NOTES 459 



freezing in the latter is so to alter the muscle substance as to cause the meat, 

 on thawing, to exude a fluid rich in nutritive material and coloured with 

 haemoglobin. The new experiments of the Meat Committee have shown 

 that, provided the beef is frozen quickly enough, the damaged effect ordinarily 

 present on thawing is avoided. Whether such experiments can be applied 

 on a commercial scale is rather doubtful, but further work will be under- 

 taken when the new Research Station has been completed. 



The writer of these notes, an Oxford man, has been disappointed to 

 observe that the new Research Station is to be erected at Cambridge. The 

 scientific staff of the University of Cambridge always seems to show a more 

 active spirit than that of Oxford ; the excuse ofiered by some Oxford men, 

 that Oxford is not the centre of scientific work in England, is pure nonsense, 

 and is merely a whitewash calculated to cover the want of acumen and 

 activity of many of the Oxford professors. Why should the various 

 work and money of Government Departments always be snapped up by 

 Cambridge ? 



The Fish Preservation Committee has also been very active. Two 

 Research members, Mr. G. Adair and Mr. J. Pique, have worked extremely 

 well at Billingsgate Market. Unfortunately the experimental plant lies in a 

 dark, dank, and noisy basement, and both workers became ill, but are to be 

 congratulated on having unearthed some extremely valuable facts. 



An Engineering Committee has been at work in the form of three separate 

 Sub-Committees, and has been investigating the scientific side of refrigerating 

 agents, insulation and hygrometry. 



A Fruit and Vegetable Committee is attacking such problems as how 

 best to store strawberries, pears, plums, and apples. Indeed we feel that 

 the whole Food Investigation Board is to be congratulated on the useful 

 work which has been carried out. We believe that many of the results will 

 prove of use to British industry. 



Some interesting material has recently been brought forward with regard 

 to fertility in the human species. Prof. C. B. Davenport, writing in the 

 Journal of Heredity, describes a remarkable case of a Mrs. W. G. C. The 

 proposita Mrs. C. has been interviewed at different times by three representa- 

 tives of the Eugenics Records Of&ce ; to each the history given has differed 

 a little in details. Mrs. C. married her first husband, and by him had twins ; 

 the husband died fourteen months after their marriage. Two years sub- 

 sequently the proposita married again, and had twins, Violet and Clay, 

 Violet married and had a single child, but two years later twins, who, with 

 the mother, died shortly after birth. To return to the proposita, Mrs. C, 

 the next children were triplets, named Esther, Flossie, and Theodore — these 

 all died young. Two years after there were again born twins, Anne, who 

 still survives, and Charles, who died young. Next year another pair of twins 

 was born, Irene, who still survives, and Clarence, who died young. The 

 second husband died, and the proposita married again — by the third husband 

 she had first a pair of twins, one of whom died of hydrocephalus, and the 

 other died later ; then in the next year triplets were born, two stillborn 

 and one who is now alive. A year later the proposita had a miscarriage of 

 triplets. The proposita now appears to have had a rest of two years, but in 

 1907 was hard at it again, for in this year she had twins, a boy still living, 

 and a girl who died an hour after birth. 



Then in the following year she had a miscarriage of quadruplets, two boys 

 and two girls — this seems to have been brought on by the poor health of the 

 mother. In 1909 there were bom t^vins, a boy still living and a girl, who 

 died at ten days of age. In the next year triplets were born — a boy Ronald 

 still lives, one of the girls died at the age of one week, and the other was born 

 and died abnormal. 



