July 31, 1919] 



NATURE 



435 



part of this being done by the spectrohcliograph, 

 with which photographs of the sun's disc are taken 

 in calcium light, and pictures of this kind were ob- 

 tained on III days in the period under review. Similar 

 spectroheliograms are received from Kodaikanal, and 

 these records are studied at Cambridge for evidence of 

 systematic distribution of flocculi. The third heading 

 (C) is Meteorological Physics, which is represented by 

 the work of Mr. C. T. R. Wilson on lightning dis- 

 charges and the variations of potential of the electric 

 field in thunderstorms. 



The Spectrum of Nova Aquil.^:. — Besides the work 

 recorded in the preceding note, investigations have 

 been made of the spectra of Novae. Photographs of 

 the spectrum of Nova Aquilae (1918) were obtained 

 very soon after the apjxiarance of the star, and it is 

 concluded from examination of these early photo- 

 graphs that the outburst was accompanied by changes 

 in the spectrum which, if indicating motion in the 

 line of sight, involve two or more pulses moving with 

 exceedingly high velocity. A study previously made 

 of the spectrum of Nova Geminorum (1912) showed 

 that the narrow lines in the spectrum of that star 

 resembled those of oCygni. The complex absorption 

 lines exhibited in the spectrum of Nova Aquilae^ have 

 been deciphered as being effects characteristic of 

 oCygni, but duplicated by two large displacements 

 which agree with those of the simultaneously dupli- 

 cated absorption lines of hydrogen. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 

 Provisional Programmes of Sections. 

 ''pHE programme of sectional arrangements for the 

 •*■ meeting of the British Association at Bourne- 

 mouth on September 9-13 is well advanced, and many 

 interesting subjects, both in connection with scientific 

 work during the war and otherwise, will come up for 

 discussion. Among these the following are provisionally 

 entered : — The Mathematical and Physical Section will 

 discuss the origin of spectra and thermionic tubes, and 

 will receive reports or papers on the recent solar 

 eclipse observations, on wireless telegraphy during the 

 first three years of the war, and on wave-motion. A visit 

 to the neighbouring Holton Heath cordite factory, 

 with appropriate papers, has been arranged by' the 

 Chemistry and Engineering Sections. The Geological 

 Section will concern itself specially with local geology, 

 nnd will discuss jointly with the Anthropological 

 Section the age of local antiquities. The Section of 

 Zoology, among many other papers, provisionally 

 iinourices afternoon lectures on grain pests and the 

 lorage of wheat, lice and their relation to disease, 

 and the geographical distribution of fresh-water fishes. 

 The Geographical Section purposes to discuss the geo- 

 graphicaJ aspects of devolution, and, among other sub- 

 jects, to receive papers on air photography, long- 

 distance air routes, the geography of Imperial defence, 

 the colonisation of Africa, and various frontier ques- 

 tions, if circumstances permit ; it also hopes for a 

 paper on geography from Sir Henry Wilson. The 

 Economics Section' announces a number of distin- 

 guished sjieakers on a- national alliance of employers 

 and employed, price-fixing (with special reference to 

 Australian exi>erience), transport, the gold standard, 

 finance and taxation, the replacement of men 

 bv women in industry, and other subjects. The 

 Engineering Section will pav special attention to avia- 

 tion in various aspects. The .Anthropological Section 

 will receive a number of papers on the eastern Medi- 

 terranean region, on early prehistoric archaeology, the 

 ethnology of the Russian borders, cults, the migration 



NO. 2596, VOL. 103] 



of culture, etc. The Physiological Section will discuss 

 jointly with that of Economics the influence of the 

 six-hour day on industrial efficiency and fatigue. The 

 Botanical Section will join the Zoological in receiving 

 papers on the origin, evolution, and transmission of 

 biological characters, with the Agricultural for the 

 discussion of forestry problems, and with the Educa- 

 tional for that of the teaching of biology. The pro- 

 gramme of the Educational Section includes the dis- 

 cussion of the free-place system, the teaching of 

 English, the method and substance of science teach- 

 ing, training in citizenship, continuation schools, 

 private schools, museums, fundamental principles in 

 education, and (jointly with the Economics Section) 

 business in relation to education. The Agricultural 

 Section, among various other topics, will receive a 

 group of papers on war-time food production in Great 

 Britain. Fuller details, with particulars as to 

 membership of the association, may be obtained from 

 the offices at Burlington House, W.i, or from 

 the local secretaries, Municipal Buildings, Bourne- 

 mouth. 



CANCER RESEARCH. 



THE annual general meeting of the Imperial Cancer 

 Research Fund was held at the Examination 

 Hall, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, on July 23, his 

 Grace the Duke of Bedford, K.G., in the chair. 



Sir William Church, Bart., proposed the adoption 

 of the report, and gave a summary of the work of 

 the fund during the war, both on cancer and on other 

 subjects. The effect of withdrawing a large number 

 of young males for military service was to alter the 

 age-constitution of the civil population, producing an 

 apparent great increase in the crude male death-rate 

 from cancer. The female rate was unaffected, and 

 the apparent rise for males disappeared when the 

 necessary correction was made. The method of auto- 

 logous transplantation had been used to separate 

 tumour-like proliferations of lymphoid tissue from the 

 true malignant new growths of mice. The former 

 never grew on grafting into the affected animal itself, 

 even when recurrence and dissemination occurred. 

 Autologous grafts of true new growths were prac- 

 tically always successful, whether recurrence took 

 place or not. Experiments were carried out on the 

 relation of the water-content of tumours to their rate 

 of growth. In harmony with the findings for normal 

 tissues in animals and plants, the tumours showed a 

 close relationship in this respect, the more rapidly 

 growing tumours having the higher percentage of 

 water. The water-content of tumours could be arti- 

 ficiallv reduced by exposure to isotonic calcium chloride 

 solution in vitro, and such material on inoculation 

 exhibited diminished powers of growth, from which 

 recoverv was slow but complete. 



The work on war problems mentioned in the report 

 dealt, first, with the heat-regulating mechanism of 

 the bodv, especially the rdle played by the thvroid- 

 adrenal apparatus, and its derangements in disease 

 accompanied by fever or hypothermia. A second paper 

 was devoted to the pathology of gas gangrene. It 

 could be shown that a specific local injury of the 

 tissues permitted the development of the anaerobic 

 bacteria* of gas gangrene and tetanus. Substances 

 present in cultivated soil, particularly ionisable calcium 

 salts, were able to produce the necessary lesion which 

 breaks down the otherwise efficient natural defences 

 against these micro-organisms. These two papers, 

 and another on the fate of grafted cartilage, will 

 shortly be published in the Sixth Scientific Report of 

 the fund. 



