296 



NATURE 



[May 5, 1 9 10 



■whole, unexceptionable as an expression of the resultant 

 .opinion received from many different sources. It is recog- 

 nised at the outset that a " certain number " of deaths are 

 due to preventable causes, and that a " certain number " of 

 deaths .are. inevitable, which obviously signifies that the 

 actual numbers of preventable and .inevitable deaths are 

 quite undetermined. One of the first services to be expected 

 from a standing committee of experts would be information 

 as' to. the relative proportions between these two classes of 

 deaths. Idiosyncrasy as a factor cannot be eliminated. 

 AntBsthetics, like all other poisonous drugs, act differently 

 on diffefent constitutions, .\lcohol in known quantity does 

 not necessarily produce identical effects upon different 

 persons, but, as ' regards ' chloroform, ether, and other 

 poisons, before we are entitled to appeal to idiosvncrasy 

 we require to know what quantity of any one of these 

 poisons may have been actually administered. Such in- 

 formation might usefully be acquired at small cost bv a 

 standing committee of the Home Office, and made a%-ail- 

 able to the medical profession and to the intelligent laity 

 in a convenient form. 



The use of anaesthetics "of longer duration," inclusive, 

 presumably, of chloroform, for the purposes of minor 

 surgery, including dentistry, is considered in paragraphs 

 q and 10 of the report. Although evidence was offered 

 on behalf of the Incorporated Societv of Extractors and 

 Adaptors of Teeth to the effect that there had been 

 1,249,167 administrations of general anaesthetics bv 

 members of the society with only one fatal .accident, the 

 committee is of ooinion that the administration of those 

 anaesthetics the effect of which is of prolonged duration 

 should be confined to qualified medical men. 



The report is almost precisely on lines recommended bv 

 the General Medical Council in that it urges the need of 

 legislation, that it recognises the necessity of limiting the 

 administration of general ana?sthetics to qualified medical 

 and dental practitioners, and of prohibiting single-handed 

 anaesthetising and operating. 



There is no doubt that this report may prove to be the 

 initial point leading to the acquisition' of much useful 

 knowledge and to greatly increased safety in the incre.asing 

 number of cases where, thanks to Lord Lister and to the 

 system of aseptic surgery, operations .are possible, and 

 anaesthetics therefore required. In the words of the report, 

 there is need yet for much careful • clinical observation, 

 controlled, if necessary, by physiological experiments. 



METRIC MEASURES. 



T 



'HE Decimal Association has recently issued a circular 

 on the progress of the metric system of weights and 

 measures in this country, and also two papers written by 

 Mr. Aldred F. Barker, director of textile industries at the 

 Bradford Technical College, advocating the adoption of 

 the metric system in the textile trade. It appears from 

 the circular that the total number of metric weights and 

 measures verified in the United Kingdom during the year 

 ended March 31, 1909, was 8797. .'\s this was the first 

 year in which the obligation upon local authorities to 

 distinguish between metric and imperial weights and 

 measures in their returns to the Board of Trade was 

 enforced, comparisons of this total with the totals for 

 previous 3'ears, as furnished in the returns, would neces- 

 sarily be misleading ; but it is evident that the metric 

 system is making steady headway here. Of the weights 

 and measures verified and stamped in this country during 

 the year in question, i in 1280 belonged to that system. 

 Opponents of the . metric system have an axiom to the 

 effect that, whatever its merits, its compulsory introduction 

 would be absolutely disastrous to the great textile industry. 

 Mr. Barker's papers form a highly technical refutation of 

 this axiom. He shows that the metric system could be 

 adopted by the industry, with a minimum of inconvenience. 

 and that it would afford a more methodical and practical 

 basis for those mysterious lists and tables which are to 

 the textile trade what the Nautical Almanac is to the 

 astronomer. 



