Showing papers in "Nature in 1943"

The advanced theory of statistics

Abstract: THIS very handsomely produced volume is one which it will be a pleasure to any mathematical statistician to possess. Mr. Kendall is indeed to be congratulated on the energy and, unswerving perseverance needed to complete his heavy task, and encouraged in the still unflagging energy which will be needed for the second volume. So far as he has carried, his work, he has certainly done something to sustain the credit of Great Britain in mathematical scholarship. The Advanced Theory of Statistics By Maurice G. Kendall. Vol. 1. Pp. xii + 457. (London: Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1943.) 42s. net.

Systematics and the origin of Species : from the Viewpoint of a Zoologist

Abstract: DURING the last decade taxonomy has not merely experienced a revival but has also become one of the active growing points of biology. It is the focus round which genetics, ecology, field natural history and other biological disciplines have concentrated to illuminate the study of evolution in action. Systematics and the origin of Species : from the Viewpoint of a Zoologist By Ernst Mayr. (Columbia Biological Series, No. 13.) Pp. xiv + 334. (New York: Columbia University Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1942.) 27s. net.

The Laplace Transform

Abstract: THE theory of Fourier integrals arises out of the elegant pair of reciprocal formulae The Laplace Transform By David Vernon Widder. (Princeton Mathematical Series.) Pp. x + 406. (Princeton: Princeton University Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1941.) 36s. net.

Transparent Water-in-Oil Dispersions: the Oleopathic Hydro-Micelle

Abstract: IT is well known that oil – alkali-metal soap (or cationic soap, such as cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide) – water systems of certain concentrations exist as transparent, electrically non-conducting dispersions, in which the oil is the continuous phase. Dilution of these systems with excess water inverts them to oil-in-water emulsions which are milky for low soap/oil ratios and transparent for sufficiently high soap/oil ratios. The transparent oil-continuous systems are familiar as 'soluble-oil' and similar concentrates: the essential conditions for their formation are (1) highsoap/water ratio, (2) the presence of an alcohol, fatty acid, amine or other non-ionized amphipathic substance in mol-fraction approximately equal to that of the soap.

The Vertebrate Eye and its Adaptive Radiation

Abstract: LIMITATION of vision to a narrow range of wavelengths of radiation is manifestly related to the absorption of radiant energy by protein and water. The importance of light as a directive agent is associated with a wide range of light detectors in invertebrates. As the pineal eye is relatively unimportant in vertebrates, these devices are crystallized in the two lateral eyes. These lateral eyes show a wonderful variety in structure and versatility in action. The whole subject of the vertebrate eye is discussed by Dr. Walls in his excellent book, which is a mine of information about the eyes of all sorts of vertebrates. The Vertebrate Eye and its Adaptive Radiation By Gordon Lynn Walls. (Bulletin No. 19.) Pp. xiv+785. (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.: Cranbrook Institute of Science, 1942.) 6.50 dollars.

Physics and Philosophy

Abstract: IF Sir James Jeans finds difficulty in defining philosophy (p. 16), there is no doubt of his qualifications for the task. Emerson, in his essay on Plato as a “representative man”, defines philosophy as the account which the human mind gives to itself of the constitution of the world. It has been given to Jeans to participate effectively in our quest for the “constitution of the world” as physicist, as mathematician, as astronomer, as cosmologist, he has opened windows on Nature-on the origins of planetary, stellar and nebular masses and on the interplay of matter and radiation. Now he attempts what he has earned the right to do : he speaks to us his account of the nature of reality, his views on materialism and what he calls mentalism, on determinism and free-will. Physics and Philosophy By Sir James Jeans. Pp. vii + 222. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1942.) 8s. 6d. net.

Time and Chance

Abstract: Time and Chance The Story of Arthur Evans and his Forebears. By Joan Newhouse. Pp. xi + 410 + 15 plates. (London, New York and Toronto: Longmans, Green & Co., Ltd., 1943.) 21s. net.

