4i8 



NATURE 



[December 17, 1914 



metry, and co-ordinate geometry as are requisite 

 for a study of the calculus. Differentiation and 

 integration are taken separately, on ordinary 

 lines. Applications are thexi made to Fourier 

 series, moments of inertia, pressure, electricity, 

 etc., and the concluding chapters deal mainly with 

 differential equations and their use in physics. 

 There is not any particular note of originality, 

 but the treatment is good, and should enable 

 engineering students to acquire a satisfactory 

 acquaintance with infinitesimal methods. 



(4) The aim of this text-book is to bring the 

 subject of trigonometry into as intimate a rela- 

 tion as possible with those problems of modern 

 life which are most likely to interest the ordinary 

 student. The author believes that too much im- 

 portance is attached to surveying and ship- 

 problems and too little to technical industries. 

 Consequently many of the questions, and a 

 number of excellent diagrams, deal with different 

 forms of machinery and scientific instruments. 



(5) This is a German translation of a Russian 

 treatise. It is intended to form one of a series 

 of investigations into the early development of 

 mathematics in Europe. The present volume 

 deals mainly with the evolution, structure, and 

 use of the abacus. The author has made a careful 

 study of the writings of Gerbert, and has at- 

 tempted to remove some of the many obscurities 

 they contain. Two other volumes are promised, 

 one dealing with the history and origin of our 

 figures, and the other with the history of 

 Euclidean geometry in Latin civilisation. 



BY-WAYS OF MEDICINE. 

 (i) The Ileo-Caecal Valve. By Dr. A. H. Ruther- 

 ford. Pp. vi + 63. (London: H. K. Lewis, 

 1914.) Price 65. net. 



(2) I.K. Therapy: with Special Reference to 

 Tuberculosis. By Dr. W. E. M. Armstrong. 

 Pp. x + 83. ■ (London: H. K. Lewis, 1914.) 

 Price 55. net. 



(3) Clinical Examination of the Blood and its 

 Technique : a Manual for Students and Practi- 

 tioners. By Prof. A. Pappenheim. Translated 

 and adapted from the German by R. Donald- 

 son. Pp. viii + 87. (Bristol : J. Wright and 

 Sons, Ltd., 1914.) Price 35. 6d. net. 



(i) '' I ^HE contents of this book constituted a 

 J. thesis for the M.D. degree submitted to 

 the University of Edinburgh. The term ileo- 

 ceecal valve is applied to the orifice between the 

 small and large intestines and the anatomical 

 structures immediately adjacent and intimately 

 concerned with this orifice. The author shows 

 that divergent views have been expressed regard- 

 ing the form and structure of this valve, diver- 

 NO. 2355, VOL. 94] 



gences due partly to the method of preparation 

 of the specimens and partly to variations in the 

 valve itself. From an examination of a living 

 subject, and from a series of thirty-two specimens 

 removed soon after death and suitably treated, 

 the author believes that he is able to describe the 

 normal appearance of the valve, the function of 

 which is to regulate the flow of semi-fluid bowel 

 contents through the orifice and to prevent 

 regurgitation. The book is illustrated with 

 coloured diagrams and a number of excellent half- 

 tone plates. 



(2) "I.K." therapy has been evolved as the 

 result of many years' labour by Carl Spengler, 

 of Davos. It is chiefly directed against tuber- 

 culosis, but is being extended to other bacterial 

 infections. The exact details of the preparation 

 of the remedy have not been published, but the 

 principle employed is the immunisation of a 

 rabbit by means of intra-muscular injections of 

 tubercle virus. The animal is then bled and the 

 whole blood (not the serum only) is taken, laked, 

 and high dilutions are prepared, it may be up to 

 one hundred million. Spengler maintains that the 

 red-corpuscles are carriers of the immune sub- 

 stances to a degree far exceeding that of the 

 serum. These immune bodies (" Immunkorper," 

 hence the title "I.K.") are the active therapeutic 

 constituents. They possess partly lytic or sol- 

 vent action on the tubercle bacillus and partly 

 antitoxic or antidotal action against the tuber- 

 culous toxins. 



The author describes in detail the above con- 

 siderations and discusses the treatment of tuber- 

 culosis with I.K, serum. As regards the results 

 obtained with it, the statistics are few and in- 

 complete, though those who have employed it 

 claim that cure of pulmonary consumption may 

 be anticipated in all but the most advanced cases. 

 Unfortunately, in estimating the gravity of a case 

 of pulmonary consumption, it is impossible to 

 allow for the extraordinary spontaneous improve- 

 ment and recovery which sometimes occur in 

 these patients, and more or less selection, in 

 some instances unconscious, is practised by the 

 physician, so that we believe that the only true 

 test of any form of treatment lies in treating 

 alternate cases only of a long series — :a mode of 

 trial which has yet to be applied to tuberculin and 

 all other forms of treatment. 



Dr. Armstrong has given a very useful sum- 

 mary for those who may desire to apply I.K. 

 treatment, and has also included details of some 

 beautiful staining methods for the tubercle bacillus 

 and of the precipitin reaction for the diagnosis 

 of tuberculosis which have likewise been devised 

 by Dr. Carl Spengler. 



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