October 27, 19 10] 



NATURE 



545 



of the outburst. A number of photographs, in H,, 

 calcium, light are reproduced in the journal, and it is 

 stated that visual observations on April 13 showed the 

 prominence to have the same form and size in the radia- 

 tions Ha, H;8, and D3. 



The other prominence was first noticed on a plate taken 

 at 7h. 46-7m. G..M.T. on March 24. It was then conical 

 in form, with a base extending from position-angle 230° 

 to 235°, and an apparent height of 46,500 km. On a 

 photograph taken March 25, at 2h. 54-gm., the promin- 

 ence had assumed a rugged tree-form, with the trunk in 

 position-angle 229-7°, ^^^ the height was 75,500 km. 

 Then a rapid increase of height set in, and by 5h. 55'4m. 

 the greatest altitude shown on the plate was 319,500 km. 

 (nearly 200,000 miles), but the top of the glowing mass 

 was beyond that. The greatest motion was observed 

 between 4h. 56-im. and 4h. 57-9m., during which period 

 11,600 km. were covered at a rate of 107 km. (66-8 miles) 

 per second. This increase of height occurred in two ways, 

 first by actual growth and then by detachment from the 

 limb and the upward motion of the complete mass. At 

 7h. 43-3m. there was no trace of the prominence, which 

 had apparently vanished upwards, and Dr. Slocum suggests 

 that this floating away, rather than subsidence, is 

 characteristic of eruptive prominences. 



The Relations between Sol.^r .and Terrestriai, 

 Pheko.mena. — In No. 4, vol. viii., of Scientia .Abbe Th. 

 Moreu.x has a long article (pp. 279-305) dealing with the 

 connections between solar phenomena and terrestrial 

 meteorology, more especially rainfall. He points out that 

 as yet the science is in its infancy, that we are still unable 

 to forecast scientifically, and then proceeds to show, by 

 an excellent review of what has already been done, what 

 progress has been made and what hopes for the future 

 are well founded. The labours of Herschel, Schwabe, 

 Wolf, Norman Lockyer, Meldrum, Chambers, Bruckner, 

 Stone, Balfour-Stewart, W. J. S. Lockyer and others, are 

 discussed, and it is shown that a gradual progress in the 

 collection of data and the correlation of phenomena has 

 taken place. A fitting tribute is paid to the English 

 Government for the installation of the Solar Physics 

 Observatory, and the related observatories in India and 

 Mauritius. 



Finally. M. Moreux suggests that the excessive floods 

 and rainfall of the present epoch are in accordance with 

 precedent, heavy precipitation following the spot activity 

 of 1905-7, and he suggests that the outlook for the future, 

 in the matter of establishing laws which will warrant 

 forecasting, is hopeful. 



Search-ephemerides for WestpHal's Comet, 1852 I\'. — 

 Three search-ephemerides for Westphal's comet are given 

 by Herr A. Hnatek in No. 4447 of the Astronomixche 

 Nachriclitcit : each ephemeris covers the period November 

 I, 19 10, to January 30, 191 1. .'\s the period of the comet 

 is uncertain, these three ephemerides are given, based on 

 elements which give it as 60, 61, or 62 years respectively. 

 The declinations are all between 56° and 60° south, and 

 the computed magnitudes range from 13' i to 14-8. 



THE INTERNATIONAL CANCER CONFER- 

 ENCE AT PARIS. 

 'T'HE first International Conference on Cancer was held 

 in Heidelberg in 1906 under the auspices of the 

 German Cancer Committee, on the occasion of the open- 

 ing ceremony of a cancer hospital and laboratory erected 

 and equipped through the efforts made by Prof. v. Czerny, 

 the distinguished surgeon. Out of that conference there 

 developed an International .Association for the Study and 

 Suppression of Cancer, modelled on the lines of the Inter- 

 national Association for the Suppression of Tuberculosis. 

 This body, together with the French Association for the 

 Study of Cancer, was responsible for the second confer- 

 ence, held in Paris on October 1-5 under the patronage 

 of the President of the Republic. M. Doumergue, the 

 Minister of Public Instruction, presided over the opening 

 ceremony, attended by 150 delegates, including official 

 representatives of the twenty-three foreign Governments. 

