Ni tVEMBER II, 1922] 



NA TURE 



65; 



discovered substances. There is also need for 

 further research on the nature of the substances 

 (auximones) which are believed to act as vitamins 

 for plant growth. 



Dr. Monkton Copeman agreed with the importance 

 of vitamins for the young and growing organism, but 

 questioned whether they are as important, or not 

 actually deleterious, to the mature animal. In some 

 researches which had recently been made under 

 the auspices of the Ministry of Health, evidence had 

 been obtained that patients suffering from malignant 

 growths had received benefit from a course of feeding 

 on dietaries deficient in vitamins. There was also 

 a definite, if microscopic, fall in the Registrar-General's 

 figures for cancer during the years of the war, when 

 food restrictions were in force. 



British and American Fine Chemicals. 



I^HE " Catalogue of Chemical Products " issued 

 bv the British Drug Houses, Ltd., is now so 

 well known to chemists that there is little need to do 

 more than direct attention to the new edition, issued 

 on September 21, which includes several thousand 

 chemicals, many of them recent additions. The firm 

 caters not only for chemical laboratories, but also 

 supplies an extensive range of requisites for micro- 

 scopic work, such as stains, mounting media, embed- 

 ding materials, liquids of known refractive index, 

 etc. Special mention may be made of the list of about 

 50 indicators for which the catalogue gives a useful 

 table showing the Ph range in each case, including 

 the universal indicator, a mixture to be used for 

 determining rapidly and in one operation the approxi- 

 mate Ph of a solution by the colour developed. 



A new edition (No. 8) of the list of organic chemicals 

 sold by the Eastman Kodak Co. in the United States 

 has also been issued recently. It includes about 1400 

 products and has two good features which British 

 firms might copy with advantage. It indicates, 

 usually by means of the melting- or boiling-point, the 

 degree of purity of the product, and states which 

 materials have been made or purified in the firm's 

 own laboratories. The American firm seems to 

 realise the necessity of securing as quickly as possible 

 a reputation for quality similar to that enjoyed by a 

 few of the German makers before the war, and the 

 features just alluded to have no doubt been intro- 

 duced into their list with that object. 



The Eastman list begins with an introduction in 

 which, after recording progress, a frank appeal is 

 made to chemists to co-operate with the company in 

 making the United States independent as regards the 

 supply of these essential materials, by indicating 

 possible means of improving the quality, furnishing 

 information as to supplies of new or rare organic 

 chemicals available for purchase, and suggesting new 

 materials for manufacture. 



British manufacturers should realise that British 

 chemists are equally interested in this matter so far 

 as this country is concerned, and similar appeals in 

 their lists would probably have an excellent effect. 

 There are few research laboratories in which there are 

 not residues of rare organic chemicals available for 

 disposal, and most laboratories of university standing 

 could, from time to time, do something towards 

 supplying complex organic chemicals. 



It has been urged against the Board of Trade lists 

 drawn up under the Safeguarding of Industries Act 

 that they " protect " many chemicals which, owing to 

 the small demand and the cost of labour, can never be 

 made in this country. The co-operation of university 

 laboratories might also be a means of overcoming this 

 difficulty. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Cambridge. — Mr. E. C. Francis, Trinity College, 

 has been elected Fellow and mathematical lecturer 

 at Peterhouse. Mr. C. G. Lamb has been appointed 

 reader in electrical engineering. 



The allotment made in 1920 of 165,000/. for the 

 endowment of the School of Biochemistry from the 

 estate of the late Sir William Dunn has been increased 

 by a further sum of 45,000/. It is of interest to note 

 the allotment ordered by the Court for the sub- 

 division of the total sum of 210,000/., namely (a) 

 96,000/. for the site and building of the Institute of 

 Biochemistry; (b) 18,000/. for equipment, main- 

 tenance, and improvements out of annual income ; 

 (c) 89,000/. for salaries and the expenses of research 

 work out of annual income ; (d) 7000/. for a fund 

 to meet contingencies and unforeseen expenditure. 



A studentship for study and research in the 

 languages, literature, history, archaeology or art of 

 ancient Greece or Rome or the comparative philology 

 of the Indo-European languages is to be founded 

 from a bequest under the will of the late Sir John 

 Sandys, Public Orator. 



Manchester. — On Monday, October 30, Mr. Harold 

 L. Cohen opened the Lewis Departmental Library 

 in the Faculty of Commerce and Administration. 

 This library, and also certain scholarships, have been 

 provided from a gift by Messrs. Lewis with the 

 object of encouraging co-operation between the 

 university and the business community of the city. 

 The Facility of Commerce has made rapid progress 

 during recent years, and it is hoped that university 

 graduates may find increasing opportunities to 

 demonstrate the value of a university training in 

 commerce. 



Mr. E. J. Sidebotham has been appointed honorary 

 lecturer in public health, and Mr. G. J. Langley 

 hon. assistant lecturer in physiology. 



The following appointments have also been made : 

 assistant lecturer in electrical engineering, Mr. L. S. 

 Palmer ; special lecturer in textile design, Mr. Henry 

 Cadness ; Osborne Reynolds fellow, Mr. F. D. 

 Reynolds ; Vulcan fellow, Mr. F. Heywood ; Leech 

 fellow, Mr. C. D. Hough. 



St. Andrews. — The University Court has now made 

 an appointment to the chair of natural philosophy in 

 the United College, which became vacant at the end 

 of last academical year bv the retirement of Prof. 

 Butler. The new professor is Dr. H. Stanley Allen, of 

 the University of Edinburgh. Dr. Allen was educated 

 at Kingswood School, Bath, and Trinity College, 

 Cambridge. Afterwards he held a post as assistant 

 lecturer at the University College of Wales, Aberyst- 

 wyth ; he also did research work in physics at the 

 Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, under the direction 

 of Sir J. J. Thomson, and was in charge of Lord 

 Blythswood's physical laboratory at Renfrew. In 

 October 1905 Dr. Allen was appointed to a post in 

 the physics department of King's College, London, 

 where, after being lecturer for some years, he followed 

 his chief there (Prof. C. G. Barkla) to the physics 

 department in Edinburgh. In the course of his 

 career Dr. Allen has had a varied experience of the 

 teaching of physics, and he has made some notable 

 contributions to the scientific literature of the subject. 



The following Parliamentary candidates for uni- 

 versity constituencies have been returned unopposed : 

 —Scotland: D. M'Coig Cowan (NX.), Sir Henry 

 Craik (U.), and Sir George Berry (U.). Queen's, 

 Belfast : Sir William Whitla (U.). Sir George Berry 

 is the only new member from these two constituencies. 



NO. 2767, VOL. I ioj 



