100 YEARS AGO

The present position of the Röntgen rays in military surgery was described by Major J. Battersby in a paper read before the Röntgen Society on Tuesday. ⃛ After the battle at Omdurman 121 British wounded were conveyed to the surgical hospital at Abadieh. Of that number there were 21 cases in which the bullet could not be found, or its absence proved by ordinary methods. In 20 out of these 21 cases an accurate diagnosis was arrived at with the help of the rays, the odd case, who was suffering from a severe bullet wound in the lung, being too ill for examination at the time. ⃛ In many cases the X-rays prevented much suffering to the patient, which would have been caused by probing, the use of the finger, or enlarging the wound in the ordinary search for the bullets, as the skiagraph at once indicated the exact position of the bullet. ⃛ With regard to apparatus, the most serious difficulty at present is the best method of generating the primary electrical current for charging the storage batteries. ⃛ In the Sudan a small dynamo, driven by means of a tandem bicycle, answered admirably, and was readily transported by rail and river to Abadieh; but as at present constructed, it is unsuitable for mule, camel, or human transport.

From Nature 12 January 1899.

50 YEARS AGO

Some months ago, Dr. P. Tate gave a review of white-eyed mutants of Diptera. In his paper Tate stated that in Calliphora erythrocephala the male never manifests the white-eyed character. Some years ago a white-eyed mutant of Calliphora erythrocephala appeared in our mass cultures, and in this case both white-eyed females and males occurred. We reared the mutant and obtained a mass culture of it. At that time, however, we were busy with other work, and so we did not investigate the mutant as to the mode of inheritance. Unfortunately, after some time the culture was allowed to die out. It is evident that the mutation found in our culture differs from that of Tate, his mutation being sex-limited, which was not the case with ours. It is interesting to note that the same visible character may be due to different gene mutations.

From Nature15 January 1949.