April io, 19 19] 



NATURE 



H3 



lion of the views expressed. The anti-tr>ptic power of 

 ■wholesome" blood and the leucocytes are the great 

 defensive mechanisms, and the treatment of septic 

 ounds should aim at bringing these into action. A 

 t'thod of " immuno-transfusion " for the treatment of 

 • !)tic wounds was also described, in which blood from 

 a donor is, after withdrawal, first allowed to act upon 

 and digest a given quantum of the infecting micro- 

 organism, after which the treated blood is injected into 

 the patient. 



A REPORT by King Edward's Hospital Fund for 

 London on "Pensions for Hospital Officers" has been 

 issued. The inquiry was held bv a sub-committee 

 consisting of Mr. W. J. H. Whittall, Mr. H. L. 

 Hopkinson, and Sir William Collins. The final re- 

 commendation of the first two members is that pen- 

 sions should be provided by means of insurance 

 policies paid for by joint contributions of employers 

 and employees, much on the lines of the Federated 

 Superannuation scheme for University colleges. Sir 

 f W. Collins dissents on the ground that a scheme based 

 on recourse to insurance companies is not the only 

 possible solution of the problem, and that alternative 

 schemes should be considered at a conference of 

 hospital representatives which it. is proposed to 

 summon to discuss the whole question. 



Ornithologists who are interested in migration 

 I will read with interest in British Birds for March 

 some observations by Mr. D. G. Garnett on birds 

 seen in the north-eastern Atlantic and the English and 

 St. George's Channels from August to October, 1917. 

 It has been definitely established that there is a route 

 followed by migrating birds which extends down the 

 western Irish coast, across the approaches of St. 

 George's Channel and the English Channel, to the 

 north-west of France. It is now suggested by Mr. 

 Garnett that, as a consequence of his observations, 

 there seems evidence to show that there is yet another 

 route traversin£? this, and extending from the south 

 coast of Ireland to the west coast of Spain. 



The food habits of the mallard ducks of the United 

 States forms the subject of a very valuable Bulletin 

 (No. 720) issued by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. The author, Mr. W. L. McAtee, set 

 himself the task of discovering the food preferences 

 of these birds for the purpose of obtaining informa- 

 tion which could be put to good purpose in establish- 

 ing wild-duck farms and increasing the stock of wild 

 birds on account of their great value as food. Though 

 mainly vegetarian, Mr. McAtee points out the extreme 

 value of these birds as exterminators of mosquito 

 larva^. Experiments on enclosed water with captive 

 birds showed that in this regard they are far more 

 effective than goldfish, which were used in a control 

 experiment. Hence, he remarks, these birds are of 

 incalculable value in keeping down mosquitoes in 

 swamps that would be extremely costly to drain. 



An interesting summary of suggestions as to the 

 best means of rapidly increasing the produce of food- 

 crops in India by methods within the power of the 

 Agricultural Department has been issued (Bulletin 

 No. 84) by the Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa. 

 The bulletin consists of a collection of notes sub- 

 mitted by representatives of the Department in 

 various parts of the country, and, although there is 

 naturally considerable variety in the specific proposals 

 for the individual areas, it is interesting to note a 

 general agreement that the most effective means of 

 securing a rapid increase in the output of food-crops 

 lies in the dissemination of improved strains of seed. 

 For Bengal alone it is estimated that the substitution 

 of the pure line Indrasail developed by the agricultural 

 station at Dacca for the local varieties of transplanted 



NO. 2^80. VOT.. 10^1 



rice commonly used would lead to an increase of 

 500,000 tons of rice. Similar improvement of the rice 

 crop is also being effected in tlie Central Provinces, 

 Madras, and Burma. In the Punjab special atten- 

 tion has been directed to wheat, and two varieties 

 which have been found to give from half a maund to 

 three maunds per acre more than local varieties are 

 now being extensively developed. Similar improve- 

 ments in wheat output are also being effected in the 

 Central Provinces. In many of the reports emphasis 

 is placed upon the improvement which might be 

 effected by better methods of cultivation alone, and 

 by more active participation of the large landowners 

 in the cultivation of their land. More abundant and 

 efficient irrigation is also emphasised as a special 

 need of certain areas. There would appear to be 

 little prospect of increase, however, by the use of 

 manures or by the substitution of food-crops for 

 fibre or other non-food producing crops. 



We have received a cop}' of a booklet entitled 

 "Decimal Coinage and British Commerce," by Mr. J. 

 Gall Inglis. The author advocates a decimal system 

 of coinage alternative to that proposed in the Bill 

 which was introduced in the House of Lords last 

 year. His scheme involves the decimalisation of the 

 shilling and half-sovereign, instead of the sovereign, 

 while retaining the latter as a coin, but not as a unit. 

 The shilling would remain as at present, but the 

 new penny would be one-tenth of a shilling, and 

 divided into ten "mils." Mr. Inglis points out that 

 for business purposes it is necessary to take into 

 account the relative amount of clerical work involved 

 in our present system and in the proposed decimal 

 schemes, and he has constructed a table showing that 

 the amount of figure-writing with the dedmal half- 

 sovereign would be less than is now necessary, and 

 considerably less than with the decimal sovereign. 

 He urges the importance of preserving the shilling 

 as the indispensable pricing unit. A short account is 

 also given of a scheme for decimalising our weights 

 and measures on a metric basis. The booklet, which 

 is published by Messrs. Gall and Inglis, Henrietta 

 Street, Strand (price id.), is noteworthy for its 

 original and practical outlook, and will appeal to 

 those interested in the question of decimalisation. 



In 1917, for the first time, the annual meeting of 

 the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science 

 was divided into a business meeting held in Septem- 

 ber and a science convention held in November. 

 According to the report of the association for 19 17, 

 recently received, the division proved an unqualified 

 success. Nine physical, four chemical, and seven 

 biological papers were read at the convention by the 

 staff and students of the association, and they con- 

 stitute, with the report, a volume of more than 

 150 pages. The association is doing much to en- 

 courage research in India, and the conditions of ajv 

 pointment of their professor of physics will serve as 

 a good example to many institutions in this country. 

 He is required (i) to devote himself to original re- 

 search in his subject, (2) to stimulate and guide 

 research by advanced students, (3) to superintend the 

 formation and maintenance of the physics laboratory, 

 and (4) he is under no obligation to share in the 

 teaching of the M.A or M.Sc. classes of the uni- 

 versttv. This professorship is held by Prof. Raman, 

 while' Sir P. C. RSy holds the corresponding one in 

 chemistry. 



The February issue of the Journal of the Chemical 

 Society contains an interesting paper bv Mr. R. 

 Wright on "The Effect of some Simple Electrolytes 

 on the Temperature of Maximum Density of Water." 

 The author confirms Despretz's law that the lowering 



