May 13, 1922" 



NATURE 



621 



ingly wide. There is no tissue and scarcely an organ 

 of the body which he did not investigate with char- 

 acteristic thoroughness. Much of what is to-day 

 sound knowledge of the structure of the connective 

 tissues, glands, nerves, and nerve-endings, we owe to 

 Ranvier. His discoveries in connection with the 

 peripheral nervous system are perhaps the most 

 familiar. It seems incredible that until Ranvier 

 taught otherwise, a medullated nerve was thought to 

 be a continuous tube. The term " nodes of Ranvier," 

 by which he is best known, is most unfortunate. He 

 described the interruptions in the contour of the 

 medullated nerve as " etranglements annulaires." 

 The term " node " is inexcusable and not to be con- 

 doned by its usage as an alternative in " constrictions 

 or nodes of Ranvier," a solecism of which many writers 

 are guilty. 



Ranvier was not content with describing and 

 delineating the minute structure of tissue or organ but 

 ever sought to discover the functional interpretation of 



what he saw. Many of his investigations were to this 

 end, and in this sense he must be regarded as the father 

 of experimental histology. A master of technique, 

 his manipulative dexterity was unequalled, and the 

 laboratory practice of the present day is largely founded 

 on his methods. 



Ranvier's numerous writings are a model of clearness 

 and exactitude. Never content with knowledge at 

 second hand, he took such meticulous care to ensure 

 accuracy that his statements are invariably trustworthy. 

 His " Traite technique d'histologie " is undoubtedly 

 the most original text-book on the subject ever written, 

 and bears monumental testimony to his indefatigable 

 energy and boundless resource. 



Some twenty years ago Ranvier retired from a life 

 of incessant labour to his country estate. Laboratory 

 and scientific societies knew him no more ; as he worked 

 so he rested, revelling in the pleasures of a rustic life. 

 Full of years and honour Ranvier passed peacefully 

 away on March 22. 



Current Topics and Events. 



Much interest has been aroused "by reports in the 

 Tim ex and other newspapers of the discovery of 

 mummified animals in the Koster caves, 100 miles 

 west of Johannesburg, South Africa. These caves 

 are situated in a district in which numerous stone 

 implements and other evidence of early human 

 occupation have been found. They have therefore 

 been carefully examined by Mr. Harold S. Harger, a 

 well-known geologist, whose report is disappointing. 

 It appears that the mummified remains occur in a 

 thick layer of bat guano on the floor of the main cave, 

 and represent only modem animals. It is not unusual 

 to find such remains in the circumstances described, 

 and there is one known case in Patagonia in which the 

 skin and soft parts even of an extinct animal (a ground 

 sloth) have been preserved. There is no doubt that 

 the caves and surface deposits in the Koster district 

 of South Africa are well worthy of the attention of 

 the local geologists and anthropologists, but they 

 have not hitherto afforded anything of special note. 



A LARGELY attended meeting of physicians and 

 others interested in mental hygiene was held in the 

 rooms of the Royal Society of Medicine on Thursday, 

 May 4. in order to inaugurate the new National 

 Council for Mental Hygiene. The chair was taken 

 by Sir Courtauld Thomson, who was afterwards 

 elected first president of the Council. He com- 

 municated to the meeting a message of welcome 

 from the National Council of Mental Hygiene of the 

 United States, and expressed a hope that, by the 

 establishment of the British Council, Great Britain 

 would be able to take her proper place in the forth- 

 coming international conference on the subject. 

 He made a special appeal to laymen to join 

 the new movement, so that they might co-operate 

 with the medical profession in a common endeavour 

 to improve the mental health of the country. Dr. 

 Head insisted that mental hygiene is as important 

 as sanitation, that mind and body are inextricably 

 intermingled, and that no structural disease is free 



NO. 2741, VOL. 109] 



from mental change. We should have been spared, 

 he believed, the recent exhibition of auto-suggestion 

 in this country, if its people had been better educated 

 in mental hygiene. Sir Leslie Scott alluded to the 

 greater assistance needed by those administering 

 criminal justice from experts in mental disorders. 

 Other speakers included Sir Humphry RoUeston, 

 Sir Frederick Mott, Dr. Farquhar Buzzard, Lord 

 Southborough, Hon. Lady Darwin, Major-General 

 Sir John Goodwin, and Sir Maurice Craig. The 

 provisional committee was empowered to draw up a 

 constitution and to elect an executive committee. 



The half-yearly council meeting of the National 

 Union of Scientific Workers was held on Saturday, 

 May 6, at the Caxton Hall, Westminster, Dr. A. A. 

 Grififith, president, in the chair. The report of the 

 executive committee was presented by its chairman. 

 Prof. L. Bairstow, who mentioned the co-operation 

 of the Union vnth the British Medical Association in 

 regard to removing disabilities suffered by scientific 

 institutions under the Key Industries Act, and with 

 the Teachers' Registration Council on the subject 

 of the danger of parsimony in education. Progress 

 in the negotiations with the British Association of 

 Chemists was reported, and a scheme outlined which 

 it was hoped might be made the basis of an immediate 

 temporary arrangement for joint working, to tide 

 over the period until complete amalgamation could 

 take place. Negotiations on behalf of members had 

 been carried on with the Ministry of Agriculture, 

 the Air Ministry, and the India Office, and satisfac- 

 tion obtained on many points. The Union had also 

 been in communication with the Inland Revenue 

 Commissioners for the purpose of furnishing them 

 with a typical schedule of expenses incurred by 

 scientific workers in various branches of science 

 with a view of obtaining definite rulings and further 

 concessions. Report was made of the successful 

 working of the Government Section committee, 

 which had enabled members in the various depart- 



