112 



NATURE 



[April io, 1919 



up immediately a Central Health Bureau with the 

 -view (A linking • up the various national Red Cross 

 societies in a health crusade throughout the world. 

 The proposal was very favourably received, and was 

 supported, among others, by Sir Robert Philip (Edin- 

 burgh), Profs. Baduel (Florence), Roux (Paris), Ken- 

 wood (London), Sir Ronald Ross, Col. Gumming 

 (U.S. Public Health Service), and Prof. Kabishima. 

 Such subjects as standardisation of nursing methods 

 and the trsining of nurses, training of public health 

 personnel, combating tuberculosis, as well as the pro- 

 motion of research, were considered by the various 

 speakers to come within the limits of such a crusade. 



We are glad to note that vigorous protests have 

 been raised in the Times against the suggestion, 

 emanating from Toronto, that aeroplanes should be 

 used for the purpose of driving caribou by the 

 thousand into corrals, where they might convenientlv 

 be slaughtered. The carcasses thus obtained were to 

 be used for increasing the meat supply of Canada 

 and for export. If such a scheme were ever sanc- 

 tioned the caribou would speedily share the fate of 

 the American bison. The further suggestion that air- 

 men might destroy wolves and feral dogs b}' machine- 

 gun fire does not sound very practicable, but these 

 deadiv weapons could, and probably would, be used 

 against the caribou. It is devoutly to be hoped that 

 no more will be heard of this proposal, which has 

 given offence to all true sportsmen, as well as to 

 those who are concerned with the conservation of wild 

 animals. 



In this first Easter Vacation after the cessation of 

 hostilities the Port Erin Biolc^gical Station is almost 

 as fully occupied as in pre-war days. About fifty re- 

 searchers and senior students are working there some 

 time during the latter part of March and April, includ- 

 ing four professors and half a dozen demonstrators, 

 with groups of students from London, Manchester, 

 Liverpool, Cambridge, and Reading. Prof. Benjamin 

 Moore, with three other biochemists, is engaged on a 

 research on photosynthesis in relation to the alkalinity 

 of the sea. Most of the others are on faunistic or 

 morphological work. Fortunately, the weather has 

 been favourable for work at sea, and for shore-col- 

 lecting during the low spring tides. In the plankton 

 the vernal phytoplankton maximum has appeared. 

 Coscinodiscus has been in abundance during the latter 

 part of March, and now Chaetoceras is in evidence. 

 The Manx summer herring have made their appear- 

 ance close inshore unusually early ; a few hundred 

 may be caught any night in Port Erin Bay, but a 

 more notable catch of half a dozen mease was secured 

 a few miles along the coast on one of the first nights 

 in April. 



"The Function of Science in the Modern State" 

 and "National Life from the Standpoint of Science" 

 are the subjects of two papers contributed some years 

 ago by Prof. Karl Pearson to the Eugenic Lecture 

 Series (Cambridge University Press). Prof. Pearson 

 has done well to republish these papers in view of the 

 altered circumstances of the nation since the war and 

 the necessity for recognising as soon as possible a 

 better theory of the State than was previously avail- 

 able, especially for the employment of scientific method 

 in the organisation of every department of business, 

 of administration, of education, and of progress in 

 invention and discovery. The executive must be freed 

 from the dominance of minds trained solely on litera- 

 ture and jurisprudence, for in the future the struggle 

 for existence will not necessarily be settled in favour 

 of the biggest or the richest or the best-armed nation. 

 Everything will be determined by organisation of the 

 brain-power which the nation possesses, and by 



NO. 2580, VOL. 103] 



teaching the leaders, as well as the people at large, to 

 prepare for the difficulties of new environment. Prof, 

 Pearson discusses these problems in an interesting 

 way from the point of view of eugenics and the prin- 

 ciple of evolution. Hence he lays' great emphasis on 

 the importance of preventing so far as possible 

 deterioration as the result of deficient reproduction 

 among the intellectual classes and encouragement of 

 the inferior stocks. In these two pamphlets there is 

 much food for thought for every man and woman, 

 and they should be read by everybody. 



A CONSIDERABLE change is made in the Daily 

 Weather Report of the Meteorological Office from 

 April I. During the war the weather information 

 expanded, and was more complete than in pre-war 

 times; the information, however, was^ not supplied to 

 the public, but it was widel}' distributed to the 

 Services and eagerly used. Since the freeing of 

 weather information, subsequent to the armistice, 

 some idea could be formed by the public of the 

 increased activity of the Weather Ofiice. The change 

 now effected is, in a measure,, very drastic. Instead^ 

 of the Daily Weather Report containing home and 

 foreign stations, with maps for each hour at whicb 

 observations were made, there are now three separate 

 reports: the British Section, the International 

 Section, and the Upper Air Supplement. The 

 British Section and the Upper Air Supplement are 

 issued in lithographic form in the forenoon of the day's 

 observations, and the International Section is issued 

 early on the following day. The British Section gives 

 detailed observations from observatories of the 

 Meteorologica' Office and stations of the Air Ministry j 

 for ih., 7h., TiM-, and i8h., and other Meteoro-I 

 logical Office stations for yh. and i8h., previously* 

 included in the Daily Weather Report. It also gives 

 a full-page weather-map, including Iceland, the 

 Azores, and a large part of western Europe, also fore- 

 casts for the twenty-four hours commencing at 3 p.m. 

 for twenty districts covering the British Isles. The 

 Upper Air Supplement gives maps of the British 

 Isles with winds at the surface and at elevations of 

 1000, 2000, 5000, 8000, 10,000, and 15,000 ft. for 

 afternoon, eveninj^. and morning. The International 

 Section practically covers western Europe and the 

 Mediterranean with observations for evening and 

 morning, and there are two full-page weather-maps. 

 Provision is made for wireless reports from the 

 Atlantic. 



A MEMORANDUM on the share of "colonies" (institu- 

 tions for training and for employment) in the treat- 

 ment of tuberculosis by Mr. J. E. Chapman has been 

 issued by the Local Government Board (Reports on 

 Public Health and Medical Subjects, No. 122). Colony 

 treatment is intended to secure for selected patients 

 beneficial results of a more lasting nature than can be 

 obtained by sanatorium treatment alone. In the earlier 

 colonies the work provided was mainly of an agricul- 

 tural character, but as few patients continue this 

 occupation after discharge, more recently established 

 colonies aim to fit the patient for an occupation that 

 will be continued. The whole subject is adequately 

 considered in this memorandum, which is illustrated 

 with figures of two types of cottage homes suitable for 

 a colony. 



" The Lessons of the War and Some New Prospects 

 in the Field of Therapeutic Immunisation " was the 

 subject of an important lecture by Sir Almroth Wright 

 delivered before the Royal Society of Medicine on 

 Februan' 25 (see Lancet, March 2g, p. 480). The 

 natural defences of the bodv against, and in the 

 presence of, infections were fully dealt with, and a 

 number of ingenious experiments detailed in confirma- 



