June 4, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



573 



The relation of the bacillus influensa: Francis 

 Gr. Blake, M.D., associate in medicine, Hospital of 

 the Eockefeller Institute for Medical Eesearch, 

 New York. (Introduced by Dr. A. C. Abbot.) 

 Following Pfeiffer 's discovery of Bacillus infiv^nzw 

 in 1892 this organism was rather generally ac- 

 cepted as the probable cause of influenza, and of 

 a characteristic type of bronchopneumonia which 

 complicates influenza. Pfeiffer and others failed 

 to support this possible etiological relationship by 

 animal inoculation experiments. During the recent 

 pandemic the causal relationship of B. influem(B 

 to the primary influenza has been seriously ques- 

 tioned and in general the organism has been rele- 

 gated to the position of a secondary invader re- 

 sponsible for a variable proportion of broncho- 

 pneumonias complicating influenza. Because B. 

 influensw is constantly present in the respiratory 

 tract in uncomplicated influenza and in a charac- 

 teristic type of bronchopneiunonia following in- 

 fluenza, it seemed desirable to determine by ani- 

 mal experiments whether influenza and this type 

 of bronchopneumonia could be produced by inocu- 

 lation with pure cultures of Bacillus infiwenzce. 

 Twelve monkeys were inoculated on the mucous 

 membranes of the nose and mouth with the suc- 

 cessful production of an acute self limited respira- 

 tory disease closely resembling influenza. This 

 disease was complicated in five cases by sinusitis, 

 in three by bronchopneumonia. The pathology of 

 the pneumonia was identical with the pathology of 

 the pneimionia ascribed to pure infection of the 

 lungs with B. influenzm in man. Ten mjonkeys were 

 inoculated in the trachea with pure cultures of B. 

 influenzcE in man. Ten monkeys were inoculated in 

 the trachea with pure cultures of B. influenzw 

 with the production of the same type of broncho- 

 pneumonia in seven cases. These experiments es- 

 tablish the etiological relationship of BacUlus in- 

 fluenzce to the type of bronchopneumonia with 

 which the organism has been found constantly as- 

 sociated in man. They also prove that Bacillus 

 influenzcE can initiate an infection of the upper 

 respiratory tract and produce a disease that closely 

 resembles influenza, and that is complicated by the 

 same complications as influenza. They do not 

 prove that Bacillus influenzcB is the primary cause, 

 however, since it is impossible to determine whether 

 the disease produced in monkeys with B. influenzce 

 was actually identical w^ith pandemic influenza. 

 X-rays of the irain after injection of air into tlie 

 y ventricles of tlie hrain and into the spinal canal: 

 W. E. Dandy, M.D., associate in surgery, Johns 

 Hopkins Hospital. (Introduced by Dr. Keen.) 



Celt and Slav: J. Dynelet Prince, Ph.D., pro- 

 fessor of Slavonic languages, Columbia University. 

 Slavs and Celts are strikingly similar to each other 

 in habits of mind and expression although far re- 

 moved geographically. The Russians, Poles, Czecho- 

 slovaks, Serbo-Croatians and Bulgarians all speak- 

 ing Slavonic idioms, although racially very various 

 have certain marked traits in common which they 

 all share with the Celts; viz., the Irish, Scottish 

 and Manks Gaels and the Armorican Bretons of 

 France, and the Welsh still Celtic speaking, and 

 the Cornish, whose Celtic language is now extiinct. 

 The similarity between Slavs and Celts is twofold, 

 viz., tempeiamental discontent and morbid joy in 

 sorrow. As a concomitant of this discontent goes 

 the spirit of quest after the unattainable, which is 

 manifest in both Slavonic and Celtic trends of 

 thought. Success plays almost no part as an ele- 

 ment of heroism in Slavonic literature and com- 

 paratively a small role in Celtic. Both Celt and 

 Slav are not satisfied with the present world, and 

 care more for sympathy than for accomplisiiment. 

 In Euss'ia, especially, the public sympathy has been 

 with the unsuccessful rather than with the success- 

 ful hero. Morbid pleasure in failure, delight in 

 a ' ' lost cause, ' ' love of the appurtenances of death 

 are all common and underlying Slavonic and Celtic 

 traits. These characteristics are instructive as ac- 

 counting for the "political impossibility" of the 

 easternmost and westernmost branches of Indo- 

 European language-infiuence. The sun of com- 

 mon sense has never risen on either the Slav or the 

 Celt and it is doubtful whether the Slavs can exist 

 very long without the guiding hand of strangers. 

 The charm of the Celt and Slav is great and dur- 

 able, but it is charm and mot character, feeling and 

 sentiment rather than thought and reasoning, 

 which dominate the east and west of Europe alike. 



A new theory of Polynesian origins: Eoland B. 

 Dixon, Ph.D., professor of anthropology, Harvard 

 University. (Introduced by Dr. W. C. Farabee.) 

 The question of the racial origins of the Polynes- 

 ian peoples has long attracted the attention of 

 anthropologists. Previous studies have dealt 

 mainly with small portions of the area, and have 

 not satisfactorily correlated the various factors 

 characterizing physical types, nor the Polynesian 

 types with those of the rest of Oceanica. The pres- 

 ent study seeks to secure more satisfactory results 

 by including the whole of Oceanica and eastern 

 Asia in its scape. Following a method differing 

 from those previously employed, a number of 

 fundamental physical types are defined, and their 

 distribution and that of their derivatives traced. 



