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COLOUR AND COLOURING MATTERS.
170 revolution of the colour our disposal an infinite series of colours of every variety and shade. Moreover, it is interesting to remember that the aniline dyes have proved of great service in determining the nature of disease. The germ-theory of disease could not have developed so rapidly and on >-uch definite lines as it has done had not aniline stains been discovered which were oon found to possess the power of marking and individualising the specific organism by dissolving in it and thus enabling in several intances an exact bacteriological diagnosis to be made.
commenced the unipolar treatment locally for 15 minutes each sitting, using a primary energy of three and a half amperes. After the fourth application the pain began to subside and the indurated parts to soften. The patient’s general condition improved rapidly, sleep returned, and her appetite became good. After 28 applications all trace of the The fourth patient was a ecurrence had disappeared. woman suffering from epithelioma of the cervix too far advanced for operation. The case being a desperate one Dr. Allan pushed the treatment much further than he had ever done before, and gave from 40 to 60 minutes’ treatment daily, using a primary energy of five and a half amperes. A unipolar or condensor electrode was passed into the vagina and made to impinge against the growth. The treatment was continued daily up to Jan. 2nd, 1902, when the patient became very ill and it was not resumed till Jan. 26th. At present the growth seems to be entirely arrested and the patient feels very comfortable. Dr. Allan uses an induction coil giving a 12-inch spark, with a mercury jet interrupter, working from the house main at a pressure of 210 volts with a D’Arsonval-Oudin high-frequency apparatus.
COLOUR AND COLOURING
discovery
THE
a
complete
NEW
at
MEDICAL STAFF COLLEGE.
As our readers are aware, the establishment of an army medical school or institution in this metropolis was a point on which we laid much stress in the series of articles which appeared in THE LANCET in connexion with the proposed army medical reorganisation, and it was one of the measures recommended by the War Office committee over which the War Minister presided. This was in due time followed by the announcement that the next session of the Army But we Medical School will be held in London. have not yet had any official announcement as to what is about to be done to give effect to it or school at as to what is to become of the present Netley, with its teaching equipment and its professorial The establishment of a medical staff college in staff. London, if properly organised and carried out, will, for the reasons we have already given, be a great step in advance and will bring about important and progressive changes in the direction of developing the position and efficiency of the army medical service as a whole, but it will, we fear, be a In view of the competitive somewhat costly undertaking. examination held this month, for which, we are glad to hear, the number of candidates is large, there is not too much time at the disposal of the War Office authorities to make their arrangements.
MATTERS.
THE popular conception of the nature of colour is somewhat curious. Perkin’s discovery of the preparation of aniline dyes from coal tar (the first one, mauveine, was obtained in this way in 1856) is very generally attributed to his observation of the play of colours seen on the surface of a river into which tarry matters had been discharged. Gasworks at one time were a common source of such a discharge. Colour, of course, is not an entity-it is an effect, like the rainbow, or shadow, or light itself. The colour effects seen when any substance of an oily nature floats on water are due to the formation of a thin film following the natural spreading action of the oil on the water. A thin soap him gives colours in the same way. The fine play of colour is produced by the mutual interference of the light reflected from the two surfaces of the thin 61m. White light by undergoing a series of reflections and refractions, as through a prism, is split up into its colour components in accordance with the degree of refrangibility of each elemental colour. The colours thus seen are not due to any specific substance which, like a green leaf, is endowed with the power of the selective absorption of light. The film is an analyser of white light, laying bare all its primary colours ; a leaf is green or a flower red because of selective absorption. The particular colouring matters known as dyes are, however, not only eminently endowed with the power of selective absorption in regard to light-a power which causes them to appear coloured-but their particles or atoms possess a strong faculty for wandering into fibres and fabrics, and This wandering moreover, of becoming dissolved therein. and in solid materials, power solubility possessed to auch a high degree by dyes, distinguish them sharply from ordinary coloured substances. In the former case the particles travel into fibre and are actually soluble in it ; in the latter case, although penetration proceeds the actual solution of the In short, a dyed colour in the material is not effected. fabric is nothing more than a solid solution of the dye stuff in the substance of a fibre. Clearly Perkin’s discovery had nothing to do with the pretty light phenomena of films. The number of artificial colouring matters prepared since that discovery, now nearly 50 years ago, has been It is estimated that at the present day enormous. over 3,000,000 different individual dye-stuffs are easily accessible to our industries, while at least 25,000 form the subject of patent specifications. The number of colouring matters furnished by natural agencies is comparatively small and those that do exist threaten soon to be ignored in favour of coal-tar derivatives. Perkin’a great
has led to
output of the world and has placed
-
CALEDONIAN
MEDICAL SOCIETY.
