NATORE, 
[JuLy 25, 1912 
nothing to stir their sympathy more. Happily there 
were people now completely recovered whose cures 
were due solely to the research work of the School of 
Tropical Medicine. They could not create new coun- 
tries, but they could make habitable countries which 
were previously uninhabitable, which was the next 
best thing. A work like the Panama Canal was an 
instance of human power which appealed to their 
imagination; but there was an eyen greater instance 
of human power in the fact that the district through 
which the Canal ran, by work closely akin to that 
of the School of Tropical Medicine, had been changed 
from a pestilential, blighted, and doomed district to 
one fit for habitation. That was a great conquest, 
and the triumphs which were being achieved by such 
institutions as the School of Tropical Medicine were 
the greatest instances of man’s power over nature 
that they had had in the history of the world. 
Pror. JOHANNIS Cuatin, of Paris, who has just 
died at Essarts-le-Roi, at the age of sixty-five years, 
was responsible for the inauguration of courses of 
instruction in comparative histology at the Sorbonne, 
while he occupied the position of professeur adjoint 
in zoology. So successful was this innovation that in 
1899 a special chair of comparative histology was 
founded for M. Chatin. Most of his original work 
was done in the special field which he cultivated so 
assiduously as a teacher; and more than thirty years 
ago, while acting as a demonstrator under Milne- 
Edwards, he wrote a comprehensive memoir on the 
structure of sense organs in the animal series. Like 
Prof. Blanchard, to whose place in the section of 
anatomy and zoology at the Academy of Sciences he 
succeeded twelve years ago, he devoted considerable 
attention to the study of the parasites of animals. 
Like his father, the botanist, and former director of 
the Paris School of Pharmacy, Prof. Chatin was a 
member of both the Academies of Medicine and 
Sciences, and was also the president of the Army 
Medical Officers’ Reserve. 
THE proprietors of The Bioscope, the trade journal 
of the kinematograph industry, have been requested 
by members of the London County Council to arrange 
a demonstration of the possibilities of the kinemato- 
graph in education at the County Hall, and it will 
be held to-day. The films to be shown have been 
selected with the view of illustrating the subjects 
which could be assisted educationally by the kine- 
matograph. The subjects to be dealt with will include, 
among others, zoology and botany. An attempt will 
be made to prove that the kinematograph would be 
useful in almost every grade of teaching. 
We learn from Science that in the autumn of last 
year funds were provided by the Department of In- 
dustrial Research of the University of Pittsburgh for 
a thorough investigation of the smoke problem, At 
the present time the study is being carried on by no 
fewer than twenty-five investigators,. seven of whom 
are giving their whole time to the work. The in- 
quiry ranges over the following branches of the 
subject :—The effect of smoke and soot on the atmo- 
on the public health, the economic damage done by 
smoke and soot, the mechanical devices for preventing 
or abating smoke, the chemistry and physics of smoke 
and soot, and the laws concerning the smoke 
nuisance. Recognising the interest in the smoke 
problem manifested by a large number of American 
cities, and in response to inquiries that have been 
made, the department announces that members of its 
staff are prepared to lecture on the various phases of 
the problem. 
Tue curator of the museum at Nottingham Castle 
publishes a paper by Dr. F. Oswald on recent ex- 
cavations at the Roman Camp of Margidunum, near 
Bingham, Notts. The place lies on the Fosse Way 
between Leicester and Lincoln, and was _ evidently 
occupied as an important strategical position from a 
very early period. A rough, unpolished bronze celt 
found here indicates a manufactory of such weapons, 
and patches of charcoal containing nodules of iron 
slag show that iron was smelted here in rude open- 
air forges such as are found at the present day in 
various parts of Africa. At a later time the fort was 
occupied and strengthened by the Romans. It has 
been as yet only imperfectly explored, but from a 
survey of the remains discovered it is clearly a 
promising site which deserves further examination. 
In the June issue of the Museum Journal of the 
University of Philadelphia, a curious Babylonian 
tablet of baked clay is described. It bears on one 
side a copy of an inscription of Sargon, dated about 
B.C. 2600, which was copied by a scribe in the days 
of Nabonidus (p.c. 555-538). The latter monarch, in 
his zeal for the restoration of ancient buildings, seems 
to have employed a college of antiquaries to direct 
the work, and one of these officers, finding the 
ancient tablet in the course of the excavation, copied 
it, as a record, before it was rebuilt into the new 
temple. 
Unber the title of ‘‘ Visvakarma,” the name of the 
architect of the Hindu pantheon, Mr. A. K. 
Coomaraswamy has begun publishing a series of re- 
productions from photographs illustrating various 
forms of Indian art. The present instalment will 
supply one hundred examples of Indian sculpture— 
Buddhas, deities, saints, and animals. Each number 
contains a dozen photographs, issued at the price of 
2s. 6d. The publication would be much more valu- 
able if some descriptive letterpress were added to 
each illustration. 
In the July number of The Child, Gertrude Austin 
gives an account of heliotherapy as applied to tuber- 
culous children at Leysin at an altitude of 5000 feet. 
The children are exposed nude to the sun’s rays. in 
galleries open to the south. It is claimed that under 
this treatment the patients rapidly improve, fever dis- 
appears, haemoglobin increases, and open wounds 
soon heal. 
A report of the meeting of the Society of American 
Bacteriologists is given in Science, March 8, 1912. 
Abstracts of several of the papers appear, together 
with Dr. Gorham’s presidential address on some bio- 
sphere, on the weather, on plant life, on buildings, | chemical problems in bacteriology, in which he pleads 
NO. 2230, VOL. 89| 
