172 



NATURE 



[May 2, 1918 



physician. Dr. Clarke acted as lecturer on practical 

 physiology, and later on as professor of pathology, in 

 the Bristol Medical School ; in 1907 he became senior 

 physician to the Bristol General Hospital. He held 

 a position of considerable influence, and was one of 

 those chiefly concerned in the establishment of Winsley 

 Sanatorium. Much of Dr. Clarke's scientific work 

 was concerned with the welfare of his patients, and 

 the list of his formal published writings is less exten- 

 sive than might have been expected, though this is 

 compensated for by the contributions, often of imme- 

 diate utility, which he made to the medical journals. 

 Amongst his writings may be mentioned "Hysteria and 

 Neurasthenia," "Family Periodic Paralysis," "Spinal 

 Cord Degenerations in Anaemia," and contributions to 

 Quain's "Dictionary" and Allbutt's "System of Medi- 

 cine." In 1915 he held the Bradshaw lectureship, and 

 last year he was elected a member of the council of 

 the Royal College of Physicians. 



Dr. a, H. Carter, whose death occurred at his 

 residence at Abingdon on April i, was well known in 

 Birmingham as a disitinguished physician and an 

 enthusiastic advocate of public and social work afi'ect- 

 ing the community of Dhat great industrial centre. He 

 was born at Pewsey, Wiltshire, aind educated at Epsom 

 College and University College, Lx>ndon, where his 

 career as a student was marked by many distinctions, 

 including gold medals in comparative anatomy, forensic 

 medicine, and clinical imedicine, also with silver medals 

 in physiology and practical physiology. Dr. Carter 

 took the degree of M.B. at the University of London, 

 gaining first-olass honours in physiology. In 1871 he 

 was appointed house surgeon to the General Hospital, 

 Wolverhampton, and Iwo years later became patho- 

 logist at the General Hospital, Birmingham, after- 

 wards as house physician, taking his M.D. degree in 

 1872. In 1876 he became a member of the Royal 

 College of Physicians, and was elected a fellow of the 

 college in 1881. Afterwards he was appointed physician 

 to the Queen's Hospital, Birmingham, and became 

 professor of medicine at Mason College, and later 

 held the same office at the newly constituted Univer- 

 sity. Thus he was closely connected with the cause of 

 medical education in Birmingham, and actively pro- 

 moted the growth of the medical school in its affilia- 

 tion to the University from Mason College. Dr. 

 Carter's writings were mainly of a professional kind. 

 In 1895 he published a textJbook on the practice of 

 medicine, which has reached the eighth edition. As 

 president of the Birmingham branch of the British 

 Medical Association in 1895 he gave an interesting 

 address on " Rationalism in the Study and Practice 

 of Medicine." 



We have received the seventy-eighth annual report 

 (for 1917) of the Crichton Royal Institution, Dum- 

 fries. The physician-superintendent, Dr. Easterbrook, 

 contributes a general account of the activities of this 

 mental hospital. The causes of illness among the ad- 

 missions ior (the year showed a decline due to 

 alcoholism, but an increase due to venereal diseases. 

 Results of ten years' treatment are discussed : the 

 recovery rate is 35 per cent, among the certificated, and 

 46 per cent, among the voluntary, patients. Various 

 experiments on potato-growing, cattle-breeding, and 

 caittle-feeding have been carried out at the farm. The 

 pathological research lalboratory has been closed owing 

 to the absence of the pathologist. Dr. Cruickshank, on 

 war work. Notes on meteorological observations and 

 data are included. 



Students of animal behaviour will find some interest- 

 ing facts on the "drumming" of the ruffed grouse 

 (Bonasa unibellatiis) in Forest and Stream for April, 



NO. 2531, VOL. lOl] 



illusitrated Iby a series of remarlcable photographs, 

 probably the first of the kind which have ever been 

 taken. The author, Mr. F. K. Vreeland, had the good 

 fortune to watch at close range one of these birds 

 while "displaying," and he is convinced that the 

 strange drumming sound then made is produced bv 

 the use of the wings alone. This may indeed be the 

 case, but we suspect that later investigations will show 

 that these sounds are at least partly vocal. The dis- 

 section of the syrinx would afford valuable evidence on 

 this point. The author is apparently so much of an 

 "outdoor naturalist" that -he has never read any of 

 the voluminous literature on this theme of courtship 

 displays. But in some respects this adds rather than 

 detracts from the value of his observations, since his 

 records are made without bias. 



The deploraible results which are likely to accrue 

 from hasty war-time legislation in regard to the Wild 

 Birds' Protection Acts and game laws, in response 

 to popular demand, are briefly commented upon in the 

 Scottish Naturalist for April by Mr. Hugh S. Glad- 

 stone. The vindictiveness displayed towards the 

 pheasant, he points out, is by no means justified. On 

 overstocked estates these birds are certainly harmful 

 to the farmer, but where the head of game is pro- 

 portionate to the size of ithe estate they perform most 

 useful work in clearing the ground of wireworm. It 

 is certainly remarkable that, while we are severely 

 penalising all kinds of "game," the French Govern- 

 ment is making inquiries as to how best to re- 

 slock the devastated area of the war-zone with part- 

 ridges and hares. " It is to be hoped," Mr. Gladstone 

 remarks, " that at no distant date there may be set 

 up in this country an ornithological bureau similar to 

 that already in existence in the United States." 



It is seldom realised that almost one-third of the 

 continental part of Canada, or nearly a million square 

 miles, must be regarded as unexplored. This is the 

 estimate of Mr. C. Camsell, wiho has published in the 

 Geographical Review for March (vol. v.. No. 3) a 

 map showing the location of the unexplored areas. 

 In the same issue .Mr. Camsell has a paper on some of 

 the geographical problems awaiting solution in northern 

 Canada. Recent discoveries have added more than 

 2000 square miles to the area of the Great Slave Lake, 

 but .few oi its shores are yet surveyed. The Caribou 

 Plateau, north of the Peace River, is a great unknown 

 area, although it lies within easy access of settled 

 regions. An even larger unexplored area lies north of 

 Lake Athabaska, around the headwaters of the Thelon 

 and Taltson rivers. On all sides of Hudson Bay there 

 are huge areas which no white traveller is recorded to 

 have crossed. 



La Nature for April 6 describes a new form of 

 voltaic cell, with electrodes of zinc and carbon in a 

 solution of sal-ammoniac, which is due to M. Fery, 

 and has been in use for some time on two of the 

 French railways. The negative electrode is a plate of 

 zinc which rests on the bottom of the glass oontaining- 

 jar, the copper wire connected to it being insulated 

 up tjo a point well above the level of the solution in 

 the jar. The ipositive electrode is a carbon tube of 

 diameter aibout half that of the jar, pierced with holes, 

 which rests on the zinc plate, being insulated from it 

 by an ebonite cross. The evaporation of the sal- 

 ammoniac solution is retarded by the wooden cover. 

 During the action of the cell the lower part of the 

 solution becomes acid owing to the descent of the 

 dense zinc chloride, while the upper part becomes 

 alkaline owing to the ammonia produced. The de- 

 polarisation of the cell is effected by the air alone. 



