696 



NATURE 



[July 29, 1920 



of metallurgy : "In 1914 the quantity of energy used 

 in electric turnaces in Britain, excluding those used 

 for aluminium, was probably less than 6000 h.p., but 

 on the day of the armistice the total capacity was in 

 excess of 150,000 h.p." The author held that fur- 

 naces of more than 25 tons or above 3000-kw. 

 capacity are not advantageous, and that the arc fur- 

 nace has practically displaced the induction furnace. 

 He pointed out the various existing applications of the 

 electric furnace, and indicated the probable future 

 development of this valuable appliance. 



Dr. E. F. Armstrong read a paper on " Catalytic 

 Chemical Reactions and the Law of Mass Action," in 

 which he reviewed the present state of our knowledge 

 of catalytic reactions, particularly as applied to the 

 hydrogenation of certain oils. He held that the curve 

 of catalytic action is linear and not logarithmic, and 

 that the latter curve has been obtained by a number 

 of observers owing to the fact that they had been 

 working on substances in which some poison formed 

 part of the substance to be hydrogenated, which 

 destroyed the catalysts and thus gave the curve a 

 logarithmic form. He further claimed that catalytic 

 action is not a purely physical phenomenon, but is 

 due to the formation of loose additive chemical com- 

 pounds, of the existence of which he produced some 

 evidence. 



At the conference of the Chemical Engineering 

 Group the theory of filtration was discussed in two 

 papers, "The Principles of Technical Filtration," by 

 Dr. E. Hatschek, and "The Design of Mechanical 

 Filters," by Mr. Balfour Bramwell, whilst the filtra- 

 tion of gases was dealt with by Mr. J. M. Brown. 

 Mr. E. A. AUiott contributed a paper on " Recessed 

 Plate and Plate-and-Frame Types of Filter Press : 

 Their Construction and Use," in which he compared 

 the two types and the details of their construction ; 

 he also discussed various methods of feeding, the 

 selection of filter-cloths, and other important points 

 in the use of filter presses, and gave data as to the 

 results obtained in certain typical examples. 



Three papers dealt with centrifugal machines, 

 namely, "The Sturgeon Automatic Self-Discharging 

 Centrifuge for Separating Solids from Liquids," by Mr. 

 R. A. Sturgeon; "The Sharpies Super-Centrifuge," by 

 Mr. S. H. Menzies ; and "A New Process for Centri- 

 fugal Filtration," by Mr. W. J. Gee. The last-named 

 appliance differs from most centrifugal machines in 

 that it makes use of a filtering screen, so that it 

 does really perform a process of filtration. Dr. W. R. 

 Ormandy in his paper, "The Filtration of Colloids," 

 showed the effect of electro-osmotic action on colloids 

 and suspensoids, and illustrated these by a series of 

 experiments with a suspension of clay. 



Imperial Cancer Research Fund. 



THE eighteenth annual meeting of the Imp>erial 

 Cancer Research Fund was held on July 22, the 

 Duke of Bedford presiding. Sir William Church, in 

 moving the adoption of the re,port, gave a summary 

 of the investigations during the past year; in this 

 he stated that the Director had continued the auto- 

 logous grafting experiments, in which by transplant- 

 ing an animal's own tumour to a part of its body 

 away from the site of the primary growth an artificial 

 secondary growth is established. The formation of 

 secondary growths is the most certain evidence of 

 the cancerous nature of a growth. It is to be hoped, 

 therefore, that this method will be more widely 

 applied as a control in the experiments on the pro- 

 duction of cancer by chronic irritants which are being 

 undertaken in so many laboratories throughout the 

 world. In these experiments the most definite proof 

 of malignancv is essential to progress. 

 NO. 2648, VOL. 105] 



Dr. Cramer has examined the action of a number 

 of inorganic substances on cancer cells. The first step 

 in these investigations is to expose emulsions of a 

 transplantable tumour to the reagent in the test-tube 

 and hnd out by inoculating the treated emulsion into 

 susceptible animals the amount of damage produced. 

 Salts of cerium were found to be the most active of 

 those tested. Manganese and uranium salts were less 

 potent, and the other elements experimented with 

 were without effect in strengths which could be 

 tolerated by the experimental animals. None of these 

 substances, however, had any influence on growing 

 tumours — a failure probably due to the irregularity 

 of the circulation in the tumours, which delays the 

 access of the reagents to the cells, coupled with their 

 rapid elimination by the kidneys and bowels. This is 

 one of the difficulties constantly met with in direct 

 therapeutic experiments on cancer. The cancer cell 

 is so like the normal cells of the body that agencies 

 which destroy it are also dangerous to life. 



Before we can plan a rational method of treatment 

 it will be necessary to know more of the vital pro- 

 cesses in cancer cells and the nature of the very 

 delicate differences between them and the normal. 

 A beginning has been made with the study of cell- 

 respiration. Respiration is essentially a combustion 

 process, oxygen being taken in and carbon dioxide 

 given off. These are only the first and last terms, 

 however, of a series of chemical equations, so that 

 there is room for great variety in the intermediate 

 stages, even if the final result should be the same. 



Dr. Drew has approached the problem by studying 

 the rate of decolorisation of dilute methylene-blue 

 solution by normal and cancer cells. With this 

 method there is a wide difference between the two, 

 decolorisation being much more rapid with normal 

 cells. Dr. Russell and Dr. Gye have suspended the 

 tissue emulsions in fully oxygenated defibrinated blood 

 and measured the rate at which oxygen is abstracted 

 on incubation at body-temperature. By this second 

 method the differences are much less pronounced, 

 and it is found that the more rapidly growing tumours, 

 with significant exceptions, absorb more oxygen than 

 those which grow slowly. The investigations are 

 being continued, and give promise of interesting light 

 on this fundamental feature of the life of cancer cells. 



The Duke of Bedford, in moving a vote of thanks 

 to the executive committee and to others who have 

 assisted in the work of the Fund during the past 

 year, referred to the wide range of investigation, 

 covering such important researches as those relating 

 to (i) experimental induction of cancer; (2) respiration 

 in normal tissues, which is a fresh line of research 

 in connection with cancer ; and (3) experiments on 

 the action of chemical substances on cancer cells in 

 the test-tube and in the body ; and to the very technical 

 investigation of the Director on grafting; and noticed 

 with satisfaction that the Fund is again in a position 

 to assist investigators at home and abroad with 

 tumour material for experimental purposes. 



Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. 



THE Sir Alfred Jones Laboratories of the Liver- 

 pool School of Tropical Medicine were formally 

 opened by Lord Leverhulme on Saturday, July 24, Sir 

 Francis Danson, chairman of the School, presiding. 

 Prof. J. W. W. Stephens announced the award of 

 the Mary Kingsley medal to the following distin- 

 guished scientific workers : 



Dr. a. G. Bagshawe, C.M.G., well known for his 

 researches on sleeping sickness in Uganda. Since 

 iqo'8 Dr. Bagshawe has been director of the Tropical 

 Diseases Bureau and general editor of the Tropical 

 Diseases Bulletin. This publication occupies a unique 



