748 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 986 



many diseases of childhood in which the art 

 of medicine, apart from its science, is of no 

 great use, few are more unkind than infantile 

 paralysis. It is the Eockefeller Institute that 

 we must thank here. First came Flexner's 

 magnificent work on epidemic cerebrospinal 

 meningitis, and his discovery (1908) of the 

 special antitoxin for that disease; then came 

 the study of epidemic infantile paralysis. To 

 have in one's hands, in a test-tube, infantile 

 paralysis, is a grand experience for a man ■« ho 

 has attended a children's hospital, year in 

 year out, long before the Eockefeller Institute 

 was born or thought of. It is enough to make 

 him believe that the doctors some years hence 

 may be able to stop the disease before it can 

 inflict irremediable injury on the nerve cells 

 of the spinal cord. 



Finally, Professor Noguchi spoke of rabies 

 (hydrophobia). He has been able to obtain, 

 in pure culture, the microscopic bodies which 

 Negri discovered in the brain in that disease. 

 He demonstrated to the Eoyal Society of 

 Medicine, on the lantern-screen, photographs 

 showing the cycle — -not unlike that of the 

 Plasmodium malariw — through which these 

 bodies pass until, like miniature shrapnell, 

 they break, setting free their constituent 

 granules ; and each granule becomes a " Negri 

 body," and starts the cycle again. Happily, 

 the protective treatment against rabies did not 

 have to wait for the discovery of these Negri 

 bodies. Pasteur worked at rabies, as Eeed 

 and Lazear worked at yellow fever, knowing 

 that the virus was there, and able to control, 

 fight and beat it, without seeing it under the 

 microscope. 



The Eoyal Society of Medicine deserves the 

 thanks of the public for inviting Professor 

 Noguchi to give this demonstration in Lon- 

 don. He ' is indeed, in width and originality 

 of work, equal to his fellow-countryman. Pro- 

 fessor Kitasato. He has helped to make it 

 possible for men of science to extend to other 

 diseases those methods of study which brought 

 about the discovery of diphtheria antitoxin 

 and the protective treatments against cholera, 

 typhoid fever and plague. 



Stephen Paget 



DIATOM COLLECTION OF TEE UNITED 

 STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Dr. Albert Mann, author of the " Eeport 

 on the Diatoms of the Albatross Voyages in 

 the Pacific Ocean " and many other diatom 

 papers, has recently been appointed custodian 

 of the diatom collection of the United States 

 National Museum. This collection already 

 contains much valuable material, including 

 the types of species accumulated by the late 

 Professor H. L. Smith, of Geneva, New York, 

 the specimens of all the species of the Albatross 

 diatoms, and the extensive collection of diatom 

 material of the late Professor C. Henry Kain, 

 of Philadelphia, representing the principal 

 fossil deposits throughout the world as well as 

 a large number of recent gatherings made in 

 this country and abroad. To the large amount 

 of material thus brought together, there are 

 being added the marine diatoms of the 

 Shackleton Expedition to the South Pole, 

 diatoms recently secured in the Panama Canal 

 Zone by the Smithsonian Institution, and the 

 I)elagic coastal diatoms of the Atlantic sea- 

 hoard now being collected under the auspices 

 of the Cambridge Zoological Laboratory and 

 the United States Bureau of Fisheries. 



For the accommodation of the extensive 

 series of specimens thus assembled a separate 

 room in the National Herbarium has been 

 fitted up with cases, microscope accessories, and 

 other necessary apparatus. The action of the 

 National Museum in thus affording proper 

 facilities for diatom study is in accordance 

 with a growing realization of the importance 

 of these organisms in modern science. Until 

 recently they were appreciated mainly because 

 of their artistic beauty and their interesting 

 microscopical structure. They are now com- 

 ing to be recognized as constituting one of the 

 fundamental food supplies of the marine 

 world and as having an important bearing on 

 oceanography and recent geology. 



Collectors who donate diatom specimens to 

 the National Museum may be assured that 

 their collections will be carefully preserved 

 and made available to diatom students. The 

 number of types already brought together is 



