Fl BRUARV 6, T 9 1 9] 



NATURE 



447 



and they art- not wanting in incentive. "What 

 we do lack is the ' follow through ' thoroughly to 

 search out and master a problem in all its details, 

 generalities, and side issues, before turning our 

 attention to new problems. To minds teeming 

 with ideas all clamouring for attention it is not 

 easy to ignore the many thai a few ma) receive 

 fuller attention." How true this is may be seen 

 by contrasting the methods pursued in German 

 schools ol chemistry, where a single conception 

 is hunted to death, as it were, by the profeSSOl 

 and his pack of collaborators, who follow it 

 through innumerable ramifications, like a harried 

 hare. It would constitute an interesting statistical 

 exercise to determine the number of Ph.D.'s 

 which have been created by chasing special ideas, 

 with tlie professor as a whipper-in. Of course, the 



method is not without its advantages in the inte- 

 rests of knowledge, bul its real educative value 

 may be doubled, and it certainly does not conduce 

 to develop any latent creative power in the 

 student. It is more frequently directed to serve 

 the interest of the professor than that of his 



pupils. 



Another sonnr of Germany's prestige arose 

 from the comparative cheapness of printing and 

 publication in that country. Struggling men ol 

 I ed out a meagre salary by compiling 

 books which were readily accepted for publication 

 on a narrow margin of profit. Xew serials and 

 journals, and works of reference, were easily 

 stalled, to find their way into university libraries 

 and State-aided institutions throughout the world 

 as more or less authoritative and indispensable. 

 1 In output ol scientific and technical literature, 

 good, bad, and indifferent, was, in fact, prolific. 



Dr. Nutting ((intends that alien students, uni- 

 versity professors, and technical men working in 

 Germany have aided greatly in building up her 

 scientific prestige. These aliens, he calculates, 

 represented fully 10 per cent, in each class — 

 "clear 'velvet ' to her, and a corresponding loss 

 to their own countries." The students came, he 

 states, in about equal numbers from Russia, 

 England, and the United States, with a few^ from 

 Si indinavia, Switzerland, and Japan, but scarcely 

 any French or other Latins. The inducements 

 were easy matriculation and graduation, while 

 fees and living expenses were very moderate — 

 barely half those at Oxford or Cambridge. 

 "The instruction itself was hardly worth any 

 special effort, but it was accessible, and it differed 

 from the home product." 



German universities have in the past drawn 

 freely upon foreign countries for their instructors. 

 It has been estimated that a third of the more 

 d German men of science were foreign-born — 

 Russians, Dutch, and Sw iss. These, for the most 

 part, soon became Teutonised, and were there- 

 after regarded as Germans. The Jews, too, whom 

 the typical Teuton regards as aliens, and secretlv 

 dislikes and despises, have contributed in no small 

 measure to the fame of his universities. 



German (.ipitalists have always welcomed and 

 NO. 2571, VOL. I02] 



been ready to exploit technical men of ability, no 

 matter of what nationality, and a large proportion 

 of the better-known German manufactures have 

 originated in France, Italy, England, or America. 



Such are the main factors which, in Dr. Nut- 

 ting's opinion, have contributed to Germany's 

 scientific and technical prestige. "Plagiarism 

 and piracy," he asserts, "were common practices, 

 and from personal knowledge I doubt whether a 

 third of even the more eminent German scientists 

 were free from this taint. Further, the work of 

 foreigners was taught as the work of Hermans in 

 both literature and science. Neither fairy tale 

 nor scientific discovery, if in an obscure publica- 

 tion, was safe from adoption as their own, while 

 the misleading of the young student was easy and 

 common. " 



Aliena optimum frui insania. American men of 

 science have the wisdom to profit by the errors 

 of the enemy. The war has taught them how to 

 mobilise their man power and to organise their 

 forces of productive achievement. Thev will, 

 however, not take over that particular code of 

 ethics or standard of literary and scientific 

 morality and conduct bv which modern Germany, 

 in her too eager desire for wealth and power, 

 has lowered herself in the estimation of the 

 civilised world. 



CLEAN MILK. 

 T'HE importance of clean milk, by which is 

 ■*■ meant a milk free from visible dirt and 

 having a low bacterial content, has been recog- 

 nised for many years, and various attempts have 

 been made to improve the general milk supply. 

 To a large extent these have failed owing to the 

 conditions which have been supposed to be neces- 

 sary to attain this end, involving considerable ex- 

 penditure in reconstruction of buildings and exten- 

 sive modifications in methods and plant — altera- 

 tions which, setting aside cost, it is difficult to 

 induce the average farmer and dairyman to adopt. 



Recent work, however, has shown that by- 

 adopting comparatively simple methods, involving 

 little monetary outlay and but slight modifications 

 in manipulation, it is possible to produce a rela- 

 tivelv clean milk vastly superior to that ordinarily 

 supplied. 



In a Bulletin (Xo. 642, 1918) published by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture Messrs. 

 Ayers, Cook, and Clemmer show that it is possible 

 for the average dairyman on the average farm to 

 produce milk practically free from visible dirt 

 and, when fresh, with a low bacterial content by 

 the adoption of three simple factors. These are 

 (1) the use of sterilised vessels, (2) clean cows 

 with clean udders and teats, and (3) the small-top 

 milking-pail. If the milk is to retain its low bac- 

 terial content for any time a fourth factor is 

 necessary, viz. the keeping of the milk at as near a 

 temperature of 50 F. as possible. Each of the 

 factors mentioned contributes something to the 

 lowering of the dirt and bacterial content, as 



