November io. 192 i] 



NATURE 



3A7 



Notes. 



The Duke of York visited Sheffield on Novem- 

 ber 4 and inspected the works of Messrs. Hadfield, 

 Ltd., and of Messrs. Joseph Rodgers and Sons, in 

 addition to taking part in several functions in the 

 city. In the course of the ceremony of opening a 

 new power station for the electricity department of 

 the Corporation of Sheffield, his Royal Highness 

 referred to the intention of the Corporation to extend 

 the system of electric lighting to the homes of the 

 working people, and went on to say : — "The enormous 

 power station which I am about to open, with all its 

 mechanical and scientific devices, graphically illus- 

 trates the last word in economy, and must effectively 

 cheapen production, improve trade, and thereby lessen 

 unemployment. If, in order to meet competition in 

 the markets of the world, manufacturers are forced 

 to economise, it is, in my view, a better policy to 

 seek a solution of the problem in scientific research 

 than merely to fall back upon a curtailment of wages. 

 In the future the prosperity of the manual worker 

 depends so largely upon scientific development in our 

 industries that I would appeal to our younger genera- 

 tion, in whose advancement I have so deep an interest, 

 to let this truth sink well into their minds. If Britain 

 is to maintain her proud position among the nations 

 of the world, they must contribute their quota of 

 science, as in the past generation was done by such 

 men as Kelvin, Watt, Stephenson, and Hopkinson." 

 It is appropriate that such words should be spoken in 

 Sheffield, the principal industry' of which, the manu- 

 facture of steels of high quality, owes more than most 

 to scientific research. The manufacturers of the city 

 have recc^nised this fact in their continued support 

 of their University, which has been closely associated 

 with the scientific advancement of industry ; and at 

 the present moment, when industn.- is faced with such 

 a host of economic difficulties, the lesson is more than 

 ever needed, and the wise warning of the Duke of 

 York deserves the attention of all who look for an 

 escape from the present condition of stagnation. 



The forthcoming Royal Society High Altitude Ex- 

 pedition to Peru sails in the third week of this month. 

 The expedition proposes to study the adaptation of 

 man to life at or above the altitude of 14,000 ft. 

 As compared with other localities in which this 

 type of wcM-k has been carried out, Peru possesses 

 certain advantages :— (i) Being near the equator, the 

 effects of altitude are less complicated by those of 

 cold than in higher latitudes. (2) The Central Rail- 

 way of Peru, the highest standard-gauge railway in 

 the world, ascends the Andes to an altitude of : 

 15,885 ft. (3) A mining population lives and wwks \ 

 in localities situated above 14,000 and 16,000 ft., or 

 even higher. It is alleged, for example, that the 

 porters at the town of Cerro de Pasco, in the Andes, 

 raise the ores 600 ft. from the mines by carrying loads 

 of 160 lb. of mineral many times in the day. There 

 is probably no other population which carries on such 

 heavy work in so rare an atmosphere. Experimental 

 methods for the study of the circulatorv and respira- 

 XO. 2715, VOL. 108] 



[ tor\' systems have advanced so much within the last 

 ten or twenty years that the time seems ripe for their 

 application to the extraordinarily interesting problems 



, which life at high altitudes presents. Donations 

 towards the expenses of the expedition have been 

 received from the following :— The Royal Society, the 

 Harvard Medical School, the Carnegie Fund, the 

 Moray Fund, the University of Toronto, the Rocke- 

 feller Institute, the Presbyterian Hospital, New York, 

 Sir Peter Mackie, and Sir Robert Hadfield. 



j 0.\ Wednesday, November 2, the Secretary of State 

 ' for War (Sir L. Worthington Evans) unveiled in the 

 examination hall of the Pharmaceutical Society, 

 ^ 17 Bloomsbun,- Square, a bronze relief portrait of the 

 late Lt.-Col. E. F. Harrison, who played such a 

 prominent and important part in combating the 

 poison gas used by the Germans. The hall, lined with 

 a guard of honour furnished by the University of 

 London O.T.C., was filled with a distinguished ccmti- 

 pany of pharmacists, representatives of the War 

 Office, officers in uniform, and graduates of the Uni- 

 versity in their academical robes. The platform was 

 I occupied by the jM-esident of the society (Mr. E. I. 

 Neathercoat), the president of the British Pharma- 

 ceutical Conference (Prof. H. G. Greenish), and the 

 Secretary of State for War (Sir L. Worthington 

 Evans). The president alluded to Harrison's scientific 

 career, and paid a well-deser\'ed tribute to his energy 

 and ability. In 19 15, at the age of fort>-seven, he 

 joined the Sportsmen's Battalion as a private, but 

 soon after the first gas attack he was transferred to 

 the Royal Engineers and became a leading spirit in 

 the Anti-Gas Department. His work culminated in 

 the production of the small box respirator, which 

 proved so efTecti\'e in counteracting the poison gas 

 that no fewer than 22,000,000 were made, HarriscMi 

 being finally appointed Controller of Chemical War- 

 fare. The SecretarA- of State for War acknowledged 

 in an admirable speech the debt that the War Office 

 owed to pharmacy for placing at their disposal the 

 benefits of its knowledge and the mar\ellous results 

 of its investigations, and on behalf of ever}- officer 

 and man in the Army paid a tribute of respect and 

 gratitude to Harrison, by whose devotion and self- 

 sacrifice thousands of lives had been saved. Science 

 had turned the poisoned arrows of the savages into 

 the poison gas of civilisation, and might devise 

 weapons more deadly stilly so that the soldier's need 

 for science grew greater ever)^ day. Sir L. Worthing- 

 ton Evans then unveiled the memorial, the guard of 

 honour presenting arms, and the buglers of the Cold- 

 stream Guards sounding the '• Last Post "—an im- 

 pressive and touching finale to a ceremony marked 

 throughout by reverent dignity and grace. 



The Radio New York Central Station, which is- 

 the most powerful transmitting station yet built, was 

 opened on November 5 by President Harding sending 

 a message to all the large radio stations in the world. 

 After pointing out that such an achievement marks. 



