October 20, 19 10] 



NATURE 



509 



The morning sittings on Friday, October 7, were devoted 

 entirely to tuberculosis in the child and in the schools, 

 and in the afternoon to women's work in connection with 

 tuberculosis. Mrs. Nathan Raw and Dr. J. Walker both 

 took part in the discussion, stating the case for England. 

 Perhaps the most interesting contribution of the afternoon 

 was that made by Dr. Hermann von Schrbtter on the 

 action of sunlight and high altitudes, and their relation 

 to the treatment of tuberculosis. It was of all the greater 

 interest to English workers in that he had collaborated 

 with Dr. Barcroft, who had been sent out to do similar 

 work at Teneriffe. Some of his observations on the pig- 

 mentation of the skin seemed to bear out Prof. Landouzy's 

 thesis. Dr. Schrbtter believes that the pigment is formed 

 by the cell, probably by the nucleus, that it does not come 

 directly from the blood, and that the capacity to form 

 pigment under stimulation gives some information as to 

 the activity and stability of the cells. He also spoke of 

 the effect of light, especially the ultra-violet rays, and 

 high altitudes upon respiration, circulation, and meta- 

 bolism, and is decidedly of opinion that not only is tuber- 

 culosis a disease of obscurity, but that it is a disease of 

 concentration of population. 



Saturday morning, October 8, was devoted to the 

 nomination of committees and to the reports brought by 

 the various foreign delegates. From these reports it may 

 be gathered that not only in England, Ireland, and Scot- 

 land, but in many Continental countries, especially 

 .Sweden, tuberculosis is a gradually diminishing factor in 

 both mortality and morbidity. 



The social functions held during the conference were 

 almost as interesting as the scientific sederunts. The 

 receptions given by M. Be^o, the Governor of Brabant, 

 in the Government buildings of the province, and of the 

 Burgomeister and the Town Council of Brussels in the 

 H6tel de Ville, were as interesting from the associations 

 of the places in which they were held as from the people 

 one met there. The annual dinner was also a great 

 success, and the speaking was of a very high order. 

 .Amongst the congratulations and messages sent to the 

 conference was one from King George dated from 

 Balmoral Castle : — " The Queen joins me in thanking you 

 and the members for your kind telegram. We earnestly 

 pray that successful results may attend your labours, and 

 that a further stimulus max be given to the great inter- 

 national campaign that is being carried out against this 

 terrible disease. George, R. et I." Telegrams were also 

 received from the Queen of Denmark, from the Kings of 

 Rumania, Sweden, Spain, and Norway, from the Emperor 

 of Germany and from President Taft, all of them express- 

 ing similar interest in the work of the conference. It may 

 perhaps be held that no outstanding work was brought 

 forward at the conference, but those who were privileged 

 to take part in it could not but feel that these inter- 

 national conferences cerve as admirable " stock-taking " 

 occasions, and, as successes and failures are recorded, of 

 determining, or at any rate of obtaining information as 

 to, the best method of carrying on the campaign against 

 the White Scourge. As they are held in a different country 

 each year, they also afford opportunities of seeing how the 

 work is being tackled and how far it is succeeding in 

 various parts of the world. 



THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC 

 CONGRESS AT BUENOS AIRES. 

 /^NE of the important features of the celebration of the 

 ^^ Ccntenario of the Revolution of May 25, 1810, was 

 the International Scientific Congress. This congress was 

 held in Buenos AWcs from July 11 to 25, 1910, inclusive, 

 under the auspices and direct management of the .'\rgentine 

 Scientific Society. 



Great interest was manifested in this, as in other portions 

 of the celebration, by the residents of Argentina. In spite 

 of the distance from the populous northern hemisphere, the 

 congress was well attended, there was great interest mani- 

 fested in all the sections, and it can well be said that it 

 was successful. 



The opening session of the congress took place on the 

 afternoon of July 11 in the CoI6n Theatre, the magnificent 

 playhouse of Buenos .Aires. The great popular interest was 



NO. 2138, VOL. 84] 



evidenced by the very large and fashionable attendance at. 

 these opening exercises. A .short address of welcome was 

 pronounced by the Minister of Public Instruction, Dr. 

