384 



NATURE 



[January i8, 19 12 



The possibility of the discovery of a remedy (or cancer 

 has been ndvanri-d a »taf{e by the preparation by Prof. 

 Wassermann, of B«Tlin, of a •«ubt>tanre which po««e(n»e»t 

 a curative action experimentally on cancer of mice. Prof, 

 Wassermann reasomd that since the cancer-celln are fjrow- 

 in^J rapidly, their oxygen requirements would be different 

 from, and }»reater than, those of the cflU of the body 

 j^enerally. He souf^ht for some substance which mif^ht 

 interfere with the oxygen supply to the cancer-cells, and 

 finally adopted selenium as a means to do this. The next 

 pr«)blem was to convey selenium to the cancer-cells by 

 mt-ans of the blood stream, and after testing some hundreds 

 of preparations a compound of selt-nium with an anilin 

 dy<' eosin was found to fulfil this condition. If the eosin- 

 sfleiiium compound is injected into a healthy mouse it 

 bi'comes pink all over, but if into a mouse with a cancerous 

 tumour the tumour only becomes coloured, demonstrating 

 the selective absorption of the substance. .After two or 

 three injections of the substance into a mouse the subject 

 of cancerous tumours, the tumours are found to have 

 softened, and after six to eight doses they become cystic, 

 diminish in size, and finally disappear, and no recurrence 

 tal<es place. The eosin-selenium compound is, however, 

 poisonous, and a certain number of mice succumb under 

 the treatment. Moreovi-r, only small tumours (up to the 

 size of a cherry) are definitely cured ; with larger tumours 

 so much disturbance ensues that the animals die. 



TiiK death is announced, at seventy-one years of age, of 

 Dr. Otto Liebmann, formerly professor of philosophy in the 



riii\i-rsity of Jena. 



1 1 is announced in the Revue Scieiitifique that M. Louis 

 (lentil has been elected president of the French Geological 

 Society for 1912, and M. Stanislas .Meunier, G^n^ral 

 Jourdy, .Xbb^ Boufgeat, and M. Henri Hoursault, vice- 

 presidents. 



At the business meeting of the .Association of Public 

 School Science Masters on January 1 1 the following 

 officers were elected for 1912 : — President, Sir .Archibald 

 Geikie, P.R.S. ; chairman, Mr. D. Rintoul, Clifton 

 College ; and Mr. D. Berridge, Malvern College, and Mr. 

 V. .M. Oldham, Duhvich College, honorary secretaries. 



TiiK Rhodcsi.-i Scientific -Association's gold medal, 

 recently offered for an original paper advancing the know- 

 ledge of the transmission of any insect or arachnid-borne 

 disease affecting Rhodesia, has been awarded to Dr. 

 Edward Hindle, Beit memorial research fellow, for his 

 paper on '* The Transmission of Spirochaeta dtittoui." 



TiiK Geological Society of London will this year award 

 its medals and funds as follows : — Wollaston medal, to .Mr. 

 Lazarus Fletcher, F.R.S. ; Murchison medal, to Prof. Louis 

 Dollo ; Lyell medal, to Mr. Philip Lake ; Wollaston fund, 

 to .Mr. C. L Gardiner; Murchison fund, to Dr. .Arthur 

 Morley Davies ; Lyell fund, to Dr. .A. R. Dwerryhouse and 

 Mr. R. H. Rr.staii. 



.Mr. W. ^L CoATES, fellow, assistant tutor, bursar 

 and lecturer of Queens' College, Cambridge, and one of 

 the most successful mathematical coaches at the University, 

 died on Tuesday. January 16, in his fifty-fifth year. Mr. 

 Coates entered Queens' College in January, 1884, read 

 mathematics with the late Dr. Routh, and was third 

 wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos, part i., in 1886, and 

 in the following year he was placed in Class L of 

 Division 2 of part ii. of the Tripos. He examined in the 

 Mathematical Tnpos in 1891 and 1892. 



NO. 2203, VOL. 88] 



Mr. F. l\. SoMERH-liARnNRR (ends uk a cutting from ' 

 Gibraltar Chronicle of January 4 which readc : — ** On 

 leg of a M-agull which wa<i trapped by »ome fi«her-U>>.. 

 yesterday at the ea>itern beach was found an aluminium 

 ring bearing the inscription ' Muceum Leiden 704.' 

 J.ti.D." In reply to an inquir)'. Dr. E. D. van Oort 

 the 'S Rijks .Musfum van Natuurlijke Historic, I-eid«n, 

 infurmx us that the seagull referred to is a black-headed 

 gull (Larus sidihundus, L.) which was marked June 25, 

 11)11. at Kllemeet, on the island of Schouwcn, province 

 Zeeland, Netherlands. 



Dr. .a. R. Willis, who for the past forty years : 

 been assistant professor of mechanics and mathematics at 

 the Royal College of Science, South Kensington, retired 

 from his jjost at Christ.mas. It is believed that many who 

 have studied under Dr. Willis would welcome an oppor- 

 tunity to express their regard for him, and a committee 

 of past and present students has been formed, therefore, 

 to arrange for the presentation of a testimonial to him on 

 his retirement. Subscriptions should be sent to the 

 treasurer. Prof. A. Fowler, F. R.S., Royal College of 



.Science, South Kensington, S.W., on or before th' ■* ■' 



this month. 



The British Medical Journal announces that the ninth 

 annual congress of the Association Internationale <!'• 

 Perfectionnement Scientifique, which is under the patroi 

 of the French Government, will be held on .August j ., . 

 in the Balkans, in Turkey, and in Greece. The congress 

 will be opened in Evian-les-Bains or Thonon-les- Bains, and 

 will be continued at various other places. Persons wish- 

 ing to present communications on subjects belonging to 

 medicine, surgery, and the cognate sciences are requested 

 to intimate their intention to the president, 12 Rue 

 Francjois-Millet, Paris XVL The general secretary of the 

 congress is Dr. Ghislain Housel. 



We learn from The Times that Captain Otto Fultor» 

 recently gave a private demonstration of his apparatus for 

 the projection of pictures in natural colours by the metb-' 

 of opaque projection. In order to overcome the great 

 of light inherent in this method, two powerful elevim- 

 lamps illuminate the prints. These are ordinary black and 

 white photographs taken, as usual in three-colour wr-'- 

 through blue, green, and red screens, respectively, and 

 images are superposed on the screen. The remarkable pan 

 of the method is that the colour screens used in the pro- | 

 jection are stated to be white, pale green, and pale orar, 

 but we are assured that the rendering of the colours of 

 original was remarkably accurate. The method is stated 

 to be applicable to kinematography. 



The expedition of the Egypt E.xploration Fund which, 

 under the leadership of Prof. Naville, is now e.xcavating 

 for the third season in succession at .Abydos, in Lpper 

 Egypt, reports (in The Times of Monday, January 15) that 

 interesting discoveries have been made in the great necro- 

 polis, including tombs dating from the pre-dynastic age to 

 the Roman period. " Of the latter a magnificent example 

 was found. It consisted of a vaulted chamber, some 

 20 feet in length, built of mud bricks, and originally 

 almost hidden in the sand. The building of another simil.ir 

 tomb over it at a slightly later date had saved it from 

 the plunderer. On its floor lay twelve heavy coffins of 

 limestone, each with its carefully sealed cover. Within 

 each lay the mummy, carefully and laboriously wrapped in 

 its linen bandages, the blue and gold of its painted cover- 

 ings as fresh as when laid in the tomb two thousand years 

 ago." Other burials are also reported, especially one of 



