686 

undoubted poisonous character. So impressed were 
the two Departmental Committees appointed in r911 
to investigate the incidence of lead poisoning in the 
two largest trades concerned with painting—buildings 
and vehicles respectively—that they recommended 
that, except for special classes of work of very minor 
importance, the use of paints containing more than 
a very small percentage of lead compounds soluble 
in dilute acid should be prohibited. 
During the War much experience was gained with 
many materials, and the mere omission to repaint 
so many buildings and other structures enabled much 
valuable information to be gained. In 1921 the 
Home Office found that the information collected in 
view of the consideration of the use of lead paints by 
the International Labour Organisation of the League 
of Nations, was not in the main in accord with the 
findings of the 1911 committees. Another Depart- 
mental Committee, with Sir Henry Norman as chair- 
man, has therefore reviewed the whole question and 
come to rather different and, it may be said, more 
reasonable conclusions. 
The Committee is satisfied that the specific ill- 
nesses of the paint trade are due to lead poisoning and 
not, as Sir Kenneth Goadby and Prof. H. E. Armstrong 
were inclined to maintain, to the fumes of turpentine 
or other hydrocarbon solvents. There certainly 
appears to be little evidence of chronic disease due 
to these substances when used apart from lead. The 
NATURE 

Committee considers it to be generally admitted that 
dust from the sand-papering of old or new paint-work 
The Duddell Memorial 
IX October 1920 the council of the Physical Society 
of London decided that Mr. W. du B. Duddell’s 
memory should be perpetuated, and invited the 
council of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 
and the council of the Réntgen Society to join in 
forming a committee to collect funds for the Duddell 
memorial. The following were the members of the 
Memorial Committee so formed: Sir William Bragg, 
Sir Horace Dar- 
Witt .: Sig Waa lee 
Glazebrook, Dr. 
Re Knox wProt, 
Mather, Mr. Roger 
T. Smith, and Mr. 
Robert S.Whipple. 
A gratifying re- 
sponse was made 
to the appeal, 
nearly 7oo/. being 
subscribed. 
The © council 
of the Physical 
Society, feeling 
that Duddell’s 
name will always 
be associated with 
the development 
of scientific instru- 
ments, has decided 
that the memorial shall take the form of a bronze 
medal to be awarded periodically to those who have 
advanced knowledge by the invention or design of 
scientific instruments or of the materials or methods 
used in their construction. The interest on 4ool. 
(invested in 5 per cent. inscribed stock) will be given 
to the recipients of the medal. 
At a meeting of the Physical Society held on 
Friday, May 11, Sir William Bragg as chairman of 
the Memorial Committee handed to Dr. Alexander 
NO. 2794, VOL. III] 

materials or methods used in their construction. 

Fic. 1.—Duddell Memorial medal to be presented periodically by the Physical Society of London to 
those who have advanced knowledge by the invention or design of scientific instruments or of the 
[May 19, 1923 
is almost the only cause of lead poisoning. The 
introduction of a waterproof sand-paper and the pro- 
hibition of dry rubbing-down bids fair to remove 
this main cause, and rules as to cleanliness simple 
enough to be enforceable may dispel minor causes. 
Sir Frank Baines, of H.M.’s Office of Works, was 
emphatic as to the superiority ©f white-lead paint — 
over any substitute for outdoor painting of buildings. 
Analyses of scrapings from various public buildings 
confirmed the view that zinc oxide coatings had 
almost disappeared, exposing the old lead paint 
beneath. On the other hand, it must be pointed 
out that leadless paints seem to have given satisfaction 
when used on vehicles. 
Great Britain is pledged to bring in legislation to 
give effect to the decisions of the Labour Organisation 
of the League of Nations, and the Committee has 
prepared draft regulations accepted by both sides of 
the Joint Industrial Council. It seems doubtful, in 
view of much of the evidence, whether the prohibition 
of white lead in internal painting should be strictly 
enforced, but on the whole, the regulations are salutary 
and should reduce the number of cases of lead poisoning, - 
while a system of medical inspection should prevent 
mild cases from becoming chronic. 
Lord Askwith in the Times of April 4 points out 
certain international aspects of the question, and 
expresses the hope, partly on economic grounds, in 
view of the possibility of minimising danger from — 
white lead, that prohibition of its use for internal 
painting in 1927 may not be enforced. 
of the Physical Society. 
Russell, the president of the Society, the dies for 
the medal and the scrip for the investment. Sir 
Richard Glazebrook, speaking also on behalf of the 
subscribers to the Memorial Fund, dwelt on Duddell’s 
ability and labour. 
Dr. Russell, in accepting the dies, etc., on behalf 
of the Society, expressed his pleasure that Duddell’s 
work, and especially his work in connexion with the 
Society, should be 
perpetuated by a 
memorial of this 
kind. 
The medal (Fig. 
1), which is in 
bronze, was de- 
signed by Mrs. 
Mary G. Gillick. 
The obverse shows 
the head of Dud- 
dell in profile, with 
hisname“ William 
Du Bois Duddell” 
written above it. 
The dates of his 
birth and death 
—1872 and 1917 
—are placed in 
Roman characters 
horizontally 
across the medal. The artist has succeeded in 
showing in a striking manner the alert energy of 
Duddell as well as the erectness of his carriage. 
The reverse represents the quest of science for 
knowledge, a symbolic figure, throwing light on the © 
mysteries of the earth. Above the figure the words 
“The Physical Society of London” appear, while 
below is the motto ‘“ Rerum naturam expandere,”’ 
which may be freely translated, ‘‘ To elucidate the 
causes of things.” j 

