3;o 



NATURE 



Mav 11, lyii 



probli'inn in any department of science 

 i> the principal and vice-principal shall 

 drtnmiiif uii b. in^ wisest and best for the end 1 have in 

 vifw, which is to pronmte discovery and knowledj^c, bcJiev- 

 infj that this ronduce«4 to the good of humanity." In 

 addition to this, the Inivcrsity will ultimately, as residuary 

 legatee, receive thi- lnMietit of considerably more than the 

 above amount. 



Dr. a. E. KE.sNKt.i.v, of Harvard University, has 

 accepted an invitation of the University of London to 

 come to London for the purpose of delivering a course of 

 advanced Icitures, and has chosen as his subject " The 

 .Application of Ilj^x-rbolic Functions to Electrical Engineer- 

 ing F'roblcms. " The course will be given at the Institu- 

 tion of Electrical Engineers at 5.30 on five consecutive 

 days, commencing on Monday, May 20, and tickets of 

 admission may be obtained free by application to the 

 academic registrar of the University of London. 



Tub leading article in The Builder for -May 5 deals with 

 the amalgamation of the Society of Architects with the 

 Royi^l Institute of Hritish Architects. It is a matter of 

 congratulation that a mutually satisfactory basis of 

 amalgamation has been arranged. The unity of action 

 which will result in matters connected with registration 

 ;in<l with education cannot fail to be of benefit to the pro- 

 ftssion. There must be many whose chief interest in 

 obtaining a settlement of the question of registration is 

 based on the hope that it will clear the ground for a 

 thorough reorganisation of our educational methods, with- 

 out which our architecture must drop behind that of other 

 nations. If the new union will secure this advance, it will 

 justify all the sacrifices that have been made to consum- 

 mate it. 



The Worshipful Company of Drapers has given to the 

 Battersea Polytechnic the sum of 6000/. in order to erect a 

 building to house a department which is to include such 

 branches of science as physiology, hygiene, bacteriology, 

 and also that further work which, for want of a better 

 name, may be termed hygiene or town planning. It is 

 hoped also to include the subject of geology, more particu- 

 larly in its application to the nature of soils, forms of 

 vegetation, &c. It is expected that important results will 

 arise from the establishment of this new work, and that 

 the department is likely to prove, from the sanitary science 

 point of view, of great service, inasmuch as it will give 

 opportunities for the study and advancement of the prin- 

 ciples which in the future must control life, and especially 

 that of the towns. A suitable letter of thanks has been 

 sent to the Drapers' Company for their munificence. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Royal Society May 4.— Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B. 

 president, in the chair. — Dr. F. W. Mott, Edgar 

 Schuster, and Prof. C. S. Sherringrton : Motor localisa- 

 tion in the brain of the Gibbon, correlated with a histo- 

 logical examination. A comparative study of the convolu- 

 tional pattern of the brains of lemurs and apes led to the 

 expK-rt,ition that the remarkable use the Gibbon makes of 

 it^ :ivn\< ;uid hands would be found by experiment and 

 lii-ioloyical investigation to be correlated with the remark- 

 able expansion of the cortex cerebri in the precentral 

 region as shown by the development of a broad gyrus 

 extending from the middle of the precentral region to form 

 the second frontal convolution. This development, it was 

 inferred, would push downwards and forwards that por- 

 tion of the cortex which on stimulation gives rise to eye 

 movements in Macacus. Stimulation experiments by uni- 

 polar excitation are given in detail showing the correct- 

 ness of this deduction ; moreover, for the first time the 

 excitable motor cortex is precisely mapped out in this 

 animal. The experimental observations have been corre- 

 lated with a histological survey of the cortex cerebri in 

 front of the central fissure. Figures are given to show 

 the distribution of two quite distinct tvpes of cortex in 

 the lateral surface of the Gibbon's brain in front of the 

 central fissure corresponding to Campbell's precentral and 



NO. 2167, VOL. 86] 



intermediate precentral type», or to Krodmann't type» 4 

 and (). The great forward extension of the intermediate 

 precentral area (especially that which mav ' .i....:v .1 .,5 

 the middle frontal convolutionsj forms :> ;- 



i«tic feature of the Gibbon's brain, and <l „ ,n 



a very striking way from the Orang and Chimpanzee on 

 the one hand, and Ccrcopithecus and the Babf>r>n on the 

 other. — ^J. S. Nuxl«y : Some phenomena of • on 



in Sycon, with a note on the btructurc of ith 's. 



