414 
NATURE 
[JUNE 10, I915 

ability is promoted throughout the body cells by this 
substance tannin; or rather, by the derivative or 
derivatives of it which are absorbed in the body; the 
effects being mainly due to the reducing properties. 
A state is at length reached after long and excessive 
absorption of the injurious substance in which local 
causes are competent to precipitate the pathological 
mitosis and cell proliferation. These causes are 
various. It may be a local chemical stimulus, as by 
the application of a powerful sensitiser such as nico- 
tine, or possibly ‘‘nut-gall ointment.’’ Other local 
causes, as has often been suggested, may be the 
increased mitotic activity prevailing in the organs of 
generation. Here there is already a local approxima- 
tion to the conditions induced by increased electro- 
negative ionisation. Dr. Lazarus-Barlow’s results on 
the segregation of radium in cancerous tissues may 
indicate yet another local cause. Mechanical stimuli 
are probably responsible for the sweep cancer, etc. 
The frequent recurrence of cancer after its local 
extirpation or destruction follows as a matter of course 
according to the present views. For, even apart from 
metastatic spread of the disease, the local cure is 
likely to be only temporary if the patient continues 
to absorb the sensitising agent into his system, or, 
possibly, has already permanently affected his tissues 
by its use. Where so much is involved, should not 
the physician consider the advisability of the denial 
to the patient of tannin-containing beverages ? 
The effect of tannin as an influence on mitosis is 
very probably responsible for the phenomenon of 
“vegetable cancers’ or galls on trees or shrubs. Galls 
may contain up to 75 per cent. of tannin. These 
growths originate under the stimulus of irritation by 
some insect. Pfeffer, Sachs, and others have recog- 
nised that tannin in plants is abundant in places where 
growth is specially active; such as growing points, 
pathological growths, and places where the proto- 
plasm is specially irritable.*° We must remember that 
when we come to the cell there is not so much to 
differentiate the vegetable from the animal. 
LIBRARY PROVISION AND POLICY. 
TRE Carnegie United Kingdom Trustees have pub- 
lished the parts which are not of a confidential 
character of a report on library policy prepared for 
them by Prof. W. G. S. Adams. Though the Trustees 
do not commit themselves to the policy or the recom- 
mendations of the report, they consider it will be of 
interest and value to those concerned in the develop- 
ment of public libraries in this country. 
It seems that Mr. Carnegie has made 295 grants to 
rate-supported libraries, amounting to a total sum of 
1,768,404l. Most of these grants extend over the 
period from 1897 to 1913, and vary from 4ool. to 
120,0001l. The grants have been almost exclusively 
for library buildings, including in many cases fur- 
nishing, but not for endowment, maintenance, 
librarianship, or the purchase of books. 
A table provided in the report shows that few 
among the libraries which have received these grants 
spend more than 15o0l. a year on books—a small sum 
if a library is to be kept moderately efficient, and 
that 120 libraries have an expenditure on books and 
binding of not more than 5ol. per annum. 
The chief criticism Prof. Adams offers concerns 
grants made to centres which have been unwilling or 
unable to support a library on the scale which Mr. 
Carnegie provided. It may be summed up in the 
word ‘‘overbuilding.’’ Libraries have, in a number 
of cases, been provided, involving a scale of expendi- 
20 Haas and Hill, ‘‘ Chemistry of Plant Products.” (Lonjon: Longmans, 
Green, and Co., 1313.) 
NO. 2380, VOL. 95] 


ture on upkeep which left no sufficient means for the 
main purpose and object of the library. Buildings in 
several instances costing 10,o00l. or even larger sums 
have been erected, the upkeep of which absorbed the 
greater part of the income from the td. rate, leaving 
a mere pittance, and in some cases not even that, for 
the purchase of books. In certain instances, where 
there had previously been a library on smaller pre- 
mises, the gift of the larger building has ultimately 
involved a reduction in the expenditure on books. In 
many cases there is not an adequate income to provide 
a librarian worthy of the building and competent to 
create the true library. ‘The criticism thus reduces 
itself to the error of overbuilding. The suggestion 
is frequently made that libraries in small towns would 
have been more truly assisted by smaller buildings 
and an initial grant in aid of the purchase of books. 
Among suggestions for future action made by Prof. 
Adams is the assistance of libraries of a specialised 
character. He urges the claims of special libraries 
to provide literature for the blind, and for doctors in 
rural districts. Referring to the latter, he says :— 
“Tt has been brought to my attention by Mr. 
MacAlister, the secretary of the Royal Society of 
Medicine, with its most valuable medical library, that 
it would be a great benefit, especially to doctors in 
country districts or poorer town districts, to have 
available a circulating library providing them with the 
special literature which they may wish to consult, 
but which they cannot afford to purchase. It is 
evident at the present time, with the great develop- 
ment which is taking place in medical science, that it 
is not easy for the practitioner to keep himself in 
touch with the literature which is of service to him. 
Yet the value of a special library for this purpose 
would be great, and would react undoubtedly upon the 
well-being of the community. Technical and scientific 
literature is expensive, and I understand that it is 
with such an object in view that there has been estab- 
lished in the United States the Surgeon-General’s 
Library at Washington, which circulates medical 
books and journals to practitioners throughout the 
United States.” 

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
A Reuter message from Cape Town on June 4 
reports that Mr. Marais, late member of the Union 
Assembly for Stellenbosch, bequeathed 100,000l. for 
the establishment of a university there. Mr. Marais 
was a Hertzogite, and the request is regarded as a 
counterblast to the Wernher-Beit bequest of 500,000l. 
for the Central University of Grooteschuur, which the 
Hertzogites opposed. 
Mr. FRANK FINN, official guide to the Horniman 
Museum and Library, Forest Hill, S.E., attends at 
the museum on Saturday and Wednesday afternoons, 
when his services are at the disposal of visitors, and 
on Saturday mornings, when his attention is mainly 
given to teachers. No fee is charged. Applications for 
the guide’s services for special parties should be made 
to the Curator of the Museum. 
We learn from Science that the Circuit Court of 
St. Louis has confirmed the will of the late James 
Campbell, who left his entire estate to St. Louis 
University School of Medicine, subject to a life tenure 
of his wife and daughter. His estate is valued at from 
1,200,000l. tO 2,000,000]. From the same source we 
find that the late Mr. Ward N. Hunt, of Needham, 
Mass., has made Dartmouth College residuary legatee. 
for 4oool., to establish scholarship funds to be known 
as the Hunt scholarships. 
