754 



NA TURE 



[December 2, 1922 



stressed in the recommendations of the X-ray and 

 Radium Protection Committee. Indirect lighting 

 is employed, the ceilings being painted with white 

 enamel. 



Throughout the building high-tension wires are 

 abolishei I On , are replaced by stout aluminium 

 tubing, which eliminates brush discharges and 

 prevents the formation of ozone, now known to be 

 prejudicial to the health- of the operators. 



Most of the X-ray bulbs are contained in boxes 

 which are covered with an adequate thickness of 

 sheet lead. In addition, the walls are coated with 

 a plaster containing a large admixture of barium 

 sulphate, the result being a wall giving protection 

 equivalent to that of about 8 mm. of lead. 



Coolidge tubes and closed-core high-tension trans- 

 formers are the order of the day, except in the treat- 

 ment department, where the existing induction coils 

 have been brought up-to-date. 



In the screening - room a Sunk 10 K.V.A. oil- 

 immersed transformer is installed. The new intensive 

 deep therapy treatment of cancer is catered for by 

 two separate 200,000-volt outfits, each of the twin-coil 

 type — one a German set with dry insulation by 

 Maison Schaerer, the other of the oil-immersed type 

 by Xewton and Wright. 



There are a number of unusually elaborate screen- 

 ing-stands and couches, a novel development being 

 the Potter Bucky couch, in which a lead grid is 

 inserted between the patient and the photographic 

 plate. The grid, while allowing direct X-rays from 

 the bulb to pass, prevents the majority of the 

 scattered radiation from reaching the plate, to the 

 marked benefit of definition. A special portable 

 X-ray equipment is provided for use in the wards 

 of Hi'' hospital in cases where it is inadvisable to 

 move the patient. 



The lay-out of the department is well - nigh a 

 model of its kind, being arranged so that the work 

 progresses automatically to its finality. The day of 

 black-painted walls for dark rooms is over ; instead, 

 we find a cheery lofty room which can readily be 

 i-ooded with daylight when the room is not in use. 

 Thermostatic control of the developing and fixing 

 solutions, etc., is provided. There is also a fully- 

 equipped demonstration room, so that doctors and 

 students can watch the examination of cases without 

 hampering the work. This demonstration room is 

 also provided with a stereo-motorgraph, an ingenious 

 instrument which automatically changes lantern 

 slides by a press-button, so that the lecturer is in- 

 dependent of a lantern operator. The proportion 

 of infirmary patients requiring X-ray examination 

 is one in five, so that business-like and orderly 

 arrangements are very essential. 



At the joint meeting Prof . Jacobaeus of Stockholm, 

 Prof. W. L. Bragg and Prof. A. V. Hill, among others, 

 contributed papers; and the enterprise of the two 

 societies in departing from precedent by holding a 

 meeting in the provinces met with great local appi ecia - 

 tion and support. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



\r. 1 01 i.x. — Dr. A. \V. Gibb has been appointed 

 to the newly founded Kilgour chair of geology. This 

 foundation is derived from a bequest under the will of 

 the late Dr. Alexander Kilgour of South I.oirston, 

 supplemented in the will of his son, through whose 

 death it has now become available. In accordance 

 with the terms of the trust deed, junior and senior 

 scholarships in natural science have also been insti- 

 tuted. I'n if. Gibb, who has an intimate knowledge 



of the geology of the north of Scotland, has been in 

 charge of the teaching of the subject since 1899, Inst 

 as a member of the staff of the natural history depart- 

 ment, and since 1008 as head of an independent 

 department of geology. The teaching of the subject 

 in Aberdeen is associated with the names of James 

 Nicol and Alleyne Nicholson. 



Prof. E. W. Hobson has completed, during the 

 present month, Ins second series of Gifford lectures 

 on " The Domain of Natural Science." In this series, 

 which concludes the course, he has reviewed the whole 

 field of natural science, and has dealt with its relation 

 to general thought and to theism. The lectures will 

 appear in book form. 



Liverpool. — We understand that Prof. F. Carey 

 is to retire at the end of the present session. Prof. 

 Carey is head of the department of pure mathematics 

 at the University, and was one of the original 

 professors on the first staff of the University College. 



The Strasbourg correspondent of the Times states 

 that the diploma of doctor honoris causa of the 

 University of Strasbourg has been conferred upon 

 Sir James Frazer, author of " The Golden Bough." 



According to the Paris correspondent of the Times, 

 the degree of doctor honoris causa of the University of 

 Paris has been conferred on the following : Prof. 

 Bordet, professor of bacteriology in the University of 

 Brussels ; Prof. M. Lugeon, professor of geology in the 

 University of Lausanne ; and Prof. A. Michelson, 

 professor of physics in the University of Chicago. 



By the will of Sir William Stevenson Meyer, High 

 Commissioner for India and formerly Chief Secretary 

 to the Government of Madras, who died on October 19 

 last, sums of 3000/. each are bequeathed to University 

 College, London, " for the encouragement of pro- 

 ficiency in European history and in the history and 

 geography of India," and to the University of Madras 



for promoting the study of history and economics." 



A conference on the teaching of science in schools 

 and , olleges, which owed its initiation to Miss Winifred 

 Smith, president of the Association of University 

 Women Teachers, and its organisation to the joint 

 efforts of the Association of Science Teachers and the 

 A. I .W.T., was held on Saturday, November 25, at 

 University College. During the morning session, 

 with Miss Smith in the chair, the more general aspects 

 of science teaching and the relationship between the 

 work in the school and in the university were discussed. 

 In the opening paper Sir William Tilden dealt with 

 science in the school and raised a plea for work of 

 wider and less specialised type, with a place for the 

 history of the growth of knowledge. His personal 

 reminiscences added much to the interest of the paper. 

 Sir William Bayliss and Prof. J. R. Partington both 

 expressed themselves in hearty support of wider range 

 in tli. science work. The last speaker, from the point 

 of view of university work, considered that the more 

 specialisation was pushed in the school, the worse the 

 result later. The condemnation of specialisation was 

 continued in the papers of both Miss Thomas and of 

 Miss Drummond. The first speaker dealt with the 

 preparation of the student for the work of teaching 

 science and deplored the tendency to specialise too 

 early at the university ; she considered the con- 

 ditions of the Burnham scales enhanced this. The 

 afternoon session included a paper upon the teaching 

 of biology by Mr. A. G Tansley, and papers upon 



NO. 2770, VOL. IIO] 



