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NATURE 



[August 26, 1920 



Physiology. 



Mr. Joseph Barcroft in his presidential address to 

 Section I deals particularly with anoxaemia — by de- 

 rivation a deficient quantity of oxygen in the blood — 

 which is used to cover a larger field embracing all 

 those conditions in which the supply of oxygen to the 

 tissues is inadequate. The statement has been made 

 that anoxaemia not only stops, but also wrecks, 

 the machine. An inquiry into this statement 

 cannot be rnade without first specifying whether the 

 anoxaemia is sudden and profound, as in drowning, 

 poisoning with mine-gas, etc., or is of long duration 

 but trivial in degree. In the former case the stop- 

 page of the machine may be almost complete, as in 

 the case of persons rendered unconscious by carbon 

 monoxide, by stoppage of the cerebral circulation, or 

 by attaining an altitude in the air at which the oxygen 

 pressure is too low. In such cases the permanent 

 damage to the machinery is very slight. On the other 

 hand, mild anoxaemia continued over weeks and 

 months, as in sufferers from gas-poisoning, shallow- 

 respiration, and deficient ventilation of portions of 

 the lung, is stated by Haldane, Meakins, and Priestley 

 to produce far-reaching effects on the central nervous 

 system. Anoxaemia may be classified as consisting 

 of three categories. They are tabulated as follows, 

 with examples : 



Anoxemia. 



For a given deficiency of oxygen carried to the tissue 

 in unit time the first type is the most serious, and the 

 la^ least so. The anoxic type is measured by the per- 

 centage saturation of the arterial blood; the anaemic 

 by the quantity of oxyhaemoglobin in it; and the 

 stagnant by the "minute volume." 



Botany. 



Miss E. R. Saunders in her presidential address 

 to Section K deals with the subject of Heredity. 

 In the brief historical introduction attention is 

 directed to the fundamental opposition between the 

 earlier statistical methods of representing the here- 

 ditary process and the Mendelian conception which 

 has its foundation in the act of sexual reproduction. 

 Various complex relations which have proved capable 

 of ^elucidation through the application of Mendelian 

 principles are illustrated, and evidence is adduced in 

 proof of the applicability of these principles to the 

 case of specific hybrids. Certain cases are described 

 where the unit for which the Mendelian factor stands 

 appears to be a particular state of physiological equili- 

 brium, and where lack of conformity of phenotypic 

 appearance to genotypic constitution 'can be readily 

 induced by a change in environmental conditions. The 

 assumptions and difficulties involved in the explana- 

 tions offered by the reduplication theory and the 

 chromosome view respectivelv are discussed, together 

 with the bearing of the evidence' to date upon the 

 question whether the same end-result, viz. segrega- 

 NO. 2652, VOL. 105] 



tion, may not be effected by a different mechanism, 

 or at a different phase of the life-cycle, in different 

 types. As a practical outcome greater co-operation 

 is pleaded for between cytologists, physiologists, 

 chemists, and breeders in attacking genetical problems. 



Educational Science. 



Sir Robert Blair in his presidential address to 

 Section L directs attention to two of the wider 

 aspects of present educational activities. The first part 

 of the address is devoted to a general statement of the 

 lines of advance and the success obtained in the 

 application of psychology to the problems of educa- 

 tion. The president, however, desires that education 

 should become sonrething more than applied psycho- 

 logy. The science of education "must be built up, 

 not out of the speculations of theorists or from the 

 deductions of psychologists, but by direct, definite, ad 

 hoc inquiries concentrated upon the problems of the 

 class-room by teachers themselves. When by their 

 own researches teachers have demonstrated that their 

 art is, in fact, a science, then, and not till then, 

 will the public allow them the moral, social, and 

 economic status which it accords to other profes- 

 sions." The second part of the address consists of an 

 appeal to all voluntary effort to associate itself 

 directly with the work of the local education authority. 

 Sir Robert Blair thinks that our system of education 

 will become national only when such national institu- 

 tions as the public schools, the endowed grammar 

 schools, and the universities have joined forces with 

 the local education authorities and take a direct share 

 in the solution of their problems'. He seeks a form 

 of association which will retain all the advantages of 

 the older traditions. 



Agriculture. 



Prof. F. W. Keeble's presidential address to 

 Section M is devoted to the subject of intensive cul- 

 tivation. Commencing with a review of the work done 

 by horticulturists during the war, it passes on to 

 consider the prospects ot success of any large develop- 

 ment of intensive cultivation which may be under- 

 taken. It insists on the great need for organisation in 

 research, education, and administration, and describes 

 the organisation which the author established during 

 his tenure of the office of Controller of Horticulture 

 in the Ministry of Agriculture. In this connection 

 the important question of the relation of the "expert" 

 and the "administrator" is considered, and the con- 

 clusion reached that "if the work of a Government 

 office is to be and remain purely administrative, no 

 creative capacity is required, and it may be left to the 

 sure and safe and able hands of the trained adminis- 

 trator; but if the work is to be creative it must be 

 under the direction of minds turned, as only research 

 can turn them, in the direction of creativeness." The 

 consideration of our imports, of the reduced acreage 

 under fruit, and of the continuous rise in the standard 

 of living throughout the world suggests that the 

 acreage under fruit might be increased by a good 

 many thousand acres without fear of over-production. 

 After illustrating by a series of striking examples the 

 effect which the practice of intensive cultivation has 

 on bringing about the colonisation of the countryside, 

 the address reaches the conclusion that it is the' dutv 

 of the State to help the intensive cultivator to hold 

 his own against world-competition by perfecting the 

 organisation of horticulture, and, above all, by pro- 

 viding a thorough and practical system of horticultural 

 education. The measure of success which intensive 

 cultivation will achieve will depend- ultimately on the 

 quality and kind of education which the cultivators 

 are able to obtain. 



