50 



NATURE 



[March 15, 19 17 



days, so that the anxieties connected with the 

 provision oif fresh dressings during transport 

 from the casualty clearing station to the base 

 hospital are set aside. The question of treat- 

 ment by vaccines can scarcely be efficiently dealt 

 with within the limits of a short article. In any 

 case the rdXe of vaccines is to neutralise tissue 

 poisons elaborated by bacteria, rather than to 

 contribute directly to the closing and healing of 

 the wound itself. The ideal vaccine would natur- 

 ally be one which, injected into the body imme- 

 diately after the wound is inflicted, has the power 

 of getting in ahead of the toxins and neutralising 

 them. This prophylactic action is possessed by 

 one of the serums used, and fortunately in the 

 case of one of the deadliest of the bacteria, the 

 tetanus germ. It has been found that the use of 

 this serum in a moderate dose immediately after 

 the infliction of the wound protects the wounded 

 man from tetanus, and consequently an important 

 part of the treatment at the casualty clearing, 

 stations is the administration of this preventive 

 dose. As regards the other bacteria, serums and 

 vaccines are used, but their value is not so well 

 established as in the case of tetanus, though 

 important results have been obtained and valuable 

 lessons learnt from their trial. 



It will be seen from the above remarks that 

 surgeons had not only to appreciate and elucidate 

 a problem which at first presented many new and 

 puzzling features, but also to devise means for 

 its solution. How far they have been successful 

 cannot be quite known until after the war. But 

 enough experience has been gained to justify the 

 hope that we are on the right track, and that the 

 treatment our brave soldiers have a right to 

 expect can now be given to them. 



NOTES. 



An article of immediate interest and importance 

 appeared in our contemporary La Nature (February 17, 

 p. 100) on the utility of supplying soldiers with body 

 armour — a proposal which has been already urged in 

 this country. The writer, "A. G.," states: (i) That 

 in trench warfare nearly 75 per cent, of wounds seen 

 in hospitals are caused by missiles of low velocity — 

 such as could have been warded off by a compara- 

 tively thin armour-plate. (2) That missiles of low 

 velocity which lodge in the body are more dangerous 

 to life than missiles of high velocity which penetrate 

 and leave the body, because every missile which lodges 

 is presumably an infected body. (3) That the total 

 mortality from head wounds has been enormously de- 

 creased since the introduction of protective helmets. 

 The form of body armour proposed by the writer in 

 La Nature is fully illustrated and compared with suits 

 worn by soldiers in the Middle Ages. A cuirass of 

 armour-plating is proposed for the protection of the 

 thorax and upper abdomen, covering the most vital 

 organs ; a gorget of chain mail protects the neck, and 

 a girdle or short "kilt" of the same material the 

 loins and groins; there are a mask for the face, and 

 sheaths for the shoulders, elbows, and knees. How 

 far such an armour would interfere with mobility is 

 a matter on which only military men can decide, but 

 from a surgical point of view such a protection has 

 every recommendation. We may here point out that 



NO. 2472, VOL. 99] 



a soldier of average stature presents, as he faces the 

 enemy in open field, a target with an area of 2740 

 square cm. Of that target the head and neck make up 

 ,9 per cent. ; the thorax and abdomen 28 per cent. ; 

 while the less vital parts — the limbs^ — make up the 

 largest part, viz. 63 per cent. Even if only the more 

 vital parts could be protected, there would be a great 

 saving of life. 



The Committee on Commercial and Industrial 

 Policy, of which Lord Balfour of Burleigh is chair- 

 man, has recently forwarded to the Prime Minister 

 a copy of resolutions passed on the subject of Imperial 

 preference, and its report (Cd. 8482, price id. net), 

 which includes a copy of the covering letter addressed 

 to the Prime Minister, has been presented to Parlia- 

 ment. In the light of experience gained during the 

 war, the committee contends that special steps should 

 be taken to stimulate the production of foodstuffs, 

 raw materials, and manufactured articles within the 

 Empire, wherever this is possible, and it therefore 

 recommends that preferential treatment should be 

 accorded to the products and manufactures of the 

 Colonies, either by exemption from, or reduction of, 

 duties. Such recommendations from the committee, 

 composed as it is of well-known representatives of 

 politics, economics, engineering, metallurgy, trade, 

 and industry, wil^-no doubt carry considerable weight. 

 There is, however, one direction in which this com- 

 mittee ought to be strengthened. Since the beginning 

 of the war the importance of applied chemistry has 

 become obvious to everyone, but it is not yet suffi- 

 ciently realised by Government Departments and 

 public officials that there are many industrial and 

 economic questions in the consideration of which 

 some knowledge of the science of chemistry and its 

 applications, acvual or potential, is indispensable. 

 These questions cannot be handled with success by 

 ordinary men of business, however able, without such 

 knowledge, and it appears therefore eminently desir- 

 able that a duly qualified representative of chemical 

 industry should be added to the committee. 



Count Zeppelin is dead, and has left a name that 

 brings to our minds the murder of innocent women 

 and children in air-raids over open towns. Yet it 

 must be admitted that his work in developing the rigid 

 airship, in spite of many failures, is worthy of all 

 praise. Count Zeppelin showed us how far the rigid 

 airship can be developed, and the war has shown us 

 the use and abuse of such aircraft. As scouts for 

 the navy they are invaluable, being able to hover 

 over one spot for lengthy periods without wasting 

 their fuel reserves, a manoeuvre impossible to an 

 aeroplane. It is, however, clearly recognised that the 

 use of airships for raiding open towns is quite in- 

 defensible, and that as a means of invasion they are 

 very unlikely to prove a serious menace. In peace 

 iime they might be used to convey mails and pas- 

 sengers, but their speed is not higher than that of 

 an express train, and their liabilit)' to destruction in 

 bad weather is a serious objection to these uses. In 

 spite of Count Zeppelin's painstaking labours, in face 

 of great difficulties, it does not seem that his rigid 

 airships are ever likely to be serious rivals of the 

 aeroplane, either for military or commercial purposes- 



It is interesting to learn that the Imperial Institute 

 proposes to constitute a comprehensive bureau of 

 mineral intelligence, with the object of supplying in- 

 formation as to all mineral deposits within* the British 

 Empire. For some years past the Imperial Institute 

 has been doing a certain amount of such work, and 

 it will be a decided advantage to have a mineral in- 

 telligence bureau available to the public. This subject 



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