
: May 26, 1923] 
a girl of thirteen at school. 

the only possibility is to rear pigeons in a confined space 
within a powerful and varying magnetic field, and to 
remove them eventually to a distance under similar 
conditions. On being liberated for flight the birds 
would, for the first time in their lives, come under the 
undisturbed influence of terrestrial magnetism, and in 
NATURE 
713 
these circumstances it should, by hypothesis, be useless« 
to them as an aid to homing. We may hope that the 
experiment will be attempted, but until and unless 
some positive indications are obtained we are justified 
in remaining more than a little sceptical as to the 
existence of a “‘ magnetic sense.” ALE. 
New General ‘Anesthetics. 
ee QUARTERS of a century ago the era of 
surgical anesthesia was suddenly and un- 
expectedly opened with ether, chloroform, and nitrous 
oxide. The relative importance of these three in 
surgery has varied at different times, but none of the 
many substitutes suggested has secured a permanent 
footing in surgery, although several have had a shorter | 
or longer vogue. 
The paramount consideration in the choice of an 
anesthetic is safety, and it is recognised that this may 
be conduced to by avoiding the prolonged unconscious- 
ness of ether and chloroform. This has led to the 
increased prominence of nitrous oxide in recent years ; 
but while this induces rapid and safe anesthesia, it 
can be used for ordinary surgical work only with 
difficulty, owing to the cumbrous apparatus necessary. 
afterwards. This short duration of the action is 
similar to that of nitrous oxide and ethyl chloride, and 
is associated with the rapid absorption and elimination 
of the anesthetics owing to their volatility; for all 
four are gases at ordinary temperature and pressure. 
The new anesthetics appear to be more powerful 
than nitrous oxide, however, for they are efficient when 
_ mixed with oxygen, and the anesthesia can therefore 
be maintained continuously without danger of asphyxia. 
On the other hand, they are devoid of the halogen 
component of ethyl chloride, which lends it an effect on 
_ the heart which is absent in the unsubstituted molecule. 
Within the last few weeks two new anesthetics have — 
made their appearance in acetylene and ethylene, each | 
diluted with oxygen ; the first hails from the pharma- 
cological laboratory of Prof. Straub of Freiburg, the 
second from Drs. Luckhardt and Carter of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago. 
without preliminary discomfort and with rapid recovery 
Each is said to induce anesthesia | 
The introduction of these unsaturated hydrocarbons is 
of practical and also theoretical interest. A higher 
homologue of ethylene was early suggested by Snow 
(1853) as an anesthetic in amylene, and more recently 
a purer preparation of analogous composition had some 
success under the name of pental. Ethylene and 
acetylene have to be kept under high pressure, and it 
may be that this inconvenience may militate against 
their more general use, even if the favourable reporis 
given by their sponsors are confirmed by further 
experience. 
Obituary. 
Mrs. Lupwic Monn. 
Fae friends of Mrs. Mond, widow of Dr. Ludwig 
Mond, will mourn her death, on May 16, at The 
Poplars, Avenue Road, Regent’s Park, of which she had 
so long been the attractive figure and ornament. 
Those who knew Dr. Mond intimately enough to 
visit his home could never think of him alone but 
necessarily associated him with his wife; they were 
an inseparable couple in thought and, in all their 
social interactions, as wonderfully adjusted as were 
the two salts he caused to interact in the great works 
his genius created. This came from the fact of their 
early intimate association. 
They were first cousins ; her mother was his loving 
counsellor when he was a youth; and they became 
secretly engaged before he was of age, when she was 
Up to their marriage, 
after he was established in England, they maintained 
a constant correspondence, of a most intimate character, 
which it has been my privilege to see in large part; 
it affords the most striking picture possible of the 
charm and simplicity of German life in those early 
days. Mrs. Mond’s letters from the beginning show 
an extraordinary maturity and sobriety of judgment. 
It ts clear that Dr. Mond’s later esthetic development 
was greatly due to the foundation laid during this 
period, mainly through the influence his wife exerted 
on him. In their married life she cast a spell upon all 
his friends which greatly added to his influence. Her 
ability is well brought out by Mr. T. P. O’Connor, 
M.P., in the Sunday Times, in the following few lines: 
NO. 2795, VOL. 111] 
“Mrs. Mond, his wife, struck me as being almost as 
big a mind as her husband. In a few sentences, 
describing the difierence between the Gothic and the 
Renaissance types of architecture—especially of the 
architecture of the cathedral—I got a clearer idea of 
the two ideals than I could have learned from a 
dozen books.” 
By Mrs. Mond’s death, the nation comes into posses- 
sion of Dr. Mond’s great gift of Italian pictures and 
the Royal Society receives his bequest of 50,000/. It 
is a sad fact that the enterprise in which Dr. Mond 
was so particularly interested—the International 
Catalogue of Scientific Literature—the promotion of 
which, I know, was specially in his thoughts when he 
made the bequest, has been allowed to lapse almost 
at the moment his gift becomes fruitful. He may be 
said to have been the main promoter of the Catalogue 
and the greatest believer in its ultimate value to the 
scientific worker. He would have deplored nothing 
more than its abandonment at the time when develop- 
ment of the spirit of international co-operation is so 
imperative a need. 
Unfortunately, we have lost the broad outlook 
which characterised Mond and his generation ; Michael 
Foster seems to have been its last exponent in the 
Royal Society, the last who dared to cultivate 
enthusiasm. Apparently, we are no longer able to 
maintain continuity of thought and action; nor, 
when we have done well, to realise the importance of 
our work and take pride in carrying it to completion. 
We prate of science but the true spirit of scientific 
method is no longer in us. H. E. A. 
