40 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Feb., 1905. 



REVIEWS OF BOOKS. 



Biocheraistrj' of Muscle and Nerve. \V. D. Halliburton, 

 M.D., F.R.S., pp. 160; price 7s. 6d. net (London: John 

 Murray, 1904.). — This book consists of a reprint cf two courses 

 of lectures delivered in London and the Herter lectures 

 delivered in New York. For the material of the book we have 

 nothing but eulogy, but the arrangement leaves something to 

 be desired. The book is really a republication of experimen- 

 tal lectures, and in the book Dr. Halliburton describes experi- 

 ments which he was actually performing in the lectures. The 

 reader of the printed pages cannot, however, see the perform- 

 ance of the experiments, and finds it a little exasperating to 

 read : " Let me now show you with this other freshly-killed 

 rabbit another way of making muscle plasma. . . . The 

 iron lemon-squeezer is very effective for the purpose. You see 

 the drops of muscle plasma." . . . And so on. Surely it 

 would not have taken a great deal of trouble to alter the tense 

 when preparing the lectures for press. This is our only 

 adverse criticism, for the rest we hardly know where to begin, 

 the book is so interesting. The first lecture is more or less 

 introductory, and opens with an account of the composition of 

 the muscle. A description is given of the manner in which 

 proteids can be separated from each other, in the first place 

 by fractional heat coagulation. This was demonstrated before 

 the audience in the case of muscle plasma, the first coagula- 

 tion taking place between 42° and 47', the second coagulation 

 at 56". Another method being that of salting out with 

 ammonium sulphate. '■ Thus half saturation with ammonium 

 sulphate (one of the most frequently employed of the neutral 

 salts for the fractional precipitation of proteids) will preci- 

 pitate globulins; complete saturation with this salt is neces- 

 sary to precipitate albumins." Lecture II. deals with heat 

 rigor. A muscle loses its irritability and contracts permanently 

 when gradually heated to a certain temperature, this being 

 due to the coagulation of the proteid material of the muscle. 

 Diagrams are given showing that the contractions at different 

 temperatures correspond to the coagulation temperatures 

 of the various proteids. Chemists will find Lecture IV. one of 

 the most interesting. It treats of the " extractives and salts of 

 muscle." It should also interest athletes, because the author 

 refers to the feeding of those in training, and explains that, 

 although muscle works most economically when chiefly fed on 

 proteids, during recent years feats of great endurance 

 have been carried out by men fed mainly on carbohydrates. 

 Most readers will probably remember the feats of marching 

 undertaken by the German Army upon a food consisting of a 

 few lumps of sugar or of chocolate. It appears, therefore, 

 that a more or less mixed diet is probably the best. " Meta- 

 bolism in Nervous Tissues" is the title of the seventh lecture, 

 and is illustrated by a number of very useful diagrams. The 

 study of the metabolic activity in nervous tissues involves the 

 discussion of fatigue and sleep. It is interesting to note that 

 whereas large doses of carbonic acid act upon the nerves as 

 an ana;5thetic, and therefore abolish electrical response, small 

 quantities increase its activity. " A nerve thus forms a very 

 deUcate test object for this gas; far more delicate, in fact, 

 than most chemical reactions are." Another point of interest 

 is the demonstrable fact that fatigue takes place in the nerve 

 centres and in the peripheral endings of nerve fibres, but the 

 nerve fibres themselves appear to be non-fatiguable. The 

 book interests us so much that we are tempted to give quota- 

 tions from nearly every page. This would not be fair to the 

 author, and the Editors of Knowledge would probably object 

 from reasons of space. Every medical man and others who, 

 although not having special medical training, have scientific 

 training, should read this book. The author knows how to 

 bring out the salient parts of his subject with incisive clear- 

 ness, and the fact that so much of the work has been carried 

 out by himself and co-workers adds very greatly to the value 

 of the book. 



