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NATURE 



[February 9, 1922 



The recent offer of a prize of 22,000!. by Lord 

 Atholstan to the discoverer of a medicinal cure for 

 cancer has been followed by one of lo.oooL by Sir 

 William Veno for the same purpose. These offers 

 have naturally created a good deal of interest, not 

 only among the general public, but also among those 

 engaged in the organisation and prosecution of cancer 

 research. If successful treatment of this disease is 

 going to be secured, it is certain that more financial 

 support must be given to investigators than has been 

 provided in the past. The present difficulties of this 

 provision are so acute that Lord Athlone, the chair- 

 man of the Board of the Middlesex Hospital, has 

 directed the attention of these intending benefactors 

 to the urgent need of supporting existing researches. 

 We are glad that this suggestion has been acted 

 upon, for it is now announced that Lord Atholstan 

 has given an additional 22,000!., to be used for re- 

 search work in cancer, and Sir William Veno has agreed 

 that his gift should be used for research. It is pos- 

 sible that some further financial help may come for 

 cancer investigation in this country as well as in 

 others. Should this eventuate, it might well be the 

 opportunity for some concerted action among the dif- 

 ferent cancer research centres. At present investigations 

 upon causation or cure are unco-oi'dinated, and some- 

 thing might be gained by intensive work along 

 avenues which a collective opinion would indicate. 



An earthquake of great interest, though by no 

 -means of the first order of magnitude, occurred on 

 January 31 at ih. 17m. 30s. p.m. (Greenwich mean 

 lime). In the United States the oscillations were so 

 large that seismographs at Washington and Harvard 

 "University were temporarily put out of action. The 

 'Origin was about 600 miles from San Francisco, 

 ;2420 from Ottawa, and 5140 from Oxford. In a letter 

 to the Times of February 3 Prof. H. H. Turner 

 'locates it m lat. 42° N., long. 125° W., or about 

 sixty miles from the coast where Oregon joins Cali- 

 'fornia. The shock is said to have been felt at many 

 -places along the Pacific coast as far as the Canadian 

 border, and this seems to point to an elongated focus 

 parallel, or nearly parallel, to the coast-line. It is 

 "interesting to notice that the epicentre lies along, or 



■ close to, the continuation, some two or three hundred 

 miles to the north, of the San Andreas fault. Except 

 for three short interruptions by the sea, this great 



'fracture has been traced from Cape Mendocino on 

 the north to the Colorado Desert on the southj^ a dis- 

 tance of more than 600 miles, and it was along its 

 -northern half, from Cape Mendocino to San Juan 



. (about 290 miles), that the remarkable displacement 

 occurred which gave rise to the San Francisco earth- 



. quake of igo6. 



Some -disappointment has been expressed in Glas- 

 gow regarding the refusal of the managers of the 

 Royal Infirmary to undertake the permanent retention 



■ on its present site of the old ward which was for- 

 merly occupied by Lord Lister, and in which his first 

 successful experiments in antiseptic surgery were 

 carried out. The infirmary has been largely rebuilt, 

 and the old ward is said to obstruct the lighting and 



NO. 2728, VOL. 109] 



ventilation of the newer structure. The Lister Memorial 

 Committee proposed to preserve the ward in per- 

 petuity and fit it up as a museum of relics, portraits, 

 etc. Failing in this purpose, the committee has now 

 decided to devote its funds to the erection of a 

 statue of Lister, near that of Lord Kelvin in the 

 Kelvingrove Park, on the slope adjoining the Uni- 

 versity, in which they were colleagues as professors. 

 The Lister relics collected by the committee will 

 be displayed in the hall of the Pathological Institute 

 at the Royal Infirmary. Meanwhile, no immediate 

 steps are likely to be taken for the demolition of the 

 old ward. 



At the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society 

 on Monday, February 6, the presideni announced that 

 this year's Mount Everest Expedition is already in 

 movement. The definite sanction of the Tibetan 

 Government has just been received, and Gen. Bruce 

 has left England for India to make all the initial 

 preparations, especially the organisation of a corps of 

 Himalayan porters at Darjeeling. Lord Rawlinson 

 has particularly attached himself to the expedition, 

 and through his interest it has been possible to secure 

 the services of Capt. Geoff'gv Bruce, of the 6th 

 Gurkhas, to help his cousin in the very important 

 work of training, equipping, clothing, and feeding 

 these porters. A second Gurkha officer has also been 

 asked for. Besides these there viill be six climbers, 

 Lt.-Col. E. L. Strutt, Mr. Mallory (from last year's 

 expedition), Mr. George Finch, Mr. Somervell, Dr. 

 Wakefield, and Major Norton — all in the first rank 

 of mountaineers. The veteran Himalayan climber. 

 Dr. T. G. Longstaff, will accompany the expedition 

 as physicist and naturalist, and Major J. B. Noel 

 will act as photographer. Before the end of March 

 these will all have arrived in Darjeeling, and a start 

 will be made in time to reach the base camp near 

 Mount Everest early in May. 



The National Institute of Industrial Psychology was 

 founded in 19 19 by the co-operation of Dr. C. S. 

 Myers and other psychologists, with representatives of 

 several well-known industrial firms, and it was finally 

 incorporated in February, 192 1. We now welcome 

 the a,ppearance of the first issue of the Journal 

 of the institute, which is to appear quarterly. 

 This journal aims at describing in non-technical 

 language the methods and results of applying scientific 

 knowledge to the human aspects of industry. It will 

 publish accounts of research and propaganda work 

 .carried out, not only by the institute, but also by other 

 similar bodies and by individual investigators, and 

 will contain abstracts and reviews of books, reports, 

 and periodicals. Amongst other contributions the 

 present issue contains accounts of investigations on 

 tin-box manufacture and on chocolate packing, in which 

 it has been possible by the introduction of simple im- 

 provements in the methods of work to improve output 

 by 30 to 40 per cent., and at the same time to diminish the 

 fatigue of the workers. The assistant director of the 

 institute, Dr. G. H. Miles, discusses vocational guid- 

 ance, and Mr. Eric Farmer describes the reduction of 



