August 8, 1907J 



NA TURE 



PERSEWS— COMET DANIEL. 

 r\ N the night of August 4 several bright Perseids werf 

 observed, and this marked return of the shower at 

 ^ci early a date presages a display exceeding the ordinary 

 richness this year. There is evidence that the shower is 

 pretty strong every ton years, for there were considerable 

 numbers of Perseids seen in 1877, 1SS7, and iSc.t. It will 

 be desirable to watch the phenomenon during its ensuing 

 apparition, with special regard to the fact alluded to, and 

 to ascertain the hourly number of Perseids visible through- 

 <iut the nights of Sunday and Monday, August 11 and 12. 

 The latter date will probably be found to represent the 

 time of maximum. St. Lawrence's Day, August 10, is no 

 longer contemporary with the Perseid display at its best. 



The diurnal motion of the radiant, amounting to one 

 degree in a direction to E.N.E., was first definitely observed 

 by the writer in 1877 and announced in N.ature at the 

 time. Every year supplies fresh evidence of the displace- 

 ment and corroborates the facts described in Monthly 

 Notices, vol. Ixii., pp. 161-9. 



Daniel's comet has been visible to the naked eye since 

 the first few days of July, and is now sufficiently con- 

 spicuous to arrest the immediate attention of anyone who 

 will look towards the eastern .sky before the morning 

 twilight becomes loo strong. On August 5, at 3 a.m., 

 (he nucleus of the comet appeared like a blurred star of 

 2,\ magnitude, and the tail extended westwards over nearly 

 T,° . but it was difficult to assign limits, as it faded 

 craduallv awav into the tone of the skv. Ephcmcris bv 

 Dyheck'(/Isf. JVrtc/i., 4194):— 



Bcriin Mean Midnight. 



i<)07 R.A. Dec. Brightness, 



h. in. s 



Aug. 10 5 56 56 ... 



,, 14 6 3S t ... 



„ 18 776 ... 



.. 22 7 30 2 



. S "S 58 ... 



. 8 37 12 ... 



. 8 50 45 ... 



,, 26 

 Sept. I 



T//E ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BRITISH 

 MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 



'T'HE seventy-fifth annual meeting of the British Medical 

 -Association was held last week at Exeter under the 

 presidency of Dr. Henry Davy, phj-sician to the Royal 

 Devon and Exeter Hospital. 



The subject of the presidential address was " Science 

 in its Application to National Health." After giving some 

 particulars concerning Exeter and the Royal Devon 

 Hospital, Dr. Davy proceeded to point out that every 

 organ, muscle, and structure in the body required a proper 

 amount of work to keep it healthy. Exercise was there- 

 fore very important, and he deplored the present tendency 

 to watch games rather than to participate in them. 

 Physical culture was one of the most pressing questions 

 of the day, and it should not be left to professors of 

 Swedish exercises to lecture on physical culture and to 

 direct the kind of exercise to be emploved : in such ques- 

 tions the medical man should be consulted. Schools 

 should have proper playgrounds and gymnasiums, and 

 trainers in physical exercises were as nccessarv as school 

 teachers. The question of food was another important 

 one, and the " man in the street " should be able to 

 cilitain from his medical attendant precise details of the 

 quantity required and of its nature. As regards infective 

 diseases, pyreniia was now almost unknown, thanks to 

 the labours of Lord Lister, tynhoid fever was diminishing, 

 and it was now tuberculosis that required to be attacked. 

 Something, it was true, had been done in this direction, 

 but much more remained ; arc no precautions to be insisted 

 ^K\ with regard to disinfection? Are we for ever to allow 

 consumptives to disseminate their infectious sxpectoration ? 

 Are consumptives alone to be allowed to stay in hotels and 

 lodgings without taking precautions? 



