378 



NATURE 



[May 26, 1910 



farce of the "reserve" system at present is, first, 

 that the local white and black population do not obey 

 the law, and the local authorities seldom enforce it, 

 and second, that the Government is somewhat too 

 ready to set aside the law in favour of distinguished 

 sportsmen. 



In no book which the reviewer has yet seen have 

 the great beasts, the landscapes, and the people been 

 more admirably photographed than in this work on 

 Zambezia, while at the same time due justice is done 

 to the Portuguese towns, the Portuguese officials, 

 and generally to such civilisation as Portugal has been 

 ab'e to introduce into these lands. 



H. H. Johnston. 



PELLAGRA AND ITS CAUSE. 



A GOOD deal of notice has been taken lately in 

 -^~*- medical journals and in the newspapers of the 

 disease pellagra. It is difficult for British folk to 

 realise the scourge this disease causes in many coun- 

 tries, but chiefly in Italy, Roumania, Spain, Tyrol, 

 and other countries in south-eastern Europe. In the 

 United States of America, pellagra has spread recently 

 to an alarming extent, and in several British colonies 

 and protectorates, markedly the West Indies and 

 Egypt, pellagra is a serious ailment. Persons who 

 contract the disease present a train of symptoms 

 which may be summarised as follows : — " sunburning " 

 of face, neck, chest, and hands is an early and very 

 prevalent manifestation ; stomachic and intestinal 

 catarrh ; feverishness ; skin rash ; lassitude and weak- 

 ness. Spring and autumn recurrences continuing for 

 years further tend to mental excitement and bodily 

 weakness, leading all too frequently to lunacy and a 

 fatal issue. 



The disease has hitherto been attributed to eating 

 damaged maize, which is so largely consumed as 

 ■polenta," the "porridge" of Italy. In the United 

 States maize is termed Indian corn, and under v'arious 

 names it is used in many countries. In 1905 Dr. 

 L. \V. Sambon, at a meeting of the Tropical Section 

 of the British Medical Association, criticised the 

 accepted theory, pointing out that pellagra did not 

 seem to be a food disease or due in any way to un- 

 sound maize, but that in all probability it was due to 

 a parasite — a protozoon. Dr. Sambon supported his 

 theory by arguments based upon the well-established 

 priniciples applicable to protozoal infections, and put 

 in a form which appealed to men of science. His 

 theory gained adherents until it gradually came to be 

 considered a duty to humanity and to science that the 

 question should be fully inquired into. With this 

 object in view, a Pellagra Investigation Committee 

 was formed in London by Mr. James Cantlie, and Dr. 

 Sambon was sent to Italy on March 20, 1910. 



At present the field commission in Italy, consisting 

 of Dr. Sambon and his assistants, is engaged in 

 inquiring into the epidemiology of pellagra. Many 

 pellagrous districts in northern Italy have been visited 

 and the banks of the streams searched for possible 

 carriers of the disease. The field commission has 

 come to the conclusion that pellagra occurs amongst 

 the cultivators and not amongst the consumers of 

 maize ; that it is the agricultural labourer, not the 

 town dweller, who suffers from pellagra, and 

 that it is whilst working in the field that 

 the labourer becomes infected. In a telegram 

 dated Rome, May 13, and published in the Times, 

 May 14, Dr. Sambon states that it "has been 

 definitely proved that maize is not the cause of 

 pellagra." In. addition the telegram assures us that 

 "the parasitic conveyer is the Simulium reptans.'' 



NO. 2 1 17, VOL. 83] 



The Simulium is a species of fly commonly called 

 "sandfly"; its larvae are met with on the rocks an 

 stones along the streams in pellagrous countries, an 

 Dr. Sambon seems to connect this fly with the sprea 

 of pellagra. 



So far as we know. Dr. Sambon has not found tb 

 parasite, nor is there direct proof that the Simuliur 

 is the actual carrier. That he has found cause for th 

 statement that eating maize is not the cause of th 

 disease is highlv probable, for several men of scieno 

 such as Babes (Roumania) and Alessandrini (Rome 

 • have declared in favour of Sambon 's theory, and ha> 

 been working on the lines suggested by him for th 

 elucidation of pellagra. Even with the announcemer 

 above quoted, stating what work has been done, thei 

 is much yet to do. Questions of the kind are nc 

 settled in a day, and it may take years of inquir 

 before we have finally settled what Dr. Sambon h£ 

 so well begun. 



The fact that it is a duty to humanity and t 

 science that pellagra should be investigated does nc 

 provide the necessary money, and the committee i 

 London has endeavoured to keep the inquiry goin 

 by appealing to friends to help. So far some 245 

 have been actually collected, and further sums have bee 

 guaranteed ; but even should the Government favot 

 the work by contributing the 150/. which the con 

 mittee was led to believe might be the case, the sui 

 is quite inadequate, and unless further donations ai 

 speedily to hand the field commission must be recalle 

 from Italy in a fortnight. Sir Lauder Brunton, Bart 

 is the chairman of the committee; Prof. F. M. Sane 

 with vice-chairman ; the bankers are the London an 

 South-Western Bank, Great Portland Street branch 

 and donations may be sent to the treasurer, Di 

 Clement Godson, 82 Brook Street, W., or to Mi 

 James Cantlie, 140 Harley Street, London, W 

 honorary secretary. Pellagra Investigation Committei 



NOTES. 



For some time past a scheme for the distribution < 

 time signals by wireless telegraphy has been mooted wil 

 the view of assisting navigation and for the determinatic 

 of longitude. The Eiffel Tower in Paris and the sumrr 

 of Teneriffe have been proposed as suitable sites for tl 

 emission of these signals, and we now learn that the pk 

 for which M. Bouquet de la Grye and Commandant Guy< 

 are more especially responsible is so far complete that tl 

 first signals were dispatched from the former station 

 midnight on May 23. The Paris correspondent of tl 

 Morning Post states that Paris time was transmitted fro 

 the observatory by way of the Eiffel Tower by wirele 

 telegraphy to all wireless stations and ships fitted wi 

 wireless apparatus within a radius of between 2500 a 

 3000 miles. The system is an automatic one, and a Mor 

 sign is sent into space first at midnight, again two minul 

 after midnight, and, finally, four minutes after mi 

 night. Thus, steamers furnished with wireless telegrapl 

 apparatus will no doubt be placed in a more favoural 

 position, but the suggestion that has been made in soi 

 quarters, that chronometers can be dispensed with, seei 

 premature. The receipt of a signal will not enable 

 ship to determine its position or even its longitude. . 

 it will do is to give the error of the chronometer. T 

 ship's officers will not be able to forgo the use of Sumi 

 lines and other devices, and for these the knowledge 

 local time and the use of a ship's chronometers will 

 convenient. It may be desirable to point out here wl 

 is the kind of error in longitude to which in these ds 

 of accurate navigation a ship is liable, or what is ■ 





