Sept. 8, 1887] 



NATURE 



435 



Here is a disease, a zymotic disease, the virus of which, 

 as we liave just seen, is most difficult of isolation, and 

 evidently easily destroyed by ordinary conditions when 

 it has left living tissues ; a disease, too, which is fortu- 

 nately infrequent compared to many others, and again 

 fortunately one which would become extinct if not 

 kept in existence by transmission from dog to dog ; a 

 disease, in short, which needs nothing but the firm adminis- 

 tration of the most ordinary rules of preventive medicine 

 to be destroyed utterly, — and yet, in deference to the 

 professional agitation before mentioned, the Lords' Com- 

 mittee only recommend the use of the muzzle when the 

 disease is " prevalent." If this means, and it is capable 

 of being interpreted in two ways, that the Lords' Com- 

 mittee think the muzzle should be applied only when the 

 disease is epidemic, nothing more regrettable can be 

 imagined. To the scientific mind it seems almost in- 

 credible that a legislative body should hesitate to grasp 

 the opportunity, the easiest ever offered, of eradicating a 

 disease so painful and utterly incurable when once the 

 symptoms have declared themselves ; but here unfor- 

 tunately is the example we referred to above of scientific 

 fact overridden by vulgar prejudice. For this disease, 

 acknowledged by all who have studied it to be trans- 

 mitted solely by inoculation of one animal by another, is 

 endemic in Great Britain, is paramount in the manu- 

 facturing districts and great cities ; and yet the Lords' 

 Report, instead of recommending the universal appli- 

 cation of the muzzle, which would abolish the evil 

 from these its centres, is content to leave it to the local 

 authority — Heaven save the mark ! — to apply the remedy 

 when the disease has already made sufficient havoc (!) as 

 to call for its suppression. It is sad, too, to see that this 

 view, which we must call narrow, runs through the whole 

 Report, but it is gratifying to find that that Committee, at 

 any rate, fully appreciates the high worth of M. Pasteur's 

 invaluable test of the disease. 



In conclusion the Lords say that, should M. Pasteur's 

 method of treating the disease be found of value, pro- 

 vision should be made for its introduction into England. 

 While heartily concurring in this recommendation, we 

 cannot but feel grieved that the necessity for it in England 

 should be permitted to exist ; for in this conntry, like 

 Scandinavia, the introduction of the disease can be pre- 

 vented ; so that if proper measures were taken England 

 would enjoy the same complete immunity from it that 

 Sweden does at the present day. With reference to the 

 adoption of M. Pasteur's mode of treatment into this 

 country, a most fundamental difficulty arises at the outset, 

 viz. that we have no public laboratory where investigations 

 of this kind could be carried on for the nation, and that 

 therefore an institution of the kind would have to be 

 established for this and kindred subjects of inquiry. At 

 the present time there is, unfortunately, little hope that 

 this want — which we have before so frequently pointed out 

 is nothing short of a national disgrace — will be adequately 

 met ; and, as a matter of fact, questions of this sort are 

 usually decided at the Brown Institution, the nation being 

 thus lamentably dependent upon the assistance of a private 

 charity. 



Oddly enough this necessity has just been provided for 

 in France by the institution of a qtiasi-'^xwzX.t. labora- 

 tory — the Pasteur Institute. We are, however, strongly 



of the opinion that questions of this kind are of an 

 Imperial character, and as such should be dealt with by 

 the central Government in a properly- fitted institution. 



Hydrophobia from time immemorial has been the most 

 dreaded of all diseases, and justly ; but no doubt this 

 dread has been intensified by ignorance of its causation, 

 an ignorance which, having existed for more than 2000 

 years, has just been dissipated to an enormous extent by 

 the scientific labours of M. Pasteur. This advance is, of 

 course, a source of vexation to the misanthropic anti-vivi- 

 sectionists, who are shamefully endeavouring to bolster 

 up the exploded theory of spontaneous generation in 

 order to hamper the efforts of preventive medicine to 

 stamp out the disease, regardless also of the evidence 

 from countries where it has been so rooted out, and 

 where, owing to its importation being prevented, it has 

 never appeared again. 



And while we have made this great step forward in our 

 knowledge of the nature and etiology of the disease, we 

 have at the same time learnt, thanks again to M. Pasteur, 

 how to protect animals from its ravages, how to prove 

 or disprove its existence in the absence of clinical or 

 anatomical evidence, and, although this is still sub jitdice, 

 apparently how its fatal effects may be warded off in the 

 human being, and, if not successfully prevented, possibly 

 ameliorated. 



Finally, a most satisfactory outcome of this increase in 

 our scientific knowledge is the revelation to us that by the 

 adoption of certain legislative means we may destroy the 

 evil once and for all. 



POPULAR BOOKS ON BIRDS. 



Ocean Birds. By J. F. Green. With a Preface by A. G 

 Guillemard, and a Treatise on Skinning Birds, b> 

 F. H. H. Guillemard, M.D. With Illustrations by 

 Frances E. Green. 4to, pp. viii.-93. (London: R, 

 H. Porter, 1887.) 



Bird Life in England. By Edwin Lester Arnold 

 8vo. (London: Chatto and Windus, 1887.) 



TWO books deserving the above title are before us. I1 

 is well known that some of the most interesting 

 works on ornithology have been written by men who dc 

 not profess to be scientific naturalists, but who exhibil 

 an intelligent acquaintance with their subject and alsc 

 possess a faculty of description the want of which add; 

 so much to the dullness and heaviness of style with man> 

 more ambitious writers. Anyone who has made an ocear 

 voyage knows full well that the hours are often apt tc 

 hang heavy on the hands of the passengers ; and if this 'n 

 true on board a steamer, it is much more true in the case 

 of a sailing-vessel. Mr. Green therefore has compilec 

 a volume which aims at giving assistance to voyagers ir 

 the southern oceans, providing short descriptions of the 

 species of sea-birds most commonly met with ; and as the 

 author has travelled much by sea himself, it maybe taken 

 for granted that he knows the wants of an ornithological 

 inquirer on board a vessel, and has done his best tc 

 supply the information. A " Glossary of Terms," anc 

 a chapter on the preparation of bird-skins, have beer 

 furnished by the author's friend Dr. Guillemard, whose 

 excellent account of the voyage of the Marchcsa is one of 



