146 



NATURE 



[October 8, 19 14 



is only one mile distant. Dr. Levick believes that 

 they have a special sense of direction. 



At Cape Adare the penguins returned from the 

 sea about the middle of October ; they were at first 

 fatigued and sleepy but soon began to pair and 

 nest. Dr. Levick describes the combats of the 

 cocks, who strike one another doughtily (with one 

 flipper at a time, but ambidextrously) ; the gentle- 

 ness and patience of the combatants in their over- 

 tures to their desired mates, who make some show 

 of reluctance and have a tendency to hen-peck ; 

 the ecstatic attitude assumed at times by either 

 sex, with an associated chant de satisfaction which 

 seems to arouse the other partner to come to 

 soothe the first; the activity of the cocks in 

 gathering stones for the nest, often stealing them 

 (a preference for bright colours was noticed) ; and 

 the individual differences in character, for there 

 are vigilant and unwary, tough and timorous 

 birds. A very remarkable fact is that they do 

 not eat anything- all the time ! 



The fast may be prolonged for twenty-seven 

 days of strenuous life. Thirst is quenched with 

 snow, and on rare occasions the cock may bring a 

 lump to the nesting hen. Incubation seems to last 

 for rather more than a month, the female taking 

 the first fortnight while the male goes off to recu- 

 perate ; towards the end of the period the parent 

 birds go to the sea in turn, feeding greedily on the 

 abundant Euphausid crustaceans. The develop- 

 ing eggs have to be protected from the cold and 

 from the intrusive skuas. " Evidence goes to 

 show that the sea-leopard is the only living enemy, 

 excepting man, that threatens the life of the adult 

 Adelie penguin." Dr. Levick gives a delightful 

 account of the habits of the penguins in the water 

 and of their games. But there are two points of 

 even greater interest. As the chicks become 

 bigger and their appetites likewise, the turn-about 

 method of securing food is inadequate. " The 

 individual care of the chicks by their parents is 

 abandoned, and in place of this colonies start to 

 ' pool ' their offspring, which are herded together 

 into clumps or creches, each of which is guarded 

 by a few old birds, the rest being free to go and 

 forage." The guardians of the creche protect the 

 chicks from the skuas and from the not less 

 troublesome " hooligan " cocks (apparently idle 

 bachelors and wicked widowers). Also suggestive 

 of social development was an extraordinary occur- 

 rence witnessed by Dr. Levick and Mr. Priestley, 

 a congregating of penguins into massed bands 

 some thousands strong and an apparent drilling ! 

 From one of the motionless bands a single bird 

 ran out in the direction of another band, and 

 stopped. In a flash the entire band from which 

 he came executed the movement "left turn." The 

 band which he had approached did the same, and 

 the two bands marched straight towards one an- 

 other, and joined to form one body. Similar pro- 

 cedure continued for many hours. Dr. Levick 's 

 suggestion Is that the "drilling" Is a reminiscence 

 of "massing" before migration, going back per- 

 haps to flying days ! We have to congratulate 

 the author on his well-told storv- 

 NO. 2345, VOL. 94] 



THE PROTECTIVE TREATMENT AGAINST 

 TYPHOID FEVER. 



TYPHOID fever is inseparable from war. It 

 finds in war, ready for it, all that it could 

 desire. In times of peace we have a thousand 

 ways of avoiding it, a thousand ways of holdmg 

 it up : so sure are our defences, so elaborate 

 our plans, that we get into a stupid way 

 of thinking of typhoid fever as if it were 

 due only to " insanitary surroundings " ; as if it 

 were a disease altogether unlikely to show itself 

 within ten miles of a good medical health officer. 

 Then comes war; and, with declaration of war, 

 comes the general mobilisation of the infective 

 diseases. They are called up, they are sent to the 

 front. Louvain as it was and Louvain as it is 

 are scarcely more unlike than are typhoid in times 

 of peace and typhoid in time of war. 



For sheer inaccuracy it would be diflficult to sur- 

 pass a paragraph lately published In a little journal 

 which bears a medical name, but certainly does 

 not in this matter represent either medical opinion 

 or public opinion. This journal "objects in toto 

 to serum inoculation as a method of dealing with 

 typhoid." We can measure the wisdom of the 

 little journal, here, by the fact that the protective 

 treatment against typhoid Is not a serum-treat- 

 ment, and has nothing to do with any sort or 

 kind of serum. Then the journal says : " In the 

 parts of France where our troops are operating 

 there should be no difficulty with regard to 

 hygiene. The troops are not shut up In a city 

 closely invested and living on famine rations, but 

 are constantly on the move In a land flowing ' with 

 milk and honey,' not to mention rivers of grape 

 juice, which is. If rationally used. Nature's own 

 ' anti-typhoid serum. ' " It says that ; It really 

 does. And one of the " anti-vlvlsectlon " societies 

 has published, an advertisement saying that the 

 protective treatment "leads to tuberculosis"! 



Typhoid is, of course, already taking part In 

 the present war. Given the Allied Armies and 

 the German Army in the Western Theatre, how 

 should there not be typhoid? The only question 

 Is, How much more will there be a month hence? 

 The lateness of the year, happily, will kill off 

 flies, which are great carriers of the disease ; but 

 the flies are not yet gone, and they will more or 

 less repeat that deadly part which they took in 

 the South African War. There is plenty of the 

 disease for them to carry. "It Is well known," 

 says Sir Almroth Wright, In the Times, Septem- 

 ber 28, "that the Infection of typhoid Is thickly 

 sown all along the frontier of France and Ger- 

 many." Besides, among two millions of men, 

 there are bound to be some who have the germs 

 of the disease in them. And what Is the good of 

 talking of "sanitation," as If our men could have 

 the warm baths and the water-closets of the 

 average Englishman's home? Let us take Dr. 

 Johnson's advice, and clear our minds of cant. 

 "An army," as Wright says, "on going out on 

 active service goes from the sanitary conditions 

 of civilisation straight back to those of barbarism. 

 ... In war the doors are everywhere opened 



