22 



NATURE 



[March 3, 1910 



in coal, proves, from the calorimetric point of view, that 

 high oxygen is practically equivalent to high ash. It is 

 also shown that the ratio of hydrogen to oxygen is the 

 best measure of the coking efficiency of the coal, and the 

 effect of the oxygen on the weathering of the coal is also 

 discussed. 



■ The bulletin by Messrs. D. T. Randall and H. W. 

 Weeks, on the smokeless combustion of coal in boiler 

 plants, is of especial interest in the United States, where 

 the regulations against the production of smoke are 

 severe, and strictly enforced. Between 400 and 500 steam 

 plants in thirteen of the larger cities were visited, the data 

 from 285 plants being made use of in this report. The 

 general conclusion is that the smokeless combustion of 

 bituminous coal is possible, and there are many types of 

 furnaces and stokers that are operated smokelessly. The 

 guiding principle is that stokers or furnaces must be set 

 so that combustion is complete before the gases strike the 

 heating surface of the boiler. The plant must be designed 

 for the type of coal it has to burn ; no one type of stoker 

 is equally valuable for burning all kinds of fuel. It is 

 worthy of note that, among the numerous stokers described, 

 no mention is made of boilers using powdered fuel, a type 

 particularly well adapted for the smokeless combustion of 

 bituminous coal. The amount of experimental work given 

 is very large, no fewer than fifty-seven tables of results 

 accompanying the text. It is a work which should be in 

 the hands of every engineer responsible for a steam plant. 

 At the end of the bulletin is a bibliography of the survey 

 publications on coal and fuel testing, and also of publica- 

 tions on smoke abatement. . 



THE SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE LOCAL 

 GOVERNMENT BOARD.' 



"XXTHEN science as a whole is neglected by our Govern- 

 " ment, it is satisfactory to find that one Government 

 Department at least is alive to the value of scientific 

 research, and is able by annual grants to investigators to 

 assist research and to produce the admirable work con- 

 tained in the reports under review. It may be hoped, 

 apart from other considerations, that the example of the 

 Local Government Board may serve a useful purpose in 

 encouraging similar work by other Government Depart- 

 ments. These reports of the Medical Officer of the Board 

 are now being issued much earlier than previously, a fact of 

 moment, for the practical value of a research is often 

 diminished by delay in publication. 



Dr. Andrewes furnishes a second report on the bacteria 

 of sewer air. He finds the bile-salt neutral red lactose 

 agar medium of McConkey well fitted for the detection 

 of bacteria belonging to the B. colt group. In the drain 

 air of a large public institution and of a private dwelling 

 sewage bacteria can be readily demonstrated, but their 

 presence is of a highly intermittent character. The deter- 

 mining cause of the access of sewage bacteria to drain air 

 appears to be droplet contamination from splashing. Dr. 

 Andrewes and Dr. Horder have continued observations on 

 the defences of the body against the pvogenic cocci, com- 

 menced last year by Drs. Andrewes and Gordon, and their 

 joint report contains matter of much interest. 



In view of outbreaks of cerebro-spinal fever, Drs. Gordon 

 ■and Horder investigated the relative efficacy of the various 

 anti-meningococcus sera on the market ; the sera tested 

 on animals possessed practically no curative or prophylactic 

 value. Treatment with a vaccine, however, gave some 

 promising results. It is to be noted that Flexner and 

 Jobling have obtained very encouraging results in the 

 treatment of epidemic cerebro-spinal fever in man with 

 anti-meningococcus serum. 



Dr. Savage submits reports dealing with mastitis in 

 cows (" garget "). Some 70-75 per cent, of the cases are 

 associated with a streptococcus having special character- 

 istics, and termed the S. mastitidis ; but it is significant, 

 and throws doubt on the specificity of the organism, that 

 the same streptococcus was found in milk from unaffected 

 quarters of the udder. The explanation may be that, as in 

 other microbial diseases, the organism becomes pathogenic 

 1 Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Annual Reports of the Local Govern- 

 PM-ntBoard. 1907-8 and 1008-0. Supplements containing the Reports of the 

 Medical Officer for 1907-8 and 1908-9. 



