August i i, 1898] 



NA TURE 



339 



of Chalicotherium or Macrotherium) to be the type of 

 the group, whereas it is more than doubtful whether it 

 belongs to it at all. And it must be added that, in our 

 opinion, the whole suborder is an unnecessary one. The 

 teeth of the two genera last mentioned are so like those 

 of the Brontotheriidce, that we are persuaded the Chalico- 

 thcriidic are merely Perissodactyles that have developed 

 an edentate-like type of foot. A somewhat similar type 

 has originated independently among the Artiodactyla in 

 the Aiiriochceridce, and there is no reason why it should 

 not occur in the Perissodactyles. 



Space prevents allusion to several other points inviting 

 criticism ; but, in the main, we are satisfied that Mr. 

 Woodward has succeeded in producing a very valuable 

 work, so far as actual facts are concerned. In regard to 

 theories, it is possible that he may see his way to certain 

 modifications in a later edition. An important feature is 

 the bibliography at the end, which is generally remark- 

 able for its accuracy, although the present reviewer must 

 disclaim the authorship of a work with which he is 

 credited under the title of " Deer and their Horns." 



R. L. 



THE SCIENCE OF PREVENTIVE 

 MEDICINE. 



Transactions of the British Institute of Preventive 

 Medicine. (First Series). Pp. xi -I- i^. (London : 

 Macmillan and Co., Ltd. New York : The Macmillan 

 Company, 1897.) 



IN an editorial note to this volume Dr, Allen Macfadyen 

 writes that "the papers included in this volume 

 have been contributed by members of the staff of the 

 Institute, and were completed early in the present year'' 

 (1897), so that more than a year ago the British Institute 

 of Preventive Medicine was able to point to this series 

 of completed but unpublished papers, which, however, 

 only saw the light at the end of 1897, as evidence of the 

 activity of its staff. 



As considerable interest is naturally being evinced in 

 the Institute, which has just taken up its abode in a 

 new home at Chelsea, it is perhaps desirable to give 

 more than a mere review of the work that has so quietly 

 and steadily, but unostentatiously, been going on in the 

 old habitation. 



As Lord Lister points out in a short introductory 

 notice, "The British Institute of Preventive Medicine 

 was incorporated on July 25, 1891, with the view of 

 founding in the United Kingdom an institute similar in 

 character and purpose to the ' Institut Pasteur' in Paris, 

 the ' Hygienisches Institut ' in Berlin, and other establish- 

 ments of a like nature existing abroad." The main 

 objects of the Institute, as set forth in the memorandum 

 of Association, are as follows :— 



"(i) To investigate the means of preventing and curing 

 the various infective diseases of men and animals, and to 

 provide a place where researches may be carried on for 

 this purpose. 



"(2) To provide instruction in preventive medicine 

 to medical officers of health, medical practitioners, 

 veterinary surgeons, and advanced students. 



"(3) To prepare, and to supply to those requiring 

 them, such special protective and curative materials as 



NO. 1502, VOL. 58] 



have already been found, or shall in future be found of 

 value. 



" Further, to provide the means for carrying out in- 

 vestigations in all branches of bacteriology, including 

 those of practical importance to chemists, agriculturists, 

 and manufacturers." 



It had evidently also been anticipated that it would be 

 necessary to carry out the examination of water and 

 sewage as regards their bacteriological and chemical 

 contents, and with this in view a chemist has been 

 appointed on the staff to take charge of such work. 

 How far the objects of the Institute have been gained 

 is evident from even a superficial glance at the papers 

 contained in this first series of Transactions ; while on a 

 more careful study of the contents of this volume it is 

 evident that much work of permanent value has been 

 done under the direction of Dr. Macfadyen, Dr. Hewlett, 

 and Mr. Lunt. 



The first paper, which is evidently based on work 

 carried out in connection with the production of anti- 

 streptococcic serum, deals especially with the exaltation 

 of the virulence of the streptococcus pyogenes and the 

 streptococcus erysipelas by passing them through the 

 rabbit. In the course of twenty-six such passages, Dr. 

 Bulloch found that he was able to mcrease the virulence 

 from a strength such that one-quarter of a c.c. was 

 necessary to kill one kilogramme of rabbit to a strength 

 such that one-millionth c.c. was sufficient to bring 

 about the same result ; but Dr. Bulloch comes to the con- 

 clusion that (i) the degree to which the streptococcus can 

 be exalted by passage through a susceptible animal varies ; 

 (2) that an animal immunised against a streptococcus 

 from a case of erysipelas is also immune against a strepto- 

 coccus from a case of abscess, which indicates that so 

 far, at any rate, as a horse is concerned, these organisms 

 have a very similar action, and that, therefore, they are 

 closely allied from a biological point of view. 



The second paper, "On the so-called 'pseudo' Diph- 

 theria Bacillus, and its Relation to the KlebsLoffler Bacil- 

 lus," by Dr. Richard T. Hewlett and Miss Edith Knight, 

 has ai practical bearing on the diagnosis of diphtheria 

 by microscopic and cultural examination. Drs. Hewlett 

 and Knight arrive at the conclusion that at least two 

 forms have been described as " pseudo " diphtheria 

 bacilli : " {a) one in morphology, a Klebs-Loffler bacillus, 

 but non-virulent (Roux and Yersin, &c.), and {b) another 

 shorter, plumper, and more regular in form, and staining 

 more uniformly than the Klebs-Loffler bacillus (" Loffler, 

 Von Hoffmann, Park, Beebe, Peters, &c.)," but that " the 

 term should be reserved for the latter form." They 

 also maintain that by gradual heating it is apparently 

 possible to convert a typical Klebs-Loffler virulent 

 bacillus into a typical non-virulent "pseudo" bacillus, 

 and by cultivation and incubation and passage through 

 an animal to convert a " pseudo " into a Klebs-Loffler 

 bacillus. From what we know of the history of epidemics 

 of diphtheria, and of the cultural characteristics of 

 organisms that are carried through a long series of 

 generations, there is no doubt that the virulence of the 

 diphtheria bacillus varies enormously ; but whether we 

 have simply a non-virulent form and a virulent form of 

 the same organism, or whether two organisms — of the 

 same group, no doubt, but having permanently different 