Mr. L. J. Spencer, of the Mineral Department, British 

 Museum, has contributed to the March number of the 

 Mineralogical Magazine an interesting paper on the weight 



NO. 2 114, VOL. 83] 



of the " Cullinan " diamond, and on the value of the carat 

 weight. He directs attention to the discordant values 

 given by various authorities for the weight of the 

 " Cullinan " diamond expressed in carats, and points out 

 that the adoption of an international standard carat would 

 be the best means of preventing such discrepancies in 

 estimations of the weights of ■ precious stones. The 

 " metric carat " of 200 milligrams, the adoption of which 

 was advocated by the International Conference on Weights 

 and Measures in 1907 as a universal standard, has met 

 with considerable ■ support abroad, but diamond dealers in 

 this country, are not at present disposed to abandon their 

 time-honoured but diverse-valued carat of about 3\ trOy 

 or avoirdupois grains, the various equivalents adopted for 

 which by different firms do not appear to cause ' much 

 inconvenience to the trade. Iri these circumstances, only 

 the exclusive adoption of the metric carat by all the more 

 important foreign States would render official action 

 possible towards its legal recognition or compulsory adop- 

 tion in the United Kingdom. 



FUNGAL STUDIES. 



jV/TR. C. L. MOORE has followed up his studies of the 

 Myxomycetes of Picton County in Nova Scotia, bj 

 a short account of some Nova .Scotian aquatic fungi re- 

 ferred to the species Saprolegnia, .Achyla, Aphanomyces, 

 Leptomitus, and Sapromyces. The paper, which is .pub- 

 lished in the Transactions of the Nova Scotian Institute 

 of Science (vol. xii., part iii.), contains figures and descrip- 

 tions of the antheridia and oogonia for most of the 

 species. 



.'\n important contribution to the literature on the 

 Mycetozoa is provided by the list of species from Ceylon 

 compiled by Mr. T. Petch, which is published in the 

 Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya (vol. 

 iv., part vi.). The list enumerates 102 species, the 

 majority of which are also found in Europe ; Alwisia 

 bombarda and Erionema aureum are two tropical specie: 

 recorded from the wet country. The commonest species 

 are Didymiuni effusum, Physarella mirabilis, and Henii- 

 trichia clavata. Physarella may be said to invade the 

 laboratory, where it develops on logs kept for growing 

 other fungi. Mr. Petch notes that there is a greatei 

 tendency for the plasmodium to wander than in Europe, 

 which he ascribes to the greater rainfall and humidity. 

 Stenionitis herbatica, Physarella, and Didymiuni effusun. 

 have been gathered, from the crowns of palm trees, 20 feei 

 from the ground ; Perichaena chrysosperma ■ frequentl) 

 ascends to a height of 50 feet on Bombax trees. 



Mr. Petch has also prepared a second part of hh 

 revisions of Ceylon fungi, which appears in the same 

 number of the Annals. As a result of the examinatior 

 of fresh specimens, a number of specific names have beer 

 reduced to synonyms. It is noted that certain character> 

 generally regarded as specific may sometimes be mereh 

 valuations due to weather. Thus the white gills of Lepioii 

 Zeylanica in showery weather pass through a yellow stag' 

 before changing to red, whereas in fine weather the yellow 

 stage is not evident. Again, the stipe of Lepiota pyrrhaes^ 

 which ordinarily bears an annulus and scales, appear; 

 smooth and ringless when grown in a saturated atmo 

 sphere. With reference to the genus Auricularia, th» 

 author offers several reasons for recognising two species 

 Hinieola polylricha and Auricularia iremellosa, both dis 

 tinct from the . common European species Auricularii 

 auricula judae. 



The October (1909) number (vol. cxviii., part viii.) o 

 the. Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissen 

 schaften, Vienna, is entirely devoted to .botany. Prof 

 von Hohnel contributes a further set of notes on Javanese 

 fungi. He creates a new genus, Treubiomyces, for < 

 fungus (Nectriaceac) collected on leaves of Ficus elastica 

 which bears rough patches of clustered hyphae surmountec 

 by long hairs. .Another fungus, Limaculina samoensis 

 taken on the same host, is characterised by. a peritheciurr 

 raised on an under layer of hyphae, the subiculum, whicl 

 bears short round cells and stellate spores.. In the sam< 

 number Dr. P. .Frpschel communicates a .short paper or 

 the latent period . in heliotropic experiments, in which he 



