December 23, 1922] 



NA TURE 



85; 



The application of eugenic principles to the im- 

 provement of the human race is discussed by Dr. 

 J. G.-Adami in an address before the International 

 Eugenics Congress in New York, published in the 

 Eugenics Review for October 1922. Dr. Adami 

 points out that eugenic measures hitherto suggested 

 or adopted have been chiefly negative in character, 

 aiming at preventing a progressive increase in the 

 number of defectives in the population. He advocates 

 an important measure of practical positive eugenic 

 value, which the Eugenics Education Society would do 

 well to consider seriously. Dr. Adami's suggestion 

 arises out of his experience as a member of the scientific 

 committee of the Advisory Council of the Ministry 

 of National Service during the war — a committee 

 which analysed the physical state of the manhood 

 of Britain during the last year of the war, examining 

 the records of nearly two and a half million men. 

 That a high percentage in man)' industrial areas 

 were found to be physically unfit is well known. 

 The eminent services of American psychologists in 

 applying intelligence tests successfully to American 

 recruits are now also widely recognised. Dr. Adami's 

 suggestion is based upon these two results. It is, 

 that eugenists organise centres throughout the 

 country where young persons of eighteen could be 

 given voluntary tests of physical fitness and intelli- 

 gence, the lists of those who attain standard A being 

 published. In tins way a true aristocracy of mental 

 and physical fitness would arise which would be of 

 the utmost value to the nation. 



In the second of his Chadwick public lectures on 

 " Relative Values in Public Health," delivered on 

 December 14, Sir Arthur Newsholme referred to the 

 relative weight of mortality of different diseases 

 in relation to their degree of preventibility. He 

 stated that tuberculosis caused ten deaths for every 

 three due to the acute notifiable diseases. Tuber- 

 culosis is a too little recognised cause of death in 

 childhood, and its prevention is an essential part 

 of child welfare work, the foundation of all public 

 health work. The amount spent on public health 

 in large English and American towns averages about 

 5s. per capita per annum, or in England, from 4 to 

 S per cent, of the total rates collected per capita. 

 Sir Arthur Newsholme is of opinion that the greatest 

 and quickest return in health for money expended — 

 outside the ordinary sanitation of a city — is in respect 

 of work on maternity and child welfare, and on the 

 prevention and treatment of tuberculosis and venereal 

 diseases. 



A conference on Industrial Fuel will be held 

 next spring in Paris under the patronage of M. Le 

 Trocquer, Minister of Public Works, and with the 

 support of the Societe d'Encouragement pour 1' In- 

 dustrie Nationale. The proposed agenda include 

 discussions on the assay of various fuels, rules for 

 testing boilers, producers, and furnaces, standard 

 methods of making measurements required in con- 

 trolling the use of fuel, construction of furnaces, use 

 of pulverised fuel and of low-grade fuels. Any 

 communications concerning the conference should 

 be addressed to the President de la Commission 



NO. 2773, VOL. I ioj 



d'Utilisation du Combustible, Ministere des Travaux 

 Publics, 246 boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris. Notices 

 and reports concerning the conference will be published 

 in Clialeur et Inditsti ie. 



According to a statement in the Meteorological 

 Magazine for November, daily weather charts of the 

 Northern Hemisphere are now being prepared by 

 the Meteorological Office each day. The charts are 

 exhibited in a ground-floor window in the Air 

 Ministry, Kingsway, and show barometric pressure 

 and wind for an area covering roughly the temperate 

 zone from the Pacific coast of America in the west 

 to the western borders of Asia in the east. In an 

 adjoining position, at the Air Ministry, a large black- 

 board map of weather conditions in north-west 

 Europe is shown. These maps giving the existing 

 weather conditions over such a large area of the 

 earth's surface will doubtless aid in the improve- 

 ment of weather forecasting. 



No. 24 of the Reprint and Circular Series of the 

 National Research Council, Washington, which has 

 been received, is a pamphlet by C. J. W T est and H. 

 Oilman dealing with " Organomagnesium Compounds 

 in Synthetic Chemistry." It contains a bibliography 

 of 1485 papers, as well as an exhaustive index. 

 Monographs of this type are very useful to investiga- 

 tors, and the National Research Council in America 

 is doing valuable work in arranging for their publica- 

 tion. The Research Information Service of the 

 Council is prepared to supply information about 

 scientific methods and results, and their applications 

 in engineering, industry, and education. No charge 

 is made for replies to inquiries which do not necessitate 

 a special search for information (there are extensive 

 files already assembled) ; those requests for data 

 which would necessitate the expenditure of a con- 

 siderable time for accumulation are acknowledged, 

 with an estimate of the cost. The Service has a 

 staff of specialists, and is in touch with current scien- 

 tific work of all kinds. It is clear that such an organ- 

 isation must be of very great service to investigators 

 in the United States, and the Scientific and Industrial 

 Research Department in this country might consider 

 the formation of a similar organisation in this country. 



The Mann Juvenile Lectures of the Royal Society 

 of Arts will be delivered on Wednesdays, January 3 and 

 10, by Mr. C. R. Darling, who will take as his subject 

 " The Spectrum, its Colours, Lines, and Invisible 

 Parts, and some of its Industrial Applications." 

 Admission is by ticket only. 



The Dorset Field Club is offering the Cecil medal 

 and prize of 10/. for the best paper on " Recent 

 Advances in Chemistry as applied to Agriculture, with 

 special reference to Dorset Conditions." The com- 

 petition is open to persons aged between 17 and 35, 

 either born in Dorset, or resident in that county for 

 one year between May 1, 1921 and 1923. Further 

 particulars may be obtained from Mr. H. Pouncy, 

 Midland Bank Chambers, Dorchester. 



Dr. R. A. Houstoun, of the University of Glasgow, 

 has in the press, for publication by Messrs. Longmans 



