370 



NATURE 



[December 2, 1915. 



Duty-Free Alcohol. 



A SHORT time ago some letters on this subject ap- 

 peared in Nature, complaining of the difficulties ex- 

 perienced by scientific workers in obtaining permission 

 to use such alcohol, and of the absurd regulations accom- 

 panying such permission. Perhaps the complainants, 

 amongst whom, I remember. Sir William Ramsay 

 was one, were somewhat unreasonable, for they should 

 have considered that the officials in the Excise Depart- 

 ment, as in other Government departments, are mostly 

 of the "kings and captains" type; they really do not 

 know what a laboratory or scientific work means ; they 

 certainly do not know what distillation implies, and 

 probably their only idea as to alcohol is that it is 

 something which is always either under- or over-proof, 

 like the old lady's idea of stocks and shares, as being 

 those things which go up and down in the City. 



I was lucky enough to obtain permission to use 

 duty-free alcohol, though only after long negotiations, 

 and on the explicit assurance that I would not use it 

 for running motor omnibuses round my laboratory. 

 But recently the need for economy induced me to apply 

 for permission to recover my waste spirit by distilla- 

 tion. After the usual six weeks' delay, and sheaves of 

 official documents, an officer was sent to examine my 

 stills, and was shown several shelves of retorts and 

 flasks; but on my explaining to him that not more 

 than one of these would be in use at the time for the 

 purpose in question, we filled in the form of application 

 for one still of about a litre capacity to be used in 

 redistilling alcohol : and a permit for doing so even- 

 tually reached me. But in the course of the next few 

 months the transaction had permeated to the domain 

 of some higher official, whose eagle eye detected a 

 flaw. Was I using a condenser in this distillation, 

 and, if so, how many, and with what object? Again 

 the official visited me, and was shown three condensers 

 In a dusty corner of the laboratory : so the form of 

 application was altered accordingly ; and I am now 

 the proud possessor of full official permit, granted "as 

 an indulgence," to use in my laboratory a still of not 

 more than quarter-gallon capacity with three Liebig 

 condensers. Spencer Pickering. 



Standards and Functions of Museums. 



"W. P. P." is in error in his article on the 

 " Standards and Functions of Museums," which 

 appeared in Nature for September 23, when he says 

 that the Department of Public Health in the American 

 Museum of Natural History answers to no more than 

 one aspect of the Department of Economic Zoology 

 of the British Museum of Natural History, that which 

 concerns the organisms injurious to man. 



The Department of Public Health does cover more 

 than this ; the exhibits so far arranged come under 

 the following heads : water supply, sewage disposal, 

 bacteria and bacterial diseases, insect-borne diseases, 

 and military hygiene ; while the exhibits in course of 

 preparation deal with problems of diet. Especial stress 

 naturally has been placed upon the bubonic plague, 

 malaria, and yellow fever, as well as on the sanitation 

 of the Panama Canal zone. Other aspects of the 

 relations of insects to man are treated In the exhibits 

 of the division of entomology, such as the importance 

 of Insects, benefits due to Insects, and Injuries caused 

 by them. There is no collection of domesticated 

 animals other than that illustrating variation under 

 domestication, and, owing to lack of funds and space, 

 no attempt can be made to bring together such a 

 collection. F. A. Lucas. 



American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York, October 19. 



NO. 2405, VOL. 96] 



Dr. Lucas's brief summary of the ground covered 

 by the Department of Public Health In the American 

 Museum of Natural History is more complete than 

 that which appeared in the forty-sixth annual report 

 of the museum, which formed the subject of the article 

 against which Dr. Lucas now lodges his protest ; hence 

 the "error" of the writer. We contend that only by 

 a very elastic use of the term "Natural History 

 Museum " can such subjects as the disposal of sewage, 

 and water supply, be included. These are surely 

 more fittingly themes for a Museum of Technology, 

 while jnilitary hygiene and problems of diet would 

 find a more suitable home In a Museum of Physiology. 

 If these were omitted the funds and space which they 

 absorb would be available for the collection of domes- 

 ticated animals which Dr. Lucas is now obliged to 

 neglect, to the great hurt of his museum. 



^ W. P. P. 



Multiple-Character Evolution. 



One should have thought that a meeting of the 

 Palaeontologlcal Society of America was scarcely 

 a propitious occasion for promulgating as a newly 

 discovered law that a body equals the sum of all its 

 parts. As your reviewer has rightly remarked 

 (Natur'e, p. 286), It has been said before that every 

 organism is made up of a great number of characters, 

 each of which Is In a state of flux. The obvious fact 

 that any species has more than one differential 

 character (of which we use only those which take 

 our fancy) never had need of rediscovery, but It has 

 occasionally been neglected, merely not thought of, 

 sometimes with appalling consequences, as, for In- 

 stance, it has been solemnly pleaded that If one char- 

 acter distinguishes a species, two should make a 

 genus. H. Gadow. 



Zoological Laboratory, Cambridge, 

 November 26. 



EGYPT AND THE FAR EAST.'^ 



PROF. ELLIOT SMITH has long- established 

 his position as our principal authority on 

 the anatomical study of ancient Eg-yptian mummi- 

 fication. Before he undertook the systematic 

 examination of mummies during the years he 

 spent in Egypt, the vag-uest and often the most 

 erroneous notions were current with regard to the 

 technical treatment of the corpse and its intes- 

 tines by the ancient Egyptian embalmers. To 

 the average Egyptologist such details necessar.ly 

 appeared of a rather gruesome character, and, as 

 a consequence. Prof. Elliot Smith, who brought 

 expert medical knowledge to bear on an unrivalled 

 collection of material, was able to obtain im- 

 portant results in what to all intents and purposes 

 was a virgin field of research. His volume of 

 the Cairo Catalogue, which was reviewed in 

 Nature on its publication, marked, as was 

 pointed out at the time, a fitting culmination to 

 his labours. When, therefore, its author has any- 

 thing to tell us in connection with the subject he 

 has made peculiarly his own, he is entitled to more 

 than a respectful hearing. If on some essential 



1 " On the Significance of the Geographical Distribution of the Practice ^ f 

 Mummification. A Study of the Migrations of Peoules and the Spread of 

 certain Customs and Beliefs." By Prof. G. Elliot Smith. From vol. lix., 

 part ii., of Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Phili- 

 sophical Society, Session 1914-15. Pp. 143. (Manchester: 36 George Street, 

 1915.) Price 2S. td. 



