592 



NATURE 



[October 12, 1905 



in the meteoritic hypothesis, each meteorite forming a 

 molecule of a quasi-gas, the rotational theory would become 

 more tenable. 



Visibility ok Faint Stars at the Lowell Observatory. 

 — In No. 7, vol. xiii., of Popular Astronomy, Mr. Lowell 

 publishes a chart and some figures which testify eloquently 

 to the '■ seeing " and the instrumental efficiency at the 

 Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, .'\rizona. 



In going over a chart of faint stars published by 

 Prof. Tucker for magnitude comparisons, Mr. Lamplan'd 

 found that the faintest stars on the Lick chart were 

 perfectly visible at Flagstaff, although the aperture 

 employed there is only 24 inches, whereas at Lick an 

 aperture of 36 inches is available. In the region follow- 

 ing 5 Ophiuchi, one of Prof. Tucker's richest fields, 161 

 stars were shown on the Licl< chart. Plotting the same 

 field, independently, Mr. Lampland obtained 173 stars, the 

 greatest increase occurring among the fainter objects. As 

 15 stars marked on the Lick charts were not found, it 

 follows that 27 were actually seen at Flagstaff which were 

 not recorded by Prof. Tucker. Mr. Lowell remarks that 

 this result is not definitive of what may be charted at his 

 observatory, as moonlight and the rainy season both acted 

 as drawbacks in the present test. 



The Orbit of ( Tauri. — The spectroscopic binary 

 f lauri was included in a list of such objects published 

 by Profs. Frost and .Adams in vol. xvii. of the Astro- 

 physical Journal, and attention was then directed to the 

 peculiar spectrum of this star. Because of this peculiarity, 

 and also on account of its long period, this object has 

 since been observed regularly at the Yerkes Observatory, 

 and Prof. .Adams has determined the orbit, the determin- 

 ation being based on the measurements of the line H7 

 on twenty-five plates. Owing to the great breadth of this 

 line duplicate measures were made throughout, and, with 

 the exception of one plate, which was rejected in the dis- 

 cussion, they agreed reasonably well. 



The following elements were obtained as a result of the 

 research : — 



a sin /= 27,900,000 km. 

 Peiiod U = 138 days 

 ;u = 2°-6o9 



/;i = ioo 13 

 a. = 9° 45' 

 f =o'iSo 

 T = 1902 Jan. I9'9 



The largest residual is -3.1 km., which, considering 

 ihat the determination is based upon the measurements 

 of only one line, is regarded as satisfactory. No trace of 

 the spectrum of the second component has been found on 

 any of the plates yet secured {Astro physical Journal, 

 September^. 



The Constant of Aberration. — As the result of a 

 laborious discussion of more than 15,000 observations. Prof. 

 Doolittle has arrived at the value 2o".54 for the constant 

 of aberration. In publishing this result Prof. Doolittle 

 states that no reasonable weighting of the values will alter 

 it more than o".Oi. The above value agrees very well 

 with the statement made in 1903 by Prof. Chandler, after 

 a very complete investigation, that the real value would 

 be found to bo 2o".52, or slightlv higher (the Observatory, 

 No. 361). 



The Natal Government Observ.uory. — Mr. Nevill's 

 report of the work done in the Natal Government Observ- 

 atory during 1904 contains but few references to purely 

 astronomical observations, the chief function of the observ- 

 atory being distinctly meteorological. 



THE OPENING OF THE MEDICAL SESSION 



IN LONDON. 

 J^S is customary, the opening of the medical session 

 has been made the occasion at several of the schools 

 for the distribution of prizes and the delivery of interesting 

 addresses. 



