398 



NA rURE 



[August 27, 1891 



Prof. Ehrlich proceeded to give Koch's present views re- 

 garding tuberculin. He said that the results that had been 

 obtained were exceedingly, favourable, and mo'^t of those who 

 had failed to obtain equally good results had failed because 

 they had used too large doses of the remedy. The principle of 

 cure rested in the local effects which tuberculin exercises on 

 the specifically affected tissues ; the inflammatory reactiou pass- 

 ing to necrcsis was neither desirable nor necessary, but, on 

 the other hand, slight and even repeated stimuli would so act 

 as to give rise to cicatrization of the tuberculous centres, so 

 that the essence of this method of treatment was to retain as 

 long as possible the specific excitation of the tissues, and not to 

 do away with this, as was the case where large doses were 

 used. Wherever successful results had been obtained they had 

 all been by the use of repeated minute doses of tuberculin, which 

 were only very gradually increased in strength, and it should be 

 specially noted that the pathological signs found as the result 

 of the action of tuberculin were always produced by large doses. 



Prof. Cornil, Dr. Bardach, Dr. Ponfinck, and Prof. Hueppe 

 were agreed that tuberculin was an heroic and dangerous remedy 

 about which we as yet knew little, and which was therefore to 

 be looked upon as still being experimented with. It also seemed 

 to be the general opinion that where it was in use there existed 

 a danger of setting up generalization of a tuberculosis that had 

 hitherto been localized. 



Ur. Hunter gave the results of his own experiments (described 

 in the British Medical Journal), from which he had been able 

 to show the nature of the active principle of tuberculin. He had 

 succeeded in isolating principles quite different from those men- 

 tioned by Koch, or even reported by Dr. Ehrlich that morning 

 as having been obtained by Koch. They were three — (i) those 

 which produced fever, but set up no local reaction ; (2) those 

 which gave a local reaction, but no fever ; and (3) those which 

 set up neither fever nor local reaction, which had a distinctly 

 remedial effect. 



The President, summing up, hoped that in time we should all 

 be able to obtain the wonderfully satisfactory results that had 

 been so fully described by Prof. Ehrlich on Dr. Koch's behalf. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 10 return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of '^ a.t:v&ti.. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. ] 



Rain-gauges. 



I DO not think that valuable space in your columns should be 

 occupied by rediscussing old questions. I do not wish to say a 

 word in any respect discourteous to Mr. Fletcher, whose ability 

 in other subject:^ has, I understand, been already recognized, 

 but it really would have been better had he read up the subject 

 before writing the remarkable letter which appears in Nature 

 of the 20th inst. (p. 371). 



For experimental work, spherical, conical, inclined, horizon- 

 tal, vertical, and tipping funnels have been used ; but until the 

 soil of the British Isles can be made to tilt in altitude and rotate 

 in azimuth, so as to meet the path of falling rain, I think that 

 we must adhere to gauges with horizontal mouths as the best 

 representatives of the surface of the earth. 



G. J, Symons. 



British Association Reception Room, Cardiff, August 21. 



Cloud Heights— Kinematic Method. 



In Nature of April 16 (p. 563), and possibly elsewhere, I 

 am made to speak of the method of determining the heights of 

 clouds at sea used by Finemann and myself as the "aberration 

 method." This was a misnomer that I supposed had been cor- 

 rected. The more proper term is the "kinematic method," 

 since in it we discuss the apparent motions of the clouds con- 

 sidered as the resultant of the true motions of the cloud and the 

 observer. This is the term that I have used since May 1890, 

 and would commend to others. Cleveland Abbe. 



Weather Bureau, Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, August 8. 



NO. I 139, VOL. 44] 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIA TION. 

 nPHE Cardiff meeting, if it was not made remark- 

 -*• able by any incident of very special importance, 

 was, upon the whole, successful. Several of the ad- 

 dresses delivered by the Presidents of Sections were 

 of exceptional interest, but some were very long, and 

 we shall not be able to print all of them. 



