Jtjlt 19, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



89 



spores placed on sterilized peach twigs soon 

 reproduced the Cytospora form. From our 

 experiments it is quite safe to conclude that 

 Cytospora ruhescens Nitschke is the pycnidial 

 form of Valsa leucostoma Pers. The pustules 

 of these two forms are constantly inter- 

 mingled, except on the twigs where the peri- 

 thecia seldom develop. These forms resemble 

 each other so closely in size, shape and color 

 that it is usually impossible to distinguish one 

 from the other without the aid of a micro- 

 scope. When the epidermis of diseased tissue 

 is peeled off, these bodies remain attached to 

 it and appear like blisters on its inner surface. 



The disease injures the Japan plum in 

 much the same way as the peach. A full 

 account of this disease will be published in 

 bulletin form by this station some time during 

 the present year. F. M. Eolfs 



MissoTJEi State Fkuit 

 Experiment Station 



QUOTATIONS 



THE IMPERIAL CANCER RESEARCH FUND 



The report of the Imperial Cancer Research 

 Fund for the year 1906-7, presented to the 

 general committee at their meeting under the 

 presidency of the Prince of Wales on Monday, 

 is calculated to impress different sections of 

 the community in a somewhat different man- 

 ner. By those who are uninstructed in scien- 

 tific methods, and unacquainted with the cau- 

 tion necessary for the successful conduct of 

 scientific inquiries, it is likely to be received 

 with some impatience at the continued absence 

 of definite results of a preventive or curative 

 character; while those of better qualifications 

 for the exercise of judgment will recognize 

 that foundations are being laid which afford 

 reasonable hope of a successful and permanent 

 superstructure. The general summary of the 

 superintendent. Dr. Bashford, states that, 

 " during the past year, the hopes of advancing 

 knowledge of cancer have become more and 

 more centered in experimental investigations. 

 We have learned from experiments more of the 

 nature of the local and of the constitutional 

 conditions associated with the origin of can- 

 cer; and we have been able to form more 



definite conceptions of the nature of the 

 change responsible for the rapid multiplica- 

 tion of cancer-cells." The earlier conclusions 

 that cancer is universal in vertebrate animals, 

 without reference to the nature of their food, 

 that its prevalence differs greatly in extent 

 among different races of men, that it is fre- 

 quently developed in parts of the body which 

 are subjected to continued irritation, either 

 from industrial pursuits or in association with 

 native customs or religious rites, that it is 

 often consecutive to some direct local injury, 

 and that no single form of external agency is 

 constantly associated with its development, 

 have all been confirmed by subsequent observa- 

 tion and experiment. On these grounds it is 

 pronounced to be futile to seek for a hypo- 

 thetical something common to all the ex- 

 ternal agencies associated with cancer, and to 

 be necessary to direct attention to the com- 

 mon intra-cellular change which, in conform- 

 ity with the biological similarity of cancer 

 throughout the vertebrates, must intervene 

 in the transformation of normal into cancer- 

 ous tissue. As there is no evidence to justify 

 the assumption that the disease is communi- 

 cated from one person to another, the search 

 for the clue to cancer in any species of 

 animal must take account of peculiarities in 

 the individuals which are attacked and in 

 those which escape. Hence, questions of in- 

 dividual and ef family liability have received 

 increased attention during the year. — The 

 London Times. 



CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY AND 

 CLIMATOLOGY 



light AND HEALTH 



Surgeon Chas. E. Woodruff, of the United 

 States Army, in some notes on " Actino- 

 physiology and Actinotherapy," published in 

 American Medicine (Philadelphia) for April, 

 calls attention to the injurious effects of ex- 

 cessive sunlight, a subject on which he has 

 already written several articles and one book. 

 Among the points mentioned are the retarda- 

 tion of vegetable growth by sunlight; the in- 

 jurious effects of sunlight upon animals; the 

 retardation of human growth by sunlight, so 



