2.s8 



NATURE 



[May 8, 19 13 



in various definite proportions of two derivatives of 

 cotarnine which possess the same spectra as the two 

 parent forms. 



The study of the absorption spectra of the alkaloids 

 has been applied with success, not only to the investi- 

 gation of their structure but to their detection and 

 estimation. These substances generally have very 

 characteristic spectra by means of which they can be 

 distinguished with certainty from one another, except 

 when they are homologous or otherwise very closely 

 related structurally. The spectroscopic method may, 

 therefore, be used with great advantage in examina- 

 tions for the presence of alkaloids to confirm the 

 results obtained by the usual chemical tests. The 

 chemical tests are no doubt as a rule sufficiently dis- 

 tinctive, but considering the gravity of the circum- 

 stances in which they have frequently to be 

 applied, it is unnecessary to insist on the value of the 

 confirmatory evidence which can be obtained by the 

 use of the spectroscope. 



The minutest quantities of alkaloids -can be detected 

 by this means, the method rivalling the colour re- 

 actions for the alkaloids in delicacy. Thus, with a 

 quantity of strychnine not exceeding 1/500 of a grain, 

 a clearly defined spectrum of the alkaloid can be 

 obtained. The photograph of morphine already shown 

 was obtained with 1/200 of a grain of the alkaloid, 

 and that of nicotine with 1/100 (Fig. '4). 



The use of the spectroscope in the detection and 

 estimation of alkaloids in cases of poisoning possesses 

 certain advantages of the highest importance. One 

 is that the material is not destroyed. The solution 

 which has been employed for Vthe spectroscopic 

 examination can be used afterwards for the chemical 

 examination. Another is that a permanent record is 

 obtained which is always available for reference. 



So far my illustrations have been confined almost 

 entirelv to colourless substances, because it is in con- 

 nection with the investigation of such substances that 

 most of the recent advances in the subject have been 

 made. 



As my last example, I shall take the case of a 

 coloured substance in which the method has been 

 apolied within the last year with marked success. 



It will be remembered that considerable uneasiness 

 was caused when it became known some time ago 

 that nitrogen peroxide is sometimes employed to 

 bleach flour. In the course of an inquiry into the 

 subject, it became necessary to determine the nature 

 of the colouring matter naturally present in flour. 

 It was known that many of the yellow and orange 

 pigments so widely distributed throughout the 

 vegetable kingdom are either closely connected or 

 identical with carrotene, the orange colouring matter 

 of carrots, and it had been suggested that the colour- 

 ing' matter of unbleached flour might be identical 

 with, or belong to the same class of colouring matters 

 as, this substance. It was impossible, however, to 

 prove this by the usual chemical methods, because 

 the amount of colouring matter in flour is so minute 

 that its isolation in a pure state, and in sufficient 

 quantity for chemical analysis, was scarcely practic- 

 able. Carrotene, however, can be prepared in a pure 

 state, and the happy idea occurred to Dr. Monier 

 Williams, of the Local Government Board, who was 

 conducting the investigation, to photograph its ab- 

 sorption spectrum and compare it with that of the 

 colouring matter of flour, which could easily be 

 obtained in the minute quantity required for this 

 purpose. Inspection of the photographs shows that 

 the spectra are very similar. There cannot, therefore, 

 be any doubt that the colouring matter of flour, if 

 not identical with, is closely allied to, carrotene. 



The underlving causes of the relations between 



NO. 2271, VOL. Qll 



chemical structure and absorption spectra have been 

 the subject of much speculation, but it must be con- 

 fessed that no satisfactory explanation of the pheno- 

 mena of absorption has yet been formulated, and that 

 the theoretical development of the subject lags behind 

 its practical application. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



On the occasion of the installation of the Duke of 

 Northumberland as Chancellor of Durham University 

 on May 3, honorary degrees of the University were 

 conferred on the following men of science : — D.C.L., 

 Lord Rayleigh; D.Sc, Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., 

 P.R.S., Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., Sir T. C. 

 Allbutt, K.C.B., Sir J. A. Ewing, K.C.B., Sir William 

 Crookes, O.M. ; Sir J. J. Thomson, O.M., and Prof. 

 E. B. Poulton. 



In the House of Commons on Monday, May 5, Mr. 

 Asquith, replying to several questions referring to 

 the recent decision of the Convocation of the Univer- 

 sity of Oxford as to Divinity degrees, said : — " I have 

 for a long time had under consideration the various 

 proposals for the appointment of a Royal Commission 

 or Commissions to inquire into the constitution of, 

 and other matters connected with, the Universities of 

 Oxford and Cambridge. I have reluctantly come to 

 the conclusion that in existing circumstances the set- 

 ting up of such an inquiry might lead to delay in the 

 prosecution of necessary reforms and is not likely to 

 be productive of fruitful consequences." 



The first session of the new University of Western 

 Australia "was inaugurated on Monday, March 31, 

 with an address on the place of mathematics and 

 physics in a university education, by Prof. A. D. Ross. 

 About 150 students have enrolled in the faculties of 

 arts, science, engineering, and agriculture. At pre- 

 sent the teaching is being carried on under consider- 

 able difficulties, as the portion of the temporary build- 

 ings which has already been erected does not afford 

 accommodation for laboratory instruction. The work 

 of extending the premises is, however, being pushed 

 on rapidly, and the various science departments should 

 be in a position to carry on their practical work in 

 the third term. 



The April number of The Eugenics Review is 

 mainly occupied with the report of the Eugenics 

 Education Conference, which took place on March 1, 

 and was reported in Nature of Man h o. As a prac- 

 tical outcome of the conference a deputation, having 

 for its object the introduction of teaching of eugenics 

 in training colleges, waited on Mr. Trevelyan, M.P., 

 at the offices of the Board of Education on April 2. 

 The deputation, which included, among others, the 

 president of the Eugenics Education Society, the Dean 

 of St. Paul's, the headmaster of Eton, the principal 

 of Bedford College, and Mr. Nicholls, ex-president 

 of the National Union of Teachers, was sympathetic- 

 ally received by Mr. Trevelyan, who said that the 

 Board of Education recognised the importance of the 

 matter referred to, and would consider carefullv the 

 recommendations made by the deputation. From the 

 " Notes " column of the review we learn of the 

 formation on January 2q of the Societe Franchise 

 d'Eugenique. The president of this society is M. 

 Edmond ' Perrier, the general secretary M. le Dr. 

 Apert, and the treasurer and librarian M. Lucien 

 March. In Italy a eugenics societv is in course of 

 formation, and in Denmark, at the instigation of 

 Dr. Soren Hansen, a eugenics section of the Anthro- 

 pological Committer has been organised. The re- 

 search committee of the Eugenics Education Society 



