September i6, 1897 J 



NATURE 



475 



occur in the protoplasm of the cells in the intestinal wall and 

 liver, and of the enzymes by which these processes are in all 

 probability carried out that we must look for an explanation of 

 the conversion of the poisonous albumoses formed during diges- 

 tion into innocuous albumins, and of dangerous enzymes into 

 harmless zymogens. 



Moreover, it seems to me that it is by researches into the nature 

 and action of the enzymes not only of microbes, but in the various 

 tissues of the body in higher animals, that we shall learn how 

 the microbes, like the enzymes of the intestinal canal, produce 

 poisonous albumoses, and how the tissues, like the cells of the 

 intestinal walls or liver, convert them into harmless or even 

 protective substances. In this way we may hope to obtain an 

 explanation of toxins and anti-toxins, of pathogenesis and 

 immunity, as well as of the nature of diseases unconnected with 

 the presence of microbes, such as diabetes. Twenty-three years 

 ago I attempted to obtain a glycolytic enzyme from muscle, in 

 order to enable diabetic patients to utilise the sugar in their 

 blood. My attempt was unsuccessful, but we may still hope 

 that by other methods we may obtain from animal organs 

 various enzymes, the administration of which may prove as 

 useful in other diseases as the thyroid in myxredema. 



Practical medicine depends on physiology, pharmacology, and 

 pathology, but all three are tending to become more and more 

 subdivisions of the wider and all-embracing science of chem- 

 istry. It is to a chemist, Pasteur, that we owe the wonderful 

 development of pathology within the last quarter of a century, 

 and we may fairly regard his fellow-countryman, Lavoisier, as 

 the founder of this science. Men from all countries, and espe- 

 cially from Germany, have aided its development ; but it seems 

 fitting that at this Congress, in acknowledging our obligations to 

 this science, we should not omit to mention that at its head 

 now stands a Russian, Mendeleef, whose marvellous prescience 

 enabled him to predict the existence of elements which were 

 then unknown and even to describe their properties more cor- 

 rectly than those who first verified his predictions by obtaining 

 the substances themselves. When we consider that little more 

 than a hundred years have elapsed since the time of Lavoisier, 

 and contemplate the vast benefits which medicine and its 

 allied sciences have derived from chemistry during this time, 

 our hopes cannot be otherwise than great for the centuries to 

 come. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



Toronto, August 25. 

 'T'HIS has not been a large, but it has been a very interesting 

 and satisfactory meeting both from the scientific and the 

 social point of view. Outofthe 1362 persons present, an unusually 

 large proportion were well-known representative men of science. 

 The more prominent members of each section seem to be with 

 us, and it has been frequently remarked during the meeting that 

 in our sectional officers we have brought over an unusually 

 strong team. We have a fair number of distinguished foreigners, 

 and a considerable number of the members of the American 

 Association : these foreign members include General Billings, 

 Dr. Anton Dohrn of Naples, Profs. Minot, Newcomb, Osborn, 

 Putnam, Ira Remsen, Runge (Hannover), and others. Many 

 Canadians have also taken part in the proceedings, and it may 

 be said that in all the sections the work has been influenced in 

 its nature and direction by our place of meeting. Canadian 

 surveys, geography and climate, the chemistry of the soil, the 

 fisheries and the biology of the lakes, the plants, the timber 

 from the engineering point of view, statistics and trade combina- 

 tions all received attention ; while Sections C (Geology) and H 

 (Anthropology) may fairly be said to have been dominated by the 

 local spirit. The president of C was a distinguished Canadian 

 geologist, Dr. George Dawson, and although the preliminary 

 arrangements had to be made in this case by correspondence, 

 the work of the section was remarkably well organised, and an 

 unusually large number of abstracts were printed. There were 

 papers and demonstrations on the rocks of North America from 

 the Laurentian to the Glacial deposits, and several expeditions 

 of geological interest were organised under local leaders. The 

 Anthropological Section had a succession of interesting papers 

 — notably those of Miss Alice Fletcher— dealing with the folk- 

 lore, customs, religion, &c.,of the North American Indians. 

 The work of these two sections appropriately culminated to-day 



NO. 



