Science Societies

SENIOR

The season commenced with problems over dates for meetings at Queen Margaret's, and as a result only fifteen members of the Society were fortunate enough to attend an excellent talk on "Cancer". After glossing over general aspects of cancers, the speaker dwelt upon the subject of lung cancer, and produced statistics associating smoking with occurrence of lung cancer, which would induce uneasiness in the most robust of smokers. The speaker illustrated his talk with colour slides of tumours, and left a specimen of a cancerous lung, which seemed to act as an emetic to the nicotians of the Society.

The most potentially interesting talk of the season on "Cosmetics" turned out to be disappointing as the speaker arrived without having been briefed about what was expected of her. However, Mrs. Jones gave an illuminating talk which proved to be informative for the members of Queen Margaret's.

The most technical talk of the season proved to be a highly enjoyable one concerning "Pyrotechnics". The speaker illustrated his talk with various demonstrations of explosives, and at one time the speaker was obscured behind a cloud of purple smoke. After assorted bangs and noises, members left the smoke-filled room with a greater knowledge of how to disrupt Chemistry lessons.

Dr. Stone informed us of the "Recent advances in medicine", which included advances in the field of gastroenterology in which the speaker is particularly interested. He showed a medical instrument, costing £3,000, used for internal examination which basically consisted of optical magnification apparatus attached to a long probe which can be inserted into the throat. We were informed with great relish by Dr. Stone that German doctors, whom he claims are less considerate than British doctors, discovered that if one probe is inserted into the throat, and the other probe is inserted into the opposite end of the alimentary canal, the two probes meet half-way; thus the entire alimentary canal can be examined.

One of the most fascinating talks of the season was on "Biorhythms", given by Mr. Chipping of the Biorhythmic Research Association, who gave us an informative insight into the rhythms of the body. The rhythms of importance are those of intellectual ability, physical ability and sensitivity, and these approximately monthly cycles govern our behaviour. Mr. Chipping very kindly donated numerical information and a biorhythmic slide-rule to the Society in order that members could calculate their own cycles, which has proven popular during the weeks before exams, and so far there have been few complaints of inconsistency.

Finally I would like to offer my thanks to David Young, the Treasurer, whose never ending efforts have helped to maintain the smooth-running of the Society, and, of course, to Mr. Harris who has exerted himself to provide yet another excellent season of talks. David and myself wish him all the best for the future.

A.J.V.