528 



NATURE 



[October t, 1903 



collection, and that value would have been niuch en- 

 hanced if the scientific section had been subdivided 

 into definite sections, and the order in the catalogue 

 had corresponded to the order on the walls, as we have 

 previously advocated. But the student will be well 

 repaid for the trouble that is imposed upon him of 

 sorting out the exhibits for himself. 



Telephotography, or, as we prefer to call it, large- 

 image photography — for the only function of a tele- 

 photographic lens is to enlarge the image before it 

 falls upon the sensitive surface, and whether the 

 original image is small by reason of the distance of 

 the object or because of its size makes no difference- 

 is better represented probably than ever before. The 

 well known " Mont Blanc," by M. Fred. Boissonnas, 

 is on view again, also an early telephotograph by the 

 late Prof. W. K. Burton, of interest because of its 

 age. But the most striking and new applications of 

 this kind of work are shown by M. Fred. Boissonnas 

 of enlargements of telephotographs. He gives several 

 examples in sets of three : — (i) a photograph with an 

 ordinary lens ; (2) with a telephotographic lens ; (3) an 

 enlargement of the latter, the proportional sizes being 

 approximately as i : 5 : 24. Thus a measurement of 

 one inch on the first becomes two feet on the last, and 

 the detail, vigour and general quality of the enlarge- 

 ments are surprising, and demonstrate the fine quality 

 of the image given by the telephotographic lens. 



The gradual changes that take place during rapid 

 movement or slow development are well represented 

 by three new series. Sixteen radiographs showing 

 the various stages in the incubation of a pigeon's &^^, 

 by Mr. M. W. Martin, enable one to trace the process 

 very clearly, the first appearance of blood vessels and 

 of the beak being quite marked, and the final pack- 

 ing of the two parts of the shell together ready for 

 removal from the nest by the old bird fitly completes 

 the series. Mr. Martin also exhibits a beautifully 

 rnade series of forty radiographs illustrating the evolu- 

 tion of the common frog, appropriately finishing with 

 an old frog which has broken its leg. The life-history 

 of a splash is well shown by Mr. A. C. Banfield in a 

 series of thirty-six photographs. 



Colour work is not so much in evidence as it was 

 at the last two or three exhibitions. We have no 

 opportunity of judging whether any appreciable 

 advance has been effected, because in no case is the 

 original object shown with the photograph. For this 

 reason many of these exhibits have no value, for we 

 do not need at the present day any proof that photo- 

 graphs in colour can be produced. 



Photomicrography is well represented. The student 

 will probably be specially interested in Mr. Spitta's 

 "small garden spider," x 20, taken with a 50mm. 

 planar, as a fine example of low-power work; the 

 fourteen photographs of test objects, ranging up to a 

 magnification of about 4300, also by Mr. Spitta, and 

 Mr. Albert Norman's series of photographs of different 

 bacilli. 



We have not space to do more than mention the 

 fact that the exhibition includes astronomical and 

 spectroscopic photographs, as fine a series of photo- 

 graphs from balloons as, probably, has ever been 

 brought together, photographs of many kinds of 

 animals, birds, reptiles, insects, fishes, flowers, and 

 plants; photographs in mines and quarries and dark 

 factories, illustrations of waves and ripples and light- 

 ning, and many splendid reproductions by many 

 different processes. The science of photography itself 

 is represented by photomicrographs of film sections by 

 Mr. Edgar Senior, including multiple films, and a 

 Lippmann's colour photograph showing a very large 

 number of layers of deposit due to the stationary 

 waves, and Mr. Watkins's demonstrations of the 

 validity of his time method of development. 



NO. 1770, VOL. 68] 



NOTES. 



The fund established by Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, of 

 Stamford, Connecticut, " for the advancement and prosecu- 

 tion , of scientific research in its broadest sense," now 

 amounts to 26,000 dollars. As accumulated income will be 

 available in January next, the trustees desire to receive appli- 

 cations for appropriations in aid of scientific work. Prefer- 

 ence will be given to those investigations which cannot 

 otherwise be provided for, which have for their object the 

 advancement of human knowledge or the benefit of man- 

 kind in general, rather than to researches directed to the 

 solution of questions of merely local importance. Further 

 particulars can be obtained from the secretary of the Board 

 of Trustees, Dr. C. S. Minot, Harvard Medical School, 

 Boston, Mass., U.S.A. It is intended to make new grants 

 in January, 1904. Decided preference will be given to 

 applications for small amounts, and grants exceeding 300 

 dollars will be made only in very exceptional circumstances. 

 The following list of grants for 1902 has not previously 

 been recorded : — 125 dollars to Dr. F. T. Lewis, Cambridge, 

 Mass., for investigation of the development of the vena 

 cava inferior ; 150 dollars to Prof. Henry E. Crampton, New 

 York, for experiments on variation and selection in Lepi- 

 doptera ; 100 dollars to Prof. Frank W. Bancroft, Berkeley, 

 Cal., for experiments on the inheritance of acquired 

 characters ; 250 dollars to Prof. John Weinzirl, Albuquerque, 

 N.M., for investigation of the relations of climate to the 

 cure of tuberculosis; 300 dollars to Prof. H. S. Grindley, 

 Urbana, 111., for the investigation of the proteids of flesh ; 

 300 dollars to Dr. Herbert H. Field, Zurich, Switzerland, to 

 aid the work of the Concilium Bibliographicum (an 

 additional grant of 300 dollars was made June, 1903) ; 250 

 dollars to Dr. T. A. Jaggar, Cambridge, Mass., for experi- 

 ments in dynamical geology ; 50 dollars to Prof. E. O. 

 Jordan, Chicago, 111., for the study of the bionomics of 

 Anopheles ; 300 dollars to Dr. E. Anding, Munich, Bavaria, 

 to assist the publication of his work, " Ueber die Bewegung 

 der Sonne durch den Weltraum " ; 300 dollars to Prof. 

 W. P. Bradley, Middletown, Conn., for investigations on 

 matter in the critical state; 300 dollars to Prof. Hugo 

 Kronecker, Bern, Switzerland, for assistance in preparing 

 his physiological researches for publication ; 300 dollars to 

 Prof. W. Valentiner, Heidelberg, Germany, for observations 

 on variable stars. 



Prof, von Behring is reported to have brought before 

 the Medical Congress at Cassel some new conceptions re- 

 garding tuberculosis. The fundamental idea of his theory 

 is that tuberculosis in animals and in man represents 

 different varieties of the same disease, and that it is trans- 

 ferable by the agency of tuberculous milk ; in these respects 

 he is in direct opposition to Prof. Koch. He distingiiishes 

 between adults and infants, maintaining that the former 

 may as a rule safely partake of unsterilised milk, while 

 infants are particularly liable to infection from that source, 

 and he holds that infection may take place many years 

 before the disease becomes manifest. Prof. Behring is 

 now engaged in experiments upon new-born animals with 

 the view of testing the possibility of rendering them immune 

 against tuberculosis by supplying them with a suitable solu- 

 tion of tuberculous virus in the food. He is further inclined 

 to believe that the milk of cows which have been rendered 

 immune contains prophylactic elements which it will be 

 practicable to employ in the treatment of the disease in 

 human beings. 



The death is announced of M. A. Certes, formerly presi- 

 dent of the French Zoological Society. M. Certes carried 

 out numerous delicate researches on bacteria, and presented 

 several memoirs to the Paris Academy of Sciences. 



