7 7 
FEBRUARY 10, 1923] 



to which Berthelot refers, but Jabir is never tired of 
pointing out the errors of other chemists and insisting 
: on the superiority of his own theories and methods. 
e even curses them in the manner of the Latin 
works. 
8. The style of the Latin works does indeed resemble 
that of the Schoolmen, but so does that of many of 
the Arabic works of Jabir. I would refer especially 
to the first twelve sections of the “‘ Book of Properties,” 
and to the “ Book of Definitions.” 
g. Arsenic as one of the principles of metallic bodies 
is referred to by Jabir in Book I. of the “ Hundred 
and Twelve Books” (quoted by Al-Jildakt i in vol. ii. 
of the “ Nihayat at-Talab”). “ Arsenic ” here refers 
_ of course to the arsenic sulphides, realgar and orpiment. 
It will be noticed that the Latin Geber does not insist 
upon the necessity of arsenic ; in this he is in agreement 
with Jabir. Both agree in ‘regarding the prime con- 
stituents of metals to be sulphur and mercury. 
_ 10. I have explained Berthelot’s insistence on the 
difference in style between the Latin works and the 
S 
The Alleged Discovery of the 
es recent report in the daily press that the cause 
of influenza had been discovered by Drs. P. K. 
Olitsky and F. L. Gates, of the Rockefeller Institute, 
_N.Y., might lead the layman to believe that the prob- 
_ lem was solved. There is no published evidence to 
show that this is correct. The facts are briefly these. 
Influenza is the greatest pandemic disease known and 
_ may be traced to the most remote periods of which we 
. have historic data. One of its great outbursts (1889- 
1890) coincided with the bacteriological epoch in science, 
and by means of the technique devised by Robert Koch, 
one of his assistants, R. Pfeiffer, distinguished by the 
accuracy of all his work, isolated (1892) a small rod- 
shaped microbe since universally called Bacillus in- 
fluenze. This microbe, not easy to cultivate, was 
missed by all the investigators before Pfeiffer, but his 
work was subsequently regarded as correct. 
In succeeding years influenza as an epidemic dis- 
appeared and little was heard of Pfeiffer’s bacillus in 
bacteriological literature. In 1918, under the title of 
Spanish influenza, the disease again appeared, and 
' sweeping over the inhabited world like a prairie fire, 
caused immense morbidity and mortality everywhere. 
The microscopes of bacteriologists were riveted on the 
disease processes of the plague. The results of tried 
investigators varied, but with prolonged experience and 
suitable methods the bacillus of Pfeiffer was found 
almost everywhere in cases of the disease. Dissentient 
voices were, however, raised here and there, partly 
_ owing to inability to find the bacillus, partly owing 
to the fact that when found it was difficult to prove 
its causal relation to influenza, as animals are by no 
means so susceptible to the disease as man. 
It was believed and stated, in fact, that Pfeiffer’s 
bacillus was not and could not be the cause of influenza, 
which was to be sought in some hitherto unknown or 
unrecognised agent. Among those who held this view 
must be mentioned Gibson Bowman and Connor, who, 
attached to the B.E.F. in France, published statements 
(r919) tothe effect that influenzal secretions which had 
NO. 2780, VOL. 111] 
a“ 
NATURE 
193 
Arabic treatises as due to the fact that Berthelot was 
unlucky in his choice of the latter. 
rr. I cannot say whether the Arabic Jabir definitely 
mentions nitric acid, agua regia, and silver nitrate. 
It is unfortunate that the pages referring to solutive 
waters are missing from the British Museum MS. of 
the “ Book of Properties,” especially as I believe this 
MS. to be unique. Al-Jildaki mentions a “ solutive 
water” (ma’ al-hilal) which was used to dissolve out 
silver from a gold-silver alloy ; I presume this must 
have been nitric acid. Al-Jildaki, however, lived after 
the date of the earliest MSS. of Geber’s works. 
I ought to say that I have hitherto examined by no 
means all of the available material, and that in the 
present article I have only very roughly sketched out 
the case for the identity of Geber and Jabir. I hope 
to deal with the subject much more fully in the 
future, but the question of the identity of Geber 
is so important for the history of chemistry that it 
seemed desirable to publish a preliminary account of 
some of my conclusions. 

Virus of Epidemic Influenza. 
been forced through bacterial-proof filters, gave rise in 
monkeys, rabbits, mice, and guineapigs to a disease 
closely resembling that of human influenza. They 
claimed to have transmitted the disease from animal 
to animal in series. They believed that the virus was 
a “filter passer.” Independently, Bradford, Bashford, 
and Wilson made similar claims, which they afterwards 
withdrew. Following the same lines, Maitland, Cowan, 
and Detweiler of Toronto recorded entirely negative 
results and directed attention to grave errors which 
might arise in interpreting results believed to be posi- 
tive. What were described as typical effects by the 
supporters of the filter-passing-virus theory were shown 
by the Canadians to occur in animals that had never 
been inoculated at all but which had been intentionally 
killed. This fact has since been abundantly confirmed 
by Branham (1922) and shown by her to occur when 
death is brought about by a blow on the neck. It is 
along the same route that the Rockefeller investigators 
have proceeded, from whose work it is now claimed 
that the etiology of influenza is settled, and it is 
claimed that the virus is a body called by them Bacillus 
pneumosintes (civrns, injurer or devastator—from its 
supposed deleterious effect on the lungs). 
In the last two years Olitsky and Gates have pub- 
lished a long series of papers in the Journal of Experi- 
mental Medicine, giving the results of their inquiries. 
Their claims are based on the following statements. 
(x) Influenzal throat secretions diluted and filtered 
through Berkefeld filters produce symptoms which 
cannot be produced by similar filtrates from normal 
persons. The symptoms—in rabbits—are fever, con- 
junctivitis, and a diminution in the number of leuco- 
cytes in the blood, a symptom which is very charac- 
teristic of the influenza disease in man, None of the 
animals died of the experimental disease, but on being 
killed, the lungs were found mottled and hemorrhagic. 
(2) The lesions in the lungs are said to be transmissible 
in- series. (3) Although none of the experimental 
animals died, they are stated to have been rendered 
