speak, autonomously. Thanks to a growing under­ ance in explaining an organized group phenomenon
standing of the n ature-nurture issue, aggressiveness like modern war.
is now thought of more as an acquired characteristic
The authors’ treatm ent of crim inality calls for a
rather than as an inborn tendency. The authors’ view few words of comment. They regard the incidence
th at all aggressive behaviour is due to th e im pact of of crime as a function of the discrepancy between
the environment upon the individual m ay therefore frustration, on one hand, and anticipation of punish­
be welcomed in th a t, as a theory, it is subject to m ent on the other. I f both these factors are of'
verification and tries first to exhaust th e possibilities high or if both are of low degree, or if the former is
of explaining in term s of known before resorting to low and the la tte r is high, then crimes will tend to
unknown categories.
be few ; if, however, frustration is high and anticipa­
However, certain objections to th e traditional tion of punishm ent is low, then crimes will tend to
theory of aggressiveness as an innate tendency still be many. The difficulty here, as indeed with the
hold against the theory under consideration. For subject as a whole, is to find some measuring scale
these objections were usually based on th e observed for the basic variables. W hat is a unit of aggression
variability of behaviour in different environments, or of frustration ? Can we ever say th a t one person
inexplicable genetically, and not in accord w ith a is twice as frustrated or twice as aggressive as a n ­
conception of m ind as a rigid set o f predeterm ined other ? This difficulty is fundam ental and lies a t the
dispositions. The present hypothesis retains this root of m ental measurement. So long as the investi­
element of rigidity although it abandons the notion gator is content w ith statistical units or abstract
of innate aggressiveness. Now while there is d oubt­ frames of reference for classifying hum an behaviour,
less some relation between frustration and aggression, th e difficulty can be evaded even if the results are
m any m ay wonder whether it is justifiable to lay it psychologically not very satisfying. B ut the authors
down even as a hypothesis th a t frustration always here are more ambitious. They wish to find a few
leads to aggression. Such a theory implies an essen­ common psychological denominators under which to
tial biological connexion holding between the two embrace all the diverse phenomena of crime. They
processes. B ut m ay not th e relationship be culturally tr y to do this in an indirect way which is not very
rather th an biologically determ ined ? I f so, it is an convincing. Crime is assumed to be a species of
‘accidental’ rath er th an a necessary association. aggression simply because it is supposed to be a
Before this possibility can be wholly excluded, it response to frustration. This supposition is, in turn,
needs to be dem onstrated th a t no individual can based on correlations between the incidence of crime
respond to frustration unaggressively such as would and economic, vocational and educational status,
seem to be the case, for example, in m aternal con­ intelligence, age, health, physical appearance and
duct in general or possibly in ‘turning th e other other factors. To use these la tte r observations and
cheek’ or in masochistic behaviour. The eagerness th e ir interpretation as evidence of the frustrationto find a ‘law of N atu re’ has evidently tem pted the aggression hypothesis is to beg the question. More­
investigators to presume, too hastily, th e existence of over, a large proportion of crimes such as larceny or
a necessary relationship. Since perfect interdepend­ offences against property w ithout violence do not
ence of two variables rarely, if ever, seems to be fall under the authors’ definition of aggression as “an
encountered in hum an measurem ent, th is alone would act whose goal-response is injury to an organism
suffice to cast doubt on the validity of the hypothesis (or organism surrogate)” .
as it stands.
The fact th a t the divorced population provide a
There is yet another difficulty. According to th e disproportionate num ber of convicted persons is re ­
view p u t forward, frustration and aggression appear garded by the authors as “the m ost dram atic demon­
to be opposite ends of one continuous event or ex­ stration of all of the role of frustration in the causa­
perience w ith an arb itrary line of division between tion of crim inality” (p. 91), the assumption being
them, for if th e relationship between th e two pro­ th a t divorce is usually a frustrating event. I t seems
cesses is invariant, who is to say when the experience to be overlooked th a t divorced persons are a selected
of frustration term inates and the impulse of aggressive­ and possibly m aladjusted group and, hence, w hat­
ness begins ? I t is doubtful w hether anything is ever factors lead to the break-up of their marriages
gained by defining aggression ‘independently’ o f frus­ m ay also contribute to their increased criminality.
tration and w hether it is logically justifiable to do so.
While feeling th a t the main hypothesis has not
The limited scope of the hypothesis is brought out been adequately form ulated, the reader will be am ply
m ost, perhaps, in the relatively little light it throws rewarded by the m any illum inating rem arks scattered
380
N A T U R E
through th e pages, particularly in Chapters 4 and 5.
One example m ay be mentioned. The authors point
out th a t th e cathartic effect of aggressiveness which
follows frustration serves only to reduce th e secondary
instigation produced by frustration not, as is com­
monly assumed, the strength of th e prim ary instiga­
tion which suffered frustration.
The frustration-aggression hypothesis, even with
lim ited scope, is not simply of academic interest. All
those charged w ith th e care and upbringing of
children, w ith th e managem ent of personnel in the
various spheres of industrial and social life are fre­
quently confronted by individuals in th eir charge
who react in a hostile m anner to unavoidable fru stra­
tions. This clear discussion of the problems of ad ju st­
m ent which individuals m ust face in any society
should be of m uch practical value. F u rth e r verifica­
tion o f th e theoretical basis will be welcomed.
J o h n Co h e n .
BERKELEY’S PHILOSOPHICAL
NOTES
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944,
v o l.
154
and indexes. The value of these can be seen by taking
an example a t random. . E n try No. 526 reads :
“Locke says the modes of simple Ideas besides ex­
tension and num ber are counted by degrees. I deny
there are any modes or degrees of simple Ideas.
W hat he term s such are complex Ideas as I have
prov’d by Green” . This is cryptic enough. However,
given the correct reference to Locke, to several other
entries in the “Commonplace Book” and to Berkeley’s
published work, we can then see how Locke’s te n ta ­
tive, stum bling b u t very suggestive analysis of per­
ceptual processes stim ulated Berkeley’s more precise
m in d ; how Berkeley gradually clarified his own
thinking and terminology to produce a different, far
more definite (perhaps more erroneous) statem ent.
Prof. Luce provides a guide to these interconnexions
th a t will save readers much hard work and many
m isunderstandings.
Students o f Berkeley for m any generations to
come will be grateful to Prof. Luce for this fine piece
o f work, to his publishers and printers who have
shown th a t good craftsm anship is still possible after
nearly five years of to tal war, and to Trinity College,
where Berkeley’s thinking was fostered and where his
memory is still honoured as it should be.
A. D. R i t c h i e .
Philosophical Commentaries, generally called the
Commonplace Book
By George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne. An editio
diplom atica transcribed and edited w ith In tro ­
duction and Notes by Prof. A. A. Luce. Pp. xlii + 486.
AN ASTRONOMICAL TEXT-BOOK
(London and E dinburgh : Thomas Nelson and Sons,
Elementary Mathematical Astronomy
L td ., 1944.) 73s. 6d. net.
B
y C. W. C. Barlow and Dr. G. H . Bryan. Fifth
H E m anuscript generally, b u t inaptly, called
“Berkeley’s Commonplace Book” is a document edition, revised by Sir H arold Spencer Jones. Pp.
viii+ 388.
(London: U niversity Tutorial Press,
of unique interest in philosophical literature. Berkeley
Ltd., 1944.) 12s. 6d.
took his B.A. a t T rinity College, Dublin, in 1704 a t
H IS book belongs to the peculiar class inter­
the age of nineteen. In 1709 and 1710 he published
m ediate between the popular work on astronomy
his “New Theory of Vision” and his “Principles of
on one hand and the serious technical treatise on th
H um an Knowledge” , th e two works on which his
philosophical fame has always rested. Berkeley’s other. The scope of the class is otherwise not easily
ideas were novel, b u t very clear and articulate, and defined in precise term s. Sir R obert Ball, who made
skilfully argued in these books. The only thinkers a distinctly elegant contribution to it, confessed th a t
to compare w ith him , who advanced so far so quickly, th e effort had caused him great and apparently u n ­
are Descartes and Hum e. I t is m ost fortunate th a t expected difficulty. Simon Newcomb, whose work
we can examine th e notebook in which he recorded on the popular side had been as conspicuously success­
his philosophical reflexions during th is short period ful as his labours in m athem atical astronom y were
of intense m ental activity. Prof. Luce considers th a t of th e m ost distinguished, once ventured into a
th e notes were Written during 1707-8, and th a t similar field belonging to neither. In acknowledging
Berkeley probably h ad before him a prelim inary frankly an error brought to his notice he showed himd ra ft of his theories. Thus th e “Commonplace Book” self-conscious of a pitfall to which the expert is liable
shows how his first thoughts were altered and im ­ in the attem p t to make a statem ent adapted to the
proved until they attain ed their first published form, intelligence of readers less gifted th an his usual
audience.
never greatly altered alterwards.
N either of the two original authors of the present
The m anuscript was discovered by Campbell Fraser
and published in 1871 in his edition of Berkeley’s text-book belonged to the ranks of the professional
works. U nfortunately, Fraser failed to notice th a t astronomer. T h at it possessed m erits of a distinct
th e two notebooks Berkeley used had been bound kind is attested by the fact th a t it has outlived half
together in th e wrong order, so th a t his te x t is con­ a century, during which it has reached a fifth edition,
fusing. G. A. Jo hnston’s edition of 1930 corrects while the num ber of impressions demanded has been
the principal error in chronological order. Prof. Luce, far more numerous. The th ird edition (1923) received
however, finds th a t Johnston has still got some entries the revision of Dr. A. C. D. Crommelin. B ut it may be
misplaced. There are also other inaccuracies in the suspected th a t the survival of the book is due in no
two earlier texts. Moreover, th e original document small degree to the English m ania for examinations
was damaged by sea w ater when Berkeley had it and the demand fostered thereby. I t has now re­
w ith him on his travels. P a rts were difficult to ceived a fresh lease of life a t the hands of a most
decipher in F raser’s day and are now much worse. eminent editor who has done his work well. Yet
Prof. Luce has therefore undertaken to produce a there remain traces of th a t aridity which is a natural
complete type-facsimile of all th e entries of philo­ outcome of its origin. I t m ay be hoped th a t when
sophical interest, w ith erasures, alterations and later war-time restrictions are removed an editor so
rem arks all in place. In addition he has provided eminently qualified will see his way to expound the
copious and very necessary notes, cross-references subject w ith greater freedom in his own manner.
T
T
no.
3908, S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944
NATURE
In 1892, when th e book first appeared, astronom y
seemed to have reached a peculiarly static position,
in re? lity th e unsuspected precursor of an outburst
of creative activity. In particular, th e N autical
Almanac seemed to have attain ed a settled form u n ­
likely to be changed for years to come, an d w ith it
the outlook of th e student was bounded accordingly.
Now the conditions have changed, including th e
definition of tim e ; th e N autical Almanac itself is
not the same, and it has been supplem ented by the
abridged edition for th e use of seamen and th e A ir
Almanac for the special needs of air navigation.
Moreover, th e students are n o t th e sa m e ; their
interests are professional and no longer merely
academic. Thus th e opportunities which face the
instructor in astronom y are vastly more interesting
than existed h alf a century ago, and they are different
in kind.
•
The more spectacular modern changes in th e sub­
ject-m atter of astronom y itself m ay seem to be
associated w ith th e introduction of physical m ethods
and ideas. B u t th e Astronomer R oyal has confined
his revision to bringing up to date th e exposition of
those fundam ental principles on which th e whole
subject depends, to rearranging related sections and
to providing a sound introduction to th e m ethods of
sea and air navigation now in use. An enlarged table
of astronomical constants has been added. B u t in th e
main the substance of th e work rem ains as in earlier
editions. In abstaining from incursions into astron­
omical physics the editor is doubtless justified by the
proved success of an existing model. Even w ithout
transgressing th e lim ited ideas of th e nineteenth
century some relief to the purely goniometric line of
argument m ight be found in the conception of radial
velocity and in th e rectangular co-ordinates appro­
priate to photographic projections. W ithout going
so far the Astronomer Royal has greatly improved the
structure of th e work and made m any necessary
alterations w ithin its fam iliar framework. B u t if in
happier days a fresh edition is contem plated, one is
tem pted with all respect to exclaim w ith H am let, “O !
reform it altogether” . In short, let it be a new work
inspired w ith the aim of serving as th e m aster, not the
servant, of the examiner.
H . C. P l u m m e k .
CHEMISTRY OF WHEAT
The Constituents of Wheat and Wheat Products
By Prof. C. H . Bailey. (American Chemical Society
Monograph Series, No. 96.) Pp. 332. (New Y ork :
Reinhold Publishing Corporation ; London : Chap­
man and H all, L td., 1944.) 6.50 dollars.
H E object of reviewing a book is to give readers
some information on th e au th o r an d his au thority
for writing on th e particular subject, to indicate
scope of the book and to give an im partial evaluation
of the value of th e work. This is not a particularly
difficult task in this case.
C. H . Bailey, professor of agricultural biochem istry
in the University of Minnesota, is one of th e foremost
cereal chemists in th e world. H is work, often w ith
a band of devoted students and postgraduate workers,
is well known to all workers in th a t field. H is con­
tributions, both in q u an tity an d quality, to cereal
chemistry probably exceed those of any other worker.
He was awarded th e highest honour th a t can
perhaps be given to a cereal chem ist, nam ely, the
Osborne Medal of th e American Society of Cereal
T
381
Chemists, in 1932. H e has practical experience
o f book-writing in th a t he published in 1925 a
book entitled “The Chemistry of W heat F lour” ,
which was No. 26 of th e Monograph Series of the
American Chemical Society, of which th e present
book is No. 96. Nobody, therefore, is b etter fitted
to undertake th e task of collecting together in book
form th e known facts on the constituents of wheat
an d its products. W ith characteristic painstaking
thoroughness, Prof. Bailey has for years been working
on a card index system to collect the necessary facts
for the present book.
The book has a definitely restricted scope. I t does
not deal w ith th e processing of w heat and its products,
th e chem istry of such processing such as the changes
which occur in milling and bleaching, or in the m ak­
ing of bread or confectionery goods. I t is hinted in
th e preface th a t a fu rther book dealing w ith these
and allied m atters m ay be issued later. So far as it is
possible to make such an a rb itrary division, the
present book is concerned w ith exactly w hat the
title states, namely, the nature of th e various con­
stituents, such as the proteins in w heat and its pro­
ducts, th e character of the starch, sugars, gums,
lipids, minerals, pigments, etc., present, and particu­
larly the vitam ins which are now known to exist in
th e various portions of the grain.
The vitam in
chapter is typical of the whole book in th a t it gives
a comprehensive account of practically all the im ­
p o rta n t work which has been done, especially the
recent work. W hat will be particularly appreciated
is th e fact th a t this chapter covers not only Bj and
its distribution in the grain, b u t also all the known
facts w ith respect to the presence of riboflavin,
nicotinic acid, pyridoxine, pantothenic acid and
other vitam ins in the whole grain, in various types
of flour and in offal, including germ.
The book comprises sixteen chapters. Practically
th e first half, namely, up to p. 139, is concerned
w ith the protein and other nitrogenous constituents.
This p a rt is particularly full, b u t contains much of
th e earlier work, now known to be of little value
b u t which is presum ably retained as of historical
interest and to give th e background for th e more
recent work. The book is not intended as a te x t­
book for the various industries concerned. There is
little general discussion and it consists essentially
o f a record of published scientific investigations. I t
will therefore be of particular value to future
research workers. The book is well balanced and
there are relatively few omissions to work th a t
m atters.
The comprehensiveness of the book,
although only of 332 pages, is seen from the fact th a t
there are approxim ately eight hundred names in the
authors’ index, and the references to published papers
approach 2,000. The book appears to be singularly
free from errors and m isprints, although it was
the
observed th a t in Table 112 the last column should
presum ably have been mgm. per 100 gm. and not
mgm. per lb. Incidentally, the variety of ways in
which vitam in results are recorded, such as ygm.jgin.,
mgm./100 gm., mgm ./lb., etc., are always confusing,
an d it is convenient to have th e relationship table
given on p. 282 of the book.
The book not only' fulfils a real w ant b u t also
fulfils th a t w ant well. There is a scarcity of good
books on the chem istry of w heat and its products,
an d this is true of any language. We have no hesita­
tion in recommending th is book to all advanced
workers in this field-—in fact, they cannot afford
to be w ithout it.
D . W. K e n t -J o n e s .
382
N A T U R E
Endocrine Man
A Study in th e Surgery of Sex. B y D r. L. R . Broster.
Pp. x i+ I4 4 . (London: W illiam H einemann (Medical
Books), L td., 1944.) 12s. 6d. net.
T is impossible to review this book in th e space
available. I t is full of ideas, records of experi­
m ental work and stim ulating discussion. E very page
of it counts. The author is a surgeon a t th e Charing
Cross Hospital, and his broad thesis is a discussion
of the origin and evolution of w hat he calls the
instinctive tripod, namely, self-preservation, growth
and sex, all of which are classified as instincts. The
chapter leading to his discussion of instinct is a
rem arkable summing up of th e development of
animals. Like th e final chapter on th e n ature of m an,
it reveals th e au th o r’s wide knowledge and outlook.
The chapters on th e evolution of species, on th e
physiology of th e autonomic nervous system and on
th e functional evolution of th e endocrine system are
no less valuable. The last-nam ed chapter introduces
the auth o r’s stu d y of virilism , feminism, in ter­
sexuality and other more obscure conditions due to
disorders of th e adrenal, th e p itu ita ry and th e genital
glands, which he has been conducting w ith his collab­
orators a t the Charing Cross H ospital for th e last
fifteen years. The book reveals some of th e rem ark­
able results which have been achieved by th e surgical
treatm ent of these disorders and discusses their
biological significance. The quality and trend of this
discussion m ay be gathered from th e au th o r’s
suggestion, based upon his experience and clinical
observation, th a t, w hatever th e genetic (chromosomal)
constitution m ay be, th is m ay be overridden by
hormonal influences.
In his last chapter th e au th o r suggests th a t slight
adaptations resulting from nervous and endocrine
control (he has already discussed th e interplay be­
tween hormones and th e functions of th e brain) could
be “inscribed in th e fram ework of th e germ cells” .
This view visualizes th e v ital role of th e endocrine
system in th e integration of development and also
suggests th a t “variable factors m ay be introduced
into the germ plasm through its hormones to account
for influences which, on th e whole, have consistently
led to the progress of m ankind” . Sir P eter Chalmers
Mitchell contributes an interesting foreword and there
is a valuable bibliography. Everyone will hope th a t
th e work of th is team , interrupted b y surgical
w ar service, will be resumed as soon as possible.
G. L a p a g e .
I
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944,
v o l.
154
if biological cure cannot be attained, clinical cure is
possible in nearly every case of early syphilis if the
patient will co-operate, and this is all th a t it is
necessary to say. A more hopeful note could have
been sounded on the length of treatm ent for syphilis
in these days when intensive treatm ent is widely
used and penicillin is ju st over the horizon.
Sheffield Burns
B y D r. W. H . Hatfield. Pp. 213. (Sheffield : J . W.
Northend, L td., 1943.) 7s. 6d.
H O RTLY before his unexpected death, Dr.
Hatfield, whose name is closely associated with
the development of special steels, had completed some
reflexions on people and things, inspired by the sight
of the great conflagration in Sheffield during the air
raids of 1940. D r. Hątfield was a devoted son of
Sheffield, and his aim in w riting was to help in its
restoration. The little book contains reminiscences of
the a u th o r’s contacts w ith scientific men and other
notable people a t home and abroad, brief accounts of
visits to industrial centres in other countries, and
expressions of personal opinion on m atters of public
interest. H is views on economic questions, based on
experience in large-scale industry, lean strongly to
th e side of private enterprise, while his remarks on
scientific and industrial research and its organization
gain weight from his own m arked success in stim u­
lating co-operative research in th e iron and steel
industry, and from his earnest advocacy of a similar
policy for industry in general. Any profits from the
sale of the little book are to be devoted to St.
D unstan’s.
S
The Statesman’s Year Book
Statistical and H istorical Annual of the States of the
W orld for the Y ear 1944. E dited by D r. M. Epstein.
Eighty-first annual publication, revised after Official
R eturns. Pp. xxxvii + 1484. (London : Macmillan
and Co., Ltd., 1944.) 30s. net.
N spite of current difficulties, the new issue of this
valuable reference volume m aintains its scope and
size. Revision of statistics has been difficult and for
m any States impossible, b u t the latest available are
given. F or m any p arts of the B ritish Commonwealth
and the U nited States figures are of a recent year.
The section on the armed forces o f the U nited States
has been extended. Other additions include a short
account of the B ritish Council and its aims, the
Middle E ast Supply Centre, and, under Australia, an
account of the A ustralian Capital Territory. The
Human Reproduction and Venereal Disease
introductory tables of comparative production of
B y D r. Jo h n Drew. Pp. 124. (London : Faber and various commodities have had to be omitted, but
Faber, L td., 1944.) 3s. 6d. net.
there is still a section on the League of Nations. A
H IS laym an’s guide to th e venereal diseases is coloured m ap shows the extent and boundaries of
wider in scope th a n th e title suggests. I t covers Poland a t various periods in the history of th a t State.
The useful book-lists for each State have been fully
hum an anatom y, th e venereal diseases and their
treatm ent, th eir relation to sterility and th eir socio­ revised.
logical implications. The descriptions o f diseases are
accurate, b u t as th e author has gone to so m uch Brompton Hospital Reports
trouble to give th e medical term s for th e lesions he A Collection of Papers recently published from the
describes it Would have been wiser to avoid all H ospital. Vol. 12, 1943. Pp. vii+ 163. (London:
possibility of m isinterpretation in th e case of Brom pton H ospital, 1944.) 8s. net.
H E papers in this volume are reprints of recent
“condylom ata” and have called them “condylom ata
work by members of the Brompton Hospital
la ta ” . Many people have condylom ata b u t only
staff. Most are concerned with diseases of the ches
some are also syphilitic. Some purists m ight quibble
a t the guides to pronunciation given for treponem a In an interesting statistical survey on “The H ealth
o f th e D octor” , D r. A. Hope Gosse challenges the
(treppon-nee-mar) and gum m a (gum-mar).
A book for laym en is scarcely th e place to indulge title of ‘the doctor’s disease’ often given to corona ry
in discussions about criteria of cure in syphilis. Even thrombosis.
