•56 



NATURE 



[August 3, 191 1 



foi success. First and foremost is the 

 mechanic. Oily and dirty, often starving, usually ex- 

 hausted i" the point oi collapse from want of sleep, he 

 follows where the machine leads him. No other but # he 



can ti ml his own machine ; he knows its ways, iis 



moods, and its weaknesses. The touch of his deft fingers 

 rempves all cause of complaint and freshens up ever) 

 flagging part. Then he stands back, watching the white 



wings sail up into the sky ; and they are scarcely out of 

 sight before he takes the road again in his car to follow, 

 anxious, fretful, but enthusiastic, to where his master 

 leads. This is a side of flying as heroic as that of lie- 

 pilot and as necessary, but gaining no applause and mo 

 glory. 



A hie race is won by everything being of the best — picked 

 pilot, picked machine, picked motor, picked mechanics, 

 and perl'i t organisation. If one fails, all fail. And her.-, 

 perhaps, our English temperament fails. Nothing in flying 

 - "good enough," as we are inclined to think; it must 

 be the best. 



THE BIRMINGHAM MEETING OF THE 

 BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 

 ■THE proceedings in the Section of Electro-therapeutics 

 and Radiography of the meeting of the British Medical 

 Ass, 1, iation, held in Birmingham on July 25-28, were of 

 scientific as distinguished from purely medical interest. A 

 ti-i in .it treatment is being introduced in which the ions 

 composing the drugs are sent into the diseased part — skin, 

 nerve, joint — by means of the electric current, that is, by 

 kataphoresis. For instance, a preparation of salicylic acid 

 is ionised by the current, and thus introduced into a nerve 

 — facial or sciatic — in a case of neuralgia with a direct- 

 ness and intensity not attainable by the method of solution 

 in the blood. The consensus of opinion at the discussion 

 was that this, the latest, form of medication was exceed- 

 ingly useful, not only in neuralgia, but in many joint 

 affections. The speakers agreed that we had yet a great 

 d.al to learn, as, for instance, how deeply the ions can 

 penetrate and how many milliamperes it is best to employ. 



The utility of this method in cases where the drug 

 which has to be used would disturb digestion, is very 

 obvious, and it is also probable that the drugs introduced 

 by lite method of ionisation act more energetically than if 

 they had reached the part through the blood and lymph. 



Sir Oliver Lodge addressed tie- section on the theory of 

 electrical conveyance through solids, liquids, and gases. 

 In solids, be said, the travelling electrons, which were 

 negative in charge, moved through the- solid matter; in 

 liquids the electrons, which seemed to be charged nega- 

 tively and positively in about equal numbers, travel along 

 with the more mobile matter, whereas in gases the current 

 seemed to consist of positive ele, nous moving independently 

 of the molecules of the gas. 



If we rarefy a gas — remove a great many of its mole- 

 cules or allow it to expand until it fills a much larger space 

 — the electrons are accelerated, and this acceleration is 

 accompanied by a fine shimmer of light, and in certain 

 cases by sound — a cracking noise. The kathode rays are 

 due to the rush of electrons suddenly stopped by a metal 

 plate or target. Sir Oliver concluded by demonstrating 

 his will-known electric valve, a device whereby he permits 

 electrons only of one sign to accumulate, and rejects the 

 others by a series of ingenious " traps." In this way he 

 can, for instance, dose plants with electricity of one kind 

 only, a treatment which has given the most encouraging 

 results in the ripening of wheat, tomatoes, and other 

 vegetables on quite a large scale. 



The joint meeting of tie Section of Therapeutics and 

 Dietetics with that of Anatomy and Physiology was for 

 the purpose of discussing lie problems associated with the 

 work of Prof. Chittenden, of the department of physio- 

 logical chemistry at the University of Yale, U.S.A. Prof. 

 Chittenden holds, as the result of observations on a large 

 number of persons selected at random, that the usually 

 accepted quantity of protein food for the adult, 11S grams 

 in tlv twenty-four boms, is excessive. One series of 

 -n.nis extended over 130 days, so that the .harge of 

 ient data cannot be brought against tie Yale re- 

 hes. Prof. Chittenden gives about 70 grams, or less 



NO. 2 170. VOL. 87] 



than half the German standard, as sufficient ; and bis 

 contention is that, because the majority of mankind take 

 much larger quantities ol protein food, we have no right 

 to assume thai this lias a scientific basis. He believes the 

 tine- has come lor dietetics, as lor all else, to be studied 

 by the- methods applicable to other scientific problems. 



