APRIL 15, 1 897 | 
NATURE 567 
Scope, situated at Arequipa, has also been very extensively used, 
the chief work being the photography of the spectra of the 
brighter southern stars with one, two, and three prisms. The 
report further describes the work done at the meteorological 
stations, and concludes with a brief summary of the recent publi- 
cations, and those which are in or nearly ready for press. 
THE INTERNATIONAL UNIFICATION OF T1ME.—The ques- 
tion of France adopting Greenwich time, or, as they would 
prefer to call it, Paris time, minus nine minutes twenty-one 
seconds, seems to be still in the air. Nearly all other countries 
have come into line on the subject, with the exception of Spain 
and Portugal. These last-mentioned would, no doubt, soon 
complete the harmony if only France would take the lead. 
England, Belgium, Holland, and Luxemburg possess to-day 
West European time. Central European time is adopted by 
Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, 
while Russia (nearly to one minute), Roumania, Bulgaria, and 
European Turkey use Eastern European time. In Japan the 
legal time is nine hours in advance of Greenwich, and in Australia 
and New Zealand the time zones used are 8, 9, 10, and II 
hours earlier than Greenwich. Canada and the United States 
have for some years used four zones, namely, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 
hours behind Greenwich time. An article summing up the 
information on this question of time is contributed to the Revue 
Sctentefigue (No. 14, April 3), and the question of the advis- 
ability of adopting Greenwich time is strongly advocated by the 
writer, M. Ch. Lallemand. In his summary he mentions the 
probable motives that have led M. Boudenoot, deputy of the 
Pas-de-Calais, to submit to the Chamber the following pro- 
position, which is more simple than that which has been pre- 
viously suggested, namely : *‘ The legal time in France and in 
Algeria, is the mean time of Paris retarded by nine minutes 
twenty-one seconds.” The writer's concluding words are: 
“* Reduced to this and stripped of all which could hurt the 
susceptibilities of the most delicate, one may hope that this pro- 
jected reform will meet with the reception that it deserves, both 
by Parliament and the public; that is to say, the unanimous | 
approval of tows les hommes de progres.” 
KOCH S RECENT RESEARCHES ON 
TUBERCULIN. 
URING the last couple of weeks there have appeared in the 
various lay and medical journals long accounts of an im- 
proved method of preparing and using tuberculin. Koch and 
his assistants, no doubt disappointed at the results of the 
premature application of the tuberculin treatment, have, for 
seven years, worked away steadily to try to counteract some of the 
damage done by irresponsible enthusiasts in 1890. How far they 
have succeeded will be gathered by those who carefully weigh the 
work that has now been published. Disregarding Koch’s in- 
structions that the cases of tuberculosis to be subjected to the 
tuberculin treatment should be carefully selected, and that 
tuberculin should not be tried in any but comparatively early 
' cases, physicians threw aside tuberculin as being not only of no 
use, but absolutely injurious, and taking into consideration the 
class of case on which it was tried they were right. The febrile 
reaction may or may not have been injurious in the majority of 
cases, but in a certain proportion it was undoubtedly associated 
with exacerbations of the disease and a general deterioration in 
the condition of the patient. A few workers, however, have all 
along maintained that in properly selected cases the exhibition 
of tuberculin has undoubtedly proved beneficial, whilst as a 
diagnostic agent, especially in tuberculosis of cattle, it has 
opened up the possibility of gradually eliminating tuberculosis 
from our farms and dairies. Tuberculosis, however, has 
never been brought into line, as regards the production 
of immunity, with tetanus, anthrax, diphtheria, and certain 
similar diseases. But a step in advance in this direction has now 
been made by Koch, as is evidenced by the publication of his 
most recent work, He points out that in the case of tubercle, 
unlike many other diseases, an infection, in place of protecting, 
rather predisposes to new attacks of the disease. On the other 
hand, there appear to be certain conditions, such as those met 
with in acute miliary tuberculosis, under which the tubercle 
bacilli disappear ; from this he argues that immunisation only 
takes place when, as in general tuberculosis, the whole body is 
invaded by great masses of tubercle bacilli, which thus come in 
contact with comparatively healthy tissues. Having determined 
NO. 1433, VOL. 55] 
; the bodies of the bacilli are the immunising agents. 
