On 15. i. 1929 Dr Sowden, the Medical Officer of Health for the Borough of St Pancras, notified the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers that nine (9)cases of enteric fever had occurred in his borough during the last week in December, 1928; and that the individuals infected had all consumed winkles purchased on Sundays during November and December from local stall-holders who in turn had obtained them from Messrs Baxter and Sons of Billingsgate Market on the preceding Saturdays, and (so they stated) boiled them on Sunday mornings in preparation for sale that day.

1. Antisera, made against crystalline egg-albumin, have been examined by titrating a constant amount of antiserum against falling amounts of the antigen (the usual Dean and Webb method), and also by the reverse procedure in which the amount of antigen was constant and that of antiserum varied. The ratios by the two methods were never found to agree; nevertheless, in the majority of cases the relationship which the ratio by one method bore to the ratio by the other method was of the same order, and it is possible that this relationship is constant for crystalline egg-albumin and its antisera.

2. The conclusions reached in my previous work (1931) require modification, because in those experiments insufficiently extensive ranges were used and as a result it was found that when varying amounts of anti-horse serum were titrated against a fixed amount of antigen, particulation was quickest in the tube containing most antiserum.

3. Titrations by the reverse method over a fairly considerable range have provided evidence that the proportions of crystalline egg-albumin and a given homologous antiserum favourable for the most rapid particulation are constant despite absolute quantitative changes. The proportions in which these reagents particulate most rapidly are similarly constant in titrations by the usual Dean and Webb method.

4. Why the two methods of titration give different results I am unable to explain, but the point of optimal particulation found by the Dean and Webb method probably coincides with the point of neutrality of antigen and antibody. Since in the Ramon (1923) method of titrating diphtheria toxin and antitoxin the reverse method, with constant antigen and varying antiserum, is used, the work reported here suggests that the determination of the relationship to each other and to animal values of the results of titrations of toxin and antitoxin by both methods might yield helpful information.

5. Some points of practical importance in the performance of optimal proportions titrations are appended.

1. An investigation has been carried out, with, a view to determining (a) whether articles liable to damage by steam can be disinfected and/or disinfested in a standard steam pressure disinfector by the action of dry heat and/or gaseous disinfectants; (b) the economic practicability of the method.

2. Lice and bugs can be thus easily destroyed in loosely suspended articles by dry heat at 55°C. acting for 30 min., the total time occupied being one to one and a half hours, depending on the size of the charge.

3. Infective material (non-sporing organisms), including tuberculous sputum, in loose articles, can be disinfected by penetration of dry heat at 50°C. followed by formaldehyde, 5 per cent, (approximately), allowed to act for one hour, the total time not exceeding two and a half hours. Organisms, other than tuberculous sputum, can be disinfected by exposure for 30 min.

4.(a) Rubber, leather, imitation leather, furs, silks and woollens are not injured by this method.

(b) Blood-stains are fixed by the action of the formaldehyde, but not by dry heat alone.

5. The method is not suited for the disinfection of large bulky articles containing much entangled air.

6. Infective material cannot be rendered sterile, and lice are not killed, by exposure to formaldehyde, 7 per cent. (approximately), for one hour at room temperature.

7. It required an exposure of four hours at room temperature to a concentration of sulphur dioxide beginning at 4 per cent. and falling to 0·75 percent., in order to kill lice and bugs and to sterilise B. typhosus in exposed situations; but even this was ineffective where such were embedded in a piece of flock mattress.

8. Contact with dry heat at 55°C. for one hour cannot be relied upon to sterilise infective material.

The determination of the mean normal haemoglobin concentration has re ceived more attention in America than in this country. Recently Price-Jones (1931) has compared the values in London with those found in America. He used the Haldane haemoglobinometer and his results are as accurate as is possible having regard to the method employed. In America his results were 3 percent. above those of the Haldane gas analysis apparatus (1901) by which theclinical instrument is supposed to be calibrated. Twenty comparisons were made in America and showed that the Haldane gas apparatus gave results averaging 2·6 per cent. below those of the Van Slyke apparatus. Price-Jones considers this to have no statistical significance. From the standpoint of experimental accuracy the difference is appreciable, as all methods for the measurement of oxygen combined with Hb are essentially pragmatic.

