September 25, 1919] 



NATURE 



73 



them ; to organise a small permanent secretariat sup- 

 ported by them all ; and to charge this secretariat 

 with the duty of bringing before the institutes any 

 scientific matters likely to interest them. It should 

 be made clear that this secretariat should be the 

 means of communication between the scientific pro- 

 fession of this country and all outside bodies (foreign 

 scientific bodies, Governments, commercial organisa- 

 tions, and so on) ; to discuss the questions submitted 

 to it, the institutes would appoint delegates appropriate 

 to the nature of each question. 



But it is always desirable, if possible, to use exist- 

 ing machinery for such a purpose. It is possible that 

 such an organisation as is required might be develo))ed 

 out of the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies. The 

 societies represented on it do not all conform to the 

 type of institutes ; some are barely scientific ; some 

 have no professional test for membership ; some of 

 them overlap and represent practically identical in- 

 terests. But it is probably better to have some 

 machinery at once rather than a perfect machine 

 which will tike long to get into action ; probably 

 also the machine will improve as it works ; its defects 

 will be apparent, and there will be a demand for their 

 cure. I venture, therefore, to suggest respectfully 

 that, unless anybody has a better plan "to propose, 

 the Conjoint Board should consider early and earnestly 

 whether they cannot take upon themselves, per- 

 manently and consistently, the functions of a body 

 representative of scientific workers in all purely 

 scientific matters. 



Hitherto these functions, in so far as they have 

 been exercised at all, have been exercised by the Royal 

 Societv. While it was held that the proper spokes- 

 men for science were its most eminent students, no 

 body could have been more suitable for selecting them 

 than that which annually selects for the coveted dis- 

 tinction of its membership the fifteen most eminent 

 men of science still outside its ranks. (For it is 

 obvious that no woman could be included in that 

 number.) But if the spokesmen are to be representa- 

 tive delegates, no body could be less suitable. If 

 the character of the society is to be maintained, 

 exclusiveness must be as essential a part of its con- 

 stitution as inclusiveness must be of any representa- 

 tive body. Bv its very nature the Royal Society can 

 never represent anv but a small fraction of scientific 

 workers ; it cannot represent the fraction which, 

 because its work lies in the future rather than in the 

 past, is most likely to be affected by any proposals 

 for change. We all thank the society for what it 

 has done; we can express our gratitude best by 

 liberating its energies for those more important tasks 

 for which its constitution is adapted. 



Norman R. Campbell. 



Kettlewell, September 20. 



Intravenous Injections of Gum Solutions in Cholera. 



In Nature for June 5 Prof. Bayliss advocates, with 

 good reason, in view of his valuable work on gum 

 solutions in shock, that a trial should be made of 

 their intravenous injection in cholera with a view to 

 obtain a more prolonged maintenance o* the blood- 

 pressure than sometimes follows the use of hypertonic 

 salines. Last year Prof. Bayliss kindly sent me a 

 €opv of his paper on gum solutions in shock, and in 

 acknowledging it I informed him that I had previously 

 . read it, and been so struck with the possibilities of 

 the method being of great value in the very severe 

 cases of cholera which repeatedly collapse, and are 

 sometimes lost in spite of hypertonic salines, that I 

 had lost no time in trying it, but, unfortunately, with 

 very disappointing results. This letter apparently did 

 NO. 2604, VOL. 104] 



not reach Prof. Bayliss, probably on account of 

 "enemy action." 



With one exception, the cases in which I tried the 

 gum solution were rather below the average severity, 

 as is commonly the case in the rainy season, when 

 the trial took place; yet several were lost which I 

 should have expected to have recovered under hyper- 

 tonic salines Still more striking was the fact that, 

 instead of the great relief, often resulting in sleep 

 before the hypertonic saline injection is finished, the 

 gum solutions were followed by increasing distress, 

 difficulty of breathing, and cyanosis, which soon com- 

 pelled me to abandon their use. In view of the short- 

 ness of my trial, I decided not to publish my results 

 at once, in the hope that others might be more suc- 

 cessful, but I have now learned that mv friend, 

 Lt.-Col. A. Leventon, I. M.S., has extensively tried 

 gum solutions in accordance with Prof. Bayliss 's 

 method at the Campbell Medical School Hospital, 

 Calcutta, where well over one thousand cases have 

 been treated in the first half of this year, and Lt.-Col. 

 Leventon has authorised me to state that, with 

 various strengths of the purest gum arable up to 

 7 per cent., his results have been in entire agreement 

 with mine, and he has also had to abandon the 

 methoi. He, too, noted the same distress and 

 cyanosis which I saw, and the unexpected loss of 

 not very serious cases under the treatment — clearly 

 indicating that gum solutions do not meet the physio- 

 logical needs' of cholera cases. 



I confess that this failure has been a great dis- 

 appointment to me, but I believe the explanation to 

 be that the gum solutions lead to the retention in 

 the circulation of the deadly cholera toxins, which 

 are absorbed from the bowel in increasing quantities 

 with the restoration of thei circulation by intravenous 

 injections of large quantities of salt solution, with or 

 without gum, but which are usually sufficiently rapidlv 

 re-excreted through the kidnevs and bowels after 

 hypertonic saline to avoid dangerous accumulation in 

 the blood. The fact that I found salines made up 

 with freshly distilled water produced febrile reactions, 

 indicating that the fever was due to toxin absorption, 

 lends support to this view. There is still room for 

 considerable improvement in the treatment of the 

 most severe toxic cases of cholera, but the hopes 

 which Prof. Bayliss 's researches in shock led me to 

 expect from gum solutions in cholera have been dis- 

 appointed. I have for long thought that the most 

 promising line of advance is the use of anticholeraic 

 serums, such as those formerly made by Salimbeni 

 in Paris and Schurupow in Russia, but which I have 

 not yet been able to obtain facilities for making in 

 Calcutta owing to the war. Perhaps one of the hill 

 laboratories of India could take up this important 

 line of work, and send the serum to be tested in 

 Calcutta, in addition to my system of treating cholera. 



Leonard Rogers. 



I BEG to thank you for )our courtesy in permitting 

 me to see the above communication from Sir Leonard 

 Rogers. It is unfortunate that the letter to which 

 he refers did not reach me, because it is evident 

 that the effect of gum saline in states similar to that 

 of cholera requires investigation. If the cases to 

 which reference is made had been very severe, one 

 might have supposed that an excessive viscosity wal 

 conferred on the blood by the addition of gum. I 

 have made some experiments on this point, but have 

 been unable to detect any serious result when gum 

 saline has been injected after the blood has been con- 

 centrated by various means. 



It is possible that the retention of toxins may be 

 the explanation, and, of course, the object of any 



