74 



NATURE 



[September 25, 1919 



simple intravenous injection is merely to keep up a 

 normal circulation until the remedial agents, such as 

 the specific sera to which Sir Leonard Rogers refers, 

 may be able to produce their efiect. The symptoms 

 mentioned, however, suggest to my mind rather some 

 mechanical action of the gum, and it might perhaps 

 be worth making a trial of a preliminary saline 

 injection, followed later by one of gum saline, to 

 avoid too rapid a loss of the fluid injected. In any 

 case, I hope that the experiments now in hand may 

 throw further light on the problem and lead to a 

 means of avoiding the serious disadvantage. I may 

 mention that in my experiments gum saline was 

 found very effective in restoring the renal secretion, 

 and 1 am convinced that if it should be found possible 

 to use such solutions they would be more permanent 

 in their results and lead to the more rapid elimination 

 of the toxins, if this takes place through the kidney. 



W. M. Bayliss. 



A Photoelectric Theory of Colour Vision. 



Reading in the Irish. Times of to-day (September ii) 

 a very brief reference to a paper communicated by Sir 

 Oliver Lodge to the British Association, in which Sir 

 Oliver suggests that light absorbed in the black pig- 

 ment may stimulate certain atoms into radioactivity 

 and so cause the sensation of light, I am reminded of 

 a theory of colour vision which I endeavoured to in- 

 vestigate some years ago. The theory is that the 

 emission of electrons, probably by the pigment layer 

 under light stimulus, is responsible for light-sensation, 

 and that where these electrons act upon the cones they 

 excite colour vision. It is known that, in the photo- 

 electric expulsion of electrons by light, the range of 

 the electron increases with the frequency. Hence for 

 violet light the cone would experience a different dis- 

 tribution of the stimulus from that for red light, 

 and so on. 



I endeavoured to detect a photoelectric effect by ex- 

 periments of the usual sort, using a bullock's eye in 

 which the pigment layer had been exposed. Although 

 a fairly sensitive arrangement was ultimately arrived 

 at, I failed to detect the sought-for effect. I put the 

 matter aside, although urged by some physiologists to 

 continue it. 



That the photographic image is initiated in a some- 

 what similar manner seems very probable. On this 

 view much has already been written. J. Joly. 



Trinity College, September ii. 



Mathematics at the University of Strasbourg. 



I HAVE received the programme of the courses in 

 mathematics at Strasbourg, which will undoubtedly 

 stand second only to Paris among the French universi- 

 ties. The Institut de Math^matiques, which forms 

 part of the Faculty des Sciences, is to have five titular 

 professors and three "maitres de conferences," and 

 offers complete graduate and post-graduate courses. 

 The professor of analyse supirieure and director of 

 the Institut is M. Maurice Fr^chet. MM. Valiron, 

 Villat, and Esclangon occupy respectively the chairs 

 of calculus, rational mechanics, and astronomy; the 

 chair of geometry has not yet been filled. 



While English mathematicians are fully appreciative 

 of the work of their French confreres, the French 

 universities, where students of the other nations of 

 the world have flocked, have in the past been a little 

 neglected by English mathematical students. An 

 English student could not do better than spend one of 

 his post-graduate years in France, where he will find 

 every facility and encouragement, and a very warm 

 welcome. H. Bryon Heywood. 



NO. 2604, VOL. 104] 



The Magnetic Storm of August 11-12, 1919. 



I OBSERVE in the issue of Nature for .\ugust 21 

 an account of the magnetic storm of August 11-12, 

 1919, by Father Cortie, of Stonyhurst College Ob- 

 servatory, and note that he looked out for a possible 

 display of aurora on the night of August 11. "But," 

 he says, "the brightness of the moon effectually 

 veiled any such appearance, even if it were present." 



In these circumstances it may be well to record 

 that a fine display of the Aurora Borealis was 

 observed here. Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, on 

 the night of August 11. The affected area extended 

 far into the southern sky. Pulsations of light swept 

 upwards to the zenith, resembling clouds driven before 

 a heavv wind. Alexander Graham Bell. 



Beinn Bhreagh, near Baddeck, N.S. 

 September 5. ' ' 



THE WATT CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS. 



THE Watt Centenary Celebrations in Birming- 

 ham last week were full of interest, and the 

 presence of representatives from the United States 

 of America, Australia, France, Japan, and Sweden, 

 as well as a cordial message from Norway, bore 

 testimony to the honour in which the memory cjf 

 James Watt is held throughout the world. At the 

 inaugural meeting on Tuesday, September 16, the 

 Lord Mayor {Sir David Brooks), in welcoming the 

 visitors (among whom were Mrs. Gibson W'att 

 and Miss Boulton, direct descendants of James 

 Watt and Matthew Boulton), said that it was 

 fitting that Birmingham should wish to establish 

 a permanent memorial to the man whose dis- 

 coveries and inventions had done so much for the 

 city of his adoption. He thought that the pro- 

 posals as to the form which the memorial should 

 take would commend themselves not only to Bir- 

 mingham citizens, but to all who really appreciated 

 the work which James Watt and his associates 

 had accomplished. It was proposed to endow a 

 "James Watt Chair of Engineering" at the 

 University of Birmingham, for the prosecution of 

 research in the fundamental principles underlying 

 the production of power. He hoped that the 

 success of this part of the scheme would early be 

 placed beyond doubt. In addition to this it was 

 very desirable to have in the city a suitable build- 

 ing to house examples of the work of Watt, 

 Boulton, and Murdock, and the relics which these 

 men had left behind — a building which might 

 also be a suitable rneeting place for scientific and 

 technical societies. 



An address on "The Rise of Engineering Manu- 

 facture " was then delivered by Prof. F. W. 

 Burstall (professor of mechanical engineering in 

 the University of Birmingham). Before the middle 

 of the eighteenth century a high degree of skill 

 in metal work had been attained, but lack of 

 power restricted the scale on which work could 

 be done. Prof. Burstall directed attention to the 

 fact that Boulton and Watt were looked upon as 

 the first builders of steam engines, but their work 

 in starting a system of co-ordinated manufacture 

 had generally been overlooked. He believed that 

 both the conditions of work and the quality of the 

 workmen to-day were considerably in advance of 



