Joint Editor Research Articles

A letter from Richard Phillips, F. R. S. (1778-1857) to Michael Faraday, F. R. S. (1791-1867)

Richard Phillips, the son of a well-known London printer and book-seller, was trained as a chemist and druggist under William Allen, F. R. S. Phillips was a breezy, able and versatile chemist who left his mark in pharmaceutical chemistry, in mineralogy and in scientific journalism. In addition he held a number of teaching posts and he was his colleagues’ first choice as President of the Chemical Society when it was founded in 1841. Phillips declined the honour but later was elected President in 1849. He rendered conspicuous services to pharmacy by his accurate and incisive criticisms of the London Pharmacopoeia in 1811 and his advice was sought about subsequent editions. He was a well-known mineral analyst and in 1823 he discovered the nature of uraninite. His interest in minerals no doubt led to his appointment in 1839 as chemist and curator of the Museum of Practical Geology in Jermyn Street, a position he held until his death in 1851. Phillips lectured on chemistry at the London Hospital and at Grainger’s School of Medicine in Southwark and was also Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Under his joint editorship with Brayley of the Annals of Philosophy from 1821 onwards and later of the Philosophical Magazine with which it was merged, the Annals became an influential scientific journal. In addition to original communications, it contained reprints of important scientific papers, many of them translations from foreign journals, and also excellent summaries of scientific progress. Phillips was a friend and admirer of Michael Faraday and in 1821 he, fortunately for science, directed Faraday’s attention to electromagnetism by asking him to contribute a series of articles on this new field of investigation following on Oersted’s discovery of the effect of an electric current on a magnetic needle in 1819.

Advances in Internal Medicine. vol. XI

In the past 20 years there have been 11 volumes of this work under the joint editorship of Drs. Dock and Snapper. The volumes have been planned so that recent outstanding advances in internal medicine are presented by leading authorities in each of the special subjects. The current volume discusses hepatic coma by G. J. Gabuzda, natural history and therapy of acute glomerulonephritis by D. S. Kushner, viral etiology of leukemia by B. P. Maduros and S. O. Schwartz, control of cholesterol metabolism by B. B. Migicovsky, studies of serum calcium regulation by W. P. Laird Myers, analogues and derivatives of thyroxine by R. W. Rawson, current concepts of diabetic microangiopathy by H. Rifkin et al., and the metabolism of the normal and the failing heart by J. T. Stewart et al. The format of each chapter is essentially the same. The individual authors review the subject, summarize and interpret

Joint Editorship of Nature: Mr. A. J. V. Gale

Joint Editorship of Nature: Mr. A. J. V. Gale

Principles of Biological Microtechnique

Principles of Biological Microtechnique Get access Principles of Biological Microtechnique. By Baker John R.D.Sc., (Oxon.), Reader in Cytology, University of Oxford; and Joint Editor, Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science. 357 pp., 29 figs., 1 color plate, 11 tables. $7.50. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1958. J. F. A. McManus J. F. A. McManus Birmingham. A labama Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Volume 32, Issue 5, 1 November 1959, Page 479, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcp/32.5.479 Published: 01 November 1959

Egyptology in the University of Liverpool: Prof. A. M. Blackman

WITH the retirement, on reaching the age-limit, of Dr. Aylward M. Blackman from the Brunner chair of Egyptology, which he has held since 1934, the University of Liverpool loses a fruitful teacher and a valued contributor to a number of branches of ancient Egyptian studies. Born at Norwich in 1883, and a keen student of Egyptology from the age of sixteen, Dr. Blackman was educated first privately, then at St. Paul‘s School, London, and Queen‘s College, Oxford, where in 1906 he took a first class in Oriental Studies. During 1906-14 and 1920-21 he took part in or directed excavations and recording in Egypt (Oxyrhynchus, Abydos, Meir, El-Amarnah) and the Sudan (Survey of Nubia, Buhen, Faras, Sesebi). During 1912-18 he was Laycock Student of Egyptology of Worcester College, Oxford. Since 1935 he has been joint editor, with Prof. J. P. Droop, of the Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, and during 1922-35 was a member of the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society. From 1936 on he has been special lecturer in Egyptology in the University of Manchester. His publications have been numerous ; chief among them are four volumes on "The Rock Tombs of Meir" (1914-24), with about eighty plates drawn by himself, and volumes on the Lower Nubian temples of Dendur, Derr and Bigeh. Other works deal especially with Egyptian myth and ritual. He has done much to present Ancient Egypt to a wide public. All Egyptologists will hope that it will be possible for Dr. Blackman to continue his Egyptological researches for many years to come.

