July 26, 1906] 



NA rURE 



;ircoiint of the progress of physiological science during the 

 jiasl thirty years. In 1861, when Prof. M'Kendrick 

 .iltcnded a course of lectures at Aberdeen, there vvas no 

 .iltciiipt at demonstration except by diagrams anc i few 

 microscopes on a side-table. There were no experiments, 

 and the only instrument displayed was a sphygniograph. 

 But a little later Goodsir, of Edinburgh, brought from 

 ("ontinental schools of physiology to the University of 

 ■Edinburgh such inslruments as myographs, kymographs, 

 ilictrical appliances and other apparatus, and the teaching 

 of practical physiology was soon firmly established under 

 Argyll Robertson. Trof. M'Kendrick himself installed 

 similar teaching in the University of Glasgow in 1876, the 

 d,il.' of his appoinlnicnt 10 the chair of physiology. The 

 rptiuirements of modern physiological teaching are shown 

 by a statement in the address that while Prof. M'Kendrick 

 has worked and taught for Ihirly years in five roo 

 twenly-five are apportioned to physiological work in the 

 niw buildings. Reviewing the progress of physiology, 

 Priif. M'Kendrick detailed the advances made in hisK ! 

 and expressed the doubt whether much more progress can 

 be expected. Graphic inethods have been elaborated during 

 the same period, and the action of electrical stimuli on 

 muscle and nerve elaborately worked out. The study of 

 the functions of living isolated organs, modern viviscctional 

 methods, our knowledge of the nerve paths in the central 

 nervous system, and the subject of internal secretions, are 

 all among the triumphs of physiological science during the 

 past thirty years, and were each passed in review. In con- 

 clusion. Prof. M'Kendrick indicated physiological chemistry 

 as the direction in which progress will be made during t 

 next few decades. 



The Engineering Standards Committee has issued a 

 specification for structural steel for bridges and general 

 building construction (report No. 15). The draft of the 

 specification, drawn up by a sectional committee of which 

 Sir Benjamin Baker is president, was submitted to the 

 science standing committee of the Royal Institute of 

 British Architects, and certain modifications have been 

 introduced into the specification as a result of the cooper- 

 ation of that comirittee. In view of the authoritative 

 positions held by members of the committee, the specifi- 

 cation cannot fail to meet with general adoption. 



The Engineering Review (July) contains a series of 

 special original articles dealing with the engineering de- 

 velopment of several British colonies. The contributions 

 have been limited to Canada, Western Australia, Queens- 

 land, New Zealand, New South Wales, and Natal. Farm- 

 ing and mining no longer constitute the only pursuits 

 worthy of notice in these colonies. Railways, roads, and 

 bridges are being constructed, harbour, river, canal, and 

 irrigation schemes are being undertaken, and municipal 

 and sanitary engineering projects arc everywhere in 

 evidence. All these developments furnish occupation for 

 professional inen and skilled labour. 



^\'E have received from the publishers, MM. Gauthier- 

 Mllars, Paris, a set of tables and formulae compiled by 

 M. J. de Rey-Pailhade for the practical use of instruments 

 graduated in grades instead of degrees. The compiler 

 urges the employment of the decimal system in astro- 

 nomical and navigation tables, and points out that errors 

 constantly occurring in ephemerides, &c., would probably 

 be eliminated if the simpler method were employed. 

 Formulae for obtaining interpolated values and for calcu- 

 lating star positions, tables for the conversion of sexa- 



NO. 191 7, VOL. 74] 



gesimal into decimal values, and the deciinal values of 

 numerous .astronomical constants .are included in the 

 brochure. 



Dciilsche Arbeil (vol. v., p. 352) contains an account 

 of a visit to Vesuvius after the late eruption, by Dr. E. 

 Trojan, illustrated by reproductions of photographs, two 

 of which are of some interest as representing the moun- 

 tain from about the same point of view before and after 

 the eruption. By the courtesy of Prof. R. von Lendenfeld 

 and the editor of Deutsche Arbeit these illustrations arc 

 given here ; they show the changes by which the graceful 



(t) Pho toRraph lake 



(2) Photograptl taken on April iS. 



Vesuvius before an4 after the recent eruption. From photographs taken 

 by Dr. E. Trojan from Santa Lucia. 



outline of the cone has been destroyed and the mountain 

 converted into a hump-backed mound of distinctly lower 

 elevation. 



The volumes which have now appeared of the Proceed- 

 ings of the Royal Society of London, as divided about a 

 year ago into two series, are vols. Ixxvi.-lxxvii. of series 

 "A," containing papers of a mathematical and physical 

 character, and vols, l.xxvi.-lxxvii. of series " B," contain- 

 ing papers of a biological character ; each volume runs into 

 about 600 pages royal octavo, with illustrations. A 

 main object of this new arrangeinent was to render the 

 Proceedings more accessible to workers by placing the two 

 groups of subjects on sale separately, at a stated price 

 attached to each separate part of a volume when it first 

 appears. Moreover, with the view of promoting the circu- 

 lation of the complete series, it has been directed that a 

 subscription paid in advance to the publishers at the re- 

 duced price of 155. per volume, for either series, shall 

 entitle subscribers to receive the parts as soon as pub- 

 lished, or else the volumes when completed, in boards or 

 in paper covers, as they may prefer. With a view to 

 increase further the accessibility of the various publications 

 of the Royal Society, each number of Proceedings now 

 contains an announcement on the cover of the more recent 

 memoirs of the Philosophical Transactions as published 

 separately in wrappers, and the prices at which they can 



