570 



NA TURE 



[August 15, 1895 



removal of both suprarenal capsules results in rapid 

 death, which is preceded by great muscular weakness, 

 diminished tone of the vascular system, and some nervous 

 symptoms : a combination of events which is seen 

 in Addison's disease, which is a disease of these organs. 

 From the medullar)- portion of the gland, Schiifer has 

 obtained an extract containing an active substance which 

 is remarkable as producing its effects in ver>' small doses 

 (as little as ji milligrams in a dog weighing lo kilos.), 

 and as being capable of withstanding for some time the 

 temperature of boiling water. This substance increases 

 the duration of the contraction of muscle, as tested by 

 the apparatus ordinarily in use in the physiological 

 laborator)' : but it has a more remarkable effect in greatly 

 increasing the blood pressure, a result following a direct 

 action on the peripheral arteries. In the case of the 

 suprarenal capsule, there is thus distinct evidence of 

 internal secretion ; that is, of the presence in one part of 

 the gland of a substance which has a well-marked physio- 

 logical effect. Into all the questions arising out of this 

 subject it is impossible now to enter. The subject is one of 

 vast importance to scientific practical medicme. .^s the 

 results of future investigation, we may hope to obtain 

 not only a greater knowledge of the pathology of some 

 obscure nutritional diseases, but some indications for their 

 relief and treatment. This has already been accom- 

 plished in the case of my.\a:dema, in which the thyroid 

 gland is degenerated, and in which very great benefit is 

 obtained by feeding the patients with fresh thyroid gland, 

 or by injecting the extract. 



One other scientific result of the annual meeting may 

 be viewed. It is the predominant place now given in 

 the study of disease to the question of infection. .'\11 

 disease is not infective, but infection, in thcon', has for 

 many decades played an important part in pathology. 

 The great change which has come over medical science 

 is, that the question of infection is now studied from an 

 experimental point of view. \'ague theories have given 

 place to facts, which are of prime importance, not only 

 in the understanding of disease, but in its treatment. 

 In the investigation of diseased, as well as of normal 

 functions, the application of chemical methods has been 

 of great service, and is destined to be of still greater 

 importance. 



The accurate study of infection deals with a far wider 

 subject than the characteristics of the infective agent ; 

 since it is also concerned with the reaction of the 

 body against the micro-organism and the poisonous 

 chemical substances this produces. The study of this 

 reaction of bod>' has, from the morphological point of 

 view, given a clearer view of the processes occurring in 

 intlanimation ; and from the chemical point of view, it 

 has opened up a wide field of possible therapeutical 

 agents. The prospect is one which is reassuring for the 

 future. The fact that infection is being so closely studied, 

 and that the infective agents in so many diseases have been 

 isolated, is of great importance to the human race ; since 

 infection is preventible. The fact that the body, in re- 

 .11 lini; against an infective disease, produces a substance 

 counteracts invasion, as well as the poisonous 

 ■ ^ formed by the infective agent, is of as great im- 

 poriance as the first point ; since an infective disease may 

 tjc cured. .-\t the annual meeting, the discussion on 

 pneumonia as an infective disease — a discussion which 

 wf)ultl have been impossible, and would even have been 

 considered ludicrous only a few years ;igo — as well as the 

 discussion on the utility of the diphtheria anti-toxin, 

 1'' lie points mentioned. In the discussion on 



'• he great majority of the speakers, both those 



MiiM ■ •■!. iilercd the subject from the scientific aspect 

 and those who looked at it siniply from the j>ractical 

 |>oint (if view, .igrecd (hat the use of the anti-to\m in the 

 disease was not only based on a firm scientific basis, but 

 that it had completely changed the aspect of the disease. 



NO. 1346, VOL. 52] 



Whatever the limitations of the treatment by anti-ioxic 

 serum may in the future be proved to be, there can be 

 but little doubt that its discovery marks an epoch in the 

 treatment of infective disease. 



THE IPSWICH MEETING OF THE BRITISH 

 ASSOC I A TION. 



npHE arrangements for the meeting of the British 

 -'■ Association at Ipswich this autumn are making 

 rapid progress. The General Election somewhat inter- 

 rupted the preparations of the local secretaries, but the 

 excitement bemg now over, general attention in the 

 locality is again centred on the coming visit of the 

 .Association, and great efforts are being made in the 

 town and neighbourhood to ensure the success of the 

 meeting. The chief public buildings in the town are 

 just emerging from the hands of the painter and decor- 

 ator. The reception room will be located in the Town 

 Hall, the council chamber being the room actually set 

 apart for the purpose, whilst the library will be the 

 writing room. The I'resident's address and the evening 

 discourses will be delivered in the public hall, as will 

 also the lecture to working men. In the matter of 

 Section rooms, the Local Committee will be able to offer 

 the .Association very good accommodation, as there are 

 fortunately a number of suitable rooms and halls in the 

 town within a very short distance of each other, and all are 

 close to the reception room. The two halls at the tlirls' 

 High School, which were formerly the New .Assembly 

 Rooms, and were used for the reception room and for 

 Section E on the occasion of the Ipswich meeting in 1851, 

 will be allotted to Section .A .Mathematical and Physical 

 Science) and Section B (Chemistrv). .About two hundred 

 yards distant is the Co-operative Hall, in which Section 

 G (Mechanical Science) will meet. Section C i^tJeolog)') 

 will be accommodated in the Art Gallery adjoining 

 the -Museum. Section I) (Zoology) and the new Sec- 

 tion K (Botany) will have, respectively, the banquet 

 room and the lodge room at the Masimic Hall. The 

 Lecture Hall, adjoining the Ipswich Institute, will be 

 given over to .Section E (Geography), whilst across the 

 street, the Working Men's College (formerly known as 

 the Old .Assembly Rooms) will be set apart for .Section H 

 (Anthropology). 



The proceedings will commence on the evening of 

 Wednesday, September 1 1, when the Marquis of Salis- 

 bury will retire from the presidential chair, and Sir 

 Douglas Galton will take his place. The new President 

 will then proceed lo deliver his address. The second 

 evening will, as usual, be devoted to a conversazione, 

 which will probably be held in the museum and the 

 adjoining buildings, used as art and technical schools. 

 On Kriclay evening Prof Silvanus P. Thompson will 

 deliver a lecture on " Magnetism in Rotation.'' On 

 Monday evening Prof. Percy I', l-rankland will discourse 

 on "the work of Pasteur and its various developments," 

 and on Tuesday there will be a soiree given by the 

 Ipswich Scientific Society and the Suffolk Institute of 

 Archaology jointly. 'Hiis, like the first soirc'e, will pro- 

 bably be held in the Museum buildings. The lecture to 

 working men will be given on the Saturday evening by 

 Dr. Alfred H. Kison, who takes "Colour" for his subject. 

 In response to a special invitation which the Local 

 Committee issued to foreign men of science, the follow- 

 ing gentlemen have signified their intention of being 

 present at the meeting -. — Prof A. Gobert (Brussels),. 

 Prof W. E. Ritler I Heidelberg), Rev. T. Adams (Canada), 

 M. j. Dantzcnburg (Paris), Dr. O. Maas ( Munichj, M. Bnulc 

 (Museinn d'llisloire naturelle, Paris), Prof Ira Remsen 

 (Johns Hopkins L'niversity. U.S..A.), Prof Runge (Han- 

 over), Prof E. C. Hansen (Copenhagen), Dr. van 

 Rijckevorsel I Rotterdam). M.G. Dolfus (Paris), His Excel- 

 lency Don Arturo de M.ircoartu, M. E. van den Kmcck. 



