Marcu 10, 1923] 
NATURE 
339 

Research Items. 
THE OLpDEsT CHRISTIAN ToMB IN INDIA.—Agra, 
which possesses, in the splendid mausoleum known as 
the Taj, one of the finest sepulchres in the world, 
claims also the oldest Christian grave in northern 
India. It is known as the Martyr's Chapel, the tomb 
of a rich and very pious Armenian merchant called 
Martyrose, who died at Agra in a.p, 1611. The in- 
scription on the tomb, now for the first time trans- 
lated by Mr. Mesrovb Seth in the Journal of the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal, vol. xvii., 1921, runs: ‘In this 
tomb rested the pilgrim Martyrose son of Pheerbashi 
of Julfa. He died in the city of Agra and gave his 
goods to God for his soul. 1060 of the Armenian era.” 
The Archeological Department has now restored the 
tomb of this worthy, a member of the important 
Armenian community of Julfa in Persia, who came to 
India asa merchant. An inscription in Persian to his 
memory has been placed on the tomb. 
Tue Ismartt Sect or IstamM.—The important sect 
of the Ismailis or Assassins, the doctrines of which 
were preached by the Old Man of the Mountain, has 
exercised wide influence in Persia. The scattered 
material collected by historians, travellers, and theo- 
logians cannot compare in value with the genuine 
documents of the sectarian literature, but for five 
hundred years, when these materials came to an end at 
the time of the Mongol invasion which destroyed the 
wer of the Assassins, the life of the sect is a blank. 
r. W. Ivanov, who has spent seven years in in- 
vestigating the beliefs of the sectarians in Persia, has 
ublished under the title of ‘‘ Ismailitiia,’’ a trans- 
tion of an important text which throws much light 
on the subject. This has been issued by the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal as part 1, vol. viii. of its memoirs. 
It will be interesting to European readers, as the leader 
of the sect is the Agha Khan of Bombay who did 
notable service to the Indian Government in the War, 
and has since devoted himself to the task of calming 
the agitation which has arisen in India on the Cali- 
phate question. 
THE INDIAN TRIBES OF CALIFORNIA.—The Uni- 
versity of California, in its series of publications on 
American archeology and ethnology, has issued a large 
number of valuable memoirs, but a general survey of 
the inter-relations of the culture of these tribes has 
hitherto been wanting. This want has now been 
supplied by Mr. A. L. Kroeber, an ethnologist to whom 
we owe several of these tribal memoirs, who has 
sha a general sketch under the title of ‘‘ Elements 
of Culture in Native California,”’ for the University 
series (vol. xiii. No. 8), in which he describes the arts 
of life, social organisation, religion, and ceremonies. 
This memoir, which gives an excellent survey of the 
industrial, social, and religious life of a primitive 
people, will be a valuable book of reference to eth- 
nologists. It is provided with sketch maps, but 
unfortunately a general index is wanting. 
Micropic TRANSMISSIBLE AUTOLYsIs.—One of the 
most interesting developments of modern bacteriology 
has been in relation to what is now called the Twort- 
d’Hérelle phenomenon. This has recently been the 
subject of the Cameron prize lecture given by Prof. 
i Bordet, of Brussels, and published in the Brit. 
ed. Journal of February 3. In this lecture the 
main facts are clearly set forth and particularly the 
views of Bordet and his co-workers. For those who 
have not been following the subject specially it may 
be stated that in 1915, F. W. Twort, Director of the 
Brown Institution, London, described a_ peculiar 
glassy-like change which appeared in colonies of 
NO. 2784, VOL. 111] 



certain micrococci which he had isolated from calf 
lymph. A minute trace of the glassy agent added 
to a cultivation of bacteria dissolved the latter, and 
strange to say, the glassy agent could traverse fine 
porcelain filters without detriment. In 1917 d’Hérelle 
observed similar phenomena and regarded them as 
due to the activity of a living agent which he called 
“ microbe bacteriophage ’’ on account of its power 
of devouring bacteria. This view he has continued 
to defend with great vigour. Bordet and Ciuca 
adopted an entirely different explanation. They do 
not believe the active substance is a living agent at 
all but as a product of the bacterium itself induced 
in the first instance by some external influence and 
subsequently capable of indefinite transmission. A 
full treatment of the subject will be found in Bordet’s 
lecture referred to above. 
Tue SpLreEN.—The functions of this organ are 
somewhat obscure. It is generally recognised, how- 
ever, that it has something to do with the destruction 
of effete red blood corpuscles. A certain proportion 
of the corpuscles in general circulation are more 
fragile than the rest, in the sense that when distended 
by osmosis in hypotonic solutions they burst in 
solutions of a higher concentration than do the 
younger, more distensible ones. A recent paper by 
Bolt and Heeres, in the Biochemical Journal, vol. 16, 
Pp. 754, shows that after passing through the spleen, 
blood corpuscles are rendered less resistant, so that 
a larger proportion become hemolysed when placed 
in the stronger salt solutions, that is, the less hypo- 
tonic solutions. Thus they withstand distension to 
a smaller degree than normally. This property is 
due to the adsorption of some substance supplied by 
the spleen and can be removed by washing with 
Ringer’s solution. The previous work of Brinkman 
and van Dam had shown that the fragility of red 
corpuscles depends on the relative proportion be- 
tween cholesterol and lecithine in their outer mem- 
branes, the former conferring stability, the latter, 
fragility. Apparently the spleen adds lecithine in 
larger amount than it does cholesterol. 
CurING SLEEPING SIcKNESS.—In the Empire 
Review for February Dr. Andrew Balfour has an 
interesting article entitled ‘‘ Cure of Sleeping Sick- 
ness.’ He deals largely with the claims of the new 
German remedy “‘ Bayer 205”’ and admits that it 
is the most powerful destroyer of the parasites of the 
disease so far tested. Fora time sleeping sickness and 
other trypanosome diseases were looked upon as 
absolutely fatal, while later on partial success was 
achieved by more than one remedy containing arseni- 
cal or antimonial bodies. ‘“‘ Bayer 205” contains 
neither of these in any form, and although its exact 
composition is not known, it is suggested that it 
belongs to the benzidine dye series. It is a white 
powder, easily dissolved in water, neutral in reaction, 
without smell, and does not deteriorate on heating. 
It possesses extraordinary parasitotropic action on 
trypanosomes, and in minute doses can produce a 
sterilisatio magna in animals heavily infected with 
these parasites. These results worked out by Haendel 
and Joetten have been confirmed in man by Miihlens 
and Menk in Germany and by Wenyon and Manson 
Bahr in London. Dr. Balfour emphasises the need 
for chemical research in this country, and lays stress 
on the necessity for persistence, time, money, and far- 
sightedness. Ehrlich was fond of summing up the 
success of scientific researches in what he termed the 
four G’s, Geld, Gliick, Geduld, Geschick, which comes 
to the same thing. 