Production of normal individuals from {- ' ■ .n (a« 



in Wilson's experiments on .Monaxon; were 



obtained singly by straining sponges throu^.. „ - , They 

 first unite into lumps, all the kinds In-ing confusedly mixed 

 (reunion). Next the dermal cells migrated to the surface 

 to form a flat epithelium round a mass of quiescent coilar- 

 cells (reorganisation). Then came redevelopment : spicules 

 arise, monaxons before triradiates ; gastral cavity and 

 osculum appear. The spicules form later than in the larva 

 (where, however, they are certainly precocious), and the 

 regenerates failed to fix permanently. Otherwise re- 

 development resembled normal post-larval development. 

 None became heterocoelous, though one lived and grew as 

 a functioning sponge for several weeks. The fate of th» 

 cells here is not a function of their position, for th' 

 to migrate into position before development can ; 

 Behaviour of pure collar-cells. — If large bits of 

 epithelium are taken, they bend back and round i 

 perfect hollow spheres with collars directed our 

 Similar spheres were formed, but in a different way (with 

 preliminary solid stage), if numerous single cells were 

 taken. Though some lived more than a month, no other 

 tissue was regenerated by them. These spheres have no 

 bearing on phylogeny. Their structure is probably due 

 only to oxygen requirements and to surface tension. Their 

 failure to regenerate other tissue proves nothing against 

 choanoflagellate ancestry ; the ancestral cells may have 

 given up their regenerative powers to others, more suited, 

 as has happened elsewhere {e.g. -\scidians). Collar- 

 structure. — Longitudinal rods do exist in the collar, as 

 described by Hidder. — Dr. J. .\. Murray: Imperial Cancer 

 Research Fund. Cancerous ancestry and the incidence of 

 cancer in mice. The present paper is in continuation of 

 a previous communication (Roy. Soc. Proc., B, vol. Ixxxi., 

 1909, p. 310). The analysis of the ancestry of 1600 mice 

 bred in the laboratory has permitted their classification in 

 two groups differing considerably in the incidence of 

 cancer. Out of a total of 562 female mice which lived 

 for six months or more, cancer had occurred in the 

 mother, one or other grandmother, or all three in 340, 

 and in them 62 developed cancer of the mamma (18-2 per 

 cent.). In the remaining 222 mice in which cancer was 

 absent from the maternal and grandmaternal ancestors, 

 only 10 developed cancer of the mamma (8-6 per cent.). 

 The group with recent cancerous ancestry is found on 

 analysis to be m<we severely attacked at all age-periods 

 than the non-cancerous group (cancerous ancestors remote). 

 Detailed analysis of the ancestors enhances the importance 

 of the differences. The differences exceed their standard 

 errors sufficiently to render them significant. The predis- 

 position is apparently not constitutional, but local, and is 

 regarded as only one of the factors in the development of 

 cancer. — Dr. R. Tanner Hawrlett : Immunisation by means 

 of bacterial endotoxins. The action of bacterial endotoxins 

 in immunising against the corresponding living organisms 

 has been investigated. Guinea-pigs were the animals 

 employed. Typhoid Endotoxin. — Series of guinea-pigs 

 were given single injections of the endotoxin, ranging from 

 001 mgrm. to i-o mgrm. Five to eleven weeks later the 

 animals were injected with living typhoid culture; con- 

 siderable protection was obtained, particularly with doses 

 of 01 and i-o mgrm. The protection afforded bv the 

 endotoxin was better, and lasted longer than that conferred 

 by a b.iciliary typhoid vaccine. Cholera Endotoxin. — Six 

 guinea-pigs each received 025 mgrm. of the endotoxin, 

 and all survived an injection of living cholera culture given 

 eleven weeks later. Diphtheria and Plague Endotoxins 

 similarly confer some protection against the living 

 organisms. No immunising substance w.-»s obtained from 

 the Trypanosoma hrucei. The results suggest that 

 bacterial endotoxins may be of considerable value as pro- 

 tective vaccines. The endotoxin solutions maintain their 