455. VOL. 56] 



in a joint discussion on " The First Traces of Man in North 



America," during which Prof. Putnam gave an account of the 



supposed remains from the Trenton gravels. Prof. Claypole 



j spoke of the human relics in the Drift of Ohio, and Sir John 



I Evans criticised the evidence adversely and showed the prob- 



\ ability of error as to the occurrence of the specimens supposed to 



be from glacial deposits. 



Amongst other notable papers which attracted public attention 

 were Profs. Meslans, Moissan and Dewar's demonstration of 

 the preparation and properties of fluorine, and Lord Kelvin's 

 statement as to the fuel supply and air supply of the world. 



There seemed to be comparatively few joint meetings of sec- 

 tions — jjerhaps because each section was so full of its own work. 

 Besides the combined session of C and H, mentioned above, 

 E and F met to hear Mr. F. C. Selous on the economic geo- 

 graphy of Rhodesia, and sections C, I, and K joined in dis- 

 cussing the chemistry and structure of the cell h propos of Prof. 

 I Meldola's paper on the rationale of chemical synthesis, Prof. 

 Green's paper on an alcohol-producing enzyme in yeast, Prof. 

 ' Macallum's paper on the significance of intracellular structures, 

 and some histo-chemical demonstrations by Profs. Boyce and 

 Herdman on the presence of copper, and by Prof Macallum on 

 the distribution of iron, in tissue cells. 



The custom seems increasing in most of the sections of having. 

 I a certain number of short addresses, lecturettes, or demonstra- 

 ! tions on subjects of novelty or current scientific interest given at 

 fixed times, and usually illustrated by lantern slides. Amongst 

 these at the present meeting may be mentioned : — Sir George 

 \ Robertson on Kafiristan, Prof. Dixon on explosion flames. Prof. 

 [ Osborn on American Tertiary mammals. Dr. Munro on the Glas- 

 tonbury Lake Village, Prof. Herdman on the oyster question. 

 Prof. Poulton on mimicry and natural selection, Prof. Haddon 

 : on the evolution of the cart and the Irish car, and Mr. Seward's 

 I address on fossil plants. Section K had also some interesting 

 j papers and discussions on hybridisation, including an account 

 [ by Dr. W. Saunders, Director of the Dominion Experimental 

 Farms, of some experiments in cross-fertilisation made with the 

 jractical object of producing improved forms of apple and 

 other fruit trees which will stand the severe climate of the 

 North-west Territories. As an outcome of our visits to the ex- 

 perimental farms, and of what we have heard of them, both in 

 the sections and outside, an important resolution, forwarded 

 from Section B (Chemistry), has passed the Committee of Recom- 

 mendations and the General Committee, to the effect that " the 

 Council be requested to consider the desirability of approaching 

 the Government with the view of the establishrnent in Britain of 

 experimental agricultural stations similar in character to those 

 which are producing such satisfactory results in Canada." 



It may also be stated that, as the result of the consideration 

 given by Section D to the fauna of the lakes, it is expected that 

 a biological station will shortly be established by the Govern- 

 ment of Ontario. A deputation of zoologists with this object 

 in view waited upon the Premier and other members of the 

 Cabinet, and the proposition was very favourably received. A 

 fuller account of this matter will be given in the report of the 

 proceedings of Section D, 



Several of the sections, recognising that we are meeting in a 

 new country, the natural products of which are more or less 

 unfamiliar to many of the members, organised afternoon and 

 even whole-day excursions in the neighlxiurhood of Toronto, 

 under the guidance of local leaders. In this way Section B- 

 visited the chemical works at Niagara, Section C the glacial 

 deposits, while Sections D and K had several joint expeditions 

 to localities of biological interest. The General Committee at 

 its final meeting to-day passed the report of the Committee of 

 Recommendations recommending grants to committees for 

 scientific purposes amounting to 1350/., a much larger sum than 

 has been voted for some years. One of the reasons of this 

 increase is that the committee are extremely anxious to make 

 some grants for the pursuit of local investigations, to be expended 

 by the various committees which have been appointed for the 

 purpose of study and research in Canada. These Canadiai\ 

 committees are appointed for the following objects : the estab- 

 lishment of a meteorological observatory on Mount Royal, the 

 investigation of the pleistocene fauna and flora, the collection of 

 geological photographs, the biology of the lakes of Ontario, the 

 condition of the North-west tribes, the ethnographic survey of 

 Canada, and the establishment of a biological station in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. The total amounts voted to Committees- 

 are shown on the next page. 



