March i, 1917] 



NATURE 



habits of the rook, supplemented hy similar work 

 by Thring, Florence, and Hammond, clearly go 

 to prove that this bird is far too plentiful at the 

 present time, that it prefers a grain diet, and 

 that it is injurious. 



(iii.) In a like manner it has been shown that 

 the starling has increased in numbers enormously 

 during the last twelve years, and so long as 

 these numbers are maintained this bird must 

 prove a source of considerable loss to the 

 farmer. 



(iv.) The bullfinch and the blackbird in fruit- 

 growing districts are most destructive, and cause 

 great losses to growers. Both species demand 

 drastic measures for their reduction. 



Further instances might be quoted, but the 

 above will suffice to show that definite and indis- 

 putable evidence can be obtained with reference 

 to the feeding habits of any particular species of 

 wild bird. 



If the results obtained in investigations of this 

 kind are to be of any practical value^ the evidence 

 must be thorough and overwhelming. Elsewhere ' 

 I have set forth in detail the procedure that is 

 necessary in order to obtain this information, and 

 nothing short of the greatest thoroughness and 

 accuracy can lay claim to thoughtful considera- 

 tion. 



The statement is frequently made that notwith- 

 standing a little harm that certain birds occasion- 

 ally do at particular seasons of the year, as a 

 class they are beneficial. If this be so, it seems 

 to me most important that we should know which 

 species are the culprits, the extent of the damage 

 or loss they occasion, and the frequency with 

 which they occur throughout the country, in order 

 that so beneficial a class of animals should be 

 rid of their "black sheep," and their fair repute 

 remain impeccable. 



Unfortunately such a statement is only partly 

 true, and in the present state of our knowledge 

 it cannot be denied or upheld upon practical 

 evidence. This, at least, we do know : that many 

 species of wild birds are protected that are dis- 

 tinctly injurious, in consequence of which ' hun- 

 dreds of thousands of pounds' worth of food is 

 annually destroyed by them ; that there are 

 many species of wild birds which are annually 

 destroyed in large numbers, and that the food of 

 these species has been proved to consist almost 

 entirely of farm vermin, which latter exact an 

 enormous toll upon the produce of the land ; 

 finally, that there are a number of species with 

 reference to which we know comparatively very 

 little as regards the nature of their food and feed- 

 ing habits, and before they can be said to be 

 heneficial, injurious, or neutral, much more de- 

 tailed information is required. 



At the present time farmers and fruit-growers 

 throughout the land are indiscriminately destroy- 

 ing wild birds, so that a recent writer states : 

 " Some of the very greatest friends that our nation 

 has are being destroyed without mercy. ... If 



' Joum. Roy. Hort. Soc., 1917, xlii., part i ; and more briefly in Nature, 

 anuary 7, 1915. 



NO. 2470, VOL. 99] 



the British Navy were threatened with destruction, 

 a great cry would rise from the people, but only 

 whispers are heard now and then about the slow 

 destruction of a defensive force upon which most 

 of our prosperity depends." 



The hands of our legislators are tied, for, as I 

 have elsewhere stated,^ " the need of continued 

 investigation upon a subject so intimately related 

 to our food supply must be patent to even the 

 most casual inquirer, for without a thoroughly 

 reliable and extensive knowledge of the subject 

 it is impossible to frame wise and beneficial lav, 

 relating thereto." 



Hitherto the State has not thought the subject 

 worthy of serious attention (if it has acted it has 

 done so too late or inefficiently), but the exigencies 

 of the present abnormal times may comf>el it to 

 do so, and to rue that it has been so apathetic 

 and neglectful of the subject in the past. 



Walter E. Collinge. 



NEW ANTISEPTICS. 



NOT the least important feature of the present 

 war is the interest which has been con- 

 centrated on the effective treatment of septic 

 wounds. Attention has already been directed 

 (Nature, February lo, 1916) to the use of the 

 hypochlorite solutions of 'Dakin and Lorraine 

 Smith, and to that of chloramine-T of Dakin, 

 Cohen, Daufresne, and Kenyon. These sub- 

 stances, whilst they possess strong bactericidal 

 properties, have little or no irritant or toxic action 

 in antiseptic strength, and have in consequence 

 found very general and successful application. 

 The latest contribution to the subject, by Messrs. 

 Browning, Kennaway, and Thornton, and Miss 

 Gulbrausen, of the Bland-Sutton Institute of 

 Pathology of the Middlesex Hospital, is embodied 

 in a report to the Medical Research Committee. 

 It was published in the British Medical Journal 

 of January 20; and the daily papers have lately 

 devoted attention to the subject. 



The defects of most antiseptics lie in the fact 

 that, whilst they act chemically on proteins and 

 so destroy bacteria, they also affect the serum, 

 which has itself powerful antiseptic properties. 

 This probably explains the large reduction in 

 bactericidal action of most antiseptics in presence 

 of serum. Furthermore, most antiseptics inhibit 

 phagocytosis and so deprive the body of one of 

 its most important weapons in combating local 

 infection. An ideal antiseptic should therefore 

 combine powerful bactericidal action along with 

 the absence of deleterious effect on phagocytosis 

 or on the nature of the serum. It should further 

 be without irritant or toxic action, whilst stimulat- 

 ing healthy granulation. 



Among the substances which the authors have 

 examined are a number of triphenylmethane dyes 

 (malachite green, brilliant green, crystal violet, 

 and ethyl violet) and the yellow colouring matter 



- Joum. Roy. Hort. Soc, 1917, xlii., part i. 



