90 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1256 



senator, with Professor E. Medea as the med- 

 ical chief of the new institution. 

 , According to statistics approximately esti- 

 mated, the epidemic of iniluenza in Mexico 

 caused 432,000 deaths. 



, An application for a license to publish an 

 enemy book on the treatment of shell shock 

 came recently before the Controller of Patents 

 of Great Britain, in the Patents Court. The 

 applicants were Messrs. E. and S. Living'ston, 

 publishers, of Edinburgh, who desired to issue 

 volume three of the work of Professor Kraepe- 

 lin on " Psychiatry," dealing with the treat- 

 pient of shell shock and of similar disturbances 

 of the mind. The literature on the subject was 

 not extensive, it was said, and this book would 

 be of value in our hospitals. Dr. Kraepelin 

 was a great authority on mental diseases. The 

 ,editor of the proposed new volume was Dr. G. 

 Eohertson, medical superintendent of the 

 Morningside Asylum at Edinburgh for the 

 treatment of mental diseases. The controller 

 .said that the volume was clearly of value, and 

 he would report favorably on the application. 



It is reported in Nature that the question of 

 the payment for the services of scientific men 

 working in connection with the industrial re- 

 search associations being formed on the lines 

 suggested by the Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Eesearch has been raised in the 

 House of Commons by Sir William Beale. 

 Though the associations could make remuner- 

 ation to scientific men appointed to serve on 

 advisory committees, or to specific posts con- 

 stituted by them, they were not authorized to 

 pay them for services as members of councils 

 or boards of management. It has now been 

 decided by the Board of Trade that this condi- 

 tion may be abrogated, and payment can be 

 made after approval by the Department of 

 Scientific and Industrial Eesearch. Sir Wil- 

 liam Beale's question, asked on July 18, and 

 Sir Albert Stanley's answer, are as follows : — 

 Sir William Beale: To ask the president of 

 the Board of Trade whether he is aware of the 

 conditions under which scientific men are 

 asked to serve on the councils or boards of 

 management of industrial research associations 

 formed under the direction or with the ap- 



proval of the Board to carry out or promote 

 scientific and industrial research, in conse- 

 quence of the rules and practise prescribed by 

 the Board of Trade to discourage payment for 

 such services rendered by scientific men other 

 than reimbursement for out-of-pocket ex- 

 penses; and whether the Board has taken or 

 will take steps to enable such further reason- 

 able remuneration to be paid as will attract 

 to or at least make possible for such research 

 committees as are being formed in connection 

 with the Department of Scientific and Indus- 

 trial Eesearch the cooperation, advice and as- 

 sistance of scientific men of undoubted capac- 

 ity to render valuable services whose position 

 and means do not enable them to do so on 

 mere compensation for out-of-pocket expenses. 

 Sir Albert Stanley: In dealing with applica- 

 tions for licences under the provisions of sec- 

 tion 20 of the Companies Consolidation Act, 

 1908, due provision is made for the payment 

 of reasonable remuneration to members of the 

 council of management of such industrial re- 

 search associations with the approval of the 

 Department of Scientific and Industrial Ee- 

 search. 



H. Vincent and G. Stodel have described to 

 the Academie des Sciences, on July 16, a 

 serum for gas gangrene prepared from the 

 horse by injecting the chief varieties of anae- 

 robic microbes which cause the disease. The 

 British Medical Journal states that they pro- 

 duced gas gangrene in 89 guinea-pigs by in- 

 oculation of the Bacillus perfringens into the 

 thigh muscles, followed by crushing by pin- 

 cers these muscles in the anesthetized ani- 

 mals; after this double action of the bacillus 

 and the trauma gas gangrene usually appeared 

 in about eighteen hours. The mortality of 

 the unprotected animals was seventy-nine per 

 cent., of the protected only four and one half 

 per cent. The sermn was used in fifty soldiers 

 with severe badly infected wounds of thighs 

 or buttocks; all remained free from gas gan- 

 grene. It was used in thirteen cases of more 

 or less advanced gas gangrene, four of which 

 were regarded by the surgeons as hopeless; 

 twelve recovered. The local and general 

 symptoms usually showed rapid amelioration. 



