840 



NATURE 



[February 24, 192 1 



would keep in view the necessity for a training in 

 the broad principles underlying chemical technology. 

 If possible, arrangements would be made for the 

 students to attend manufacturing works for courses 

 of practical instruction, and special teaching would 

 be provided by men actually engaged in the various 

 specific chemical industries. An interesting feature 

 of the discussion which followed Mr. Carr's paper was 

 the united praise bestowed upon Prof. J. F. Thorpe's 

 scheme — now approaching completion — of a technical- 

 scale laboratory to be established as an adjunct to 

 the Honours Organic Laboratory at South Kensington. 



In the January issue of Man Mr. T. A. Joyce 

 describes a carved wooden coffer from British 

 Columbia which has been recently acquired by the 

 British Museum. It is a fine specimen of native 

 work, the central panel on one side representing a 

 grizzly bear protecting its cub. The eyes, ears, nos- 

 trils, and fore-paws of the bear are inlaid with 

 abalone (haliotis) shell, while the mouth of the larger 

 figure is furnished with twelve graduated deer-teeth. 

 Coffers of this kind were used by men of rank for 

 storing valuable property, such as the hereditary in- 

 signia worn by individuals who had the right of imper- 

 sonating certain legendary and supernatural beings at 

 the winter ceremonials. The British Museum is in- 

 debted for the coffer to Mr. St. George Littledale, 

 who obtained it and generously presented it to the 

 nation. 



Some time ago the Library .Association instituted 

 examinations in librarianship and granted certificates 

 on the result. From the report of a discussion opened 

 by Dr. W. F. Hoyle, and printed in the Museums 

 Journal for February, it appears that the Museums 

 .Association contemplates similar action. Taking as a 

 sine qua non a high standard of general education, 

 the next essential is a good grounding in the par- 

 ticular branch of knowledge appropriate to the candi- 

 date's proposed \York. Lastly follows a special train- 

 inj^ in museum administration and methods. Clearly 

 it is in this last that the difficulty lies, both for 

 training and for examining. Perhaps the most prac- 

 tical suggestion made in the discussion was that an 

 apprenticeship should be served in the national 

 museums. To some extent, by force of circum- 

 stances, that has been the case in the past, but it 

 was not an accepted or organised method. Whether 

 a man is to stay in the central museum or whether 

 he is to take a post in the provinces, it is most desir- 

 able that he should pass through the mill and learn 

 his business in the administrative and technical 

 departments from the bottom upwards. 



The first part of vol. Ixv. of the Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science marks a new era in the history 

 of that well-known periodical. Prof. E. S. Goodrich 

 has succeeded Sir Ray Lankester as editor-in-chief, 

 and at the same time the publication has passed 

 from, the hands of Messrs. J. and .\. Churchill into 

 those of the Oxford University Press. Unfortunately, 

 these changes are accompanied by a rise in price 

 from 125. 6d. to iZ. is. per number. We hope that 

 this increase will not be counterbalanced by a corre- 

 sponding decrease in the number of subscribers. 



NO. 2678, VOL. 106] 



The current issue of the Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science (vol. Ixv., part i) contains a 

 rather startling paper by Mr. Arthur Holies Lee on 

 "The Structure of Certain Chromosomes and the 

 Mechanism of their Division." .Vfter describing the 

 animal chromosome as consisting normally of an 

 axial core of basophilous chromatin twisted into a 

 screw-like form with a spiral flange, and an invest- 

 ing sheath with acidophilous staining properties, he 

 proceeds to deny that the longitudinal splitting of 

 chromosomes which has formed the basis of so much 

 theorising really takes place. According to Mr. Lee's 

 view, the double character so suggestive of longitudinal 

 splitting arises from the close approximation of the 

 limbs of an originally V-shaped chromosome, and 

 the division of the chromosome really takes place by 

 rupture at the apex of the V. It will be interesting 

 to see what other cvtologists have to say about this 

 iconoclastic statement. 



We have received a copy of a special issue of Die 

 Naturwissenschaften commemorating the twenty-fift i 

 anniversary of the discovery of X-rays by Prof. Rontgen. 

 A portrait of the discoverer forms the frontispiece, 

 but is a rather disappointing reproduction. Original 

 articles are the attraction, and are written by men 

 well known in their respective spheres. Four out 

 of the eight articles are devoted to the part which 

 can be played by X-rays in the determination of 

 atomic structure in crystals and other substances. 

 The technical developments in the manufacture of 

 X-ray tubes are described by Knipping in a brief 

 article, the medical uses of X-rays being dealt with 

 by Levy-Dorn. Radiographic reproductions receiv<- 

 scant justice, owing to the poor quality of the paper 

 used. The issue concludes with a long article by 

 Pfeiffer on the vital part which X-rays have playec 

 in many problems in chemistry. 



In the November, 1920, issue of the Journal de 

 Physique et le Radiu-m, M. \. Dufour describes his 

 cathodic oscillograph, which gives a photographic re- 

 production of any phenomenon which can be trans- 

 lated into a constant or variable magnetic or electric 

 field so long as the frequency involved does not exceed 

 10° per second. The cathode rays utilised are pro- 

 duced at a plane cathode at the top of a vertical tube 

 and are fired down through a pierced anode into a 

 bell-shaped metal chamber, at the bottom of which a 

 fluorescent screen or a cylindrical photographic film 

 can be placed. The chamber can be exhausted, and 

 provision is made for magnetic control from outside 

 of the motor which rotates the cylinder. The electric 

 or magnetic field is applied to the rays at the top of 

 the bell chamber, and for low frequencies the cathode 

 rays are moved parallel to the axis of the cylinder, 

 which itself rotates at a uniform rate. For high 

 frequencies the photographic film remains at rest 

 while an auxiliary oscillation of low frequency but 

 large amplitude at right angles to that to be studied 

 is imparted to the rays. In order to prevent over- 

 lapping of the curves, a further slow motion of the 

 ray parallel to the original motion is introduced by 

 the slow change of a second auxiliary magnetic field. 



