50 STAR POSITIONS AND GALACTIC CO-ORDINATES. 



been required — a saving- of 4,.^8q out of 4,^i)2. Lastly, for the 

 stars the elements of reduction are given for the mean equinox 

 and equator of 1915, and also for 1920. And when one has got 

 to 1920, the labour of Sisyphus will still go on. but the mountain 

 gets a little steeper each time. 



DiCOMA Anomala— The Pluiniutcrutical Joiinial. No. 

 2.587, p. 694, contains a communication from Messrs. Tutin and 

 Naunton. of the Wellcome Chemical Research Laboratories, 

 London, in regard to their investigation of the plant Dicoma 

 anomala Sond. belonging to the Composita:. Smith, in his 

 "South African Materia Medica." refers to it as possessing a 

 reputed medicinal value, the powdered root being administered in 

 cold water as a remedy for colic. The leaves are intensely 

 bitter. The authors extracted from the plant a colourless crys- 

 talline glucoside, possessing the formula C ^H.^^h Oit, as far as 

 could be ascertained, for the quantity available did not pennit 

 of its composition being definitely established. This glucoside 

 was obtained from the water-soluble portion of an alcoholic 

 extract of the entire air-dried plant, l-'rom the portion of the 

 extract which was insoluble in water, and which formed a 

 resinous mass, an amorphous alkaloid was obtained in small 

 quantity, the hydrochloride of which was a brownish amor- 

 phous substance, and nothing definite was obtained therefrom. 

 The resin yielded Hentriacontane, palmitic, stearic, and other 

 acids, and a phytosterol of composition C28H46O, differing in 

 composition from the more commonly occurring members of that 

 class, and apparently a lower homologue of stigmasterol. 



Utilitarianism and Research. — Prof. E. H. 

 (Griffiths, F.R.S., in his presidential address to the Educational 

 section of the British Association, empiiasised the practical 

 value, to the working-man, of scientific research. The price of 

 his meat, he pointed out, was closely connected with refrigera- 

 tion methods founded on Joule and Thomson's researches ; the 

 purity of his beer was similarly connected with Pasteur's work. 

 The collier owes his safety to Sir Humphry Davy, the driver 

 of the electric tram his position to Faraday. The steel-worker 

 is under obligation to Bessemer and Nasmyth for employment, 

 the telegraphist to Volta and Wheatstone, the wireless operator 

 to Hertz. The wounded soldier has the bullet extracted by 

 the aid of Rontgen, the sailor achieves his " landfall " by help of 

 mathematicians and astronomers; his compass and sounding 

 line are due to Kelvin, his bright beacon lights to Tyndall. 

 Practically all wage-earners are under obligation to Lister. If 

 voters realised that their security, comfort and health are the 

 fruits of scientific research, those in authority, instead of being 

 indififerent to, or opposing research, would enthusiastically 

 encourage it. Fu'st educate the man in the street, and then, 

 hardest task of all. the legislator may possibly be educated. 



