i8 



NATURE 



[August 23, 191 7 



<li}^estive ferment — trypsin — passes out into the scrum. 

 By that, the serum will, as we have seen, be converted 

 into a medium in which microbes can grow and pullu- 

 late. 



Distinction between "Live" .\nd "Deau" Spacks. 



But we must now come back from these general 

 questions lo that of the treatment of the wound. Let 

 me begin bv explaining to you — for important ques- 

 tions of treatment hinge upon this — the distinction be- 

 tween "live spaces '\ and "dead spaces.^' 



In the lacunae of vascularised tissues we have live 

 spaces. In these we have optimum conditions for re- 

 sistance to bacterial infection. We have here an anti- 

 bacterial lymph ; and by continuously renewed exuda- 

 tion corruptive changes will be continuously 

 antagonised and made good. Again, in live spaces we 

 have terrain that can be effectively searched by leuco- 

 cytes ; and if the bacterial infection should not be 

 •extinguished by the first leucocytic attack reinforce- 

 ments of leucocytes can be supplied from the capillaries 

 feeding the live spaces. In all these respects live and 

 •dead spaces are sharpl}' contrasted. 



Dead spaces are found in tissues which have been 

 bruised and cut ofif from their blood-supply, in sloughs, 

 in bone sequestra, and in the texture of cloth and 

 intrusive foreign bodies. And we have a dead space 

 in every abscess sac under ev'ery slough and scab, and 

 also in every collection of pus lying oppn in the pockets 

 -of a wound. The essential characteristics of dead 

 •spaces are . two. First, they cannot be effectively 

 searched b}' leucocytes. In some cases chemical, in 

 others mechanical, conditions stand in the way. 

 Secondly, the leucocytes which are engaged cannot be 

 reinforced, nor can the fluid be renewed. Isolation 

 from the circulation makes this impossible. 



Let me try to tell you in the fewest possible words 

 what this imports, in infection. If in an infected live 

 space the scale turns in favour of the microbes, there 

 Is still a chance of the balance being redressed. At any 

 Tate, reinforcements can be brought up. In infected 

 dead spaces^and let me here point out to you that 

 all experiments conducted in test-tubes are equivalent 

 to experiments conducted in dead spaces — an- advan- 

 tage gained by the microbes is irretrievable. Counter- 

 -attack is impossible. 



Let me also tell you what happens to the patient 

 when infection flourishes in a dead space. In the first 

 place, bacterial poisons will be absorbed, and the 

 patient will suffer from septic fever. In the next place, 

 the microbic infection — this will generally be a strepto- 

 coccic infection, but in war wounds it may be a 

 gangrene-bacillus infection^ — will very often invade the 

 surrounding tissues, and from thence the blood-stream. 

 And in the third place, the pus in the dead space 

 Avill, when it becomes tryptic, eat its way into the 

 •enclosing tissues. The containing sac will then extend 

 in everv direction, the pus in the case of an abscess 

 "burrowing in the direction of least resistance until it 

 •opens upon an inner or an outep surface. 



(To be continued.) 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — By the death of Arthur Cornwallis 

 Madan, senior student of Christ Church, the Univer- 

 sity loses one who was not only an accomplished 

 scholar in the usual sense, but also perhaps the chief 

 living authority on the native languages of Central 

 Africa. His work in connection with the L'niversities' 

 Mission was carried on for many years both at 

 Zanzibar and in the tropical interior, and resulted in 

 the accumulation and arrangement of a .large mass 



NO. 2495, VOL. 99] 



of valuable material, both philological and gram- 

 matical. Mr. Madan was the son of a Canon of 

 Gloucester ; one of his brothers is the learned and 

 energetic Librarian of the Bodleian, and another (the 

 late H. G. .Madan), a fellow of Queen's, was for 

 many years science master at Eton, and was well 

 known as joint author with Mr. A. G. Vernon Har- 

 court, F.R.S., of an excellent manual of practical 

 chemistry. 



The Clothworkers'- Company has undertaken to 

 provide an addition to the University laboratories 

 in the department of human anatomy, which will 

 supply a dissecting-room for the use of women students. 

 A woman assistant demonstrator will be appointed to 

 teach under the general direction of the professor of 

 human anatomy. It is hoped that the building will 

 be available for use in October next. 



The sum of loool. has been bequeathed to the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science 

 by Mr. W. H. Stephens, of Lowville, New Vork. 



Columbia University has received the sum of 

 io,oooL from Mr. G. W. Brackenridge, of .San An- 

 tonio, Texas, which will make possible the opening 

 of the doors of the university this autumn to women 

 students. 



An educatiortal campaign against tuberculosis 

 throughout the Army at home and abroad has been 

 undertaken by the National Council of the Y.M.C.A. 

 The campaign will be conducted by means of informa- 

 tion imparted in the huts of the association. Dr. H. 

 Sutherland will inaugurate the work by giving an 

 address on '"Consumption: Its Causes and Cure," 

 at the Central Institute of the Y.M.C.A., Tottenham 

 Court Road, on Tuesday, September 4, at 7.30 p.m. 



The Tootal Broadhurst Lee Company has decided 

 to set aside io,oooL a year for five years for the 

 promotion of research and education. According to 

 the Times the provisional committee on research and 

 education for the cotton industry will, at the close 

 of the current holiday season, issue a prospectus of 

 the new organisation. This definite industrial research 

 federation of the cotton trade will be followed by the 

 establishment of institutes and laboratories. It is 

 also . stated that a provisional committee to organise 

 textile research associations in the woollen trade has 

 been formed. 



The President of the Board of Education has ap- 

 pointed a departmental committee to inquire into the 

 principles which should determine the fixing of 

 salaries for teachers in secondary and technical schools, 

 schools of art, training colleges, and other institutions 

 for higher education (other than university institu- 

 tions), due regard being had to such differentiation 

 in respect of locality, duties, qualifications, sex, find, 

 other relevant considerations as is consistent with or 

 necessary for the organisation of the teaching service; 

 throughout the country on a system conducive to the, 

 efficiency of national education. The committee iS' 

 not asked to consider the question of the amounts ^v^ 

 which existing salaries should be improved in par-j 

 ticular areas or schools, or the sources from which; 

 the amounts required for that purpose should be 

 provided. 



We have received from the British Esperanto As> 

 ciation, 17 Hart Street, W.C.i, an interesting pamphl 

 bv Mr. Bernard Long, entitled " Esperanto and \\ 1 

 We Need It." Mr. Long considers that whatever rel 

 tions may become necessary or desirable with o^ 

 present enemies after the war, it would be better '• 

 use a neutral language, whenever possible, than 

 accentuate existing differences by employing any of t! 

 national tongues, with their attendant "atmosphere 



