368 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1346 



bacterial infections, and particularly the epi- 

 demic influenzal pneumonia whidi swept 

 tkrough our troops during the period when gas 

 casualties were most numerous. Because of 

 these complexities, many of the human cases 

 presented a difficult problem for the patholo- 

 gist, and it was not very easy for him to apply 

 fully the knowledge gained from animal ex- 

 perimentation. For example, although blue 

 cross sheHs containing diphenylchlorarsine 

 were used in profusion against our troops in 

 the later months of the war, and although ani- 

 mal experiments had shown this and related 

 arsine compounds to possess a high degree of 

 toxicity, not a single casualty amongst 576 

 recorded autopsies could be referred to organic 

 arsine-halogen compounds alone, nor was it 

 possible to differentiate the lesions from those 

 of other vesicant and irritant gases in common 

 use. 



Such considerations should not detract from 

 the value of the work. These studies, and the 

 equally painstaking and complete experimental 

 work of Warthin and Weller on Mustard Gas, 

 are fundamental contributions to the pathol- 

 ogy of the toxic gases used in the war. 



Appended to the purely descriptive studies 

 of gas lesions of various types, is an interest- 

 ing chapter given to the subject of intra- 

 tracheal therapy. It was found that dogs will 

 tolerate intrapulmonary irrigation with physio- 

 logical salt solution in amounts up to three 

 liters, or more, when the fluid is introduced 

 over a period of thirty minutes. Resorption 

 from the lungs takes place very rapidly as 

 could be shown by the elimination of phenol- 

 sulphonithalein in the urine; and no serious 

 functional or anatomical disturbances are 

 produced. This raises the question as to how 

 far the oedema itself is responsible for the 

 fatal outcome in cases of acute poisoning with 

 the suffocant gases, and suggests that other 

 factors, such as the increased viscosity of the 

 blood, the (Obstruction to the pulmonary cir- 

 culation, and the resultant cardiac weakness, 

 may be of greaiter moment than the mere ac- 

 cumulation of fluid in the air spaces. 



The demonstration that inert granular ma- 

 terial and even bacteria can in great measure 



be washed out of the lungs, opens new possi- 

 bilities of experimental research along thera- 

 peutic lines. 



Alwin M. Pappenheimer 

 Columbia TjNnrEEsiTT 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



THE TAKE-ALL DISEASE OF WHEAT IN NEW 

 YORK STATE 



For nearly two decades plant pathologists 

 have been interested in the possible introduc- 

 tion of the take-all disease of wheat into Amer- 

 ica. A detailed historical and bibliographic 

 treatment of this and some related diseases of 

 wheat has recently been published by Stevens.'- 

 Conditions, believed to be due to takenall, have 

 been reported from Oregon in 1902 and more 

 recently (1919) from Illinois and from Vir- 

 ginia. However, the fungus Ophioholus 

 graminis Sacc. has not yet been reported 

 from these localities in the papers which have 

 come to the writers' notice. If the name of 

 " take-all " be restricted to the disease with 

 which Ophioiolus graminis is associated, there 

 remains some doubt as to the reported occur- 

 rence of the true take^all in this country. 



Early in July, 1920, the attention of Mr. 

 R. G. Palmer, field assistant of the Depart- 

 ment of Plant Pathology, was attracted to a 

 small spot in a field of soft red winter wheat 

 lat East Rochester, New York. The plants 

 within an area eight to ten feet in diameter 

 were badly dwarfed and prematurely dead. 

 In many cases secondary culms had been 

 killed soon after their formation. On July 15 

 the diseased spot was brought to the attention 

 of Dr. M. F. Barrus who brought specimens 

 into the laboratory for examination. The 

 roots of the plants were rotted and usually 

 broken near the base of the culm when the 

 plants were uprooted. The lower internodes 

 were dark or entirely blackened and enveloped 

 by a dense sheath-like plate of thick-walled 

 brown mycelium. This plate of mycelium was 

 formed between the leaf sheath and culm, as 



1 "Foot-rot Disease of AVTieat — Historical and 

 Bibliographic, ' ' Natural History Survey, 111. Dept. 

 Kegistration and Education, Vol. 13, Art. 9, 1919. 



