378 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1399 



the trap or in the shark pool. Mr. Vinal 

 Edwards tried to catch the ramora with a dip 

 net whereupon, to our surprise, it swam 

 quickly towards the shark's head and, with 

 a peculiar twist of the tail, entered the pos- 

 terior gill slit on the right side of the head 

 and disappeared, presumably into the shark's 

 mouth. It seems possible that the ramora 

 made the trip from the trap in the same way. 

 In this case therefore the shark offered free 

 transportation, food and shelter, making him 

 practically an ideal host. 



Eeynold a. Spaeth 

 Woods Hole, Mass. 



A REMEDY FOR MANGE IN WHITE RATS 



Everyone who has kept a colony of white 

 rats under laboratory conditions has doubtless 

 been confronted with the necessity of dealing 

 with the mange-like skin disease which affects 

 the edges of the ears, the nose, tail and the 

 skin of the body. The organism is one of the 

 species of ISTotoedres, the itch and scab mite. 



The conventional remedy in this laboratory 

 has been a mixture of sulfur and vaseline but 

 I have had no success with it. Eecently, 

 Kennedy^ reported the use of cedar oil for 

 this disease but cautioned care because of its 

 anesthetic properties. 



I have had satisfactory results with a 2 per 

 cent, solution of chloramine-T. The crusty 

 scabs on the ears, tail and among the hair on 

 the shoulders are rubbed vigorously with cot- 

 ton soaked in the solution and usually yield 

 to such daily treatment in less than a week. 

 The peculiar long horny growths on the nose 

 are best treated by cutting close with a sharp 

 scissors and treating the resulting lesion daily 

 with the antiseptic. Eoutine sterilization of 

 cages is desirable in any case. 



After surgical operations the rats often in- 

 " sist on removing the sutures with their teeth. 

 Treatment of the wound twice daily with chlo- 

 ramine-T solution will give satisfactory clo- 

 sure in a very short time. 



Arthur H. Smith 

 Sheppield Laboratory op Physiological 

 Chemistry, Yale "Univbrsity 



^Keimedy, Science, N. S., 53,364, 1921. 



QUOTATIONS 



" THE technicians IN INDUSTRY 



The Society of Technical Engineers has 

 just published a journal in which its position 

 and policy are for the first time clearly de- 

 fined. This society represents a movement 

 of great interest, which has for some time 

 been quietly advancing, but has attracted very 

 little attention, either general or official. It 

 has not escaped the notice of employers or of 

 trade unions, who regard it with mingled feel- 

 ings, and intelligent students of industrial 

 affairs have carefully noted its rise; but since 

 it has made no stir the public have heard 

 nothing of it and official circles have turned 

 a blind eye on it. Yet it marks a large change 

 in the evolution of industry. The techni- 

 cians, as represented by the Society of Techni- 

 cal Engineers, are not only engaged in in- 

 dustry, but are an essential factor in its 

 largest branches, and one continually and 

 rapidly advancing in importance with the 

 development of applied science. More than 

 any other element, they hold the key to the 

 economic future in the field of practical 

 operations. In a sense, this has been recog- 

 nized by the immense amount of attention 

 devoted to technical education in recent years. 

 The backward state of technology in this 

 country and the wonderful superiority of our 

 industrial rivals were incessantly pressed upon 

 British manufacturers before the war, but the 

 importance attached to technical training 

 was not extended to those who receive and 

 apply it in practice. They have been taken 

 for granted as part of the industrial appa- 

 ratus. This was conspicuously shown during 

 the war. Employers and labor leaders were 

 constantly taken into council, and distinc- 

 tions have been lavished on both, but the 

 technicians, who had far more to do with 

 the actual business of producing munitions 

 than either, were wholly ignored. So, too, 

 they are habitually overlooked in industrial 

 inquiries, conferences, disputes and con- 

 ciliation machinery. In the discussion of in- 

 dustrial relations and economic problems the 

 old categories of Capital and Labour, never 

 adequate and now quite out of date, are still 



