532 
NATURE 
the association of chronic irritation with its origin, 
and based upon a study of the variability of tumour 
cells, the Fifth Report deals mainly with the nature 
of the resistance which may be obtained against 
the growth of inoculated cancer. The evidence 
adduced tends to prove that the resistant condition 
can only be induced by treatment with living 
normal or cancerous tissue of the same species as 
that furnishing the tumour tested against, and 
that the resistance is always an active immunity. 
The facts which have been held to establish the 
existence of another kind of immunity in cancer— 
a starvation immunity, Ehrlich’s atreptic immunity 
have been shown not to require this assumption 
but to be naturally explained by the mode of 
operation of the active immunity referred to. 
Natural healing occurs very much less frequently 
in spontaneous tumours than in transplanted. 
Only one per cent. of spontaneous malignant 
new growths recede naturally. In the natural 
healing of transplanted tumours two _ factors 
appear to operate: the first is the power of the 
transplanted cancer cells to induce active resist- 
ance in fresh animals; the second is the suscepti- 
bility of the tumour cells to this resistant condition. 
Great variations in both respects are met with in 
the different strains of transplanted tumours, so 
that some grow progressively, as do the majority 
of spontaneous tumours, while others, being sus- 
ceptible to the resistance they themselves induce, 
regress spontaneously in practically every case. 
The details of the process of natural healing 
seem to be very closely alike in spontaneous and 
transplanted tumours, but while in transplanted 
tumours it is pretty certain that the damage to 
the cancer cells is due to the resistant condition, 
the causes of the cell damage which leads to 
natural cure in spontaneous growths are still quite 
obscure. Attempts to achieve this action by means 
of drugs are being widely made, but as yet with 
little success. 
Appreciative reference was made to the loss the 
Fund had (sustained through the deaths of Sir 
Julius Wernher, Lord Lister, Mr. Archibald Coats, 
and Sir Henry Butlin. Sir William Watson 
Cheyne was elected Honorary Treasurer in suc- 
cession to Sir Henry Morris, who was elected a 
Vice-President on the suggestion of the Duke of 
Bedford. Professor Woodhead was re-elected a 
member of the Executive Committee and Dr. 
William Bulloch was elected to the Executive 
Committee. 
MR. JAMES DUNN. 
M R. JAMES DUNN, who died suddenly at 
iV York on the 17th inst., was a well-known 
naval architect, whose professional career had been 
long and honourable in the service of the 
Admiralty until he attained (fifteen years ago) 
the age-limit of sixty years, which — permitted 
him to retire on pension. Since 1897 Mr. 
Dunn has been connected with the great firm of 
Vickers and Company, serving as director and 
chief naval constructor, and he was actively 
NO. 2230, VOL. 89| 
[JuLY 25, 1912 
engaged on these responsible duties until a few 
months ago, when he retired from active service 
in these offices, although his interest in the ship- 
building department continued. During this latter 
period of his professional career Mr. Dunn was 
most successful; the ships for foreign fleets 
designed and built under his supervision have 
added greatly to his reputation, and to the success 
of the company. It is interesting, therefore, to 
summarise the principal facts of his training and 
employment; more especially as Mr. Dunn never 
had the opportunity of studying at any school of 
naval architecture wherein the science of ship- 
building was systematically taught, because no 
such school existed at thaf time in Great Britain, 
His training began by apprenticeship in Chat- 
ham Dockyard as a shipwright, at the age of 
fourteen years, and included attendance at the 
dockyard school, where the apprentices were in- 
structed in mathematics and the elements of 
physical science. On the completion of his 
apprenticeship he became a draughtsman, and in 
that capacity was transferred to the constructive 
department at the Admiralty about 1860, when the 
ironclad reconstruction of the Navy was begun. 
This employment lasted about seven years, and 
was followed by a period of service as resident 
overseer of ships building for the Navy; after 
which Mr. Dunn returned to the Admiralty and 
resumed work in the constructive department, 
rising in rank gradually, until (in 1894) he became 
principal assistant to the Director of Naval Con- 
struction (Sir William White), and for three years 
did excellent work in that capacity. Certain 
special duties were from time to time entrusted 
to Mr. Dunn, and were well performed. In 1875 
he undertook the survey of mercantile steamships 
and framed a list of vessels the subdivision and 
other features of which made them suitable for 
naval service in case of war. In 1884 he had 
much to do with the construction of the flotilla of 
boats built for the advance up the Nile of the 
Gordon relief expedition. He was the Admiralty 
representative on many important committees, in- 
cluding that which led to legislation for fixing the 
load-lines of merchant ships. His tact and temper 
were admirable, and his'wide and varied experience 
made him a valued colleague wherever he was 
employed. His contributions to technical litera- 
ture were not numerous, but were always practical 
in character and full of suggestive statement. His 
connection with the Institution of Naval Architects 
was formed very soon after it was established, and 
he was elected a Vice-President many years ago. 
His loss will be greatly felt in that Institution and 
by the members of his profession. W. H. W: 
ANDREW LANG. 
CIENCE and letters are the poorer by the 
death of Andrew Lang. For in him we lose 
in criticism, anthropology, history, and psychie 
research, not to mention many other subjects 
digested by his versatile mind, a brilliant amateur. 
We should rather say a knight errant, for 
“amateur ” still has a tinge of reproach, and Lang 
