062 



NATURE 



[February 13, 1913 



necessary knowledge of the sciences upon which medi- 

 cine and surgery are based. It is absurd that any- 

 body sliould attempt to learn medicine, surgery, 

 pathology, and pharmacology unless he has already 

 a fair knowledge of anatomy and physiology. We 

 shall have to get rid of some of the subjects of the 

 curriculum to the extent that is necessary for an 

 understanding of physiology. Biology, physics, and 

 chemistry can be taught just as well, Prof. Schafer 

 thinks, at school as at the university. 



.■\T the end of last month the president and fellows 

 of Harvard College voted to establish the Harvard 

 University Press, for the publication of works of a 

 high scholarly character. For some years the Uni- 

 versity Publication Office, besides printing the cata- 

 logues, department pamphlets, and other official 

 documents, has found it possible, in spite of its 

 limited resources, to issue from time to time a few 

 special works, until it now publishes seven periodicals 

 and more than eighty books, ranging from treatises 

 on Indie philology to practical directions for American 

 lumbermen. To organise and extend this activity, so 

 as to make the University properly effective as a pub- 

 lishing centre for scholarly books, is the object of the 

 new foundation. The agent of the Press in England 

 will be Mr. Henry Frowde. The function of a uni- 

 versit}' press should be to publish works of prime 

 importance and distinctive merit which can rarely be 

 profitable undertakings, but are nevertheless of high 

 value to students in various departments of intellec- 

 tual activity. This appears to be the aim of the 

 Harvard syndics, as it is of lil^e boards of other 

 universities in the United States. When a university 

 press concerns itself largely with the issue of text- 

 books for schools and college, considerations of com- 

 mercial profit tend to predominate over those relating 

 to the advancement of learning, with which purpose 

 alone a university should be associated. 



A LETTER to The Times of February lo, signed by 

 Mr. A. C. Benson and three other distinguished 

 Cambridge men, says it is proposed to present to the 

 council of the Senate of the University of Cambridge 

 a memorial suggesting that a syndicate should be 

 appointed to review the whole question of examina- 

 tions conducted by the University, for which prepara- 

 tion normally takes place at school. It is pointed out 

 that Greek cannot much longer be retained as a com- 

 pulsory subject in the previous examination. But 

 mcrelv to abolish one compulsory subject, without at 

 the same time carefully devising an examination suit- 

 able to the curricula of efficient English secondary 

 schools, would, in the opinion of the memorialists, 

 be harmful to the best interests of English education. 

 .'\n effort should be made, thev think, to coordinate 

 the various preliminary examinations which are con- 

 ducted by university bodies. Thfey desire also to 

 simplifv the examinations conducted bv Cambridge so 

 that thev should practically be reduced to two in 

 number, suited respectively to candidates of sixteen 

 and eighteen years of age. The whole subject will 

 demand the most careful consideration from the syn- 

 dicate, which is asked for, and it will be desirable 

 that its members should have an intimate knowledge 

 of the relations of secondary and university education. 

 The hope is expressed that experienced teachers will 

 be placed on the svndicate. The text of the memorial 

 is given in The Times of the date mentioned. Signa- 

 tures of those who desire to see consideration given 

 to the feasibility of the changes should be sent to 

 Mr. A. C. Benson, The Old Lodge, Magdalene Col- 

 lege, or to the Rev. Dr. Barnes, Trinity College, 

 Cambridcre. from whom copies of the imemorial can 

 be obtained. 



NO. 2 25q. VOL. OOT 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Royal Society, February 6. — Sir Archibald Geikie, 

 K.C.B., president, in the chair. — S. R. Wells and 

 Leonard Hill : The influence of the resilience of the 

 arterial wall on blood pressure and on the pulse curve. 

 The form of the pulse curve and the systolic and 

 diastolic pressure (measured by the sphygmomano- 

 meter in the case of man) are modified very greatly 

 by the conduction of the pulse along any particular 

 artery. The conduction varies witli the resilience of 

 the arterial wall. .\n artery w-hich is contracted, and 

 therefore more rigid, conducts the systolic crest almost 

 with undiminished amplitude from the heart to the 

 peripheral vessels, and there is in such an artery a 

 wide difference between the systolic and diastolic 

 pressure. In a relaxed, resilient artery, on the other 

 hand, the systolic wave expands the wall of the artery, 

 and part of its energy is stored up as potential energy 

 in the wall, .^s this comes into play during diastole 

 and the systolic wave reaches the peripheral vessels 

 in diminished form, the height of the diastolic wave is 

 approximated to tliat of the systolic. The arteries are 

 controlled so as to bring about one or other of these 

 conditions at the periphery — a hammer-like pulse with 

 big difference between systole and diastole, or a pulse 

 with small difference and a more uniform mean pres- 

 sure. The evidence for these conclusions has been 

 drawn both from the investigation of thin-walled 

 rubber tubes (specially made) and of arteries. — A. A. 

 Gray : The occurrence of a ganglion in the human 

 temporal bone, not hitherto described. The ganglion 

 referred to in the title was found in the human 

 temporal bone, below and in front of the stapedius 

 muscle. In the specimen in which it was discovered 

 the ganglion was comparatively large, but it is prob- 

 able that considerable variations in this respect occur 

 in individuals. So far as present investigations show 

 the ganglion is associated with two nerves — the facial 

 nerve and Arnold's nerve — but it is possible that fibres 

 from other nerves may enter the ganglion. — J. A. 

 Gunn and F. B. Cliavasse : The action of adrcnin on 

 veins, (i) The action of adrenin upon ring prepara- 

 tions of veins remote from the heart is to diminish 

 their calibre, as in the case of arteries. They, there- 

 fore, probably contain veno-constrictor nerve fibres 

 from the thoracico-lumbar sympathetic system. (2) 

 The action of adrenin on quiescent rings from the 

 superior vena cava near the heart is to cause them 

 to beat rhythmically and powerfully. (3) (a) The 

 accelerator-augmcntor nerve supply of the heart, and 

 (b) the rhythmically contractile tissue, extend up the 

 superior vena cava for at least 6 to 8 mm. from the 

 veno-auricular junction in the heart of the sheep. (4) 

 The induction by adrenin of rhythmic contraction in 

 the quiescent superior vena cava seems, on the whole, 

 in accordance with the myogenic theory of mammalian 

 heart rhvthmicity.— Capt^ H. S. Ranken : A pre- 

 liminary report on the treatment of human trypano- 

 somiasis, and yaws, with metallic antimony. The 

 object of this preliminary report is to demonstrate that 

 intravenous injection of metallic antimony in a fine 

 state of division is a therapeutic measure applicable 

 on a large scale to the treatment of human trypanoso- 

 miasis. A considerable number of casc^ have been 

 treated by this method, and in a further sferies com- 

 bined treatment was employed, salvarsan or atoxyl 

 being given in addition to the antimony. As a routine 

 dose, one grain of antimony was eiven in four to six 

 ounces of physiological salt solution. Summaries of 

 results of the various series are given. In the great 

 majority of cases treatment broueht about consider- 

 able improvement, as evidenced by disappearance of 



