1 66 



NATURE 



[October 31, 19 18 



each of these attacks. The year 189J is 

 referred to as the worst period, but at the date men- 

 lie- Registrar-General says "one death was 

 primarily attributed to influenza." In lieu of 1891 the 

 92 should have been given, when for the week 

 ending January 23 the deaths in London were 506. 

 The quiescence of the disease lasting three-and-twenty 

 years is scarcely tenable, as shown by the above facts. 



The total number of deaths from influenza for the 

 past summer epidemic was 929 (not 1600), based on 

 the reasoning followed in all epidemics since 1890. In 

 the attack now in progress the total deaths (371) in 

 London for the week ending October 19 were more 

 than in any epidemic since 1895, when the deaths in 

 the week ending March 19 were 473. 



Since 1890 no influenza epidemic has occurred in 

 London in September, only one (the present year) in 

 August, two in October, two in July, three in June, 

 and four in November. 1 Of the total twenty-eight 

 epidemics twenty-four have occurred in March and 

 twenty-one in February. 



Although the weather seems to have little bearing 

 on the disease, the temperature generally has been 

 abnormally high and the air humid at the outbreak of 

 several of the epidemics, whilst when the air becomes 

 cold and dry the incidence of the disease is commonly 

 reduced. Chas. Harding. 



65 Holmewood Gardens, London, S.W. 



Supplies of Amoeba proteus for Laboratories. 



One of the ways in which the war has interfered 

 with zoological teaching in this country is by cutting 

 off supplies of various of the animal types which 

 are examined by the student in the laboratory. 

 Amongst these, as has already been indicated by 

 letters to Nature, is Amoeba — the animal with the 

 study of which many zoological courses commence. 



It is easy enough to obtain Amoeba? of a kind, but what 

 the teacher requires is a supply of the large Amoeba 

 which commonly goes under the name A, proteus. 

 Of this, again, it is easy enough to obtain a few 

 specimens, but the teacher — at least, if he has a 

 class of nearly four hundred students, as is the case 

 in this University — must be able to obtain a thousand 

 or more specimens on a particular date. 



With the object of grappling with our local difficul- 

 ties in this matter, Dr. Monica Taylor, S.N.D., has 

 been so good as to make a special study of 

 the distribution of A. proteus in the neighbourhood of 

 Glasgow, and of its culture in the laboratory. Pend- 

 le publication of her paper on the subject, I think 

 lie useful to other teachers of zoology if I 

 summarise in a few words her chief results. 



During the months June to December A. proteus 

 to be of general occurrence in moorland lakes 

 and ponds, while it disappears from December to 

 May -no doubt becoming encysted, as described by 

 Miss i oc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edin., vol. xix., 



1915). The main conditioning factors of its occurrence 

 appear to bi tood supply and a rich supply 



of oxygen. \i larently ideal spot is one where 



richly oXygenati from the overflow of a pond 



passes over mud rich in organic debris. 



The supplies of Amosba ol : lined in such a localitv 

 are placed in aquaria in which the water is richly 

 terated either by w; d or by a special ap- 



paratus, and as a soui I food supply grains of 



wheat are mixed with tl mud, as suggested by 

 Hyman. In this way 1 h . , s succeeded, as 



ays, in obtaining "mil'., of Amoebae in 



laboratory cultures. J. Graham Kerr. 



■ sity of Glasgow, Octobi 



1. 2557, VOL - I02 ] 



ALCOHOL IN INDUSTRY. 



NOI the least remarkable result of the war on 

 this country will be its effect on the develop- 

 ment of chemical industry, and especially in the 

 application of organic chemistry to the chemical 

 arts. This, of course, has primarily resulted from 

 the (lining- off of the large supplies of manufac- 

 tured organic products — mainly synthetic dyes and 

 drug's, photographic chemicals, and numerous 

 other substances comprehended under the term 

 "fine chemicals" — which prior to 1914 mainly 

 came to us from Germany. Thrown thus upon 

 our own resources, we were compelled, in the in- 

 terests of national health and welfare, to attempt 

 the manufacture of certain of the more important 

 of these products. Great difficulties were experi- 

 enced at the outset, owing to our lack of experi- 

 ence and the absence of skilled assistance. The 

 supply of chemists with any real training in the 

 application of organic chemistry to industry was 

 very far short of the sudden demand. We were 

 overtaken by a Nemesis invoked by our own in- 

 activity and lack of foresight. It is only within 

 recent years that the teaching of organic chemistry 

 has received any considerable amount of attention 

 in our universities and technical colleges. For 

 the most part it has been regarded as a purely 

 academic subject, to be studied in the interests 

 of pure science, and with no thought to its tech- 

 nical application as a branch of manufacturing 

 chemistry. Except to the few who sought to fit 

 themselves for a career in science, mainly as 

 teachers, there was little or no inducement to 

 pursue its study, as there were very few oppor- 

 tunities in this country to turn a knowledge of it 

 to practical account. 



The situation at the outbreak of war was further 

 aggravated by the action of the Army authorities 

 in drafting such trained men as were available into 

 the combatant ranks. But, notwithstanding these 

 disadvantageous circumstances, an astonishing 

 amount of progress has been made. As regards 

 medicaments our manufacturers have risen to the 

 demands made upon them. In spite of many set- 

 backs due to inexperience and ignorance, and the 

 lack of adequate plant, we have it on the testi- 

 mony of the highest authorities that the Services 

 are now adequately supplied with every needful 

 drug. In this respect our men, and the country 

 generally, are infinitely better off than our enemies. 

 It is notorious that Germany, in spite of all her 

 boasted power of organisation, has failed lament- 

 ably in meeting the necessities of her Medical 

 Service, and an untold amount of suffering, 

 permanent injury, and a greatly increased mor- 

 tality have thereby resulted. 



As regards synthetic dyes, if the progress has 

 not been relatively so striking or so adequate as 

 in the ease of drugs, it has at least been very con- 

 siderable. We are very far from being alongside 

 Germany yet, either in the amount or the range 

 of our output, but we are in a fair way of being 

 able to meet our more urgent demands. It is 

 impossible in five years to make up the leeway of 

 fifty, especially of fifty years of strenuous and 



