5o8 



NATURE 



[December 15, 192 1 



tion, which has been regretfully accepted by the execu- 

 tive committee. Dr. Elihu Thomson, chief engineer 

 of the General Electric Co., who served as acting 

 president after Dr. Maclaurin's death, has again been 

 appointed temporary head of the institute. The 

 physical disqualifications under which Dr. Nichols 

 labours will not restrict his activities in the simpler life 

 of scientific investigation, and he hopes accordingly to 

 return to the research laboratory and to resume the 

 work, connected with certain problems of lighting, 

 which he interrupted to accept the offer of the presi- 

 dency. 



An account is given in the Times of a recent ascent 

 of Mount Kilimanjaro, the extinct volcano in the 

 Tanganyika territory of East Africa. Discovered by 

 German explorers in 1848, the summit was first 

 reached in 1889 by Dr. H. Meyer, and since then 

 it has been scaled several times. The last 

 ascent, which took place in October this year, was 

 made by Messrs. C. Gillman and P. Nason. No great 

 difficulty was encountered in reaching the Saddle 

 Plateau, which, at a height of some 15,000 ft., 

 separates the two peaks of the mountain, Mawenzi, 

 the rocky one rising to 17,570 ft., and Kibo, the ice- 

 capped one, rising to 19,720 ft. The rarefied atmo- 

 sphere forced two of the party and several native 

 carriers to give up the attempt at altitudes varying 

 from 16,000 ft. to 18,500 ft. The top was reached only 

 with difficulty on this account. Many photographs 

 were secured. Mr. Gillman notes that a comparison of 

 the actual extent of the ice with that indicated on 

 Dr. Mever's photographs proves a considerable shrink- 

 age of the glaciers, especially on the south-east, east, 

 and north side of the peak of Kibo. 



The following are among the lecture arrangements 

 at the Royal Institution before Easter : — Prof. J. A. 

 Fleming, six lectures adapted to a juvenile auditory 

 on electric waves and wireless telephony, beginning 

 on Thursday, December 29. On Tuesday afternoons, 

 commencing on January 17, there will be two lectures 

 on "Physiology as Applied to Agriculture," by Dr. 

 F. H. A. Marshall; three by Prof. H. H. Turner 

 on "Variable Stars"; five by Sir Arthur Keith on 

 "Anthropological Problems of the British Empire — 

 Series I. : Racial Problems in Asia and Australasia "; 

 and two by Dr. J. W. Evans on "Earth Movements." 

 On Thursday afternoons Mr. Seton Gordon will give 

 two lectures on " Mountain Birds of Scotland and 

 Sea Birds and Seals"; Sir Napier Shaw, two on 

 "Droughts and Floods"; Prof. A. G. Perkin, two 

 on " Dyeing : Ancient and Modern ",; Prof. H. 

 Maxwell Lefroy, two on "The Menace of the Insect 

 Pest : The Balance of Life in Relation to Insect Pest 

 Control"; Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, two on "The 

 Cinema as a Zoological Method " ; and Prof. A. M. 

 Hind, two on "Landscape Etchers: New and Old." 

 On Saturdays there will be six lectures by Sir Ernest 

 Rutherford on "Radio-activity." The first Friday 

 evening discourse will be given on January 20 by 

 Sir James Dewar on " Soap Films and Molecular 

 Forces." Succeeding discourses will probably be given 

 by Viscount Burnham, Sir Francis Younghusband, 



NO. 2720, VOL. 108] 



Prof. W. D. Halliburton, Dr. R. S. Watson, Prof. 

 J. Joly, Dr. C. M. Wenyon, Prof. T. R. Merton, Dr. 

 A. P. Laurie, Prof. F. G. Donnan, Mr. A. B. Walkley, 

 and others. 



The Report of the Committee on Ancient Earth- 

 works and Fortified Enclosures issued by the Con- 

 gress of Archaeological Societies for 1920 Indicates that 

 the damage anticipated from military entrenchments 

 and other activities during the war has not been 

 serious. Attention is directed to the rapid destruction 

 of the hill-fort at Penmaenmawr by a quarrying com- 

 pany, and It is pointed out that the Act contains no 

 provision for the payment of compensation to the 

 owners of any ancient monument who would suffer 

 pecuniarily if it were taken over by the public. 

 Bokerly Dyke, on the borders of Dorsetshire and 

 Hampshire, Is suffering greatly from the burrowing 

 of rabbits, but It Is not clear that this constitutes the 

 "neglect" which would justify the Ancient Monu- 

 ments Board in taking action for its preservation. 



The seventh Scientific Report of the Investigations 

 of the Imp>erlal Cancer Research Fund, which has 

 recently been issued, cannot be said to throw much 

 further light on the problem of the causation and pre- 

 vention of malignant disease, although Its contents 

 have much scientific value and represent a consider- 

 able volume of research work which may be pre- 

 liminary to more Important later results. Long- 

 continued study of transplantable tumours in the 

 mouse and rat has shown that many of the charac- 

 teristics of these tumours are consequent on slight 

 biological differences subsisting between the cells of 

 the organism in which the propagable tumour arises, 

 and the cells and fluids of the successive hosts of the 

 same species In which it is growing. The minute and 

 painstaking Investigations detailed in this report on 

 the fundamental physiological processes of normal 

 and cancerous cells, although no; completed, have 

 great value. The experiments by Drs. Murray and 

 Woglom described in the report are important as 

 throwing light on the means by which cancer can 

 be artificially produced and on the cell changes occur- 

 ring In the affected parts. It may be hoped that con- 

 tinuation of this investigation will throw new light on 

 the origin of cancer not artificially produced. 



The Department of Public Health of the Ministry of 

 the Interior (Egypt) have recently published an in- 

 structive report by Prof. W. H. Wilson on the nutri- 

 tive values of rations issued to ofificials and other public 

 employees. Owing to the fact that a considerable 

 proportion of the protein Is supplied as vegetable pro- 

 tein, it was necessary to estimate its biological value, 

 and to this end the author has utilised the results of 

 K. Thomas, although, as he remarks, these can be 

 regarded as only approximately correct. Prof. Wilson 

 bases his conclusions as to the sufficiency of a diet 

 upon the following considerations. He holds that 

 the daily intake of available animal protein should 

 not be less than 40 gm., that the fat Intake should 

 not fall below 30 gm., and the gross Calories 

 should vary from 2600 for sedentary to 3450 for 

 moderate or "hard " labour. It appears that several 



