NATURE 



CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
Problems of Tuberculosis. By W.B. . : . 48 
Archeological History . ; 3 : ; 454 
Gelatin and Glue. By T. S. P. : : - 456 
Flora of New Zealand . ° é : ; - 407 
Electrical Engineering. By A. R. . ! , - 458 
Our Bookshelf . ° a F ° c + 459 
Letters to the Editor :— 
On Urbain’s Celtium Lines.—H. 25 Hansen and S. 
Werner ‘ . - 461 
On Celtium meal Hetil, =m D. Coster and 
Prof. G. Hevesy . 462 
be ay “4 ea Maketu Sand, ae Aleeebiier 
Scott, F. : A 463 
Tracks af. a- eis in Feta: (Jtustrated.) 
—Prof. D. M. Bose and S. K. Ghosh 463 
Porto Santo in Pleistocene Times.—Prof. T. D. A. 
Cockerell > 464 
The Hermit-Crab and ie’ retina. —_ Areal T. 
Watson . 464 
Paradoxical Rainfall Data. eit A. Fister d + 465 
Rothamsted and Agricultural Science. (With Dia- 
grams.) By Sir John Russell, F.R.S. f 
The Present and Future of Marine Engineering . 
Obituary :— 
Sir James Dewar, F.R.S. By H. E.A. . snare 
466 
47° 
Prof. A. S. Butler . be » 474 
Sir William Thorburn, K.B E., c. B., c. M. G. 475 
Current Topics and Events . : < : ») 475 
Our Astronomical Column 2 ; . + 479 
Research Items . s ; : : 4 - 480 
American Association Meeting at Boston . 482 
_ Experimental Production of Green and Colourless 
Hydra . : 3 E . 484 
- University and Educational eeiiipeece., F . 484 
- Societies and Academies . < 7 5 - 485 
_ Diary of Societies « 2 ' 488 


Editorial and Publishing Offices : 
MACMILLAN & CO., LTD., 
ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON, W.C.2, 
Advertisements and business letters should be 
addressed to the Publishers. 
Editorial communications to the Editor, 
Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS, LONDON. 
Telephone Number: GERRARD 8830. 
NO. 2788, VoL. 111] 
Problems of Tuberculosis. 
N the Empire Review for March Dr. Leonard Williams 
brings forward the perennial theme of the Spah- 
linger treatment of tuberculosis. This “ treatment ” 
has been the subject of extravagant and repeated press 
notices since 1914, and when it is shorn of its decora- 
tions, what does it amount to? Merely that M. H. 
Spahlinger has made, or his friends have made for him, 
a number of categoric statements, unsupported by 
proofs of the kind demanded in scientific work, 
that he can cure tuberculosis in man and animals. 
In a relatively small number of cases of consumption, 
clinicians have stated that the disease was arrested. 
Dr. Leonard Williams, an ardent supporter of M. 
Spahlinger, cites the communication of the latter to 
what he calls the “ high-browed Paris Academy of 
Sciences.” This communication (1921, t. 172, p. 494) 
occupies exactly one page and four lines, and is a 
reiteration of former statements without any evidence 
whatsoever that they are correct or -of essential 
scientific value. 
Dr. Leonard Williams also quotes April 28, 1914, as 
memorable in the history of tuberculosis, for on that 
day Prof. Letulle presented to the French Academy 
of Medicine a communication entitled “ Traitement 
de la tuberculose par la méthode Henri Spahlinger.” 
In the Bull. de l’ Acad. de Méd. (1914, 3. s. t. 71, p. 610) 
we find that the communication occupies exactly 
eighteen lines, and was a preliminary note addressed 
to the Academy by Dr. E. Lardy of Geneva and Drs. 
Colbeck and Leonard Williams of London. Prof. 
Letulle was charged to examine the note, but up to 
date we have been unable to find any further reference 
to the matter in the Bulletin, although Dr. Leonard 
Williams tells us that “ the text of the communication 
was duly published and rapidly found its way into 
the lay press.”’ It would be interesting to know where 
the full communication may be found. 
M. Spahlinger’s treatment is stated to be both anti- 
genic and antitoxic, and he claims to have produced 
many different tuberculous toxins by a method not 
published. The process is a long one, and the cost of 
production we are told is high, involving prolonged 
treatment of large numbers of cattle. The only other 
tuberculous problem referred to by Dr. Leonard 
Williams is really a panegyric on the work of Calmette. 
We are told that the “ campaign against tuberculosis 
will never make any serious headway until the disease is 
attacked at the source. That source is the tuberculous 
cow.” This may be Dr. Leonard Williams’ opinion, 
but it is entirely opposed to the conclusions reached 
by the arduous experimental efforts of a generation 
of accurate workers. W. B. 