One of the difficulties in the way of recommending pasteurisation as a general measure for the protection of the milk supply is the fact that as a technical process it is not completely satisfactory, or perhaps better stated, that there are many loopholes for faulty practice. The problems of pasteurisation are not solved merely by enunciating that scientific investigations under laboratory conditions show that certain time-temperature factors are capable and requisite to kill all pathogenic bacteria in milk and that in the process the damage to the milk is neither material nor detrimental. The application of these time-temperature factors under working conditions involves consideration of a number of practical problems. If we are to adopt pasteurisation as a regular part of Public Health practice it is essential to consider these problems and to make the procedure as technically perfect and satisfactory as possible. Any trade objections have to be considered and weighed and, if they are of substance, removed, if that can be done without harm to essential requirements. This is important, since demands which cut across trade needs are likely to be evaded or at least carried out in a lukewarm fashion.

1. Methods for the estimation of iodine in natural products are described.

2. Common sea weeds on the Pacific coast of Otago have an iodine content of the same order as similar species on the Pacific coast of British Columbia.

3. In Cystophora retroflexa, which contains over 0·1 per cent, of iodine, 70–80 per cent, of the iodine appears to be in inorganic or loosely bound combination. Precipitation and colour tests indicate that di-iodotyrosine is also present.

4. Observations are recorded of the iodine content of kelp-feeding and other fish.

5. Administration of anaesthetics produces fluctuations in the concentration of blood iodine in rabbits, the effect persisting after removal of the thyroid gland. Experiments in vitro suggest that only in the case of inorganic iodine could a redistribution of iodine between tissues and serum be brought about by the direct action of anaesthetics.

6. New Zealand cabbage possesses goitrigenous properties for rabbits but in a much smaller degree than American cabbage.

7. The urinary excretion of Samoans is compared with that of inhabitants of Christchurch Mental Hospital.

8. The incidence and course of development of goitre at Christchurch Mental Hospital is discussed.

9. Values are given for the iodine content of Otago pigs' thyroids.

The following study completes the examination of the data derived from certain physical and physiological measurings of adolescent boys at the Manchester Grammar School, taken during the last ten years with a view to enquiring whether any definite relationship could be discovered between such measurings, considered singly or in combination, and either general scholasticattainments or special aptitudes in school sports and games. If such relationship, indicating either general or particular aspects of health and vitality, could be discovered, then, although spontaneity of choice in classroomand playing-fields should always be jealously guarded, yet the cause of many failures might be revealed and such innate energy as the boy may possess be directed into more appropriate channels.

The isolation of fusiform bacilli from typical tropical ulcer is described and an account is given of the motility and staining properties of the organisms cultivated.

Experimental inoculations, both in man and animals, are recorded in tabular form and the results of the investigation discussed.

For the present it may safely be stated that on growing grass, bovine B. tuberculosis remain alive and virulent, for a period of at least 49 days in summer, in the south of England. Simultaneously with the experiments described above, a feeding experiment on guinea-pigs has been carried out, to discover whether the bacilli, proved to be infective for these animals by inoculation are, after exposure on grass for varying times, capable of setting up infection by the alimentary route. For this purpose a number of colonies of a dozen guinea-pigs each is being fed on grass at increasing intervals after the time of infection. These experiments, which are in progress, are it is hoped preliminary to the feeding of calves on similarly infected pasture.

(1) The energy cost of static effort.

From previous work it appears that the metabolic cost of maintaining a given tension varies directly as the load, provided no new muscles are brought into play as the result of fatigue or local strain. There is conflict of opinion as to the relation of cost to tension; some workers find a linear relation, while others find a non-linear one.

In the present observations contractions, which were virtually isometric, were made against a powerful spring, while in a standing position.

With constant tension the oxygen cost per contraction varied directly as the duration of the contraction. With constant time and increasing tension the oxygen cost increased more rapidly than the tension.

The duration of contraction varied from ½ to 30 sec., and the tension from 30 to 165 Ib. Over the whole range the oxygen cost per contraction is adequately described by the equation

Q = T1·37 (0·0117 + 0·01090t),

where Q is the oxygen cost per contraction, T is the tension, and t is the duration of contraction.

(2) The effect of static effort on the respiration.

As a measure of hyper-ventilation the ratio of ventilation to oxygen intake is used. It is shown that in dynamic work this ratio falls below the resting value, whereas in static effort of whatever severity the ratio increases considerably above the resting value if the effort is sufficiently prolonged. The rise in the ventilation ratio runs parallel with the feelings of strain which are associated with static effort. Pain causes such a rise in the ratio, and the rise which occurs in static effort is ascribed to the influence of painful sensations of strain.

Observations were made in which the posture alternated between sitting and standing every 40 sec. The change of posture altered the distribution of the strain, and thus the subjective sensations were not so marked as in the experiments with posture unchanged. In consequence of the postural change the ventilation ratio did not rise sensibly above the resting value, and the maximum strength of pull was increased by 6–16 per cent.