630 



NATURE 



[OCTOBI 



V23 



Spahunger's consumption tuic is once more 

 brought to public notice, and. at the invitation of Baron 

 Henri de Hothschild, Mr. Spahlinger met a number 

 of medical men at the Ritz Hotel in I^ondon last week. 

 In an article in Nature, April 7, p. 453, we published 

 the main fact.s, ho far as tljey were known, of Spah- 

 linger's consumption cure. His claims were shown 

 to rest on a series of categoric statements of which 

 we still await scientific proof. In some mysterious 

 way, however, the subject recurs like the seasons, 

 and yet we get no further. We are now informed that 

 he cannot produce the " •■' - ' " becau.se the Spah- 

 linger family fortune t<> > nt of 80,000/. has 

 been spent in the expeninciits, and therefore more 

 will be required before the public can taste the 

 benefit. When it is remembered that such a sum 

 would nearly maintain the Rockefeller Institute in 

 New York for a year, it is difficult to understand 

 why the result is so meagre. The object of the 

 meeting in London was to produce a pamphlet 

 which would give the history of Spahlinger's work, 

 particulars of papers which have been read, and 

 clinical histories of the cases hitherto treated. When 

 these works have been in the hands of doctors for a 

 month or six weeks, we are going to hear about the 

 Spahlinger treatment again, we are told, for an appeal 

 will be made to a generous public for money to carry 



Current Topics and Events. 



electricity supply companies wece first e«t;i 



in Great Britam, we think it very doubtful • 



a scheme of this nature would succeed. .s< vir.n 



other suggestions have been made, and we sincerely 



hope in the national interests that thi " " 



dispute will soon l>e settled. 



Since Summer Time was first intrwluced in 191 'v 

 many different views have been expressed as to 

 when it should begin and end. Expediency ratlxr 

 than principle seems to have determined • ' 

 which, in Great Britain, have varie<l fro: 

 to April 8 at the beginning and S i. 



October 25 at the end. There ha 10 



general agreement between Great Britain and other 

 European countries as to the period during wlii<.ii 

 Summer Time should be in force. Mr. Bridgeman. 

 Home Secretary, told a deputation from the New - 

 castle Chamber of Commerce on October 19 th;it 

 he was consulting authorities in France in the hoj>. 

 of arriving at such an agreement. The dates m 

 Great Britain, namely, tRe day following the thir^i 

 Saturday in April and the day following the third 

 Saturday in September, are laid down by the Summer 

 Time Act, and it will be necessary to repeal or amend 

 this Act in order to extend the period, as urged by 

 the Newcastle deputation. Duration of daylight is, 

 of course, a function of latitude, so that whatever 



on the work. In these days of scarcity, it would ^^^es are decided upon for the change of time- 



seem advisable to know something about the remedy 

 apart from the claims made on its behalf. 



The statement made by Sir L. Worthington- 

 Evans to the Imperial Economic Conference, on 

 cable communication throughout the Empire, is quite 

 satisfactory. Before the War none of the Atlantic 

 Cables was owned by a British company. Now 

 there are two. The German cable from Emden to 

 New York . /(/ the Azores has been acquired and 

 diverteil, ami the cable of the Direct United States 

 Co. has been purchased. The average transmission 

 time for full-rate telegrams between London and 

 Montreal is now about 45 minutes. The other link 

 in the State-owned route to Australia and New 

 Zealand is the Pacific Cable laid in 1902. It is now 

 loaded to its full capacity, and the question of duplicat- 

 ing it is under consideration. In other parts of the 

 world the cables provided by the Eastern Telegraph 

 Co. and its associated companies have proved capable 

 of meeting the demand. These companies and the 

 Pacific Cable Board did invaluable work during the 

 War. Britain, however, has fallen behind other 

 nations in radio communication. America, France, 

 Germany. Japan, and the Argentine have outstripped 

 us. T^iis is due to the apparently interminable 

 negotiations between the Marconi Company and the 

 Government. We have good hopes that with the 

 able help of the Dominion Premiers an agreement 

 will soon be arranged. Lord Burnham suggests that 

 permission be given to private enterprise to operate 

 the stations, the Government reserving the right of 

 purchase after a term of years. Judging, however, 

 from the analogous experiuier.t that was tried when 



NO. 281 7, VOL. 112] 



reckoning must be a compromise as to their effects, 

 even in different parts of Great Britain. During 

 the summer months Newcastle and places north of 

 it do not need Summer Time legislation to give them 

 daylight during all their working hours. On this 

 account, it has been suggested that Greenwich Time 

 should be used near the summer solstice — '^;>^' '" 

 June and July — so that clocks would havt- 

 altered four times a year instead of two. i UI^ 

 would, however, increase the confusion already 

 caused by the introduction of Summer Time, and 

 w^e trust that the change will be limited to two dates 

 a year, whatever they are. 



It is rather interesting to note that t4...v^..s ^ic 

 representatives of the Dominion of Canada at the 

 Imperial Conference now sitting in London, five of 

 them are fellows of the Royal Society of Canada. 

 The Rt. Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King 

 Prime Minister, author of several works on politicaT 

 economy ; Dr. O. D. Skelton. professor of p 

 economy at Queen's University ; Dr. R. H. ' 

 Dominion Statistician ; Col. A. G. Doughty, Dommion 

 Archivist, are all members of Section II. (History 

 and Literature) of the Royal Society of Canada : 

 whilst Dr. Charles Camsell. who is honorary secretarj- 

 of the Society, Deputy Minister of Mines, and has 

 under his direction the Geological Survey, the 

 National Museum, and the Mines Branch of the 

 department, is a member of Section IV. (Geological 

 and kindred Sciences). There is also associated 

 with these representatives Dr. J. H. Grisdale, Deputy 

 Minister of Agriculture, also the head of the Ex|>eri- 

 mental Farms of the Dominion, the post formerly 



