22J 



NATURE 



[November 22, 1917 



and ever-increasing- share in shaping- the destinies 

 of his country in regard to science and higher 

 education, Kikuchi had scant leisure for mathe- 

 matical research. His chief work as an investi- 

 gator -was historical, and he contributed a number 

 of papers to the Tokyo Mathematical Society on 

 the mathematics of the old Japanese school. He 

 also wrote a text-book on elementary geometry for 

 use in Japanese schools and colleges. Of far 

 greater moment to his country, however, was his 

 disinterested devotion to the cause of the higher 

 learning- in science and morals. It was for this 

 that he was created a Baron in 1902. His succes- 

 sive honours came to him simply because he was 

 indispensable to his country and to his sovereign. 

 •But to the end he retained all the characteristics 

 which endeared him to us — modest, courteous, 

 gracious, always acting- from the highest motives, 

 strong in purpose yet never aggressive, and com- 

 bining in a singular degree the finest traits of the 

 Japanese Samurai with the best qualities of the 

 youth of England. At the most impressionable 

 time of life Kikuchi lived under the full influence 

 of the best culture our island kingdom can offer ; 

 and we may be pardoned for regarding- his pre- 

 eminent success as in no small measure due to his 

 unconscious training in a land where liberty, 

 individuality, and zeal for the common good are of 

 the very air we breathe. C. G. Knott. 



NOTES. 

 In three Chadwick public lectures on the part of 

 hvf^iene in the European war Dr. Woods Hutchinson 

 gave some noteworthy facts in connection with the 

 progress of military hygiene. The present world- 

 struggle is probably one of the least deadly ever fought 

 in proportion to the numbers engaged. Less than 

 5 per cent, of the wastage of former wars was due 

 to wounds or deaths in battle; the other 95 per cent, 

 was caused by disease. In the armies themselves the 

 ratio was six to nine deaths by disease to one in battle 

 or from wounds. In this war the ratio is sixteen 

 deaths in battle to one from disease. Of the wounded 

 who survive six hours 90 per cent, recover, of those 

 who reach the field hospitals 95 per cent, recover, and 

 of those who arrive at the base hospitals 98 per cent, 

 get well. Barely 5 per cent, of the wounded are 

 crippled or permanently disabled. There is good 

 reason to believe that the death-rate of this war 

 does not exceed 5 per cent, per annum. The 

 subjects of food and diseases of an army were also 

 discussed. The superb health and vigour of our armies 

 on the Western front are due largely to the rich and 

 abundant supply of food. These armies had less sick- 

 ness and fewer deaths from pneumonia and other 

 diseases than they used to have in barracks in times of 

 peace. The old plagues of army camps — cholera, Black 

 Death, and spotted typhus — all lifted their heads 

 in Italy, in Serbia, and in Russia, but all were 

 promptly stamped out by modern sanitary science. The 

 total number of cases of serious or lasting "shell- 

 shock," so called, and mental disturbance, during 1916 

 in the trenches in France, was 2600, fewer than one 

 per 1000 of the armies in the field, and fewer than 

 half of the ordinary insanity rate in men of military 

 ages in times of peace. Modern nerves had stood the 

 fearful strain of this war superbly. 



An appeal to the Local Government Board to take 

 action towards establishing a Ministry of Health -was 

 NO. 2508, VOL. 100] 



made by a deputation from the Standing Joint Com- 

 mittee of Industrial Women's Organisations which 

 waited on the President of the Board (Mr. Hayes 

 Fisher) on November 16. Mr. Stephen Walsh (Parlia- 

 mentary Secretary) was also present. The organisa- 

 tions represented were the Women's Trade Union 

 League, the Women's Co-operative Guild, the 

 Women's Labour League, the National Federation of 

 Women Workers, and the Railway Women's Guild. 

 It was urged that the new department's basis must 

 be the public health side of the Local Government 

 Board, and that it would not serve merely to re-name 

 that Board the Ministry of Health. Such a Ministry 

 should take into partnership the National Insurance 

 Commissioners, and it was absolutely essential that 

 it should be dissociated from the old Poor Law system. 

 On the same day Mr. Hayes Fisher received a depu- 

 tation on the same subject from the Society of Medical 

 Officers of Health, and the Association of County 

 Medical Officers of Health. Mr. Hayes Fisher, in 

 replying, said that the Local Government Board was 

 asking for a Bill that would enable local authorities 

 in England and Wales to do all the things that were 

 being asked of the new Ministry of Health. This Bill 

 had not been able to go any further because the 

 National Insurance Commissioners were asking for 

 similar powers in respect of infant welfare and mater- 

 nity. Whoever might obtain the powers, the responsi- 

 bility for carrying them out would rest with the 

 medical officers of health. 



The stress of war has brought success sooner than 

 was anticipated to the efforts which have been made 

 for many 3'ears to secure the establishment of a 

 National Seed-testing Station for England and Wales. 

 Scotland and Ireland have for several years had the 

 advantage of such stations, and now England has 

 at last fallen into line. The new station, w^hich is 

 associated with the Food Production Department of 

 the Board of Agriculture, was formally opened on 

 November 14 by the President of the Board, whilst 

 the same evening the text of the Testing of Seeds 

 Order was issued by the' Ministry of Food. This 

 Order becomes operative on January i, 1918, 

 and institutes a close control over the sale of the more 

 important seeds The testing of samples in connection 

 with the Order will be carried out in the new station, 

 which is fully equipped for the purpose, and will 

 further undertake the testing of seeds for farmers and 

 allotment-holders at a nominal fee of threepence per 

 sample, and for seed traders at half a crown per 

 sample. The station is located at 70 Victoria Street, 

 S.W.I, and is under the direction of Mr. R. G. Staple- 

 don, advisory botanist of University College, Aberyst- 

 wyth, who for some time has been actively associated 

 with the work of the Food Production Department at 

 headquarters. In declaring the station open, IVIr. Prothero 

 expressed the hope that in years to come there would 

 be associated with it an Institute of Applied Botany, 

 which would be of great service to agriculture. 



An interesting and important report of the Nitrate 

 Supply Committee (appointed by the United States 

 Secretary of War) is summarised in Science for Sep- 

 tember 14. The chief recommendations made are as 

 follows : — ^That out of the 4,000,000!. nitrate supply 

 appropriation the following sums be made available for 

 the purposes indicated : — (i) 6oo,oooL to be used in 

 building a synthetic ammonia plant (best in south-west 

 Virginia or a contiguous region), contingent upon the 

 completion of satisfactory negotiations with the 

 General Chernical Co. for the rights to use its syn- 

 thetic ammonia process; (2) i20,oooL to be placed at 

 the disposal of the War Department for building a 

 plant for the oxidation of ammonia to nitric acid and 

 concentrating the latter; (3) 40,000!. to be allotted to 



