676 



NA TURE 



[November 18, 1922 



Hoegh, and second, the Cooke lens of Harold Dennis 

 Taylor, and remarked that only time can show which 

 of these has been of greatest value, and upon which, 

 jf either, the objective of the future will be based. 

 He adds, " I do not think the great step which the 

 Cooke lens marks is as well appreciated here as on 

 the Continent . . . the Zeiss Unar and Tessar 

 were based on the same principle as the Cooke lens. 

 . . . Harting has also made several lenses which 

 are modified Cookes." 



The Optical Society of America held its seventh 

 annual meeting and exhibition of optical instruments 

 at the Bureau of Standards, Washington, on October 

 25-28. Special sessions were arranged for the con- 

 sideration of radiation, atmospheric optics, physio- 

 logical optics, photometry, optical pyrometry and 

 photography, and the whole process of manufacturing 

 optical glass was available for inspection during the 

 meeting. Reports of committees which have been 

 considering the combination of the Journal of the 

 Society with the Instrument Makers' Journal and 

 the possibility of publishing a translation of Helm- 

 boltz's " Physiologische Optik " were received. In- 

 formal accounts of the present position of the work 

 of the cemmittees on nomenclature and standards 

 of polarimetry, reflectometry, spectroradiometry, 

 refractometry, visual sensitometry, optical glass and 

 instruments, wave-lengths, illumination and photo- 

 metry, photography, pyrometry, and spectrophoto- 

 metry were also given. Visitors not members of the 

 Optical Society were allowed at both meetings and 

 exhibitions of apparatus. 



The annual report of the Chief Medical Officer of 

 the Ministry of Health for the year 1921, recently 

 issued, is entitled, " On the State of the Public 

 Health." The death-rate for that year was 12-1 per 

 1000 persons living, the lowest on record ; the birth- 

 rate 22-4, a decline of 3-1 on the previous year. The 

 infant mortality was 83 per 1000 births, a very low 

 figure, though slightly higher than that of 1920. Of 

 1000 deaths from all causes, cancer accounted for 100, 

 bronchitis for 73, pneumonia for 76, heart diseases for 

 117, and nervous diseases for 105. As regards 

 infective diseases, no cases of plague, cholera, or 

 typhus fever occurred, and influenza remained at a 

 very low ebb during the greater part of the year, but 

 336 cases of smallpox were recorded. Only 12 new 

 indigenous cases of malaria were detected, as com- 

 pared with 36 in the previous year and 103 in 1919. 

 Encephalitis lethargica increased, 1470 cases being 

 recorded, as compared with 844 cases in 1920. Tuber- 

 culosis is decreasing, the number of cases notified 

 being the lowest recorded. Much information is 

 given on schemes for maternity and child welfare, on 

 the prevention of venereal diseases, on the care and 

 after-care of tuberculous cases, on the relation of food 

 to health and disease, and on the medical and sanitary 

 administration of the country. 



In Scribner's Magazine for November, Dr. George E. 

 Hale describes the buildings now being erected in 

 Washington for the National Academy of Sciences 

 and the National Research Council. The architect 



NO. 2768, VOL. I io] 



is Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue of New York, and 

 the sculptural decoration has been entrusted to Lee 

 Lawrie. The complete plan is a hollow square with 

 a frontage of 260 feet, the centre of which will be 

 occupied by a domed hall surrounded by seven top- 

 lit exhibition rooms. For the present only this 

 central area and the front block are being erected. 

 The two upper floors of the front block will contain 

 the offices of the Academy and the Research Council ; 

 the entrance hall on the ground floor will be flanked 

 by a library, lecture-rooms, and conference rooms. 

 The central hall, though primarily intended for 

 exhibits, will be capable of transformation into a 

 lecture-room or meeting-room. The novelty of the 

 scheme lies in the utilisation of the central space for 

 a museum of discovery. Those natural phenomena 

 which for the time being provide the chief fields of 

 investigation, the apparatus for studying them, and 

 the means by which fundamental discoveries in pure 

 science are applied for the public welfare will all be 

 demonstrated in a permanent but ever-changing 

 exhibition, kept constantly up-to-date, and covering 

 the whole range of the physical and biological sciences. 

 At the same time the provision of a convenient and 

 dignified headquarters for the National Academy and 

 the Research Council will greatly assist those two 

 bodies in their tasks of advising the Government and 

 organising the scientific work and resources of the 

 United States. The building will doubtless justify 

 the title of Dr. Hale's article as "A National Focus 

 of Science and Research." 



The annual report of the Lancaster Astronomical 

 and Scientific Association has recently been received. 

 The rules and regulations of the Association are such 

 as could with advantage be imitated and followed 

 by many other similar institutions up and down the 

 country. It is apparently conducted entirely by 

 honorary officials, and the motto borne by the Associa- 

 tion is clearly the whole spirit of the work — " If we 

 succeed in giving the love of learning, the learning 

 itself is sure to follow " — Lord Avebury. The 

 Association has a total of 281 members. Lectures 

 are given monthly and they are of a scientific and 

 educational character. Meteorology forms an im- 

 portant feature of the report. Monthly and weekly 

 results from readings taken at the Greg Observatory 

 are sent to the Meteorological Office and are used 

 in the official publications. Mean values for each 

 month throughout the year 1921 are given in the 

 report for barometer as well as the extreme readings, 

 the duration of bright sunshine and the number 

 of sunless days. Monthly rainfall statistics are 

 tabulated, and during 192 1 the total measurement 

 was 41 25 in., which fell on 194 days. Lancaster 

 escaped the drought from which so many other 

 places suffered, and the showers during the summer 

 kept the ground from being dried up. The mean 

 air temperature for the year was 50°- 2 F., which is 

 warmer than either of the two preceding years. 



The recently issued report of the museums of the 

 Brooklyn Institute (N.Y.) for 1921 shows that the 

 children are well catered for, not only in the delightful 



