620 



A'A TURE 



[October 17, 1901 



improvement of knowledge, with the accompanying stimulus of 

 potential discovery ; this was the atmosphere lliat should enfold 

 every earnest student who entered the portal of a modern 

 University. 



The; new department of pathology of the University of 

 Oxford was formally inaugurated on Saturday last. The build- 

 ing, which has been erected at the cost of about 10,000/. (5000/. 

 of which was the gift of Dr. Ewan Eraser, of Balliol College), 

 occupies a site at the back of the University Museum. It is 

 rectangular in shape, measuring 75 feet by 65 feet, and consists 

 of a basement and two storeys, the rooms being grouped round 

 a central vestibule. Amongst the latter are a lecture room, 

 a museum, laboratories for the teaching of morbid histology and 

 of bacteriology, research rooms for work in experimental patho- 

 logy and in chemical pathology, and various store rooms, 

 attendant's work room, workshop, and cold-room are also 

 provided. Sir William Church, president of the Royal College 

 of Physicians, in delivering the opening address, said that the 

 eightieth annivers.ary of the birthday of the Nestor of pathological 

 research. Prof Virchow, being that day celebrated. Oxford 

 could not in a more worthy way pay its homage to the veteran 

 man of science. Just at the time that their museum was being 

 erected. Prof. Virchow gave to the world his memorable work, 

 " Die Cellular Pathologic," which placed pathology on anew 

 foundation and taught them to regard pathological processes as 

 the perversion of physiological ones, influenced by various dis- 

 turbing agencies. Pathology could not be studied without 

 physiology, neither could physiology in its completeness be 

 carried on without pathology, and more especially had this 

 become manifest since they had been acquainted with the 

 part played by micro-organisms in the universe, and the influ- 

 ence they had on living structures. A knowledge of both 

 physiology and pathology was indispensable for those who would 

 practise medicine ; but to regard pathology as a mere adjunct to 

 medicine was to take a narrow and erroneous view of the pro- 

 cesses of nature. As a physician he could not but regard with 

 extreme satisfaction the addition which had been made to the 

 opportunities aftbrded to their medical graduates for the acquisi- 

 tion of scientific knowledge, but he was far from looking upon 

 the technical work which would be done in direct connection 

 with medicine as the only, or, indeed, the main, advantage 

 which would accrue from it. Pathology at the present time was, 

 above all others, that section of medical science which offered 

 the widest promise of progress, and by the original research 

 which under the guidance of the able head of their pathological 

 department would there be carried on, he trusted that real 

 advances in knowledge might be made which both directly and 

 indirectly might benefit mankind, and that in pathology, as in 

 the other departments of science, Oxford might hold an honour- 

 able record 



"SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, October 7. — M. Bouquet de la 

 Grye in the chair. — On the extension of a formula of Euler and 

 on the calculation of the principal moments of inertia of a system 

 of material points, by M. K. Bohlin. — General properties of 

 couples of kinematic elements, by M. G. Kosnigs. — The action 

 of urethane on pyruvic acid, by M. L. J. Simon. Pyruvic 

 acid combines directly with urethane without the use of any 

 condensing agent, the compound CH3. C (NH.COjC.jffsJXO.OH 

 being formed. The ethyl esler of this substance can also be ob- 

 tained by condensation of ethyl pyruvate with urethane, but in 

 this case a little hydrochloric acid is necessary to assist the 

 reaction Boiling with dilute acid readily regenerates the 

 pyruvic acid. — On monobromomalonic dialdehyde, by M. R. 

 Lespieau. This substance is formed by the action of bromine 

 in bright sunlight upon the substance CHBr: CBr.CfUOCHj. 

 Owing to its forming a potassium salt it was at first taken for an 

 acid, but its aldehydic nature is clearly established by iis re- 

 actions with Schift's reagent, and the formation of phenyl- 

 bromopyrazol with phenylhydrazine.— On the reducmg pro- 

 perties of certain nitric esters, by MM. Leo Vignon and F. 

