August io, i9i6j 



NATURE 



491 



I piece was used, would be only 25 in., or approxi- 

 itely equal in light-gathering power to a refractor 

 ot 2o-in. aperture. A power not less than 216 would 

 be necessary to give the full benefit of the large mirror. 

 Although the eyepiece in question was not the only 

 one employed, it may be important to take account of 

 the fact that some of the observations at Parsonstown 

 were not made with the full aperture of the telescope 

 (Journ. B.A.A., vol. xxvi., p. 302). 



VENTILATION AND METABOLISM. 



THE New York State Commission on Ventilation 

 has issued an outline statement of the work 

 done in 1915. In the first report the Commission 

 supported the view of the English physiologists, that 

 the principal factors which make for comfort are 

 temperature humidity and air movement, and that the 

 effects of poor ventilation cannot be explained by the 

 presence of volatile organic poisons in the air or any 

 chemical change in the atmosphere. Even slight 

 differences in temperature produce characteristic 

 phvsiological responses in the body, affecting the out- 

 put of physical work and likewise the inclination to do 

 mental work. " In only one respect did the chemical 

 quality of the air breathed show any characteristic 

 effect on the body mechanism, this effect appearing 

 in the slightly diminished appetite for food in a stale, 

 unventilated atmosphere." 



The Commission has now sought to find what 

 quality of the stale used air has this effect. Is it the 

 odour present? the increased COo? or what? Arti- 

 ficial body odours and excess of COj have been intro- 

 duced into a room ventilated with fresh air, but these 

 have not produced the effect on the appetite. We 

 do not believe that the Commission has ever properly 

 eliminated the physical conditions. In their experi- 

 ments they arranged that the temperature (wet anddr\' 

 bulb) should be kept the same in the ventilated as 

 in the stale-air chamber, and in the latter they placed 

 a table fan to blow air upon the subjects, in order 

 to imitate the current of air w'hich circulated in the 

 chamber ventilated with fresh air. There is no proof 

 that the fan had this effect. It may not have venti- 

 lated the clothes of the subjects as effectually as the 

 current of air did in the fresh-air chamber. We w'ould 

 suggest that the rate of cooling be measured with 

 the katathermometer. Until this is done we cannot 

 accept the view that the diminished appetite is due 

 to any chemical alteration of the stale atmosphere. 

 It seems more likely to be caused by a diminution in 

 metabolism resulting from a lessened rate of cooling 

 of the body surface. 



The Commission says that for extreme mental con- 

 centration, involving an almost entire absence of 

 physical exertion, a temperature of 75° at 50 per cent, 

 relative humiditv was preferable to 68° at the same 

 humidity, whereas for tasks involving greater motor 

 effort, such as typewriting, the cooler temperature 

 was coincident with the greater output. Here again 

 data are wanted as to rate of cooling. Was the atmo- 

 sphere a still one? In this country 63° F. is regarded 

 as a suitable tem{>erature, but the comfort is far more 

 a question of rate of cooling than of temperature. 

 We would point out that mental concentration which 

 demands an entire absence of physical exertion and 

 so warm an atmosphere tells against the health of the 

 body; the metabolism is greatly reduced, and with it 

 the appetite ; the digestive organs miss the massage 

 due to bodily exercise and deep breathing ; the circula- 

 tion is not made vigorous by the pumping action of 

 the skeletal muscles and those of respiration ; and the 

 lunss are but little expanded by the shallow breathing. 

 Daily open-air exercise is essential to compensate for 



NO. 2441, VOL. 97] 



such intense mental application if the health is to be 

 maintained. Such work, together with high feeding, 

 alcoholic pick-me-ups, and amusements taken in hot 

 atmospheres, leads to the bodily flabbiness and middle- 

 age degeneration of the business man. The scholar 

 requires his "constitutional" or else he will become 

 hypochondriacal. 



The Commission has examined the conditions of the 

 nasal mucous membrane in hot and cold atmospheres, 

 and generally confirms conclusions reached by the re- 

 i viewer (c/. Lancet, May 10, 1913). In the majority 

 of subjects examined the reaction from heat is one 

 of increased swelling, moisture, and redness, and the 

 reverse from cold. Air blown upon the face by fans 

 greatly modifies the effect. On eoing from the cold 

 to the hot room with fans there is a decrease in the 

 size of the inferior turbinates and in the amount of 

 moisture. The characteristic change on passing from 

 the hot to the cold condition with fans is an increase 

 in the turbinates and secretion. The Commis- 

 sion reports that laundry workers show a high per- 

 centage of cases of atrophic rhinitis, the result of 

 working in hot humid atmospheres. The changes of 

 the nasal membrane produced by environment must 

 materially affect the incidence of infection by "colds." 

 This subject is dealt w-ith by the reviewer in an article 

 published in the British Medical Journal for April 15, 

 1916. 



Mr. Palmer, the chief of the investigating staff of 

 the Commission, has fashioned a new sampling appa- 

 ratus for the determination of aerial dust. Air is 

 drawn, by means of an electric-driven fan, through a 

 U-tube containing some water. The water is thrown 

 into a spray formation in a conical glass vessel at- 

 tached to the U-tube, and the air is washed of its 

 suspended dust as it passes through the water shower. 

 One hundred cubic feet of air can be put through in 

 thirty minutes. The water can be evaporated and the 

 dust weighed, or the dust can be estimated by the 

 turbidity of the water against a set of standards, or 

 the particles of dust — in a measured quantity of the 

 water — counted under the microscope. The pernicious 

 effect of dust on the lung is not properly realised by 

 the public. Dust containing free silica is the most 

 potent cause of phthisis prevalent in miners, granite 

 and flint workers, etc. The motor-cars stir up clouds of 

 dust from roads metalled with flint and granite. People 

 dislike the dust on their clothes, but do not realise 

 the damage it causes to their lungs. All dusts 

 diminish the efficiencv of the lungs and lead to 

 lessened expansion and shortened breath — the asthma 

 of dusty occupations. Leonard Hill. 



THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL 

 SOCIETY. 



'X'HE annual meeting of the American Philosophical 

 A Society was held on April 13-15, during which 

 nearly fifty papers were presented on a large variety 

 of topics. The address of welcome was delivered by 

 Dr. W. W. Keen, the president, who, with the vice- 

 presidents. Dr. W. B. Scott and Prof. E. C. Picker- 

 ing, presided at the various meetings. 



We are able, from the material which the secretary-. 

 Prof. A. W. Goodspeed, has sent us from Philadelphia, 

 to give brief abstracts of some of the papers which 

 were read. 



Dr. R. F. Bacon, "The Work of the Mellon Insti- 

 tute in its Relations to the Industries and to the 

 Universities " : — 



The first industrial fellowship at the Mellon 

 Institute was founded through a grant from a 

 baking company which desired to improve its product. 

 The sum of money given was used, as has been all 