I
T
T
n o . 3908 ,
S e p t e m b e r 23,
1944
N A T U R E
383
la tte r egg-shaped, w ith the small end pointing southsouth-east ; (2) if th e hollows were m eteorite scars,
th ey would alm ost certainly have to be attrib u ted to
m eteorite explosions; b u t an explosion is necessarily
By D r . E. B. BAILEY, F.R.S.
quasi-instantaneous and therefore has a strong ten ­
dency to give a circular, not an elongated crater ;
Geological Survey of Great Britain
(3) anyhow, the rim s consist of clean, washed sand,
OUGLAS JOHNSON’S recent death is mourned in contrast w ith the loamy sand of the plain upon
by a wide circle of friends and adm irers on both which they rest-—they cannot be interpreted as made
sides of th e A tlantic. Johnson delighted in inter­
of plain sand throw n out by explosion ; (4) no frag­
pretation of scenery and showed to equal advantage m ents of m eteorites have been found in much the
in choice of subject, plan of a tta c k and clarity of greater p a rt of the region—though we m ust remember
exposition. In his latest m onograph1, which includes th a t no fragments of the great Siberian m eteorite
forty-six illustrations, m ostly air-photographs, he have been recovered and also th a t iron is soluble ;
dealt with a problem atical erosion form represented by (5) magnetom eter search for buried meteorites has
tens of thousands of parallel, oval, m arshy hollows given unpromising results.
pitting th e coastal plain of America. The area affected
Cooke and Johnson, in attacking the m eteorite
measures some 25,000 square miles, and ranges hypothesis, agreed th a t eveiy oval hollow held a lake
through South Carolina into neighbouring States. during some form ative stage of its career, and th a t
Here marshes of any shape are commonly called the associated sand rim is in a sense a beach coupled
‘bays’, perhaps, it has been suggested, because bay w ith dunes. The rims are conspicuous in air photo­
trees flourish in them . This local practice accounts graphs, because they carry very little vegetation. On
for the title selected by Johnson for his book, “The the other hand, th ey seldom rise more th an 10 ft.
Origin of th e Carolina Bays” . Johnson alternatively above th e plain, though occasionally spreading o u t­
speaks of th e oval hollows as craters. They are shallow wards for several hundred feet across it. They are
basins, measuring anything from a few hundred feet not infrequently m ultiple. So far, I th in k th a t Cooke
up to four miles in length, and averaging about 50 ft. and Johnson are c o rre c t; b ut, when they go on to
in depth, when allowance is made for p artial infilling claim wind-operated w ater as a main shaping agent
with peaty silt. Usually they are more or less com­ of the ovals, I think they are mistaken. A t first both
pletely encompassed w ith w hite sandy rims.
authors invoked a longitudinal wind to account for
The parallel oval hollows are p atch ily distributed th e elongation and parallelism of the ovals ; b u t
over a terraced plain which, eighty miles inland, rises eventually they abandoned this particular conception.
to a maxim um elevation of 300 ft. above sea-level. Here in outline are th eir subsequent strongly diver­
According to C. W. Cooke’s account, th e surface gent views.
consists of a veneer of Pleistocene m arine sands,
Cooke thinks th a t a steady wind blowing across
sandy loams and clays, often less thanfSO ft. thick. any lake w ith yielding shores tends to set up a
These rest unconformably upon various T ertiary and rotating current, and th a t this current would assume
Upper Cretaceous formations, which effectively con­ a circular p a th if only the earth were standing still.
ceal a depressed floor of ancient crystallines. The Under existing conditions of earth rotation, he claims
oldest of th e Cretaceous formations, the Tuscaloosa, th a t the current tends to become elliptical w ith its
is still in th e condition of sand w ith interstratified m ajor axis directed north-west in the northern
clay. Along w ith several of th e later formations, it hemisphere. H e further considers th a t the ideal
carries abundant water, sometimes under artesian resultant ellipse would have an axial ratio equal to
head. True artesian, overflowing wells are a common­ the sine of the la titu d e ; and he quotes a num ber of
Carolina ovals conforming w ith this quantitative plan.
place throughout th e region.
The peculiar oval form characteristic of so m any I confess th a t a fter reading w hat Johnson has to say
of the Carolina hollows was first brought to the on this subject, and Cooke’s own recent reply2,1 think
notice of scientific men in 1895 by L. C. Glenn. He th e la tte r’s argum ent is faulty.
regarded it as produced under coastal or sea-bottom
Johnson devoted the last seven chapters of his book
conditions ; b u t I thin k we m ust follow Johnson in to w hat he called his “hypothesis of complex origin” .
attributing the ovals definitely to th e post-emersion In it, wind-driven currents and waves are given much
history of th e plain. Glenn’s descriptions attracted less importance th an in his previous hypothesis. In
little attention until reinforced by aerial photographs, fact he was prepared to hand over the making of the
taken for forestry and other purposes. Then in 1933 hollows, their elongation, parallelism and the rough
came a dram atic paper by F. A. Melton and W. shaping of their oval form to springs controlled by
Schriever, claiming th e oval hollows as scars of a underground conditions. The only essential service
prodigious shower of meteorites. The m ain basis of he asked of the wind was to smoothe the shores of
this hypothesis was th e amazing tendency to th e ovals by removing headlands and embanking
parallelism exhibited by th e ovals of any particular bays, w ith concurrent development of sandy rims.
Even so, I think it possible to dem onstrate th a t he
district.
Melton and Schriever’s appeal to heaven m et w ith trusted too much to the wind and too little to the
a mixed reception. Cooke and Johnson were early springs.
I think th a t Johnson paid too little attention to the
opponents. In the volume under review, Johnson
devotes four chapters to its criticism, from which I phenomena of intersecting ovals as illustrated, for
select a few points which seem to ju stify his un b elief: example, in the figure here reproduced. Surely one is
(1) the parallelism of th e ovals is not regional, for bound to ask how, on Johnson’s hypothesis, was the
near the border of N orth and South Carolina the wind persuaded to leave intact cuspate headlands a t
general orientation is south-east, whereas near th a t the points of intersection of two contiguous ovals ;
of South Carolina and Georgia it is south-south-east— and how was it educated to connect such headlands
here in passing it m ay be rem arked th a t in th e former w ith a bar of drifted sand, which, continuing faith ­
locality th e ovals are m ostly elliptical, and in the fully the curvature of the shore of one oval, utterly
METEORITES OR SPRINGS AS
GEOLOGICAL AGENTS?
D
384
N A T U R E
disregarded th e contour o f th e other. Clearly the
form ation of oval basin and oval rim was an operation
one and indivisible. The rim sand can be called a
beach if so desired, b u t it was thrown out, not drifted
along. In this im portant m atter, Melton and Schriever
seem to me to have come nearer th e tru th th an
Johnson. I do n o t m ean to say th a t th e phenomena
o f intersecting ovals rehabilitate th e m eteorite hypo­
thesis, b u t I do think th a t they entail a more violent
use of Johnson’s springs th a n their au th o r thought
necessary or a t a 11 desirable.
Before leaving th e subject of wind, I m ay say th a t
Johnson has convinced me th a t wind has often co­
operated in im portant m atters of detail. I refer
especially to a frequent slight exaggeration of the
curvature of th e ovals on th e ir eastern sides and a
corresponding m arked accentuation o f rim develop­
m ent in th e same direction. I t looks to me as if,
Septem ber
23,
1 9 4 4 , v o l . 154
ally collected together to form a rim—here it may
be noticed th a t the rim sand outside any Carolina
hollow is always o f much less volume th an the hollow
itself. Johnson also considered th a t a circular pool
thus formed would expand considerably through
slumping of th e loamy sand forming its banks.
Finally, returning to his hypothetical migrating
springs, he argued th a t a t the surface they would act
in all particulars like stationary springs, except th a t
th ey would give elliptical instead of circular pools.
I consider th a t we m ust modify Johnson’s spring
hypothesis in certain particulars before we can adopt
it. There are two m ain reasons : (1) it is extremely
doubtful w hether artesian springs show any marked
tendency to m igrate up-dip ; (2) Johnson derives his
oval hollows through intersection of successive cir­
cular hollows. Let us examine this last point. We
have seen th a t intersection of oval hollows is char-
INDEX MOSAIC OF AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS COVERING PART OP BLADEN CO., NORTH CAROLINA. NOTE ELLIPTICAL
FORM AND SOUTH-EAST TREND OF THE DARK MARSHES KNOWN AS ‘BAYS’. NORTH IS AT TOP. THE LARGE
‘BAY’ SOUTH-EAST OF CENTRE IS THREE MILES IN LENGTH. FROM FIG. 2 9 OF “ THE ORIGIN OF THE CAROLINA
BAYS” .
when the hollows were formed by spring action, a
westerly wind was usually blowing.
Let us now tu rn to consider Johnson’s spring
hypothesis. One of his main ideas is th e eruption of
an artesian spring through impermeable cover. This
would result underground in a w ater-rise, th e inverse
of a w a te rfa ll; and Johnson thou g h t th a t a waterrise m ust have a strong tendency to m igrate up-dip
through backw ard erosion of th e impermeable
obstacle th a t it has breached. Accordingly, he held
th a t artesian springs a t th e surface in any particular
locality will m igrate parallel w ith one another in a
direction contrary to th a t of th e dip o f th e under­
ground stra ta . Continuing, he pointed out th a t a
stationary spring m ay be expected to develop a
circular pool, if it emerges through a superficial
deposit o f loam y sand, because of rem oval o f con­
tinually agitated m aterial, in solution if soluble, or
in suspension if of a clayey nature. Such a process
would leave a residue of quartzose sand to be eventu-
acterized by cuspate headlands often connected^ by
a well-developed rim . Intersection of circular hollows
should be sim ilarly advertised if it had really taken
place.
Personally I accept Johnson’s conception of spring
action w ith linear application determ ined by some
structure in an impermeable layer through which the
w ater has risen ; b u t I th ink th a t appearances prove
th a t the spring of our hypothesis made a simultaneous
a tta c k all along the line, instead of starting a t one
end and gradually m igrating to the other. Thi.s
clearly indicates guidance by joints in the im per­
meable layer rath e r th a n by dip. Dip can, however,
probably be retained as a factor of local importance.
In some districts, as already stated, the ovals are
egg-shaped. This would be expected if the top of the
impermeable, jointed layer has a fairly pronounced
dip in the direction of an opened joint th a t gave
passage to rising water. I t is clear th a t the water,
issuing nearer the surface a t one end of the joint than
n o . 3908 ,
Septem ber
23,
1944
N A T U R E
at the other, would produce an asym m etrical result.
I imagine th e pool would narrow in th e direction of
dip.
I t will be noticed th a t I have proposed a drastic
reduction in Johnson’s tim e-table. This involves a
greatly increased call upon w ater supply, m easured in
gallons per hour. A little fu rth e r tho u g h t shows,
however, th a t th e supply was m aintained only for a
very short period. The w ater which made a hollow
w ith rim complete cannot have continued to flow on
anything like th e same scale a fte r it had done this
work. Otherwise it would have cut an escape channel
of dimensions comparable w ith those o f th e spring
pool. Many of th e depressions do have escape chan­
nels, b u t these are on a scale commensurate with th a t
of certain artesian springs which are occasionally to
be identified in th e m arshy bottom s.
The sudden cessation of th e springs of our modified
hypothesis removes them a t once from th e artesian
category. Such transient springs m ust depend on
load pressure for th eir activation. W hen an e a rth ­
quake shakes an alluvial district it generally leads to
discharge of sand and w ater from numberless craterlets. I imagine th e cause m ust be a repacking o f wet
sand into patches, some o f compacted sand com­
paratively waterless, others of loose sand lubricated
with w ater and incapable of sustaining load pressure
unless furnished w ith outside support. As a result,
almost imm ediately a fte r an earthquake has occurred
in a suitable locality, sandy w ater spurts up a few
feet into th e a ir from craterlets and fissures, and
.soon ceases to flow, seldom persisting for more th an
a few hours. I am inclined to thin k th a t some such
subterranean re-arrangem ent of sand and w ater was
responsible for delivery of w ater a t th e surface during
the formation of th e Carolina hollows. I t would
account among other things for th e frequency w ith
which activity shifted from one site to another. An
area of underground sand, once repacked w ith e x tru ­
sion of water, would likely rem ain stable in later
recurrences of stress.
There are striking resemblances connecting the
Carolina region w ith fam iliar fields o f earthquake
hydro-eruption, such as those of th e Mississippi (New
Madrid), 1811-12, Assam, 1897, and Bihar-Nepal,
1934. There are equally striking contrasts. I hesitate
to suggest th a t the Carolina hollows are earthquake
craters, but- I do hold th a t th e idea is worth serious
consideration. Among resemblances is the vast area
over which sanding from numberless craterlets m ay
occur after an earthquake. J . A. Dunn, J . B. Auden
and A. M. N. Ghosh have found this effect scattered
throughout 18,000 square miles in connexion w ith the
Bihar-Nepal earthquake3. The differences concern
in p a rt the relatively small size of known earthquake
craterlets. An elliptical blow-hole a t Muzaffarpur,
measuring 25 ft. by 10 ft., is quoted as a large example
(loc. cit., p. 35). The craterlets seem to make
up in num ber for w hat they lack in m easure­
m ent. “In places th e surface was riddled w ith sand
vents, sometimes so completely th a t small areas up
to an acre or so in extent, m ight be compared w ith
boiling porridge. . . . The universality of th e sand
in some places, and th e closeness of the vents, suggest
no great depth for its origin, since th e greater the
depth of the channels leading up to the vents the
more localised and separated would they probably
be” (loc. cit., pp. 34, 36).
Perhaps a more serious difficulty presents itself in
regard to regional, as opposed to local, parallelism.
E arthquake craterlets are often strung along fissures
385
(furnishing possible composite homologues with
individual Carolina ovals), and earthquake fissures
m ay themselves be opened up into craters. This
introduces a pronounced element of local parallelism,
for earthquake fissures tend to be parallel w ith their
contemporaries and predecessors in any small district.
Recurrence of parallel Assuring is well illustrated in
Charles Lyell’s account o f how the inhabitants of
the New M adrid area, which shook again and again
during a period of several m onths in, 1811—12, felled
trees a t right angles to the fissure direction to serve
as bridge-refuges for use should later trem ors give
warning of approaching trouble. On th e'o th er hand,
m any earthquake fissures are orientated, on a strictly
local basis parallel to topographical features, w hether
negative as in the case o f th e banks o f a river or
pond, or positive as in the case of a road em bank­
m ent or heavy building. In the Bihar-Nepal ea rth ­
quake, fissures on flat country “rarely showed any
constancy in direction ; more generally they occurred
as an irregular netw ork” (loc. cit., p. 32). M. L. Fuller,,
however, found m atters otherwise in the New Madrid.
a re a 4. H e recognized, indeed, th a t m any fissures had
been controlled by topography, b u t added : “the
second class, or the simple fissures of the sandblow
areas seem to have a tendency tow ard a definite
arrangem ent, along northeast-southwest lines (aver­
aging N. 30° E .), although where the blows are
scattered the arrangem ent is not always very
apparent. The fissures of the sand sloughs are in
general parallel to the depressions and are even more
commonly aligned in northeast-southw est directions” .
One m ust remember also a suggestion m ade long ago,
and never so far as I know refuted, th a t much of the
parallel jointing of rocks in general is an earthquake
phenomenon. I t is to be hoped th a t the next great
ejective earthquake will be followed by a careful air
survey.
1 " T h e Origin o f th e C arolina B ays.” B y Prof. D ouglas Johnson.
(Columbia G eom orphic S tudies, No. 4.) P p . xii + 342. (New Y ork :
C olum bia U n iv e rsity P r e s s ; L o n d o n : O xfcrd U niversity P ress,
1942.) 30s. n e t.
8 Cooke, C. W ., J . Geol., 51, 419 (1943).
* D unn, J . A ., A uden, J . B ., an d Ghosh, A . M. N ., M em . Geol. S u n .
In d ia , 33 (1939).
* F u ller, M. L ., Bull. V .S . Oeol. Surv., No. 494, 49 (1912).
PAVLOV’S WORK ON HIGHER
NERVOUS ACTIVITY AND ITS
DEVELOPMENT IN THE U.S.S.R.
By FREDA M. THOMAS
London School of Medicine for W om en
N
EW S has recently been received from the
U.S.S.R. of the work o f Prof. Maria Petrova,
who has been awarded the Order of the R ed Banner
of Labour by the Soviet Government for her work
on problems connected with higher nervous activity*.
Since she joined Pavlov’s laboratory a t the In stitu te
of Experim ental Medicine in Leningrad in 1910, she
has carried out countless experiments in this field
and even refused to interrupt her experiments during
the recent siege. Prof. Petrova is typical of the
m ajority of Pavlov’s pupils, who, after his death in
1936 a t the age of eighty-six, determined to carry on
his work, and in the words of Prof. Frolov “to occupy
* All th e re c e n t inform ation in th is a rtic le lias been obtained from
cables s e n t b y th e A cadem y o f Sciences o f th e U .S .S.It. F o r th e use
o f th is m a te ria l I am g re a tly in d e b te d to Sir J o h n B ussell, o f th e
A nglo-Soviet Scientific Collaboration C om m ittee o f th e B ritish Council,
a n d th e M inistry o f Inform ation.
386
N A T U R E
themselves w ith organizing new experim ents so th a t
by their collective labour th e breach in th eir ranks
m ight be m ade good”1.
Before proceeding to th e su b ject-m atter of th e
cables concerning Prof. P etro v a’s work, it would
seem fitting to give some account of th e magnificent
work of h er m aster, Pavlov, th e fundam ental value
of which, as was pointed out in one of his obituary
notices8, is shown by th e fact th a t so m uch of it is
now regarded as common knowledge.
Pavlov graduated from th e M ilitary Medical
Academy in St. Petersburg in 1879 and worked
as assistant to Tsion, th e discoverer of th e depressor
ner «7e, until in 1884 he went to Leipzig to work
under Ludwig, from whom he probably acquired
some of his precision in observation. H e then worked
under Heidenhain a t Breslau, absorbing some of his
enthusiasm for science, an d developed th e technique
o f perm anent fistulae an d isolation of p a rts of the
gastro-intestinal tra c t. H e returned to St. P eters­
burg in 1886 and was soon p u t in charge of B otkin’s
experim ental laboratory, where he showed his talent
for the organization of research. In 1890 he was
made professor of pharm acology in th e M ilitary
Medical Academy an d five years la te r succeeded to
the chair in physiology.
Throughout his work, Pavlov took pains to have
conditions as norm al as possible : for example, when
working on th e circulation, he endeavoured to
accustom th e dog to th e insertion of a cannula, and
in the construction o f th e ‘Pavlov pouch’, p a rt of the
stomach was isolated w ith negligible interference with
the nerve supply. H e emphasized th e im portance of
surgery in experim ental research, and of having
healthy, well-cared-for anim als, which he treated as
hum an patients w ith regard to anfesthesia, asepsis,
narcosis and care a fte r operation. I t was probably as
a result of his work th a t scepticism arose as to the
applicability to medical practice of results obtained
from narcotized or decapitated animals. In 1891 he
organized th e surgical departm ent of th e physiology
1iboratory in th e new In stitu te of Experim ental
Medicine, the first o f its kind in th e world, founded
and financed by th e Prince of Oldenburg, and it was
here th a t he carried out m ost of his work on digestion,
for which he received th e Nobel Prize for Physiology
and Medicine for 1904 s. As Anrep pointed out in an
obituary notice4, m ost of tho facts relating to diges­
tion as it is now known either had th eir origin, or
were established, in Pavlov’s laboratory.
By 1906, Pavlov h ad transferred his investigations
to the brain, b u t he used sim ilar methods, still
striving tow ards norm ality, carefully isolating his
variables and keeping all other conditions constant.
H e focused his atte n tio n on th e correlation between
external phenomena and th e reactions of th e organism
as a whole, and he followed the lead of Claude
B ernard in regarding th e anim al body as an unstable
system which constantly m aintains its equilibrium
w ith its env iro n m en t; an d for th e m aintenance of
this equilibrium he was struck by th e importance of
conditioned reflexes.
As a result of his investigations into th e so-called
psychic flow of some of the digestive juices, Pavlov
had become convinced of th e fu tility o f subjective
methods o f in q u iry ; he objected to psychologists
applying th eir own experiences to th e brain o f the
dog and asked : “to understand these phenomena,
are we obliged to enter into th e inner sta te of the
animal, to fancy his feelings and wishes as based on
our own ?” H is sham feeding experim ents h ad shown
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944,
v o l.
154
th a t sim ultaneous excitation of organs of sight,
hearing, taste or smell influenced the activity of
gastric glands, and thus the idea of a complex sub­
jective sensation was transform ed into w hat he
described as “a concrete factor of the physiological
laboratory” .
B y gradually establishing conditioned reflexes
through the simultaneous application of an ‘essential’
and an ‘unessential’ stimulus, Pavlov was able to
substitute a more nearly normal animal for the study
of behaviour th a n could be obtained by acute experi­
m ents involving artificial stim ulation of different parts
of the b ra in ; and in Pavlov’s life-time their study had
m ade m any im portant contributions to an understand­
ing of th e nature of sleep, neuroses and temperament.
The response selected for study was the secretion
o f saliva in dogs of which the salivary duct had been
brought to the exterior of the cheek so th at the
q u antity of saliva secreted in a given tim e could be
measured. Pavlov pointed out th a t this choice,
although originally accidental, satisfied the funda­
m ental demand in scientific investigation for begin­
ning with the simplest case ; it also had the advantage
of being easier to assess and less likely to cause
complications th a n a m otor response. The ‘essential’
stim ulus was the giving of food, b u t the reflex could
be conditioned to an infinite variety of stimuli
such as the ticking of a metronome, the flashing of
an electric lamp, the appearance of certain figures
w ith varying intensities of illumination, a trum pet or
telephone, rhythm ic contact of blunt or sharp
instrum ents with the skin, or warming and cooling
particular p arts of it. By these means, therefore, it
was possible to learn much about sense organs and
powers of discrimination, such as lim its of audibilily,
distinction between metronome speeds, musical
intervals and combinations of musical sounds, as well
as much about the general and localized functions of
the cortex.
Pavlov showed th a t association was a simple
analysis followed by synthesis, then generalization,
and finally an a lo g y ; since a dog could not only
differentiate an interval in one p a rt of the musical
scale b u t also would respond to all such intervals in
other p a rts of the scale. The fact th a t conditioned
reflexes were lost if the cortex was removed confirmed
earlier findings by Goltz th a t decorticated dogs
showed no initiative, would only eat if food was
placed in th eir m ouths, and generally lacked the
power to ad ap t themselves to changes in their en­
vironment. Pavlov and his workers increased the
knowledge of the m ap of the cortex by establishing
certain conditioned reflexes and finding w hether or
not they persisted after removal o f different p arts of
the cortex, although it was shown th a t in tim e com­
pensation occurred and some p arts of the cortex
could replace others.
Pavlov paid great attention to the welfare of his
experim ental animals, and minimized all experimenta l
errors by mechanical appliances and by isolating his
anim als so th a t even the observer and operator were
in an adjoining room. H e was a t one time in charge
of three laboratories and sometimes had more than
sixty people each working on a different problem,
b u t he him self remembered th e details of every
investigation. H is recognition o f the value of the
division o f labour led to th e organization of research
team s, of which there are now so m any in the U.S.S.R.,
the U nited States and Great Britain.
Pavlov’s new laboratory a t the In stitu te of
Experim ental Medicine in Leningrad was built with
No. 3908, S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944
N A T U R E
funds from th e Ledenzov Society for th e Advance­
m ent of Experim ental Sciences and their Application.
A t Koltushy, now Pavlovo, a village tw enty miles
n orth of Leningrad, th e Soviet Government built
for Pavlov an establishm ent which combined labora­
tories with a rest-home for scientific workers. The
buildings bore th e in scrip tio n : “Experim ental
Genetics of the H igher Nervous A ctivity” and on th e
tower was Pavlov’s w atchword : “ Observation and
again Observation” . Each anim al had a separate
dwelling-place and there was a hospital, exercising
hall and m aternity centre for th e bitches. His two
chimpanzees, Rafael and Rose, presented by Prof.