The Exposition of the Truth

A wealth of scientific knowledge combined with a vast scientific illiteracy poses for our society an acute and difficult problem, the solution of which depends, believes Dr. Brimble, upon the accurate dissemination of information about scientific fact and method. In this campaign of education Dr. Brimble himself has been energetically engaged, first as a lecturer in his special field of botany, later as a writer on a wide variety of scientific and social questions. Since 1938 he has been Joint Editor of the British periodical NATURE.

Abstracts on Powder Metallurgy

Hitherto available in private circulation only, Metal Powder Report is now issued at an annual subscription of £3 7s. 6d. The report is a sixteen-page monthly abstract journal dealing solely with the production, treatment and use of metal powders, under the joint editorship of W. D. Jones and R. A. Hetzig. The use of such products in electronics, the metallization of glass and ceramic materials, iron driving bands, porous aluminium-base bearings, electrical contacts, magnetic materials, sintered plates for batteries, sparking plugs, and stainless steel powders for paints and lacquers, all of which are mentioned in the issues for September and October 1947, will give an indication of the surprising breadth of interest of this very new branch of metallurgy. All concerned with powder metallurgy in any of its aspects will find this publication of real use. It is available from Powder Metallurgy, Ltd., Commonwealth House, 1–19 New Oxford Street, London, W.C.I.

Spectrochimica Acta

AN international medium for the publication of research results in applied spectroscopy was launched in 1939, and published by Julius Springer in Berlin until 1944. This is being revived under the joint editorship of several spectroscopists, as before. The editorial board will consist of : Dr. A. Gatterer (Vatican Observatory), Mr. E. van Someren (London), Prof. R. Breckpot (Louvain), Dr. W. Gerlach (Munich), Dr. H. Kaiser (Jena) and Dr. L. W. Strock (Saratoga Springs). The first number of the third volume should appear early in 1947, and authors of papers on emission or absorption spectroscopy are invited to submit manuscripts, in English, French, German or Italian, to the nearest member of the editorial board. Publication should be fairly prompt, by current standards. As in most scientific publications, authors are urged to be concise ; but the paper supplies are sufficient to allow each author 75 reprints. The printing will be undertaken by the printers in the Vatican City, who are accustomed to dealing with a variety of languages. Authors in Great Britain should communicate with Mr. E. van Someren, 20 Churchfields, Broxbourne, Herts.

Scientific Posts in the Development of Atomic Energy

ACCORDING to the Daily Mail of August 3, Mr. L. J. F. Brimble, joint editor of Nature, attacked “Secrecy over the appointment of scientists to post in the development of atomic energy”, at a gathering of “scientists at Wadham College, Oxford”. This statement is so inaccurate as to convey the opposite of that which Mr. Brimble actually did say. He. was addressing the summer school of the British Social Hygiene Council on “Science and Social Progress”. In dealing with atomic energy, Mr. Brimble pleaded that public (especially lay) opinion should be based on more accurate and fuller knowledge. He gave a brief history of atomic research in an attempt to show that no one country could claim all the credit, and emphasized the important pioneer work of Dalton in Manchester followed later by the crucial researches under Rutherford at Cambridge. This, he claimed, should be more widely known, for it might surprise some if they knew how widespread among the lay public was the belief that all atomic research had so far been practically confined to the United States. As regards the appointment of physicists to posts dealing with atomic research, Mr. Brimble neither said nor implied anything. In fact it should here be stated that in the opinion of the Editors of Nature, such posts as exist in Britain are held by the most suitable and competent men of science, and, so far as they are aware, there has been no “secrecy” in appointing them. Mr. Brimble did, however, direct attention to the hasty decisions being made in appointing personnel to certain scientific and educational bodies-decisions which seem to be made by a few without consulting other authorities-and often not followed by any published announcement of such appointments. Those bodies which Mr. Brimble had in mind are far removed from atomic energy, o or indeed any other kind of scientific research.

