March 8, 1917] 



NATURE. 



29 



NOTES. 



A STRIKING example of the utilisation of waste pro- 

 ducts was given by Mr. Forster, the Financial Secrev 

 larv to the War Office, in the House of Commons on 

 March r. The waste product in question was fat. 

 Everybody knows now that -glycerine is obtained from 

 fat, even if in the early days of the war this fact was 

 new to certain of our officials whose education had, 

 presumably, been exclusively classical, and who were 

 therefore unaware that there was any connection be- 

 tween the supply of fat and the production of ex- 

 plosives. ■ Beef of medium leanness contains on an 

 average about 20 per cent, of fat, calculated upon the 

 edible part of the joints; mutton and f)ork contain 

 about 30 per cent. On heating these fats with a 

 lution of alkali, the glycerides of which they con- 

 -t are decomposed, yielding glycerine and soap. 

 1 heoretically, the pure fats should give glycerine 

 equal approximately to lo'S per cent, of their weight. 

 Formerly meat scraps and other table refuse at the 

 military camps were either destroyed or else sold for 

 a small sum ; but the authorities now have these rem- 

 nants collected and sorted, in order that the fatty 

 portions may be used for the making of glycerine. 

 Special plants have been erected for this purpose, one 

 in this country and one in France, and others are 

 shortly to be installed. It was stated that the present 

 rate of output of glycerine from the food of the troops 

 is 1000 tons annually, and that this quantity provides 

 propellant explosive charges for approximately twelve 

 and a half millions of i8-pounder shells. The War 

 Office sells the glycerine to the Ministry of Munitions 

 for 50/. a ton, whereas if it were bought in the United 

 States it would cost 240/. a ton. 



Mr. Forster, referring in the House of Commons 

 to the Medical Service of the Army, stated that as 

 regards Mesopotamia the War Office has become 

 directly responsible for the medical ariangements in 

 that theatre of war. The general conditions there may 

 now be regarded as satisfactory. During the summer 

 there was necessarily some considerable sickness, but 

 the admission rate has steadily diminished since, and 

 the supply of nurses and medical personnel is fully 

 equal at the present ame to that at the other fronts. 

 In France, Salonika, and Egypt the general conditions 

 are satisfactory, but in East Africa the authorities 

 have had to contend with a good deal of malaria 

 owing to the exceptionally unhealthy climatic condi- 

 tions. One of the most remarkable features of the whole 

 campaign is the almost total disappearance of enteric 

 (typhoid) fever. The last weekly returns show that 

 the numbers in hospitals suffering from this disease 

 were : France, four cases ; Salonika, nine ; Egypt, 

 three; Mesopotamia, eight; total, twenty-four cases. 

 The number of cases of typhoid fever among British 

 troops in France up to November i of last year was 

 1684 ; paratyphoid, 2534 ; and indefinite cases, 353 ; a 

 total of 4571. In the South African W'ar nearly 60,000 

 cases were admitted into hospital, and there were 

 8227 deaths ; there were thus approximately twice as 

 many deaths from typhoid fever in South Africa as 

 there were cases in France up to November i last. 

 The admission rate for typhoid fever among those who 

 had not been protected by inoculation was fifteen times 

 higher than among those who had been inoculated, 

 and the death-rate was seventy times higher ! At home 

 the hospital system has been deyeloped and extended, 

 and the system of utilising the services of the volun- 

 tary aid detachments has been highly successful and 

 is much appreciated. Arrangements have been made 

 by which the problem of the treatment and training 

 of the discharged disabled soldiers will be more effec- 

 tively dealt with. The venereal diseases rate in the 



XO. 2471, VOL. 99] 



Army . to-day is no higher than it was in ordinary 

 times of peace, and -every effort is being made to 

 reduce the rate still more by the provision of lectures 

 to the troops on the subject in collaboration with the 

 National Council for the Prevention of \enereal 

 Diseases. 



The report of the committee appointed by the Home 

 Secretarv' to inquire into the social and economic 

 results of the Summer Time Act, 1916, has just been 

 issued (Cd. 8487, price 3d.). The committee recom- 

 mends : I. That summer time should be renewed in 

 1917 and in subsequent years. 2. That the period of 

 the operation of summer time should be from the 

 second Sunday in April to the third Sunday in Sep- 

 tember in each year. 3. That the change from normal 

 to summer time should be made on the night of 

 Saturday-Sunday and the reversion to normal time 

 on the night of Sunday-Monday. 4. That the varia- 

 tion from normal time should be one hour throughout 

 the whole period. The evidence presented by the com- 

 mittee is not of a very substantial kind, but, taking it 

 as a whole, it leads to the conclusion " that the vast 

 preponderance of opinion throughout Great Britain is 

 enthusiastically in favour of summer time, and of its 

 renewal— not only as a war measure, but as a per- 

 manent institution." To prevent loss of sleep by chil- 

 dren being permitted to stay up beyond their proper 

 bed-time during the long light evenings, it is recom- 

 mended that all possible steps should be taken by edu- 

 cation authorities through the school medical services 

 and the care committees to ensure that this tendenc}* 

 shall be kept within the narrowest possible limits. The 

 opinions of farmers and others concerned with agricul- 

 ture as to the effects of summer time are more con- 

 flicting than those of any other interests ; on many 

 farms and in some entire districts (so far as the agri- 

 cultural community was concerned) the Act was not 

 observed at all. Representatives of the cotton trade 

 complained to the committee of the inconvenience aris- 

 ing out of the necessity for lighting up the factories in 

 the early morning in the second half of September, 

 and it is partly to meet this objection that the reversion 

 to normal time is to be made at an earlier date this 

 year than last. Sir Napier Shaw informed the com- 

 mittee that a great deal of confusion arose with ob- 

 servers as regards the hours at which meteorological 

 obser\'ations were made, and he remarked : "'From the 

 scientific point of view the discontinuity of hour intro- 

 duces a defect which is fatal, and for which there is no 

 remedy." On this matter the committee expresses the 

 hope that the proposal for a permanent acceleration by 

 one hour of the international service of weather reports 

 will receive further consideration. 



Political questions do not often figure in the pages 

 of scientific journals, and the publication in Science 

 Progress for Januar}- (No. 43) of a leading article, 

 by Mr. W. H. Cowan, M.P., on "Scientific Parlia- 

 mentary Reform " will undoubtedly arouse consider- 

 able discussion. In this article, which treats the present 

 national position from a political point of view, the 

 main issue is largely identical with that urged from 

 the point of view of a man of science in January, 

 1910, by the late Dr. Johnstone Stoney, F.R.S., in 

 a tract entitled "The Danger which in Our Time 

 Threatens British Liberty." In the past Great 

 Britain, after many struggles, secured a form of 

 representative government that has been adopted as a 

 model bv all progressive modern nations But in 

 recent years there has been an ever-growing tendency 

 to subjugate the will of Parliament to the influence 

 of a Cabinet autocracy which, if unchecked, will 

 reduce what professes to be Parliamentary govern- 

 ment to the worst form of tvrannv. A study of Mr. 



