PULL Gs. 19144 
NATURE 
Some points of practical interest have been suggested 
for discussion, @.g. a facsimile reprint of the original 
edition of the ** Descriptio,’ the construction of a table 
of co-logs to seven figures, the publication of part of 
Dr. Sang’s great volumes of manuscript tables of 
logarithms and sines. 
A particularly interesting feature of the congress 
will be the exhibits of books, instruments, calculating 
machines, Napier relics, etc. These are to be arranged 
in the large examination hall of the University, close 
to the mathematical department. From Lord Napier 
and Ettrick and other representatives of the Napier 
family some interesting portraits and other relics have 
been received; and Mr. Lewis Evans’s remarkable 
collection of ‘‘ Napier’s Bones,’’ or ‘‘ Numbering Rods,”’ 
will form a valuable exhibit in itself. Mr. J. R. Find- 
lay has set out a large selection of portable sundials 
_ dating from the sixteenth century. John Napier’s own 
works and the other early editions of logarithmic 
tables published both in Great Britain and the Con- 
tinent will be of great interest to all mathematical 
students. Mr. Roberts has undertaken to set up his 
tide-predicting machine, and have it in action during 
the time of the Napier Congress and the succeeding 
mathematical colloquium. Slide-rules, arithmometers, 
integraphs, and many other forms of calculating 
machine, will be of special interest to the practical 
calculator. 
These and many other exhibits are being described 
in an illustrated handbook which every member of the 
congress will receive with his membership card. 
It is expected that the exhibition will be open to 
members on Thursday, july 23, or on Friday morning 
at the latest, so that there will be ample time to view 
it before the meetings begin. 
All members of the congress will have the privilege 
of using the rooms of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 
They will also be elected honorary members, for the 
time being, of the Edinburgh University Students’ 
Union, where luncheon and other club privileges may 
be enjoyed. 
It should be mentioned in conclusion that the 
Napier tercentenary celebration has received a remark- 
able degree of support from individuals and from 
educational institutions over the whole civilised world. 
In virtue of this support, the committee has felt 
justified in preparing beforehand for distribution a 
handbook full of mathematical lore. In the memorial 
volume valuable communications will be published, 
and the salient features of the congress will be 
recorded. 
To all who have thus aided in making the ter- 
centenary celebration of the publication of the first 
book of logarithms a real success, I wish now to 
convey the cordial thanks of the general committee of 
the Napier celebration, and of the council of the Royal 
Society of Edinburgh, among whom the project first 
took shape. C. G. Knorr. 
PHETROVAL SANITARY INSTITUTE 
CONGRESS AT BLACKPOOL. 
i Roe 2 twenty-ninth Congress of the Royal Sanitary 
Institute, held at Blackpool on July 6-11, was 
well attended, and the addresses, papers, and discus- 
sions were well above the average in interest and 
importance. 
Lord Derby, who opened the congress on the Mon- 
day, pleaded for greater attention being given to 
physical and military drill as an aid to hygiene, basing 
his argument upon the improved physique of. the 
Army, as compared with that of fhe classes from 
which they were drawn. ; 
NiG2 2233, VOL. 93] 
517 
A paper upon the action of some _ metals 
upon certain water and other bacteria, presented 
by Prof. Delepine and Dr. A. Greenwood, 
gave an account of the recent results of the investiga- 
tion of the above subject, carried on in the pathology 
and public health laboratory of the University of Man- 
chester. The detailed results are contained in a series 
of tables printed in the original paper, and are sum- 
marised in the conclusions at which the authors arrive 
as follows :— 
Pure platinum, gold, and tin, which do not seem 
to be appreciably acted upon by water, or by the 
organic media used in the experiments, did not appear 
to have any action on the four kinds of bacteria experi- 
mented upon. 
Lead, aluminium, and iron, which were distinctly 
acted upon, were either without appreciable effect 
(lead), or had only a_= slight inhibitory action 
(aluminium and iron). 
Copper, silver, zinc, and mercury had a powerful 
inhibitory action, and also showed evidence of being 
acted upon by the media, and of forming certain 
compounds the nature of which will be discussed else- 
where. In all cases where a niarked inhibitory action 
was produced it was noticed that in reduced doses 
the metals were also capable of an excitatory action 
which resulted in increased growth of bacteria. 
It will be noticed that all bacteria were not affected 
in the same way and to the same extent. The action 
of soft water upon copper and upon lead is very 
rapid; but while the passage of lead into the water 
does not appear to affect the bacterial contents, that 
of copper is attended with complete, or almost com- 
plete, sterilisation in about half an hour. 
Dr. J. W. Brittlebank, veterinary officer to the Sani- 
tary Committee of the Manchester City Corporation, 
delivered an address to the Veterinary Section of the 
congress, in which he dealt chiefly with the milk sup- 
ply and the provisions of the new Milk Bill, now 
before the House of Commons. His own views are 
summed up in the following paragraphs :— 
‘Public attention has been directed for many years 
past to the question of the milk supply, and there is 
little doubt that considerable progress and improve- 
ment has been made in the general conditions; but 
there is, I am afraid, a coastant danger of allowing 
ourselves, when considering the question, to drift into 
one of its side-issues, namely, the elimination of 
tuberculous milk. Doubtless this is a most important 
question, perhaps the most important aspect, but in 
considering this we are apt to forget the other branches 
of the problem. 
‘‘Our aim should be to put within the reach of every- 
body a supply of good, clean, disease-free raw milk, 
which may be consumed in any quantity with safety. 
It is perfectly true that many are so unfortunately 
situated, as to be able to purchase only the most 
meagre amounts, but they have just as much right to 
protection as their more fortunate brethren. 
“The whole question teems with difficulties, and 
requires great qualities of statesmanship in its hand- 
ling. The business aspects of the question are impor- 
tant, inasmuch as the price of the article to the con- 
sumer is of paramount importance. Certain it is that 
improvement in conditions cannot be obtained without 
enhancing the value of the article produced, and it 
behoves all concerned to restrict the requirements asked 
for, within such limits as may be regarded to be the 
minimum of safety.” 
In the Preventive Medicine Section, Dr. Arthur 
Sellers, lecturer on comparative pathology in the Uni- 
versity of Manchester, read a paper on the blood 
changes in lead workers, giving the results of inves- 
tigations carried on in the public health laboratory 
of that University. The chief object of this investiga- 
’ 