Voronov, also h ad their own buildings.
E arly in his study of conditioned reflexes, Pavlov
showed th a t stim ulation of th e cortex produced
excitation. This first spread over a large area and
was described as irradiation, and would be followed
by concentration, which would be accompanied by
inhibition such as occurs where antagonizing muscles
are concerned. H e was engaged on this work when
Maria Petrova, who h ad ju st graduated from the
newly opened W omen’s Medical In stitu te in St.
Petersburg, joined his laboratory in 1910. H er thesis
for a doctor’s degree in 1912 was entitled “Processes
o f Irradiation and Excitation in th e Cortex of the
B rain” , and together w ith K rasnogorsky she p er­
formed m any experiments on excitation and inhibi­
tion. She also studied sleep, which, as th e result of
their experiments, Pavlov was led to regard as
generalized inhibition extending to some sub-cortical
areas, just as he regarded hypnosis as localized or
p irtial inhibition. She later participated in the work
on experimental neuroses which were produced by
causing interference between th e two opposing p ro ­
cesses, excitation and inhibition, leading to rupture
or breakdown of th e cortical mechanism.
They
studied animals w ith different types of nervous
systems ; and by producing experim ental neuroses
in dogs, in some of which inhibition predom inated,
whereas in others excitation was most pronounced,
obtained conditions resembling easily recognizable
psychical disorders in man. They made extensive
use of caffein and bromides in carefully graded doses
in the investigation and subsequent cure of these
conditions6.6, and Prof. Petrova recently received
the Pavlov prize for her book on th is subject. During
the last years of Pavlov’s life, he became increasingly
interested in th e applications o f his work to p sy­
chiatry, and both Krasnogorsky and Petrova devoted
much time to these problems. Although Pavlov
stressed the im portance of th e objective approach to
psychology, he pointed out the help which physiology
m ight derive from the stu d y of clinical cases. He
therefore made use of psychiatric d ata and visited
clinics and talked to th e patients. He m aintained a
lively interest in therapeutic measures, and in his last
year initiated the treatm ent of schizophrenia by
prolonged sleep.
Petrova has also continued the work which Pavlov
began on the relation between th e endocrine organs
and higher nervous activity. F or example, they found
it difficult to establish conditioned reflexes in thyroidectomized or senile dogs, and relatively easy to
produce experimental neuroses in castrated dogs.
Pavlov also showed the influence of the cortex on
some endocrine activ ity ; for example, a conditioned
reflex was repeatedly reinforced by adm inistration of
thyroid e x tr a c t; then, when th e extract was no
longer given, an increase in m etabolic ra te was
obtained in response to th e secondary stimulus.
387
In a cable from Moscow, Prof. K rikor Kekcheyov
records th a t a fte r Pavlov’s death in 1936, Petrova
joined Pavlov’s oldest colleague and successor, Leon
Orbeli, a t the In stitu te of Physiology of the Academy
o f Sciences of the U.S.S.R. H er work there has
included a study of the p a rt played by the nervous
system in the origin of m alignant tum ours, the
production of experim ental neuroses by the use of
strong irritants of the nervous system, and in 1943
she established the connexion between the severity
of disorders of higher nervous activity and the
development o f eczema and various tum ours.
A oable from Petrova herself says th a t she has
never left Leningrad for an hour since the W ar
began as she knew th a t her great m aster Pavlov
would not have done so. She gives a vivid description
of conditions in th a t city and makes m any bitter
comments on the ty ranny of the German invaders.
During the siege, which lasted nine hundred days,
she refused to leave the city in spite of being re ­
peatedly urged to do so, and she says she found
satisfaction in working sixteen hours a day and wrote
twelve scientific papers, of which she mentions the
following : “Conditioned Reflexes as a Method of
Throwing L ight on Mental Traum ata and the Origin
of Various New Processes, in particular Cancer”,
“Influence of Pear-inducing Factors of M ilitary
Operations on Higher Nervous A ctivity in Dogs w ith
Differing Types of Nervous System”, “Causes of Old
Age and Prophylactic Measures against Prem ature
Old Age” . As a specialist in higher nervous activity,
she was able to observe the psychology of her fellow
citizens and records with pride th a t the harder life
became in the besieged city, and the more savage
grew the German persecution in the form of hunger
and bombardment, the more clearly did she perceive
th e people’s firmness, unbending will, ‘comradeliness’
and habit of m utual assistance. The Pavlov In stitu te
of Physiology was among the m any im portant
buildings damaged by bombs and shells, b u t in spite
of these attacks, research was not interrupted, and
scientific workers in Leningrad also spared no effort
to defend their city. For m onths the daily ration of
th e people was 125 gm. o f bread containing only
50 per cent flour.
Pavlov considered th a t a certain degree of dis­
comfort is good for a fertile mind, and th a t a shortage
in apparatus and m aterial trains resourcefulness. I t
is interesting to compare Prof. Petrova’s description
of work under the conditions o f th is W ar w ith an
account of one of Pavlov’s assistants of their work
during the W ar of 1914 and the Revolution. “I t was
often very difficult to get to the laboratory a t all,
because, besides other things, there was often shooting
and fighting in the streets” ; b u t Pavlov was generally
present even if he was the only one, and he severely
criticized any late-comer if there was an experiment
to be done. H e continued his work in the laboratory
on short w inter days by the light of wood torches
an d used a kerosene lam p for lectures, in which there
was no break either a t the M ilitary Medical Academy
or the In stitu te of Physiology.
Pavlov was convinced th a t only science could lead
th e hum an race to a bright future free from war,
revolution and catastrophe, and a t the opening of the
fifteenth Physiological Conference in Leningrad in
1935 he said, “W ar is by its n ature a bestial method
for solving the difficulties of life, a m ethod unw orthy
o f the hum an m ind w ith its immeasurable resources” ,
and he placed great faith in th e efforts of the Soviet
Government w ith Stalin a t its head in its struggle
388
N A T U R E
for world peace. In th a t year Cannon rem arked th a t
th e outcome of th e efforts, which were being en­
couraged b y th e Soviet Government, to use Pavlov’s
m ethods to condition th e cortex in new ways and
thereby to bring about a reform ation of conduct
would be watched w ith suprem e interest7. Pavlov
himself, in a letter to young scientific workers shortly
before his death, said : “I t is a m a tte r of honour for
th e youth, as well as for all of us, to ju stify those
great hopes which our fatherland places in science” .
Pavlov has been accused o f over-simplifying a
rem arkably complex subject, b u t his theories have
provided useful working hypotheses and th ey have
stim ulated effort and increased th e extent of careful
experiments by those who agreed as well as those
who disagreed w ith his views. H e him self considered
theories as w orth while only for finding new lines of
a tta c k and accum ulating facts. H e stressed th e
im portance of repeated tests to establish th e repro­
ducibility o f results, an d he shrank from m aking
general conclusions. H is work affords a striking
example of tru e scientific method, and it is satis­
factory to learn th a t his colleagues in th e U.S.S.R.
have been able to develop it still further in spite of
th e difficulties of w ar conditions.
1 F ro lo v , "P a v lo v a n d H is School” (L o n d o n : K eg an P a u l, T ren ch ,
T ru b n er an d Co., L td ., 1937).
* Proc. R oy. Soc. E d in ., 66, 264 (1935-36).
* P a v lo v , ‘‘T he W ork o f th e D ig estiv e G lands” , tra n s la te d b y W . H .
Thom pson (L o n d o n : C harles Griffin a n d Co., 1902).
* A nrep, R oyal S o ciety O b itu a ry N o tices, 2 (1936).
* P a v lo v , ‘‘C onditioned R eflexes” (Oxford : U niv. P ress, 1927).
* “ L e c tu re s on C onditioned R eflexes” , P av lo v . Vol. 2, tra n s la te d an d
e d ite d b y W . H orsley G a n tt (In te rn a tio n a l P u b lish ers, 1941).
See also Vol. 1.
7 C annon, W . B ., “ Iv a n P . P a v lo v ” , R et. B ull. Sov. U nion (1935).
THE ROYAL NAVAL SCIENTIFIC
SERVICE
URIN G the W ar of 1 9 1 4 - 1 8 technical progress
went ahead, as has again happened in this W ar,
a t a vastly increased rate in all the Services.
order to compete w ith th e demands for new weapons
and counter-measures, th e help of numbers of men
of science from th e universities and technical men
from private firms was enlisted, and these men were
employed in naval establishments all over Great
Britain. They were employed very largely on new
methods for detecting and destroying enemy sub­
marines and on developments in radio, new types of
mines, methods of mine-sweeping, work on under­
w ater explosions, torpedoes and navigational devices
and the like. The work of these men was of im ­
measurable value to the Navy, and directly after
the W ar the A dm iralty decided, as a result of its
experiences during th e W ar, to set up a civilian
scientific research departm ent under a civilian
Director of Scientific Research. The first Director
of Scientific Research in the A dm iralty was appointed
a t the beginning of 1919. H e was Sir F ran k Smith,
who had himself during th e W ar been largely con­
cerned with th e development of a type of magnetic
mine which can be regarded as a forerunner of the
German magnetic mine, which was used against
Britain during this W ar. The A dm iralty also set up
its own research laboratory under the D irector of
Scientific Research for th e conduct of th e more
D
f u n d a m e n ta l t y p e s o f s c ie n tific in v e s tig a tio n .
Gradually during th e years of peace the civilian
scientific and technical staffs employed in the Naval
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944,
v o l.
154
Establishm ents were p u t under the general adminis­
trativ e control of the Director of Scientific Research,
instead of being separately administered as they had
been during the W ar. These staffs were embodied in
the A dm iralty Scientific, Technical and Chemical
Pools, and this arrangem ent ensured a greater measure
of uniform ity in the conditions of service in the
different establishments, and among people engaged
on different types of research and development work,
and it also ensured common methods of selection and
entry into the scientific, technical and chemical ser­
vices of the Admiralty. During the years of peace
also, the Air M inistry and W ar Office set up civilian
scientific research departm ents, which were modelled
very largely on the Adm iralty organization.
The steps outlined above were steps in the right
direction, b u t there is no doubt th a t the Navy, and
indeed the other Services, suffered a good deal
because the conditions of service of the civilian tech­
nical staffs were not such as could a ttra c t the best
types of men from the universities and other sources
upon which the A dm iralty depended. A part from
pay and prom otion prospects, the lack of opportunity
for publication and loss of outside recognition, as
well as rather rigid research programmes, were against
the Services in their need for first-rate men.
Some of the men of science and engineers who
entered the A dm iralty Service in the W ar of 1914-18
are still there, and it is to the work of these men
and to those who entered the Service during the years
of peace th a t we owe our state of preparedness, such
as it was, to m eet the onslaught of Germany. During
the present W ar, the perm anent Adm iralty staffs have
again been greatly strengthened in numbers and in
quality by men of science and engineers drawn again
from the universities, research institutions, private
firms and other sources. The great advances which
have been made in almost every form of technical
weapon and in counter-measures are largely due to
this body of people, working in the closest daily
association w ith industry and outside men of science
and engineers, including those of the U nited States
In
and the Dominions, w ith the naval technical depart­
ments, and w ith the divisions of the naval staff, who
decide in broad outline w hat are the Service needs.
The announcement of the formation of the Royal
Naval Scientific Service is an indication th a t the
Admiralty, having been the first Service department
to take the then epoch-making step of setting up a
civilian research departm ent within its organization,
still recognizes the vital importance of taking yet
further steps to ensure th a t scientific research and
technical development for the N avy shall not lag
behind during the future years of peace.
The Adm iralty desires to see the closest co-opera­
tion between the men of science and the uniformed
officers of the Service, and it proposes giving fuller
opportunities th an have hitherto been regularly
possible for civilians to become thoroughly versed in
the ways and the needs of the Service. Further, the
civilians will, by virtue of the arrangements which
will be m ade for obtaining sea training and experience,
come to feel th a t they are more than ever before
an integral p art of the Navy. The Fleet Order shows
also th a t the Director of Scientific Research, as head
of the Royal Naval Scientific Service, will have
greater freedom than hitherto in arranging for trans­
fers of staff between establishments, so th a t the out­
look of the technical men will become broader and
more enlightened th an it is ap t to be if men of science
and engineers specialize too long or too early in
No. 3908, S e p t e m b e r 23 , 1944
NATURE
particular aspects of Naval warfare. The reference
to conditions of service including pay and prospects
of promotion is vague, b u t it m ust be accepted a t
present as an earnest of the good intentions of the
Admiralty.
The Adm iralty and Government policy towards
research in post-war years aims a t giving research
and research workers—in th e broadest sense—
recognition and status which they have hitherto
lacked in Great Britain. I t is also hoped th a t the
R.N.S.S. will be accounted an honourable career for
men whose leanings are towards science and th e sea ;
th a t prospects offered by th e R.N.S.S. will a ttra c t
men of the highest calibre to devote their m inds and
their lives to solving the great problems which lie
ahead of the N avy ; th a t, though th e Government
service cannot generally offer m onetary rewards com­
parable w ith those of the highest walks of industry,
yet the other advantages of a N aval technical career
will offset the possible financial disadvantage ; th a t
the Adm iralty will be enabled to keep after th e W ar
some of the brilliant m en who are serving it tem por­
arily now ; th a t there will be greater freedom for
individual research workers to follow up lines of
investigation for which they are personally fitted,
and th a t the Government will n o t be so m uch in-*
clined to look for quick returns.
OBITUARIES
Sir Arthur Smith Woodward, F.R.S.
r t h u r S m i t h W o o d w a b d , lately keeper of
the D epartm ent of Geology, B ritish Museum (N atural
History), died on September 2 a t the age of eighty.
Sir A rthur was a great student of vertebrate
palaeontology, th e widest in his work and knowledge
of his time. W hen he left Owens College, Manchester,
as a very young m an to take a post in th e Museum, he
recognized th a t the work of R . H . Traquair on
palaeozoic fish had introduced a new standard of
investigation and a new outlook, and immediately
applied them to the study of later fishes. H e travelled
extensively so th a t he saw nearly all th e original
materials in the world, and his extraordinary memory
enabled him to recall immediately anything which
could throw light on the fossils on which he was
actually working. Thus his catalogue of th e fossil
fishes in the B ritish Museum m arks an epoch in the
study of such things. I t was th e first completely
general detailed work since Agassiz’s “Poissons
Fossiles” and it has had no successor, so th a t it
remains the point of departure from which all sub­
sequent work has proceeded. To him came collections
of fossil fish from every p a rt of the world, to be in
tu rn described, placed in their position in th e classi­
fication, and their geological horizon determined.
Thus he became known to palaeontologists every­
where, and was ultim ately a foreign member of some
tw enty scientific societies.
B ut Sir A rthur’s interests extended far beyond
fish. He wrote on fossil Amphibia, reptiles, birds
and mammals, doing something of interest in each
of those groups, and finally he described the Piltdown
man, actually himself finding p a rt of th e m aterial a t
Piltdown.
His quality was well illustrated by the text-book
of vertebrate palaeontology which he published in
1900. This differed in every way from those which
S ir A
389
then existed ; it was accurate, it dealt only with
forms which were im portant morphologically, it was
based entirely on materials which the author had
seen, and it was readable.
W hen Sir A rthur entered the Museum the col­
lections of fossil vertebrates, though large, had not
been brought together on any considered plan. Under
his influence and guidance they were expanded so
th a t every im portant fauna in the world was re­
presented, often by m ost admirable materials. B ut
all were bought, sometimes after they had been
sought for m any years. Although Smith W oodward
himself made a collection of fossil mammals a t
Pikermi, and Andrews explored the Fayum , no
expedition was ever sent out a t Museum expense ;
in consequence, during the p ast th irty years m any
foreign museums have exploited fossil faunas which
are now inadequately or n o t a t all represented in
London.
B u t Sm ith W oodward always felt th a t he was a
public servant. Everyone, B ritish or foreign, had
acoess to all the fossils in his charge, and was allowed
to describe anything he wished. Thus the Museum
gained because its collections were worked over by
men from m any countries, and palaeontology gained
because specialists could use its materials, as if they
belonged to their own institutions.
So Smith W oodward became known and admired
b y th e whole body of palaeontologists, occupying a
place no one can now fill, and leaving behind a great
mass of adm irable work, p a rt of th e foundation of
m odern palaeontology.
D. M. S. W a t s o n .
Prof. S. P. Mercer, O.B.E.
the death of Prof. Stephen Pascal Mercer
which occurred on A ugust 18 a t the comparatively
early age of fifty-three, N orthern Ireland has lost an
outstanding figure in the field of agricultural educa­
tion and one who played a prom inent p a rt in laying a
sound foundation for the Faculty of Agriculture of
Queen’s University, Belfast.
S. P. Mercer (S.P.M., as he was known to so m any
of us) was a Staffordshire m an—-the son of Mr. Fred
Mercer, the landscape painter—-and was bom a t
A bbots Bromley in 1891. His leaning towards the
stu dy of agricultural science became apparent a t an
early age and is confirmed by his career as a student
a t H arper Adams, the Botanisches S taatsinstitut,
Ham burg, and the South-Eastern Agricultural Col­
lege. H e was a graduate in agriculture of the
U niversity of London, and held the N ational Diploma
in Agriculture. Before coming to N orthern Ireland,
Prof. Mercer held appointm ents as lecturer in charge
of the D epartm ent of Agricultural B otany at
Armstrong College, adviser in agricultural botany
for the northern counties of England, and divisional
organizer for the N orthern Province under the Food
Production D epartm ent of the M inistry of Agricul­
tu re and Fisheries. During 1919-22 he was assistant
director and chief research officer in the Seed Testing
Station for England and Wales. I t was while
holding this appointm ent th a t he made his survey of
seed growing in Great Britain, which is the best known
of his earlier work.
On his appointm ent, in 1922, as head of the Seed
Testing and P lant Disease Division of the Ministry
of Agriculture for N orthern Ireland, he threw himself
energetically into the organization of the N orthern
Ireland Seed Testing Station, where his long experience
T
heough
390
N A T U R E
and intensive knowledge of seeds and seed testing
allowed him to build effectively and have left their
m ark on this Station as it exists to-day. The study
of seeds and allied problems provided his m ain
interest on the research side, and his book, “Farm
and Garden Seeds” , which is rem arkable for the
accuracy and beauty of its hundreds of illustrations
of seeds drawn in black and w hite and for th e a ttra c ­
tive style of its writing, portrays him a t his best.
His appointm ent as chairm an of th e Research Com­
m ittee of the International Seed Testing Association
established his claim to international reputation.
His ability was soon recognized by the rye-grass seedgrowing industry in N orthern Ireland, and his loss
will be keenly felt by all those engaged in seed pro­
duction, who looked to him continually for good
advice and wise counsel.
As professor of agricultural botany (1924), dean of
the Faculty of Agriculture (1928) and senior technical
research officer of th e M inistry (1928)—which posts
he occupied a t th e tim e of his death—S. P. Mercer
will be remembered by colleagues and students alike
for his width of vision as a teacher, for th e conscien­
tiousness of his effort to give sound advice and for his
unfailing courtesy. H e became dean of the Faculty
within a few years of its form ation, and during his
tenure of this office he succeeded in establishing it on
sound lines, and gained and retained the respect of
all in so doing. His conspicuous services to agri­
cultural education and research in N orthern Ireland
were m arked by the aw ard of the O.B.E. in 1943.
A t the outbreak of w ar he undertook additional
duties in connexion w ith the control of seed produc­
tion and distribution in N orthern Ireland, and here
he was able to bring his knowledge and experience to
bear in assuming his not inconsiderable share of
“the war effort” .
Mercer did not enjoy robust health ; he worked
under a handicap which few of us are asked to bear,
and knowledge of this only serves to emphasize the
greatness of his achievements. A lover of peace,
prevented by indifferent health from fighting to
secure th a t peace, artist and idealist as well as m an of
science, gentle and retiring of nature, blessed w ith
constancy of affection, he would have achieved
much more had th e strength been his and had his
span of life been longer. We, his colleagues, m ourn
the loss of a fine and ardent spirit, an upright and
ju st m an rightly disturbed on occasion by the b latan t
and consistent imperfections existing in our race
and grieved a t his powerlessness to do more to p u t
wrongs right.
A. E. M u s k e t t .
Prof. Leo F. Goodwin
record w ith regret th e death of Lieut.-Colonel
Leo F rank Goodwin, professor of chemical engineering
a t Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada, on August
15, a t the age of sixty-six. H e was the elder son of
the late Oscar G uttm ann, author of “The M anu­
facture of Explosives” and of “M onumenta Pulveris
Pyrii” . Prof. Goodwin received his engineering tra in ­
ing a t the City Guilds Central Technical College and
then took his Ph.D . in chemistry a t th e U niversity
of Heidelberg. He was a member of th e Institution
of Chemical Engineers and of the Engineering
Institu te of Canada and a fellow of the In stitu te of
Chemistry. H e became assistant to Sir William
Ram say a t U niversity College and held an assistant
professorship for some years a t th e City College,
W
e
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944,
v o l.
154
New York, before taking up his chair a t Queen’s
University. There he inaugurated the first compre­
hensive course in chemical engineering in the British
Empire. An enthusiastic advocate of an under­
graduate curriculum for chemical engineers, he prob­
ably turned out during the last thirty-five years a
larger num ber of fully qualified and successful
chemical engineers th an the rest of the British Empire,
exclusive of Canada.
His published work dealt mainly with large-scale
chemical processes such as the m anufacture of pulp
for paper, acetone, causticizing and cement colouring,
and he was employed as consultant to some of these
industries.
Prof. Goodwin also had a distinguished m ilitary
career, first in the squadron of the Inns of Court
Rifles and then in the Princess of Wales Own Rifles,
Canada, which he commanded for some years. In
September 1914 he came to England with the 1st
Canadian Division and served w ith them in France
and Flanders during the critical 1915 campaign.
After the battle of Givenchy he was seconded for
service w ith the Canadian Munitions Board and
rendered valuable technical service to the British
and Allied Governments.
During the present W ar, Prof. Goodwin again
served the Canadian Government in a m ilitary and
technical capacity, and latterly supervised a number
of selected research students engaged on Government
sponsored research work. There is little doubt th a t
his early demise was hastened by a long period of
overwork.
Prof. Goodwin leaves a widow well known as an
a rtist under the name of Helen Sinclair and a daughter
now in the Canadian W.A.A.F. H e will be greatly
missed by a wide circle of friends here and in America.
R. R
obertso n .
Dr. M. C. Mott-Smith
C. M o t t -S m i t h , w riter in physics for
Science Service, W ashington, died on June 9. He
was sixty-six years old. A lthough he joined the staff
of Science Service less th an three years ago, he had
completed since then two im portant fundam ental
texts in physics for use in high schools and by soldiers
and adult civilians. Of one of these— “Fundam entals
of E lectricity”—more th a n 650,000 have been
printed, including editions for the use of the American
A rm y and a translation into Spanish.
Dr. M ott-Sm ith was bom in Haw aii on November
26, 1877. He graduated from the M assachusetts
In stitu te of Technology in electrical engineering and
obtained his Ph.D . in physics, philosophy and m athe­
m atics a t the U niversity of Halle, Germany. He
was formerly professor o f physics a t Colby College
and George W ashington University.
