140 



NATURE 



[July 28, 1923 



from the lungs has any influence on hone-growth, 

 nor on what constituent of the nidinted air the efifcct 

 depends. 



It is possible that the mechanism in man is not quite 

 the same as in hairy animals, and that direct irritation 

 of the skin by sunshine— to which some clinical 

 observers attach consideral)le importance — does much 

 the same as irritation of the bronchial mucous mem- 

 brane, which is embryologically the same as skin, by 

 ionised air or traces of ozone or nitric oxide. If this 



is so, irritation of the skin by means other than ultra- 

 violet light should have the same effect — which is 

 perhaps the explanation of Dr. Mayo's observation on 

 rickets in 1674 that "scabies or itching contributes 

 much to its cure." Little is known about what has 

 been called the " internal secretion " of the skin 

 beyond the fact that irritation may lead to changes 

 in other parts of the body. Thus a blistering agent 

 applied locally may considerably increase the suscepti- 

 bility of the whole skin to the same substance. 



Current Topics and Events. 



In an article which appeared in Nature of July 

 21, p. loi, the view was expressed that the constitu- 

 tion of the committee of the recently formed British 

 Empire Cancer Campaign was not such as would 

 command the respect of bona fide workers on the 

 cancer problem. While our article was in type, a 

 meeting of the Grand Council of the British Empire 

 Cancer Campaign was held, and contrary to the 

 original intention, and no doubt as a result of in- 

 formed public opinion, it was decided to appoint a 

 scientific advisory committee of ten members. It 

 was urged, however, that an attempt should still be 

 made to preserve the balance between scientific 

 and clinical workers. On the following day the 

 annual meeting of the Imperial Cancer Research 

 Fund was held under the presidency of the Duke of 

 Bedford, who expressed himself as in entire agree- 

 ment with the attitude which had been adopted by 

 the executive committee of the Fund in resisting 

 the danger of being drawn into the British Empire 

 Cancer maelstrom. In an admirable review of the 

 work of the campaign he directed attention to the 

 crass ignorance which prevails with respect to the 

 work which has been done by the Fund, and he laid 

 great stress on the necessity for the British Empire 

 Cancer Campaign to be in the hands of those 

 acquainted with work already done, as this is the 

 only means of avoiding useless repetition and pre- 

 venting the waste of funds obtained from a generous 

 and sympathetic public. 



Congratulations are due this week to the Rev. 

 Dr. T. G. Bonney, who celebrated his ninetieth 

 birthday on Friday, July 27, having been born 

 at Rugeley, Staffordshire, in 1833. The son of a 

 clergyman, Dr. Bonney was the eldest of ten children. 

 Educated at Uppingham, he was sent to St. John's 

 College, Cambridge, where he graduated twelfth 

 wrangler, and soon after accepted a post as mathe- 

 matical master at Westminster School. It has been 

 said of him as regards his early education, that 

 " mathematics had impressed upon his mind the 

 real necessities which are demanded by a proof ; 

 classics had assisted him to cultivate a literary gift ; 

 and travel had taught him facts at first hand." 

 Ordained a priest in 1858, in the following year he 

 was elected to a fellowship at St. John's. In 1877 

 Dr. Bonney took up the professorship of geology in 

 University College, London, a post he held until 

 1901 . For four years secretary of the British Associa- 

 tion, he was president of the Geological Society, 



NO. 2804, VOL. I 12] 



1884-86, and president of the British Association 

 at the Sheffield meeting of 1910, giving an address 

 on some aspects of the glacial history of Western 

 Europe. In 1889 he was awarded the WoUaston 

 gold medal of the Geological Society. In allotting 

 the gift the then president remarked that in Dr. 

 Bonney's hands the microscope had been a valuable 

 adjunct to field -observation and had been chiefly 

 applied to detect the secrets of those rocks which, 

 possessing no organic remains to betray the tale of 

 their origin, had hitherto baffled inquiry into their 

 early history. 



On June 16 the Polish Academy of Sciences and 

 Letters at Cracow celebrated, in the presence of the 

 President of the Polish Republic, the fiftieth anni- 

 versary of its foundation. The Academy originated 

 in 1873, evolving from a scientific society which has 

 existed in Cracow since the beginning of the nineteenth 

 century. The first president of the Academy was 

 J6zef Majer, a man who rendered valuable service to 

 the cause of science in Poland ; he was succeeded by 

 Count Stanislas Tarnowski, for many years professor 

 of the history of Polish literature in the Jagellonian 

 University ; Prof. Casimir Mozawski, a philologist of 

 European renown, is now president. The Academy 

 is divided into three classes — devoted respectively 

 to philology and linguistics, to historical and socia] 

 science, and to mathematical, physical, and natural 

 science. In conformity with the statutes, the 

 Academy consists of 60 active Polish members, 

 36 foreign and 96 corresponding members. The 

 publications of the Academy since 1873 are numer- 

 ous ; they include 206 volumes of the Transactions of 

 the Classes, 50 volumes of the Proceedings (the Cracow 

 Bulletin International is well known to scientific men 

 all over the world), 10 volumes of a beautiful publica- 

 tion intended to promote the cultivation of the history 

 of art in Poland, 146 volumes of transactions of 

 various committees appointed to elucidate problems 

 in the history of Polish language, literature, and 

 civilisation, 90 volumes of publications on PoUsh 

 political and economical histor\^ 57 volumes of the 

 Transactions of a special committee investigating the 

 physiography of Poland (meteorology^ geophysics, 

 mineralogy', and geology, systematic botany and 

 zoology), 36 volumes of the Transactions of the 

 Anthropological Committee, 10 volumes of the 

 " Polish Encyclopaedia " (in course of publication), 

 and more than 300 volumes of various other works 

 separately published. The Academy possesses a fine 



