NA TURE 



[July i, 1922 



Letters to the Editor. 



[The Editor docs not hold himself responsible for 

 opinion! expressed by /lis correspondents. Neither 

 con lie undertake to return, or to correspond with 

 the -writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for 

 this or any other fart of Nature. No notice is 

 taken of anonymous communications.] 



The Stature of the Scottish People. 



On the data published in the " Final Report of the 

 Anthropometric Committee" of the British Associa- 

 tion (18S3), the Scottish people have been regarded 

 as being considerably taller than any other British 

 nationality. The following letter from Dr. Ales 

 Hrdlifka, of the United States National Museum, 

 Washington, D.C., shows that, through an error in 

 computation, the Scots have had nearly two-thirds 

 of an inch added to their real stature. 



In preparing my report on the ' Stature of the 

 Old Americans ' I had occasion to look up, among 

 other things, the principal records of that nature on 

 the Scotch people. I found quite a number of these 

 and they all showed fairly harmonious results, with 

 one exception. This was the record on the Scotch- 

 men in the ' Final Report of the Anthropometric 

 Committee ' of the B.A.A.S., 1883, p. 256. This 

 record gave results that were so much higher than 

 any others that I was finally led to a re-computation 

 of the series. Taking the number of persons measured 

 and the record in inches, in which the measurements 

 were originally recorded, I found to my surprise a 

 different and a very perceptiblv lower average. 

 The averages given in the Report were 68-71 in. 

 or 174-6 cm., while I obtained 68-1 in. or 172-97 cm. 



I should be thankful to you if you would bring 

 this matter to the attention of the members of the 

 Anthropological Institute, and have it looked into ; 

 and if it should be found that an error has been made, 

 then I think it would be advisable for some one to 

 publish a little note on the subject, for the figures of 

 the Anthropometric Committee have been widely 

 utilised (see Deniker, Martin, etc.)." 



I have not checked Dr. HrdliJka's estimates, but 

 I have no doubt that they are right. The average 

 stature of the four British nationalities thus amended 

 reads : Scottish, 172-9 cm. ; Irish, 172-6 cm. ; 

 English, 171-2 cm. ; Welsh, 169-4 cm - 



Arthur Keith. 



Advanced Mathematical Study and Research 

 at Cambridge. 



It has been suggested to me that attention might 

 well be directed through the columns of Nature to 

 a point in the regulations of the University of Cam- 

 bridge which prevents many graduates of other 

 universities taking advantage of the opportunities 

 Cambridge offers for advanced mathematical study. 



In most universities other than Cambridge our 

 best students of mathematics now usually read for 

 a degree in science. They have passed an entrance 

 examination of a standard far higher, I need scarcely 

 say, than that of the Previous Examination. But 

 neither in their entrance examination nor in then- 

 course need they have taken Latin or .Greek. They 

 are thus cut off from the privileges of affiliation, 

 which include exemption from the Previous Examina- 

 tion and permission to take their degree on Part II. 

 oi the Tripos after a residence of two years. 



It is true that graduates of other universities may 



proceed to the degrees of M.Sc. and Ph.D. at Cam- 

 bridge by research, without any questions being 

 asked as to the nature of their entrance examination. 

 But in my opinion, at least, few of the graduates of 

 the Scotch universities, the newer English universities, 

 and the universities of the Dominions are ready to 

 devote themselves to research in mathematics 

 immediately after graduation. What they want at 

 that stage is just such advanced instruction as 

 Cambridge now offers in the subjects of Schedule B 

 of Part II. of the Tripos. They should be able to 

 take the Part II. examination easily after six terms. 

 Before the end of that time they may have begun 

 some research. But the man who wishes to become 

 a professional mathematician should continue re- 

 search work for at least two years after taking Part II. 

 Some of the time would be spent at Cambridge ; and 

 one or other of the great schools of mathematics at 

 Paris, Rome, Berlin, or Gottingen should certainly 

 be visited. 



Oxford admits to the status of Senior Student any 

 person who has obtained a degree at an approved 

 university after a three-year course, the degree also 

 having been approved by the Hebdomadal Council. 

 If Cambridge would modify its regulations for 

 admission to the privileges of affiliation so that our 

 best graduates in mathematics could take the Cam- 

 bridge B.A. on Part II. after six terms, I believe its' 

 school of mathematics would receive a larger number 

 of brilliant scholars, and there would be more of our 

 mathematicians at home and abroad engaged in 

 research. H. S. Carslaw. 



The University, Sydney, May 1. 



Condition of Electrolytes in the Blood. 



Are the salts present in the blood ionised to an 

 equal extent as similar concentrations of these salts 

 in aqueous solution ? Are the ions absorbed by the 

 protein ? These are questions that have been attract- 

 ing the attention of physiologists and biological 

 chemists. Investigators have attempted to answer 

 these questions principally by two methods — com- 

 pensatory dialysis of the serum (Rona, Michealis, and 

 their co-workers) or filtration with pressure (Starling, 

 Cushnv, Richter-Quittner). 



It seemed worth while to determine the concentra- 

 tions of other ions by electromotive force measure- 

 ments, as is done in the case of the hydrogen ion. 

 Accordingly, a 0-2 per cent, sodium amalgam that is 

 but slowly decomposed was used as a sodium elec- 

 trode. After measuring the E.M.F. of this electrode 

 against known concentrations of sodium chloride of 

 known degree of ionisation, the normal potential of 

 this amalgam electrode was obtained. The E.M.F. 

 of samples of serum and plasma were then measured. 

 When from these readings the total concentrations of 

 Na present were recalculated on the basis that the 

 degree of ionisation of the sodium salts was the same 

 as in an aqueous solution, the calculated Na con- 

 centration and that found by analysis were in very 

 good agreement. For example in two samples the 

 calculated values of sodium were 3-51 and 3-67 grams ; 

 the values found were 3-46 and 3-65 grams per litre. 

 Thus the conclusions of the aforementioned workers 

 that Na is not bound in the serum, because it can be 

 dialysed and filtered in toto, has been confirmed. 



To determine the concentration of Cl-ions, an 

 Ag/AgCl electrode was used. By calculations similar 

 to those outlined in the case of sodium, it was found 

 that the quantities of CI present calculated from 

 E.M.F. measurements of serum and plasma, on the 

 assumption that we were dealing with an aqueous 



NO. 2748, VOL. I IO] 



