190 



NATURE 



[May 8, 19 19 



heterophylly, promised enlightening information on 

 the subject of the leaf-trace. Beyond an account 

 of plants other than Proteaceae which he had col- 

 lected, Davie had not been able to complete the 

 record of the results of his exploration. Alert in 

 body and in mind, keen and undemonstrative in 

 his work, thorough in everything, Davie gave 

 promise of taking a prominent place amongst those 

 upon whom rests the responsibility of scientific 

 education and of extending the boundaries of 

 science. Botany loses in him a talented and 

 devoted adherent. 



NOTES. 



On Friday, May 2, the Animal Anaesthetics Bill 

 passed i,ts second reading in the House of Commons. 

 The object of this Bill is to insist on the use of 

 anaesthetics in a large number of cutting operations 

 on horses and dogs. The operations to which the Act 

 should apply are specified in a schedule to the Act, in 

 which a distinction is drawn between those which 

 should be performed under general anaesthetics and those 

 for which a local aucesthetic is required. It is worth 

 noting that the Act does not apply to farm animals, 

 on which operations for the improvement of their 

 market value can continue to be performed without 

 anaesthetics. Of the legislators who have been pro- 

 minent in endeavouring to suppress experiments on 

 animals performed with a view to prevention of 

 human disease and suffering, we notice only the name 

 of Sir J. G. Butcher as taking part in the discussion 

 or supporting the Bill — another proof, if proof be 

 needed, that the leading motive in these people is 

 not kindness to animals or regard for their fellow- 

 creatures, but opposition to the advance of science in 

 general, and in our knowledge of the processes of life 

 in particular. 



In the House of Commons on May 2 the Bill to 

 control the importation of goods infected, or likelv 

 to be infected, with anthrax, and to provide for the 

 disinfection of any such goods, was read a second 

 time. Sir Hamar Greenwood, in moving the second 

 reading, outlined the incidence of anthrax in this 

 country and the findings of the Anthrax Committee. 

 The Bill contains two principal provisions. It gives 

 power by Order in Council to prohibit the importation 

 of goods infected or likely to be infected, either abso- 

 lutely or except at any specified ports, and it empowers 

 the Secretary of State to provide and maintain the 

 necessary works for the disinfection of goods. It is 

 also likely that, under the auspices of the League of 

 Nations, international action may be taken with a 

 view to the control of anthrax. 



In the course of a discussion in the House of 

 Commons on April 30 upon the subject of agricul- 

 tural policy, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board 

 of Agriculture announced that the Government has 

 decided to appoint a Royal Commission forthwith, 

 and that all parties materially interested will be repre- 

 sented. He pointed out that a quick report is needed 

 to enable the Government to frame a policy in the 

 next few months. This may be obtained by an interim 

 report on the more important branches of agriculture. 

 It must be ascertained what guaranteed prices are 

 necessary In order that, while good wages are paid, 

 the industry is in a position to pay them. With such 

 guarantees the farmer will have some idea of his 

 economic position during the next few years which he 

 has lacked during the past. 



NO. 2584, VOL. 103] 



•Aeroplanes waiting at St. John's, Newfoundland, 

 for the y\tlantic flight are still weather-bound, and, so 

 far as can be judged from information issued as we 

 are going to press both by the Meteorological Oiifice 

 and by the Air Minstry, there are storm areas in the 

 Atlantic over a considerable portion of the route which 

 would be followed in the flight. So far as possible 

 choice should be made of a period at which the 

 Atlantic high-pressure area is centred over the Azores, 

 when for the route eastwards the winds would prob- 

 ably be westerly and generally of no great strength ; 

 the disturbances so commonly travelling eastwards 

 would, under these conditions, be pushed to the north- 

 wards by the region of high barometer. However un- 

 satisfactory it may be to get no wireless information 

 from ships over the Atlantic, it seems much more un- 

 satisfactory to contemplate starting without such 

 information, since the chances of bad weather greatly 

 preponderate. Settled weather on the western and 

 eastern sides affords no idea as to the weather in mid- 

 ocean. _ Under the auspices of the United States naval 

 authorities, Curtiss seaplanes are now being entered 

 for the Atlantic flight. It is intended to span the 

 Atlantic by a succession of "hops." The start had 

 been timed for the earlv part of this month, flying 

 from Long Island to Halifax, thence to Trepassev, 

 Newfoundland, and with fair conditions it was hoped 

 to leave Trepassey for the Azores within ten days of 

 the start from Long Island, and Lisbon was to be the 

 next stop. A report in the Times of Mav 6 from New 

 York says : " On the eve of their departure for New- 

 foundland two of the American trans-Atlantic sea- 

 planes were seriously damaged by fire." 



The Army Medical Department announces the in- 

 stitution of two new appointments — a Director of 

 Pathology and a Director of Hygiene. According to 

 the Times, it is understood that Sir William Leish- 

 man is to be nominated to the former and Sir William 

 Horrocks to the latter. The object of the scheme, 

 which originates with the Director-General, Sir John 

 Goodwin, is " to link up under a definitely planned 

 organisation the activities of the different departments 

 and individuals hitherto concerned with the various 

 problems of preventive medicine, pathology, and 

 tropical diseases bearing upon the health of the Army 

 in peace and war." Advisory committees are to be 

 set up in each directorate, consisting of the Director 

 as chairman, a deputv director, and the following 

 members :■ — Hygiene : The professor of hvgiene at the 

 R.A.M. College, a representative of the War Office 

 and of the Directorate of Fortifications and Works, 

 a sanitary engineer, a civil professor of hygiene or 

 medical officer of health of a county or large city, a 

 physiologist, and a representative of the Local Govern- 

 ment Board. Pathology : The professors of pathology 

 and of tropical medicine at. the R.A.M. College, two 

 civilian pathologists, a civilian professor or expert in 

 tropical medicine, and a representative of the Medical 

 Research Committee. The scheme is a thorough one, 

 and should increase the efficiency of the Army Medical 

 Department. 



The death of Dr. Edmund Weiss, director of the 

 Vienna Observatory for thirty-two vears, occurred so 

 long ago as June 21, iqi7, but was not announced 

 to the Paris Academy of Sciences, of which he was 

 a correspondant, until March 24 last. Dr. Weiss 

 was born at Freiwaldau, in Austrian Silesia, on 

 August 26, 1837, but some years of his early life 

 were spent in England, for his father held an appoint- 

 ment as a physician in a health institution in this 

 country. On the death of that relative Dr. Weiss 

 returned to his native land, and, after a course of 

 education at Troppau and the Vienna University, he 



