446 



NA TURE 



[September io, 1908 



merits have been made for the exhibition of interesting 

 plans and specimens, and for a full discussion of some 

 of the more interesting questions and problems, 

 medical and social, bearing upon the treatment and 

 prevention of tuberculosis. 



Great Britain, acting through an executive com- 

 mittee selected from a very large representative 

 national general committee, and presided over by- 

 Sir William Church, with Dr. Theodore Acland as 

 treasurer and Dr. J. J. Perkins as secretary, has for 

 some time past been engaged in preparing a series 

 of reports on the methods of combating the spread of 

 tuberculosis and in carrying out treatment of this 

 disease, which reports will be presented by national and 

 other delegates. 



When the executive committee was first formed 

 the whole of the members met in London ; but as 

 soon as the general plan of work had been laid down 

 it was decided that national committees in England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland should meet in London, Edin- 

 burgh and Dublin, the Dublin committee being pre- 

 sided over by Her Excellency the Countess of Aber- 

 deen. These committees have made the arrangements 

 for the report from each country to be presented to 

 the congress. They have also combined to send out 

 an " exhibit " of plans, sections, pathological speci- 

 mens, and other preparations for the large museum 

 which has been arrang-ed by the American Exhibition 

 Committee working under Dr. Henrv Beyer, of 

 Washington. The keenest interest is being taken in 

 the work of the congress, and President Roosevelt, 

 in accepting the presidency, speaks of the modern 

 crusade against tuberculosis as bringing " hope and 

 bright prospects of recovery to hundreds and thou- 

 sands of victims of the disease, who under old 

 teachings were abandoned to despair. The work of 

 this congress will bring the results of the latest 

 studies and investigations before the profession at 

 large, and place in the hands of our physicians all 

 the newest and most approved methods of treating the 

 disease — a knowledge which will add many years of 

 valuable life to our people, and will thereby increase 

 our public wealth and happiness. . . . Our countrv, 

 which is honoured this year as the host of other 

 nations in this great gathering of leaders and experts, 

 and as the custodian of the magnificent exhibit which 

 will be set up by the entire world, should manifest 

 its appreciation by giving the congress a setting 

 worthv of the cause, of our guests, and of ourselves. 

 We should endeavour to make it the greatest and 

 most fruitful congress which has yet been held, and 

 I assure you of my interest and services to that end." 

 Should this spirit pervade, as no doubt it does, the 

 whole of the American executive, we may be assured 

 of the fruitfulness of the congress. 



From Great Britain Government delegates are being 

 sent out in the interests of the various local govern- 

 ment boards, and it is to be hoped, in view of pro- 

 posed legislation on tuberculosis, that as full a report 

 as possible of the work of the congress may be 

 placed in the hands of those whose dutv it will be 

 to draw up legislation to be placed before the Parlia- 

 ment of the country. The universities, various medi- 

 cal schools and examining bodies, the Royal Com- 

 mission on Tuberculosis, the Royal Society of Medi- 

 cine, municipalities, the Victoria Jubilee Institute for 

 Nurses, King Edward VII. Sanatorium, the National 

 Association for the Prevention of Consumption, Invalid 

 Children's Association, and other institutions are 

 sending out representatives to assist in the discussion 

 of such questions as the portals of entrv, sources and 

 channels of infection, especially the path of the tubercle 

 bacillus from the exterior to' the lungs, vital impor- 

 tance of early diagnosis, comparative importance of 

 NO. 2028, VOL. 78] 



treatment in sanatoria near at hand, of entire change 

 of climate, the present status of sanatoria treatment, 

 diet in pulmonary tuberculosis, graduated labour in 

 the treatment of tuberculosis, urgent necessity for 

 hospitals for far advanced cases, relative frequency 

 by bovine infection of lung disease compared with 

 that of other organs, the economical aspect of tuber- 

 culosis, adverse industrial conditions, the social control 

 of tuberculosis, after care of arrested cases, educa- 

 tional methods and agencies, promotion of immunitv, 

 responsibility of society for tuberculosis, &c. 



One of the most interesting sections is that dealing 

 with State and municipal control of tuberculosis, in 

 which the provisional programme includes laws and 

 ordinances relating to tuberculosis, especially with 

 reference to notification. Government care of tuber- 

 culous patients, educational propaganda and scientific 

 research under Government auspices, sanitary 

 measures in the home, including disinfection, better' 

 housing, ventilation, &c., sanitary surveillance over 

 travellers and those engaged in trades and occupations, 

 in public buildings, factories and workshops, &c., 

 prevention of tuberculosis among children and 

 adolescents, including the subjects of heredity, 

 environment, schools, factories, playgrounds, &c. In 

 the section dealing with tuberculosis in animals and 

 its relation to man, the prevalence of the disease 

 amongst domestic animals, the modes of infection and 

 the methods of diagnosis are all to be dealt with 

 in a series of interesting papers, as are also resistance 

 to tuberculosis in different genera, species, breeds, 

 families and individuals, the methods for controlling 

 the disease in animals, the comparative bacteriology 

 and pathologv of tuberculosis in animals, the relation 

 of tuberculosis in animals to the pubilc health, includ- 

 ing the evidence for and against the transmission of 

 tuberculosis from animals to man, milk hygiene and 

 meat hvsriene in relation to tuberculosis in animals. 

 These papers should lead to most enlightening dis- 

 cussions, and we may confidently look forward to 

 some very interesting and important reports. 



TUK LATE M. MASCART. 



THE ranks of French physicists have suffered sad 

 losses of late. Last week it was Henri Bec- 

 querel whose obituary we published. To-day it is thai 

 of M. Mascart, whose death occurred on .August 26 at 

 his country residence at Poissy, where he had lain 

 suffering for some months. 



Eleuthere Elie Nicolas Mascart was born at 

 Quarouble, near Valenciennes, on February 20, 1837. 

 He was a scholar of the Ecole normale superieure, 

 taking his first degree in science in 185S, was admitted 

 agrdgi in 1861, and docteitr-es-scieiices in 1864. His 

 first post was that of conservator of the collections in 

 the Ecole normale. Then he became professor of 

 physics in the Lycee de Versailles, and subsequently 

 at the College Chaptal. He also acted as deputy for 

 Regnault at the College de France during the later 

 years of that great master; and in 1S72 succeeded to 

 the occupancy of his chair. Devoted to experimental 

 physics, and, like his master, possessed of a great 

 capacity for the methodical and patient treatment of 

 details, he early made his mark in the scientific study 

 of meteorology. It was therefore an approprial'^ 

 appointment when in May, 187S, he was elected to 

 the post of director of the Central Bureau of Meteor- 

 ology in Paris. This post he filled for nearly thirty 

 years, retiring only in iqo7. He succeeded in the 

 face of numerous difficulties in gradu.iUy perfecting 

 the equipment and organisation of his bureau, and 

 in establishing the systematic publication in France of 

 weather-charts and weather-forecasts. 