The address in medicine was delivered by Dr. Hale 

 White, whose subject was " A Plea for Accuracy of 



NO. 197 1, VOL. 76] 



Thought in Medicine.'' He instanced such terms as 

 " irregular " or " suppressed gout " and " liver out of 

 order " as really being only a cloak for ignorance, whicli 

 it would be much better to confess. " Selective action " 

 was another mystery, e.g. why does alcohol pick out the 

 anterior tibial nerve and lead the musculo-spiral? Why 

 do beer drinlcers get " beer-drinkers' heart " in Munich 

 but not in London? Unreflecting adhesion to authority 

 has a particularly serious effect in keeping back the advent 

 of correct knowledge. 



Mr. Butlin discussed the " Contagion of Cancer in 

 Human Beings : Autoinoculation " in his address in 

 surgery. He brought forward a number of cases in which 

 cancer in a part was followed by cancer of the same tvpe 

 in another part in contact with the first, e.g. cancer in 

 one lip followed by cancer in the other lip. 



In the section of medicine there was a discussion on the 

 indications for operation in cases of intra-cranial tumour 

 introduced by Dr. Risien Russell, Dr. Gardner Robb read 

 a paper on the recent outbreak of cerebro-spinal fever in 

 Belfast, and Dr. Riviere one on the tuberculin treatment of 

 tuberculosis in children. 



In the section of pathology there were important dis- 

 cussions on pernicious anaimia and on phagocytosis. In 

 the section of tropical diseases. Prof. Simpson read a 

 paper on anti-malarial sanitation, in which he discussed 

 how recent discoveries have rendered anti'-malarial sanita- 

 tion more precise and less costly than formerly. 



In the section of State medicine. Dr. Newsholme 

 delivered an address on the need for coordination of the 

 public medical services. V'oluntary effort, as illustrated 

 in the hospitals, and State-aided treatment under the Poor 

 Law, failed entirely to produce an adequate result for the 

 vast sums expended. .X coordinated system of State-paid 

 and State-directed medical service would speedily justify 

 itself from an economical standpoint, and must of necessity 

 allv itself with preventive medicine. 



Dr. Gilchrist read a paper on the necessity of increasing 

 the degree of immunity against small-pox, and Mr. 

 Garrett Horder one on the new vaccination order. A 

 resolution was passed by the meeting recommending the 

 council of the association to approach the Local Govern- 

 ment Board on the subject of the new vaccination order. 



The association was received by the civic authorities at 

 the Guildhall, and numerous garden-parties and excursions 

 helped to pass an instructive and pleasant week in the 

 delightful old citv. 



V^lVERSnY AND EDUCATI0N.1L 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Manchester. — Harling fellowships in physics have been 

 awarded to Mr. J. N. Pring and Dr. Hans Geiger. 



The University has made arrangements for a number 

 of public lectures in the autumn which are to be given 

 by leading men of science and others. 



Dr. Graham Steell has been appointed by the council 

 of the University of Manchester professor of medicine in 

 the university. 



Oxford. — The Romanes lecture will be delivered by 

 Lord Curzon, Chancellor of the University, in the 

 Sheldonian Theatre, on Saturday, November 2. The sub- 

 ject of the lecture will be " Frontiers." 



Sheffield. — Mr. D. H. de Souza has been appointed 

 demonstrator in physiology, and Mr. W. F. G. Swann 

 assistant lecturer and demonstrator in physics. 



Prof, von Leyden has resigned the professorship of 

 clinical medicine at the University of Berlin, and Prof. 

 His, of Gottingen, has been appointed to succeed him in 

 the chair. 



Dr. Geoffrey M.\rtin, a former student of the Merchant 

 Venturers' Technical College, Bristol, has been appointed 

 lecturer and demonstrator in chemistry at University 

 College, Nottingham. 



.\ " Prof. T.^it's Memori.\l Fund " of the value of 

 200!. per annum, for the encouragement of physical re- 

 search in the L'niversity of Edinburgh, has been endowed 

 bv Sir John Jaclcson. 



