i Whey 
‘ 
Janvary 6, 1923] 
Mr. C. S. Orwin, director of the Institute for Research 
in Agricultural Economics at Oxford, has been 
appointed agricultural assessor to the tribunal, and 
Mr. D. B. Toye, of the Ministry of Agriculture and 
Fisheries, will act as secretary. 
Ir is announced that Messrs. Ashton and Parsons, 
Limited, have made to Guy’s Hospital the generous 
gift of 2600/., to be paid in six and a half yearly 
instalments of 4oo/. each. This money is to be 
spent in research on diabetes and related metabolic 
disorders, and to be called a Parsons fellowship. 
At the present time, much work is required in 
investigating the properties and methods of prepara- 
tion of extracts of the pancreas, one of which is 
known as “insulin.” This endowment will assist 
to a notable degree the work already for some time 
in progress at Guy’s Hospital in connexion with 
the pathology of diabetes. 
Pror. W. M. Frinpers Petrie has consented to 
give a lecture on ‘“‘ Royal Burials in Egypt,”’ with 
special reference to recent excavations in Egypt, on 
Tuesday, January 23, at 5.30, in University College, 
London. The lecture will be illustrated by lantern 
slides, and the proceeds will be given to the St. 
Christopher’s Working Boys’ Club, which is connected 
with the Union Society and Women’s Union Society 
of the College. A leaflet containing full particulars 
as to the prices of the tickets can be obtained by 
sending a stamped addressed envelope to Dr. Walter 
Seton, University College, Gower Street, W.C.1. 
Tue Council of the Royal Statistical Society will, 
in November next, award the Frances Wood Memorial 
Prize, value 30/., for the best investigation of any 
problem dealing with the economic or social conditions 
of the wage-earning classes, the subject to be chosen 
by the competitor and treated on statistical lines. 
Competing essays (which must be either printed 
or typed, and accompanied by copies of all statistical 
tabulations), must be sent to the Honorary Secretaries 
of the Royal Statistical Society, 9 Adelphi Terrace, 
W.C.z, not later than July 1, 1923. 
Tue Times reports that a wireless message has been 
received via the radio station at Spitsbergen from 
Capt. Wisting, of Amundsen’s Norwegian North Polar 
expedition, The Maud, which left Cape Hope, 
Alaska, on July 26 for her drift across the polar basin, 
met pack ice in about lat. 70° N. Pushing through 
the ice the ship was near Herald Island on August 7, 
and on August 22 was frozen into the pack in lat. 
70° 20 (? 72° 20’) N., long. 175° 25’ W. The drift 
first carried the vessel back to lat. 72° N. and then to 
lat. 73° N., and finally due west. On December 15, 
when the message was despatched, the Maud was in 
lat. 73° 20’ N., long. 173° W. (? E.). On September 
26 the Maud was exposed to heavy pressure but rose 
uninjured, the ice meeting below her. The message 
reports that fine weather has been experienced and 
that scientific work is proceeding satisfactorily. 
Contrary to expectation, animal life is scanty, but a 
few seals and two bears have been secured. This is 
the first message beyond two brief weather reports 
NO, 2775, VOL, 111] 
NATURE 
25 
that has been received since the Maud left Alaska. 
Capt. Amundsen is wintering in Alaska ready to 
attempt his flight to Spitsbergen next summer. 
Tue Research Medal of the Worshipful Company 
of Dyers has recently been awarded to Prof. G. T. 
Morgan for a dissertation on the co-ordination theory 
of valency in relation to adjective dyeing. This 
comprehensive theory of chemical affinity, propounded 
originally by A. Werner of Ziirich, offers a means of 
correlating many of the facts observed in the dyeing 
of textile fibres with mordant or adjective colouring 
matters. The tinctorial effects produced are due to 
the formation within the fibres of insoluble coloured 
salts or lakes which in general are characterised by 
the following properties: sparing solubility in 
aqueous solutions, exceptional shade and fastness of 
colours, resistance to chemical reagents, and an inhibi- 
tion of the ordinary analytical reactions of the 
metallic bases implicated in the lake complex. By 
the use of a cobaltammine reagent, Drs. Morgan and 
Main Smith have shown that in three series of adjec- 
tive dyes—the quinoneoxime dyes, the alizarin series, 
and the azosalicylic acid dyes—the formation of a 
complex lake is due to the presence in the adjective 
colouring matter of a characteristic radical—the so- 
called ‘‘ chelate’? group—which has the distinctive 
property of satisfying completely the chemical 
affinity of the metallic component of the lake. These 
researches are being extended to other natural and 
synthetic adjective colouring matters. 
Ar the end of the recent gliding week on the 
South Downs, the German duration records were 
broken by a Frenchman, M. Alex. Maneyrol, who 
stayed in the air 3 h. 22 m. The machine used in 
this feat was a Peyret Tandem Monoplane, and it 
was remarked at the time that this machine recalled 
the form of aeroplane constructed by S. P. Langley 
many years back. In a note issued by the Smith- 
sonian Institution on November 28, 1922, reference 
is made to this vindication of Langley’s design of a 
flying machine, and a short account is given of the 
history of the researches conducted by Langley. 
He began in 1887, and by 1892 had evolved a small 
‘“‘aerodrome”’ model. In May 1896 a model flew for 
1} minutes (a photograph of this flight accompanies 
the note). Work on a full-sized machine began in 
1898, and was supported by the War Department, 
Board of Ordnance and Fortification, U.S.A. A 
machine was ready in 1903, but the trials were un- 
successful and hostile press criticism caused the 
withdrawal of official support. Langley died in 
1906, It is claimed that the original machine, 
‘overhauled but not niaterially changed,’’ flew in 
1914, and that ‘ these flights proved conclusively 
the fact that Prof. Langley developed and built the 
first man-carrying aeroplane capable of sustained 
free flight.’ No reference is made to -the recent 
controversy on this question of priority. 
Maj. W. F. Brake gives in Discovery for January a 
full account of the attempt to fly round the world 
made by Capt. N. Macmillan, Mr. G. Malins, and him- 
self. Beginning their journey on May 24, 1922, his 
