August 2, 19 17] 



NATURE 



451 



Thordsen was to be investigated, as well as the ex- 

 tent of the coal beds at Pyramid Hill and Biinsowland. 

 Investigations in the Devonian rocks are to be con- 

 tinued and their vertebrate fossils collected. A large 

 expedition of miners and mining engineers also left 

 Sweden about midsummer to exploit the Coal Measures 

 of Spitsbergen, and was accompanied by Dr. Anteus 

 as geologist. 



The Committee of the Privy Council for Scientific 

 and Industrial Researcb, on the recommendation of 

 the Advisory Council and at the request of the Home 

 Office, has sanctioned the appointment of a committee 

 with the following terms of reference: — '"To inquire 

 into the types of breathing apparatus used in coal 

 mines, and by experiment to determine the advantages, 

 limitations, and defects of the several types of appa- 

 ratus, what improvements in them are possible, 

 whether it is advisable that the types used in mines 

 should be standardised, and to collect evidence bear- 

 ing on these points." The members of the committee 

 are : — Mr. W. Walker, Acting Chief Inspector of 

 Mines under the Home Office (chairman). Dr. J. S. 

 Haldane, and Dr. H. Briggs. Mr. A. Richardson has 

 been appointed secretary to the committee, and Dr. H. 

 Briggs has been constituted director of the inquiry-. 



At the representative meeting of the British Medical 

 .\ssociation held on July 26, ttie council reported that 

 the only possible method of placing the health adminis- 

 tration of the country on a sound basis was by the 

 creation of a Ministry of Health. The recommenda- 

 tions of the council were as follows : — That a Ministry 

 of Health should be created to take over from 

 existing Government Departments such duties as are 

 concerned with the health of the community, and to 

 deal with those duties only ; that the administrative 

 functions of the Ministry should be carried out by a 

 Board presided over by a Minister of Cabinet rank ; 

 that the country be divided into suitable administrative 

 areas under local administrative health centres consist- 

 ing of representatives (a) of the rating authorities ; (b) 

 of the education authorities ; (c) of the persons con- 

 tributing to a scheme of health insurance (including 

 employers of labour) ; (d) the medical profession ; (e) 

 public hospitals ; (/) dentists ; {g) pharmacists ; and (/») 

 nurses ; that the principal medical officers of each centre 

 should be two, of equal status, one representing the 

 clinical side (chief clinical officer) and the other the 

 preventive side of medicine (medical officer of health) ; 

 that for each area, hospitals, clinics, or treatment 

 centres should be recognised or established at which 

 persons entitled to treatment under the public scheme 

 should be able to obtain institutional, consultative, or 

 specialist services on the recommendation of their 

 medical attendant. The meeting approved of the ap- 

 pointment of a Ministry of Health by a large majority. 



News of the .American Ciocker Land expedition is 

 published in Science for June 29 from information 

 supplied by Dr. H. J. Hunt, surgeon of the expedi- 

 tion, who arrived in New York on June 20 from 

 Greenland xia Copenhagen. The expedition was at 

 Etah in northern Greenland when Dr. Hunt left it 

 last December. He reports that it had enough 

 provisions to last until about -August i this }-ear, after 

 which it must depend upon walrus and caribou. 

 However, the relief steamer Danmark was at North 

 Star Bay, a sledge journey of about 150 miles from 

 Etah, so there should be no fear of the expedition 

 starving. The Danmark, when Dr. Hunt left her, 

 ^s frozen in and short of coal, but had ample stores. 

 She will probably get free from the ice this summer, 

 but in order to ensure the safety of the explorers, the 

 Neptune has been chartered and sent north under 

 Capt. R. A. Bartlett. Dr. Hunt, in his journey to 



NO. 2492, VOL. 99] 



the Danish settlements of Greenland, had to sledge 

 1400 miles between December 18, 1916, and April 16 

 of this year. Part of the way he was accompanied 

 by the Danish explorer, Knud Rasmussen. Eskimo 

 were with him throughout the journey. The expedi- 

 tion, which is under the leadership of Mr. D. B. 

 Macmillan, reports a considerable amount of work, 

 especially geological. Seismolc^ical observations have 

 been taken at Etah. 



The Trematode, Schistosoma (BUharzia) mansoni, 

 occurs frequently in man in Venezuela; adult speci- 

 mens of this parasite were found by Dr. Risquez (19 16) 

 during post-mortem examinations in the School of 

 Medicine at Caracas in 20 per cent, of the cases. 

 Drs. Iturbe and Gonzalez have recently published, 

 from the laboratory of the former, an account (8 pp., 

 two plates) of experiments made with the view of find- 

 ing the intermediate host of this parasite in the neigh- 

 bourhDod of Caracas. The four common fresh-water 

 "snails" of that area are two species of Planorbis, 

 an Ampullaria, and a Physa, and the first three can be 

 infected experimentally by adding to the water in 

 which they are living the ciliated larvae, or miracidia, 

 of 5. mansoni, but it is evident that Planorbis guadelu. 

 pensis is the only species which naturally ser\'es as the 

 intermediate host of S. mansoni. The development 

 of tlie miracidium in this Planorbis, and the formation 

 of rediae (described as having a widely open mouth 

 and a rudimentary- gut) and cercariae, are in accord 

 with the account by Miyairi and Suzuki of the corre- 

 sponding stages of S. japonicum. The cercariae of S. 

 mansoni, after escaping from the infected Planorbis, 

 can live in water for at least twenty-four hours. Ex- 

 periments on white rats and on young rabbits and 

 dogs showed that they acquire the parasite by the 

 entry of cercariae by the mouth or through the skin, 

 though the actual penetration of the skin by the 

 cercariae was not observed. Naturally infected Plan- 

 orbis guadelupensis were found in six of the seven 

 localities examined near Caracas, and of 400 specimens 

 from one of the canals 120 proved to be infected. 



Two interesting and timely contributions on ex- 

 perimental work at the South-Eastern Agricultural 

 College, Wye, furnish the main features of the June 

 issue of the Journal of the Board of Agriculture. Prof. 

 E. S. Salmon summarises the results of several years' 

 experiments in potato-spraying with Bordeaux and 

 Burgundy mixtures at the college in an article which, 

 by the results quoted and the accompanying photo- 

 graphs, is calculated to remove the last doubt as to 

 the economic soundness of the practice. In each of the 

 five years the sprayed crops produced, not only an 

 increase in the yield of tubers ranging from one ton 

 to five tons per acre above the yield of the unsprayed 

 crops, but the proportion of " ware " and of sound 

 tubers was also markedly superior. The results 

 further indicate that spraying is only effective when 

 applied before the appearance of the "blight," and 

 that the benefits of an early spraying can be sub- 

 stantially increased by a seccwid spraying. Wet spray- 

 ing proved superior to dry spraying in the one com- 

 parison made. 



Dr. J. Vargas Eyre and Mr. S. T. Parkinson ccm- 

 tribute to the June issue of the Journal of the Board 

 of Agriculture a report on an inquiry carried out at 

 Wye into the possibility of conserving surplus plums 

 by drying. The investigations cover the preliminary 

 treatment of the fruit to facilitate drying, the relative 

 merits and efficiency of hot-air and vacuum dn'ing, 

 and the final treatment of the dried product to render 

 it more attractive. The best results and most speedy 

 drying were obtained with the vacuum machine and 

 at a temperature of 70° to 80° C. The most effective 