NO. 2105, VOL. 83] 



only under special conditions. The streptococci present in 

 cases of human sore throat were also investigated, and 

 were found to be of the S. anginosus type. 



These two streptococci, morphologically and culturally, 

 are indistinguishable, but show marked differences in their 

 pathogenicity on animals. Thus the mastitis variety is 

 non-virulent to mice and other rodents, but is capable of 

 inducing a mastitis in goats ; the anginosus variety, on 

 the other hand, is virulent to mice, but fails to induce 

 mastitis in goats. Dr. Savage therefore suggests that it 

 may be possible to determine whether streptococcal out- 

 breaks of human throat disease are due to milk by the 

 capacity of the streptococci of the human disease to cause 

 mastitis in goats by infection of the teats. 



Dr. Savage has also continued his investigations on the 

 cultural reactions and on the presence of bacilli of the 

 Gartner group in the intestinal tract of animals, and in 

 a second report discusses the presence of paratyphoid bacilli 

 in man. It is pointed out that the hog-cholera bacilli are 

 indistinguishable from paratyphoid types, and the sug- 

 gestion of a connection between paratyphoid fever in man 

 and the bacilli so frequently found in cases of swine fever 

 is an interesting hypothesis, but the balance of evidence 

 at present available seems to be distinctly opposed to any 

 aitiological relationship. Most cases of paratyphoid fever 

 in man are probably associated with specifically con- 

 taminated food, but the precise paths of infectfon cannot 

 jet be said to have been determined. 



Reports are contributed by Dr. Sidney Martin on th 

 toxic products of streptococci. The first deals with the 

 pathogenicity and toxins of the streptococcus (S. faecalts 

 so common" in the intestinal contents. Injected intra 

 venously into rabbits, this organism produces vegetative 

 endocarditis of the mitral valve of the heart ; this may have 

 some bearing on the aetiology of acute rheumatism. The 

 endotoxin on inoculation produces fall of temperature and 

 great bodily weakness. 



In the second the mode of growth and toxic products ol 

 the streptococcus (S. pyogenes) of suppuration are investi 

 gated. . . ^ 



The occurrence of " carrier " cases in relation witH 

 enteric fever is the subiect of a memorandum by Dr 

 Theodore Thomson and Dr. Ledingham. The problem ot 

 " carrier " cases, i.e. individuals in whom the typhoid bacill 

 persist for long periods after an attack of enteric fever, 

 is a difficult and serious one. Treatment with vaccines anc 

 with sour milk have failed to eliminate the bacilli fron- 

 cases on which they have been tried. 



A very important report on the prevalence and sources 

 of tubercle bacilli in cows' milk is contributed by Prof 

 Del^pine. The conclusions are based on an examinatior 

 of 5320 samples, and 474. or 8-q per cent., proved to b( 

 tuberculous. Various administrative measures are discusse( 

 for the eradication of bovine tuberculosis. Details o 

 experiments on the effect of the storage of glvcerinate( 

 vaccine Ivmph at temperatures below the freezing poin 

 are contributed by Dr. Blaxall and Mr. Fremlin. Col( 

 storage at —5° C. for six months in no way diminishei 

 the activitv of the Ivmph, and for tvi'o years only brough 

 about a reduction in activity of about 2 per cent. 



This necessarily brief survey of the contents of thes 

 volumes may, it is to be hoped, direct attention to th 

 important researches carried out for the Local Governmen 

 Board, and prevent the papers from being overlooked b 

 those who are carrving out work in the same fields. 



R. T. Hewlett. 



SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY IN NEW ZEAL.AND. 



THE Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, New Zealan; 

 is one of several very active scientific societies 1 

 Australasia. The annual report for the year 1909, pn 

 sented to the annual meeting held last December, is a recot 

 of the continued success of the institute in its scientif 

 undertakings. During the year the publication of tf 

 results of the expedition to the sub-.\ntarctic islands pf Ne 

 Zealand was steadilv proceeded with under the editorsh; 

 of Dr. C. Chilton^ The reports upon the work wi 

 consist of two quarto volumes of about 400 pages eacl 

 and will be illustrated with numerous plates (son 

 coloured), photographs, and text-figures; they will 1 



