SEPTEMBER 18, 1913] 
NATURE 
61 
R.A.M.C., has demonstrated the scientific truth of 
this. He has shown in a way which must carry com- 
plete conviction, that cases of benign and malignant 
tertian malaria, even very grave cases with cerebral 
symptoms, in all of which, as his results show, 
quinine had proved quite useless to stem the disease 
and to prevent relapses, from one to three injections 
of pancreatic enzymes sufficed not merely to kill all 
the parasites, but to cure the patient. Relapses in the 
‘patients—which had been the rule in very nearly all 
the cases—did not occur after this brief treatment, and 
the men (British soldiers) were able to return to duty 
at once, even in some instances on the day of the 
second or third injection. That is to say—and it is a 
a for great scientific satisfaction—the original 
work, which I began in 1888, has now resulted inthe 
easy and complete -conquest of malaria. What this 
‘means can be understood from the facts concerning 
_ the treatment of malignant malaria, which at present 
'is the rule in the Army. This entails a course of 
treatment by quinine lasting at least four months, 
and very often, if not always, even then the patient 
is not cured. But I understand that during this time 
_ the soldier is regarded as unfit for active service, and 
_ sometimes 25 per cent. of a regiment stationed in the 
_ tropics may be in this condition. In contrast to this 
the pancreatic treatment of malignant malaria in 
the hands of Major Lamballe entails not more than 
three injections, costing at the outside three shillings, 
it need not last two weeks, and the patient can return 
to duty at once, and so far as we know is then free 
from all danger of relapse, but not immune to a new 
infection. The facts here outlined indicate that, 
properly applied, that which cures malignant malaria 
must cure cancer. J. Brearp. 
8 Barnton Terrace, Edinburgh, August 30. 
{I am delighted that my brief reference to Dr. 
Beard’s work should have elicited this interesting 
letter. He might also have referred to the astonish- 
ingly successful treatment of surgical tuberculosis by the 
eg ferments, which was reported upon by 
aetzner in the special tuberculosis number of The 
Practitioner recently. (Being abroad, I cannot give 
the reference.) When Dr. Beard refers to the malaria 
parasite as an asexual generation, he must, of course, 
be thinking of only one-half of its complete reproduc- 
tive cycle. It: would be interesting to make clinical 
observations as to the action of trypsin and amylopsin 
upon the sexual and asexual stages of these parasites 
respectively. As for cancer, I shall never be able to 
believe that the good results I saw under Dr. Beard’s 
method of treatment six years ago were not causally 
connected with it. And if it be true, as is now 
asserted, that the leucocytes, our defenders against 
morbid cells, normally produce trypsin, perhaps the 
last has not been heard, after all, of this daring and 
original theory of Dr. Beard.—C. W. Satrepy.] 
Note on the Dicynodont Vomer. 
IN a paper on Dicynodon now being printed by 
the Royal Society we have already described the bone 
which Dr, Broom now regards as the “ typically 
“mammalian median vomer.” It is the bone which he 
has described previously as the anterior continuation 
of the basisphenoid, but without recognising the 
groove on the dorsal surface. No trace of a suture 
exists between it and the basisphenoid. To us it 
seemed, as stated in our paper, that the form of this 
bone, so far from confirming Dr. Broom’s views, 
rendered his interpretation of the grooved bone in 
Diademodon even more doubtful than before. 
__ That the bone generally recognised as the vomer in 
Dicynodon had a paired origin we readily admit, and 
NO. 2290, VOL. 92] 
| 
we had already set forth reasons for this view in a 
paper now in MSS. on the structure of the skull in a 
small unnamed Dicynodont genus; as we have pointed 
out in our paper on Dicynodon, the vomer is paired 
in the guinea-pig, and had probably a paired origin 
in mammals. IGERNA B. J. Soxtas. 
W. J. Sorras. 
Oxford, September 6. 
An Aural Illusion. 
I am not aware that the following curious particular 
has been noticed. 
If a sounding body has a velocity greater than that 
of sound in air, it will outstrip its previous sounds as 
it goes, and leave them to follow in its wake. Let it 
be supposed that such a body ceases sounding directly 
it passes an observer. In this case the sound waves 
of the greatest intensity will be the first to 
act, and those of the least intensity, the last. 
Hence the modulation of the sound will be 
reversed, and will have the character of a 
diminuendo, which we associate with sound that 
comes from a receding body. In such circumstances, 
therefore, it would seem to the observer that the 
source of sound had been travelling away from, instead 
of towards, him; an illusion touching the swell of the 
sound, and so the apparent direction of the sounder, 
quite distinct from those pitch effects which are duly 
taken cognisance of by Doppler’s principle. 
Norman ALLISTON. 
NINTH INTERNATIONAL PHYSIO- 
LOGICAL CONGRESS. 
‘THE triennial International Physiological Con- 
gress, which was held at Groningen on 
September 2 to 6, was unanimously voted by 
those who attended it to be one of the most 
successful scientific congresses held during the 
present year. The number of workers engaged 
in physiological investigation being not very large, 
the congress, although larger than might have 
been anticipated, was of manageable size, and 
since physiologists on the whole are not a fluc- 
tuating body, everyone felt at ease and en famille. 
It would be impossible to speak too highly of 
the admirable manner in which the president, 
Prof. Hamburger, with his characteristic precision, 
provided for the welfare and convenience of all 
those who attended the congress and who gave 
demonstrations in the laboratories; these latter 
are beautifully equipped, and leave nothing to be 
desired. 
To English physiologists this particular physio- 
logical congress is of especial interest, since it is 
now twenty-five years since the congress was 
founded at the suggestion of the Physiological 
Society; the late Sir Michael Foster, its first 
president, was one of those who was most directly 
connected with its foundation, and it was as a 
fitting tribute to his labours that his portrait was 
chosen as the frontispiece for the special Fest- 
schrift, edited by Prof. Hamburger and Dr. 
Laquer. In this volume an excellent résumé, 
arranged according to subject, is given of the work 
of the congress during the past twenty-five years ; 
| this is preceded by the opening address of the pre- 
| sident, Prof. Hamburger, at the present congress. 
| The congress numbered about 400 members, 
' of whom about sixty were British, and the social 
THE 
