578 
Sa ee 
Nartwig Franzen was born on March 21, 1878, at Nortorf, 
Holstein ; he studied at Heidelberg, Berlin, and Copen- 
hagen, graduating in rgo1 at Heidelberg and becoming 
a private lecturer in chemistry at that university. His 
first work was published in collaboration with Th. 
Curtius, the discoverer of hydrazine and hydrazoic 
acid (azoimid), whose favourite pupil he was. In 1910 
he became extraordinary professor and was called in 
1912 to the Technical High School at Karlsruhe as sub- 
director of the organic chemistry institute. Franzen 
worked on gas analysis and embodied his results in his 
“ Practicum,” which was published in 1907. He also 
investigated the hydrazine compounds and problems in 
the chemistry of fermentation and the physiology of 
plants. Many of his publications deal with the con- 
stituents of green plants. Franzen was a well-known 
investigator and an efficient teacher. His early death 
leaves a great gap in the ranks of the younger German 
chemists, and his numerous friends and pupils will 
faithfully preserve his memory. 

WE regret to announce the following deaths : 
Mr. F. W. Harmer, for more than fifty years a 
fellow of the Geological Society and well-known for 
NATURE 

[ApriL 28, 1923 

his studies of Pliocene mollusca, on April 24, aged 
eighty-seven. 
Prof. G. D. Hinrichs, formerly professor of physical 
science in the University of Iowa and of chemistry at 
the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, aged eighty-six. 
Sir Albert J. Hobson, pro-chancellor of the Univer- 
sity of Sheffield and for twenty years a member of the 
council of the University, on April 20, aged sixty-one. 
Prof. V. Th. Homén, Pippingskéldsche professor 
of applied physics in the University of Helsingfors, 
aged seventy-five. 
Dr. A. Latham, physician and lecturer in medicine 
at St. George’s Hospital, who was known for his work 
on pulmonary consumption, on April 13, aged fifty- 
six. 
Prof. E. W. Morley, professor of chemistry at 
Western Reserve University from 1869 until 1906 and 
known for his part in the Michelson-Morley experi- 
ment to detect motion of bodies through the ether, 
aged eighty-five. 
Sir John Watney, chairman of the Council of the 
City and Guilds of London Institute, on March 25, 
aged eighty-nine. ‘ 
Mr. J. Wright, well-known for his work on Irish 
foraminifera and carboniferous fossils, on April 7, 
aged eighty-nine. 
Current Topics and Events. 
TuE “ Zoological Record,”’ which for nearly sixty 
years has annually supplied zoologists with biblio- 
graphical references to the literature of their subject, 
and in particular has performed the task of recording 
the names of new genera and species introduced each 
year, is threatened with extinction. Although the 
responsibility for producing the Record was tem- 
porarily shared with the International Catalogue, 
which has ceased to exist, the credit for its publica- 
tion, during recent years, has otherwise belonged 
exclusively to the Zoological Society, which has thus 
earned the gratitude of workers in all parts of the 
world. The decision of the council of the Society 
to cease publication, except on certain terms which 
are explained in another part of this issue, will be 
received with regret and consternation by a large 
number of investigators. It is urgently necessary 
that a combined effort should be made to save this 
invaluable serial, and those interested are invited to 
communicate with Sir Sidney Harmer, at the British 
Museum (Natural History). Suggestions will be 
welcomed, but it is hoped that many will be able to 
express their sympathy in a practical form, by under- 
taking to subscribe for the annual volumes or for 
the separate parts in which they are individually 
interested, or by giving assistance of an even more 
direct nature. 
THE treatment of diabetes by the use of the extract 
of the pancreas known as “insulin” is now made 
more widely possible by the fact that it has been put 
upon the market by the British Drug Houses in con- 
junction with Messrs. Allen and Hanburys, Burroughs, 
Wellcome and Co., and Eli Lilly and Co. On account 
of the limited supply as yet available, the Medical 
Research Council has made certain recommendations 
NO. 2791, VOL. 111] 

to the Ministry of Health with regard to its eco- 
nomical use. The Minister has appointed the follow- 
ing committee to advise him on the subject: Sir 
George Newman, Dr. R. A. Bolam, Sir Walter Fletcher, 
Sir Humphry Rolleston, Dr. Alfred Salter, and Dr. 
McCleary. This committee, which can be addressed 
at the Ministry of Health, Whitehall, has recom- 
mended that insulin should be supplied only to 
hospitals and medical practitioners who have at their 
disposal means of determining the sugar content of 
the blood. Those to whom the preparation is 
supplied shall undertake to make observations of 
the changes in the amount of sugar in the blood in 
correlation with the dose of insulin given. It shall 
not be given where the symptoms can be controlled 
by moderate restriction of diet. It may, however, 
be given in coma, as an emergency treatment, or in 
preparation for a surgical operation. Detailed in- 
structions for its use and for obviating the results of 
too large a dose are supplied by the makers with each 
sample. ; 
A MEMBER of an Indian Provincial Legislative 
Council was reported recently to have demanded that 
the budget allotment for combating hookworm disease 
should be cut out because, as ninety per cent. of the 
people suffered from this serious disability, “it was a 
normal state of health and there was no meaning in 
spending money on investigation and prevention of 
the disease.” The demand revealed a dangerous 
depth of ignorance, or, what is worse, a perversion of 
knowledge—for the speaker was an Indian doctor— 
which is only equalled by that of another member 
asking not long ago what steps a Provincial Govern- 
ment proposed to take to diminish the deaths due to 
lightning! Unfortunately, the Retrenchment Com- 
