J20: 



NATUHE- 



[August 6, 1903 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 



■ expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 



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



manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 



No notice is taken of anonymous communications .] 



Radium and Cancer. 



It has occurred to me that perhaps you would care to 

 publish the enclosed letters, and thus start some one ex- 

 perimenting with the radium rays in the manner suggested. 



Dr. Sowers is a distinguished physician of Washington, 

 D.C., now spending a portion of his summer vacation in 

 riaddeck, Nova Scotia. 



Alexander Graham Bell. 



Baddeck, N.S., July 21. 



Dr. Z. T. Sowers, 



1707 Massachusetts Avenue, 

 Washington, D.C. 

 Dear Dr. Sowers, 



' I understand from you that the Rontgen X-rays, and the 

 rays emitted by radium, have been found ta have & marked 

 curative effect upon external cancers, but that the effects 

 upon deep seated cancers have not thus far proved satis- 

 factory. 



It has occurred to me; that one reason for the unsatis- 

 factory nature of these la,tte.r experiments arises from the 

 fact that the rays have been applied externally, thus having 

 td pass through healthy tissues of various depths in order 

 to reach the cancerous matter. 



" The Crookes's tube from which the Rontgen rays are 

 emitted is, of course, too bulky to be admitted into the 

 middle of a mass of cancer, but there is no reason why a 

 tiny fragment o.f radium sealed up in a fine glass tube 

 should not be inserted into the very heart of the cancer, 

 thus acting directly upon the diseased material. Would 

 it not be worth while making experiments along this line? 



■« Yours sincerely, 



'' (Signed) Alexander Graham Bell. 



' Bhddebk, N.S.,-July 21. 



Ur. A.' Graham Bell, 

 ._. ■ Baddeck, N.S. 

 Deac Dr. B^ll, 



: The suggestion which you make in regard to the appHca- 

 tibn of the radium rays to the substance of deep seated 

 cancer I regard as very valuable. If such experiments 

 should be made, I have no doubt they would prove successful 

 in many cases where we now have failures. 

 Yours sincerely, 



(Signed) Z. T. Sowers, M.D. 

 Baddeck, N.S. , July 21. ■' 



The American Tariff and the St, Louis Exhibition, 



As a member of the Royal Commission appointed to make 

 a success of the British Section of the St. Louis Exhibition; 

 I have, in common with some of my colleagues, been met 

 by the difficulty, which for a time seemed an insuperable 

 one, that our manufacturers could not be prevailed upon 

 to send their goods to this exhibition, even though they 

 would be admitted duty free, because the tariff had practi- 

 cally killed their trade with the country. 



Even in the subject in which I am interested, instruments 

 of precision, I have been met with this answer to such an 

 extent that for a time I feared that the formation of a 

 representative collective exhibit would be impossible. 



I wish, if you will afford me the space, to point out to 

 our manufacturers that in our class the incidence of the 

 duty need not be so disastrous to trade as it must be in 



NO. 1762, VOL. 68] 



many others. Not only will instruments and other goods 

 sold from the exhibition to public institutions in the United 

 States be allowed to be sold free of duty, but instruments 

 and other goods sold to public institutions in the' United 

 States from this country are also admitted free of duty. 

 (See extract from Tariff Law below.) 



As in the case of instruments of the highest class the 

 requirements of public institutions are necessarily large in 

 comparison with the demands of the public, more especially, 

 I believe, in a country like the United States, where in- 

 stitutions of this kind are so liberally supported, and as 

 this disparity is probably greater in the case of goods in 

 this class than in any other, I hope you will enable me 

 through your columns to urge our makers to reconsider 

 any refusal to assist the Royal Commission in the formation 

 of an adequate collective exhibit that may have boen made 

 on these grounds, and to avail themselves of such 

 advantages as we are able to offer. 



Section 638 of the Tariff Law of 1897 provides as 

 follows : — 



" 638. Philosophical and scientific apparatus, utensils, 

 instruments and preparations, including bottles and_ boxes 

 containing the same, specially imported in good faith for 

 th.3 use and by order of any society or institution incorpor- 

 ated or established, solely for religious, philosophical, 

 educational, scientific or literary purposes, or for the 

 encouragement of the fine arts, or for the use or by order 

 of any college, academy, school, or seminary of learning 

 in the United States, or any State or public library, and not 

 for sale, subject to such regulations as the Secretary of the 

 Treasury shall prescribe." 



It should be noted, however, that surgical instruments 

 are not classified as philosophical or scientific. 



C. V, Boys. 



The Eucalypts. 



Your reviewer of two recent works on Eucalypts (April 2, 

 p. 524) seems to require correction on certain points. 

 Eucalyptus globulus cannot be considered as the first in 

 economic importance amongst the Eucalypts. In almost 

 every shade of extra-tropical climate there is to be found 

 a Eucalypt which will grow as well, or better, than 

 E. globulus, and yield a far superior timber. It is generally 

 held now that Eucalypt planting has suffered by the in- 

 discriminate praise showered on E. globulus by the early 

 Eucalypt enthusiasts. 



Your reviewer says, further, that Eucalypt plantations 

 now exist in Italy, France, Algeria, California, and other 

 countries. He does not appear to be aware that there is; 

 probably more Eucalypt plantation in South Africa than 

 in any other country, and that at the present rate of progress 

 there will, in a few years, be more Eucalypt plantations in 

 South Africa than in all the other countries combined. 

 I There is no group of trees in the warm temperate regions 

 I of the world that can produce hardwoods of good quality 

 so rapidly and so cheaply as Eucalypts, and their' cultiva- 

 tion bids fair to become the central factor in the forestry 

 of these regions. At this moment train-loads of Eucalypt 

 timber are pouring into South Africa, Eucalypt sleepers 

 displacing metal and creosoted-pine sleepers. South Africa 

 will soon be paying out something like a quarter of a 

 million pounds yearly for Eucalypt timber imported for 

 railway sleepers and mining timber (little or none of this, 

 by the way, E. globulus), so that any delay in the prosecu- 

 tion of Eucalypt planting in South Africa would be a most 

 expensive proceeding. It is noteworthy that, so long as- 

 the Eucalypt is properly fitted to its climate, it seems to 

 grow better in South Africa than in Australia, the explan- 

 ation being probably that all the Eucalypts in South Africa 

 have been raised from seed, and are thus growing in South 

 Africa free from their Australian pests, both fungoid and 

 insect. With the view of preserving this happy immunity 

 from disease, the importation of Eucalypt plants into Cape 

 Colony is placed under stringent restrictions. 



The meritorious work of Messrs. R. T. Baker and H. G. 

 Smith, if carried to a conclusion, should be the classic for 

 many years on Eucalyptus oil. ' Your reviewer is mistaken 

 in saying that practically all the Eucalypt species indigenous 

 to Australia are included in their work. Practically, all the 

 Eucalypts are indigenous to Australia, but they are r(0,t; 

 included in Messrs. Baker and Smith's work, which em- 