this, it becomes necessary to find out whether the products of 
the bacillus failing to give immunity, the substance contained in 
By means 
of a decinormal soda solution, he partially broke down, or 
extracted, the tubercle bacilli; with the fluid thus obtained 
(T.A., or alkaline tuberculin), he made a series of injections, 
and found that this substance acts very much as did his original 
glycerine tuberculin, producing both local and general reactions, 
but acting more powerfully; and he found that relapses were 
undoubtedly less frequent when this substance was used than 
when the original tuberculin was injected. If the remains 
of the bodies of the tubercle bacilli were left in this 
fluid, abscesses were formed when large quantities were 
injected, but such abscess formation was immediately prevented 
when the fluid was filtered. The tuberculin in this form, how- 
ever, required to be used in a fresh condition, and, therefore, 
could not be applied on any very extensive scale. The bodies 
of tubercle bacilli he found are covered with a layer containing 
two sebacic (fatty) acids, one of which is soluble in dilute alcohol, 
and is easily saponified ; the other, soluble only in boiling alcohol 
or ether, is not so readily saponified. These fatty acids form a 
layer which protects the bacillus, and prevents its being ab- 
sorbed from the seat of injection, with the result that it remains 
and sets up a powerful local suppurative reaction. By pounding 
these organisms in a dry condition, then adding distilled water 
and centrifugalising, then by drying the sediment and repounding 
until the whole of it is dissolved, Koch has been able to obtain the 
substances of the bodies of the bacilliin an absorbable condition. 
These substances, he says, appear to be divided into two sets: 
those contained in a whitish, opalescent, transparent supernatant 
fluid, which contain no bacilli, and a muddy deposit, which 
contains the solid bacilli. The upper layer contains most of the 
substance soluble in glycerine. This upper layer is very like the 
| ordinary tuberculin, and acts like that substance, but more 
powerfully ; whilst the lower layer, or the tuberculin remainder 
(T.R.), has an even more distinct immunising effect. Used in 
very large doses it produces a general reaction (rise of tempera- 
ture, loss of appetite, &c.); but used in smaller doses, 
gradually increasing as quickly as the patient’s condi- 
tion will allow, and avoiding a general reaction, it sets 
up an immunity against the T.R. substance; indeed, Koch 
shows that any case which can be rendered proof against T.R. 
can also be rendered proof against the tubercle bacillus itself. 
Without going into the question of dosage, it may be insisted 
that this substance should never be given so as to producea 
rise of temperatur® of more than half a degree. If the disease is 
| advanced the substance appears to exert little or no effect, but as 
a protective agent and asa curative agent applied at an early 
stage of infection, acertain proportion of experimentally infected 
guinea-pigs could be beneficially influenced. So far, as with 
tuberculin, the best results have been achieved with cases of 
lupus (or skin tubercle), and here the improvement obtained has 
been far greater than that produced by the use of tuberculin, 
though Koch guards his position by saying that though many of 
the cases may be regarded as cured in the ordinary sense of the 
word, it is, he thinks, prematuré to use the word cure before a 
sufficient time has passéd without a relapse. Jt is, however, 
important to note that in none of the numerous cases treated were 
the patients injuriously affected. There was a steady increase 
in weight, and the variations of temperature, so marked in the 
tubercular patient, were distinctly diminished, and the general 
condition of the patient improved. 
The interest that attaches to these experiments does not end 
at this point, for it is evident, if an immunity against the action 
of the bacilli and their poisons can be obtained, that the treat- 
ment of tubercle may ere long be brought into line with the 
treatment of some of the other specific infective diseases, and 
that by an extension of Koch’s and Maragliano’s methods still 
further advances in the treatment of tubercle may be made. 
What will strike those who have followed the development of 
Koch’s method of treatment from the time that he discovered 
the bacillus to the present moment, is the ingenuity, perspica- 
city, and tenacious adherence to one idea that has characterised 
the whole of Koch’s reasoning and experiments. It is not too 
much to say that through his early work we have the hope that 
tuberculosis may gradually be eradicated from cattle, whilst as 
the result of his later experiments there appears to be some 
promise that for the human subject protection against the 
ravages of tuberculosis and even cure may be obtained. 
; G. Sims WoopHEAD. 