Professor H. G. Atkins, Joint Editor, 1936-1942

Professor H. G. Atkins, Joint Editor, 1936-1942

Reviews of Books

Book reviewed in this article:Social Aspects of Crime Between the Wars. By Dr. Hermann Mannheim.War and Crime. By Hermann Mannheim.Penal Reform in England. Edited by L. Radzinowicz, M.A., IX.D., and J. W. Cecil Turner, M.A., LL.B.Punishment and Social Structure. By Dr. Georg Rusche and Dr. Otto Kircheimer.The Way to Justice. By Heber L. Hart, K.C., LL.D.Jail Journey. By Jim Phelan.My Prison House. By James Leigh.Attorney General's Survey of Release Procedures. Vol. 5. Prisons. Department of Justice, Washington. 1939.Parole with Honor. By Wilbur La Roe, Jr. (Princeton University Press.Juvenile Delinquency: A Comparative Study of the position in Liverpool and England and Wales. By J. H. Bagot, M.A., with an Introduction by D. Caradog Jones.The Ancestral Child. The Fifth Clarke Hall Lecture. By Margery Fry, LL.D., J.P.The Criminality of Youth. By Thorsten Sellen.Handbook of American Institutions for Delinquent Juveniles. Published by The Osborn Association, Inc. Edited by William B. Cox, Executive Secretary. Vol. I: West North Central States. 1938. Joint Editor, F. Lovell Bixby, Ph.D. Vol. II: Kentucky‐Tennessee. 1940. Joint Editors: Joseph A. Shelly and George C. Minard. Vol. III: Pacific Coast States. Joint Editor: Joseph A. Shelly. 1940.The Difficult Child and the Problem of Discipline. C. W. Valentine.They Were in Prison. A History of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, 1787–1937, formerly The Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons. By Negley K. Teeters, Temple University. Introduction by Harry Elmer Barnes and a concluding chapter by Albert G. Fraser. Seventy‐five illustrations.Inquest. By S. Ingleby Oddie.The Court is Sitting. By Ernest W. Pettifer, Clerk to the West Riding Justices.

The Society of Applied Biologists

Prior to the year 1904 there was no scientific society or journal in the United Kingdom devoted to applied biology. There was, moreover, little opportunity or encouragement for research in this field, and the work of the universities and other educational institutions was primarily concerned with pure science. Owing to the initiative of Mr. W. E. Collinge of the University of Birmingham and others, however, the Society of Applied Biologists (as it is now termed) came into being. And as 1938 marked the publication of the twenty-fifth volume of its journal (Annals of Applied Biology), Prof. W. Brierley, joint editor since 1921, has written an interesting account of the development of the Association (Ann. App. Biol., 26, 178; 1939), correlating it with more general trends of development in the country over the same period of years. From the outset the Society has welcomed all investigators in economic biology, whether agricultural, horticultural, medical or commercial, and since its inception has steadily widened its interests. The journal, too, has increased in scientific value, developing from a volume Of 359 pages in 1922 to one of 891 pages in 1938. The inclusion of photographs of the presidents of the Association from 1904 up to the present time adds much to the interest of the retrospect.

Chemical Researches in Czechoslovakia

EVER since the middle of last century, much chemical research work has been carried out at Prague. Some of the investigations, notably Prof. B. Brauner's work on atomic weights and on the rare earth elements, attracted wide attention, but much valuable, if less spectacular, work was overlooked. Few Czech men of science published in English journals; the majority of their researches appeared in the little-read Czech publications. To direct more attention to their achievements, Czechoslovak chemists founded in 1928 under the joint editorship of Profs. Votoček and Heyrovský the Collection of Czechoslovak Chemical Communications, in which the contributions were written in French or English. Among the more interesting contributions that have appeared recently in this journal mention may be made of the discovery by Prof. Kfěpelka and Dr. Novotny that mercurous halides show marked triboluminescence, the actual intensity depending on the conditions of preparation. Prof. šimek has also made some observations on the curious electrical behaviour of fused tellurium dioxide. In organic chemistry, Drs. Landa and Machaček have described a new solid hydrocarbon, C10H16, to which they assign the name adamantane. A series of researches by Prof. Votoček and his collaborators has cleared up a number of points in connexion with the lesser-known sugars such as rhamnose, rhodeose and fucose. Prof. Heyrovský has also published a series of papers (referred to in NATURE of March 10, p. 385) dealing with his polarographic studies with the dropping mercury cathode.

PROF. F. M. EXNER

FELIX M. EXNER, professor of geophysics in the University of Vienna, director of the Zentral anstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik, Vienna, and joint editor with S¼ring of the “Meteorologische Zeitschrift”, died in Vienna on Feb. 7. Exner, who was a son of the physiologist Sigmund Exner, was born in Vienna on Aug. 23, 1876. He was educated at the University of Vienna, where he graduated as Ph.D. in 1900. After ten years as assistant at the Zentralanstalt, he became professor of cosmical physics at the University of Innsbruck in 1910, returning to Vienna in 1917 to take up the post of director of the Zentralanstalt and professor of geophysics.

