November .3, 19 10] 



NATURE 



19 



the engines, and at the moment of landing there were 

 RSo lb. of water ballast, 990 lb. of petrol in reserve, in 



icJition to at least 200 litres in the reservoirs. The 



^ines started at 850 revolutions; they then worked up 

 qoo revolutions, and fell again to 850, and only finally 



:ring the landing worked at their full power of 1000 



solutions. The highest altitude reached was 2120 feet, 

 and throughout the sea passage there was a steady level 

 of about 200 feet. The overall length of the airship is 

 ;;7-75 feet, and the water- and gas-proof envelope has a 



pacity of 353,165-8 cubic feet. 



Ax appeal is made for funds to erect a new building for 

 the Royal Society of Medicine. Of the sum required, the 



riety has already provided 17,000/., and it asks that not 



-s than 26,000/. may be contributed from without, so 

 :hat it may not be crmpelled to curtail its very valuable 

 "Liblic and scientific work. Towards the money in hand 



:'X>/. has been subscribed by members of the medical pro- 



-^ion. The Lord Mayor has become chairman of a 



' insion House committee formed to promote the raising 

 upwards of 30,000/. for the new building. The governor 

 the Bank of England has opened an account for the 



ceipt of donations, which may be sent to the Bank of 

 England, payable to " The Royal Society of Medicine 

 Building Fund," or to the Lord Mayor at the Mansion 

 House. The society now has 3200 fellows and members, 

 and possesses a library- of nearly 100.000 volumes. It was 

 originally founded in 1805, under the name of " The Royal 

 Medical and Chirurgical Society. " A new charter was 



anted it in 1005 under the new name of " The Royal 



ciety of Medicine." 



Several of the Parisian hospitals entertained their 

 isitors last Christmas to kinematograph exhibitions, in 

 which very realistic phases in the life-histor>- of various 

 pathogenic organisms were thrown on the lantern screen. 

 On October 28 Messrs. Path^ Fr^res, of Paris, gave the 

 -r-^mbers of the Medical Society of King's College Hospital 

 opportunity of seeing some of their most successful 

 applications of thf- kinematograph to bacteriological photo- 

 micrography. The films shown represented (i) the experi- 

 mental production of sleeping sickness in a rat, and the 

 movements of the irypanosomes in the blood ; (2) the 

 spirochjita of recurrent fever, and the ticks which convev 

 the parasite ; (3) the spirochieta of fowls, some of which 

 were seen imprisoned and revolving within the red cor- 

 puscles ; (4) the movements of the infusoria from the intes- 

 tine of a mouse ; (5) Trypancroma lewisi of the rat ; 

 (6) Spirochaeta pallida, which, although only i /2000th of 

 a millimetre in width, could be followed in its movements 

 across the field of the microscope. Other films were shown 

 representing involuntary movements of the embn.o of the 

 Axolotl and its emergence from the egg, and the move- 

 ments of the human stomach as seen during an X-rav 

 examination of a patient. There can be no doubt that 

 these films are a triumph of technique, but the gain at 

 present is rather in favour of the public entertainer than 

 of the worker in science. The main advantage from a 

 scientific point of view is that rapid movements may be 

 slowed and analysed, while slow movements may be 

 accelerated, and thus realised. Such films will become an 

 essential part of the equipment of every physiok)gical and 

 medical workroom. 



Three years ago the council of the Royal College of 

 burgeons, England, instituted demonstrations in connection 

 with the museum. .At one of these, given in the theatre 

 of the college on October 28, the conservator, Dr. .Arthur 

 Keith, showed a series of specimens illustrating irregulari- 

 ties in the differentiation of sexual characters. The 

 NO. 2140, VOL. 85] 



museum is peculiarly rich in specimens of this nature 

 owing to the fact that John Hunter, its founder, had pre- 

 served many preparations which illustrated tfie influence 

 of the sexual organs in determining the growth and 

 features of many parts of the body. Amongst these are 

 I the specimens which show the assumption of the male 

 plumage of aged pea-hens and hen pheasants. Prepara- 

 tions added to the museum by Mr. S. G. Shattock show 

 that such an alteration of secondary sexual characters is 

 accompanied by a change in the sexual glands, usually of 

 an atrophic nature. A- Leghorn fowl, in which the 

 external characters were those of a cock rather than of a 

 hen, had genital glands of an ovo-testicular tjpe. The 

 Hunterian preparations, illustrating the sexual organs of 

 the " Free-Martin " — a form of ox born as the twin of a 

 perfect bull calf — were also exhibited. Although these 

 specimens had been preserved for more than 150 years„- 

 their tissue was in perfect condition for microscopical > 

 examination. In one case Hunter was of opinion that 

 both testes and ovaries were present in the same individual 

 (a true hermaphrodite), but on microsc<^ical examination ^ 

 it was found that the " ovary " was really a mass formed 

 by a remnant of the Wolffian body. .A higher vertebrate 

 • with both testes and ovary has not yet been seen. Hunter 

 explained all irregularities in the development of the 

 accessory sexual organs and of " secondare* " sexual 

 characters as the result of an " imperfection " in the 

 development of the testis and ovar}'. .AH museum speci- 

 mens an>l recent experiments are in favour of his inter- 

 pretation. 



The third part of the fourth volume of Memoirs of the 

 Peabody Museum is devoted to an account by Mr. Teobert 

 Maler of a series of adventurous journeys starting from 

 the north of Yucatan and extending to the great lake of 

 Peten-itza, in Guatemala. The value of the memoir would 

 have been enhanced by a sketch of the routes, which are 

 not traceable on ordinary maps. Several important sites 

 representative of the Maya-Toltec culture were identified, 

 such as ^^otul, where a remarkable stela depicting a pair 

 of dancing priests was found, Tubusil, Silbituk, and the 

 remarkable island city of Itza-Flores. When the country 

 passes under the control of a decent government the great 

 lake of Peten will be brought into connection with the 

 sea, and vast economical resources of this region will be 

 developed, with the result that the remarkable ruined 

 cities connected with the career of Cortes will receive 

 adequate examination. 



Ix the Oxford and Cambridge Review for Michaelmas 

 term Dr. .A. Smythe Palmer concludes his study on the 

 luck of the horse-shoe. He arrives at the conclusion that 

 it is derived from the cult of the new moon, which was 

 adopted by primitive races as a symbol of recoverv and 

 good fortune. Incidentally, he has collected some curious" 

 examples to show that the symbol was regarded as possess- 

 ing magical power among the prehistoric people of" 

 Europe, as is proved by various records of the discovery 

 of horse-shoes in ancient interments, by the shape of 

 many tumuli, and by the ring of trilithons at Sione- 

 henge. He further points out that, following Babylonian 

 precedent, the rising moon lying on her back was believed 

 to be a silver boat. He thus disposes of the controversv 

 between two sets of people who use the talisman in our 

 days — one preferring to fix it with the heels upwards, the 

 other downwards — in favour of the former. 



Ix the Field of October 22 Mr. Lydekker points out 

 that the new antelope described in N.ature of September 29 

 (P- 397) as Strepsiceros buxtoni, with the alternative name 

 of Tragelaphus buxtoni, should be known by the latter title." 