 Dr. E. F. Bashford, director of the Imperial Cancer 

 Research Fund, represented the British Government. 



NO. 2139, VOL. 84] 



In his opening remarks M. Doumergue, after directing 

 attention to the reunion of the nations in spontaneous 

 congresses for the relief of physical, social, and moral 

 miseries as a characteristic of the present age, pointed out 

 the significance of the unanimity of these humanitarian 

 endeavours, enlarged upon the advantages accruing from 

 exchange of views and from the dissemination of dis- 

 coveries, and asserted the futility of isolation. In his 

 opinion the publicity obtained for the proceedings of such 

 conferences is bound to bear fruit in a profitable collabora- 

 tion between the medical profession, the public in general, 

 and patients sulifering from cancer. 



Prof, von Czerny, the president of the conference, then 

 addressed the delegates, and was followed by Prof. 

 Bouchard, president of the French association, and Prof. 

 Landouzy, dean of the faculty of medicine. Each surveyed 

 the cancer problems from different points of view, the 

 question of parasitic etiology, the alleged increase of the 

 disease, and the possibilities of surgery, radium, and 

 electrotherapeutics being discussed by von Czerny. 

 Landouzy took more the point of view of the physician, 

 seeing in much of the work that had been done on 

 immunity indications of ultimately obtaining a curative 

 serum. The foreign delegates were afterwards called 

 upon. 



The scientific papers were grouped in six sections : — 

 (i) histology and histological diagnosis; (2) statistics; 

 (3) clinical diagnosis ; (4) treatment ; (5) etiology and 

 experimental pathology ; (6) comparative pathology. 

 Section (i) appointed a committee to draw up an inter- 

 national nomenclature of new growths. The discussion on 

 statistics and statistical methods revealed strong criticism 

 of the methods and results expounded by Prof. George 

 Meyer, of Berlin, and no progress was made towards the 

 compilation of comparable international cancer statistics. 

 The papers in Section (3), on clinical diagnosis and on the 

 chemistry of cancer, showed that serum diagnosis could 

 not be trusted to replace older methods. The papers on 

 treatment were followed by important discussions on the 

 value of aids to surgical treatment, e.g. fulguration, 

 X-rays, radium. 



Little was said in favour of fulguration. The employ- 

 ment of radium was very fully discussed. Few of the 

 speakers were prepared to employ it in other than small 

 superficial lesions without previous resort to surgery ; 

 although many speakers had employed radium, they 

 appeared to be of the opinion that they had in their 

 possession quantities too small to permit of satisfactory 

 conclusions as to its ultimate value. In Section (5) von 

 Dungern, of Heidelberg, gave an account of the immunity 

 reactions to transplanted cancer ; he confirmed the con- 

 clusions of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund to the 

 effect that the phenomena in question were due to the 

 artificial induction of active resistance or " active " 

 immunity to the cancer cell. Dr. Fichera had applied the 

 results obtained by immunising animals with normal 

 tissues to the treatment of cancer in man. He claimed 

 to have caused the disappearance or reduction in size 

 of true malignant new growths. Dr. Borrel described the 

 evidence he had collected bearing on the possibility of 

 Cestodes and Demodex fulfilling the part of carriers of a 

 hypothetical cancer virus. Dr. Borrel's cautious state- 

 ments called forth a vigorous criticism on the part of 

 Durante. In the section of comparative pathology Prof. 

 C. O. Jensen described tumours occurring on beets ; no 

 causative parasites were found in them. These tumours 

 had been transplanted into other beets. From their 

 general biological behaviour he very cautiously inclined to 

 regard them as analogous in the vegetable kingdom to 

 cancer in the animal kingdom. 



The delegates were entertained in the most hospitable 

 and attentive manner, both officially and privately. Much 

 of the time officially devoted to discussion was absorbed 

 by what were really new unannounced contributions, and, 

 apart" from the discussions on clinical matters and on 

 treatment, v'ery little serious discussion took place in the 

 official sittings. This shortcoming was, to some extent, 

 compensated for by the willingness of the delegates to 

 discuss their respective points of view in private inter- 

 course ; nevertheless, purely scientific and theoretical ques- 

 tions suffered by being crowded out by matters assumed 



