March 20, 1902] 



NA TURE 



467 



and Plait, runs along one, and in it will be placed the 

 lathes, drilling machine, planing machine and other tools. 

 The other bay is for experimental work. It is traversed 

 by a 2-ton crane, and will contain a testing machine and 

 machinery for testing steam-pressure gauges, indicators 

 and such instruments. 



With regard to gifts to the Laboratory, it has already 

 been mentioned that the Drapers' Company has under- 

 taken to provide the sum of 700/. to meet the cost of a 

 Lorenz apparatus, in memory of the late Principal \'iriamu 

 Jones. Messrs. Willans and Robinson are providing 

 apparatus for testing steam-pressure gauges and indi- 

 cators, while in a number of cases very advantageous 

 terms have been granted to the committee by manu- 

 facturers of tools and machinery. Lord Rayleigh, Lord 

 Kelvin, Mrs. Hopkinson, and the Syndics of the Cam- 

 bridge University Press have presented valuable books. 

 Lady Galton has given a valuable astronomical clock 

 with electric contacts, in memory of the late Sir Douglas 

 Galton. 



But though much has been done, the Laboratory is far 

 from complete. Rather more than 3000/. has been spent 

 on apparatus, but visitors will notice many gaps before 

 the important problems which lie to hand can be fully 

 grasped. Still, it is now possible to make a start, and to 

 show, by the work done with the means at the disposal of 

 the staff, that the Laboratory is fulfilling a need and that 

 it deserves the support of those who are concerned in 

 facilitating the application of science to industry. The 

 pious benefactor, however, who will put it as regards 

 equipment on a footing comparable with the Reichs- 

 anstalt is still to seek. 



In research work it is hoped that the investigations of 

 the Alloys Research Committee may be continued. 

 Much, though not all, of the apparatus required for this 

 has been purchased ; a recording pyrometer, however, 

 must be added to the outfit before it is complete. Prof. 

 Barrett's paper read at the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers recently showed the importance of the alu- 

 minium steels for dynamo and transformer manufactures, 

 and with the kind assistance he then offered it is hoped 

 that a start may soon be made on their investigation. 



The measurement of wind pressure is of great import- 

 ance to engineers ; with the help of Sir Benjamin Baker, 

 an investigation will be made into this subject. 



In thermometry, the object will be to arrange for the 

 more systematic and ready measurement of the high 

 temperatures met with in industrial undertakings. 



As to the commercial testing work which is to be 

 undertaken, the following list will indicate its scope, 

 though until the Laboratory standards have been more 

 thoroughly studied it is hardly possible to do much on a 

 large scale : — 



Tests of pressure gauges and steam indicators. 



Tests of measuring appliances and gauges for use in 

 engineering shops, &c. 



Test of screw gauges. 



Tests of thermometers for the measurement of high or 

 low temperature, the platinum thermometer, thermopiles, 

 &c. 



Photomicrographic tests on metals, steel rails, &c. 



Measurement of the insulation resistance and di- 

 electric capacity of insulators. 



Measurement of the electrical resistance of conductors. 



Tests of capacity and induction and of various forms 

 of electrical measuring apparatus. 



Tests on the magnetic properties of iron, iSic. 



•Standardisation of glass vessels, flasks, burettes, &c., 

 used in chemical laboratories and in various industries — 

 e.g. the dairy trade. 



Standardisation of weights and scales for laboratory 

 purposes. 



Testing of photographic and other lenses. 



NO. 1690, VOL. 65] 



The director hopes before long to issue a pamphlet 

 giving some account of these various tests, together with 

 a statement of fees charged. 



Thus an ample programme has been prepared, and it 

 is interesting to learn on the authority of the director 

 that some slight demand has already shown itself for 

 nearly all the tests enumerated in the list. 



PROPOSED ORGANISED RESEARCH ON 

 CANCER. 



WE are pleased to learn that a scheme has recently 

 been elaborated in this country for the purpose of 

 systematising and procuring endowment for research 

 upon cancer. In this respect our country is already 

 somewhat behindhand, since a similar organisation has 

 been for some time in full activity in Germany. A 

 large sum of money has been placed at the dis- 

 posal of Prof. Ehrlich, and a German cancer com- 

 mittee, with Prof, von Leyden as president, is now at 

 work. To this purpose the German Government has 

 already made grants of upwards of 50,000 marks. In 

 America there is a State-subsidised cancer laboratory 

 at the present time, under the direction of Prof. 

 Roswell Park, concerning the work of which some 

 account was given in the Medical Record last May. In 

 France, cooperative work upon cancer is also already irv 

 progress, a special journal being devoted to the publica- 

 tion of the results. 



It will be unnecessary to enter here into the details of 

 the scheme ; suffice it to say that any funds will be 

 invested in the names of five trustees, and that the 

 income derived from them will be paid over to a general 

 committee consisting of these trustees and three 

 representatives of the College of Physicians (the presi- 

 dent and two censors), three representatives of the 

 College of Surgeons (the president and two vice-presi- 

 dents), the members of the laboratories committee of the 

 Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, and one 

 member, to be nominated by the Local Government 

 Board. The general committee will have control of the 

 income of the fund, but concerning the e.\act method of 

 spending it they will take counsel with an advisory 

 board, which will consist of the laboratories committee 

 of the Royal Colleges and other members chosen in 

 equal numbers by each of the Royal Colleges. It is 

 estimated that the sum of 100,000/. will be required for 

 the above purpose, .^t the present time, funds are 

 conspicuous by their absence. 



To the lay mind the term cancer does not imply a well- 

 marked entity ; the word is, in fact, occasionally used as 

 synonymous with tumour, meaning, roughly, a swelling or 

 growth W'here a swelling or growth ought not to be. To- 

 the medical mind the term cancer means a special form 

 of tumour which is characterised microscopically by its 

 structure and clinically by its method of growth. This 

 latter is of two kinds, local and general. The local 

 growth consists of an infiltration of the adjacent tissues, 

 the general growth of a dissemination of the particles 

 of the disease which produce growths, conforming in 

 type to the original tumour, in parts of the body more or 

 less remote from the seat of the primary affection. So 

 far as concerns their minute structure, however, tumours 

 growing in the above manner are not all, from the histo- 

 logical standpoint, cancers or carcinomatous. This term 

 has been made by morbid histologists conventionally to 

 designate a definite variety of tumours growing in the 

 above-stated "malignant" manner, viz. those the micro- 

 scopic structure of which is of the epiblastic or epithelial 

 type. This classification is rendered necessary by the 

 fact that there exists another class of tumours equally 

 malignant, but the minute structure of which is of the 

 connective-tissue or mesoblastic type. These tumours 



