July 26, 1917] 



NATURE 



427 



Kolyma, and he was thus enabled to obtain a 

 glimpse of the shores of the Arctic Ocean. 

 He accomplished the 5C)o-mile journey in twelve 

 days, in a frail open boat, made of very thin 

 wooden planks sewn together with twisted 

 willow-strands, the holes being plugged with 

 moss and the cracks filled with the gum of the 

 larch. Having reached Xijne-Kolymsk at the 

 time of the fishing, he stayed there part of the 

 summer and the winter, so that he could visit 

 the lonely spot of Sukharnoye, as also some 

 Chukchee encampments. 



The pages given to the description of the 

 Yukaghirs and the Yakutes settled along the 

 lower course of the Kolyma, especially to the 

 Chukchees, as also the legend about the dis- 

 appearance of the small tribe of the Kangenici, 

 will be read with deep interest and sympathy. 

 All the little scenes sketched by the author bear 

 the stamp of truthfulness and artistic feeling. 



P. Kropotkix. 



WAR BREAD. 



THE public has been led to feel some anxiety 

 concerning the effects of the present war 

 bread upon national health and efficiency. Sug- 

 gestion plays an inevitable part in such a connec- 

 tion. Certain untoward symptoms in individuals, 

 for which some other tangible cause is not imme- 

 diately evident, are liable just now to be ascribed 

 on the slenderest evidence to the bread eaten. 

 Once the belief in a deleterious influence has arisen, 

 it is easy to understand how widely it may spread 

 by suggestion. In the opinion of those best 

 qualified to know, there would seem to be little 

 basis for any such condemnation of the bread. 

 It rests, nevertheless, with the Food Controller 

 to obtain the best f)osfeible evidence concerning 

 the facts, and we are glad to know that Lord 

 Rhondda and the Wheat Commissioners have 

 empowered a' committee of the Royal Society to 

 make a full and thorough investigation. This 

 committee comprises some eminent medical con- 

 sultants, as well as the physiologists who have 

 been serving on the main Food Committee of 

 the society. Its task is to decide whether the 

 higher extraction of the grain can in itself be held 

 responsible for any disturbance of health, and 

 whether the admixture of other cereals with the 

 wheat has produced a less digestible loaf, owing, 

 for instance, to the associated difficulties in milling 

 and baking. 



Among other matters which are also engaging 

 the attention of the committee is a greater ten- 

 dency to " rope " in the bread, alleged to be due 

 to the higher extraction of the grain. The habits 

 of Bacillus mesentericus, which, in its various 

 strains, is responsible for ropy bread, are already 

 well known to bacteriologists, and, empirically at 

 least, to all the better informed among practical 

 bakers. There is no reason to doubt that with 

 the increased knowledge now being acquired any 

 outbreaks of rope will in the future be easily con- 

 trolled. That the presence in the loaf of cereals 

 other than wheat can be directly harmful is most 

 NO. 2491, VOL. 99] 



unlikely. A favourable effect should indeed be 

 seen in a somewhat improved balance in the 

 protein supplied. Maize, it is true, is said to be 

 badly tolerated by certain individuals, though such 

 cases must be rare. It is also stated that the 

 starch of maize is not fully gelatinised when 

 it is cooked in admixture with wheat under con- 

 ditions suitable for the production of an all-wheat 

 loaf. 



These and other points will doubtless receive the 

 attention of the investigating committee. Its most 

 important task, however, will be to decide, by 

 a thorough sifting of the evidence, the more 

 general question as to whether the war bread is, 

 as a matter of fact, producing any ill effects at 

 all upon the public health. The public will be 

 glad to know that the Food Controller is in posses- 

 sion of the facts. 



Meanwhile, since it is of the utmost importance 

 to the nation that a full supply of bread shall be 

 maintained, while the amount of wheat available 

 is not sufficient for the purpose, we are glad to 

 obser\-e that the medical Press is urging the pro- 

 fession to see that the privilege of obtaining hieh- 

 grade wheat flour for cases supposed to have 

 suffered from the war bread is at any rate not 

 abused. 



NOTES. 



Mr. Alan A. C.\mpbell Swinton has been elected 

 chairman of the council of the Royal Society of Arts 

 for the ensuing year. 



The Asiatic Society of Bengal has awarded the Bar- 

 clay memorial medal to Col. H. H. Godwin-Austen, 

 for his work in biology. The medal is awarded every 

 two years to the individual who during that period has 

 made the most meritorious contribution to biology 

 with special reference to India. 



Dr. J. B. Cleland has been elected president of the 

 Royal Society of New South Wales. After graduating 

 in medicine. Dr. Cleland visited China and Japan, 

 and later proceeded to this country, where he remamed 

 for several years, being for part of the time cancer 

 research scholar git London Hospital. On returning 

 to Australia, he was appointed Government pathologist 

 and bacteriologist in Western Australia. In 1908 he 

 became principal assistant microbiolc^st to the newly 

 instituted Bureau of Microbiology in Sydney, and in 

 19 13, on the amalgamation of the bureau with the 

 Department of Public Health, he was appointed prin- 

 cipal microbiolc^st. He has also been associated 

 with the experimental work of the Department of 

 Agriculture. 



Referring to Dr. Collinge's recent article on "The 

 Destruction of House-sparrows " (Nature, June 28, 

 p. 347), Dr. W. A. HoUis writes to say that the assump- 

 tion that the corn found in the stomachs of the adult 

 birds has been taken from the fields is, he believes, 

 an erroneous one, and that in nine cases out of ten 

 it is obtained from horse-droppings, as the house- 

 sparrow rarely, if ever, goes far afield. At first sight 

 this might app>ear so, but Dr. Hollis has overlooked 

 the fact that the material upon which Dr. Collinge 

 bases his argument was purposely obtained from 

 agricultural districts, and in his account of the 

 stomach contents of those birds obtained from 

 suburban districts it is stated that the wheat was ob- 

 tained "most likely from horse-droppings." The 