Area and Number of Species

Abstract: FOR many years there have been discussions of the relation between the size of a sample of an animal or plant community and the number of species contained in it. Until recently, however, most of the approach has been from the botanical side.

The Fear of Freedom

Abstract: THAT our world stands in flames and that no one can say with any hope of finality what in fact is happening to us are facts which are present in everyone's mind. Most of the attempts to explain the situation from recent economic and sociological causes are patently insufficient, and Dr. Fromm is wise enough to present his excellent survey with a clear eye on its necessary limitations. His analysis of the individualistic character-structure of modern man, shown in relief against the contained collectivity of the Middle Ages, is an excellent example of the value of the historical method to psychological understanding. The fundamental premises of the Gothic mind were self-evident and unquestioned. Men marched in step with their time. Their fate was laid down and contained in their community. From the Reformation onward this containing envelope was ruptured and the individual began to emerge into a world which no longer shielded him from the deep-rooted sense of his own impotence and powerlessness over and against dangers and forces he could not control. Instead of being integrated and enclosed he felt exposed and alone, and this was projected into the idea of a hostile deity whose arbitrary nature demanded indefinite and intense placatory effort. The Calvinistic conception of God and the world were the inevitable result of this ejection of medieval man from his contained paradise. The Fear of Freedom By Dr. Erich Fromm. (International Library of Sociology and Social Reconstruction.) Pp. xi+257. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd., 1942.) 15s. net.

STRUCTURE OF α-KERATIN

Abstract: THE structure of the keratins is of interest alike to wool technologists and protein structure analysts. Interpretation, by Astbury and his colleagues1-4, of the essential features of these fibres in terms of the shape and interlinking of polypeptide chains has earned increasing recognition. The results, achieved from relatively simple X-ray data determined under controlled conditions and used in conjunction with other physico-chemical findings, together with general advances in our knowledge of macromolecular systems, demanded an extension to more intensive X-ray methods. Accordingly, with the support of the International Wool Secretariat, an investigation in progress for some time in the Textile Physics Laboratory, University of Leeds, has aimed at improved range and definition in keratin fibre X-radiograms, with the final objective of a complete analysis of the more crystalline material. Some longer spacings5-7 were already available, and some preliminary findings have been reported8. Analysis is still in its earlier stages, but in view of the interest attaching to very recent work9,10 with which the present investigation is bound up, a factual publication is not premature.

The Operational Calculus

Abstract: AT the thirtieth meeting of the Indian Science Congress, held at Calcutta during January 2-4, Dr. S. C. Dhar, president of the Section of Mathematics and Statistics, discussed certain developments of mathematics in. the last thirty years. Mathematical research is now so varied that it is difficult for an active worker in one branch to follow progress in other branches. It is, therefore, very valuable when a specialist can give an intelligible summary of the chief results obtained, in some particular subject. Dr. Dhar selected “Operational Calculus and Auto-morphic Functions”. In what appears below, Dr. Dhar's address has been supplemented by matter obtained from other sources.

Advances in Colloid Science

Abstract: COLLOID science nowadays covers a multitude of the branches of physical chemistry and even of technology. The diversity of subjects treated in the present volume is as wide as the all-embracing title might lead one to suppose. The editorial viewpoint is that the series shall present recent work-in this subject by authors who have made significant contributions. If we may judge from the variety of topics dealt with in the first volume there will be no lack of subject matter for some time to come. One consequence of the editorial policy will be that the articles will often contain the individual opinions of the authors and that they will be more in the nature of progress reports than chapters in a text-book. But this fortunately leads to a more stimulating treatment, provided the reader has already some knowledge of the subject under review. Advances in Colloid Science Edited by Dr. Elmer O. Kraemer, in collaboration with Prof. Floyd E. Bartell and Dr. S. S. Kistler. Vol. 1. Pp. xii + 434. (New York: Interscience Publishers, Inc.; London: The Imperia Book Co. Ltd., 1942.) 33s.

