Sb2 



NATURE 



[February 22, 19 12 



lortured, while the truth is that, considering the usual 



mode of procedure of the Inquisition, he may almost bo 



said to have been treated somewhat leniently. Too much 



stress should probably not be laid on the proceedings at 



Rome in i6i6, as Galileo at the trial in 1633 was not 



mainly convicted because he had acted contrary to the 



engagement he had entered into seventeen years before 



not to teach or defend the Copernican doctrine, but because 



(as the sentence distinctly stated) he had made himself 



suspected of heresy. Galileo did not deny that he had in 



iM(' Im . 11 iilTu ially informed that the theory of the eartli's 



luoiion imi^t not be taught as a physically true one, and 



he acknowledged that he had in his " Dialogue " expressed 



himself in such a manner that the reader might thinic 



that he believed Copernicus to be right. Sir John Mac- 



donnell thinks that if the question had arisen a few years 



earlier or later, it is possible that the doctrine might not 



have been forbidden. Bat it should be remembered that 



the invention of the telescope in 1609 altered the state of 



affairs by revealing many analogies between the earth and 



the planets, thereby changing the question from a purelv 



academic one into a very real one of interest to everv- 



body. Galileo had also tried to offer a physical proof of 



the earth's motion by his curious theory of the tides, which 



certainly damaged his case still more. The trial does not 



present many points of special interest apart from the 



personality of the accused and the cause he advocated. 



.Many Protestant theologians of that day detested the 



Copernican doctrine just as cordially as the Inquisition 



did, but they lacked the power possessed by the latter. 



In L' Anthropologic, vol. xxii.. No. 6, L'Abb^ H. Breuil 

 and M. Cabre .\guilo contribute a valuable addition to 

 their series of studies of Palaeolithic man, under the title 

 of " Les Peintures rupestres d'Espagne," describing a 

 number of rock-paintings at the village of .Albarracin, lying 

 in the valley of the River Guadalaviar, which enters the 

 Mediterranean Sea near the city of Valencia. The rough 

 sketch of a primitive horse or pony, and coloured pictures 

 of groups of cattle with their calves, are interesting. Still 

 more remarkable figures in these groups are those of two 

 men, one in black, the other in white, represented in the 

 act of discharging arrows at some animals. They closely 

 resemble figures of the same kind found in the Cogul 

 Cave, and remove all doubts as to the significance of the 

 latter. 



We welcome the appearance, though belated, of the first 

 number of The Journal of Roman Studies, the organ of 

 the society started last year in cooperation with the 

 flourishing Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. 

 The most important contribution is by Mrs.. S. A. Strong, 

 a series of notes, supplementary to the official catalogue, 

 of the remarkable e.xhibition, illustrative of the provinces 

 of the Roman Empire, at the Baths of Diocletian, Rome. 

 The exhibition has proved so successful that the authori- 

 ties announce that it will remain open until the end of 

 next April. While other countries, in particular Austria- 

 Hungary, have contributed splendid collections of Roman 

 provincial antiquities, it is much to be regretted that, in 

 comparison with Germania and Gallia, that of Britannia, 

 the rich stores of Roman antiquities in which are little 

 known to Continental scholars, makes such a poor dis- 

 play. If this new Roman society had been in working 

 order, this reproach might have been avoided ; but the 

 official attitude to Roman antiquities is obvious from the 

 consignment, some fourteen years ago, of the Romano- 

 British collection in the British Museum to dark corridors 

 and dirty, inaccessible basements in favour of the 

 Rothschild collection. It is quite time that the authori- ' 

 NO. 2208, VOL. 88] 



ties became convincfd of the need of providing adequat< 

 accommodation for valuable objects of great intfre<;t tn 

 many British antiquaries. 



In the Journal of the College of Agriculture, Lnivt-iMn 

 of Tokyo, vol. i., No. 3, Takahashi and .Sato discuss the 

 maturing of the Japanese drink " sakd, " and find that 

 this is brought about by one or more varieties of the yeast 

 .S". anomalus (now termed Willia anomala). Kurono has 

 isolated an enzyme from both sak6 and beer yeasts which 

 lil)' rates ammonia from asparagin, and Yukawa describes 

 IV. (I new Aspergillus fungi isolated from dried tunny 

 tish. 



In The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology 

 for December, 191 1 (vol. iv., No. 4), Dr. K. Mackenzie 

 details the results of an experimental investigation of the 

 mechanism of milk secretion, with special reference to the 

 action of animal extracts. He finds that the mammary 

 gland is, as regards its secretory activity, not under the 

 direct influence of the nervous system, and that many 

 organs, e.g. the pituitary body, corpus luteum, pineal body, 

 involuting uterus, and the lactating mammary gland itself 

 possess hormones which are capable of stimulating the 

 mammary gland to activity. 



"Medicines: .-\ncient and Modern," is the subject of 

 an interesting article by Dr. Oliver Davis in this month's 

 Knowledge. Modern remedies are largely synthetical — 

 built up on preconceived lines by the chemist in the labora- 

 tory. The stereo-configuration of an organic compound, 

 i.e. the spatial arrangement of the component atoms and 

 groups in the compound, profoundly modify the chemical 

 and physiological properties of a compound. This is illus- 

 trated by reference to anilin. This is a benzene nucleus 

 into which an amino group, NH,, has been introduced. 

 It is far too to.xic to be of much value as a medicine, but 

 by replacing one of the hydrogen atoms of the amino group 

 by the acetyl radicle, COCH3, we obtain acetanilide or 

 antifebrin, a well-known useful and fairly safe remedy. 



It seems to be established that Rocky Mountain spotted 

 fever, a typhus-like disease occurring in limited districts 

 in the United States, is conveyed by a tick (Dermacentor 

 venustus). Bulletin No. 105 of the Bureau of Entymology, 

 United States Department of .Agriculture, is devoted to 

 the bionomics of this tick, with special reference to its 

 destruction. It is considered that systematic " dipping " 

 of the domestic animals in the localities in which the tick 

 is found would soon result in a very large reduction in its 

 numbers. It is estimated that an expenditure of 23,692 

 dollars, spread over three years, would effect this, after 

 which a very small annual expenditure, say 600 dollars, 

 would suffice to prevent reinfestation. 



No. 1879 of the Proceedings of the U.S. National 

 Museum is devoted to an account, by Mr. L. J. Boettcher. 

 of experiments which have been undertaken recently for 

 the purpose of ascertaining the best means of preserving 

 tusks, bones, and horns from decay and damage. Owing 

 to desiccation, tusks of animals are e.xceedingly liable to 

 crack and split after death, especially in hot and dry 

 climates. This may be prevented by saturating them with 

 paraffin, which may either be poured into the open end of 

 the tusk or be imbibed by immersing the whole tusk for 

 a certain period in a bath of meUed paraffin. 



Under the title of "The Public Utility of Museums," 

 Lord Sudeley has issued in pamphlet form (Kingston-on- 

 Thames : T. J. S. Guilford and Co., Ltd.) his letters to 

 The Times, together with leading articles from that 

 journal and other papers, on the subject of " personally 



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