At University College, Prof. Kenwood gave an address 

 on " Preventive Medicine, Past and Present," in the course 

 of which he directed attention to the important position 

 occupied by medical practitioners as guardians of the 

 public health, and emphasised the necessity for the adequate 

 teaching of hygiene and public health in the medical 



NO. 1876. VOL, 72] 



schools. He then dealt with the condition of things which 

 should obtain in a hygienic Utopia, and pointed out that 

 while typhus fever had been practically banished and the 

 mortality from scarlatina reduced So per cent, during the 

 past thirty years, that from measles had increased. As 

 regards the statement that the practice of hygiene and 

 preventive medicine tends to the preservation of the 

 physically unfit, there is doubtless both a credit and a 

 debit side to the account, and there can be little doubt 

 that the credit side presents a splendid balance. 



At King's College the session was opened by Prof. 

 Clifford .Allbutt, F.R.S., with an address on "Medical 

 Education." Prof. .AUbutt said that in medical education 

 London had its own problems and difficulties, but these 

 could only be solved on principles common to education 

 everywhere and always. 



Education must always consist of two parts — the earlier 

 a drawing forth and refining of all the faculties and such 

 a formation of them as habits that a right reason and 

 virtue became easy and pleasant to us ; the later the 

 adaptation of these faculties to particular callings. The 

 methods of specific or technical educations were pretty 

 clearly seen ; their difficulty was only the difficulty of 

 persuading the British parent of the value of any education 

 whatever, and of the importance of providing for it money, 

 equipment, and time. 



The university should be responsible only for a certain 

 universal character of the mind and imagination, a train- 

 ing which could be given in any one of many " faculties." 

 The five years' professional course, all too brief as it was, 

 was now much too heavily loaded. The preliminary 

 sciences occupied so far the larger half of it that little 

 more than a year and a half had to suffice for the study 

 of medicine in all its divisions and subdivisions ; and yet 

 upon that formidable burden of subjects some enthusiasts 

 were yearning to pile more and more. The reform which 

 was needed was to teach fewer subjects and to teach them 

 broadly and accurately. In the five years' technical course 

 we ought to begin with the two subjects anatomy and 

 physiology, and teach them on university methods. No 

 subjects made a finer training for hand and mind. 



At St. George's Hospital the introductory address was 

 delivered by Mr. Brudenell Carter, who also dealt with 

 medical education and the importance of research. He 

 expressed the opinion that a real and thorough training 

 in physics should form, and eventually must form, the 

 essential groundwork of inedical education. Ne.Nt in im- 

 portance to physics, as a preliminary subject, he would 

 place such a study of language, it may be of one language 

 alone, as would enable the learner to form clear ideas 

 hiiTiself and to express those ideas in a manner clearly 

 intelligible to others. 



At Charing Cross Hospital, Sir James Crichton-Browne 

 delivered one of his characteristic addresses. He declared 

 that we have hordes of undergrown, underfed, blemished, 

 diseased, debilitated men, women, and children, who are 

 industrially and socially inefficient ; that many of our public 

 institutions are as incompetent as the valves of a damaged 

 heart, and that our educational machinery, our economic 

 system, our municipal administration, and our Army are 

 all inefficient. 



If they W'ere to be efficient medical men they must 

 improve their personal efficiency, and see to it that they 

 were physically efficient, intellectually efficient, and morally 

 efficient. For facilitating the attainment of these desirable 

 ends Sir James formulated a series of precepts or principles 

 by which they should be guided. 



He dwelt on the necessity for proper exercise and 

 recreation, for proper meals, and for a sufficiency of sleep, 

 declaring that the medical student should have regularly 

 nine hours' sleep in the twenty-four. 



At the Middlesex Hospital, Dr. R. A. Young took for 

 his theme " Method in Medicine," and dealt with the 

 need for method in teaching and in study, in research and 

 in practice. 



At St. Mary's Hospital an address on "The Public and 

 Medical Education " was given by Dr. Wilfred Harris, in 

 which he stated his conviction that concentration of teach- 

 ing in the preliminary and intermediate subjects at one 

 or a few centres would make for efficiency, and that one 

 State-controlled examination should take the place of the 

 present multitude of degree and diploma-giving bodies. 



