July 11, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



35 



brary of the American Museum of IvTatuial 

 Histoi-y and the Library of Congress. 



Heemon C. Bumpus 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE LISTER INSTITUTEi 



The Lister Institute is unique among the 

 medical establishments of London, because it 

 is an independent organization endowed by 

 private benefactors. The only comparable in- 

 stitution is the London School of Tropical 

 Medicine, which, however, is in the enjoyment 

 of government support. The Lister Institute 

 is one of the schools of the University of 

 London, admitted under the statute which em- 

 powers the senate to admit any institution 

 within the prescribed area founded for the 

 promotion of science or learning to be a school 

 of the university for the purpose of research 

 or the cultivation of any special branch of 

 science or learning. Its director. Dr. C. J. 

 Martin, F.R.S., is professor of experimental 

 pathology in the university, while several 

 members of its staff are readers or recognized 

 teachers in the tmiversity. But its connection 

 with the university is otherwise shadowy and 

 its affairs are managed by a governing body 

 which includes Major General Sir David 

 Bruce, K.C.B., F.E.S. (chairman). Professor 

 F. W. Andrewes, M.D., F.E.S., Professor W. 

 Bulloch, F.E.S., Sir James Kingston Fowler, 

 K:.C.V.0., and Professor E. H. Starling, 

 C.M.G., F.E.S. , There is also a council con- 

 taining representatives of the members of the 

 Institute and of many learned bodies. 



The report to be presented at the annual 

 general meeting gives an account of the va- 

 rious activities of the institute during the 

 year, and contains a section in which its 

 future general policy is discussed. A great 

 deal of the time of the staff of the institute — 

 which, owing to the war, was much dimin- 

 ished — was given to routine bacteriological ex- 

 aminations for the London County Council 

 and other public bodies, and the production 

 of serums and vaccines for the War OfSce and 

 the Government of Egypt. But some of the 

 work done for the War Office has reached out 



1 From the British Medical Journal. 



to research, as, for instance, investigations 

 made by Dr. Arkwright and Mr. Bacot as to 

 the virus of trench fever and typhus fever, and 

 the transmission of these diseases by lice. 

 Miss Muriel Eobertson has continued re- 

 searches upon anaerobic bacteria of wounds 

 and the preparation of standard samples of 

 the toxin of Vibrion septique which have been 

 used in preparing and standardizing tlie 

 serums issued to the army from the serum 

 laboratories of Messrs. Burroughs, Wellcome 

 and Co. Much of present knowledge of the 

 pathogenic anaerobes has been gained since 

 the beginning of the war, and in its acqui- 

 sition Miss Eobertson, who is secretary of the 

 anaerobic committee originated by the Med- 

 ical Eesearch Committee, has taken a prom- 

 inent part. 



In another direction researches stimulated 

 by the war have yielded results of permanent 

 importance to physiology and general medi- 

 cine — and indeed to sociology and statecraft 

 also. Dr. Harden and Dr. Zilva have made a 

 series of investigations into the properties of 

 accessory food factors and the effects of the 

 deprivation of them on various animals. A 

 related research was that conducted by Dr. 

 Harriette Chick, at the request of the mili- 

 tary authorities, into the cause of scurvy; it 

 was eventually expanded to include certain 

 other deficiency diseases. The research de- 

 manded the greatest care in the adjustment of 

 the diets and the feeding of the animals, and 

 the help of many volunteer workers was en- 

 listed. This inquiry has had many parts, but 

 those concerned with the quantitative deter- 

 mination of the relative antiscorbutic efficiency 

 of natural foodstuffs, and with the loss of 

 antiscorbutic value during the drying of vege- 

 tables, are now practically complete; work is 

 still in progress with regard to the preserva- 

 tion of lemon juice and root vegetables, and 

 as to the antiscorbutic and growth-promoting 

 properties of cow's milk, with special refer- 

 ence to infant feeding. The novel feature of 

 the investigations has been the attempt to get 

 a quantitative estimate of the amount of ac- 

 cessory food facts in various foodstuffs, the 

 first step being to determine experimentally 