D r . M orton
e regret to announce the following deaths :
Prof. J . C. W. Frazer, research professor of chem­
istry in Johns Hopkins University, on Ju ly 28, aged
sixty-eight.
Sir John Jarm ay, K .B .E., a director of Brunner,
Mond and Co., Ltd., and of other chemical works,
on August 22, aged eighty-seven.
Prof. D. E . Smith, emeritus professor of m athe­
m atics in Teachers College, Columbia University, on
Ju ly 29, aged eighty-four.
Mr. H. F. Tomalin, formerly conservator of forests,
Ceylon, on August 16, aged eighty-two.
W
no.
3908, S e p t e m b e r
NEWS
23 , 1944
N A T U R E
and V I E W S
University of Bristol :
Chair of Chemistry
has been announced th a t Dr. Wilson Baker is
to succeed Prof. E. L. H irst as Alfred Capper Pass
professor of chem istry in the U niversity of Bristol.
Dr. Baker studied in th e U niversity of Manchester
and, after a period of service in France w ith the
Friends’ W ar Victims Relief Organisation, he obtained
the degree of B.Sc. w ith first-class honours in chem­
istry in 1921. He then held successively the Mercer
scholarship, the Baeyer fellowship and the Dalton
scholarship for research in chemistry, and on taking
the Ph.D. in 1924 he was appointed assistant lecturer
in Manchester. In 1927 he joined the chemistry staff
in the University of Oxford and has also held for
some time the position of fellow and praelector in
chemistry a t the Queen’s College. H e received the
degree of D.Sc. (Manchester) in 1933.
Dr. Baker is distinguished as an organic chemist
whose work has developed m arkedly our knowledge
of various groups of natural products. Special refer­
ence m ay be made to his contribution to th e chem­
istry of flavones and iso-flavones and the poly­
hydroxy benzenes. In addition to work on natural
products, Dr. Baker has m ade im portant contribu­
tions to the theory of chelated compounds of the
aromatic series, and has given attention to the study
of condensation products of phenols w ith ketones.
Along with Mr. T. W. J . Taylor, he undertook a
revision of Sidgwick’s “Organic Chemistry of N itro­
gen”, the new edition of which was published in
1937. Dr. Baker hopes to commence his work in
Bristol a t the beginning of Ja n u ary 1945.
It
Chair of Civil Engineering
T h e appointm ent of Dr. A. G. Pugsley to the chair
of civil engineering a t the U niversity of Bristol has
been announced. As an acknowledged authority on
structures, he will be able to m aintain a tradition
established by his predecessors, J . F . Baker and A. J.
Sutton Pippard. Dr. Pugsley was educated a t Rutlish
School, Merton, took his London degree in engineering
a t the Battersea Polytechnic, and followed this by an
apprenticeship to civil .engineering a t the Royal
Arsenal, Woolwich, under Colonel H. Mitchell. He
then joined the staff of th e Royal Airship Works,
Cardington, and was engaged upon problems of
structural design until the establishm ent was broken
up by the Government’s decision to discontinue air­
ship development following th e accidental loss of the
R. 101. H e transferred to similar work on heaviertban-air craft a t the Royal A ircraft Establishm ent,
Farnborough, and later was appointed head of the
Structural and Mechanical Engineering D epartm ent
there. During p art of this period he held the appoint­
ment, by arrangem ent with the Air Ministry, of parttime lecturer on aircraft structures in the post­
graduate Aeronautics D epartm ent of the Im perial
College of Science and Technology, South Kensington,
London. He resigned this in 1941 owing to pressure
of official duties a t Farnborough.
D r. Pugsley’s researches have been m ainly in the
field of elasticity in aircraft structures, upon questions
of interaction of aerodynamic loading w ith structural
elasticities and inertias, and the development of air­
worthiness design regulations p utting these into
practice. H e was awarded the D.Sc. by the U niver­
391
sity of London for this work. His activities a t F a rn ­
borough included a notable expansion of th e
experimental work on structures, including investiga­
tion of structural accidents. H e was awarded the
O.B.E. early in the present year.
Society for Visiting Scientists
T h e Society for Visiting Scientists was founded on
the initiative of the B ritish Council, and in consulta­
tion w ith the Royal Society, to provide a meeting
place and information centre for men of science from
overseas visiting Great Britain. The premises a t
5 Old Burlington Street, W .l, consist of a lounge
and meeting rooms, a bar, refectory, and some
dorm itory accommodation. These are a t the dis­
posal of members. The information centre is open
to all visiting men of science, so anyone arriving in
B ritain can, if he wishes, proceed a t once to the
House and be given advice and details of how he
can apply for membership. Under the present con­
ditions it was decided to postpone the official opening
for the tim e being ; b u t the Society has been function­
ing unofficially for the last few m onths and has
already been used by a num ber of British and foreign
scientific workers, including members of the French
Scientific Mission. I t is hoped th a t an official opening
will take place in the near future. In the m eantime
the Executive Committee has held an informal
reception.
On this occasion the president, Prof.
F. G. Donnan, pointed out the importance of
offering hospitality to young scientific workers, and
deplored the lack of facilities for them in the past.
H e added, “I hope sincerely th a t this modest be­
ginning will be b u t the nucleus of something much
greater and more widely spread, something th a t in
the happy days to come will contribute to the friend­
ship, intercourse, and good fellowship of scientists
throughout the world” .
Rehabilitation of Liberated Countries
T h e rapid advances of the Allies in both eastern
and western Europe has brought into prominence
the vitally im portant task of carrying relief to the
suffering peoples and helping them to restart their
agricultural and industrial activities. Several con­
ferences have recently been held both in Great Britain
and in N orth America dealing w ith the m any im ­
p o rtan t problems involved. The work falls into three
stages. During the period of m ilitary operations it is
in charge of the Civil Affairs Branch of the Army.
M ilitary necessities m ust obviously be of over-riding
importance, and the closest liaison with the m ilitary
authorities is essential. This organization will deal
w ith the emergency period, b u t ceases to act when
the m ilitary operations have ceased. A t th a t stage
a N ational Government will take charge, and it can
look to the U nited N ations Relief and Rehabilitation
Adm inistration for advice and supplies for completing
the relief measures and restarting the agricultural and
industrial life of the country.
The work of U.N.R.R.A. falls into several sections :
supplies of food, clothing, agricultural materials,
m achinery and spare parts for restarting damaged
factories, especially those concerned w ith food ; and
with the returning of the scattered populations to
their homes. E xpert committees have collected d ata
and worked out bases of allocations and priorities.
The combined boards in W ashington will furnish the
m ost im portant supplies, and although reserves of
food are not yet available owing to m ilitary demands
392
N A T U R E
and those of the Civil Affairs Branch, U.N.R.R.A.
has already received substantial allocations of other
principal items including clothes, seeds and medical
stores. In addition, U .N .R.R.A . has established a
claim on crops still to be harvested, on clothes to
be made, etc. The agricultural and industrial re­
quirements are closely linked : if, for example, the
flour mills could be started, it would be possible to
send wheat into the countries assisted; and this would
provide n o t only bread for th e people b u t also milling
offals th a t would produce m ilk and also anim al
m anure to enrich th e soil. Fishing also is to be
restarted.
The third stage is reached when th e agricultural
and industrial life of th e country is beginning to
function normally ; a t th a t stage U .N .R.R.A . ceases
to operate as its purposes do n o t include reconstruc­
tion. Organizations have been designed for dealing
with the new problems th a t will arise. A perm anent
world food and agricultural organization is to be
established, and a d raft constitution has already been
agreed. Its functions will include th e collection,
analysis and dissemination of inform ation about
nutrition, food and agriculture. I t will prom ote and
recommend national and international action on
research and education in these subjects ; also on
the conservation of resources, improved m ethods of
production, m arketing and distribution, and th e pro­
vision of adequate agricultural c re d it; it will also
furnish technical assistance to Governments when
required. No term is set to the operations of this body.
A Medical Service in Ethiopia
A n opportunity for imm ediate medical service—
and especially, it would seem, for service b y trained
nurses—is indicated b y an article by D r. R u th
Young, form erly principal o f th e L ady Hardinge
Medical College for Women, New Delhi, on “Medicine
and Nursing in E thiopia” (The Lancet, 797 ; Ju n e 17,
1944). Although it is difficult to assess accurately
the incidence of p articu lar diseases in Ethiopia,
because no v ital statistics exist, D r. Young has been
able to gath er valuable inform ation about th e
physique, diet and general h ealth of th e people. The
physique of the people living on th e plateau is fairly
good, and they are strong an d hardy. The common
diseases are typhus, relapsing fever, pneumonia,
venereal diseases, dysenteries, trachom a and such
parasitic diseases as scabies, tropical ulcer, infesta­
tions w ith intestinal worms and m alaria. Leprosy is
fairly widespread ; b u t tuberculosis is apparently not
so serious a problem as it is in other p a rts of Africa,
nor do diseases due to deficiencies in diet seem to be
common. From w hat D r. Young says there would
seem to be as much need of agricultural and
veterinary assistance as of medical help. The cows
are poor milkers and, although goats are numerous,
th ey are kept chiefly for m eat and skins and are not
much milked. On the other hand, any increase in
production of anim al food products would, it seems,
be largely neutralized by th e numerous fasts imposed
by the Coptic Church, which, a p a rt from a longer
Lent th an ours and other fasts, forbids th e use of
foods o f anim al origin on two days o f every week.
B utter, m ilk and eggs are included in these for­
bidden foods.
M aternal m ortality is apparently low, and com­
plications a t childbirth are not common. D r. Young
attrib u tes this to th e fact th a t most birth s are norm al
and to the very strong prejudice against any kind of
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944,
v o l.
154
interference a t childbirth. There is no class of pro­
fessional midwives sim ilar to th a t which does “such
untold damage in a country like In d ia”. Infant
m ortality is, on the other hand, probably very high.
From questions addressed to women, Dr. Young
learned th a t 176 out o f 353 children born alive had
died, and she concluded from the evidence available
th a t something like 109 of these had died before the
age of one year. There is also a high rate of sterility,
probably due m ainly to syphilis which, like gon­
orrhoea, is common. The chief needs a t the moment
are, D r. Young thinks, intensive preventive work
and the teaching o f m othercraft and hygiene rather
th an th e provision of hospital beds. There are at
present no properly trained nurses. In an annotation
on this interesting article, The Lancet (795 ; June 17,
1944) refers to the hospital to be built in Addis
Ababa in memory of the late Princess Tsahai. Most
of us will remember the tragic death of this young
daughter of the Em peror a t the age o f twenty-two.
In G reat B ritain, while she was in exile, she qualified
as a State registered nurse after training a t the Great
Ormond Street H ospital for Sick Children, London,
and later she took fu rth er training a t Guy’s Hospital.
R eturning home, she m arried the governor o f a
province in Ethiopia and began to organize the health
service which she wished to see in her own country.
Simple Teaching Apparatus In Physics
I n his presidential address given to the Essex
Science Teachers’ Association, Lord Rayleigh asks,
an d discusses, the question “Are Expensive Appli­
ances Necessary ?” In the physical laboratory a
great deal can be learnt about W heatstone’s bridge
by meaijs of a wire stretched along a rough board,
graduated w ith ink or pencil marks, w ith a piece of
m etal held in the hand to make contact w ith it at
any point. From ą purely teaching point of view
this is as good, if n o t b etter than, a post-office box
costing as m any pounds as the other does pence.
I t is m uch less likely to muddle the beginner and
will in all probability give him more insight into the
physics of w hat he is doing. I f the student has
rigged it up for himself he will further get a sense of
independence and achievement which he never gets
by handling the elaborate constructions of the instru­
m ent maker. I t is not uncommon to find people who
regard an optical instrum ent not as an arrangem ent
of reflecting and refracting surfaces, b u t as a con­
struction of lacquered brass. The schoolboy first
regards a telescope as a thing which ‘pulls o u t’. All
th e essentials of the instrum ent can be b etter appre­
ciated by sticking lenses w ith ‘Plasticene’ on a strip
of wood. Helmholtz told Lord Rayleigh th a t as a
boy he made his own telescope out of spectacle
lenses and a cardboard tube. In instrum ents made
by the instrum ent m aker m any essential p arts are
rightly hidden from view by protective devices, and
th e young student is deterred from meddling with
them for fear of damaging valuable property.
Simple Apparatus in Physics Research
I n the same address Lord Rayleigh claims th a t
beginners in research also should be “graduates in
th e school of string and sealing w ax” . Faraday,
and Maxwell in such constructions in the Cavendish
L aboratory as his model of the thermodynamic sur­
face, are each quoted as examples.
Sir Charles
Parsons, the greatest mechanical engineer of his
generation, was able to deal w ith formidable problems
n o . 3908 ,
S e p t e m b e r 23 , 1944
N A T U R E
393
of large-scale construction, y et he found paper, seal­
ing wax, wire and steel knitting needles very adequate
m aterials for making a working model of his air
turbine. W hen the late Lord Rayleigh had occasion
to set up a pair of m irrors for Fresnel’s interference
experiment he m ounted them in a few m inutes on
two lumps of soft wax. The am ateur m ethod is not
only much cheaper b u t also often takes little more
time th an the dispatch of an order to th e instrum ent
maker. Progress, too, can be m ade while th e m ind is
red-hot upon th e project, before delay has cooled
enthusiasm. Little sym pathy is shown for th e research
worker who puts th e responsibility for designing his
apparatus upon a firm of instrum ent makers. Lord
R utherford is quoted as saying th a t, if necessary,
lie could carry out research a t the N orth Pole. J . C.
McConnel, who was compelled for health reasons to
winter in Switzerland out of reach of laboratories
or facilities of any kind, still m ade im portant observa­
tions on the crystallization of ice, noting in particular
how large were the individual crystals and how they
behaved under bending forces when single crystal
rods were cu t in various directions. Lord Rayleigh
paid a trib u te to the instrum ent m aking industry
and its p a rt in practical life and non-pioneering
research.
m ounted in one piece by suitable clamps and appears
to be very robust, and an additional feature is th a t a
supply of hot cooling w ater can be diverted to a
tan k near a sink and used for washing. Other
interesting types of stills are also described in the
Bulletin.
The New Carnegie Cyclotron
A n e w giant cyclotron has recently been p u t into
operation a t th e D epartm ent of Terrestrial Magnetism
of the Carnegie In stitu tio n of W ashington. The new
cyclotron, one of th e two largest in operation in
the world (the other being a t Berkeley, California),
generates particles of 15,000,000 electron volts
energy, perm itting th e m ost precise measurements
ever made of th e forces released by atom ic dis­
integration. The cyclotron itself weighs more than
225 tons, has an overall height of 12 f t . ; it is 30 ft.
long and 20 ft. wide. I t took four years to build,
a t a to tal cost of 500,000 dollars for th e cyclotron,
its appurtenances, and th e special three-story build­
ing housing the equipment and instrum ent shop.
The magnet is made up of four iron castings, th e
largest weighing more th an fifty tons. Surrounded
by this heavy m agnet is th e accelerating chamber,
about sixty inches in diameter, in which atomic
particles are produced. The cyclotron is housed ten
feet below ground.
“ Books: The Warehouse of Knowledge”
W i t h reference to the leading article “Books : the
Warehouse of Knowledge” , published in Nature of
September 9, p. 319, Mr. Stanley Unwin w rite s:
“I f the established book publishers had as m uch as
5 per cent of ‘the paper in the country available for
printing’ they would be in clover. The to tal of 420,000
which you give merely includes four categories of
paper consumers and omits all others such as the
printers. A t the beginning of the W ar it was estim ated
th a t books called for about 1J per cent of the total.
I t is unlikely even to-day th a t the figure exceeds
2 per cent.” We regret our error in stated percentage
of paper available, and since it was a considerable
over-estimate, Mr. Unwin’s correction adds still
further point to our argum ent. I t m ay be possible,
however, th a t even Mr. Unwin’s figures need cor­
rection, so far as books are concerned, for, as The
Bookseller of September 14 points o u t : “These
usages, however, do not consume all the paper avail­
able for printing. There is, in addition, an unknown
b u t obviously considerable quantity of printing paper
employed outside the above categories ; for instance,
the paper used in company reports, trade catalogues,
and for a large variety of other commercial purposes”.
A New Type of Still
T h e Bulletin and Laboratory Notes of September
1943, issued by Messrs. Baird and Tatlock, L td.,
Esher, Surrey, contains a description of an interesting
copper and glass still for the preparation of distilled
water in the laboratory. The w ater is boiled by an
electric immersion heater in a tinned copper boiler,
with a water-sealed lid of the same material. The lid
carries a central1m etal tube over which is a glass hood
communicating by a backward-sloping glass tube to
the special water-cooled spiral glass condenser. A
horizontal baffle inside the lid under the central steam
outlet minimizes the passage of spray into th e hood,
which also serves as a trap. More th a n 90 per cent
heating efficiency is claimed. The standard model
has a 1 -8 kW. m otor and produces 2-7 lit. of distilled
w ater per hour, w ith a to tal w ater consumption of
36 lit. The water, in a particular experiment, had
a joH of 6 -0-6-2, and conductivity 1-5-2-0 gemmohs,
although these figurea will v ary w ith the quality of
the ta p water. Oil or gas heating m ay be used in
emergency. The whole apparatus is conveniently
Institute of Industrial Administration : Awards
T h e Institu te of Industrial Adm inistration has
awarded the In stitu te travelling scholarship to Mr.
A. G. Irvine for his thesis on “The Purposes and
Techniques of M arket Research” . This scholarship,
of the value of £250, enables the holder to spend
three m onths in the U nited States studying American
practice in his particular field of management,
assisted by the New York office of the donors of the
scholarship, Messrs. Stevenson, Jo rd an and Harrison,
Ltd. The Wilson Medal of the Institu te has been
awarded to Mr. A. W. Goldstaub, for his paper on
“Internal A udit in In d u stry ” . The Junior Executive
Prize of books to the value of £5 has been won by
Dr. W. L. K ent, for his paper on “The Application of
Science to In d u stry ”, and Mr. G. K innaird Evens,
for his paper on “The F uture of Psychology in
In d u stry ” .
Announcements
T h e title of reader in tim ber technology in the
University of London has been conferred on Dr. F. Y.
Henderson in respect of the post held by him a t the
Im perial College of Science and Technology.
M b . F. E. H u g h e s (assistant conservator of forests,
Gold Coast) has been appointed senior assistant con­
servator of forests, Gold Coast.
A c c o r d i n g to the August issue of the AngloSwedish Review, the birth-rate figure in Sweden for
the first quarter of 1944 of 33,261 was the highest
recorded for this period since 1921 ; the figures for
the corresponding period in 1943 and 1942 were
30,079 and 26,240 respectively. More children were
born in the towns th an in the country, the birth-rate
figure for Stockholm being especially high.
394
NATURE
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS
The Editors do not hold themselves responsible
fo r opinions expressed by their correspondents.
N o notice is taken of anonymous communications.
Phytic Acid and Phytase in Cereals
interesting letter of Dr. R . A. McCanoe and
Miss E. M. Widdowson in Nature of May 271, in
which they point out th e relatively large quantity
of phytase in w heat as compared w ith oats, gives
me the opportunity of recording some further facts
on this im portant practical issue which supplem ent
those given in the letter. This is no mere academic
question, b u t concerns w hat in the p ast certainly
has been, and in m y view possibly still is, th e most
prom inent problem of m alnutrition affecting people
in Great Britain.
Cereals form such a large p a rt of th e national
dietary, namely, about 50 per cent, th a t, if they
have a nutritional defect, it is certain to be of great
consequence to health and development. W hat we
m ust aim a t is to get all the advantages of these
valuable foods and a t the same tim e to eliminate
or prevent any baneful action they m ay have. Now,
cereals have such a defect in th a t they are not only
poor in calcium content b u t also they can, under
some conditions, interfere w ith the availability to the
body of calcium of other foods2. This is of special
im portance to the child and adolescent, whose needs
for calcium to incorporate in the growing bones, the
developing teeth and other organs are great. In
th e adult anim al also cereals can denude the bones
o f their calcium salts under some conditions. Con­
tra ry to all expectation, cereals such as oatm eal and
maize, which contain m ost calcium, are ju st those
which can interfere m ost w ith calcium deposition
during growth.
In 1939 it was found th a t one substance in cereals
which plays a large p a rt in this harm ful action is
phytic acid3. Any form of treatm ent which reduces
th e phytic acid in cereals either by eliminating it
or by hydrolysing it will reduce th e rickets-producing
o r anticalcifying effect. I t was found th a t m alting
o f cereals, and, more especially, germ ination followed
by autolysis of the crushed grain, reduce this action ;
an d now McCance and Widdowson have emphasized
th e importance of th e hydrolysis of phytic acid th a t
accompanies the change from flour to bread as the
result of the action of the abundant phytase in the
flour. They point out th a t oats and oatmeal, on the
other hand, contain b u t little phytase to break down
th e phytic acid. They suggest th a t the difference
in phytase content of w heat and oat3 explains
the results described m any years ago of the smaller
rachitogenic action of bread as compared w ith o a t­
m eal2.
T h at this explanation is tru e is undoubted, b u t it
is only p a rt of the tru th . Oats and w heat are both
rich in phytic acid. In m y experience oats are the
richer source, b u t th e variation in different samples
of both grains is large and for th e purpose of the
argum ent we will assume th a t th e am ount is the
same in each cereal and of the order of 200 mgm.
phytic acid phosphorus in 100 gm. of the grain. Now
the husk which is removed in th e preparation of the
oatmeal forms about 30 per cent by weight of the
grain, and since this husk contains no phytic acid
(it does contain a little phytase) th e percentage of
phytic acid in th e dehusked grain rises correspond­
The
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944,
v o l.
154
ingly, namely, up to 270 mgm. or more of phytic
acid phosphorus per 100 gm. oatmeal. On the other
hand, in processing w heat to flour, assuming th a t the
wheat-meal flour is of 85 per cent extraction, the
15 per cent removed in the milling is largely made up
of the coarser bran, which is very rich both in phytic
acid and phytase.
Thus 85 per cent extraction
wheat-meal flour would contain about 120 mgm. or
even less phytic acid phosphorus per 100 gm. flour.
Starting, therefore, w ith oats and wheat grain both
containing 200 mgm. phytic acid phosphorus per
100 gm. of grain, by the tim e each preparation
reaches the cook, there is a great difference between
their contents : 270-300 mgm. phytic acid phos­
phorus in oatmeal and 120 mgm. in national wheatmeal flour ; and this is not the end of the story.
In preparing these products for the consumer, the
cook again alters their relative phytic acid content.
The oatmeal is boiled as porridge, its small phytase
content is destroyed and the phytic acid remains
a t the same high figure. In the case of wheaten flour,
th e m atter is different. The high phytase content
gets a chance of destroying phytic acid in the flour
during the period when the dough is standing. In
this process, however, the flour phytase is not the only
phytase present. The added yeast is also rich in
this enzyme, and it may, under some conditions,
assist the hydrolytic breakdown of phytic acid.
