APRIL 30, 1914] 
NATURE 
225 
the theological and arts faculties, and accommodation 
for the administration. To it also have been moved 
the archzeological and ethnological collections. Natural 
science and medicine are provided for in the biological 
institute and in other buildings adjacent. 
Apart from the tower, the building is in three storeys 
at present, though in the University proper it will be 
possible, as the numbers increase, to provide more 
accommodation for classes in the attics. With an 
imposing facade on two sides, the rooms are admir- 
ably lighted. Round the central court runs a wide 
passage on each storey, thus giving easy access from 
room to room, and also providing in these passages, 
which can be seated, excellent galleries for such occa- 
sions as that of April 18. The parapet towards the 
court is broken by openings, the superincumbent mass 
being on the first storey supported in each case by 
two Moorish pillars. In the storeys above are roman- 
esque arches, so that the appearance towards the inner 
court is more like that of some southern palazzo than 
could be guessed from its external aspect. The effect 
is heightened by the insertion in the walls of small 
artistic figures. The rooms for the administration are 
well furnished; the desks and seats in the lecture- 
rooms are substantial but simple. 
On the walls of the galleries are frescoes which the 
spectator was asked by notices to believe were not yet 
finished, and which seemed, truth to tell, to represent 
an early stage of art. But the general effect of light- 
ness and airines: was excellent, and the people of 
Zirich and their architect, Mr. Moser, are to be con- 
gratulated on the way in which they have secured an 
admirable result at what, for the accommodation pro- 
vided, seems a minimum of cost. It is to be remem- 
bered that the whole of this is paid for out of the 
rates of the Canton of Ztirich, which not unnaturally 
are very high. But as the inscription above the en- 
trance tells us, all has been done ‘“‘by the will of the 
people,” which, when the first credit was insufficient, 
voted a second. The people of Ziirich are convinced 
of the value of good and cheap education, and nothing 
in the whole celebration perhaps was more interesting 
than to mix with the crowd on Monday morning, 
when the building was thrown open to the public, and 
to hear the approving remarks of tradesmen and 
labourers as they examined the new building which 
they were proud to call their own. Gs 
RADIUM AND QUACK MEDICINES. 
hee view of the fact that a large number of drugs, 
earths, and waters, said to be radio-active, are 
being offered for sale to the general public for the 
treatment of certain diseases, the medical committee 
of the British Science Guild recently instituted an 
inquiry into the question of radium and its therapeutic 
uses. 
The result of the inquiry indicates the urgent neces- 
sity for legislation in order to safeguard the interests 
of the community in the sale of these substances, by 
compelling a written guarantee to be given as to the 
quantity of radium present in the substances offered 
for sale. 
The use of radium in cases of cancer is now widely 
known, but it is necessary to warn the public that no 
definite evidence that cancer is permanently curable 
by radium is yet forthcoming. The immediate effect 
of the treatment of cancer by radium is often highly 
satisfactory, but it must not be forgotten that agents 
other than radium are known to give equally good 
results. It is only by keeping under observation for 
at least five years patients who have been so treated 
that a definite decision can be come to as to the place 
NO.72322,. VOL. Oaq 
Gunther. 
radium-therapy shall take in the treatment of malig- 
nant diseases. 
The great strides that have been made in recent 
years in the use of radium for the treatment of disease, 
and the results obtained, encourage the medical pro- 
fession to persevere with this therapeutic agent. How- 
ever, radium in its application to disease is still but 
little understood, and until more experimental, patho- 
logical and clinical data have been collected to show 
the effect of this agent upon, not only the diseased 
but also the healthy tissues of the body, dogmatic 
statements as to its therapeutic value cannot be made. 
In these circumstances of uncertainty the public is 
warned that there is danger that the claims which 
have been advanced for radium as a curative agent 
may lead to frauds on the credulous section of the 
public, which may be imposed upon by the sale of 
substances or waters in which radium does not exist, 
or may be harmfully treated by persons with no 
medical qualifications. 
The inclusion of radium in the Pharmacopceia would 
be of material benefit to the public, and it is proposed 
to take the steps necessary to secure this end. It has 
also been suggested that radium should be scheduled 
as a poison under the Foods and Drugs Act, which 
would be an additional safeguard against the victim- 
isation of the public. 
The report of the medical committee of the British 
Science Guild contains further valuable and important 
information concerning the sources, etc., of radio- 
active substances, the price of radium, and diseases 
which are treated with radium, and this will be pub- 
lished in full in the annual report of the guild, to be 
issued in May next. 
JAPANESE FISHES AND NOMEN- 
CLATURE, 
Toe latest part of the Journal of the College of 
Science in the Imperial University of Japan 
(vol. xxxiii., article 1, March, 1913) is a catalogue of 
the fishes of Japan, by David Starr Jordan, Shigeho 
Tanaka, and John Otterbein Snyder. It consists of 
497 pages, and has 396 figures in the text. There is a 
very excellent index, and the volume is one which is 
likely to be of considerable assistance to ichthyologists. 
The list is based on the work of Temminck and Schlegel 
(1848 to 1850), on the collections made by David Starr 
Jordan in 1900, the collections of Snyder (1906), and 
the collections in the Imperial University of Japan, 
and the Imperial Museum at Tokyo. It includes all 
records of Japanese fishes made up to February 1, 
1913. 
The fish fauna of Japan appears to be an extra- 
ordinarily rich one, for the present list deals with 1230 
species, while it is pointed out that many additional 
species from the tropics may yet be found in the 
Kuroshiwo (that is, the Japan current corresponding 
to the Atlantic Gulf Stream); the deep-sea species are 
yet imperfectly known; and large accessions to the 
lists may be expected when Hokkaido is explored. 
Japanese names are given for all the species, but full 
synonymies are not given, and this is occasionally 
rather troublesome to the worker unaccustomed to the 
light-hearted manner in which the American systemat- 
ists play fast and loose with generic names, and their 
uncompromising insistence on the rules of priority 
with regard to specific names. 
One example from this catalogue may be given—it 
is not the only one that might be quoted in illustration 
of our complaint; the Japanese sardine called 
‘‘Twashi,” was described by Schlegel in 1846 as 
Clupea melanosticta, and this name was adopted by 
Richardson also described the same fish in 
