44 



NA TURE 



[May 



which produces the ridge and furrow so well known as '■ ripple- 

 mark.' Fine dust or mud settles too slowly, coarse shingle too 

 quickly, to lend themselves readily to this mode of distribution 

 by waves. A Low is dredged out in sand when the breaker- 

 line remains stationary for a time, as e.g. during tidal high 

 ■ water. During the ebb of spring tides, a lagoon is often left 

 between the beach and a second stretch of sand. This lagoon 

 marks the strip where the breakers act during the period of neap 

 tides. At low water of spring tides, the belt of sand beyond the 

 Low is a sort of beach, the seaward face of which is where the 

 wash of the waves acts. Beyond it, during the continuance of 

 the spring tides the breakers commence the formation of a 

 second Low. When the tide is up and the sea is rough, there is 

 an outer line of breakers on the bank, which is locally called 

 the Ball. 



The connection between tidal nodes and the accumulation of 

 sandbanks is dealt with, and the analogies with sand-dunes are 

 pointed out. 



With regard to the sandbanks which accumulate on the more 

 sheltered side of headlands, a good example of which is the 

 Shambles shoal, eastward of Portland Bill, it is pointed out that 

 the materials (broken shells, &c.) which form the Shambles 

 sandbank are not deposited in still water. The sand deposits 



[ From 

 Fig. 2. — Blacknor Point., Portland. 



from the mixing waters of meeting streams, an effect that is 

 not surprising when we consider that the mixing of waters is 

 achieved by vortices. 



The checking and deflection of the streams is probably not 

 nearly the whole of the mechanism by which the deposition of 

 sand is brought about where a river meets the sea. A great part 

 of this effect is probably due to the motions which attend the 

 mixing of waters, a process which appears to be almost as potent 

 a factor in the formation of sandbanks as is the mixing of airs in 

 the production of clouds. 



THE BACTERIAL CHARACTER OF CALF- 

 L YMPH. 



QUITE a flutter of excitement was produced in the ranks of 

 the anti-vaccinators by the public announcement, made 

 rather more than a couple of years ago, that lymph used for 

 vaccination purposes frequently contained an immense number 

 of bacteria, sometimes as many as two and one-half millions in 

 a single cubic centimetre, and that amongst this vast microbial 

 population forms were repeatedly present which, on inoculation, 

 proved fatal to animals. A certain measure of authority was 

 given to this communication, inasmuch as its author, Dr. Land- 



mann, claimed to have carried out a very large number of ex- 

 periments in support of his assertion ; and his results were, 

 moreover, brought before the well-known German Association 

 of Naturalists and Physicians at one of its yearly meetings. 

 Coupled, as Dr. Landmann's conclusions were, with the recom- 

 mendation that only lymph should be used for inoculation 

 purposes which had been officially declared germ-free — or, at 

 any rate, devoid of pathogenic bacteria — his announcement gave 

 such an impetus to the anti-vaccination crusade, and occasioned 

 so much public discussion, that the Prussian Ministry felt it their 

 duty to appoint a Commission to inquire into the character of 

 calf-lymph. Meanwhile independent experimental inquiries 

 were also started by various investigators, and amongst these 

 Dr. Neidhart was able to show that Landmann's assertion that 

 the red inflammatory margin of the pustules so frequently 

 noticeable was directly due to the action of the bacteria present 

 in the vaccine was not correct, inasmuch as such symptoms were 

 produced when lymph quite free from bacteria was employed, 

 whilst they were often absent in cases where the lymph was 

 proved to be teeming with bacteria. The hysterical excitement 

 caused by the circulation of Landmann's sensational statements 

 was, however, considerably abated by the publication of the 

 masterly report drawn up by PVosch upon the very large 

 number of most valuable experiments 

 undertaken in a purely scientific, 

 uncontroversial spirit by the 

 Prussian Committee of inquiry above 

 referred to. 



This document completely refuted 

 Landmann's statements, and showed 

 that the alarming conclusions arrived 

 at by him had no real foundation in 

 fact. Frosch further indicates, as the 

 result of careful experiment, the best 

 methods and most suitable precautions 

 to be adopted in the inoculation of 

 calves and the collection and applica- 

 tion of the lymph, pointing out in 

 the latter connection that local irrita- 

 tion from vaccination may be greatly 

 moderated by diluting the lymph with 

 glycerine. 



These reassuring results were again 

 independently confirmed by Kirchner, 

 of Hanover, who, in extensive ex- 

 aminations of calf-lymph, found on 

 no single occasion any pathogenic 

 bacteria. 



In the current number of the 

 Zeitschrift fiir Hygiene the question 

 has been again brought to the fore 

 by the publication of elaborate ex- 

 perimental researches on the bac- 

 terial character of calf-lymph by Dr. 

 Dreyer, of the Hygienic Institute of 

 the tjniversity of Giessen. 

 Careful quantitative determinations of the bacterial contents of 

 calf-lymph showed that the initial number of microbes present 

 may vary considerably, and that in the majority of cases it is 

 very large indeed— on one occasion reaching as many as 174 

 millions in one cubic centimetre. Within twenty-four hours, 

 however, a great diminution takes place ; but this decrease does 

 not continue at the same rapid rale. Thus, to cite one instance : 

 a sample contained on the first day of its collection over 2\ 

 millions of bacteria per c.c. ; after five days, 112,750; after 

 eighteen days there were still, however, 111,765 present. 

 Some forms persist over very long periods of time ; Dreyer 

 observed bacteria after a lapse of five months, whilst Kirchner 

 found 550 in a cubic centimetre sample over a year old. 



To determine the pathogenic character of lymph-bacteria, 

 Dreyer inoculated, subcutaneously and intraperitoneally, both 

 mice and guinea-pigs. Out of thirty-five mice thus treated 

 only two succumbed, one to subcutaneous and the other to 

 intraperitoneal inoculation ; in none of the other animals was 

 any reaction perceptible. As regards the guinea-pig.s, in no 

 single instance did any result follow the intraperitoneal inocula- 

 tions, whilst in nearly every subcutaneous inoculation a small 

 and insignificant abspess was observed to form at the point of 

 inoculation. 



Not satisfied with these experiments, Dr. Dreyer experi- 



Jtlwfograph by tlic anther. 



NO. 1489, VOL. 58] 



