?6o 



NATURE 



[August 24, ign 



■when mixed with quinine and injected invariably set up 

 tetanus. Even when the quinine is injected into a site 

 i ni. ne from the site of injection of the washed tetanus 

 spores, tetanus may ensue. Sir D. Semple, therefore, 

 suggests that tetanus following quinine injection when 

 every precaution has been taken, may result from the fact 

 that the individual has tetanus spores lying latent in some 

 situation, introduced by some previous wound, and that on 

 the injection of the quinine these latent spores become 

 active. Tetanus spores were searched for in solutions of 

 quinine, but were never found. Tetanus infection is also 

 >ometimes present in the bowel in healthy individuals. A 

 small dose of tetanus antitoxin given at the same time as 

 the quinine injection will effectually prevent the develop- 

 ment of tetanus. Sir D. Semple also deals with the pre- 

 paration of a safe and efficient antirabic vaccine in 

 Memoir No. 44. He finds that rabies virus is killed by a 

 1 per cent, solution of carbolic acid in twenty-lour hours 

 at a temperature of 37 C, but still forms a safe and 

 efficient antirabic vaccine, and he suggests that this 

 method may be employed for the prophylactic treatment of 

 persons bitten by rabid animals. 



Epidemic dropsy in Calcutta is the subject of Memoir 

 No. 45, by Major Greig. This disease, which occurs also 

 in other parts of India, is much like ship beri-beri. The 

 patients surfer from dropsy and neuritis of the lower 

 limbs, shortness of breath, and weak heart. The general 

 conclusion is that the disease is caused by a " one-sided- 

 ness " in diet, due to the use of "polished" rice and 

 wheaten flour deficient in essential constituents. By the 

 " polishing " of rice, the pericarp and seed-coat containing 

 phosphorus compounds, and the fat and aleurone layers, 

 are removed, leaving the inner endosperm, which contains 

 little else than starch. Epidemic dropsy, however, occurs 

 in severe outbreaks at particular periods, and it is neces- 

 sary to correlate the food hypothesis with this fact. Major 

 Greig states that, so far as his researches at present go, 

 there is a remarkably close relationship between the price 

 of food grains and the prevalence of epidemic dropsy. We 

 -hall await with interest the further report which is 

 promised us on this subject. R. T. H. 



MARINE BIOLOGY. 



~C"OUR Publications de Circonstance have just been 

 ■*■ issued by the International Council for the Explora- 

 tion of the Sea. Mr. Sven Palitzsch gives a very interest- 

 ing account of investigations into the concentration of 

 hydrogen ions in sea water, carried out on board the 

 Danish investigation ship Thor during 1910. Of known 

 methods of determination, the electrical method is the 

 most accurate, but it is unsuitable for use on board a 

 ship in a rough sea. The author has developed a colori- 

 metric method, making use of standard solutions of known 

 hydrogen-ion concentration, and comparing these with the 

 water sample, using either phenolphthalein or naphthol- 

 phthalein as indicators. The standard solutions were 

 sodium borate containing hydrochloric acid. The value of the 

 determination of the concentration of hydrogen ions in sea 

 water in comparison with the older methods of determin- 

 ing the " alkalinity " are discussed, and it is shown that 

 the former factor is that which is of the most importance 

 in relation to biological processes. The paper is a good 

 1 xample of the way in which the methods of marine 

 biology can be supplemented by those of pure physical 

 chemistry. The results may be quoted here : expressed 

 as gram-equivalents of hydrogen-ions, the concentration 

 varies from io _7-9s to io -8 ' ;ir ' per litre of sen water. 



