September 17, 1896] 



NA TURE 



463 



announced, some of the more important communications 

 will be as follows : — "Further researches on the phono- 

 graph," and " Method of transmitting wave-forms from 

 phonograms to paper," by Prof McKendrick ; "Method 

 of distinguishing between organic and inorganic com- 

 pounds of iron in the tissues," by Prof Macallum 

 (Toronto) ; " The glycoside constitution of proteid 

 matter," by Dr. Pavy ; " Photometry and Purkinje's 

 phenomenon," by Prof Haycroft ; " Bacteria and daily 

 food," by Ur. Kanthack ; "The physiological effects of 

 peptone when injected into the circulation," by Prof 

 Thompson; "The influence of glycerine on the growth 

 of bacteria," by Dr. Markton Copeman ; and other papers 

 by Dr. Dupuy, Prof Gotch, Dr. Mann, Prof Boyce, &c. 



In the Botanical Section, in addition to what we have 

 already announced, there will be two discussions on 

 subjects which have for some time past been prominently 

 before the botanical world. On Friday, Mr. Francis 

 Darwin will introduce a discussion on the movements of 

 water in plants ; others will be followed by a demonstration 

 by Prof. Vines of a new method for the e.\perimental 

 investigation of some phenomena connected with the 

 transpiration current. On Tuesday the second discussion 

 will be opened by Prof Farmer. This will treat of 

 problems connected with the vegetable cell, but it is 

 hoped that with the co-operation of zoologists the subject 

 will be discussed from a general biological point of view. 



An important contribution by Miss Sargant will be 

 made after the discussion, in which some recent researches 

 on nuclear division will be described. 



On Monday afternoon, as already announced, a lecture 

 will be delivered by Mr. Thiselton-Dyer, on the geo- 

 graphical distribution of plants. The subject will be 

 treated in such a way as to appeal not only to specialists, 

 but to the wider circle of those who possess a general 

 interest in botanical science. 



The papers to be communicated to this Section may be 

 summarised as follows. Prof Magnus (of Berlin), Mr. 

 Ellis, and Mr. Vaughan Jennings have promised com- 

 munications on the life-history of various Fungi. Dr. 

 Mann is e.xpected to make a communication on work 

 carried out by Miss Huit on the physiology of the 

 tentacles of Droseraj and from Dr. Morris (of Kew), 

 there will be a contribution on some remarkable patho- 

 logical effects produced by a West Indian ^ttd, Leuccena 

 glaiica. On Monday, Prof Chodat (of Geneva) will give 

 an account of conclusions arrived at as the result of his 

 important researches on Alga?, relating to such problems 

 as the origin of sexuality, and the relationship of Alg;e to 

 the higher plants. 



Prof. Bower and Mr. Lang (of Glasgow) will deal with 

 investigations on Vascular Cryptogams, and from the 

 latter author may be e.xpected an exceedingly important 

 contribution which has a direct bearing on the question 

 of alternation of generations treated of in the President's 

 opening address. Paktobotanical papers are to be read 

 by the President and Mr. Seward on Pakeozoic and 

 Mesozoic plants. It is hoped that Prof Trail (of Aberdeen) 

 may give an account of his extensive researches on the 

 variation in flower structure oi 'Cti^ Polygonaces j and Mr. 

 Scott-Elliot will probably read a paper on the effect of 

 habitat on the habits of plants. Results of anatomical 

 and physiological interest will be communicated by Mr. 

 Keeble and Mr. Gwynne- Vaughan. 



Although the hope that Nansen might have attended this 

 meeting will not be realised, we shall have Sir Martin 

 Conway fresh from Spitzbergen, and an account will be 

 given by Mr. Monlefiore Bryce of the experiences in Franz 

 Josef Land of the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition. 



.Amongst recent additions to the list of foreigners and 

 Americans expected are : — Prof Fokkar (Grbningen), 

 Prof Johannes Walther(Jena), Dr. Montelius (Stockholm), 

 Prof Keeler (Pennsylvania), Dr. Stolpe (Stockholm), 

 Prof Zacharias (Hamburg), Dr. Herrschen (Upsala), Dr. 



