76 
NATURE 
[Marcu 21, 1912 
that office in July next. Since 1g01 he has been presi- 
dent of Davidson College, N. Carolina, where he , 
previously held the chair of physics. He is well 
known in the Southern States as a lecturer on scien- 
tific and educational topics at summer schools, 
*“Chautauquas,”’ &c. 
Tue annual gathering of the South-Western Poly- 
technic Institute was held on Friday, March 15. The 
Right Hon. W. Hayes Fisher, M.P., chairman of the 
governing body, presided, and a report on the work 
of the session rg1o-11 was read by the principal. The 
report showed that 988 students joined for work in 
the day and 1575 in the evening during the session, 
that nearly 6001. was gained in outside scholarships 
by the students, and that a large number of university 
and other successes had been gained. After dis- 
tributing the certificates and prizes, Sir David Gill, 
K.C.B., F.R.S., addressed the students. He 
impressed on them that knowledge was the latent 
power of doing things, that what they gained in 
their classes constituted their mental tools, and that 
they should learn something of everything, and, 
above all, they should learn everything of something. 
He advocated the formation of a department of astro- 
nomy to include, what he considered most important, 
instruction in the practice of finding one’s position 
in an-unmapped country. He had met with many 
young engineers who were quite at a loss when they 
were asked to lay down a railway track in 
an unmapped country. The vote of thanks was 
proposed by Sir William White, who referred to Sir 
David’s work on the sun’s distance, and seconded by 
the Mayor of Chelsea. About 2400 guests attended 
the conversazione afterwards. 
A Royat Commission to inquire into the methods 
of appointment to and promotion in the Civil Service 
and other cognate matters has been appointed. The 
terms of reference are:—To inquire into and report 
on the methods of makins anvointments to and 
promotions in the Civil Service, including the Diplo- 
matic and Consular Services, and the legal depart- 
ments; to investigate the working and efficiency of 
the system of competitive examination for such 
appointments, and to make recommendations for any 
alterations or improvements in that system which may 
appear to be advisable; to consider whether the exist- 
ing scheme of organisation meets the requirements 
of the Public Service, and to suggest any modifica- 
tions which may be needed therein. The commission 
is constituted as follows:—the Lord MacDonnell, 
G.C.S.1., K.C.V.O. (chairman), the Duke of Devon- 
shire, the Bishop of Southwark, Sir Henry Primrose, 
K.C.B., Sir Kenneth Muir-Mackenzie, G.C.B., Kis 
Sir Donald Macalister, K.C.B., Sir Guy Granet, 
H. Baker, M.P., J. R. Clynes, M.P., S. J. G. Hoare, 
M.P., R. D. Holt, M.P., P. Snowden, M.P., A. A. 
Booth, A. Boutwood, P. E. Matheson, A. E. Shipley, 
Graham Wallas, Miss Haldane, and Mrs. Dean 
Streatfeild. The secretary to the commission is 
S. Armitage-Smith, of the Treasury, to whom corre- 
spondence may be addressed at Treasury Chambers, 
Whitehall, S.W. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
LONDON. 
Royal Society, March 14.—Sir Archibald Geilzie, 
K.C.B., president, in the chair.—Prof. E,. Goldmann : 
A new method of examining normal and diseased 
tissues by means of intra-vitam staining. The 
author’s original method of intra-vitam staining by 
injection of trypan and isamin blue has been greatly 
advanced in several points described.—Dr. E. K. 
NO. 2212, VOL. 89] 
Martin: The effects of ultra-violet rays on the eye. 
Three lines of investigation have been taken and 
carried out, in each case on rabbits :—(1) Absorption. 
—Using an iron are as the source of light and a 
quartz spectrograph, the absorption of the media of 
the eye was found to be as follows :—Cornea._All 
rays of wave-lengths less than 295 wu are cut off com- 
pletely. Lens.—Absorption commences at 400 we and 
is complete beyond 350 ux. Vitreous.—Shows a broad 
absorption band with ill-defined margins extending 
from 280-250 nu. All the media were found to be 
uniformly permeable to rays between the wave-lengths 
660-400 nu. (2) Results of repeated exposure of eye 
to light containing a high proportion of ultra-violet 
rays. A series of animals were exposed at répeated 
intervals for from three to twelve months. They 
showed marked inflammatory reaction in the cornea 
and conjunctiva, and in one case a proliferation of the 
cells of the anterior lens capsule. (3) Transmission 
of hemolysins to aqueous humour after exposure of 
eye to short wave-length rays. The aqueous of 
animals which have been sensitised to the blood of 
another species has no power of hemolysing red 
blood-corpuscles of that species. After exposure of the 
eye of such an animal to the quartz mercury vapour 
lamp, the aqueous becomes actively hemolytic, and 
remains so for a period not as yet determined, but in 
any event longer than the duration of the resulting 
inflammatory changes.—Dr. W. S. Lazarus-Barlow : 
The presence of radium in some carcinomatous 
tumours. Elsewhere the author published evidence 
that acceleration of electroscopic leak may be pro- 
duced by the residue of carcinomatous tissue after its 
extraction with ether and subsequently with water, or 
after extraction with acetone. The results were 
criticised as being small, and as possibly explicable by 
alteration in capacity of the electroscope occasioned 
by introduction of the substances within it. The 
subject was therefore reinvestigated with an electro- 
scope of constant capacity in which a fixed wire 
grating separated the portion containing the gold-leai 
from the portion into which the substances were 
introduced. Twenty-seven samples of primary car- 
cinoma, eight of secondary carcinoma, two sarcomata, 
and five normal livers and lungs were examined under 
these conditions, and the original conclusion was con- 
firmed.—C. Russ: An improved method for opsonic 
index estimations involving the separation of red and 
white human blood corpuscles. The observed errors 
by the improved method were one quarter the magni- 
tude of those by the old process, the conditions of 
experiment being almost completely comparable.— 
Prof. W. M. Thornton: The electrical conductivity of 
bacteria, and the rate of inhibition of bacteria by 
electric currents. Tap water containing B. coli com- 
munis can be completely sterilised by direct currents 
in several hours at 0-2 ampere sq. cm. Alternating 
currents sterilise water nearly, if not quite, as well as 
direct currents having the same current-density. Mill 
is curdled by direct current at the positive pole and 
thinned at the negative pole. Millx can be sterilised 
without curdling by passing alternating current, this 
being largely thermal. The cause of the marked 
bactericidal action of light is suggested to be syntony 
between it and the frequency of electronic rotation in 
the atoms of protoplasm.—E. C. Hort and W. J. 
Penfold: A clinical study of’experimental fever. Con- 
clusions : (1) That the establishment as separate enti- 
ties of these various types of fever no longer rests on 
secure ground; (2) that future advance in the experi- 
mental study of fever is not possible unless precaution 
be talxen to ensure that the water or saline used for in- 
jection is free from the fever-producing body described. 
—S. G. Shattock and L. S. Dudgeon: Certain results 
of drving non-sporing bacteria in a charcoal liquid 
