March 6, 19 19] 



NATURE 



>7 



required information attaches to the secretary or 

 person performing the duties of secretary to' the 

 governing body, or, if there is no governing body, 

 the headmaster or person responsible for the manage- 

 ment of the school or institution. Notice wUl bt- 

 given in due course as to any further particulars 

 which may be required under regulations made b\ 

 the Board of Education. The, Act lays it down that 

 if such responsible person fails to furnish the informa- 

 tion required, he will be liable to certain specified 

 penalties. The particulars now demanded are neces- 

 sary so that the Board of Education may have avail- 

 able the full facts as to the provisions for education 

 in England and Wales, and of the use which is 

 being made of them. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. ' \ 



Royal Society, February 2o.-Sir' J. J. Thomson, 

 president, in the chair. — S. S. Ziiva and E. M. Wells : 

 Dental changes in the teeth of the guinea-pig prol 

 duced by a scorbutic diet. The structure of the teeth 

 of guinea-pigs subsisting on a scorbutic diet under- 

 goes radical changes. 'Ihe ultimate change is charac- 

 terised by the total disorganisation of the pulp, in- 

 cluding the odontoblastic cells. The earliest modifica- 

 tion is observed at a period when no other systemic 

 abnormality can be recorded with certainty, and is 

 characterised by the alterations in the odontoblastic cells 

 and by the dilatation of the blood-vessels of the pulp. 

 Monkeys' teeth are also affected when these animals 

 exist on a scorbutic diet. The bearing of the above 

 results on human subjects is discussed. — W. E. 

 Bullock and W. Cramer : A new factor in the 

 mechanism of bacterial infection. The bacteria of 

 gas-gangrene (B. welchii, Vibrion septique. and B. 

 oedematiens) and of tetanus, when completely freed 

 from their toxins, either by washing or by heating to 

 80° for half an hour so that spores are formed, do 

 not produce the specific disease when injected into a 

 mouse or a guinea-pig. The normal animal disposes 

 of the bacteria mainly by lysis, and partly also bv 

 phagocytosis, and this defensive mechanism is so 

 efficient as to render these bacteria non-pathogenic 

 when injected by themselves. If a small dose of a 

 soluble, ionisable calcium salt is injected together with 

 the bacteria of their spores, the .specific disease is 

 elicited in a very virulent fprm. The chlorides of 

 sodium, potassium, ammonium, strontium, and mag- 

 nesium, when injected together with B. welchii, are 

 not capable of producing gas-gangrene. From these 

 experiments and other experimental evidence the con- 

 clusion is drawn that calcium salts, when injected 

 subcutaneously, produce a local change in the tissues 

 at the site of injection. The effect of this dosage is 

 to bring about a local breaking down of the defensive 

 mechanism against the bacteria of gas-gangrene and 

 tetanus. The term " kataphylaxis " is proposed to 

 designate this new phenomenon. Sterile watery ex- 

 tracts of earth are capable of producing this pheno- 

 menon.— Major W. J. Tulloch : The distribution of 

 the serological types of B. tetani in wounds of men 

 who received prophylactic inoculation, and a study 

 of the mechanism of infection in, and immunity from, 

 tetanus. In a previous communication to the Royal 

 Society it was shown that B. tetani was susceptible 

 of classification into a number of groups differing one 

 frorn another in their serological reactions. As this 

 finding might have an important bearing on the pre- 

 paration of anti-toxin, as many strains of B. tetani 

 as possible were investigated by the agglutination 

 method : (i) from cases of the disease ; (ii) from 

 wounds of men showing no evidence of tetanus. The 

 NO. 2575, VOL. 103]- 



results obtained show that Type I. bacilli are but 



relatively infrequently obtained from wounds of 



inoculated men suffering from tetanus. Thus 19 out 



of 25 (76 per cent.) strains obtained from the 



wounds of men who showed no evidence of tetanus 



j proved to be Type I. bacilli, while 41 per cent, of 



the strains obtained from men suffering from the 



j disease proved to be of this type. This observation 



I suggested that there was possibly a mono-typical im- 



munity to each serological type,' for the serum used 



I for prophylaxis was prepared mainly from the products 



j of Type I. bacilli. Experiments ' show that mono- 



typical anti-toxin neutralises the toxins of all the 



I types. The precise quality, as well as the degree, of 



1 tissue debility produced by injury is of importance 



I in initiating the process of infection in tetanus. 



Zoological Society, February 18.— Dr. A. Smith 

 Woodward, vice-president, in the chair. — R. I. 

 Pocock : External characters of existing Chevrotains 

 (Tragulina). The Indian species, commonly cited as 

 Ttagulus memminna, differs in so many important 

 characters from the Malaysian species that it is neces- 

 sary to sever it from them as a distinct genus, for 

 ■ which the name Maschiola, used by Thomas in a sub- 

 generic sense, is available. In the absence of the 

 interramal scent-gland, in the structure of the penis, 

 and in the retention of shots on the pelage, Maschiola 

 is a more primitive type than Tragulus, and resembles 

 the still more primitive West African genus Hyo- 

 moschus. — K. M. Smith : A comparative study of 

 certain sense-organs in the antennae and palpi of 

 Diptera. 



Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, February 20. — 

 Mr. Hugh F. Marriott, president, in the chair. — S. J. 

 Truscott : Slime treatment on Cornish frames : supple- 

 ments. This paper, which is one of a series pub- 

 lished by request of the Tin and Tungsten Research 

 Committee, relates to a number of experiments con- 

 ducted with the view of determining the comparative 

 values of fluted and plane surfaces, the most suitable 

 length of bed, and other details connected with the 

 improved recovery of tin in Cornish mills. A number 

 of tests are recorded, made under varying conditions, 

 and the results are embodied in a risumi which, 

 after noting the factors governing frame-working 

 which are thereby established, further deals with 

 conclusions in resf>ect to policy, with particular re- 

 gard to rapid enrichment and complete fine grinding. 

 The paper is illustrated by flow sheets explaining the 

 practice on various Cornish properties. — E. Edser : 

 The comparison of concentration results, with special 

 reference to the Cornish method of concentrating 

 cassiterite. This paper embodies an attempt to d^-^ 

 termine the relation between the enrichment attained 

 by repetition of the concentration process, and the 

 cassiterite that is lost. It is first assumed that the 

 assay of any small increment washed off the surface^ 

 used for concentration is proportional to the assay 

 of the material on the surface, and it is shown that 

 the assumption is correct, the amount of cassiterite 

 lost during a complete washing being inversely pro- 

 Dortional to the tith power of the enrichment effected. 

 The value of n thus indicates the economy of the 

 process ; the smaller the value of n the more economi- 

 cal will be the process. Experimental data are shown 

 to suDDort the conclusions reached, but additiomi 

 investigations are called for. — G. F. J. Preumont : 

 Wolfram minintr in Bolivia. In view of the fact tli.i' 

 wolfram is a product of outstanding importance, an ■ 

 that Bolivia is now yielding quite a considerable pi. > 

 portion of the world output, this paper should be 

 of timely interest. \ collection of statistics showiriji' 

 the production and distribution of wolfram in Bolivirr 