NO. 1403, VOL. 54] 



Johann Hjort(Christiania), M. Theodore Nica.(Bucharest), 

 Prof Bohnslav Brauner (Prague), Prof Nasini (Padua), 

 Prof Yves Delage (Paris), Prof J. Berg (Stockholm), 

 Prof R. Chodat (Geneva), Prof Kohlrausch (Berlin), 

 M. J. VioUe (Paris). Other distinguished guests who 

 will attend were mentioned in a former article. 



Before this appears in print the presidential and other 

 opening addresses will have been given, and the character 

 of the meeting will have declared itself ; but as far as 

 present indications afford a clue, we may expect an un- 

 usually large gathering, and a number of important 

 discussions in the Sections. How far these forecasts and 

 expectations have been realised will appear in our finali 

 article. W. A. Herdman. 



Inaugural Address by Sir Joseph Lister, Bart.,. 

 D.C.L., LL.D., P.R.S., President. 



My Lord Mayor, my Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen, I have' 

 first to express my deep sense of gratitude for the great honour 

 conferred upon me by my election to the high office which I 

 occupy to-day. It came upon me as a great surprise. The 

 engrossing claims of surgery have prevented me for many years 

 from attending the meetings of the Association, which excludes 

 from her Sections medicine in all its branches. This severance 

 of the art of healing from the work of the Association was 

 right and indeed inevitable. Not that medicine has little in 

 common with science. The surgeon never performs an operation 

 without the aid of anatomy and physiology ; and in what is 

 often the most difficult part of his duty, the selection of the 

 right course to follow, he, like the physician, is guided by 

 pathology, the science of the nature of disease, which, though, 

 very difficult from the complexity of its subject matter, has 

 made during the last half-century astonishing progress ; so that 

 the practice of medicine in every department is becoming more 

 and more based on science as distinguished from empiricism. 

 I propose on the present occasion to bring before you some 

 illustrations of the interdependence of science and the healing 

 art ; and the first that I will take is perhaps the most astonishing 

 of all results of purely physical inquiry — the discovery of the 

 Rontgen rays, so called after the man who first clearly revealed 

 them to the world. Mysterious as they still are, there is one of 

 their properties which we can all appreciate — their power of 

 passing through substances opaque to ordinary light. There 

 seems to be no relation whatever between transparency in the 

 common sense of the term and penetrability to these emanations. 

 The glasses of a pair of spectacles may arrest them while their 

 wooden and leathern case allows them to pass almost un- 

 checked. Yet they produce, whether directly or indirectly, the 

 same effects as light upon a 'photographic plate. As a general 

 rule the denser any object is the greater obstacle does it oppose 

 to the rays. Hence, as bone is denser than flesh, if the hand 

 or other part of the body is placed above the sensitive film 

 enclosed in a case of wood or other light material at a suitable 

 distance from the source of the rays, while they pass with the 

 utmost facility through the uncovered parts of the lid of the box. 

 and powerfully affect the plate beneath, they are arrested to a 

 large extent by the bones, so that the plate is little acted uponi 

 in the parts opposite to them, while the portions corresponding 

 to the muscles and other soft parts are influenced in an inter- 

 mediate degree. Thus a picture is obtained in which the bones- 

 stand out in sharp relief among the flesh, and anything abnormal 

 in their shape or position is clearly displayed. 



I need hardly point out what important aid this must give to- 

 the surgeon. As an instance, I may mention a case which 

 occurred in the practice of Mr. Howard Marsh. He was called 

 to see a severe injury of the elbow, in which the swelling was ' 

 so great as to make it impossible for him by ordinary means of 

 examination to decide whether he had to deal with a fracture- 

 or a dislocation. If it were the latter, a cure would be effected 

 by the exercise of violence which would be not only useless but 

 most injurious if a bone was broken. By the aid of the Rontgen 

 rays a photograph was taken in which the bone of the upper 

 arm was clearly seen displaced forwards on those of the fore- 

 arm. The diagnosis being thus established, Mr. Marsh pro- 

 ceeded to reduce the dislocation ; and his success was proved 

 by another photograph which showed the bones in their natural 

 relative position. ^ 



The common metals, such as lead, iron, and copper, being. 