Bacteriology and the Public Health. By George Newman, 

 M.r^. Third edition : John Murray. — There are so many 

 points of contact between public interest and the science of 

 bacteriology that a book which views the present knowledge 

 of bacteria from the standpoint of public health has claims to 

 consideration from every side. It is in the highest degree im- 

 portant that scientific men who have the ability to do so should 



j present to the popular mind in a clear and convincing manner 

 ' the bacteriological processes on which we rest our treatment 

 of some diseases, our sanitary measures and precautions, and 

 our scientific treatment of food stuffs. To take one example 

 from several others in Dr. Newman's chapters, there is the 

 question of immunity from disease. The bacteriological prin- 

 ciple of immunity, divested of the many complexities with 

 which Ehrlich and Welch and others have sought to clear up 

 certain diificulties and contradictions, is briefly this : That 

 when the blood is infected with any bacterial poison a specific 

 antidote is detached from the blood's corpuscles to combat the 

 poison ; and that this antidote remains in the blood after the 

 poison has been met and vanquished. Thus in order to culti- 

 vate the antidote we infect the blood with a mild dose of 

 poison, and the blood in response prepares a quantity of anti- 

 dote which will resist the onset of the poison if it should 

 appear in large quantities. It is on this principle that we 

 vaccinate as a preventive against smallpox ; that we vaccinated 

 with a sort of broth of typhoid bacteria, in order to preserve 

 our soldiers in the South African war from enteric ; that we 

 prepare a serum in the veins of the horse as an antidote 

 against diphtheria ; or that we tried to find an antidote to the 

 poison of the tubercle bacillus. Some of the processes by 

 which immunity' can be artificially secured from such treat- 

 ment of the blood have been successes ; some have been 

 failures; and some, though believed by scientific authorities 

 to have the germs of success in them, have excited profound 

 public mistrust. In the case of one method, that of anti- 

 typhoid vaccination, the distrust among soldiers and sailors 

 was sufficiently manifest to make the Government abate the 

 use of Professor Wright's vaccine, probably because they felt 

 that its continued use might prejudice recruiting. That was 

 a quite legitimate exercise of caution on the part of the 

 Government ; and they might also plead on behalf of their 

 action (though Professor Wright has produced figures which 

 strongly support his contention that the vaccine is efficacious) 

 that bacteriologists are divided in opinion concerning the 

 Wright vaccine. It is maintained by some that his method 

 of sterilising the bacteria does not extract, as it were, the 

 intra-cellular poison in efficacious proportions. But whatever 

 may be the truth about this particular remedy, it is of the 

 highest importance that the public should approach these new 

 methods of treatment with understanding and without pre- 

 judice. Dr. Newman's book is not a text-book; and it does 

 not treat this subject very fully. It rather presents con- 

 clusions than justifies them. We call attention to this par- 

 ticular brevity in the present edition because we should like 

 to see it remedied in a future one, for we believe that there is 

 hardly any question which, in the public interest, should be 

 made more clear to them than the principles on which the 

 bacteriological treatment of disease rests. But if in the one 

 instance we have chosen Dr. Newman appears to err on the 

 side of conciseness, we cannot refrain from expressing our 

 highest admiration for the masterly digest he has made of the 

 many subjects of the highest public importance which are 

 bound up with bacteriology, and for the extremely able manner 

 in which he has presented the very latest information and 

 theories in respect of them. Among the subjects, as amply 

 illustrated as summarised, are Bacteria in Air and Water, the 

 Bacteriology of Sewage, Bacteria in Milk, Bacteria in Foods, 

 Tropical Diseases, Tuberculosis Immunity, and Anti-toxins 

 and Disinfection. The earlier chapters are a .summary of 

 bacterial biology and theory. 



Birds of Russian Lapland, by Henry J. Pearson, Mr. 

 Pearson is a most enthusiastic ornithologist, who has 

 made the north of Europe for many seasons his hunting 

 ground. His ardent search for the nesting places of birds 

 has led him into many wild countries in northern regions. A 

 few years ago some of these journeys and their results were 

 described in " Beyond Petsora Eastward," and " Three 

 Summers among the Birds of Russian Lapland " may be called 

 a sequel to that volume. The work of three seasons included 

 that of i«t)fj, when the author visited the coast of Russian 

 Lapland; that of kjoi, when he voyaged to the Kanin 

 Peninsula on the cast side of the White Sea ; and that of 1903, 

 when the interior of Russian Lapland was visited. The book 

 is arranged in the form of a diary; its contents will be 

 especially valuable to those interested in the species of birds 

 which nest in the north, many of which — such as fieldfare.s, 



