92 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



an unusually sterile soil and fail to pro- 

 duce the expected results. In other 

 words, we can not tell what will be the 

 output of bacterial poison from a given 

 dose of living bacteria. But the bac- 

 terial poison itself, when isolated from 

 the living bacteria, is a definite patho- 

 genic agent, which we can measure, 

 dilute, and test like any other potent 

 drug. Those who know that bacteria 

 are so minute as to be invisible except 

 under high microscopic powers will 

 naturally ask by what unimaginable 

 accuracy of grinding they can be broken 

 up so as to release their intracellular 

 toxins. The answer shows once more 

 how close is the dependence of ad- 

 vance in one department of research 

 upon discovery in another department 

 apparently quite unrelated, and how 

 impossible it is to foretell in what 

 ways abstract inquiry may bear upon 

 the most important practical problems. 

 These infinitesimal organisms are 

 crushed in liquid air, which is at once 

 an absolutely neutral Huid and one 

 giAang the exceedingly low temperature 

 essential for success. Thus an impor- 

 tant step in the treatment of disease 

 becomes possible through the previous 

 success of efforts to reduce the most 

 refractory gases to the liquid condition. 

 The intense cold of liquid air has no ef- 

 fect upon the vitality of bacteria. After 

 the most prolonged immersion they 

 propagate themselves with unabated 

 vigor as soon as they are again placed 

 in normal conditions. But when frozen 

 hard in liquid air these almost incon- 

 ceivably minute cells are completely 

 broken up by trituration. The com- 

 pletely triturated mass may be placed 

 in the proper medium and raised to the 

 proper temperature, but there is no 

 sign of bacterial growth. The poison- 

 ous juices, however, remain and pos- 

 sess, as has just been demonstrated, 

 the same toxic properties as when they 

 are directly elaborated inside the hu- 

 man body by the living bacteria. We 

 have, in fact, the best guarantee that 

 nothing has ha]i])ened beyond their 



mechanical release in the fact that at 

 j the temperature of liquid air all chem- 

 ical activities are in abeyance. The 

 mechanical disintegration of these 

 microscopical cells at the temperature 

 of liquid air is not so simple a matter 

 as it may seem. For its explanation 

 the biologist must again apply to the 

 physicist who has furnished him with 

 this new and potent implement. 



THE BRITISH A-^TARCTIC EXPE- 

 DITION. 



Reuter's Agency has cabled informa- 

 tion from New Zealand reporting that 

 the Morning, relief vessel to the British 

 i Antarctic exploration ship Discovery, 

 ariived at Lyttelton on March 25. She 

 reports finding the Discovery on Janu- 

 ary 23 in MacMurdo Bay (Victoria 

 Land ) . 



Commander Scott, of the Discovery, 

 supplies the following report of the 

 voyage up to the meeting with the 

 Morning. The Discovery entered the 

 ice pack on January 2 or 3 in latitude 

 67° south. Cape Adare was reached 

 on January 9, but from there a heavy 

 gale and ice delayed the expedition, 

 which did not reach Wood Bay till 

 January 18. A landing was effected 

 on the 20th in an excellent harbor 

 situated in latitude 76° 30' south. A 

 record of the voyage was deposited at 

 Cape Crozier on the twenty-second. 

 The Discovery then proceeded along the 

 Barrier, witliin a few cables' length, 

 examining the edge and making re- 

 peated soundings. In longitude 105° 

 the Barrier altercil its chaiacter and 

 trended northwards. Sounding here 

 showed that the Discovery was in shal- 

 low water. Frcnn the edge of the Bar- 

 rier high snow slopes rose to an exten- 

 sive, heavily glaciated land, witli 

 occasional bare precipitous peaks. The 

 expedition followed the coast line as 

 far as latitude 70°, longitude 152° 30'. 

 Tlie licavy pack foiination of the young 

 ice caused the expedition to seek winter 

 (]uarters in Victoria Land. 



