MEDICINE 571 



reached there, in fact, after the white man. And even the 

 Hottentots, who are beheved to be a cross between Negroes and 

 Bushmen, are not ancient. The real " aboriginals " of Southern 

 Africa are the Bushmen. And it is therefore not difficult to 

 imagine that if these weak and lowly Bushmen were, three or 

 four thousand years ago, the sole representatives of H. sapiens 

 in Southern Africa, a remnant of this strange humanoid species 

 might well have been able to maintain their existence in the 

 recesses of the jungle. 



MEDICINE. By R. M. Wilson. M.B., Ch.B. 



By far the most important event in the past quarter has been 

 the influenza epidemic. This epidemic, though widespread, 

 belongs undoubtedly to the so-called " minor " type of visita- 

 tions. At no period was the scale of the great outbreak of 

 1918-1919 reached, or even approached. 



It is worthy of note that Brownlee, in 191 9, published in 

 The Lancet a paper on the periodicity of influenza, in which he 

 suggested that minor recurrences take place at intervals of 

 thirty-three weeks. Those recurrences, however, which fall 

 due in summer or autumn do not materialise, and, consequently, 

 intervals of about three years separate the epidemics. Brownlee, 

 as a result of his study, foretold the present epidemic, saying 

 that it might be expected in February of 1922. 



This is the more remarkable when we remember that the 

 prophecy was made three years ago. It points to a definite 

 advance in the study of epidemiology, and opens up a wide 

 vista of future work ; for if it should be found possible to foresee 

 a visitation such as that we have just endured, it may, later 

 on, be possible to determine the nature of the factors producing 

 the recurrence. 



If we except this one gleam of light, the darkness which 

 surrounds influenza and all its protean manifestations is un- 

 relieved. No conclusive evidence has been forthcoming in 

 regard to the causative organism. There are still those who 

 believe in the Pfeiffer bacillus. There are others who think 

 that a filter-passer is the first cause, and that its presence 

 prepares the way for the secondary infections which are so 

 common. In the absence of proof one way or the other, 

 judgment must needs be suspended. 



The outbreak began in November, and was said to have 

 been first observed in Nottinghamshire, whence it spread, 

 according to the Ministry of Health, to towns in the south of 

 the West Riding, where Leeds, Sheffield, and Rotherham were 

 principally affected. It spread also westward to the Potteries. 

 The disease did not become prevalent in London until the middle 



