588 



NATURE 



[June 29, 191 1 



evidence as to the coal supply of the area, and the 

 memoir quotes the estimate of Dr. Dixon and Mr. 

 John Ciemmell that, at the present rate of consump- 

 lion, llicre is sufficient coal in seams of one foot or 

 more in thickness to last for another two thousand 

 years. 



The Edinburgh area is rich in fossils, and the in- 

 teresting palajontolo^ical sketch and the tables by 

 Dr. Lee are among the most useful contributions in 

 Ihe volume. There is a detailed bibliography by Mr. 

 iait. One remarkable omission from the literature 

 i)f the areas is the absence of reference in any of -the 

 Survey memoirs to Bertrand's papers on the structure 

 of the .Scottish oil shale. 



The third memoir deals with the geology of East 

 Lothian, the district to the east of Edinburgh. Its 

 geologv includes part of the Silurian tableland of 

 the Southern Uplands, of which the account is mainly 

 taken from Peach and Home's monograph on the 

 Silurian rocks of Scotland. At the eastern foot of 

 tile Silurians is a wide plain of upper Old Red Sand- 

 stone, including at the base conglomerates containing 

 such large boulders that Sir Andrew Ramsay re- 

 garded them as of Glacial origin. No support to 

 this view has been obtained^ and there is much more 

 probability in Goodchild's view that the sandstone^ of 

 the upper part of this system are a desert formation 

 stained bv the infiltration of iron from some once over- 

 Ivinf' beds of New Red Sandstone. The largest part 

 of this sheet is occupied by rocks including two 

 varied igneous series ; the first consists of the lavas 

 of the Calciferous sandstone series, and their asso- 

 ciated necks, including trachytes, banakites, and 

 mugearites, and the rare hornblende trachy-dolerites 

 — to use that misleading term — known as kulaites. 

 Bass rock is a neck belonging to this division, and 

 the exposure of some fresher samples from it enables 

 its rock to be identified as a phonolite-trachyte. The 

 second igneous series includes the quartz-diabase, 

 teschenite, and essexite, intrusive into the Carboni- 

 ferous limestone series. The lowlands contain a 

 varied series of Glacial deposits and some dry valleys 

 described by Prof. Kendall and Mr. Bailey, cut 

 during the recession of the ice (see Fig. 2). 



Mr. Bailev contributes an interesting summary of 

 the history of the scenery, and shows there is good 

 reason to believe that the Midland Valley of Scotland 

 originated as a true rift-valley, and that the scenery, 

 though greatly modified during Glacial times, is 

 mainly due to pre-Glacial denudation. 



The areas described in these publications are- of 

 especial importance in Scottish geology owing to their 

 varied problems, and the Geological Survey is to be 

 congratulated on these valuable maps and memoirs, 

 with the large amount of new evidence now so well 

 place'l at the public disDo.<;al. J. W. G. 



PHYSIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS OF 

 RADIOGRAPHY. 



T T is a matter of common knowledge that the 

 ••• introduction of X-ray examinations of patients 

 was a lx)on and a blessing both to patients and 

 surg(>ons. The localisation of foreign metallic 

 objects, such as bullets and needles, and the 

 exploration of fractured bones and disorganised or 

 dislocated joints, have been thus rendered both easy 

 and certain. 



It may not, however, be so generally known that 

 it is also possible to render visible the movements 

 of certain internal organs, which are sufficiently 

 opaque to cast their shadow on the photographic 

 plate or the fluorescent screen ; it need scarcely be 



NO. 2174, VOL. 86] 



jjointed out that in this way much more accurate in- 

 formation can be obtained of the movements of the 

 heart and diaphragm than what was previously 

 inferred from the examination of the cadaver, or 

 the inspection of the exposed parts in anaesthetised 

 animals. 



Notable among the recent achievements in this 

 direction are researches which have for their object 

 the investigation of the digestive canal. Cannon's 

 work in the Harvard laboratory a few years ago 

 showed that in animals the journey of a meal mixed 

 with bismuth salts can be followed with a nicety 

 never before experienced. Valuable as this pioneer 

 work was, it is comparatively unimportant from the 

 human and practical point of view, when compared 

 with the investigations which, by similar means, are 

 possible in man. Here Dr. Hertz and his colleagues 

 at Guy's Hospital have done yeoman service; and 

 Dr. Hertz has embodied the bulk of his work in a 

 very readable volume, entitled "Constipation and 

 .Allied Disorders " (London : Hodder and Stoughton, 

 190C)). It is possible to administer to human beings 

 suflrtciently large doses of bismuth carbonate (2 to 

 6 ounces) wiinout any detriment either to digestive 

 processes or to the well-being of the subject of the 

 experiment. Without going into the details of the 

 time occupied in the various parts of the alimentary 

 tract, and the nature of the peristalsis which is the 

 cause of the downward progress of the food, it will 

 be sufficient to say that we now possess trust- 

 worthy data on these and many other points, and 

 the events from swallowing onward to defaecation 

 have been examined and registered. 



We have been led into these references by a reprint 

 now before us by Dr. A. C. Jordan, who holds the 

 office of Medical Radiographer to Guy's Hospital. It 

 is entitled " Radiographic Demonstration of Lane's 

 Ileal Kink," and this, to the non-medical reader, will 

 not convey much. When man adopted the upright 

 posture, the advantages he gained were, to a certain 

 extent, counterbalanced by some disadvantages and 

 a liability to certain troubles. One of these is that 

 the abdominal viscera either drop, or tend to drop. 

 The stomach, for example, has its greater curvature 

 in the pelvis when a man stands upright, and the 

 transverse colon (a part of the large intestine) hangs 

 in a great loop, the middle of which accompanies 

 the stomach into the pelvis. Mr. Arbuthnot Lane 

 has shown that Nature attempts to diminish these 

 changes of position of the viscera by the formation of 

 adhesions, which form supplementary mesenteries to 

 hold them up. But this attempt at a remedy is not 

 entirely adequate, and kinks in the bowel may be 

 produced, which lead to obstruction, giving rise to 

 pain, to many days' delay in the passage of food, 

 and severe constitutional changes, due to the absorp- 

 tion of toxic materials from the intestine. A part 

 of the intestine called the ileum is particularly apt 

 to be kinked in this way, and its surgical treatment 

 will relieve the patient of all symptoms. -A bismuth 

 meal and subsequent radiographic examination will 

 reveal the situation of the kink, and so the surgeon 

 knows exactly where to cut down, and the patient 

 has only to suffer from a comparatively small 

 abdominal wound. 



We mav take such work as an admirable example 

 of the practical and beneficent application of the 

 X-ray method to structures which are neither bones 

 nor foreign objects such as bullets. The members 

 of the Guy's Hospital stafT responsible for these 

 results are to be heartily congratulated on the outn 

 come of their researches, and the public at large owe 

 them a deep debt of gratitude in addition. 