 Gerin. The nitric esters derived from methyl and ethyl alco- 

 hols, glycol and glycerol do not reduce an alkaline copper 

 solution. Tetranitroerythritol possesses faintly reducing pro- 

 perties whilst a strong reduction is produced by the nitrates of 

 dulcitol and mannitol. — Experimental researches on the excita- 

 bility of the spinal marrow, by M. Alex. N. Vitznou. It is 



NO. 1668, VOL. 64] 



shown that, contrary to the results of previous experimenters, 

 the grey matter of the spinal column can be excited by electric 

 currents, and that there is a clear difference between the re- 

 actions which are produced as a consequence of the stimulation 

 of the antero-Iateral cords and those resulting from the stimula- 

 tion of the grey matter, the latter producing generally tetanic 

 movements. The grey substance can also be excited by simply 

 mechanical means, if care be taken that there is as little loss of 

 blood as possible during the preliminary operation. — The in- 

 fluence of spermotoxin upon reproduction, by Mile. C. de 

 Leslie. If some spermotoxic serum furnished by a guinea-pig 

 is injected into a white mouse, the latter loses its power of re- 

 production, the sterility being maintained for from sixteen to 

 twenty days. — On the liberoligneous elements of ferns, by MM. 

 C. Eg. Bertrand and E. Cornaille. — Double flowers and 

 parasitism, by M. Marin MoUiard. In two cases {Primula 

 officinalis and Scabiosa Columbaria) in which a tendency to 

 form double flowers was observed, it was found that the roots 

 were attacked by parasitic fungi, and it appears very probable 

 that it is to these parasites that the changes in the flowers must 

 be attributed. The author points out that these facts may have 

 important applications in practical horticulture. — An experi- 

 mental contribution to the study of the physical signs of intelli- 

 gence, by ^L N. Vaschide and Mile. M. Pelletier. As the result 

 of measurements made on more than 300 children it was found that 

 the cephalic development of the intelligent subjects was diflx-rent 

 from an anthropological point of view from the unintelligent 

 subjects. The most marked difference is in the magnitude of 

 the auriculo-bregmatic measurement. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Engineering Laboratory 597 



A New Surveying Instrument 598 



Our Book Shelf:— 



" Results of Meteorological Observations made at the 

 Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, in the Eight Years 



1892-99" 599 



Herbert: "The Telephone System of the British 



Post Office " 599 



Morrison : " Maps : their Uses and Construction. .\ 

 Short Popular Treatise on the Advantages and 

 Defects of Maps on Various Projections, followed by 

 an Outline of the Principles involved in their Con- 

 struction."— A. J. H 599 



Bernadou : "Smokeless Powder, NItro-cellulose and 



Theory of the Cellulose Molecule."— J. S. S. B. . 600 

 Oates : " Catalogue of the Collection of Birds' Eggs 

 in the British Museum (Natural History)." — R. L. 600 

 Letters to the Editor: — 



The Colours of Guillemots' Eggs.— Captain G. E. H. 



Barrett-Hamilton 600 



Addresses of Authors of Scientific Papers. — Prof. 



Sydney J. Hickson, F.R.S 601 



The Recent Inverness Earthquake. — Rev. Dr. 



Andrew Henderson 601 



The Virchow Celebration. By F. W. T 601 



The Recent Work at Stonehenge. {Illustrated.) By 



Lady Antrobus 602 



Bird Life in the Canaries and South Africa. {Illus- 

 trated.) By R. L 603 



The Report of the Thompson Yates Laboratories. 



{Illustrated.) By R. T. H 604 



Notes 605 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



The Spectroscopic Binary i) Pegasi 609 



The Hamburg Meeting of the German Association 609 



Prizes for Researches in Medical Science 610 



Chemistry at the British Association .... .611 



Engineering at the British Association. By T. H. B. 612 

 Anthropology at the British Association . ... 614 



Botany at the British Association 615 



University and Edurational Intelligence 619 



Societies and Academies 620 



