———— rc oe 

May 12, 1923] 
NATURE 
649 

The Forthcoming Pasteur Centenary Celebrations at Strasbourg. 
\VE have already announced that the Government 
of the French Republic has desired to com- 
memorate this year the centenary of Louis Pasteur, | 
and Strasbourg, where this illustrious savant com- 
menced his scientific and university career, has been 
very fittingly chosen as the scene for the celebra- 
tions. Chief among these will be an international 
scientific exhibition—L’Exposition Internationale du 
Centenaire de Pasteur—which has been organised 
with the object of setting forth the fruits of 
Pasteur’s work, not only in the domain of medicine 
but also in those of industry and agriculture. This 
exhibition will be officially opened on June r in the 
presence of the President of the French Republic, 
members of the French Government, and scientific 
delegates from all over the world. On the same day 
a monument erected to the honour of Pasteur in 
the Place de l'Université will be inaugurated, and a 
further permanent memorial is to take the form of a 
Museum of Hygiene. This will consist of a collection 
of exhibits illustrative of the various researches of 
Pasteur, and will constitute a history, in concrete 
form, of the early years of the science of micro- 
biology. - 
The International Exhibition promises to be a most 
extensive and complete demonstration of the manifold 
results of Pasteur’s work, both in pure and in applied 
science. It is to be organised in twelve groups, 
namely, microbiology, chemistry and chemical in- 
dustry, collective hygiene, general hygiene, physical 
training, town hygiene, alimentary hygiene, food 
industries, refrigeration, agriculture, silks and seri- 
culture, and finally a group devoted to scientific 
literature. In order that the exhibition should attain 
to that plane of excellence which would make it at 
once worthy of the man in whose honour it is being 
held, and an attraction to men of science, the organisa- 
tion of the various groups and their sections has been 
entrusted to those who, by their work, are specially 
qualified in the various branches of science repre- 
sented. 
The groups of microbiology and collective hygiene 
are naturally the largest and perhaps the most inter- 
esting. The former, under the presidency of Dr, 
Roux, comprises in all nine sections; There will be 
a section devoted to diseases of man, including bac- 
teriological and immunological technique, and sections 
dealing with vaccinia and vaccine institutes, tropical 
diseases and hygiene, diseases of plants, veterinary 
diseases, diseases of silkworms and other insects, 
parasitic insects, nitrification and sterilisation of soil 
—a most comprehensive list. The group of collective 
hygiene, with its six sections, is to deal with matters 
of the greatest importance, such as industrial dis- 
eases, tuberculosis, venereal diseases, cancer, mater- 
nity and infant welfare, military hygiene, and the 
organisation and installation of hospitals; and the 
names of such well-known scientific men as Dr. 
Calmette and Dr. Louis Martin, among the presidents 
of these sections, is a guarantee of the standard of 
excellence which will be reached in this group. But 
it is not only the man of science who will find interest 
in this exhibition. The sciences of chemistry and 
microbiology find their application throughout in- 
dustry and in all phases of our modern civilisation. 
It is one of the objects of this exhibition to emphasise 
this interdependence of science and industry, and, to 
judge from the list of industries which will be repre- 
sented by exhibits in the various groups, this aspect 
of the question has not been overlooked. 
The exhibition will remain open till October, and 
during this period congresses on various subjects are 
to be held. In this manner it is proposed to discuss 
such subjects as tuberculosis, housing, town hygiene, 
cancer, leprosy, syphilis, puerperal fever, and milk. 
The general secretary of the exhibition is Prof. Borrel, 
director of the Institute of Hygiene and Bacteriology 
of Strasbourg. 
Chemical Characteristics of Australian Trees. 
R. HENRY G. SMITH, of Sydney, in his presi- 
dential address to the section of Chemistry at 
the meeting of the Australasian Association for the 
Advancement of Science, held at Wellington in January 
last, dealt particularly with the elucidation of some 
chemical characteristics of Australian vegetation, | 
treating the subject in relation to the generalisations _ 
that may reasonably be advanced from the considera- | 
tion of the results secured by the phyto-chemical study 
of the principal Australian genera, such as Eucalyptus | 
and Callitris. This study extended over a period of | 
more than thirty years, and was undertaken in conjunc- | 
tion with his botanical colleague, Mr. R. T. Baker. 
Some of the chemical peculiarities brought to light 
during this investigation appear to be characteristic 
of this unique flora, and indicate a distinct uniformity 
in progressive characters, suggesting evolutionary 
processes as the directing influence in the production | 
of the numerous groups and species which, in the 
aggregate, go to form the more important genera. . 
e genus Eucalyptus apparently originated in | 
what is at present the western and north-western | 
portions of Australia, and as it spread eastward and | 
experienced varying degrees of soil and climate the | 
conditions demanded by these new locations and | 
climatic changes were met by the responding charac- | 
teristics of the genus. . 
The chemical peculiarities of nearly two hundred | 
distinct species were determined, so that many data 
NO. 2793, VOL. I11] 
were obtained upon which to formulate the more 
recent theories regarding the formation of the dis- 
tinctive groups. 
Eucalyptus is essentially an oil-producing genus, 
and already about forty distinct chemical constituents 
have been isolated and characterised. These include 
1r alcohols; 9 aldehydes; 2 phenols; 7 esters; 5 
terpenes; I ketone; I sesquiterpene; 1 paraffin; 
and also cymene and cineol. 
The two main factors controlling the chemical 
sequence throughout the genus may be stated in the 
following terms: (1) The same species of Eucalyptus 
has chemical properties of a comparatively constant 
nature wherever found growing under natural con- 
ditions, and (2) each constituent follows the sequence 
of species in increasing amount until a maximum is 
reached in one or more of them. 
These conditions are not only true for the several 
oil products, but may also be applied to the astringent 
exudations or kinos produced in varying amounts by 
all the species. The characteristic features of these 
exudations are traceable right through the genus, and 
| are particularly noticeable with the two crystalline 
substances, aromadendrin and eudesmin, found in 
the older species of the genus. These substances 
become extinct when the group of “ ironbarks”’ is 
reached in the sequence of evolution, and are, of 
course, absent in all the more recent species, such as 
| those belonging to the “ stringybarks,’’ “ pepper- 
