150 
photographic telescope has been very consider- 
able, and it may be mentioned that all the 
catalogue plates, with the last-mentioned in- 
strument, have now been obtained. Out of the 
280 chart plates, 169 have been satisfactorily 
exposed. The 7-inch equatorial has also been 
very busy in the hands of Mr. Innes, and, be- 
sides several new variables, 104 new double 
stars have been discovered. Dr. Gill refers 
also to the increase in staff and the necessity 
for a reversible transit circle for refined funda- 
mental work, and mentions that these proposals 
have been favorably considered by the Lords 
Commissioners of the Admiralty and of Her 
Majesty’s Treasury. 
A CONVERSAZIONE was given by the Presi- 
dent and Council of University College, London, 
on June 30th. According to the account in the 
London Times there were a large number of in- 
teresting exhibits. Professor Percy Gardner 
showed a series of archeological photographs, 
and Mr. Seton-Karr the interesting collection 
of flint implements recently discovered by him 
in Somaliland and Egypt. In the mechanical 
engineering laboratory all the machinery was 
in motion, besides a number of machine tools 
lent by various firms. In the electrical labora- 
tory Professsor Elisha Gray’s writing telegraph, 
by which writing may be transmitted long dis- 
tances, was shown in operation by the Telauto- 
graph Company. Messrs. Harvey and Peek 
gave an exhibition of Tesla experiments with 
high-frequency currents, and Mr. J. W. Swan 
sent some of his experiments on electrical dis- 
charges against insulators in which curious 
frond-like figures were produced by the electric 
spark, and also a delicately-poised Gramme 
ring which rotated under the influence of the 
earth’s magnetism. In the applied mathema- 
tics department apparatus and diagrams were 
on view illustrative of the work done and the 
methods of study pursued. These included 
various calculating machines, instruments for 
finding areas, and models illustrating games of 
chance and statistical variation and correlation. 
There was also a fine collection of books (mainly 
from the Graves Library of University College) 
and of portraits illustrating the history of pure 
and applied mathematics. In the physical lec- 
ture room experiments were shown with Hert- 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. VI. No. 134. 
zian waves and with the magnetic deflection of 
cathode rays, while Professor Ramsay exhibited 
the spectra of argon and helium. Some beauti- 
ful collections of begonias, orchids, roses and 
other flowers were to be seen in the anatomical 
museum, together with a collection of dwarf 
Japanese trees, some of them being a century 
old and yet only a foot orso high. Not the 
least attraction of the evening was Professor 
Flinders Petrie’s exhibition of Egyptian antiqui- 
ties, which includes the results of recent exca- 
vations at Deshasheh, Behnesa and El Kab. 
In one of the Harben lectures given on June 
30th, at Kings College, London, Dr. Sims Wood- 
head discussed the antitoxin treatment of diph- 
theria. The London Times states that he 
showed examples of the degeneration of tissue 
produced in various organs of the body, even 
so soon as the third or fourth day of the disease, 
and pointed out that after these changes had 
occurred the physician could not expect to 
bring the patient back to health at once. This 
consideration explained the diminished cura- 
tive power of the antitoxic serum in the latter 
stages of the disease. The life of a patient de- 
pended on the tissues being able to carry on 
their work, and they could do this if the action 
of the toxin on their cells could be prevented. 
In the presence of both toxin and antitoxin 
these dreaded organic changes did not occur. 
Hence, if a patient was to recover, antitoxin 
must be present, whether it was formed within 
the body or injected from the outside. The 
serum had both a preventive and curative ac- 
tion, and he would not hesitate to reeommend 
its use as a prophylactic for people exposed to 
infection. As regards its remedial use the 
question of time was most important. The 
necessity of an early exhibition of the serum 
was illustrated by some statistics. In 1894, be- 
fore the antitoxin treatment was adopted, the 
mortality of cases of which the treatment was 
begun on the first day of the disease was 22.5 per 
cent.; in 1896 it fell to 4.7 per cent. Of cases 
of which the treatment was begun on the sec- 
ond day the percentage of mortality decreased 
from 27 in 1894 to 12.8 in 1896, while in those 
which came under treatment in the third day 
the mortality was 29.4 in 1894 and 17.7 in 
1896. Even in cases which were neglected till 
