I30 



NATURE 



[April 12, 19 17 



and centimetres as they are with the pound and foot. 

 It is felt in many quarters that the present time 

 affords an unusual opportunity for making metric 

 weights and measures the oflficial system of the 

 United States. The allegation of the opponents of 

 the system that its general introduction would render 

 obsolete and useless large quantities of machinery and 

 machine tools is being vigorously combated, and it 

 is being made clear to manufacturers that no ordinary 

 machines, such as lathes, drills, shapers, etc., would 

 have to be changed. The same tools would continue 

 to make the same things, but the numerical values 

 of the sizes made would be altered. Much attention 

 has been given to the question whether the expense 

 and inconvenience necessarily incident to the ex- 

 clusive use of the new system would be too costly, 

 and it is generally conceded that these would be far 

 outweighed by the national and international advan- 

 tages accruing from the change. It is not proposed 

 that a sudden transition from one system to the other 

 should be sanctioned by Congress, but that ample 

 time for preparation should be allowed. In this way 

 price lists, catalogues, and sizes could be tabulated in 

 advance in both systems, side by side, so that the 

 old numerical values could gradually be dropped. 



At the end of July last year, at the instance of the 

 Advisory Council of the Committee of the Privy 

 Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, a 

 meeting of representatives of some of the larger firms 

 engaged in the various branches of the cotton trade 

 and others interested in textile research was called 

 by the Lord Mayor of Manchester to consider the 

 possibility of establishing a scheme for the scientific 

 investigation of the various problems presented by the 

 cotton-using industries, and it was ag"reed that there 

 is great need for research bearing on the cultivation 

 and manufacture of cotton, and in the dyeing, print- 

 ing, bleaching, and other finishing processes. It was 

 also thought that efforts should be made to increase 

 and to improve the system of textile education. A 

 provisional committee was afterwards appointed, and 

 this, in due course, was constituted a comrpittee of 

 the Advisory Council of the recently formed Govern- 

 ment Department of Scientific and Industrial Re- 

 search. This committee is largely representative of 

 the various interests concerned. Its function is to 

 formulate a preliminary scheme of a comprehensive 

 character and to report to the Advisory Council, and 

 then to lay before the trade, for its consideration, 

 definite proposals for the establishment of a research 

 association, eligible for recognition by the Grovernment 

 Department, and consequently for monetary grants 

 from the National Exchequer. The committee has to 

 consider the place for research in each branch of the 

 cotton industr}', whether in the cultivation of cotton, 

 in spinning, doubling, manufacturing, knitting, lace- 

 making, bleaching, dyeing, printing, finishing, or in 

 the technology of cellulose. It has also to ascertain 

 what facilities now exist for the education of boys 

 entering any of these branches, and what opportuni- 

 ties are likely to be offered by the trade for the em- 

 ployment of highly trained men. It will also formulate 

 a scheme, both for an institute to undertake research 

 work in collaboration, so far as practicable, with ex- 

 isting bodies and for an association of firms and 

 individuals willing to make donations and subscribe 

 regularly for a period of years to promote research 

 and improve technical training Any suggestions re- 

 lating to the researches to b" undertaken, or to any 

 other matters coming within the scope of the pro- 

 posed association, will be welcomed by tb/^ committee, 

 and should be sent to the secretary. Provisional Com- 

 mittee on Cotton Research, io8 Deansgate, Man- 

 chester. 



NO. 2476, VOL. 99] 



In th© Archives of Radiology and Electrotherapy 

 for March (No. 200) Mr. Hector Colwell gives a 

 second instalment on the history of electrotherapy, in 

 which the contributions of Priestley, Jallabert, Gal- 

 vani, Volta, Aldini, Duchenne, and Marat are de- 

 scribed. It is of interest that Marat, the French 

 revolutionary, was a practitioner of electrotherapy. 

 Articles on methods of jaw radiography and on 

 abscess in bone are also included in this interesting 

 number. 



A SECOND report upon investigations in the United 

 Kingdom of dysentery cases received from the eastern 

 Mediterranean has been issued by the Medical Re- 

 search Committee. In this report (No. 2) Drs. Rajch- 

 man and Western discuss the findings in 878 cases 

 of bacillary enteritis. Serological evidence of bacil- 

 lary dysentery was obtained in 34-7 per cent, of the 

 cases examined, of paratyphoid infection in 18-3 per 

 cent., of mixed dysenteric and paratyphoid infections 

 in lo-i per cent., and of pure amoebic infection in 

 6-2 per cent. In every case of mixed bacterial infec- 

 tion, dysentery bacilli were the originally infecting 

 virus, and a considerable number of purely bacillary 

 cases of dysentery were detected. While not wishing 

 to minimise in any way the amoebic factor, Drs. 

 Rajchman and Western hold that the Mediterranean 

 infection was essentially a mixed one. 



The Journal of the South African Ornithologists' 

 Union for December, igi6, has just reached us. In 

 his observations on the birds of the district of 

 Humansdorp, Cape Province, Mr. B. A. Masterman 

 remarks that Kolb's vukure "has entirely disap- 

 peared from that area, not one having been recorded 

 for the last fifteen years," where formerly it used 

 to breed regularly. According to the farmers, this 

 bird was exterminated from having feasted on the 

 flesh of cattle which died of rinderpest during the 

 great outbreak of that disease. The late Capt. 

 Selous, it may be remembered, commented on the 

 absence of vultures of this species from the battle- 

 fields in Rhodesia during the Matabele campaign, and 

 attributed it co the same cause. In the same issue 

 the Rev. R. Godfrey has some interesting notes on 

 the summer migration of 19 15-16 as observed in the 

 eastern districts of the Caf>e Province. 



A MOST admirable "Guide to the British Fresh- 

 water Fishes," by Mr. C T. Regan, has just been 

 issued by the trustees of the British Museum of 

 Natural History. In the case of each species 

 described the author gives its distribution not only 

 in our home waters, but also outside the area of 

 these islands. An added interest and value are given 

 to his pages in that, as occasion offers, he pro- 

 vides evidence, from the distribution of our fish 

 fauna of to-day, of a remote connection between our 

 river systems and those of the Continent. His 

 account of the Salmonidae and of the various hybrid 

 forms which occur so frequently among the Cyprinidae 

 will be especially welcome. An immense amount of 

 information has been crowded into a very small 

 space, yet nowhere has the reader cause to complain 

 of a lack of interest or lucidity. Finally, the book is 

 most profusely illustrated. 



The science of economic aviculture has probably 

 reached a higher standard in the United States than 

 in any other part of the world. This work is carried 

 on by the Department of Agriculture, which, for 

 vears past, has spared no pains to enact laws and 

 formulate schemes for the conservation of bird-life, 

 whether for purely economic ends or for aesthetic 

 reasons. As a consequence, it has now available 

 a mass of evidence as to the status and value of 