Painting Materials : a Short Encyclopedia

Abstract: SLOWLY but surely the mist which for many a year has enveloped the subject of studio materials and methods is beginning to lift. Probably one reason why it has hung about for so long is that nobody with the requisite knowledge coupled with due detachment has been willing to tackle the task of dissipation. The authors of this book have set about it with a will. Their first attempt was to contribute an article to Technical Studies in 1936 on 'supports' (substances like wood, canvas, paper, and so forth, upon which paintings are executed). Since then, they have followed it up with further papers to the same periodical, dealing with adhesives, pigments, solvents, tools and equipment. The volume now before us is composed of all this valuable data—rounded off with a glossary of scientific terms—collated and arranged for easy reference. Painting Materials : a Short Encyclopedia By Rutherford J. Gettens George L. Stout. Pp. vii+333. (New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., 1942.) 3.75 dollars.

What Happened in History

Abstract: PROF. V. GORDON CHILDE is one of the foremost prehistorians. He has travelled widely and done much work of great importance to the specialist ; he has, as it were, personally added many bricks to the edifice of prehistoric knowledge. But he has also long realized that prehistory and early history form a continuum, and that, by standing back and contemplating the whole, many general conclusions can be arrived at with regard to the rise and fall of civilizations. Too often volumes purporting to give such cultural resumes come unavoidably from the pens of 'scissors and paste' authors who do very good work but cannot, of course, write with any personal authority. What Happened in History By Prof. V. Gordon Childe. (Pelican Books. A. 108.) Pp. 256. (Harmondsworth and New York: Penguin Books, Ltd., 1942.) 9d.

Natural and Synthetic High Polymers

Abstract: SOME twelve years have elapsed since the appearance of Mark and Meyer's book on “Der Aufbau der hochpolymeren organischen Naturstoffe”. The subject has since expanded to a very large extent, and the present volume in this series of monographs claims to survey “the entire field of natural and synthetic, inorganic and organic high polymers”. In point of fact this is, of course, strictly the object of the whole series of volumes on high polymers, of which this is the fourth volume. The survey must, therefore, be severely restricted in many directions, but none the less, like all the books in the series, it is complete in itself. In a way this attempt at giving a complete treatment tends to some considerable repetition from volume to volume, thus using up valuable space which might otherwise be occupied. Natural and Synthetic High Polymers A Text-book and Reference Book for Chemists and Biologists. By Prof. Kurt H. Meyer. Translated by Dr. L. E. R. Picken. (High Polymers, Vol. 4.) Pp. xviii + 690. (New York : Interscience Publishers, Inc. ; London : Imperia Book Co., Ltd., 1942.) 11 dollars.

Principles of Stellar Dynamics

Abstract: AS a subject progresses the attractive simplicity of the early researches gives place to laborious elaboration. In the last three years, Dr. Chandrasekhar has been very active in the mathematical development of stellar dynamics. The trend of his work may be judged from the fact that one contribution alone contains more than 1,800 numbered formulae. There is no denying that this heavy method of attack can be justified ; but it leaves us with the depressing feeling that the subject which began thirty years ago as a joyous adventure has reached a stage of uninspiring ugliness. We are the more grateful to Chandrasekhar that in his new book he has not allowed the subject to be crushed by an overweight of mathematical formulae. The treatment is, of course, mathematical throughout ; but it is mathematics of the methodological kind which the reader tolerates, not heavy algebra which he skips. The book fills an obvious gap in astronomical literature, and it should give a valuable stimulus to research. There are some omissions to which reference will be made later ; but, if judged by what it contains rather than by what it leaves out, it is a very helpful synthesis. Principles of Stellar Dynamics By S. Chandrasekhar. (Astrophysical Monographs sponsored by the Astrophysical Journal.) Pp. x + 251 + 6 plates. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press; London: Cambridge University Press, 1942.) 5 dollars.

