VOL.3, No. 9 I N ~ L ~ on NC EAB RLY SCIENCE ON FORMATIYB ENGLISR
1057
deceits of Fables" as Sprat characterized the style of Sir Thomas Browne. And the style of Richard Burton, who f o r literary effect "pillaged antiquity" t o heighten his hypochondria, became obsol&e. Al-these thin& and more, too, were accomplished i n t h r e e decades by the early English scientists in the establishment of modern prose. A w o r t h y heritage!
Smallest Particles Said to Surround Electrons. That particles even smaller than the electrons, hitherto supposed to be the smallest things 'in the world, surround the parts of which atoms are built up, and that this hypothesis may reconcile the old wave theory of light and the newer "quantum" theory, is the suggestion made by Sir Joseph Thomson, considered the leader of British physicists. This was made in his recent Kelvin lecture before the Institution of Electrical Engineers. According to modem notions, an atom consists of a central, rather massive nucleus charged with positive electricity called a proton, surrounded a t relatively great distances by ultraminute particles of negative electricity called electrons, which rotate in different orbits around the nucleus. In order t o reconcile the modem view that energy is emitted in small separate bundles or "quanta," with the older ideas, Sir Joseph said, it is necessary to assume that both the proton and its satellite electrons are surrounded by an atmosphere of much smaller particles, the impact of which on the protons and electrons causes them t o vibrate and send out energy. "Both proton and electron must be regarded as nebular systems," he stated. Theory indicates that the vibrations or oscillatory movements of protons and electrons should give rise to electrical waves, and Sir Joseph believes that such waves are actually produced, although ordinarily they are unable to escape from the outer confines of the atom, heing reflected back into the interior. The so-called "quanta" of light he believes to consist of bundles of electrical waves shot out from the atom at the same time as arduary electro-magneticwaves.--Science Service Malaria in Palestine Yields to Paris Green. Mdlaria in the Holy Land is giving way before ons$ughts on the mosquito. The Malaria Commission of the Health Organization of the League of Nations attributes the high degree of success in its antimalarial campaign in Palestine very largely to its efforts in exterminating the feverbearing mosquito larvae. Swamp draining and oiling and Paris green have been the principal agents of death to the young wigglers in the intensive war which has been waged by the commission since 1918 when the malarial incidence, even under normal circumstances had enough, ran unusually high, due to the unsettled abnormal conditions brought about by the war. Quinine treatment of school children and a general return to more normal conditions have all contributed to the current decline of the disease but anti-larval measures have been the chief factors according to the Malarial Commission's report to the League of Nations. The International Health Board of the Rockefeller Foundation and various Jewish organizations have been of great assistance in the general process of putting into practice the engineering feat of ditching and oiling Palestine, Prof. N. L. Swelengrebel, of the medical faculty of the University of Amsterdam and member of the Commission, declares-Scicncc Setvice ~
~
~~