W hether it does so assist seems to depend on the
m ethod of bread-making adopted. I f the am ount of
yeast added is relatively large (2-1 per cent of flour)
and the time of standing of the dough short (2 hours),
the yeast m ay add largely to the phytic acid destruc­
tion. If, however, the yeast added is small (0-6 per
cent of flour) and the dough rising-time long (6 hours),
the yeast phytase m ay be ineffective. The phytase
action of both flour and yeast is greatly increased as
the p H is lowered towards 4-5, and it is possible th a t
th e additive effect of the larger am ount of yeast may
be partially or wholly explained by this change in
pH. The accompanying results obtained on baking
bread with flour a t two levels of phytic acid content
illustrate this effect of yeast.
TTy d r o t i Y s t s ott P h y t t o A o td i n
B r e a d -m a k i n g
H igh a n d low y e a s t = 2-1 p e r c e n t a n d 0*6 p e r c e n t respectively.
S h o rt a n d long rising tim e = 2 hours an d 6 hours respectively.
no. 3908, S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944
N A T U R E
Finally, it m ay be asked, w hat are the nutritional
implications of this phytic a c id -p h y ta se problem
of cereals ? In the norm al high cereal diet, three
situations are presented : (1) when it contains much
phytic acid, as when oatmeal or maize meal is largely
eaten ; (2) when it contains much inositol and phos­
phoric acid produced by hydrolysis of phytic acid
by phytase, together w ith some unhydrolysed phytic
acid, for example, when bread m ade from high ex­
traction flour is eaten ; (3) when it contains b u t
little phytic acid or hydrolysed phytic acid, as when
bread from low extraction flour or when a cereal
such as rice is eaten. Since both inositol and phos­
phate are essential constituents of th e diet, it is
clearly desirable to have good supplies of these in
the food, th a t is, conditions (1) and (2) above, but
only so long as (a) these substances are available to
the body and (6) neither phytic acid nor its product
phosphoric acid is allowed to exert its calciumstealing influence. B oth these necessary conditions
can be obtained by increasing the calcium in the
diet and by m aintaining a sufficiently high vitam in
D intake. Man, especially the Scot, instinctively
found the answer to this problem in the case of o a t­
meal by taking milk freely w ith his porridge. T hat
is also the raison d'etre for the present practice of
adding calcium carbonate to the modern loaf and
vitam in D to the margarine, although it is probable
th at, in both cases, the present supplements are too
small for the optimum calcium - phosphorus nutrition
of m any people.
E dw ard
M ellanby.
N utrition Building,
National Institu te for Medical Research,
(Medical Research Council),
Mill Hill, N.W.7.
Aug. 25.
1 M cCance, R. A ., a n d W iddow son, E . M ., N a tu re, 153, 650 (1944).
2 M ellanby, E ., Spec. Rep. Ser. M ed. lies. Coun., Lond., N o. 93 (1925).
8 H arrison, D . C., a n d M ellanby, E ., Biochem. J ., 33, 1600 (1939).
Catelectrotonic Potentials in the Dorsal
Roots of the Spinal Cord
T h e preparation has been the isolated oxygenated
spinal cord of th e frog. I t is well known1-2 th a t a
dorsal root volley gives rise to a prolonged negative
potential which is propagated electrotonically from
the spinal cord along th a t root and also along other
dorsal roots both ipselateral and contralateral. In
adjacent ipselateral roots th is dorsal root potential
may be as large (10 mV.) as in the root of entry.
W ith submaxima] volleys the dorsal root potential
rises to a rounded sum m it in about 20 msec, and
then decays approxim ately exponentially w ith
successive half-times of about 30-60 msec. W ith
larger volleys there is usually a prolonged negative
‘tail’ which is attrib u tab le to long-continued activity
of the intem uncial neurones of th e spinal cord, and
is paralleled by prolonged after-discharge from the
motoneurones. In conformity w ith this explanation,
the tail is increased in size and duration by rapid
repetitive stim ulation and after soaking the cord in
strychnine (1 in 200,000).
An antidromic volley in th e ventral root fibres also
sets up in adjacent dorsal roots a prolonged negative
potential which has a longer laten t period and a
395
slower rise to a more flattened sum m it, b u t which
decays a t least as rapidly as the dorsal root potential
set up by a dorsal root volley (half-times 25-45
msec.). This decay is always exponential, and never
shows any prolonged tail.
I f the spinal cord is anaesthetized by soaking in
nem butal solutions, the rising phases of both types
of dorsal root potential are not appreciably altered,
b u t the decaying phases of both are greatly p ro ­
longed. Moreover, the abolition of activity in the
intem uncial neurones is associated with a removal of
th e tail of the dorsal root potential set up by
dorsal root volleys (single or repetitive), which con­
sequently now decays in a strictly exponential
fashion, closely resembling the decay of the dorsal
root potential set up by the ventral root volleys.
The ‘half-tim es’ are lengthened 10-20 times by 1 in
7,000 nem butal, ranging w ith this la tte r dose between
0-4 and 0-7 sec. F u rth e r increase in dosage abolishes
th e dorsal root potential set up by ventral root
volleys.
The exponential tim e course of the decay suggests
th a t, as w ith the synaptic potential produced in
the motoneurones3, the 'dorsal root potential is
produced by the relatively brief action of an actively
depolarizing agent, the decaying phase of the dorsal
root potential being relatively passive (except for the
intem uncial activity) and governed by the electric
tim e constant of the membrane being depolarized.
This analysis of the dorsal root potential into active
and passive phases is supported by the effect of
nem butal, which (apart from the removal of any
intem uncial activity) can be simply explained as due
to a lengthening of the tim e constant of the mem ­
brane. This tim e constant is a product of impedance
and capacity, and since the capacity of living mem ­
branes is b u t little altered even during ex­
trem e changes in the tim e constant4, it seems likely
th a t nem butal produces a large (10-20-fold) increase
in the electric impedance of the membrane. I t has
long been suspected th a t anaesthetics act in this
way5.8. However, in the spinal cord this effect
appears to be largely restricted to certain m em ­
branes ; for the electric tim e constant of the m oto­
neurones remains short even under deep nem butal
anaesthesia, the half-time for the synaptic potential
being about 25 msec, in the frog3.
The location of the membranes responsible for the
dorsal root potential has been investigated by setting
up a maximum volley in a dorsal root a t all phases
of a dorsal root potential produced in th a t root by a
previous volley in th a t or another dorsal root, or a
ventral root. There is an immediate destruction of a
large fraction of the dorsal root potential in th a t root
(usually 50-90 per cent, b u t with some roots as small
as 20 per cent), b u t no effect on the dorsal root
potentials in other roots.
On the basis of these experiments, it is suggested
th a t the dorsal root potential is a catelectrotonic
potential set up in the central term inals of the dorsal
root fibres by the actively depolarizing action of
potentials produced in nerve cells in close proxim ity,
particularly in synaptic contact. W ith the dorsal
root potentials set up by dorsal root volleys, the
tim e course of the actively depolarizing action (deter­
mined by analysis) is such th a t it could be produced
by the synaptic potentials set up in those nerve cells
b y the dorsal root volley. This suggestion would
explain the extensive distribution up and down the
cord of the dorsal root potential produced by a
volley in one dorsal root. The decay of the dorsal
396
N A T U R E
root potential would be governed by th e tim e con­
stan t of the mem brane of th e term inal nerve fibres
of th a t dorsal root, and it would be these term inals
th a t are specifically affected b y nem butal.
The
p artial destruction o f th e dorsal root potential b y a
m aximum volley in th a t root suggests th a t the
impulses do not penetrate to all th e central term inal
nerve fibres of th a t root. This suggestion recalls th e
findings of Renshaw* and Lloyd7 th a t an antidrom ic
impulse in a ventral root fibre m ay fail to spread over
the surface of th e motoneurone of th a t fibre, block
apparently occurring a t th e axon hillock.
J o h n C. E c c l e s .
Physiology D epartm ent,
Medical School,
Dunedin, N.Z.
Ju n e 27.
1 B arro n , D . H ., a n d M a tth e w s, B . H . C., J . P hysiol., 92, 276 (1938).
1 S o n n e t, V ., a n d B rem er, P ., Compt. Rend. Soc. B io l., 127 , 806 , 812
(1938).
•E c cle s, J . C „ N ature, 153, 432 (1944).
• Cole, K . S., a n d C u rtis, H . J ., J . Gen. Physiol., 22, 649 (1939).
•O s te rh o u t, W . J . V ., " In ju r y , R eco v ery a n d D e a th in re la tio n to
C o n d u ctiv ity a n d P e rm e a b ility ” (P h ilad elp h ia, 1922).
•R e n s h a w , B ., J . N europhysiol., 5, 235 (1942).
’ L loyd, D . P . C., J . Neurophysiol., 6, 143 (1943).
• G u ttm a n , K ., J . Gen. P hysiol., 22, 567 (1939).
Se pt e m b e r
23,
1944,
v o l . 154
worm defsecated during burrowing, th a t particular
experim ent was discarded..
Usually, however,
defecation did not occur. Of the successful experi­
m ents, two were done on th e beach a t Bangor, the
worms being allowed to burrow as soon as they were
dug up, and the rest in the D epartm ent of Zoology
of the U niversity of N orth Wales, using m uddy sand
from the beach. Generally there was a very slight
loss o f weight during burrowing (see table). The
density of th e wet, m uddy sand was about 1-9, so
it seems th a t significant am ounts cannot have been
swallowed.
W eights (gm.)
S itu atio n
W orm No.
Before
burrow ing
A fte r
burrow ing
Difference
B each
1
2
4-0
7-5
3-8
7*3
-0 -2
—0-2
L ab o rato ry
3
4
5
6
3-8
7-0
8-2
12-3
3-8
6-9
8-1
12-3
0-0
—0*1
—0-1
0-0
(2)
Dissection experiments. Five worms were kept
in clean sea w ater in the laboratory for from three to
four weeks. Three of them were then allowed to
burrow into sand from the beach, as described above,
then dissected under 8 per cent magnesium chloride,
which acts as a narcotic*. The other two were dis­
sected w ithout prelim inary burrowing. In the two
Mechanism of Burrowing in
controls, there was no trace of sand in any part of
Arenicola marina L.
th e gut. In the worms which had burrowed, small
am ounts o f sand were found in the oesophagus, but
I p a living lugworm is p u t on th e surface of wet there was none in any other p a rt of the gut. One of
sand or m ud, it curves its head downwards and th e three had a single, m inute mass of sand, com­
burrows in. During th e burrowing act (which was prising only some half-dozen sand-grains; the
described in detail by J u s t1), th e proboscis is ex­ second had a single, compact mass, 2-3 c.mm.
truded and w ithdraw n, wave-movements o f a ch ar­ in volume ; and the th ird had most of its oesophagus
acteristic kind trav el forwards along th e body, and incompletely filled w ith a cylinder of sand. In all
the notopodia are directed backwards.
cases, the am ounts ingested were negligibly small,
According to m any authorities, th e lugworm compared w ith the volume of a whole worm.
swallows sand as it burrows. Thus Stannius8 wrote :
Clearly, the idea th a t Arenicola passes through the
“Legt m an eine ausgegrabene Arenicola a u f eine von sand like an anim ated cork borer is fallacious.
Seewasser etwas bedeckte sandige Stelle des Ufers, Burrowing is achieved by thrusting the sand, or mud,
so fangt sie alsbald an, eine Rohre im Sande sich zu aside ; very little, if any, is taken in through the
bohren. . . . Die Róhren entstehen aber nicht ausch- m outh. The proboscis is used in burrowing, and also,
liesslich dadurch, dass die W iirm er den Sand oder presum ably, in feeding*, so it appears to be capable
den Schlamm an die Seite driicken, sie versclilingen of widely different types of action.
vielmehr beim Bohren bestandig Sand ; der ganze
In conclusion, a note m ay be added about the
D arm kanal wird da von angefiillt, und ehe der hinterste rem ark of Stanniusa, quoted above, th a t defecation
Theil des Thieres die Oberfiache des Bodens ganz accompanies burrowing. I saw defecation during
verliisst, wird der verschluckte Sand durch*den*After burrowing in two of four worms on the beach, and
wieder entleert.” A shworth3 concludes a de­ never in the laboratory. The worms used in the lab­
scription of burrowing w ith th e words “B y these oratory had been kept in clean w ater for a couple of
means, a passage is eaten and forced through the days a t least, and had p a rtly or completely emptied
m ud” .
th eir intestines. I th ink it likely th a t the defecation
W hen those passages were w ritten, th e mode of occurs only in replete worms, as a pressure effect of
life of the lugworm was n o t well understood. In some kind incidental to burrowing. Perhaps those
particular, burrowing and feeding were supposed to which defecated would shortly have done so in any
be one and the same process. More recent work, case, even if they had not been disturbed.
however, indicates th a t the two are quite distinct4.
G. P. W e l l s .
The worm is now believed to excavate an _L-shaped
D epartm ent of Zoology,
gallery, and to lie w ith its head a t th e blind end,
University College,
eating the surrounding m ud. I therefore made the
London.
following experiments, to find out w hether significant
Ju ly 23.
am ounts of sand or m ud are in fact swallowed during
1
J
u
s
t,
B
.,
Z
.
vergl. Physiol., 2, 155 (1925).
burrowing.
(1)
Weighing experiments. Lugworms were first 2 S ta n n iu s, H ., M uller’s A rch., 352 (1840).
orth, J . H ., “ Arenicola” , L .M .B .C . M em oirs, X I (1904).
weighed, then allowed to burrow until only th e tip 34 AT hshw
a m d ru p , H . M ., M edd. K om m . Havundersag., K b h ., 10, 2 (1935).
of the ta il could still be seen, then dug out and 6 L edingham , I. C., an d W ells, G. P ., N ature, 150, 121 (1942).
weighed again. The anus was watched, and, if the • W ells, G. P ., J . E x p . B iol., 14, 117 (1937).
n o . 3908 ,
S e p t e m b e r 23 ,
1944
N A T U R E
Sewage Bacteria Bed Fauna in its
Natural Setting
397
debris forms on th e surface, and when this has
thickened and dried it can be rolled off like a carpet,
leaving th e filter again porous and receptive to
fu rth er dosing.
This discovery of the bacteria bed fauna in its
n atural setting should help in th e study of its
theoretical aspects which hold m uch of interest,
especially in regard to anim al com petition^3,4. I t is
also of practical interest since th e invasion of dwell­
ings by sewage flies is often a m atter of concern to
sanitary authorities and it is im portant to know from
w hat other sources they m ay come.
I t has been observed th a t th e bacteria beds of
sewage works form an environm ent for insects unlike
anything in N ature1. The depth of th e habitable
zone is great, so th a t compared w ith m ost insect
habitats it is alm ost like th e cube against the square.
I t is well aerated and constantly supplied w ith a
basic food supply both in solution and in finely
divided form evenly spread over th e bed. The tem ­
perature is protected from extremes, on one hand by
the heat generated by vital processes and on th e other
L l . L loyd.
hand by the effects of evaporation. The daily tem ­
P The University,
perature swing is restricted. Larvas and pupse are
Leeds, 2. Aug. 16.
not accessible to birds except a t th e surface. This ‘ D yson, J . E ., an d L loyd, L l., J . Proc. In st. Sewage Purification,
insect fauna is characterized by th e small num ber
P t. 2, 28 (1933).
of successful species and th e great prevalence o f * L loyd, L l., G raham , J . 3?., a n d R eynoldson, T . B ., A n n . A p p . Biol.,
27, 122 (1940).
those few which do succeed. In eight years of * L loyd,
L l., A n n . A p p . B io l., 30, 47 (1943)
trapping on th e K nostrop beds a t Leeds, more th a n ‘ L loyd, 11., A n n . A p p . B iol., 30, 358 (1943).
h alf a million insects were caught and scrutinized ;
and, though in all about a hundred species were taken,
99-7 per cent of th e to ta l belonged to six species of
Imperial Forestry Institute, Oxford
nematocerous flies, namely, Metriocnemus longitarsus,
I n commenting in Nature of Ju ly 15, p. 94 on the
M . hirticollis, Spaniotoma minima, S . perennis,
Psychoda altemata and P . severini. The enchytraeid 1942-43 report of the Im perial Forestry In stitu te, it
worm, Lumbricillus lineatus, has an abundance equal is stated th a t there is difficulty in distinguishing
to, or perhaps surpassing, th a t o f an y of these larvae between the respective p a rts played by the Im perial
in the K nostrop beds. A t some works, though not Forestry In stitu te and the U niversity D epartm ent
a t Leeds, Psychoda cinerea and Anisopus cinctus show or School of Forestry. This is simply explained by
a similar prevalence. The collembolan Achorutes th e fact, set out a t length in the 1937-38 report,
viaticus and th e cordylurid fly Spathiophora hydro- th a t in 1938 they became a single organization sup­
myzina are th e only other insects so far recorded as ported jointly by the Colonies, the Forestry Com­
mission, the University of Oxford and a few smaller
prevalent in th e beds.
I
have recently located th is fauna alm ost intact, contributors. A t the same time, the information
though mingled w ith a num ber of other successful branch of the Institu te was taken over by the
forms, in th e n atu ral setting o f a m ud flat about Im perial Agricultural Bureaux to constitute a new
four miles from th e nearest sewage works. A small, Im perial Forestry Bureau which still works in close
slightly contam inated stream passes under a bridge collaboration w ith the Institute. This latte r change
and, as an effect of an eddy, forms a m ud flat about resulted in a transfer to the Bureaux of nearly all the
th irty yards long and fifteen yards wide w ith a su r­ original Dominion support for the In stitu te, leaving
face usually an inch or two above w ater level. I t is th e Colonial Em pire in a still more predom inant
constantly water-logged through seepage, b u t is position among the supporters of the Institute.
The amalgam ation of School and Institu te was
rarely flooded and then only for b rief periods a fte r
heavy rainstorm s, for there is a sill a short distance made prim arily for adm inistrative reasons and to fit
downstream giving a rapid recovery to norm al level. in w ith the new arrangem ents for the training of
I t is overhung by trees and receives in autum n a officers for the Colonial Forest Service ; it did not
thick carpet of leaves which is absorbed into th e m ud affect the research work being done by the staff.
in winter and largely disintegrated by summer. This la tte r work continues to be directed towards
Samples of th e surface m ud taken to th e laboratory Em pire needs and interests so far as is possible in
have yielded 1,500 insects, o f which 44 per cent Great B ritain. In several fields, however, for ex­
belong to eight o f the ten species enum erated above am ple sylviculture, there is not a great deal having
as forming th e insect fauna o f th e bacteria beds, a direct bearing on Em pire forestry th a t can be done
Achorutes and Spathiophora only having n o t a p ­ in B ritain. Research in these subjects is accordingly
peared in the cultures. Of th e others emerging, directed more towards fundam ental problems and
31 per cent is shared equally between th e blood­ problems representative of types likely to occur an y ­
sucking genus Culicoides and th e short-palped crane- where, and it has to be carried out in the woods
flies, Limoniinss, both o f which have very rarely and forests accessible from Oxford. Such studies are
appeared in collections from th e bacteria beds. The clearly likely to be more productive and useful if
characteristic enchytraeid worm of th e sewage bed, undertaken in co-operation with the related research
L . lineatus, also occurs in th e m ud flat, b u t in num ­ activities of the Forestry Commission.
From the educational point of view, it is essential,
bers is almost m asked by a swarming tubificid worm
for keeping the teaching live and practical, th a t the
densely clustered ju st below th e surface.
Thus it appears th a t th e m acrofauna of th e bacteria staff should be in the closest possible touch with
bed is derived from th a t o f th e organic m ud flat, current practice and developments where the teach­
b u t the two types of environm ent are not much ing is done. Moreover, the Forestry Commission
alike. The m ud flat, however, does ra th e r resemble looks to Oxford, as having the only University Forestry
the sand sewage filter. In th is a bed of porous sand School in England, to play its p a rt and undertake
some four feet deep is flooded a t frequent intervals its share in forestry education for service a t home
with settled sewage which seeps through an d is as well as abroad, and in forestry research of a
purified in passage. A m at of cellulose and other fundam ental nature. I t was for these reasons th a t
N A T U R E
398
it was felt desirable to aw ait th e publication of the
Forestry Commission’s plans before deciding on some
aspects of th e future teaching and research organiza­
tion a t the Institute. I f th e stress in th e report appears
to be on th e importance of closer co-operation in
research w ith th e Forestry Commission, th is was only
because there appeared to be room for it, whereas
decisions affecting Colonial forestry h ad already been
agreed. The expected W hite P aper has since been
p u b lish ed ; it was considered by th e U niversity
Committee for Forestry, which found th a t no further
changes in its own plans were necessitated.
This opportunity m ay be taken to add th a t forestry
has recently been m ade an H onour School in th is
University, as from th e next academic year ; two
years study of biological and physical science will
norm ally be required before th e tw o years forestry
courses are undertaken, as was already th e position
under the sta tu te of 1938.
H . G. C h a m p i o n .
Im perial Forestry Institute,
Oxford. Aug. 21.
Structure of Cellulose
' I n their criticism o f m y suggested structure of
cellulose1, A stbury an d D avies2 appealed to evidence
not then available to me in a thesis by D r. C. J .
Brown3. My than k s are due to Dr. A stbury for
bringing th is interesting work to notice and to Dr.
Brown for th e opportunity to read it. I do n o t think
th a t it settles th e issue between th e angles 110° and
90° a t the oxygen of th e pyranose ring. The difference
am ounts to ± 0-15 A. in th e b co-ordinate of Cl and
C5 respectively, whereas th e author, rath er modestly,
claims only an accuracy of ± 0 - 4 A. The features
referred to by A stbury and Davies describe a regular
six-sided figure—I presume th ey would not suggest
th a t this is a precise description.
In “the m ost detailed saccharide crystal analysis
so far reported”, Cox and Jeffery4 conclude in favour
of a slightly flattened form of th e Sachse trans form.
This is the form I adopt and, moreover, th e strainless
arm -chair form, though Dr. A stbury does not appear
to recognize it nor appreciate its comfort. In these,
as in other studies, reasonable agreem ent is found
w ith forms based on th e 110° assum ption, b u t it
remains to be proved th a t th e error in a tria l of 90°
m ust be significantly greater.
Meyer and Misch6 also assume 110°, b u t I cannot
reproduce th eir param eters from th e ir geometrical
assum ptions. A u n it o f length to fit into th e 10-3 A.
identity period can be obtained b y assuming a regular
ring of bonds of length 1 -50 A. (mean o f 4 C-C
and 2 C-O bonds) b u t th is is too crude an approxim a­
tion. My calculations of th e rigorous form, w ith the
screw axis as shown b y Meyer and Misch, give a
length of 11-12 A. (Curiously enough th is is longer
th an it would be if th e ring were a regular figure of
1-54 A. bonds.) W ith another choice of axis, th e
chain m ight be buckled into the cell, b u t I have been
unable to find a probable form in conform ity w ith
the geometry and w ith the clearest features of the
X -ray diffraction, from th e (h 0 I) zone.
Cox8 recognizes th a t the form of th e molecule m ay
be modified by interm olecular forces. This considera­
tion should m odify any dogm atism about th e u n ­
known form of th e cellulose ring, b u t it does not
seriously affect th e power of his elegant argum ent
for a nearly co-planar arrangem ent of the sugar ring
carbons’.
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944,
v o l.
154
I t m ust be adm itted th a t direct evidence to decide
between 90° and 110° for the oxygen angle in the
cellulose ring is lacking. I f A stbury and Davies.
