170 



NATURE 



[May 2, 1918 



little. Some of them led a wild campaign against 

 the protective treatment of our soldiers against 

 typhoid fever; but nothing worthy of notice came 

 of it. Attempts have also been made lately to 

 use the memory of Miss Nightingale as a sort of 

 stalking-horse for anti-vivisection, and to persuade 

 this nation that Pasteur and Lister were of little 

 \vorth. Over these and the like vagaries, anti- 

 vivisection is spending its time and its money, 

 hoping, after the war, to recover hold of public 

 attention. Surely it will be disappointed of that 

 hope. The war has burned deep into the hearts 

 of all of us this lesson, that the magnificent work 

 of our Army medical services is indeed founded 

 and built on knowledge made possible by experi- 

 mental bacteriology. Not all the anti-vivisection 

 societies in the world will ever persuade us to 

 forget that lesson of the war. 



NOTES. 



Some little excitement was caused in agricultural 

 circles by an article in the Times of April 20 describ- 

 ing how to grow wheat and grass on the same land. 

 The method, if well founded, would revolutionise agri- 

 culture and overcome some great difficulties in food 

 production. At present it is impossible to express any 

 opinion, as no sufficient statement of detail has yet 

 been made. It was stated in the article that the 

 Government experts had been much impressed by the 

 method, but inquiries at the Food Production Depart- 

 ment put rather a different complexion on the case. 

 According to the article, the method consists in de- 

 livering a mixture of wheat- or oat-seed and artificial 

 fertilisers under the surface of grass land in Julv. By 

 September or October the cereal is stated to have 

 grown from 8 in. to 10 in. high. Livestock are then 

 run on to the field to eat down the corn and grass ; the 

 effect of this is said to be a strengthening of root-growth. 

 The protection from frost given to the roots of the 

 cereal by the covering of turf is further said to cause an 

 earlier start of normal spring growth, more heads to 

 be thro\vn up, more rapid development of the plant, 

 and earlier ripening of the grain. The harvesting is 

 proposed to be done by means of an ordinary mowing 

 machine fitted with an extra knife at the proper height 

 above the grass to cut the heads of the grain. The 

 Io\yer knife is to cut the hay as usual, and the upper 

 knife to act as a "header." " Special arrangements are 

 proposed for separately collecting .the grain and the 

 straw. It would be easy to enlarge on the advantages 

 of the method if it materialised, but expectations 

 should be repressed undl a definite trial has been made 

 and seen by competent observers. Agricultural ex- 

 periments are just as full of pitfalls as any others, 

 and agricultural literature contains many proposals for 

 revolutionising crop production which, unfortunatelv, 

 never matured. There is a great deal of evidence to 

 show that growing grass has a pernicious effect on 

 wheat sown in the ordinary way, as careless farmers 

 have often learned to their cost. Mr. Pickering's experi- 

 ments at the Woburn Fruit Farm further demonstrate 

 the incompatibility of grass and crops. It will be 

 well, therefore, to await definite and unexceptionable 

 evidence before attaching impoitance to the new 

 claims, which are the subject of a further article in 

 the Times of May i. 



A Bill entitled " Coinage (Decimal System)" has 

 been introduced in the House of Lords by Lord South- 

 wark. The measure provides that for the existing 

 coinage of silver, copper, and bronze there shall be | 

 NO. 2531, VOL. lOl] 



substituted a decimal coinage based on the sovereign. 

 All coins below a sovereign are to be multiples of 

 the thousandth part of a sovereign, such part being 

 also minted and called a "mil." The new coinage 

 specified in the schedule to the Bill includes silver 

 coins of the double florin (200 mils), florin, half-florin, 

 and quarter-florin; coins of nickel, or other metal 

 or alloy, of ten mils and five mils ; and bronze coins 

 of four, three, two, and one mil. There is a provision 

 to the effect that in the case of any statutory under- 

 taking authorised to levy or demand rates, tolls, 

 charges, or payments the Board of Trade may, on 

 applicadon, fix the amount to be payable in mils in 

 respect of any such authorised rates, etc. If the 

 measure becomes law, the date on which it is to come 

 into operation will be fixed by proclamation. It will 

 be noticed that the proposed legislation closely follows 

 the suggestions put forward by the Decimal Associa- 

 tion, which were referred to in Nature of October 18 

 last (p. 132). The proposed bronze coins represent 

 very approximately our present penny, halfpenny, and 

 farthing, while, in addidon, there is a coin of three 

 mils which is nearly three farthings. This large 

 range of coins of low denominations would probably 

 be found convenient in the equitable adjustment of 

 prices, of commodities. The adoption of a decimal 

 coinage has for some years been advocated by bodies 

 representing banking and other commercial interests ; 

 and the decimal subdivision of the currency would 

 certainly facilitate accounting work. 



About five-and-twenty cases of a disease believed to 

 be botulism have recently occurred in London and 

 Sheffield. After an incubation period of from twelve 

 to twenty-four hours the disease sets in acutely with 

 paralysis of the internal and external muscles of the 

 eye, dilatation of the pupil, vomiting, arrest usually 

 of the salivary secretion, difficulty of swallowing and 

 loss of voice, and depression of the heart's action, 

 which may cause a fatal issue. The condition is due 

 to a poison found in food by the action of a bacillus, 

 the B. hotulinus, which chiefly occurs in tinned food, 

 ham, and sausages ; from the last-named the name 

 is derived (Latin, hotulus — a sausage). So far the 

 B. botulinus has not been isolated in connection with 

 the present series of cases, and until this is accom- 

 plished its exact nature must remain somewhat 

 doubtful. 



The Faraday Society has arranged a general discus- 

 sion on "The Co-ordination of Scientific Publication," 

 to be held on Tuesday, May 7, at 5.30. in the rooms of 

 the Chemical Society, Burlington House. The dis- 

 cussion, which will be of an informal character, will 

 be, opened by Sir Robert Hadfield, Bart., president of 

 the society. 



In reply to a letter addressed to the Board of Trade 

 on the subject of the Lighting, Heating, and Power 

 Order, 1918, the registrar of the Institute of Chemistry 

 has been informed that, "where consulting analytical 

 research and technological chemists and teachers and 

 professors of chemistry are able to show that by reason 

 of their professional needs they have been unable to 

 effect the economy prescribed by the Order, the Board 

 will accept this as a sufficient explanation under 

 paragraph 14 of the Order." 



At the meeting of the Zoological Society of London 

 on April 23, the secretary. Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, 

 directed attention to an advertisement that recently 

 appeared in the London Press announcing fur sales 

 by public auction about to be held in the United States. 

 The sales, in question are only examples of what take 

 place annually in London and other important com- 

 mercial centres. The numbers advertised are smaller 



