640 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



African War and constituting the Expeditionary Force in France between 

 1914 and 191 8. In the former, of 250,000 men, 8,000 died of typhoid ; in the 

 latter, of 2,500,000 men, the total deaths from this disease were 200. 



The knowledge of immunity acquired by sufierers from small-pox which 

 first induced the ready acceptance of inoculation by nations, and then the 

 recognition of attenuated pathogenic matter in Jennerian vaccination, has 

 further led to processes for the slow immunisation of animals, with the pro- 

 duction of sera, of which the best known are those employed in connection 

 with diphtheria and tetanus. There has also followed, on the principle of 

 gradual building up of the natural resisting powers of the body and thus 

 producing immunisation, the employment of numerous bacterial vaccines. 



In short, in the years which have elapsed since Jenner realised the value of 

 attenuation of morbific agents, the power of preventive medicine has been so 

 increased as to rank as the pivot of the welfare and political economy of nations. 

 In this light, at the centenary of Jenner's death and of Pasteur's birth, we 

 recognise with gratitude, in this Briton and Frenchman, ideals which have 

 for their supreme motive the gain of health and suppression of relentless disease 

 in communities, by application of the ever-increasing means yielded by Nature 

 at the behest of unselfish Science. 



Reviews and Reviewers. 



On January 9 a dinner was given at the Institute of Journalists in Tudor 

 Street, Blackfriars, by the Circle of Scientific, Technical, and Trade Journalists, 

 after which a discussion on the subject of Reviews and Reviewers took place. 



Sir Richard Gregory opened it with an able address in which he discussed 

 many points connected with the subject ; and as a number of journalists and 

 editors of technical organs were present, the subject received exceptionally 

 thorough consideration. Most of the speakers agreed that reviews were to 

 be divided into three classes, the descriptive review, the critical review, and 

 the essay-review. Some thought that the first class did not appeal much to 

 readers, but others were not so confident of this ; and others, again, divided 

 the descriptive reviews into two sub-classes, namely " catalogue reviews " 

 which merely give the contents of a book, and more thorough notices which 

 indulge in a complete description. On the one side it was argued that 

 readers desire criticism as well as description ; but on the other side, that 

 many readers simply wish to know the object and plan of a new book without 

 being much troubled with the opinions of the critic — which notoriously often 

 depend not only upon the merit of the work. It was fairly well agreed that 

 authors have the right to reply to critical reviews which attack or misrepresent 

 them and that their replies should be published. The essay-review uses 

 the book reviewed merely as a peg on which to hang an independent essay, 

 and its value depends mainly upon the reviewer's capacity. An important 

 point raised by Sir Richard was what is to become of the volumes after they 

 have been reviewed. It was fairly well agreed that reviewers should possess 

 them and are fully entitled to sell them. But what are editors to do with 

 the numerous volumes which can be merely mentioned in their book lists, 

 such as reprints, pot-boiler textbooks, and books which do not deal with the 

 subject of the special technical journal concerned ? Editors cannot possibly 

 keep such volumes ad infinitum, yet publishers and authors complain if they 

 are sold soon after publication. If they are given away, as, for instance, to 

 public libraries, the publishers and authors will suffer just as much or more, 

 and there appears to be no alternative to selling. But a decent interval, 

 depending upon the nature of the book, should be insisted upon. After all 

 the review, or even a mention in the book lists, gives the publisher a quid pro 

 quo for the cost of his volume, so that possibly he spends less on advertisement 

 in this way than he would in the usual channels for advertisement. The 



