July 3, 1913] 



NATURE 



457 



such experiments." Strenuous opposition was offered 

 to the Bill on behalf of medical science. An amend- 

 ment was carried postponing the coming into opera- 

 tion of the Act until January I, 1914. Sir F. Ban- 

 bury, who has charge of the Bill, agreed to consider 

 the incorporation of an amendment to leave out from 

 "anaesthetics" to the end of the clause and insert 

 "except on such certificate being given as is men- 

 tioned in the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876, that the 

 object of the experiment will be necessarily frustrated 

 unless it be performed on a dog, and that no other 

 animal is available for such experiment." The effect 

 of that w-ould be to bring the dog within section 5 

 of the Cruelty to Animals Act, and it is in harmony 

 with the majority report of the Royal Commission. 

 The Committee is to resume the consideration of the 

 Bill as we go to press. 



Yale University proposes to hold a centenary cele- 

 bration next November in commemoration of the 

 geological work of James D. Dana. A series of lec- 

 tures will be given which will be published later in a 

 Dana memorial volume on problems of American 

 geology. The lectures will be given on the Silliman 

 Foundation, and the dates will be announced after 

 the opening of the next academic year. We learn 

 from Science that the lecturers and their respective 

 subjects are as follows : — Introduction : The geology 

 of James Dwight Dana, Prof. W. N. Rice, Wesleyan 

 University. (1) Problems of the Canadian Shield : 

 The Archeozoic and its problems, Prof. F. D. Adams, 

 McGill University; the Proterozoic and its problems, 

 Prof. A. P. Coleman, University of Toronto. (2) 

 Problems of the Cordilleras : The Cambrian and its 

 problems, Dr. C. D. Walcott, Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion ; the igneous geology and its problems, Prof. YV. 

 Lindgren, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 

 the Tertiary structural evolution and its problems, 

 Dr. F. L. Ransome, United States Geological Survey; 

 the Tertiary sedimentary record and its problems, Dr. 

 YV. D. Matthew, American Museum of Natural 

 History. 



The National Geographic Magazine for April takes 

 the form of an admirably illustrated monograph, de- 

 scribing the results of the Yale University Expedition 

 to Peru in 1912, under the charge of Prof. H. Bingham. 

 The most important result was the discovery of the 

 great deserted city, Machu Pichu, on the Urubamba 

 River, north-west of Cuzco. The national legends 

 indicate that the original home of the Incas was at a 

 place called Tampu Tocco, "the temporary abode 

 with windows," which has now been identified with 

 Machu Pichu, the principal temple of which contains 

 three remarkable windows, through which the three 

 Inca groups are said to have emigrated. The inaccess- 

 ible position of the city rendered it possible for the 

 Incas to conceal its existence from the Spaniards. The 

 wonderful megalithic masonry constructed in the pre- 

 metallic age, the strange temples in which the cult 

 of the sun and auguries from sacred serpents seem 

 to have been practised, the remarkable burial caves in 

 which the corpses were interred in a crouched posture, 

 the bronzes and pottery, are all described in Prof. 

 Bingham's report. It constitutes a record of impor- 

 NO. 2279, VOL. 91] 



tant archaeological discoveries conducted in a most 

 inaccessible region under extreme difficulties. The 

 investigation of this district opens out a new chapter 

 in the ancient history of Peru. 



In Bankfield Museum Notes, second series, No. 2, 

 the keeper, Mr. H. Ling Roth, issues another of his 

 useful monographs on primitive industries — "Ancient 

 Greek and Egyptian Looms." After an investigation 

 of the facts, supplemented by illustrations and com- 

 ments derived from a wide survey of the evidence, 

 he comes to the following conclusion. The ancient 

 Egyptians had two forms of loom : the earlier or 

 horizontal form, still surviving in a modified form in 

 Egypt and Seistan ; second, the vertical, a later but 

 not universally later form. In the Greek loom the 

 type was upright, the warp threads being kept taut 

 by weights, and similar to the form in central and 

 northern Europe. It probably was provided with a 

 heddle, but this is not certain : a spool was used ; the 

 weavers were women, and the weft was beaten up- 

 wards or away from the weaver. There seems to be 

 no connection between the Greek and Egyptian types. 

 But in form of looms used by the two peoples the 

 Egyptians were considerably in advance of the Greeks. 

 An interesting part of the monograph is the experi- 

 ments made by modern skilled weavers to work these 

 primitive machines. 



The introduction of the string galvanometer and 

 its improvement by Prof. Einthoven, of Leyden, have 

 furnished physicians with a new weapon in the ex- 

 ploration of the heart's activity. It is now possible 

 by the use of this sensitive instrument to record photo- 

 graphically' the electrical changes which accompany 

 cardiac activity, and the variations these undergo in 

 heart disease furnish the observer with absolutely 

 sure signs of the character of the ailment. The older 

 methods of observation (the stethoscope, &c.) w-ill still 

 remain in use, for, unfortunately, the outfit for obtain- 

 ing the electro-cardiogram cannot be placed either in 

 the waistcoat pocket or even in a top-hat. It de- 

 mands a special laboratory and an expensive in- 

 stallation. Electrocardiography will therefore still 

 remain a method limited to large institutions or to a 

 few specialists. We have received from the Cam- 

 bridge Scientific Instrument Co., of Cambridge, an 

 interesting catalogue of the apparatus they supply for 

 the purpose, which contains instructions as to the 

 way to use it. Specifications for complete outfits are 

 given, but the cheapest is more than 200/. 



The current number of The Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science (vol. lix, part 1) bears striking 

 testimony to the excellent work done by the Glasgow 

 school of embryologists, under the leadership of Prof. 

 Graham Kerr. Miss Monica Taylor contributes a 

 very valuable account of the development of the re- 

 markable South American eel-like fish Symbranchus 

 marmoratus, with some beautiful illustrations. 

 Nothing has hitherto been known of the development 

 of these remarkable fishes, but abundant material 

 was collected by Dr. Agar in the Gran Chaco in 1907, 

 upon which Miss Taylor's work is based. There are 

 no fins in the adult fish, but the larva has well- 

 developed pectorals, which are used mainly as respira- 