Cox and Brown, Meyer and Misch, H aw orth and
others assume an unstrained angle of 110°, they may
do so in good company—b u t Pauling8 as well as
Peirce m ust be excluded from the company.
The variation o f the oxygen angle shows it to be
deformable. I f one sees an elastic thread under an
evident load, it is no speculation to assume th a t its
unstrained length is less th an the observed length.
In HjjO, the oxygen angle is 105° and it is distended
by th e ionic character of the H fields. This ionic
character is less in F aO and the angle is less, 100°.
In H aS, the greater separation of the H fields means
less repulsive stress and the angle is 92°. (These are
th e values quoted by Pauling8.) W hen large groups
are attached to the two bonds, th e angle is corre­
spondingly large, attaining 130° and more in the
diphenyl ethers*>10. All this is in perfect accord with
Pauling’s theory, th a t the oxygen bonds arise from
p electrons and are unstrained a t 90°.
I t is tru e th a t atom s of the appropriate size to
enforce an angle of some 110°, Cl (in C120 ) and C,
are not infrequently involved, b u t this obviously
strained angle of a soft atom is not to be confused
w ith the tetrahedral angle of the hard and symmet rical
carbon atom . The latest figures on the aliphatic
ethers give values of 110° or less11, and these are
clearly strained by an otherwise imbalanced repulsion
between the closely held carbon atom s. Dioxane
(110°)12 looks more like a pyranose ring but, by
sym m etry, the field round each oxygen atom m ust
be closely sim ilar to th a t in dim ethyl ether. When
th e two carbon neighbours of the oxygen are held
also by a line of three carbon atoms, these can take
some of th e stress from the oxygen bonds and even
impose an opposite strain, if there be a minimum of
free energy when a line of carbon atom s is co-planar.
The position seems to be, therefore, th a t the un­
strained angle is 90° and the strain is unknown—
so th e simplest assum ption is the strainless form, as
given in m y note. The fact th a t it fits so neatly
into the cellulose lattice commends it, b u t I would
be the last to claim for the resultant structure any
sta tu s beyond th a t of a tentative, approxim ate
speculation, possibly useful as a working hypothesis
to correlate the general body of data : and this is
all th a t I would allow to any detailed crystal struc­
tu re ascribed to a macromolecular fibre.
The param eters are given to 0-01 A. because they
express the geometrical consequences of assumptions
reasonably defined to th a t degree of accuracy. This
basic, strainless form m ay later be strained to accord
w ith direct evidence still to be found, but it seems
w orthy of inclusion in ‘trial and error’ studies. To
th a t end, it was offered through the speedy channel
of the correspondence to Nature.
F.
B ritish Cotton Industry Research Association,
Shirley Institute,
Didsbury, Manchester.
I P eirce, N ature, 153, 586 (1944).
* A stb u ry an d D avies, N ature, 154, 84 (1944).
• B ro w n , C. J ., P h .D . Thesis (B irm ingham , 1939).
* Cox a n d Jeffery, N ature, 143 , 894 (1939).
* M eyer a n d M isch, E elv. C him . Acta, 30, 894 (1937).
* Cox, N ature, 154, 84 (1944).
T Cox, Goodwin a n d W agstaff, J . Chem. Soc., 1495 (1935).
■ P auling, “ N a tu re o f th e Chem ical B ond” , p . 78 et eeq. (1939).
* S u tto n an d Coop, J . Chem. Soc., 1869 (1938).
10 H am pson, F a rm e r a n d S u tto n , Proc. Boy. Soc., 143, 147 (1933).
11 S u tto n , A n n . R ep. Chem. Soc., 72 (1940).
II G lasstone, A n n . Rep. Chem. Soc., 84 (1936).
no.
3908, S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944
N A T U R E
and Peng if the incident proton (or neutron) has
an energy between 2 x 1 0 s eV. and 2 x 1010 eV. An
example of this type of shower is reproduced in Fig. 1.
The second type of shower, two examples of which
are reproduced in Fig. 2, consists of penetrating
particles coming from different directions. I t seems
probable th a t this type of shower is an example o f
the production of penetrating particles by a cascade
process3'4.
Bose, Choudhuri and Sinha6 have recently p u b ­
lished a photograph which they claim shows the pro­
duction of mesons by a cascade process. To establish
such a claim it is first necessary to prove th a t the
shower is not an electron cascade, for electron cascade
showers are very frequent while penetrating showers
are rare ; and it is insufficient to state th a t th e
Cloud Chamber Photographs of
Penetrating Showers
I n a long series of counter experiments, W ataghin,
de Souze and Pom pia1, and Janossv2 and his co­
workers have established the existence of showers of
penetrating particles different from electron cascade
showers and knock-on showers. I t now seems prob­
able th a t the theory of cosmic-ray mesons p u t forward
recently by Ham ilton, H eitler and Peng3 can account
satisfactorily for these showers in term s of mesons
(and neutrettos). These particles are assumed to be
created by protons (or neutrons), of energies greater
th an 2 x 1 0 ® eV. by cascade or m ultiple processes.
More direct confirmation of this interpretation of
the experimental results is desirable, and for this
1
F lQ . 1. AN EXAMPLE OF A SHOWER OF
PENETRATING PARTICLES PRODUCED BY A
MULTIPLE PROCESS. THREE PARTICLES CAN BE
SEEN PASSING THROUGH THE LEAD PLATE.
399
2a
2b
F ig . 2. Tw o EXAMPLES OF SHOWERS OF PENETRATING PARTICLES PRODUCED BY A
CASCADE. IN (a), TWO PARTICLES CAN BE SEEN TO PASS THROUGH THE LEAD PLATE,
WHEREAS IN (ft) THREE (AND POSSIBLY FOUR) PARTICLES PASS THROUGH THE PLATE.
reason we have recently set up a cloud chamber con­
trolled by a set of counters which selects penetrating
showers. The counter sets are arranged in three trays
and are connected in sevenfold coincidence such th a t
95 per cent of all coincidences are caused b y pene­
tratin g showers. The middle and bottom tray s are
surrounded by lead 15 cm. in thickness, and the
total vertical thickness of lead is 53 cm. Electron
cascade showers are thus effectively cut out. The
top tra y is covered w ith lead 5 cm. in thickness,
and the cloud chamber is placed between th e middle
and bottom trays.
Some th irty photographs have been obtained so
far, and of these, eighteen photographs show pene­
tratin g particles which pass through a lead block,
2-3 cm. in thickness, w ithout m ultiplication. Nine
of the eighteen photographs show showers consisting
of two or more penetrating particles.
The results are consistent w ith the assum ption th a t
almost all penetrating showers contain ionizing pene­
trating particles.
Further, they show th a t the
ionizing particles themselves are penetrating, and are
not soft ionizing secondaries to a non-ionizing pene­
trating radiation. The ionizing penetrating particles
may, however, be accompanied by non-ionizing
particles (for example, neutrettos).
Showers of two main types occur among th e nine
photographs. The first type, typical of almost all the
published photographs of showers of penetrating
particles, consists of penetrating particles originating
a t one point, th a t is, particles produced by a m ultiple
process. Janossy2 has shown th a t these showers are
to be expected from the theory of H am ilton, H eitler
shower contains mesons. Moreover, the one group
of particles on Sinha’s photograph which clearly
passes through the lead plate in the cloud chamber
emerges accompanied by several electrons. I t is
assumed th a t these are knock-on electrons produced
by mesons, b u t this is very unlikely as the chance
of a num ber of mesons producing several knock-on
electrons is negligibly small. The multiplication of
the particles in passing through the lead plate is, in
fact, a clear indication th a t they are electrons and
not mesons.
G. D. R o c h e s t e r .
Physical Laboratories,
University, Manchester.
1 W a ta g h in , G., de Souze, M ., a n d P o m p ia, P . A ., Phys. R ev., 57, 61,
339 (1940).
’ Jśn o ssy , L ., P hys. R ev., 64 , 345 (1943).
! H a m ilto n , J ., H e itle r, W .,a n d P en g , H . ~W .,Phys. R ev., 64, 78 (1943).
4 P eng, H . W ., Proc. Roy. Ir is h A cad., 49 A , 245 (1944).
• B o se ,D . M ., C houdhuri, B ., a n d S in h a, M ., P hys. R ev., 65, 341 (1944).
Volcanic Contributions to the
Atmosphere and Ocean
II
it be assumed, as is now again the fashion, th a t
the nascent earth passed through a liquid stage, it
is obvious th a t “the m olten spheroid . . . retained,
occluded w ithin itself, some large p a rt of the w ater
in th e present hydrosphere, as well as much of th e
carbon dioxide represented by the present carbonates
and carbonaceous deposits” 1. Most of the carbon
dioxide th a t has become available as a source of
400
NATURE
carbon is undoubtedly of volcanic origin, being de­
rived from magma.
A useful estim ate of th e am ount of carbon th a t
has been extracted from th e atm osphere b y various
means has been made by Poole2, who, however, has
unnecessarily revived th e theory th a t th is has been
all present a t one tim e in gaseous com bination in a
‘prim itive’ atm osphere. Poole assumes th a t some
o f th e fixed carbon has been derived from m ethane
so present instead of from carbon dioxide—an
assum ption he has considered necessary because of
an apparent over-supply o f th e by-product oxygen
if carbon dioxide were th e sole (or greatly p re­
dom inant) source of carbon. W hen, however, oxida­
tion of juvenile hydrogen throughout th e long history
o f volcanic activ ity is taken into account, there is
no longer any difficulty in accounting for th e dis­
posal of such an apparent surplus of atmospheric
oxygen. A supply of oxygen for th is purpose m ust
indeed be found if there is anything of value in th e
theory of th e volcanic furnace. I t is permissible, and
indeed necessary, therefore, to recalculate Poole’s
estim ate of atm ospheric m ethane as carbon dioxide,
a more likely atm ospheric gas.
W hen th is is done, th e to ta l mass of carbon dioxide
is 7 -02 x 10l *m etric tons ; and to this m ust be added
0-4 x 101* m etric tons of nitrogen now in th e atm o ­
sphere, and also 0-18 X 101* m etric tons of juvenile
hydrogen which has combined w ith th e surplus of
oxygen liberated from carbon dioxide, giving a to ta l
of 7-6 x 101* m etric tons of gases in w hat m ust be
regarded as th e prim itive atm osphere (itself perhaps
very scanty) together with the gases that have been
emitted from volcanoes throughout the history of the
earth. This excludes juvenile w ater vapour, which
it is impossible to estim ate by this m ethod ; it has
undoubtedly made a substantial contribution to th e
ocean, however. F o r comparison, th e m ass of the
atm osphere a t present, as given b y Poole, is
0-52 x 1018 m etric tons.
One great advantage of recognition o f th e juvenile
(magmatic) origin of carbon, as compared w ith the
‘prim itive atm osphere’ theory, is th a t it is in agree­
m ent w ith th e geological doctrine of uniform itarianism. I f one is to understand th a t doctrine in a
forward-looking sense, a continuance of th e supply
o f carbon from volcanoes will m ake possible th e
accum ulation of fu rth er deposits of coal and lime­
stone in th e thousands o f millions of years of future
geological tim e ; whereas in accordance w ith the
‘prim itive atm osphere’ theory th e supply of carbon
for this purpose is exhausted, geological processes
have worked themselves to a standstill, and we have
arrived a t th e end of th e world.
C . A. C o t t o n .
Victoria U niversity College,
W ellington, W .l.
‘ C ham berlin, T . C., a n d Salisbury, R . D ., Geology, 2, 90 (1900).
• P o o le , J . H . J ., Sci. Proc. Roy. D u b lin Soc., 22, 345 (1941).
The Deflexion of Light and Relativity
I n a recent paper, E. F. Freundlich and W.
Lederm ann1 have pointed out th a t “th e question
remains unsettled w hether th e light deflection a t the
sun’s limb am ounts to 1 -75" as predicted by the
Theory of R elativity or w hether it is substantially
larger, namely, equal to 2 •2" as indicated b y the
findings of th e Potsdam Expedition of 1929 and con­
firmed by a renewed discussion of previous observa­
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944,
v o l.
154
tional m aterial”. The authors then proceed to discuss
how an experiment can be. planned to settle the
question so th a t the standard deviation of the final
result does not exceed 0 •I".
I f m is the solar mass and R the radius in natural
units, 4m /R is the predicted deflexion2. B u t 2-2'
means 5m /R. As the deflexion provides a crucial
test of the theory, the question th a t is often asked
is w hether relativity m ust be modified to give the
result 5m /R instead of 4m /R. I t is well known th a t
the Newtonian result, 2m/R, is obtained from the
usual equation,
where v0 is the velocity, Rdip/ds, a t the perihelion.
F or light v0 — oo . The range 1
v0 oo corresponds
to th e velocity Rd<p/dt lying between 0-70c and c.
The deflexion is 5m /R for a particle for which v„ = 1 / 2
and Rdtfjdt is 0-82c. In the Newtonian theory there
is no distinction between dt and ds, and hence v0 = i
for light, b u t the second term of (4), which is of
relativistic origin, is absent.
I f the deflexion is really 2-2", one wonders if fast
moving atomic particles, w ith velocities of the order
of 0-8c, participate in the process leading to the
observed result.
V. V. N a b l i k a b .
Benares H indu University.
Aug. 13.
• F reu n d lich , E . F ., a n d L e d e rm a n n , W ., M on. N ot. Boy. A st. Soc.,
104, 40 (1944).
* E d d in g to n , Sir A. S., " T h e M ath e m a tic a l T heory o f R e la tiv ity ” , 90
(1924).
The Commutation of Annual Subscriptions
M o s t learned societies allow future annual sub­
scriptions to be commuted by single paym ents which
range from five to twenty-five tim es the annual sub­
scription w ith, in m any cases, a reduction to members
of long standing. Although this is usually advant­
ageous to th e younger members, it is too expensive
a t later ages when there is m ost interest in com m uta­
tion. There has thus arisen a growing demand for
com m utation scales on an actuarial basis.
Some examples of such scales m ay be given. The
In stitu te of Actuaries, w ith an annual subscription of
3 guineas ceasing a t the age of seventy, requires a
paym ent of 30 guineas a t age forty-five, w ith 1 guinea
less for each additional year of age up to sixty and
then by steps of 1$ guineas to a minimum of 7£
guineas a t sixty-five and over. The actuarial basis
of this scale is not stated, b u t the amounts appear
to be tw o thirds of those derived from a 3J per cent
annuity table.
The Royal Society now perm its commutation on
paym ent of the am ount which the fellow would have
to pay for a Government annuity on his own life
No. 3908, S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944
N A T U R E
of the am ount o f th e annual subscription. This
varies w ith th e price of 2£ per cent Consols and the
basis is a very stringent one, since th e am ounts p a y ­
able are those required if fellows h ad entered into
agreements to continue th eir annual subscriptions
for the remainder of their lives.
The most elaborate scale is th a t of th e Geological
Society of London. The full table contains some
thousands of entries ; it quotes th e com m utation fee
for each age at election from tw enty to eighty, com­
bined with each num ber of annual contributions
already paid, from nought to fifty. I t does not seem to
have been noticed th a t, in general, age a t election
plus num ber of annual contributions already paid
equals present age. A part from a few unnecessary
irregularities, th e vast table could be replaced by its
top line w ith “age last b irth d ay ” substituted for
“age a t election” or by its first column.
The com m utation scales of these societies for ages
forty to seventy, all expressed as per £1 of annual
subscription, are summarized in th e accompanying
table and graph, which also give suggested m aximum
and minimum scales. The m axim um scale, which on
the graph can scarcely be shown separately from th a t
of the Royal Society, is based on th e M ortality of
A nnuitants, 1900-1920, a(m) 3% U ltim ate.
C o m m u ta t io n m b s p e r £1 o p
annual
s u b s c r ip tio n
£
401
percentage should be used. I t is suggested 50 per
cent of the maximum should be regarded as the
minimum. Women should pay slightly higher com­
m utation fees, b u t m ost societies will ignore this.
In selecting a scale, sim plicity is more im portant
th an adherence to exact actuarial values ; in most
cases either a single arithm etical progression or
possibly two, as used by the In stitu te of Actuaries,
will suffice. Thus the minimum com m utation scale
for a society with an annual subscription of 5 guineas
m ight be 70 guineas a t age twenty-five and decrease
by one guinea for each additional year of age to a
m inimum of 20 guineas a t age seventy-five.
W hat should be done w ith such com m utation fees ?
Most societies invest the whole of them and transfer
to ordinary income only the interest earned ; they
thus build up useful hidden reserves in their accounts.
Some fu rth er transfer to ordinary income is, however,
reasonable and, in the absence of periodical actuarial
investigation, it will in the long run be found satis­
factory to transfer to ordinary income, in addition
to the interest earned on the com m utation fee fund,
some small portion of each com m utation fee received.
This m ay be, say, one sixth, or alternatively the
am ount of one annual subscription. Only the balance
of each com m utation fee would then be invested.
D a v id
H eron.
2 The Orchard, Bedford Park,
London, W.4.
Aug. 4.
Mr. W . L. Sclater
years after his friends—Dr. A. C. Stark, the
brothers H . P. and W. Francis and F. C. Selous—
had lost their lives by enemy action, W. L. Sclater
also fell a victim to enemy action1. Sclater was
director of the South African Museum from 1896
to 1906. H e was appointed director when the new
building (the present one) had ju st been completed,
and his was the task of planning the arrangem ent of
the exhibits. In the main his original plan persists,
though w ith the logical alterations and extensions
made possible by the addition of a new wing in
recent years.
The late Dr. Peringuey was already on the Museum
staff as entomologist. Sclater proceeded to assemble,
as members of the staff or as honorary curators, a
body of scientific workers to under take research on
the Museum collections : the late Dr. W. F. Purcell
for invertebrates, the late Dr. Gilchrist for marine
biology, the late Dr. Corstorphine for geology, and
afterwards Dr. Rogers (happily still w ith us), and
the late Dr. Pearson for botany ; he himself took
charge of the vertebrates. The acquisition of speci­
mens was extended and accelerated by regular
museum correspondents in all p arts of the country,
and the collections grew a t a pace which has scarcely
been exceeded in recent years, except in the various
groups of invertebrates, even w ith the Museum’s
increased staff and facilities for field work.
To him was due the appointm ent of a promising
young taxiderm ist, Mr. J . D rury of P erth, whose
talents reached full fruition only after Sclater had
resigned the directorship, and resulted in the unique
series of casts of living Bushmen.
K. H . B a e n a b d .
South African Museum,
Cape Town.
Many
40
50
60
70
Age la s t b irth d a y (years).
Any society which wishes to in stitu te a scale of
commutation fees should, I think, tak e into account
the normal rate of w ithdraw al from its ranks. The
suggested maximum scale, which assumes th a t w ith­
drawals are impossible, will rarely, if ever, be applic­
able, and in general some percentage of th e m axim um
should be used. W here w ithdraw als are rare, the
percentage should be nearly 100 per cent, b u t where
withdrawals are more frequent, as in societies th e
members of which are loosely held together only by
a common interest in some field of activity, a lower
1 N ature, 154, 204 (1944).
402
N A T U R E
OCCASIONAL WHITENESS OF
THE DEAD SEA
By Dr. R. BLOCH and H. Z. LITTMAN
Palestine Potash, Ltd., Jerusalem
and D r. B. ELAZARI-VOLCANI
Daniel Sieff Research Institute, Rehovoth
N the morning of A ugust 25, 1943, it was
observed th a t the whole D ead Sea, which a t
this season is always perfectly clear, had become
m ilky „white. The same observation was m ade on the
sam e morning a t the northern and southern ends,
which are seventy kilometres ap art, and it was
fu rth er ascertained th a t during th a t night th e whole
Dead Sea h ad turned white. During w inter storm s
a seam of some 100 m etres occurs frequently along
the shores, tu rb id and yellowish, b u t it was never
observed th a t th e whole Dead Sea surface had
turned white. The tu rb id ity gradually disappeared
an d in December 1943 the w ater became alm ost clear
again.
O
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944,
v o l.
154
carbonate. Moreover, the tu rb id ity of other samples
dissolved readily on adding hydrochloric acid, de­
veloping carbon dioxide.
On a rough calculation, one million tons of calcium
carbonate seem to have spread over the whole Dead
Sea during the night. There is no obvious explana­
tion for this phenomenon. There was only the usual
slight wind blowing from both the northern and
southern shores towards the centre o f the Sea. No
earthquake was registered before or after the night
in question, and the occurrence of a slight trem or
12 and 16 days later (September 6 and 10) offers no
explanation. D r. M. R. Madwar, director of the
Helwan Observatory, Egypt, informs us th a t no
other nearby earthquakes were recorded.
We inquired, therefore, w hether the phenomenon
which we had witnessed had ever been observed
before. The Dead Sea has been under close observa­
tion since 1921, when Mr. M. Novomejsky, the
founder and managing director o f the Pales­
tine Potash L td., started his experimental installa­
tions and observation posts. D uring this period no
such phenomenon is known to have occurred. In
th e nineteenth and the early tw entieth centuries
several scientific men visited the D ead Sea b u t none
o f them (Schubert, Russegger, Robinson, Wilson,
W elcotts, Seetzen, Castigan, Scott, Molineux, Lynch,
L arter, Blanckenhom) has ever said anything about
the Dead Sea being white. When a t our suggestion a
prelim inary survey of Hellenistic literature was made,
a quotation from the famous Greek physician
Galen, who visited the Dead Sea a t about a . d . 158,
was found* in his “De Simplicium Medicamentorum
F acultatibus” 1, stating th a t the waters o f the Dead
Sea “appear a t first glance w hiter and heavier than
all Seas” , ( t o 8k ty js !v n<xXaaTiv)f) E vp£a Xtjxvr]?
OScop, -ip ovo[i<&i;ov(j(v oJ f/lv O iX aoaav vexpdv, ot Se
Xi(xv7)v a<ręaX-rtTiv . . . x a x a t})v S'J'ni euO uj a[i.a
7iaor)ę
GaXdcarar]? \evx6 repov t ż
xat
Tra/ilTEpov
ęouveTat.)
F ig . 1. M a p
of th e
D e a d S e a , s h o w in g
t h e r e l a t iv e t u r b id it y
OP THE s u r f a c e l a y e r .
The nephelometric analysis of several w ater samples
tak en on October 10, 1943, revealed th e distribution
o f the tu rb id ity as shown in th e m ap (Pig. 1). The
num bers represent th e relative turbidity, th e lowest
value taken as unity. Samples a t different depths
taken a t point A in th e m ap showed the following
relative tu rb id ity :
D e p th in m e tre s
R elativ e tu rb id ity
..
..
0
1 *3
2
1 *2
3
1 *1
5
1 *5
10
1 *9
15
20
1 *1 < ^ 1
50
c le ar
A sample of 30 litres was tak en a t place B and
filtered. I t contained 0-018 gm ./litre of a white solid
o f which 15 per cent was insoluble in diluted hydro­
chloric acid, 5 per cent was insoluble in concentrated
hydrochloric acid, and 80 per cent was calcium
As the purpose of Galen’s journey was to establish
the usefulness o f its waters for the preparation of
drugs, he m ust have surely m eant th a t the w ater
itself was white, and not the appearance of the sea
a t certain hours of the day as Russegger2 described
it in 1815. Thus Galen appears to be so far the only
reliable investigator who mentions the Dead Sea as
being white, although this place was repeatedly
described during the Rom an occupation of Palestine.