 Rbmulo S. Naon. The principal address was made by the 

 president of the congress, Engineer Luis A. Huergo, and 

 short addresses by the foreign delegates, the whole being 

 interspersed with excellent music. 



The serious work of the congress began on the following 

 day, when the various sections met at the principal scientific 

 headquarters of the city. One of the sections held meetings 

 in the library of the patriot Bartolom^ Mitre, whose resid- 

 ence is now preserved as a museum by the city. 



The work of the congress was divided into eleven prin- 

 cipal sections as follows : — Mathematics, physics, and. 

 astronomy ; cliemistry ; geology and geography ; biology ; 

 anthropology ; engineering ; agriculture ; psychology and. 

 pedagogy ; jurisprudence and social science ; military 

 science ; and naval science. 



In the limits of a short account such as this it will be 

 entirely impossible to give even the titles of all the papers 

 presented. It is necessary, therefore, to refer only to those 

 which appear to be of the greater interest to the general 

 readers of Nature, at the risk of omitting many of equal, 

 or perhaps greater importance. 



Several of the delegates delivered public lectures in. 

 Buenos Aires and La Plata. A special meeting of the 

 delegates from Spanish-speaking countries was held at the 

 rooms of the Argentine Scientific Society to inaugurate a- 

 movement " to purify, to enrich, and to unify " the tech- 

 nology of the Spanish language. 



Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy. 



Several interesting papers were presented in the field of. 

 pure mathematics, notably those by Volterra upon integral 

 equations and their applications, and by Dr. F'ranck upon 

 the surface of the second order of Lie and their relations to. 

 a point upon any surface whatever. Prof. Torres y Quevedo 

 gave an exposition of the mathematical theory of an electro- 

 mechanical calculating machine. A paper was sent by 

 Prof. L. A. Bauer giving an account of the work done 

 with the new magnetic survey vessel of the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington, the Carnegie. This vessel has 

 proven successful beyond e.xpectation. 



In the subsection of astronomy, the observatories of 

 Santiago, Chile, the temporary observatory of the Carnegie 

 Institution at San Luis, La Plata Observatory, and the 

 Argentine National Observatory at C6rdoba were repre- 

 sented. The plans for the new Chilean National Observa- 

 tory were shown by Dr. Ristenpart, as well as photographs, 

 of Halley's comet; two charts of the series being pre- 

 pared by that Observatory from the Cape Photographic 

 Durchmusterung. Prof. Tucker, in charge of the Carnegie 

 branch observatory at San Luis, read a paper dealing with 

 the fundamental system of star positions, which is being 

 prepared by the department of Meridian Astrometry of that 

 institution under the direction of Prof. Boss. Sunrise and' 

 sunset tables to 1950 were presented by the La Plata 

 Observatory. Several papers were presented by the- 

 C6rdoba Observatory dealing with the work in progress 

 there, as well as a series of photographs of Halley's comet 

 which had been obtained there. A proposition was dis- 

 cussed to publish an astronomical ephemeris suitable for the 

 South American countries in place of those now issued by 

 several of the observatories. 



Chemistry. 

 -Among the many important papers presented in this 

 section were contributions to the study of Argentine oil, 

 by Dr. Sabatini ; composition of the alfalfa and other 

 foiages grown in .Argentina, by Engineers Lavenir and 

 Negri. These investigators demonstrated the superiority of 

 corn grown in the .Argentine. Dr. Quiroga presented a 

 new chemical nomenclature of inorganic bodies. 



Geology and Geography. 

 The pVincipal papers in this section related to the 

 countries of .Argentina, Chile, and those adjoining to the 

 east and north. The subject of mines and the laws relating 

 to them, including fuel deposits, occupied a chief place. 

 Engineer Patron presented a paper on the development of 

 geographic and geodetic work of Chile, Prof. Codazzi one 

 on mining in Colontbia, Senor Maurtua on geographical 