Die Methodik der Fermente

FOLLOWING the publication of the fifth edition of Prof. Oppenheimer's well-known treatise, “Die Fermente und ihre Wirkungen,” it appeared desirable to compile a companion volume describing the methods that have been devised in carrying out researches on the subject. There were two alternatives. The first was to prepare a concise volume giving merely an outline of these methods; the second was to prepare an extended treatise. Of these alternatives the latter was chosen, and the work has been carried out under the joint editorship of Profs. Oppenheimer and Pincussen, in collaboration with leading authorities drawn from all parts of the world. The complete work will form vol. 3 of “Die Fermente und ihre Wirkungen.” Die Methodik der Fermente. Herausgegeben von Carl Oppenheimer Ludwig Pincussen. Lieferung 1. Pp. x+320. Lieferung 2. Pp. vii+321-624. Lieferung 3. Pp. vii+625-944. (Leipzig: Georg Thieme, 1928.) 28 gold marks each.

The York-Antwerp Rules: Their History and Development, with comments on the Rules of 1924. By George Rupert Rudolf, Member and Past Chairman of the Association of Average Adjusters; Joint Editor of Lowndes's Law of General Average, 5th and 6th editions. Stevens & Sons, Ltd.1926. pp. xvi, 320. 15s. net.

The York-Antwerp Rules: Their History and Development, with comments on the Rules of 1924. By George Rupert Rudolf, Member and Past Chairman of the Association of Average Adjusters; Joint Editor of Lowndes's Law of General Average, 5th and 6th editions. Stevens & Sons, Ltd.1926. pp. xvi, 320. 15s. net.

Flowering Dates of Trees along Main British Railway Routes

A FEW months ago the Editor of NATURE sent me, as joint editor of the Phenological Reports published by the Royal Meteorological Society, an interesting problem. He said:—“It has been pointed out on several occasions that in travelling from the West of England (Devon and Cornwall) to London, fruit trees are usually seen to be much more forward as regards flowering nearer London than in the West.” I was therefore asked whether I had, among the “phenological observations, records of such flowering dates arranged according to longitude so as to determine whether fruit trees do, normally, bloom earlier near London than far away, and whether this is true also in passing from London to the East.”

Quain's Elements of Anatomy

IN this further contribution to the eleventh edition of Quain's “Elements of Anatomy” Prof. Symington describes the following systems of the human body:—Digestive, Respiratory, and Urogenital. Two minor sections are devoted to the ductless glands and peritoneum, the latter being written by Dr. P. T. Crymble. During the eighteen years which have elapsed since the tenth edition appeared—under the joint editorship of Sir Edward Schafer and Prof. Symington—anatomists, physiologists, and particularly surgeons have altered our conception of the splanchnology of the human body in many and important details. These changes are reflected in the text and illustrations of the new edition of “Quain.”

Les Quantités élementaires d'Électricité: Ions, Électrons, Corpuscles

THIS very important work, which has been brought out by the French Physical Society under the joint editorship of MM. Abraham and Langevin, consists of a series of digests of the memoirs on which the foundation of the electrodynamic theory of matter is laid. In some cases resumes of their researches have been written especially for this work by the original authors, but in the majority of instances the papers have been dealt with by abstractors. The value of this method depends entirely on the insight which is brought to bear upon it, and the task must have been particularly difficult in the present instance owing to the great variety of the material concerned, since many of the investigations are purely experimental, whilst others require all the skill in abstract reasoning possessed by the pure mathematician. The excellence which we should expect from the names of the editors, one of whom, M. Langevin, has himself made extensive and valuable contributions to the subject, is completely justified by the result. Whenever it was consistent with the necessary brevity, the abstractors have kept to the original words of the author, and, so far as the reviewer has been able to discover, no author can claim that his views have been misrepresented in any important particular. Les Quantites elementaires d'Electricite: Ions, Electrons, Corpuscles. Memoires reunis et publies par Henri Abraham et Paul Langevin. Two volumes. Pp. xvi + 1138. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars et Fils, 1905.) Price 35 francs.

Recent Works on Systematic Botany in Germany

IT was in the year 1887 that, following on the publisher's announcement, the first parts of “Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien” appeared under the joint editorship of Drs. Engler and Prantl. The announcement does not seem to have attracted much attention, as there was no mention of it in many botanical journals until several numbers following each other rapidly came under notice. Strange as it may seem, De Bary's name does not appear as one of the collaborators, nor did he have any share in the work. His remarks, therefore, as set forth in Die Botanische Zeitung in October, 1887, besides providing a criticism of the general scheme, also enable one to form an idea of the attitude displayed towards the undertaking. He says, “the object is to present by means of illustrations and descriptions a corporate picture of the plant world, which shall be strictly scientific and at the same time generally intelligible. Under each family, and for each genus of that family, mention will be made of any points that call for description or that have a practical bearing.”