194 
NATURE 
[FEBRUARY I0, 1923 

more susceptible to a later infection by Pfeiffer’s — 
bacillus. (4) In the filtered washings peculiar “ bacil- 
loid” bodies were found measuring 0:15-0:30 p in 
their long dimension. The nature of these bodies— 
at first uncertain—was ultimately believed to be micro- 
organismal. Hence the name Bacillus pneumosintes. 
(5) Inoculation of cultures of the so-called bacillus 
followed by injections of B. influense resulted in the 
production of consolidation of the lungs with hemo- 
rrhagic cedema and emphysema. (6) A certain degree 
of immunity is stated to follow injections of B. pneumo- 
sintes. (7) Inoculation of the bacterium is stated to 
evoke certain antibodies which are of a specific char- 
acter. It may be stated that “cultures” of the 
microbe were obtained only on ‘the highly complicated 
Smith-Noguchi medium, and especially under anaerobic 
conditions. 
Before assuming that all these statements are correct 
it may be stated with respect to this microbe—if it is 
a microbe—that bacilloid and other like bodies indis- 
tinguishable in appearance from B. pneumosintes may 
occur in tubes of Noguchi’s medium which has never 
been inoculated at all and nevertheless is sterile. The 
“bodies ’’ appear to be due to some transformation of 
the colloid material of the medium itself. Such trans- 
formations may occur in tube after tube and give rise 
to the erroneous interpretation of successful trans- 
mission of the culture. Further, it is remarkable that 
the “ microbe ” does not kill the experimental animals, 
but that when they are killed afterwards they show 
changes admittedly indistinguishable from those seen 
in killed animals never inoculated. One great obstacle 
to the successful study of influenza would appear to be 
that animals are much less susceptible than man, and 
that as soon as the question of human inoculation is” 
introduced, great difficulties ensue in excluding other 
sources of infection. Recently, Lister in South Africa, 
working on lines identical with those of Olitsky and — 
Gates, has found, like them, Bacillus pneumosintes 
or similar “‘ culture,” but on inoculating such unheated 
cultures into human beings, 13 in number, he had only 
one success, a typical attack of uncomplicated influenza, 
after a nineteen-hours incubation period. It may be 
that the cause of influenza has been located in B. 
pneumosintes, but before this can be accepted by the 
bacteriological world in general it will be necessary to 
adduce many more cogent reasons than have been 
forthcoming so far. ‘Wired 
Obituary. 
Pror. Fritz Coun. 
RITZ COHN, director of the Berlin Rechen-In- 
stitut, died on December 14 after an operation. 
He was born at Konigsberg on May 12, 1866, and 
studied first at the Gymnasium and afterwards at the 
University there ; after further study at the University 
of Berlin he was placed on the staff of the K6nigsberg 
Observatory in 1891 and remained there till 1909. 
Cohn’s work included a discussion of Bessel’s observa- 
tions between 1813 and 1819, and a determination of the 
declinations and proper motions of the stars used in the 
International Latitude stations. He published cata- 
logues of the stars used for the Eros campaign in 1900-1, 
and of 4066 other stars observed with the self-registering 
micrometer of the Repsold transit circle. 
In 1909, Cohn was appointed to the chair of theoretical 
astronomy at Berlin, and director of the Rechen- 
Institut. He took part in the Paris Conference of 1911 
which arranged for combination of work between the 
national almanacks, to avoid needless duplication of 
labour. The time thus saved was devoted to investiga- 
tions on the minor planets, and the Institut took the 
leading part in deducing their orbits, and in arranging 
plans for sharing the observing work among different 
observatories. He showed great skill in keeping up the 
necessary accuracy of computation without any waste 
of labour. He also carried on the Astronomisches 
Jahresbericht after the deaths of Wislicenus and Ber- 
berich, and left the MS. for the r921 volume practically 
complete at the time of his death. 
Cohn married a daughter of C. F. W. Peters, director 
of Kénigsberg Observatory, in 1898, and leaves a son 
and two daughters. A fuller account of his life and 
work is given by J. Peters in Astr, Nach. 5208. 
Cohn was elected an associate of the Royal Astro- 
nomical Society in June 1913. ATG Ds C: 
NO, 2780, VOL. 111] 


Mr. P. C. A. STEWART. 
Ir is with much regret that we record that Mr. 
P. Charteris A. Stewart, the well-known petroleum 
geologist and consultant to Viscount Cowdray’s firm 
(Messrs. S. Pearson and Co.), met his death by drowning 
while bathing at Balandra Bay, Trinidad, B.W.L., 
during a recent short visit to the Islands. 
For nearly twenty years Mr. Stewart has been 
connected with Messrs. Pearson’s, and he had been 
closely associated with that firm in its important 
petroleum developments all over the world, more 
particularly in Mexico, Roumania, and Trinidad. Prior 
to this he held an appointment on the staff of the 
Geological Survey of Egypt. 
Mr. Stewart’s technical education was at the Royal 
School of Mines, where, in 1900 and 1go1, he obtained 
diplomas in mining and metallurgy. Returning in 1904 
he gained a further diploma in geology at the Royal 
College of Science in 1905. He was elected a fellow 
of the Geological Society of London in 1904, and 
was also a member of the Institution of Petroleum 
Technologists and the American Institute of Petroleum 
Geologists. 
Mr. Stewart had travelled much, and by his wide 
experience and intimate knowledge of oilfield condi- 
tions in many countries he gradually built up a high 
reputation in his profession. His sound judgment in 
technical problems, backed by conscientious inquiry 
and skilful reasoning, made him an invaluable adviser 
to those whom he was privileged to serve. His death 
at the early age of forty-eight is a deplorable loss, one 
which will be keenly felt, not only by his colleagues, 
but also by his many friends, to whom he had endeared 
himself as a kindly, modest, and unselfish man. 
H. B, M, 
