February 26, 1920] 



NATURE 



703 



Prok. C. E. a. Winslow, in an address to the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science 

 entitled "The Untilled Fields of Public Health," 

 expressed the opinion that the public health cam- 

 paign of the future would need the collaboration of 

 at least the seven following types of highly qualified 

 experts : the physician, the nurse, the bacteriologist, 

 the epidemiologist, the engineer, the statistician, and 

 the social worker. In addition, there must be inspec- 

 tors to supervise sanitary and housing conditions, 

 and, finally, the administrator who organises and 

 develops tlie work of all the rest. The latter ought 

 to be medically trained, with subsequent specialisation 

 in public health (Science, January 9, p. 23). 



The February number (vol. i., No. 5) of Medical 

 Science : ' Abstracts and Reviews, published for the 

 Medical Research Committee, has reached us. 

 Reviews of current work on medical subjects appear 

 monthly, diseases of the respiratory system and cardio- 

 vascular diseases, among others, being dealt with in 

 this issue. In the article on the former, reference is 

 made to the question of the production of emphysema 

 of the lungs (a condition of permanent distension with 

 other changes) by the playing of wind-instruments, as 

 is stated in many text-books. Of forty-six professional 

 players examined, in only three was there slight evi- 

 dence of emphysema, so that the commonly accepted 

 view seems to be without foundation. 



We have received the quarterly report of the 

 Research Defence Society, dated January, 1920, when 

 the societv completed its twelfth year of active work. 

 The society was founded to make known the value and 

 the necessity of experiments on animals, the restric- 

 tions imposed on them in this country under the Act 

 of 1S76, the nature and the purposes of the experi- 

 ments which are being made, and the discoveries which 

 have come by the help of the experimental method ; 

 also to bring about a better understanding between 

 the few who make these experiments and the many 

 who profit bv them. The campaign has been carried 

 out by the circulation of pamphlets, by articles in the 

 Press, and by public lectures. The president of the 

 society is Lord Lamington, and the lion, secretary 

 Mr. Stephen Paget. 



Major-Gen. .Sir W. Leisiiman publishes in the 

 Lancet of February 14 (p. 366) the results of protec- 

 tive inoculation against influenza in the .\rmy at home 

 during iqi8-ig. The vaccine consisted of a mixture 

 of three micro-organisms, the influenza bacillus, 

 streptococci, and pneumococci. Among the inoculated, 

 numbering 15,624, the incidence per thousand was : — 

 Of attack, 141; of pulmonary complications, i-6; and 

 of deaths, o-i2. Among the uninoculated, numbering 

 45,520, the figures were 473, 15-3, and 25 respectively. 

 At least half of the vaccinated received one dose only, 

 and not two doses as recommended, and the vaccine 

 used at first was considerably "weaker" than that 

 used later. Nevertheless, the figures are decidedly 

 favourable to the value of vaccination, particularly as 

 a preventive of mortality from influenza. 



Mr. E. E. Lowe, in the M-u-seums Journal (vol. xix., 

 No. 7), utters a tinielv word of warning to the curators 

 and governing bodies of local museums in regard to 

 NO. 2626, VOL. 104] 



the haste they are displaying to be taken over by the 

 Board of Education, as recommended by the Adult 

 Education Committee of the Ministry of Reconstruc- 

 tion. If this fate ever overtakes them they will have 

 ample time for unavailing repentance. Mr. Lowe's 

 arguments are stated with considerable ability and 

 force, and his views on the functions of museums 

 are eminently sound. The modern museum, he urges, 

 should, among other things, be educational, but he 

 points out that it would constitute a grave error of 

 judgment, as well as a breach of trust, to hand over 

 museums to the local education authorities. 



From California Fish and Game (vol. vi., No. i) 

 we learn that extensive plant is being set up at 

 Tropico, California, for the preparation of agar-agar 

 on a commercial scale. Experiments have been carried 

 out which seem to show that agar-agar of a quality 

 much superior to the imported article can be pro- 

 duced from the seaweeds native to the coast of 

 southern California. If this venture is successful, it 

 will create a new industry for the United States. In 

 the same issue a series of figures illustrating the 

 growth of the young of the black sea-bass or jew-fish 

 {Stereolepis gigas) is given. These furnish a very 

 striking illustration of the "recapitulation" theory, 

 and explain how it is that the fishermen were un- 

 aware of the connection between the gaily coloured 

 fish of a few inches long, with enormous dorsal and 

 ventral fins, and the unicoloured giant in which these 

 fins are relatively extremely small. 



The very handsome volumes issued in 1916-18 by 

 the Maryland Geological Survey have now become 

 available in Europe. They are largely a memorial to 

 the energy of the director, William Bullock Clark, 

 who held office for twenty-five years, dying at 

 too earlv an age in 1917, and whose obituary, with a 

 portrait, appears in vol. x., which includes his latest 

 educational work, "The Geography of Maryland." 

 This is now published as an amplification of the 

 treatise already used in the State schools. Part 2 of 

 this volume deals with water-supply, and the some- 

 what massive stvle of publication— a heritage from the 

 traditions of the United States Geological Survey- 

 makes one wish that the geographical part could 

 have been issued separately bound. Mr. Clark and 

 his staff also contribute two fully illustrated volumes 

 on "The Upper Cretaceous Deposits of Maryland." 

 These occur mainly on the left bank of the Chesa- 

 peake Inlet, opposite Baltimore, and are specially 

 noted for their dicotyledonous flora 



The Maryland 



Geological Survey, in continuation of its series of 

 county descriptions, which recall the ambitious scheme 

 of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland in 1837, published 

 in 1917 its memoir on Anne Arundel County; this is 

 written bv a number of specialists, so as to present the 

 area south of Baltimore from a geographic point of 

 view. The co-operation of the United States Geological 

 Survey enables this finely illustrated work to be 

 accompanied by four large folding maps on the scale 

 of 1/62,500 (four times that of the 1/250,000 sheets), 

 showing the topography and political divisions, ihe 

 geology, the soils, and the forestry and commercial 

 areas. 