At the first meeting of the General Committee, held on 

 Wednesday, August 19, the report of the Council for 

 1890-91 was read by Sir Douglas Galton. Dr. Gladstone 

 moved a vote of thanks to Prof. Williamson for his long 

 and valuable services as general treasurer, paying a 

 tribute to the manner in which that gentleman had 

 fulfilled his duties. Sir Douglas Galton seconded, and 

 the resolution was cordially agreed to. Mr. Vernon 

 Harcourt moved, and Sir J. Douglass seconded, the 

 appointment of Prof. Arthur Riicker as general trea- 

 surer. This inotion was also agreed to. At the meeting 

 of the General Committee on Monday, a deputation 

 from Nottingham was introduced. The Association was 

 invited by the Mayor and town authorities to visit Not- 

 tingham in 1893. It was stated that it was twenty-five 

 years since the Association had visited Nottingham. The 

 invitation was accepted on the motion of Mr. Preece. It 

 was also unanimously agreed, on the motion of Canon 

 Tristram, to elect Sir A. Geikie as President of the 

 Association, which meets at Edinburgh next year. The 

 Lord Provost of Edinburgh, the Marquis of Lothian, the 

 Earl of Rosebery, Lord Kingsburgh, Principal Sir William 

 Muir, Prof. Sir Douglas Maclagan, Sir William Turner, 

 Prof. Tait, and Prof. Crum Brown were elected Vice- 

 Presidents for the Edinburgh meeting. Prof. G. F. 

 Armstrong, Principal F. Grant Ogilvie, and Mr. John 

 Harrison were elected Local Secretaries for the meeting 

 at Edinburgh, and Mr. A. Gillies Smith Local Treasurer. 

 A deputation from Edinburgh also attended with refer- 

 ence to the fixing of a date for the Edinburgh meeting. 

 It was stated on behalf of the Town Council that Sept- 

 ember 28 was favoured as the opening^ date of the meet- 

 ing, though August 3 and September 21 were also men- 

 tioned as alternative dates. A motion was made to fix 

 August 3, while an amendment was moved for Septem- 

 ber 12 ; but as only thirteen voted for the amendment, the 

 original motion was agreed to — that is, the Association 

 will meet at Edinburgh next year on August 3. The 

 genera] officers were re-elected, and the following gentle- 

 men were elected Members of Council for the ensuing 

 year: — Dr. W. Anderson, Prof. Ayrton, Sir H. Baker, 

 Mr. H. W. Bates, Prof. Darwin, Sir J. N. Douglas?, Prof. 

 Edgeworth, Dr. J. Evans, Prof. Fiizgerald, Sir Archibald 

 Geikie, Mr. R. T. Glazebrook, Profs. J. W. Judd, Liveing, 

 Lodge, Mr. W. H. Preece, Profs. W. Ramsay, Reinold, 

 Roberts-Austen, Schafer, Schuster, Sidgwick, Mr. G. J. 

 Symons, Profs. T. E. Thorpe, Marshall Ward, Mr. W. 

 Whitaker, Dr. H.Woodward. The following impressions 

 have been recorded by a correspondent : — 



Cardiff, Tuesday Evening. 

 One of the most prominent features of the Cardiff 

 meeting has undoubtedly been the prevailing bad 

 weather. Rain and cold have had their usual depressing 

 results, and may to some extent account for the disap- 

 pointment which exists among many of those in attend- 

 ance. The Local Committee have done their best to 

 render the meeting a social success, but the entertain- 

 ments by the Municipality and the citizens of Cardiff 

 have been of a somewhat restricted character. Notwith- 

 standing the unpromising state of the weather, the ex- 

 cursions on Saturday and Sunday were largely taken ad- 

 vantage of, and the reception given by Lord Windsor 

 on the latter day was specially appreciated. The total 

 attendance has been about 1500, within 200 of the Leeds 

 meeting, while the amount of money available for grants 

 is within a few pounds of last year. ■ Naturally there has 