Dynamics in Psychology

Abstract: IT is good to moot a book of this quality in days when the non-academic world is measuring the value of science too exclusively by its immediate practical applications. If this attitude were to prevail indefinitely the future of science would be dark, and the prospects of the applied sciences themselves clouded. Psychology to-day is enjoying an unexpected and dangerous popularity because it has been found useful in application. Mental testing, industrial psychology, psychotherapy, these are the fields in which psychologists are considered to justify themselves. We are entitled to feel satisfaction that we have made some contribution to current problems ; but it is necessary to insist that their scientific interest is soon exhausted, and that further developments in the sphere of practice are dependent upon the construction of a coherent body of theory. Prof. Koehler's book is very remote from a warring world, but because it deals with fundamental issues it may be regarded as ultimately of greater importance than the technical successes by which psychology is now at length securing a place in the sun. Dynamics in Psychology By Wolfgang Koehler. Pp. 120. (London: Faber and Faber, Ltd., 1942.) 8s. 6d. net.

Theory of Large Elastic Deformations

Abstract: WHEN rubber is subjected to a large elastic deformation, which may be assumed to take place without change of volume, it ceases to be isotropic, and the attempt to relate the stresses and strains in different directions may be a matter of some difficulty. However, if the assumption is made that Hooke's law is obeyed in simple shear in any isotropic plane, it is possible, as Mooney has shown1, to deduce certain relations which represent the elastic behaviour under the most general type of homogeneous deformation. If such a deformation is defined by the three principal strains, I»1, I»2 and I»3 (where I»i is the ratio of final to initial length along the i-strain axis), the expression for the work of deformation W is

Fibrinogen and fibrin as members of the keratin-myosin group

Abstract: IN the course of preparing an article on muscle proteins1, it became apparent that the analyses, and other properties of fibrinogen are more myosin-like than perhaps had been realized. It was decided to go into the matter further by means of X-rays, with special reference to what happens when fibrinogen is changed to fibrin during the clotting of blood. The problem is of such wide interest that we think it worth while to give a short account of our observations to date, even though confessedly much work remains to be done.

Alloys of Gold with Alkali Metals

Abstract: IT has previously been suggested that gold alone among the heavy metals of the first column of the periodic system forms alloys with alkali metals of definite and simple stoichiometric ratio. Matthewson1 derived from his experiments a formula NaAu2 ; Zintl2 mentioned the formation of NaAu. The discrepancy between these results is probably due to the fact that in the work of both authors oxidation or other unwanted reactions of the alkali metal were not excluded.

Chromosomin, a protein constituent of chromosomes

Abstract: ACCORDING to current views, the nuclei of the cells of animals and plants consist, apart from water and lipoids, essentially of two substances: a basic protein (protamine or histone) and nucleic acid. These two constituents are supposed to form a salt-like compound, known as a nucleoprotein (protamine or histone nucleate), which constitutes the so-called chromatin of the nucleus. The results upon which these views are based have been largely derived from chemical studies of the heads of fish spermatozoa. Thus Miescher1, the pioneer worker on this subject, calculated that the dried heads of salmon spermatozoa contained as much as 96 per cent of salmine (protamine) nucleate, while H. Steudel and Peiser2 claimed to have reconstituted the nucleoprotein of herring sperm (that is, the dried heads) by the simple expedient of mixing solutions of equivalent quantities of clupein sulphate and deoxy-ribose-nucleic acid, the protainine having been prepared from herring sperm itself and the nucleic acid from the thymus gland. Other data of a confirmatory nature have been published by. various authors, and the results so obtained from the investigation of fish sperm have been generalized and applied to all nuclei, largely on the basis of their histological similarity.