It is admitted by the Yale school that the amount of 

 nitrogen in food is no measure of our energy requirements, 

 and that, provided we obtain from fats and carbohydrates 

 the amount ol potential energy necessary for the daily 

 kinetic output, then the minimum of protein constitutes 

 what we might also call the optimum. Chittenden's work 

 is so well known in this country through his book 

 " Economy in Nutrition " that it need only be said that, as 

 regards analysis of tie- food and excreta, it is as careful 

 and complete as could be desired. Although it may be 

 proved that tie- subjects of his experiments were perfectly- 

 vigorous on their restricted diet, one failed to learn from 

 Prof. Chittenden what were the bad results of taking more 

 protein than the 70 grams. He said it " stimulated meta- 

 bolism generally"; but, as one speaker pointed out, this 

 is not in itself a bad thing, as the more active tissue- 

 change is, within limits, the better is the physical and 

 mental health ol lie- individual. 



Some speakers who followed in the discussion held that 

 the usual quantity of protein ingested did no harm what- 

 ever, while others asserted that protein in excess of Yoit's 

 quantity of 118 grams gave rise to excessive intestinal 

 putrefaction and toxaemia, with raised blood-pressure and 

 gouty arterio-sclerosis. 



The diets of poor Orientals are not to be quoted as 

 exemplifying the benefits of a low protein intake, sin,. 

 they are indigestible and dietetically insufficient in many 

 ways. The- low stamina and frequent anai-mia of these 

 races is due to the deficiency in absorbable- nitrogen, and an 

 improvement is noticeable so soon as these people are able 

 to afford the more generous rigime of the European. 



According to Dr. Provan Cathcart, the quality, and not 

 the quantity, of the protein is the important matter physio- 

 logically, for tie- nearer the composition as regards the 

 constituent amino-acids approaches that of the tissue-protein 

 ot the animal being fed, the less will there be of nitro- 

 genous waste from that animal. Thus dogs wasted less 

 nitrogen when fed on dog-flesh than on any other kind of 

 protein. 



In a paper by Dr. Fraser Harris on some physiological 

 aspects of mine rescue apparatus, there were several points 

 of scientific as distinguished from medical interest. For 

 the last two years a committee of the South Midlands Coal 

 Owners' Association has been investigating the various 

 types of self-contained breathing apparatus for saving life 

 in mines after explosions and underground fires. All the 

 following types of apparatus were examined : — Aerolith, 

 Draeger, Fleuss, Meco, Weg, Hall-Rees, and bellows and 

 helmet. Each has its characteristic feature : in the Aero- 

 lith liquid air evaporates : the Draeger, Meco, and Wee 

 supply pure oxygen, compressed under 120 atmospheres, at 

 the rate of 2 litres a minute; in the Fleuss one breathes 

 into a large bag in which sodium hydrate in sticks absorbs 

 Ihe carbonic acid gas. The Hall-Rees is used chiefly for 

 submarine work, and in it oxygen is liberated from sodium- 

 potassium peroxide, in which the carbonic acid ga 

 simultaneously absorbed. 



A point for which the committee was not prepared was 

 lhat the helmet is far from an ideal mechanism. To a 

 person who has never worn a helmet or done hard work 

 in a metal case, which entirely covers the head and face, 

 the helmet seems the very thing required ; but he soon finds 

 that the i.e. becomes excessively hot from the absence of 

 ventilation, and the glass window becomes dimmed from 

 the non-evaporated moisture, and, most si rious of all, one's 

 range of vision above and to tie sides is very limited. 

 This limitation of vision is particularly serious when one 

 is crawling on hands and knees, which in mines it is often 

 necessary to do. Tin enclosing of the whole head in a 

 helmet diminishes one's power of hearing, a matter of 

 some consequence, since the possible warning of falls from 

 the roof rannot be heard. The committee favoured half- 

 masks and nose-clips, with motor goggles rather than 

 helmets. In order to make the helmets smoke-tight round 

 th-- face, an indiarubber tvn has to bi inflated, and in the 



