May 16, 1912} NATURE 271 
the third is to bring the patients to as high a 
state of physical health as possible through the 
agency of dispensaries, hospitals, sanatoria, open- 
air schools, and the like. Whilst all this is going 
on, however, the laboratory investigator is to be 
formally adopted the word ‘ sardines’ to describe the 
brisling packed in oil. He, in my opinion, believed 
that the description he applied was a true description, 
and, notwithstanding the very able legal arguments 
I have just listened to from Mr. Bodkin, I hold that 
he has proved that he acted innocently within the 
encouraged to contribute to that stock of know- 
ledge on which most of the administrative pre- 
ventive and curative methods of dealing with 
tuberculosis are based. The public health 
authority, both central and local, the tuberculosis 
expert, the general medical practitioner, the volun- 
tarv anti-tuberculosis organisation, and the labora- 
tory worker are brought together in the scheme 
of the committee; funds are provided—whether in 
sufficient amount still remains to be seen, but they 
are a good beginning—and the scheme starts under 
the most favourable auspices. That an enormous 
amount of good will be effected no one can doubt; 
that a whole-hearted attempt is being made to get 
the best of the scheme is equally certain; and 
should modifications or alterations have to be made 
in the future, it will be only as more light is 
thrown upon, and a better view obtained of, a 
very difficult and complicated question. 
SARDINES IN SCIENCE AND COMMERCE. 
(ne has been suggested to us by a correspondent 
that the publication of the full text of 
Alderman Sir George Woodman’s judgment in 
the recent “sardine ” case, referred to in NATURE 
of April 25 (p. 194), would be of interest. In 
our article Sir George was incorrectly stated to 
have said that the industry of packing the im- 
mature pilchard in tins was started in 1882; this 
date, as will be seen from the subjoined report 
with which he has kindly favoured us, should 
have been 1822. 
“My decision is that the term ‘sardine’ is of 
French origin. It is the French name for the pilchard, 
the fish scientifically known as Clupea pilchardus. 
The industry of packing the immature pilchard in 
tins was started in France in 1822, and the fish so 
packed and imported into this country were universally 
known as ‘ sardines.’ The word ‘ sardine’ has now 
become Anglicised, and I hold that the meaning of 
the term is ‘the immature pilchard prepared and 
packed in oil in tins.’ 
“This is not what the defendant sold. The 
‘Skipper sardines’ sold by him were the Norwegian 
fish known as the ‘ brisling.’ The ‘ brisling ’ is the 
Clupea sprattus of the same family but of a different 
species from the Clupea pilchardus, and is the same 
fish, allowing for differences caused by local environ- 
ment, as the English sprat. There was a false trade 
description. 
“The defendant has not proved that, prior to the 
passing of the Merchandise Marks Act, 1887, the 
description ‘sardine’ was generally applied to any 
small suitable fish prepared and packed in oil in tins, 
but I am satisfied that for the last twenty years at 
least the use of the term ‘ sardines’ has been ex- 
tended in commerce, especially amongst retail traders, 
to include any such small fish so packed and prepared. 
To the defendant, who started his own business in 
1903, and was selling Norwegian sardines twenty 
years ago, the word had this extended meaning. He 
also knew that the Norwegian Government had 
NO. 2220, VOL. 89] 
meaning of Section 2, Subsection 2 (c) of the Mer- 
chandise Marks Act of 1887. I therefore dismiss the 
summons.” 
We should like to have similar legal pro- 
nouncements upon several other commodities 
which are sold under misleading trade descrip- 
tions. For instance, the names under which furs 
are sold in shops often conceal from the public 
the nature of the animals from which the furs 
have been obtained. It is regarded as permis- 
sible by dealers and tradesmen to describe the 
fur of white rabbit, dyed, as “chinchilla coney,” 
Australian opossum as “Adelaide chinchilla,” 
American opossum as “Russian marten,” and 
Belgian hare as ‘‘ Baltic lynx.” Such designations 
seem to us to be just as misleading as describing 
sprats as sardines when they are packed in oil. 
Again, quarry-owners and contractors for road- 
metal claim that any stone used for this purpose 
| may be described as “granite,” with the result 
that limestones or other inferior rocks for road- 
making are purchased by local highway authori- 
ties under the impression that they are obtaining 
true granite. We make no claim to impose 
specific scientific terms upon the common vocabu- 
lary or the labels of commerce, but we are sure 
| that the trade custom of describing one thing as 
another of a superior class cannot be justified by 
any satisfactory standards of precision or ethics. 
THE ROYAL SOCIETY CONVERSAZIONE. 
ghee first of this year’s conversaziones of the 
Royal Society was held at Burlington House 
on May 8, and was, as usual, largely attended. 
Many objects and experiments relating to recent 
work in science were on view, and in the course 
of the evening short demonstration lectures were 
given by Mr. C. V. Boys on soap bubbles, the 
Hon. R. J. Strutt on active nitrogen, particularly 
_ as to the striking effects of pressure and tem- 
perature on active nitrogen, and Dr. J. S. 
Haldane on mountain sickness and acclimatisation 
to high altitudes. 
We are unable to find space for a list of the 
numerous exhibits, but we extract from the 
official catalogue a few descriptions of some of the 
chief objects of interest. 
AnTHROPOLOGY.—Mr. W. Dale: Paleolithic flint 
implements from the gravel beds of the River Test 
at Dunbridge, Hants, at about 100 to 150 ft. above 
Ordnance datum. The implements are diverse in 
form and in the character of their patination. 
A marked feature is the presence of pointed forms 
quite unwater-worn, which have acquired the white 
colour of the upper part of the gravel. These are taken 
as dating the gravel, and assigned to the St. Acheul 
period. The largest and most pointed is even con- 
sidered to belong to a later and transitional period. 
In the same gravels are found older and water- 