Royal society of canada

Abstract: ANNUAL MEETING THE annual meeting of the Royal Society of Canada was held at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, during May 25-27. The scientific sections of the Society held their meetings in the Science Building of the University and the general meetings took place in Convocation Hall. The president of the Society, Prof. J. B. Collip, presented the medals at the evening meeting on May 25. The Flavelle Medal was awarded to Prof. B. P. Babkin, research professor of physiology at McGill University, for his outstanding work in analysing the secretory mechanisms of the digestive glands. Prof. John L. Synge, professor of applied mathematics in the University of Toronto, received the first award of the Henry Marshall Tory Medal for outstanding contributions to applied mathematics; and the Willet G. Miller Medal, also awarded for the first time, was presented to Prof. Norman Levi Bowon, distinguished service professor of petrology in the University of Chicago, in recognition of his contributions to geology. Following the presentation of the medals, Dr. Collip read his presidential address on \"Science and War\". After briefly reviewing the part played by science in former conflicts, Dr. Collip emphasized the important contributions of physicists, chemists and other men of science in the present War. He dealt in some detail with aviation medicine and the co-operation between the men of science and the armed forces in solving many of the problems which modern warfare presents. He referred to the recognition and support that scientific workers are now receiving as an integral part of the war effort, and pointed out that much of this research work is producing results that will be equally important in the post-war period.

Prism and Lens Making

Abstract: THE literature relating to modern methods of glass grinding and polishing is scanty, perhaps because this is traditionally a hand craft, differing little in essentials from the practice of three hundred years ago, and each worker guards jealously the methods handed down to him as valuable professional secrets. Though machines for glass polishing were projected by Descartes and others, there is no record of these being successful until Lord Rosse constructed the machine for making his large astronomical reflectors ; this reciprocated the polisher on the revolving work and seems to have standardized this stroke, regarded as the only one satisfactory for accurate 'figuring' until the late Mr. W. Taylor, twenty-nine years ago, showed the feasibility of the more efficient round-stroke machine. Prism and Lens Making A Text Book for Optical Glassworkers. By F. Twyman. Pp. iv + 178. (London : Adam Hilger, Ltd., 1942.) 15s. net.

Histochemistry of the Gram-staining Reaction for Micro-organisms

Abstract: IN 1884 a Dane, Christian Gram, while working in Berlin, discovered a method of staining micro-organisms which has gone under his name ever since that date1. Although the method is in daily use by bacteriologists of various nationalities all over the world, and has by reason of its importance in ordinary routine diagnosis been the subject of extensive research, it may be fairly said that it has never been adequately explained.

Penicillamine, a Characteristic Degradation Product of Penicillin

Abstract: WE noticed more than nine months ago that acid hydrolysates of penicillin gave a strong blue-violet coloration with the ninhydrin reagent. Afterwards it was found that, under standardized conditions of hydrolysis, the colour intensity given by numerous penicillin preparations of varying degrees of purity ran parallel to their antibacterial activities except in the case of very crude specimens. It was also found that about 59 per cent of the total nitrogen of the purest preparations could be estimated as amino-nitrogen after one hour's hydrolysis by means of N/10 sulphuric acid under the conditions of the van Slyke method. These facts indicated that the substance responsible for the ninhydrin reaction and the positive results in the van Slyke amino-nitrogen determinations was a fundamental part of the penicillin molecule. Its isolation was therefore regarded as a matter of importance and we are now able to report that it has been obtained as a crystalline hydrochloride. The properties of this substance, which we propose to term penicillamine, show that it represents a novel type of naturally occurring base. Penicillamine is identical with the base which we have stated in an earlier communication1 to occur in acid penicillin hydrolysates.

The Genetics of the Mouse

Abstract: THE study of inheritance must always be more laborious than most other forms of biological investigation which concern themselves with only one phase of an animal's whole life-history. It is therefore not surprising that there are only very few animals, and not many more plants, about the genetics of which we know enough to feel confident of having even a crude picture of their commoner modes of variation. Among these animals the mouse holds a very important place. The rapidity of its breeding, the comparative ease of maintaining colonies, and the large number of variations bred by 'the fancy', have made it perhaps the favourite mammal for geneticists. It shares, with Drosophila and maize, the distinction of having a 'hot news' journal (Mouse Genetic News) devoted to the technicalities of its genetics and circulated semi-privately to scientific murophils. A new monograph summarizing the enormous literature which supports the mouse's standing in the world of geneticists will therefore be welcomed, both by specialists, who will find it a convenient summary of their field, and by non-murine geneticists, who want a guide through the tangles of the subject. Both these groups will find Dr. Griine-berg's treatise, with its classified list of 1,141 references, entirely satisfactory for their needs. The Genetics of the Mouse By Dr. Hans Gruneberg. Pp. xii + 412 + 14 plates. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1943.) 30s. net.

