280 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1445 



Russian, without the ineonvenienee of trans- 

 lating them into a language different from 

 their own. The valuable personal acquaintance 

 of this member in Russia -was of great assist- 

 ance in drawing up a list of institutions which 

 ought to he reached. 



The response to the appeal in America was 

 immediate, and very generous. Up to August 

 15th, a sum of $1,657.47 had been received, 

 and food packets amounting to $1,490 had 

 been sent for distribution among the scientific 

 staffs of twenty-five institutions, observatories 

 or universities, and to some isolated astrono- 

 mers or their dependent families. These pack- 

 ets were sent at intervals, considerably oftener 

 than a month, as the funds came in for the 

 purpose. We have received interesting testi- 

 mony as to the care and judgment of the A. R. 

 A. in the selection of contents of the food 

 packets, having learned from the direct ex- 

 perience of our friends that a $10 packet has 

 actually supported two persons for a month. 

 It should also be recalled that one fourth of 

 all packets was used for the general relief of 

 Russian children. 



The recipients of the first shipments were 

 requested to give us the names of other astrono- 

 mers or their families that might need assist- 

 ance, and thus the list has been considerably 

 increased. Many replies have been received, 

 but not yet has there been time for all to aek- 

 nmvledge the receipt of the food packages. 

 The distress has been very great in the Crimea 

 — perhaps where it had been least expected — 

 and it was not possible for the A. R. A. to 

 establish ^varehouses in this district until rather 

 recently. From six to eight weeks seems to 

 have been necessary for the actual receipt of 

 the food at points which could be reached most 

 expeditiously. 



The last general distribution of food packets 

 was made at the end of July, and we have 

 assiuned that by the time it reaches the per- 

 sons for whom it is intended the new harvest 

 will have removed the immediate urgency of 

 relief. The balance which the committee has in 

 the bank will be used in responding to calls 

 from individuals not yet reached, or those in 

 remote districts where the distress may still be 

 acute. 



No expenses of the committee have been 

 charged to the fund, so that the distribution 

 has been net. This, of course, applies also 

 to the splendid work of the A. R. A. 



The followers of the stars are a scattered, 

 other-worldly folk, but their work on far-away 

 things has brought them close together. Per- 

 sonal acquaintances are probably closer among 

 astronomers and their families than is the case 

 in most other branches of science. It has, ac- 

 cordingly, been a simpler matter for the Ameri- 

 can astronomers to give this little help to 

 their Russian colleagues than it would have 

 been for those in other departments of en- 

 deavor having a greater constituency. Men 

 and women of America in several other branch- 

 es could readily have contributed a hundred 

 times what the astronomers could do — and 

 perhaps they have — but the presumptive lack 

 of personal contact would have made this a 

 rather difiieult proposition. The letters from 

 Russian astronomers leave no doubt as to the 

 sincerity of the appreciation of even this small 

 measure of relief from America. 



The members of the committee have been : 

 George Van Biesbroeck, Otto Struve and the 

 writer. 



Edwin B. Frost, 

 Chairman 



Yekkes Observatory, 

 Williams Bat, Wisconsin 

 August 18, 1922 



BOTULINUS TOXIN 



Sometime ago Dr. Schlesinger and myself 

 {Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol, and Med., 19, 1, 1921; 

 Jour. A. M. A., 78, 1519, 1922) stated that the 

 toxicity of crude filtrate from cultures of 

 Bacillus botulinus may be greatly increased 

 by the proper degree of acidification (ap- 

 proximately Ph 4). When we tried to 

 find the limits of potency of such an acidi- 

 fied solution of toxin, we were extremely sur- 

 prised to discover that even such minute quan- 

 tities of solution which contained only 

 3 X 10"^' cc. of the original culture filtrate 

 exhibited all the specific properties of the 

 original toxin and killed mice in less than 48 

 hours when injected intraperitoneally. When 

 this acidified solution of toxin was diluted 