In this connexion it m ay be w orth mentioning th a t
in the Bible (Genesis, 14, 3) the sentence occurs :
“ . . . in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea”.
The word “Siddim” has no connexion w ith “Sodom” ,
the Hebrew spelling of which is quite different, but
could be the plural of the Hebrew “Sid”, which
means lime. I f th a t be an indication th a t the Dead
Sea was white in A braham ’s time, then the following
observation m ight lead to some better knowledge of
Biblical times.
We have seen th a t hum an records have very little
to tell about this outstanding event in the history of
the Dead Sea. B ut we have found m uch more in
the books of N ature.
One of us3 obtained during December 1941 from the
bed of the Dead Sea a num ber of profiles 10-170 cm.
long, from depths varying from 70-330metres and taken
a t different places. On dissecting the longest profile
a ‘spectrum ’ of layers of different colours—black,
dark-blue, grey, brown and white—was revealed.
* F iusser, H ebrew U niversity, Jeru sa le m , p riv a te com m unication.
xo. 3908 , S e p t e m b e r
23,
NATURE
1944
The thickness of the dist inct white layers is 0-3-6 mm.
It is interesting to note th a t the White zones of sedi­
m ent form no seasonal repeat pattern . The following
table shows the result o f analyses of th e d ry sub­
stance of two w hite layers (Nos. 1 and 2) and o f some
d ark m aterial (No. 3 ); these were made two years after
taking the profile.
N o.
D istance from to p o f profile (cm .)
..
Calcium c arb o n ate (per cen t)
..
..
Insoluble in hydrochloric acid (per c en t)
1
38
70
7
2
52
81
3
53-58
38
35
The identity of colour and chemical composition
of the w hite layers w ith th e m aterial causing the
turbidity is striking. We therefore assume th a t each
white layer of th e Dead Sea bed is caused by an
outbreak of turbidity, and th a t sim ilar outbreaks
occurred earlier and are distinctly recorded on the
profile. The dark layers, containing m uch more
silicates, are formed by th e m ineral m aterials brought
annually into the Dead Sea during the norm al periods
between outbreaks of turbidity. Hence, an exceptional
opportunity is thereby offered to investigate the
history of the Dead Sea chronologically, and to
detect the tim e of sim ilar ‘blanchings’ in history by
lixing the thickness of the annual dark sedim entation
which settles on the ‘white law n’ th a t has formed
during the last outbreak.
403
I t m ay, however, be possible to find later on the
correlation between the rise of sea-level and the
‘blanching’ of the Dead Sea and thereby to determine
th e sea-levels which existed in the past.
We have, of course, tried m any explanations for the
phenomenon described, b u t none of them is as yet
well enough founded to be o f sufficient general
interest.
Owing to w ar tim e conditions, it W a s
unfortunately not possible to make more exhaustive
observations and measurements, b u t it is hoped to
clarify some tim e later the various questions by
systematic borings of the Dead Sea bed, and by a
careful study of the ancient literature on Palestine
and the Dead Sea. We hope th a t the results will not
only be im portant from geological or even technical
aspects, in affording an exact knowledge of sealevels a t different times, b u t also for students of
history and of the Bible, since there is a close link
between the Dead Sea and the development of religion.
We wish to extend our thanks to the managing
director of the Palestine Potash Ltd., Mr. M.
Novomejsky, and to those of the Company’s staff,
who were helpful w ith suggestions and m easure­
ments, especially to Messrs. Campbell, Cahaner,
Shirisly and Schnerb.
1 G alen, “ I ) ' Sim plicium M edicam entorum F a c u lta tib u s ” , IV , 2 0 ;
ed itio K iih n , X I , 690.
'R i t t e r , C., “ Die E rd k u n d e von A sien” , 764 V /II, p a r. 9 (B erlin,
1850).
3 E lazari-V olcani, B ., N ature, 152 , 274 (1943).
INDIAN UNIVERSITY
ARCHITECTURE
N a paper read before the Indian Institu te of
Architects early this year, Nawab Zain Y ar Jung
IBahadur,
chief architect, H yderabad State, dealt
Fig. 2. T e m p e r a t u r e
of
D ead S ea
w a t e r a t d if f e r e n t d e p t h s
AND TIMES.
Another phenomenon connected with the spon­
taneous occurrence of tu rb id ity is th e change in
tem perature which took place in th e D ead Sea water.
I t has been assumed th a t th e w hite colour of the
surface w ater m ust cause arise in reflexion of the sun’s
rays. The assumption was confirmed by m easurem ents
o f tem perature a t different depths, which are repre­
sented in Pig. 2. We find a difference of as much
as 8° C. in October 1943 as compared w ith October
1940, a t the depth of 15 m. below th e surface. I t is
noteworthy th a t th e tem perature of deeper strata
rose again when th e tu rb id ity slowly disappeared.
This occurred in spite of the fact th a t the tem perature
nearer the surface was then lower owing to the p ro ­
gressing winter season. I t is therefore m ost probable
th a t the lower tem perature in 1943 was not caused
by fluctuation of atmospheric tem perature b u t by
the stronger reflexion of the sun’s rays.
I t may also be assumed th a t th e lower tem perature
has caused a corresponding reduction of evaporation,
b u t measurements of the sea-level gave no clear pic­
ture, because the quan tity of rainfall during th e pre­
ceding winter season was exceptionally large and
evaporation during the first m onth of 1943 was low.
w ith the design of a residential university, as exem­
plified in the new Osmania University in H yderabad.
This has been planned on the American campus
principle on a site of 1,600 acres, giving ample space
for future expansion and the inclusion of well laid-out
grounds of impressive dimensions. The author had
previously made a fairly thorough study of university
architecture both in Europe and the U nited States,
in which connexion he expressed pleasure a t the
evidence of a m aster plan in the design of the English
universities of Birmingham and N ottingham , but
regrets th a t it is less evident in the case of Edinburgh
and Leeds and in m ost of the Indian universities.
The Osmania U niversity is located in somewhat
hilly and picturesque country a t Adigmet, a village
between H yderabad and Secunderabad to the north­
east of the city, nearly 200 ft. above the level of the
city, of which it commands beautiful views. Among
th e ridges on which the U niversity is being built the
highest has been set ap art for the senate hall, which
is to be a m onum ental building and the keystone of
th e whole project. On one side of it is the arts
college, already completed, and on the other the
library and law college will be built. These will
form the central group of the main axis. There are
tw o ridges stretching from the senate hall h ill: on
th e left ridge all the science colleges are or will be
located, three of which—physics, chemistry, and
biology—are already under construction. The ridge
to the right has been reserved for the museum and
th e training college, the training school, the school of
arts and the a rt gallery. The hostels and dining
halls are situated in the loop behind the science
no.
NATURE
3908, S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944
The thickness of the distinct w hite layers is 0-3-6 mm.
It is interesting to note th a t th e White zones of sedi­
ment form no seasonal repeat p attern . The following
table shows th e result o f analyses of th e d ry sub­
stance of two w hite layers (Nos. 1 and 2) and o f some
dark m aterial (No. 3 ); these were made two years after
taking the profile.
No.
D istance from to p o f profile (cm.)
Calcium carb o n ate (per cen t)
..
Insoluble in hydrochloric acid (p er c en t)
1
38
70
7
2
52
81
3
3
53-58
38
35
The identity of colour and chemical composition
of the w hite layers w ith th e m aterial causing the
turbidity is striking. We therefore assume th a t each
white layer of th e Dead Sea bed is caused by an
outbreak of turbidity, and th a t sim ilar outbreaks
occurred earlier and are distinctly recorded on the
profile. The d ark layers, containing m uch more
silicates, are formed by the m ineral m aterials brought
annually into the Dead Sea during the norm al periods
between outbreaks of turbidity. Hence, an exceptional
opportunity is thereby offered to investigate the
history of th e Dead Sea chronologically, and to
detect the tim e of sim ilar ‘blanchings’ in history by
fixing the thickness of the annual d ark sedim entation
which settles on th e ‘w hite law n’ th a t has formed
during the last outbreak.
403
I t m ay, however, be possible to find later on the
correlation between the rise of sea-level and the
‘blanching’ of the Dead Sea and thereby to determine
the sea-levels which existed in the past.
We have, of course, tried m any explanations f o r the
phenomenon described, b u t none of them is as yet
W e ll enough founded to be of sufficient general
interest.
Owing to w a r tim e conditions, it W a s
unfortunately not possible to make more exhaustive
observations and measurements, b u t it is hoped to
clarify some tim e later the various questions by
system atic borings of the Dead Sea bed, and by a
careful study of th e ancient literature on Palestine
and the Dead Sea. We hope th a t the results will not
only be im portant from geological o r even technical
aspects, in affording an exact knowledge of seal e v e l s a t different times, b u t also for students of
history and of th e Bible, since there is a close link
between the Dead Sea and the development of religion.
We wish to extend our thanks to the managing
director of the Palestine Potash L td., Mr. M.
Novomejsky, and to those of the Company’s staff,
who were helpful w ith suggestions and m easure­
ments, especially to Messrs. Campbell, Cahaner,
Shirisly and Schnerb.
1 G alen, “ De Sim plicium M edicam entorum F a c u lta tib u s ” , IV , 20 ;
ed itio K iih n , X I , 690.
’ R itte r , C., “ Die E rd k u n d e von A sien” , 764 V /II, p a r. 9 (B erlip,
1850).
8 Elazari-V olcani, B ., N ature, 152, 274 (1943).
INDIAN UNIVERSITY
ARCHITECTURE
N a paper read before the Indian Institu te of
Architects early this year, Nawab Zain Y ar Jung
IBahadur,
chief architect, H yderabad State, dealt
F ig . 2. T e m p e r a t u r e
of
D ead Sea
w a t e r a t d if f e r e n t d e p t h s
AND TIMES.
Another phenomenon connected with th e spon­
taneous occurrence of tu rb id ity is th e change in
tem perature which took place in the D ead Sea water.
It has been assumed th a t th e w hite colour o f the
surface w ater m ust cause a rise in reflexion of the sun’s
rays. The assumption was confirmed by measurements
of tem perature a t different depths, which are repre­
sented in Pig. 2. We find a difference o f as much
as 8° C. in October 1943 as compared w ith October
1940, a t the depth of 15 m. below the surface. I t is
noteworthy th a t the tem perature of deeper stra ta
rose again when th e tu rb id ity slowly disappeared.
This occurred in spite of th e fact th a t th e tem perature
nearer the surface was then lower owing to the p ro ­
gressing winter season. I t is therefore most probable
th at the lower tem perature in 1943 was not caused
by fluctuation of atmospheric tem perature b u t by
the stronger reflexion of the sun’s rays.
I t may also be assumed th a t th e lower tem perature
has caused a corresponding reduction of evaporation,
but measurements of th e sea-level gave no clear pic­
ture, because th e q uantity of rainfall during th e p re­
ceding winter season’ was exceptionally large and
evaporation during the first m onth of 1943 was low.
w ith the design of a residential university, as exem­
plified in the new Osmania U niversity in H yderabad.
This has been planned on the American campus
principle on a site of 1,600 acres, giving ample space
for future expansion and the inclusion of well laid-out
grounds of impressive dimensions. The author had
previously made a fairly thorough study of university
architecture both in Europe and the U nited States,
in which connexion he expressed pleasure a t the
evidence of a m aster plan in the design of the English
universities of Birmingham and N ottingham , but
regrets th a t it is less evident in the case of Edinburgh
and Leeds and in m ost of the Indian universities.
The Osmania U niversity is located in somewhat
hilly and picturesque country a t Adigmet, a village
between H yderabad and Secunderabad to the n o rth ­
east of the city, nearly 200 ft. above the level of the
city, of which it commands beautiful views. Among
the ridges on which the U niversity is being built the
highest has been set a p art for the senate hall, which
is to be a m onum ental building and the keystone of
the whole project. On one side of it is the arts
college, already completed, and on the other the
library and law college will be built. These will
form the central group of the main axis. There are
two ridges stretching from the senate hall h ill: on
the left ridge all the science colleges are or will be
located, three of which—physics, chemistry, and
biology—are already under construction. The ridge
to the right has been reserved for the museum and
the training college, the training school, the school of
arts and the a rt gallery. The hostels and dining
halls are situated in the loop behind the science
no. 3908, S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944
The thickness of the distinct w hite layers is 0-3-6 mm.
It is interesting to note th a t th e White zones of sedi­
ment form no seasonal repeat p attern . The following
table shows th e result of analyses of th e d ry sub­
stance of two w hite layers (Nos. 1 and 2) and o f some
dark m aterial (No. 3 ); these were made two years after
taking the profile.
No.
Distance from to p o f profile (cm.)
..
Calcium carb o n ate (per c en t)
..
..
Insoluble in hydrochloric acid (per c e n t)
l
38
70
7
403
N A T U R E
2
52
81
3
53-58
38
35
The identity of colour and chemical composition
of the w hite layers w ith the m aterial causing the
turbidity is striking. We therefore assume th a t each
white layer of th e Dead Sea bed is caused by an
outbreak of turbidity, and th a t sim ilar outbreaks
occurred earlier and are distinctly recorded on the
profile. The dark layers, containing m uch more
silicates, are formed by th e m ineral m aterials brought
annually into the Dead Sea during the norm al periods
between outbreaks of turbidity. Hence, an exceptional
opportunity is thereby offered to investigate the
history of the D ead Sea chronologically, and to
detect the tim e of sim ilar ‘blanchings’ in history by
fixing the thickness of th e annual d ark sedim entation
which settles on the ‘w hite law n’ th a t has formed
during the last outbreak.
I t m ay, however, be possible to find later on the
correlation between the rise of sea-level and the
‘blanching’ of the Dead Sea and thereby to determine
the sea-levels which existed in the past.
We have, of course, tried m any explanat ions for the
phenomenon described, b u t none of them is as yet
W e ll enough founded to be of sufficient general
interest.
Owing to w a r tim e conditions, it W a s
unfortunately not possible to make more exhaustive
observations and measurements, b u t it is hoped to
clarify some tim e later the various questions by
system atic borings of the Dead Sea bed, and by a
careful study of the ancient literature on Palestine
and the Dead Sea. We hope th a t the results will not
only be im portant from geological or even technical
aspects, in affording an exact knowledge of sealevels a t different times, b u t also for students of
history and of the Bible, since there is a close link
between the Dead Sea and the development of religion.
We wish to extend our thanks to the managing
director of the Palestine Potash L td., Mr. M.
Novomejsky, and to those o f the Company’s staff,
who were helpful w ith suggestions and m easure­
ments, especially to Messrs. Campbell, Cahaner,
Shirisly and Schnerb.
1 G alen, “ J> ■ Sim plicium M edicam entorum F a c u lta tib u s ” , IV , 2 0 ;
ed itio K iih n , X I , 690.
’ R itte r , C., “ D ie E rd k u n d e von A sien” , 764 V /II, p a r. 9 (B e rlir,
1850).
s Elazari-V olcani, B ., N ature, 152, 274 (1943).
INDIAN UNIVERSITY
ARCHITECTURE
N a paper read before the Indian Institu te of
Architects early this year, Nawab Zain Y ar Jung
IBahadur,
chief architect, H yderabad State, dealt
Fig. 2. T e m p e r a t u r e
of
D ead S ea
w a t e r a t d if f e r e n t d e p t h s
AND TIMES.
Another phenomenon connected w ith th e spon­
taneous occurrence of tu rb id ity is th e change in
tem perature which took place in th e D ead Sea water.
I t has been assumed th a t the w hite colour o f the
surface w ater m ust cause a rise in reflexion of the sun’s
rays. The assumption was confirmed by measurements
of tem perature a t different depths, which are repre­
sented in Pig. 2. We find a difference o f as much
as 8° C. in October 1943 as compared w ith October
1940, a t the depth of 15 m. below th e surface. I t is
noteworthy th a t the tem perature of deeper stra ta
rose again when th e tu rb id ity slowly disappeared.
This occurred in spite of the fact th a t th e tem perature
nearer the surface was then lower owing to the p ro ­
gressing winter season. I t is therefore m ost probable
th at the lower tem perature in 1943 was not caused
by fluctuation of atmospheric tem perature b u t by
the stronger reflexion of the sun’s rays.
I t may also be assumed th a t the lower tem perature
has caused a corresponding reduction of evaporation,
but measurements of th e sea-level gave no clear pic­
ture, because th e q uantity of rainfall during th e p re­
ceding winter season’ was exceptionally large and
evaporation during the first m onth of 1943 was low.
with the design of a residential university, as exem­
plified in the new Osmania U niversity in H yderabad.
This has been planned on the American campus
principle on a site of 1,600 acres, giving ample space
for future expansion and the inclusion of well laid-out
grounds of impressive dimensions. The author had
previously made a fairly thorough study of university
architecture both in Europe and the U nited States,
in which connexion he expressed pleasure a t the
evidence of a m aster plan in the design of the English
universities of Birmingham and N ottingham , but
regrets th a t it is less evident in the case of Edinburgh
and Leeds and in m ost of the Indian universities.
The Osmania University is located in somewhat
hilly and picturesque country a t Adigmet, a village
between H yderabad and Secunderabad to the north­
east of the city, nearly 200 ft. above the level of the
city, of which it commands beautiful views. Among
the ridges on which the U niversity is being built the
highest has been set ap a rt for the senate hall, which
is to be a m onum ental building and the keystone of
the whole project. On one side of it is the arts
college, already completed, and on the other the
library and law college will be built. These will
form the central group of the main axis. There are
two ridges stretching from th e senate hall hill : on
the left ridge all the science colleges are or will be
located, three of which—physics, chemistry, and
biology—are already under construction. The ridge
to the right has been reserved for the museum and
the training college, the training school, the school of
arts and the a rt gallery. The hostels and dining
halls are situated in the loop behind the science
404
N A T U R E
colleges, and the residential area for the teaching staff
is beyond the hostels.
In addition to these, sites have been selected for
the medical college and hospital, the colleges of
agriculture and forestry, th e college for women, a
students union, a faculty club, a m arket, a post and
telegraph office, botanical garden, stadium , gym na­
sium, swimming pool, and a colony for subordinates
and servants. I t is interesting to note, in regard to
acoustics, th a t only large lecture theatres have been
given acoustical treatm ent, and only those rooms
where quiet is absolutely essential, owing to th e
heavy cost of acoustic materials.
One of the main causes of disease in Ind ia is said
to be the im purity of drinking w a te r ; and the
question of having separate drinking w ater for caste
H indus is also a problem for schools and colleges
which cannot be ignored. To m eet fully the special
needs in this respect and minimize risk of infectious
disease, modern drinking fountains are being installed
throughout.
In regard to style, th e author said th a t in other
im portant countries of the world the science of
architecture has m ade rapid progress, b u t in India
he thinks they are sadly behind th e times ; and in
spite of th e money th a t has been and is being spent
on educational institutions, he has seen nothing yet
of real architectural value. “In fact some of the
buildings are so poorly designed and so badly con­
structed th a t they are a blot on th e landscape and
invoke in the heart an unholy desire to pray for an
earthquake or fire.” The reigning Nizam, who has
taken a keen interest in the new University, expressed
the wish th a t, while possessing all m odern facilities,
it should have no W estern elements in its architecture.
Speaking of the a rts college a t the tim e of his Jubilee,
His E xalted Highness said th a t “th e architecture of
this building represents a blending of th e H indu and
Muslim styles, and the a rt and culture of both these
races are reflected in th e pillars and traceries and
carvings on the doors and walls. Thus the building
symbolises th e close contacts and friendly relations
subsisting for centuries between th e various classes
of m y subjects. . . . The Osmania U niversity
should not only be a repository of H yderabad’s best
traditions, a model of its high culture ; it should
also aim a t broadmindedness and m utual toleration
and unity among th e students, for in th a t ideal lies
the well-being and the prosperity of this S tate” .
The author has accordingly embodied the H indu
and Muslim cultural elements of all periods in th e
State, such as th e Buddhist, Jain, Brahmanic,
Bahmani, K utub Shahi and Moghal. These have all
been blended to form a composite whole, signifying
the evolution of a new style which should distinguish
His E xalted Highness’s reign from all th e other rulers
in the history of the Asafjahi dynasty.
The arts college which, a t th e beginning of this
year, was the only completed building in the scheme,
covers an area of 250,000 sq. ft. and is designed to
accommodate two thousand students. I t is a twostoried structure, w ith basem ent, built entirely of
local granite of pink and grey shades, w ith the inner
walls plastered and th e outer surface in ashlar
masonry. All the rooms are finished, in plain white
lime plaster, except the entrance hall, whe^e stucco
is used. The dome surm ounting th e entrance hall
is about 50 ft. in diameter, resting on corbel slabs.
The entrance hall is built in reinforced cement con­
crete, and is 66 ft. from floor to ceiling. The main
roof and interm ediate floors and staircases are con­
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944, vol. 154
structed in reinforced cement concrete. All the
floors are paved w ith polished Shahabad stones from
the regions of Tandur and Nawandgi in Hyderabad
State, with the exception of the entrance hall, where
the floor is red terrazzo. The m ost difficult and slow
p a rt of the work was the process of stone-dressing,
as the local granite is of the hardest variety. The
stone lintels over the massive columns of the ground
floor verandah of the arts college weigh about seven
tons each and are 18 in. in span. The stones used
for the decorative cornices weigh 2 J-3 J tons each.
The complete woodwork (including furniture) of the
entire buildings is being carried out in the best
Rangoon teak. 4,000-5,000 workmen were engaged
during the first year or two of the construction work.
In addition to local labour m any stone-dressers and
artisans were im ported from southern towns such as
Tanjore, Turkapalam and the Conjivaram, to assist
directly w ith the work and also to train the local
workers.
The whole scheme is expected to cost a little over
two crores, and the author replies to some criticism
on the ground th a t far too m uch money is being
expended on the new University. Before he had
seen some of the world’s greatest educational centres
he was inclined to agree th a t the cost should be kept
low ; b u t examples in other parts of the world con­
vinced him th a t the University is a nation-building
institution in the best sense of the term ; the future
of the younger generations and of the State itself will
obviously depend on the type of University. I t is
concluded th a t if the people of India are to be brought
physically and m entally to the same level as those of
other civilized nations, it is vital th a t the new
University, and others in India, should be built on
the principles accepted and the standards fixed in
other countries ; and it is quite certain th a t H ydera­
bad is a big enough State to think of a big university
w orthy of itself and of its traditions.
EAST AFRICAN ARCH/EOLOGY
IVE diitinct types of polished stone axe have been
recognized in E.ist Africa. Most of the specimens
F
found were pecked and not ground into shape before
being finally polished. No geographical significance
can be attached to any of the five ty p e s ; their
distribution will probably be found to be very wide,
though for the moment for obvious reasons they have
m ostly turned up where European settlem ent in­
volving farming has taken place. A description of
the various types, together w ith p list of some of tho
localities where they have been found, has been made
ava ilable in a collection of reprints recently received*.
A general sketch m ap, too, is appended. Finally, a
short note on the occurrence of the different types
outside E ast Africa concludes the article.