,
WE have already mentioned1 the awards of the Gunning of the Caledonian Medical Society. The first prize of £20 was gained by Dr. H. Cameron Gillies of London for an annotated reproduction and translation of a Gaelic medical MS. in the British Museum, while the second prize of £10 was gained by Mrs. K. Whyte Grant of New Zealand for an essay on the Influence of Scenery and Climate on the Music and Poetry of the Highlands. Mrs. Grant’s essay is published in the July number of the Caledonian Medical Journal, of which it occupies rather over 40 pages. Incidentally referring to the Ossianic poems she maintains that they are authentic productions of antiquity and quotes similarities between passages in them and in the East Indian Mahabharata and Ramayana. In conclusion she gives a long account of the myth of Cailleach Bheur which is interwoven with the folklore of several nations. Mr. Donald Mackinnon, professor of Celtic literature in the University of Edinburgh, contributes a genealogy of the medical family of the Macbeths or Beatons of Islay and Mull, together with a bibliographical account and two photographs of a Gaelic medical MS. in the University of Edinburgh. Under the heading of Medical Notes from Berlin Dr. Donald Bremner Waters supplies some miscellaneous information which may be found useful by persons visiting Berlin with a view to medical study. In the advertising pages of the Journal it is announced that by the kindness of Dr. Stewart of Bacup the society’is enabled to offer a prize of £ 10 for an essay on The essays are to be written in Old Highland Therapy. English, are not to exceed 20,000 words, and are to be sent
prizes
1
THE LANCET. Feb. 15th (p.
465)
and June 7th
(p. 1618), 1902.
commenced the unipolar treatment locally for 15 minutes each sitting, using a primary energy of three and a half amperes. After the fourth application the pain began to subside and the indurated parts to soften. The patient’s general condition improved rapidly, sleep returned, and her appetite became good. After 28 applications all trace of the The fourth patient was a ecurrence had disappeared. woman suffering from epithelioma of the cervix too far advanced for operation. The case being a desperate one Dr. Allan pushed the treatment much further than he had ever done before, and gave from 40 to 60 minutes’ treatment daily, using a primary energy of five and a half amperes. A unipolar or condensor electrode was passed into the vagina and made to impinge against the growth. The treatment was continued daily up to Jan. 2nd, 1902, when the patient became very ill and it was not resumed till Jan. 26th. At present the growth seems to be entirely arrested and the patient feels very comfortable. Dr. Allan uses an induction coil giving a 12-inch spark, with a mercury jet interrupter, working from the house main at a pressure of 210 volts with a D’Arsonval-Oudin high-frequency apparatus.
COLOUR AND COLOURING
discovery
THE
a
complete
NEW
at
MEDICAL STAFF COLLEGE.
As our readers are aware, the establishment of an army medical school or institution in this metropolis was a point on which we laid much stress in the series of articles which appeared in THE LANCET in connexion with the proposed army medical reorganisation, and it was one of the measures recommended by the War Office committee over which the War Minister presided. This was in due time followed by the announcement that the next session of the Army But we Medical School will be held in London. have not yet had any official announcement as to what is about to be done to give effect to it or school at as to what is to become of the present Netley, with its teaching equipment and its professorial The establishment of a medical staff college in staff. London, if properly organised and carried out, will, for the reasons we have already given, be a great step in advance and will bring about important and progressive changes in the direction of developing the position and efficiency of the army medical service as a whole, but it will, we fear, be a In view of the competitive somewhat costly undertaking. examination held this month, for which, we are glad to hear, the number of candidates is large, there is not too much time at the disposal of the War Office authorities to make their arrangements.
