August 4, 1898J 



NATURE 



323 



political problem of a somewhat complex kind. He is 

 essential to the development of the country and the 

 production of revenue ; but his secret societies, and not 

 the law of the land, receive his homage. Mr. Smyth 

 never tires of contrasting the dirty, greedy and ill- 

 mannered Chinaman with the dainty, generous, and 

 courteous Siamese or Shan ; only one of the despised 

 race finds favour in his pages— a boatbuilder who 

 created the very clever little vessel in which the voyage 

 to Chantabun was made. This voyage is the subject of 

 several chapters describing visits to various places in 

 Siamese Cambodia, including the famous ruby and 

 sapphire workings east of Chantabun. 



Appendices to the number of eighteen give a great 

 deal of interesting information on many matters, 

 economic, scientific, aesthetic, and archaeological. The 

 peculiar tides of the Gulf of Siam are discussed, and 

 the singular musical instruments of the country described 



THE NATURE OF THE ANTAGONISM 

 BETWEEN TOXINS AND ANTITOXINS. 



T^HE subject of toxins and antitoxins, though still in 

 ^ its infancy, is one which possesses considerable im- 

 portance not only to the scientific world, but also to all 

 members of the community. In the cases of snake 

 poisoning, and diphtheria especially, the curative results 

 that follow the administration of antitoxic serum are 

 most marked, and it is in connection with these two con- 

 ditions that the subject has been principally worked out. 

 Important and interesting as these results are, fore- 

 shadowing as they do a new method of therapeutics ir> 

 many other diseases, there are still two fundamental 

 questions which have hitherto remained unanswered. 

 The first of these is, What is the nature of the substances 

 in question ? The second is, What is the nature of the 

 antagonism between them ? 



Off Sam Koi V; 



lie tiirec hundred peaks 



at length, while some Siamese airs are also reproduced. 

 One of the most interesting of the appendices compares 

 the naval architecture of modern Siam with that of 

 ancient Rome and Egypt. The resemblance of the 

 Siamese and Egyptian vessels, both canoes and sailing- 

 boats, is very remarkable, not only in build but in 

 the manner of working. 



Mr. Smyth has illustrated his text throughout with his 

 own clear and characteristic sketches. He comments 

 strongly, but not too strongly, on the unsatisfactory plan 

 of allowing an artist at home, who never saw the scenes 

 himself, to " finish " the sketches of a traveller. Possibly 

 first-rate photographs would be more valuable than the 

 sketches ; but they are far preferable to the inferior photo- 

 graphic work too often brought home by amateurs from 

 tropical countries. The specimens of these sketches 

 repioduced will show their interest. 



Huc;h Robert Mill. 

 NO. 1 50 1, VOL. 58] 



In a paper recently presented to the Royal Society 

 (June 9), Dr. C. J. Martin and Dr. T. Cherry, of 

 Melbourne, have given a very definite and conclusive 

 answer to the second of these questions. The first, the 

 nature of the substances themselves, still demands fuller 

 investigation. The authors show, however, in confirm- 

 ation of work previously performed by one of then> 

 (C. J. M.), and independently by Dr. T. G. Brodie, that 

 the materials in question have a high molecular weight,, 

 and fall into the category of proteids or proteid-like sub- 

 stances. A method of separating substances of large 

 from those of smaller molecular size in a solution con- 

 taining both, consists in filtering it under high pressure 

 through a film of gelatin supported in the wall of a 

 Pasteur-Chamberland filter. The antitoxin of diphtheria 

 does not pass through such a filter ; it is probably a 

 globulin, or at any rate its molecular size is of the same 

 order. When antitoxic serum is filtered in the nvanner 