Two papers in the same series, by Mr. H. J. Buchanan- 

 Wollaston, deal with the construction of a plankton net 

 for making vertical hauls in a rough sen. It is well 

 known that the difference between theory and practice is 

 very great in such cases, and that plankton hauls which 

 are called " vertical " are not, as a rule, truly so. The 

 author suggests a net which " fishes " as it descends into 

 the sea. It is lowered on a slack line, and whether or 

 not the ship drifts during the operation, the apparatus 

 descends vertically since it falls by its own weight. At 

 the. bottom, or at the required depth, the net is closed in 

 the same way as the well-known Nansen net is 

 " throttled," and it is hauled in the closed condition. The 



NO. 2l82, VOL. 87] 



filtration coefficient of the net must now be determined — 

 this is the factor expressing what fraction of the vertical 

 column of water equal in section to the area of the mouth 

 of the net does actually pass through the pores of the 

 latter. Its calculation is so difficult, and the results so 

 uncertain, that it has not been attempted except by the 

 Kiel planktologists, by whom the method was originally 

 devised. For such an inverted action of net as Mr. 

 Wollaston suggests, however, the filtration coefficient can 

 be approximated to with much greater accuracy than was 

 hitherto possible. Mr. Wollaston 's suggestions 

 decidedly novel, and since no attempt has been made 

 Hensen's time to improve the vertical quantitative plankton 

 mi, they constitute a real advance in methods. 



The remaining Publicaiion de Circonstance deals with 

 the spawning and statistics of various species of gadoid 

 fishes of the North Sea, and is written by Dr. P. P. C. 

 Hoek. At the same time, the council has issued the fifth 

 volume of the Bulletin Statistiquc. In spite of the inter- 

 national cooperation of the Governments of the principal 

 European fishing countries for the purposes of fishery 

 investigation, no uniform system of statistical collection of 

 returns of fish landed has yet been developed. Tlv 

 council has therefore published a statistical statement of 

 the fisheries of the various countries in which the returns 

 have been converted and expressed in common units. The 

 present instalment, edited by Dr. H. M. Kyle, deals with 

 the fisheries of the year 190S, and the total value of the 

 fish landed in the different countries during that year was 

 about 18,000,000/. Of this total the North Sea contributed 

 about one half, and Great Britain about 11,000,000/. 



RURAL E DUCAT I OX. 

 '"["HE Board of Agriculture and the Board of Education 

 ■^ have issued two reports by the Rural Education Con- 

 ference dealing with rural education. 



The " Report on a Suggested Type of Agricultural 

 School " states the conclusions of a committee of the con- 

 ference on the question " as to whether there is any place 

 in the system of rural education, either generally, or in 

 particular counties in view of special local conditions, for 

 schools giving to boys leaving elementary schools a three 

 years' course from the age of twelve or thirteen in the 

 theory and practice of agriculture, together with con- 

 tinued general education." 



The committee has considered separately the case of boys 

 who intend to get their living as farm labourers and of 

 boys who intend to become farmers or small occupiers. 

 For the former, owing to the desirability of getting such 

 boys into practical work on the farm as soon as possible, 

 and to the expense and loss of time involved, they consider 

 that there is no demand or place for schools of the type 

 suggested. 



A different view is taken of the case of those who intend 

 to become farmers. The committee considers that this 

 class of boys require something beyond the ordinary 

 elementary school, and that they " should not leave school 

 without acquiring a good knowledge of the theory and 

 practice of agriculture (so far as it can be taught in school), 

 together with good general instruction." 



In districts where no facilities already exist (e.g. rural 

 secondary schools), the report recommends the " trial by 

 way of experiment " of one or two new types of school. 



One they suggest might be termed a " Higher Grade 

 Rural School," and worked on somewhat similar lines to 

 the French Ecole Primaire Superieure. Practical agriculture 

 would not he taught, hut the curriculum would include 

 practical gardening, nature-study, mensuration and survey- 

 ing, and mi :il economy. The pupils would visit farms 

 occasionally and receive some teaching in manual work 

 incidental to farming. 



The other type is described as a " Centralised Rural Con- 

 tinuation Day School," where boys actually engaged in 

 farm work might be brought in several sets for one or two 

 days per week and receive instruction in clementnr 

 and rural economy. 



The report on the " Qualification of Teachers of Rural 

 Subjects " deals with the question of the " lark of teachers 

 proper!} qualified to give instruction in rural subjects in 