MATTERS.
THE popular conception of the nature of colour is somewhat curious. Perkin’s discovery of the preparation of aniline dyes from coal tar (the first one, mauveine, was obtained in this way in 1856) is very generally attributed to his observation of the play of colours seen on the surface of a river into which tarry matters had been discharged. Gasworks at one time were a common source of such a discharge. Colour, of course, is not an entity-it is an effect, like the rainbow, or shadow, or light itself. The colour effects seen when any substance of an oily nature floats on water are due to the formation of a thin film following the natural spreading action of the oil on the water. A thin soap him gives colours in the same way. The fine play of colour is produced by the mutual interference of the light reflected from the two surfaces of the thin 61m. White light by undergoing a series of reflections and refractions, as through a prism, is split up into its colour components in accordance with the degree of refrangibility of each elemental colour. The colours thus seen are not due to any specific substance which, like a green leaf, is endowed with the power of the selective absorption of light. The film is an analyser of white light, laying bare all its primary colours ; a leaf is green or a flower red because of selective absorption. The particular colouring matters known as dyes are, however, not only eminently endowed with the power of selective absorption in regard to light-a power which causes them to appear coloured-but their particles or atoms possess a strong faculty for wandering into fibres and fabrics, and This wandering moreover, of becoming dissolved therein. and in solid materials, power solubility possessed to auch a high degree by dyes, distinguish them sharply from ordinary coloured substances. In the former case the particles travel into fibre and are actually soluble in it ; in the latter case, although penetration proceeds the actual solution of the In short, a dyed colour in the material is not effected. fabric is nothing more than a solid solution of the dye stuff in the substance of a fibre. Clearly Perkin’s discovery had nothing to do with the pretty light phenomena of films. The number of artificial colouring matters prepared since that discovery, now nearly 50 years ago, has been It is estimated that at the present day enormous. over 3,000,000 different individual dye-stuffs are easily accessible to our industries, while at least 25,000 form the subject of patent specifications. The number of colouring matters furnished by natural agencies is comparatively small and those that do exist threaten soon to be ignored in favour of coal-tar derivatives. Perkin’a great
has led to
output of the world and has placed
-
CALEDONIAN
MEDICAL SOCIETY.
,
WE have already mentioned1 the awards of the Gunning of the Caledonian Medical Society. The first prize of £20 was gained by Dr. H. Cameron Gillies of London for an annotated reproduction and translation of a Gaelic medical MS. in the British Museum, while the second prize of £10 was gained by Mrs. K. Whyte Grant of New Zealand for an essay on the Influence of Scenery and Climate on the Music and Poetry of the Highlands. Mrs. Grant’s essay is published in the July number of the Caledonian Medical Journal, of which it occupies rather over 40 pages. Incidentally referring to the Ossianic poems she maintains that they are authentic productions of antiquity and quotes similarities between passages in them and in the East Indian Mahabharata and Ramayana. In conclusion she gives a long account of the myth of Cailleach Bheur which is interwoven with the folklore of several nations. Mr. Donald Mackinnon, professor of Celtic literature in the University of Edinburgh, contributes a genealogy of the medical family of the Macbeths or Beatons of Islay and Mull, together with a bibliographical account and two photographs of a Gaelic medical MS. in the University of Edinburgh. Under the heading of Medical Notes from Berlin Dr. Donald Bremner Waters supplies some miscellaneous information which may be found useful by persons visiting Berlin with a view to medical study. In the advertising pages of the Journal it is announced that by the kindness of Dr. Stewart of Bacup the society’is enabled to offer a prize of £ 10 for an essay on The essays are to be written in Old Highland Therapy. English, are not to exceed 20,000 words, and are to be sent
prizes
1
THE LANCET. Feb. 15th (p.
465)
and June 7th
(p. 1618), 1902.