June 10, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



899 



orbit has acceleration and radiates energy so 

 that its motion dies away. The dying away 

 of the motion of a circular row or ring of 

 electrons in this way is excessively slow if the 

 number of electrons in the ring is great and 

 if the velocity is small as compared with the 

 velocity of light (see J. J. Thomson, Phil. 

 Mag., December, 1903). In fact, the time re- 

 quired for -the angular velocity to fall from a 

 value slightly above the critical value re- 

 quired for stability to the critical value might 

 easily be a matter of millions of years under 

 certain conditions. 



It is interesting to note, although perhaps 

 useless, considering the widespread confusion 

 of the fundamental ideas of thermodynamics, 

 that this electron theory, pointing as it does 

 to finite systems which apparently never can 

 settle to thermal equilibrium, suggests a class 

 of phenomena, sensible and steady phenomena 

 too, which are on the wrong side of thermo- 

 dynamics, that is, on the side opposite to me- 

 chanics; phenomena which are to be treated 

 by developing a systematic theory of atoms as 

 isolated systems and the subsequent merging 

 of this systematic theory of single atoms into 

 a statistical treatment of aggregates of atoms ; 

 but this is another story. W. S. F. 



A HEAVY JAPANESE BRAIN. 

 Through the kindness of my friend, Mrs. 

 Helen H. Gardener, now in Tokio, I am able 

 to publish the following extract from the post- 

 mortem examination of Professor K. Taguchi, 

 the celebrated anatomist, of the College of 

 Medicine in the Tokio Imperial University. 

 His death took place in Yumi-cho, Hongo, on 

 February 4 of this year, and, in accordance 

 with the terms of his will, his body was dis- 

 sected by his colleagues at the college. Pro- 

 fessor Taguchi is perhaps the first of his race 

 to bequeath his body in this manner. His 

 work on the brain-weight of the Japanese has 

 been referred to by the writer in Science 

 (September 18, 1903). His own brain is the 

 heaviest on record among the Japanese, and 

 in the list of eminent men throughout the 

 world, whose brains have been weighed (107 

 in mmiber) it occupies second place. Tagu- 

 chi's brain-weight (1,920 grams or 67.7 oz. 



avoir.) exceeds the highest recorded Japanese 

 brain-weight by 130 grams (or 4.5 oz.). 



" Extract from report of the post-mortem 

 examination of Professor K. Taguchi on 

 February 5, 1904, in the Pathological Insti- 

 tute, Tokio, by Professor Dr. K. Tamagiwa : 



" Age, 66 years. 



" Body-weight, 49,000 grams. 



" Brain-weight, 1,920 grams. 



" Clinical diagnosis : Cirrhosis of the kidney. 



" Anatomical diagnosis : Hypertrophy with 

 dilatation of the left ventricle of the 'heart; 

 endocarditis valvularis chronica fibrosa 

 adhfesiva aortica;' endocarditis valvularis 

 chronica fibrosa mitralis; oedema pulmonum; 

 hypostatic pneumonia of lower lobe of left 

 lung; nephritis chronica interstitialis ; cystic 

 degeneration of the kidney; atheroma in the 

 aorta." Edw. Anthony Spitzka. 



PROFESSOR RUTHERFORD ON RADIUM. 



Professor E. Eutherford, of McGill Uni- 

 versity, lectured before the Eoyal Institution 

 on May 20, on ' Eadiation and Emanation of 

 Radium.' According to the London Times, 

 the lecturer first showed the power of radium 

 to excite phosphorescence and to discharge a 

 charged electroscope, and then described the 

 properties of the three kinds of rays which it 

 had been found to give off. In addition it 

 gave off an emanation which behaved like a 

 gas and could be condensed by cold; it could 

 also be secluded in the radium itself, and was 

 liberated when the salt was dissolved in water. 

 This emanation, though exceedingly minute in 

 quantity, possessed three-quarters of the char- 

 acteristic powers of radium and all its prop- 

 erties. If we could collect a cubic inch of the 

 emanation, the tube that contained it would 

 probably melt, while a few pounds would sup- 

 ply enough energy to drive a ship across the 

 Atlantic, though each of those pounds would 

 require 70 tons of radium to supply it. In 

 regard to the process going on in the emission 

 of the emanation, he advanced the theory that 

 radium was continuously producing it, but 

 that when produced, instead of remaining 

 constant, it was continuously being changed 

 into something else. He supposed that some 

 atoms of the radium in some conditions be- 



