DECEMBER 17, 1903] 
bloodhounds; Dr. Corbet W. Owen, nests of the African 
weaver bird; Mr. Hugh O. Hughes, specimen of guano 
from the Chincha Islands; Mr. H. S. Forrest, small collec- 
tion of fishes, &c.; Mr. J. Pugh, a fine pike; the Rev. 
W. S. White, small collection of bird and bat skins. Prof. 
White has also received a second gift of rol. from Mr. Henry 
R. Davies for the zoological museum. 
THE annual dinner of the Institute of Chemistry was held 
on Monday night, with Mr. David Howard, the president, 
in the chair. The president, in responding to the toast of 
the Institute, proposed by Lord Justice Cozens Hardy, re- 
marked that the application of chemistry in our industries 
was a national question. Most of the successful manu- 
facturers in Germany whom he knew were doctors of philo- 
sophy and very well educated men, who had, in addition, 
devoted their lives to the study of every detail of their work. 
It must be realised in England that the technical chemist 
should be at least as well educated and thoughtful as his 
German friends. The Institute was now considering what 
could be done to direct the studies of men engaged in 
technical work, for, while his general training must not be 
diminished, a technical chemist could not have too high a 
scientific training. Mr. Haldane proposed the toast of 
““ Prosperity to Science and to Scientific Industries.’’ He 
remarked that as a nation we needed science. It was not 
that we were going back; the general average was 
higher than ever before, and it behoved us to see that we 
kept our place. We needed science in our Government, in 
our industries, in our education. The time, then, had surely 
come when more science should be instilled into national 
methods. Why should not the grants to the university 
colleges, and to colleges giving scientific teaching of a 
university type, be increased? Any Government would be 
glad to do that if it felt that there was something like 
organised public opinion at its back. Then we suffered in 
England from a want of enthusiasm for science on the part 
of our manufacturers, and little progress could be made 
until this was remedied. 
A parer, entitled ‘‘ The Metrical System of Weights and 
Measures,’’ was read by Mr. Alex. Siemens at the Royal 
Statistical Society on Tuesday. The author expressed his 
conviction that, though scientific men had for some time 
previously been discussing the subject in a general way, 
there is little doubt that the present metrical system is the 
result of the agitation of James Watt, who took the subject 
up in the year 1783. The history of the question in this 
country was traced from the year 1824, when Parliament 
was first approached on the subject. Last year the Liver- 
pool Cotton Association effected the change from the binary 
t> the decimal system of quotation, and Mr. Siemens showed 
how practically useful the 2000 lb. ton and other forms of 
reckoning on the decimal system had proved in the United 
States and Canada, as, indeed, in many British depen- 
dencies. In France the metric system was not really legal 
to the exclusion of every other until January 1, 1840, that 
is to say, a little more than sixty years ago. To-day only 
one system of measures exists in that country, and it is 
absolutely incorrect to say that the old measures are still 
employed there; even their values are becoming more un- 
known. 
industries or trades in which foreign nations which have not 
adopted the metric system have such a preponderating in- 
fluence as to, thus far, impose the use of their own measures. 
Even in Germany, where the metric system has been in use 
not much more than half as long as it has been in France, 
though a few old names of weights and measures are in 
NO. 1781, VOL. 69] 
NATURE 
157 
use, they really denote metrical measures, and may be 
treated as local expressions only. As regards the expense 
of the change, Mr. Siemens denied the suggestion that our 
engineering machinery for screw cutting would have to be 
scrapped—all that would be necessary would be to buy 
suitable exchange wheels. The author finally expressed his 
opinion that not only our own dependencies, but other 
nations would follow our lead if we made the change, and 
that thus international unity of weights and measures would 
at once become an accomplished fact. 
Tue Bradshaw lecture was delivered before the Royal 
College of Surgeons on December 9 by Mr. Henry Morris, 
the subject being ‘‘ Cancer and its Origin.’’ An admirable 
survey of the various theories of the nature of cancer is 
given, such as the ‘‘lost balance theory ’’ of Thiersch, 
adopted by some recent writers, e.g. Foulerton, the ‘‘tumour- 
germ theory’? of Cohnheim, and the various parasitic 
theories. Mr. Morris does not look with favour upon the 
parasitic theories; he says, ‘‘ neither fission fungus, yeast 
fungus, nor psorosperm—neither bacterium, blastomycete, 
nor protozoon—has up to the present moment been satis- 
factorily shown, in spite of years of patient study by many 
skilled workers, to be in any sort of causal relation to the 
disease.’’ He believes that there is ‘‘ one theory which is 
more consistent than any other with all that we know about 
malignant disease, which fully explains the origin of very 
many non-malignant this being Cohnheim’s 
““ tumour-germ theory,’’ which states that tumours originate 
from a matrix of embryonic cells which during foetal life 
are cut off from their proper connections. Mr. Morris dis- 
cusses the evidence for and against this theory, and the 
practical outcome should it be proved to be true. 
tumours, ”’ 
ANOTHER example of the practical utility of wireless tele- 
graphy at sea was afforded the other day as a result of the 
accident which happened to the Kroonland on her way from 
Antwerp to New York. The steamer disabled her steering 
gear when west of the Fastnet and was obliged in con- 
sequence to abandon her journey. Not only was the captain 
able to communicate particulars of the accident at once to 
the agents of the American line at Antwerp and to receive 
(in less than an hour and a half) instructions as to how to 
proceed, but the passengers were enabled to send messages 
to their friends and relatives assuring them of their safety. 
A large number of passengers made use of the wireless 
telegraphy installation, some telegraphing for more money, 
which was wired to them per the purser. The wireless 
installation on the Saxonia was useful in another way a 
short time back; getting into communication with the 
Campania, the latter informed the Saxonia that berths were 
waiting for English-speaking emigrants as motor-men on 
the surface lines of New York. These two instances serve 
to show the benefits that wireless telegraphy confers on 
travellers by sea. 
Tue fourth report of the National Electric Light Associ- 
ation’s committee for the photometry of arc lamps contains 
some interesting results of measurements of the light dis- 
| tribution and mean spherical candle-power of the American 
The only notable exception is to be found in those | 
pattern Nernst lamps. These lamps are made with one, 
three, six or more glowers in parallel; the measurements 
of the committee were made on the first three of these 
types. They show that the light distribution below the 
horizontal is very good, but above it is very poor. The 
distribution in the horizontal plane is fair; thus with the 
six-glower lamp the maximum horizontal candle-power is 
112, the minimum only about 4o candles; the mean _hori- 
zontal candle-power is 85 candles. For the same lamp the 