Gorgora, on Lake Tana, was a former Italian
m ilitary station. The rock-shelter is situated some
150 ft. up in the side of a conical hill of volcanic
rock which rises abruptly from the plain some three
miles from the Lake. The shelter is most inaccessible
and can only be approached from one direction. I t is
some 15 ft. long by 8 ft. a t the widest. Black soil
rich in humus was found from the surface to a depth
• “ N otes on th e G round an d Polished S tone A xes o f E a s t A frica” ,
b y M ary D . L e a k e y ; “ E x c avations o f a R ock-S helter a t Gorgora,
L ake T a n a , E th io p ia ” , b y Colonel F . M o y se y ; “ The In d u strie s o f
th e G orgora R ock-S helter, L ake T a n a ” , b y L. S. B. Leakey. R ep rin ts
o f th e Journal o f the E ast A frica and Uganda N atural H istory Society.
17, Nos. 3 an d 4 (77 a n d 78), 182-203.
no.
3908, S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944
of 4 ft. ; then to the 9-ft. level there was a grey
volcanic ash. A t this level, concretions appeared,
and these formations increased down to th e 12-ft,
level. Implements occurred throughout the deposits,
and pottery was found to a depth o f 3 ft. from the
surface. There were no sterile layers.
Dr. Leakey’s analysis shows th a t the industries of
the 12-, 11- and 10-ft. levels can be classified as
E arly Stillbay ; those from the 9-, 8- and 7-ft. levels
as Middle Stillbay ; those from the 6 -, 5- and 4-ft.
levels as Upper Stillbay ; those from the 3-ft. level
as Magosian ; those from the top 2 ft. of deposit
as late Mesolithic or Neolithic. This industry in ­
cludes some crude microliths, and appears to be de­
rived from the earlier Magosian. A few simply
decorated sherds were also discovered in this level.
The industries from the older levels are fairly typical,
but the 4-ft. level gives us a transition stage betweer.
the latest Stillbay and th e Magosian. An analysis
of the different types of artefact found is given, and
the article is well illustrated.
The rock-shelter a t Gorgora is obviously of some
importance. Such transition industries as those of
the top 2 ft. and the 4-ft. level are very interesting.
The excavations are not yet completely concluded,
and it is to be hoped th a t furth er investigations a t
this site and elsewhere in th e neighbourhood will be
undertaken a t a not too d istant date.
M. C. B t j b k it t .
QUARTZ CRYSTAL MODEL
IF F E R E N T types of deformation extend the
range of frequencies th a t quartz plates can
cover and a single plate m ay be used for totally
different ranges when m ade to vibrate in different
modes. To obtain most of these various modes of
vibration the plates m ust be cut from th e m other
quartz a t different angles w ith respect to th e electrical,
mechanical and optical axes of the quartz crystal.
There are also special orientations which provide
b etter frequency stability in cases of tem perature
changes, and these orientations are used where
stringent tem perature requirem ents apply.
A recent interesting article by F. Caroselli (Bell
Lab. Rec., 22, No. 9 ; May 1944) describes and illus­
trates a large fabricated model of a quartz crystal,
employed for showing more clearly th e angular rela­
tions of the various cuts of plates to th e original
m other crystal. The model has an outer shell about
two feet high th a t shows the typical shape of quartz
as it grows in N ature, and an inner display of crystal
plates. The shell and display ti£rs are m ade of sheet
Incite and the plates are lucite, roughened to appear
like etched quartz. The plates include those used for
oscillators and filters.
About the vertical axis the outer shell shows an
array of faces th a t repeat three times in exact sym ­
m etry. This is th e optical axis, and it is the only
direction through quartz along which a light ray will
travel w ithout dividing into two rays of different
velocities which are refracted by different amounts.
The shell can be ro tated w ith respect to th e inner
display so th a t its faces can assume three identical
orientations w ith respect to th e crystal plates. Three
pairs of X and Y axes are m arked on th e apron
of the model to dem onstrate th e trigonal sym m etry
of quartz.
Before constructing the outer shell of th e model,
formulae were developed from published crystallo-
D
405
N A T U R E
graphic d ata to compute the angles between adjacent
faces. All identical faces were made the same size
by having the m ajor apex faces meet in the vertical
axis of th e model. Minor apex faces were located
a t an arb itrary distance from this central axis.
The model illustrates cuts used in ranges varying
from less th an 1 kc. to 24,000 kc., and each one is p a r­
ticularly suited for a definite range of frequency. In
addition, there are several different cuts operating
over the same range b u t having some specific char­
acteristic. On the top tier of the display there is a
plate the coating of which is divided so th a t it will
vibrate by flexing the m ajor surfaces ; and on the
bottom tier are a num ber of plates of the same cut
b u t with the coating divided to excite the third, the
fifth or seventh harmonics of a longitudinal mode of
vibration.
COLOUR TELEVISION
DEMONSTRATION was given a short tim e ago
by Mr. J . L. B aird of his recent achievements of
th e reception of television in colour by a m ethod
which avoids the need for revolving disks and lenses ;
th e apparatus is thus silent in operation and is
claimed to be as efficient as the pre-war black-andwhite receivers. The pictures in colour are also
utilized to produce stereoscopic effects by the use of
coloured viewing glasses, the left and right eye
pictures corresponding to the left and right eye
images.
F or the reproduction of the received pictures a
special cathode ray tube, term ed a ‘Telechrome’, is
used ; this differs from the ordinary tube in having
two cathode ray beams and a transparent double­
sided screen. These two cathode ray beams are
m odulated by the incoming signals corresponding to
th e two prim ary colour pictures ; and they impinge
obliquely on opposite sides of the screen, these sides
being coated with fluorescent powders of the appro­
priate colours. Thus the screen has formed upon
its front face an image containing the orange-red
colour components, and on its back face an image
containing the blue-green components. W hen th e
screen is viewed norm ally from the front, these
images are superimposed and thus give a picture in
n atu ral colour.
Such a two-sided tube has been developed w ith a
screen, 10 in. in diameter, and was shown receiving
a picture from a 600-line triple interlaced moving
spot transm itter using a cathode ray tube in com­
bination w ith a revolving disk w ith orange-red and
blue-green filters. The tube gives a very bright picture
due to the absence of colour filters and the fact th a t
special powders are used giving only the desired
colours, which are seen additively.
A m ethod of using three colours has also been
described in a p aten t specification. In this case,
th e back of the screen is ridged : the two sets of
faces of the ridges are coated w ith blue and green
powders respectively ; and they are scanned by two
cathode ray beams, m odulated by the blue and green
components respectively, of the incoming signals.
The th ird beam, carrying the red picture components,
impinges on the front of the screen as before. A new
form of scanning is also being explored, using
successive lines of different colour, with the object
of reducing the colour flicker which is obtained when,
as a t present, th e colour changes are by fram e to
frame only.
A
406
N A T
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Saturday, September 23
B r i t i s h P s y c h o l o g ic a l S o c i e t y ( a t th e London School o f H ygiene
a n d T ropical M edicine, K eppel S tr e e t, L ondon, W .C .l), a t 2.30 p.m .—
P rof. J . C. F lu g e l: “ Psychological A spects o f M oral a n d Social P ro ­
gress” (P ap e rs in co m m en t b y D r. K a rl M annheim a n d D r. R . H .
Thouless).
Tuesday, September 26
B r i t i s h S o c i e t y f o r I n t e r n a t i o n a l B ib l i o g r a p h y ( a t th e
In s titu tio n o f E lectrical E ngineers, Savoy P la c e , V icto ria E m b an k ­
m e n t, L ondon, W .C.2), a t 2.30 p.m .— D r. S . C. B ra d fo rd : “ Some
G eneral Principles o f B ibliographical C lassification, w ith a p p lic atio n
to th e U niversal D ecim al C lassification’* ; Mr. C. L. G ilb ert a n d Mr.
C. G. G r a y : “ T he C lassification o f L ite r a tu r e in th e T echnical D e­
p a rtm e n t o f a n Oil C om pany” .
R o y a l P h o t o g r a p h ic S o c i e t y ( S c i e n t i f i c a n d T e c h n i c a l G r o u p )
( a t 16 P rinces G a te , S o u th K en sin g to n , L o n d o n , S.W .7), a t 6 p .m .—
M r. T . T h o m e B a k e r : “ S o m e Uses o f D ried E m ulsions in P h o to ­
g raphic In d u s trie s ” , w ith a D em o n stratio n o f Silk Screen P rin tin g .
Wednesday, September 27
I n s t i t u t e o f F u e l ( a t th e In s titu tio n o f M echanical E ngineers,
S to re y ’s G a te , S t. J a m e s ’s P a rk , L ondon, S .W .l), a t 2.30 p.m .—Mr.
L. C . S o u th c o tt a n d M r. D . W . R udorff : “ S u p erh eaters fo r W a te r
T u b e B oilers” .
Friday, September 29
B io c h e m ic a l S o c i e t y (in th e D e p a rtm e n t o f B iochem istry, The
U n iv e rsity , W este rn B a n k , Sheffield), a t 11 a .m .— T he 236th M eetin g .
R o y a l I n s t i t u t e o f C h e m i s t r y ( j o i n t m e e t i n g o f t h e B ir m i n g h a m
a n d M i d l a n d s S e c t i o n w i t h t h e I n s t i t u t e o f P h y s i c s ) ( in t h e C o n ­
n a u g h t R o o m , I m p e r i a l H o t e l , B i r m i n g h a m ) , a t 6.30 p . m . — D r . G. W .
S c o tt- B la ir : “ R h e o lo g y o f P la s tic s ; S tr e s s - s tr a in - tim e R e la tio n s fo r
H i g h Polym ers a n d S im ilar M ate rials” .
APPOINTMENTS VACANT
A p p l i c a t i o n s a re in v ite d fo r th e following a p p o in tm e n ts on o r
before th e d a te s m en tio n ed :
D e p u t y C h i e f E n g i n e e r — T he B orough E lec tric a l E n g in ee r a n d
M anager, G uildhall, Sw ansea (S ep tem b er 28).
L e c t u r e r (full-tim e) i n P h y s ic s — The P rin cip al, R o y al T echnical
College, Salford (S ep tem b er 29).
C h e m i s t to th e Tees V alley W a te r B o ard — T he E n g in eer a n d
G eneral M anager, W a te r B oard Offices, C orp o ratio n R o a d , M iddles­
brough (endorsed ‘C h em ist’) (S ep tem b er 29).
S p e e c h T h e r a p i s t — T he D ire c to r o f E d u c a tio n , Shire H a ll, N o ttin g ­
h a m (S ep te m b e r 30).
G r a d u a t e A s s i s t a n t M a s t e r i n E n g i n e e r i n g — T h e P rin cip al,
S o u th D o rset T echnical College, N ew stead R o a d , W ey m o u th (S ep tem ­
b e r 30).
S p e e c h T h e r a p i s t —-The D ire c to r o f E d u c a tio n , S ta n le y Buildings,
C aunce S tr e e t, B lackpool (S ep tem b er 30).
C h a i r o f P h y s io l o g y in th e U n iv ersity o f Ceylon— T he S ecretary ,
U n iversities B u re au o f th e B ritish E m p ire, c/o U n iv ersity College,
G ow er S tr e e t, L ondon, W .C .l (S ep te m b e r 30).
C h a i r o f E l e c t r i c a l E n g i n e e r i n g — T he A c tin g R e g istra r, The
U niv ersity , Leeds 2 (S ep te m b e r 30).
C h a i r o f B io l o g y in V icto ria U n iv e rsity C o lle g e , W ellin g to n , N e w
Z ealand— T he S e c re ta ry , U niversities B u reau o f th e B ritish E m p ire,
c/o U n iv ersity College, G ower S tr e e t, L ondon, W .C .l (S ep tem b er 30).
P r i n c i p a l o f t h e H a c k n e y T e c h n ic a l I n s t i t u t e , a n d P r i n c i p a l
o f t h e S o u t h - E a s t L o n d o n T e c h n i c a l I n s t i t u t e — T h e E d u c a tio n
Officer ( T . l ) , C ounty H a ll, W e stm in ste r B ridge, L ondon, S .E .l
(S ep te m b e r 30).
P r i n c i p a l o f t h e W a l k e r T e c h n i c a l C o l l e g e , O ak en g ates— T he
S e c re ta ry fo r E d u c a tio n , C o u n ty B uildings, Shrew sbury, Shropshire
(S ep te m b e r 30).
T e c h n i c a l A s s i s t a n t f o r L a b o r a t o r y a tta c h e d to Engineering
F irm (N .W . L ondon d is tric t)— T he M in istry o f L a b o u r a n d N a tio n a l
Service, R oom 432, A lex an d ra H o u se, K ingsw ay, L o n d o n , W .C.2
(q u o tin g R eferen ce No. C.2278.XA) (O cto b er 2).
P h y s i c i s t o r E n g i n e e r , B.Sc. G rad e, fo r scientific in s tru m e n t
develo p m en t w ork (O xford are a)— The M inistry o f L a b o u r a n d N a tio n a l
S ervice, R oom 432, A le x an d ra H o u se, K ingsw ay, L o n d o n , W .C.2
(q u o tin g R eference N o. A.584.XA) (O cto b er 2).
E n g i n e e r a n d G e n e r a l M a n a g e r to th e New Z ealan d H u t t V alley
E lec tric Pow er B oard— T he M in istry o f L a b o u r a n d N a tio n a l Service,
R oom 432, A lex an d ra H o u se, K ingsw ay, L o n d o n , W .C.2 (q u o tin g
R eference N o. D.931.A ) (O cto b er 7).
E x a m i n i n g O f f i c e r s (te m p o rary ) i n t h e P a t e n t s O f f i c e (c a n ­
d id a te s should have a U n iv ersity D egree (or e q u iv a len t) in Science or
Technology w ith C h em istry a s a su b ject)— T he M in istry o f L a b o u r
a n d N a tio n a l Service, R oom 432, A lex an d ra H o u se, K ingsw ay, L o n ­
d o n , W .C.2 (q u o tin g R eference N o. F.2982.A ) (O cto b er 9).
P r o f e s s o r o f P h y s i c s — T he R eg istra r, U n iv ersity College, Single­
to n P a rk , Sw ansea (O cto b er 18).
H o n o u r s G r a d u a t e i n C h e m i s t r y (L ondon, R eferen c e N o.
F.2719.X A ), H o n o u r s G r a d u a t e s (2) i n M e t a l l u r g y (N e a th ,
R eference No. F.2720.X A ; Shipley, R eferen ce No. F.2721.X A ), a n d
H o n o u r s G r a d u a t e i n C h e m i s t r y o r M em ber o f th e R o y a l I n s titu te
o f C hem istry , B ra n ch E (L ondon, R eference N o. F.2722.X A ), on th e
research staff o f a progressive N a tio n a l O rganization w ith hom e a n d
overseas in te re sts—-The M inistry o f L a b o u r a n d N a tio n a l Service,
R oom 432, A lex an d ra H ouse, K ingsw ay, L ondon, W .C.2 (q u o tin g
th e a p p ro p ria te R eference N o.) (O cto b er 21).
URE
S e p t e m b e r 23, 1944,
v o l.
154
Q u a l i f i e d C h e m i s t w ith som e research a n d in d u stria l experience,
b y a progressive concern in th e Spen V alley d is tric t o f Y orkshire—
T he M inistry o f L a b o u r a n d N a tio n a l Service, R oom 432, A lexandra
H o u se, K ingsw ay, L ondon, W .C.2 (quo tin g R eference No. F.1737.X A )
(O ctober 27).
L ib r a r i a n — T h e L ib ra ria n , Q ueen’s U n iversity, B elfa st (O ctober 31).
C h a i r o f P s y c h o l o g y in th e U n iversity o f Sydney—-The S ecretary,
U niversities B u re au o f th e B ritish E m p ire , c/o U n iversity College,
G ow er S tr e e t, L ondon, W .C .l (O ctober 31).
B e y e r C h a ir o f E n g in e e r in g ^ ^
R eg istra r, T he U niversity,
M an ch ester 13 (N ovem ber 18).
P r o f e s s o r s h i p o f N a v a l A r c h i t e c t u r e , te n a b le a t K ing’s College,
N ew castle-upon-T yne— T he A cting R eg istrar, U n iversity Offices, 40
N o rth B ailey, D u rh a m (N ovem ber 30).
F e l l o w s h i p a n d T u t o r s h i p i n M a t h e m a t ic s — T he S enior T u to r,
J e su s College, O xford (D ecem ber 1).
S p e e c h T h e r a p i s t — T he D ire c to r o f E d u c a tio n , E d u c a tio n Office,
R o th e rh a m .
L e c t u r e r (w om an, te m p o ra ry ) i n P s y c h o l o g y a n d P r i n c i p l e s o f
E d u c a t io n in th e G lam organ T raining College, B arry — The D irector
o f E d u c a tio n , G lam organ C ounty H a ll, Cardiff.
L e c t u r e r (fu ll-tim e, te m p o ra ry , m a n o r w om an) i n B io l o g y in
t h e L eeds College o f T echnology— T he D ire c to r o f E d u c a tio n , E d u c a ­
tio n Offices, L eeds 1.
A s s is t a n t H e a d o f t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f E l e c t r ic a l E n g in e e r in g
— T he P rin cip al, B irm ingham C e n tra l T echnical College, Suffolk S tre e t,
B irm ingham 1.
A g r i c u l t u r a l E n g i n e e r (for L ondon), w ith p ra c tic a l know ledge
o f D ra in a g e a n d Irrig a tio n —T h e M inistry o f L a b o u r a n d N a tio n a l
Service, A p p o in tm e n ts D e p a rtm e n t, S ardinia S tr e e t, K ingsw ay, L o n ­
d o n , W .C.2 (q u o tin g R eference N o. R.S.70).
C h a i r o f O b s t e t r i c s a n d G y n a e c o l o g y in th e R o y a l F a c u l t y o f
M edicine, B ag h d a d , I r a q —A p p o in tm e n ts D e p a rtm e n t,B ritis h C o u n c il,
3 H a n o v e r S tr e e t, L ondon, W .l.
S pec ia list (for L ondon), w ith g e n eral a ll-round know ledge o f
F ood Processing o f M ilk, D a iry P ro d u c ts , M ea t, V egetable F a ts an d
O ils, F ish , e tc .— T he M inistry o f L a b o u r a n d N a tio n a l Service,
A p p o in tm e n ts D e p a rtm e n t, S ardinia S tr e e t, K ingsw ay, L ondon,
W .C.2 (q u o tin g R eference No. R .S.66).
L e c t u r e r (fu ll-tim e , te m p o ra ry ) i n t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f E l e c t r ic a l
E n g i n e e r i n ( j— T he P rin cip al, B orough P oly tech n ic, B orough R o a d ,
L on d o n , S .E .l.
P a p e r M i l l E n g i n e e r fo r B en g al, w ith p ra c tic a l P a p e r Mill ex­
perien ce, cap ab le u ltim a te ly o f ta k in g charge o f a ll P aperm aking
P la n t M aintenance— T he M inistry o f L a b o u r a n d N a tio n a l Service,
A p p o in tm e n ts D e p a rtm e n t, Sardinia S tr e e t, K ingsw ay, London,
W .C.2 (quo tin g R eference N o. O.S.228).
A s s i s t a n t L e c t u r e r i n A g r i c u l t u r a l Z o o l o g y — T h e P rin cip al,
H a rp e r A dam s A g ric u ltu ral College, N ew port, Shropshire.
S e c o n d V e t e r i n a r y O f f i c e r , Im p erial B ureau o f A nim al H e a lth ,
W eybridge— T he Secretary, Im p e rial A gricultural B ureaux, 2 Queen
A nne’s G a te B uildings, L ondon, S .W .l.
REPORTS and other PUBLICATIONS
(not includedlin the m onthly Books Supplem ent)
Great Britain and Ireland
S c o ttish S ociety for R esearch in P lan t-B reed in g . R e p o rt (abridged)
b y th e D irecto rs a n d R e p o rt b y th e D ire c to r o f R esearch to th e
A n n u al G en eral M eeting, 2 0 th J u ly 1944. P p . 34. (E dinburgh :
S c o ttish Society fo r R esearch in P lant-B reeding.)
[49
T ory R eform C om m ittee. B u lle tin N o. 4 : G overnm ent Policy for
th e R ebuilding o f U rb a n A reas. P p . 20. (L ondon : T ory R eform
C om m ittee.)
[49
M edical R esearch C ouncil: In d u s tria l H e a lth R esearch B oard.
R e p o rt N o. 8 5 : T h e R ecording o f Sickness A bsence in In d u stry .
(A P relim in ary R e p o rt.) B y a Sub-C om m ittee o f th e In d u stria l
H e a lth R esearch B oard. P p . 18. (L o n d o n : H .M . S ta tio n e ry Office.)
4d. n e t.
[59
T ran sa ctio n s o f th e R o y a l S ociety o f E dinburgh. V ol. 61, P a r t 1,
No. 7 : C ytological a n d G en etical S tudies in th e G enus Solanum , 2,
W ild a n d N a tiv e C u ltiv a te d ‘D iploid’ P o ta to e s . B y D r. H . C. Choudh u ri. P p . 199-219 + 1 p la te . (E dinburgh a n d L o n d o n : O liver an d
B oyd.) 5s. 9d.
[79
B ritish S ta n d a rd Conversion F a c to rs a n d T ables. (B .S. 350 : 1944.)
P p . 96. (L o n d o n : B ritisn S ta n d a rd s In s titu tio n .) 3s. Qd. n e t.
[129
O ther Countries
T rin id ad a n d Tobago : F o re s t D e p a rtm e n t. A dm in istratio n R ep o rt
o f th e C o n serv ato r o f F o re s ts fo r th e Y e ar 1943. (Council P a p e r No.
26 o f 1944.) P p . 6. (T rin id a d : G o v ern m en t P rin te r.) 6 c e n ts.
[88
B u lle tin o f th e A m erican M useum o f N a tu ra l H isto ry . Vol. 83,
A rt. 1 : T h e H a p lo le p id ae , a New F am ily o f L a te Carboniferous B ony
F ish es ; a S tu d y in T axonom y a n d E vo lu tio n . B y T . S ta n le y W estoll.
P p . 1 2 2 + 1 0 p la te s. Vol. 83, A rt. 2 : T he B irds o f T im or a n d Sum ba.
B y E r n s t M ayr. P p . 123-194. (New Y o rk : A m erican M useum o f N a tu ra l
H isto ry .)
[88
Proceedings o f t h e C alifornia A cadem y o f Sciences, F o u rth Series.
Vol. 25, N o. 9 : T h e P e re n n ia l S o u th w e stern D a tu ra a n d th e V alidity
o f M a tth e w ’s H y p o th e sis in P la n t G eography. B y Joseph Ew an.
P p . 235-244.
(San F ran c isco , C a lif.: C alifornia A cadem y of
Sciences.)
[88
Im p e rial College o f Tropical A g ricu ltu re. E lev e n th R e p o rt on
Cacao R ese arch , 1941-43. P p . 3 8 + 1 2 p la te s . (P ort-of-S pain : G overn­
m e n t P rin te r.) 5s.
[88
Catalogue
A C atalogue o f Im p o rta n t Books on N a tu ra l H isto ry (Zoology and
B o tan y ). (No. 622.) P p . 64. (L ondon : B ernard Q uaritch, L td .) 6tf.