Glycogen in adipose tissue after insulin injection.

Abstract: WHEN insulin is injected into a normal rat of about 100 gm. maintained on an ordinary diet, a transient appearance of glycogen is demonstrable in the adipose tissue. If, after the glycogen has disappeared, the insulin injection is repeated, new transient deposition of adipose glycogen is induced. It should be added that different types of adipose tissue differ quantitatively from one another in ability to store glycogen following insulin treatment. In general, deposition occurs most rapidly in the brown interscapulary adipose, less rapidly in mesonterial adipose, and least rapidly in other adipose stores. Seasonal fluctuations, too, are of importance. In summer, the demonstration of deposition necessitates no particular precautions ; in winter, deposition occurs less rapidly and then only if the animals are maintained above 21° C. on a diet of high calorific value, and if relatively large doses of insulin are administered. Protamin-zinc-insulin is of greater effectivity than ordinary insulin. The adipose tissue of rabbits is less active1. The effect of insulin in this animal is smaller and only detectable after sugar feeding.

Probable function of histone as a regulator of mitosis

Abstract: UNTIL the recent discovery of chromosomin1, the histones (and protamines) were regarded as the typical proteins of cell nuclei, a view which was fairly well founded as regards fish spermatozoa2, but which lacked any certain experimental basis with respect to other and more typical forms of nuclei. Kossel3 and Ackermann4 had, it is true, demonstrated the presence of a histone in the nuclei of avian ery-throcytes by extracting it directly from the isolated nuclei, but no detailed study was made of its chemical composition and properties. Apart from this instance, no histone has, so far as we are aware, been extracted directly from any nuclei other than those of spermatozoa. Nevertheless, histones have been isolated from various tissues, in particular from the thymus gland ; more recently, Mirsky and Pollister6 have prepared nucleoproteins, in which the protein component is believed to be either a histone or prota-mine, from a variety of animal tissues. There is thus presumptive evidence that, while the traditional view that the protein components of nuclei are chiefly or entirely histones is, as we have shown1, incorrect, histones do nevertheless occur widely among the constituents of nuclei. Nothing, however, is known concerning the function of histone in the nucleus. Of the two other main constituents, chromosomin, the principal component of the chromosomes, must, according to our experiments, represent the chemical basis of inheritance, while there seems little doubt that nucleic acid is concerned mainly with spindle formation during mitosis and, in combination with chromosomin, with protein synthesis during the resting stage, the nucleoprotein then formed by their union being analogous to the self-propagating nucleoproteins of which the viruses are now believed to be composed.

The non-singular cubic surfaces

Abstract: THIS is a very remarkable monograph ; it is a direct product of war circumstances. After a curt verification of the existence (Cayley, Salmon, 1849) of a symmetrical system of twenty-seven lines, each met by five pairs of mutually intersecting lines, the author turns to a diagrammatic representation of the lines, by the joining segments of nine points which lie in threes on three coplanar concurrent lines. This is reached by considering how the lines would vary in a continuous deformation of the surface into three planes, and, beautifully executed as they are, the various diagrams serve the author's purpose well. Actually, the representation is the dual of one considered by Bennett, in which the lines of the surface are represented by the points in which the rays of three coplanar pencils, α, β, γ, each of three rays, meet one another ; in this representation a line of the (Steiner) system of nine lines, represented by the intersection of a ray b of the pencil β, with a ray c of the pencil γ meets the four lines indicated by the intersections of the other rays of these two pencils, and meets the six lines indicated by the intersections of b and c with the rays of the pencil α. This law of intersection is unaltered by the interchange of the rays of a pencil among themselves, or by the interchange of the pencils. The Non-Singular Cubic Surfaces A New Method of Investigation with Special Reference to Questions of Reality. By B. Segre. Pp. xi + 180. (Oxford : Clarendon Press ; London : Oxford University Press, 1942.) 15s. net.