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SULPHANILAMIDE FOR MALARIA ?
1152 tumours of the breast, for instance, very radiosensitive. Further proof of the difference in sensitivity of the actively functioning and relatively quiescent tissues is given by the experiments of Dr. H. A. Colwell and Dr. G. P. Gladstone at the Barnato Joel Laboratories of the Middlesex Hospital. They irradiated pregnant rats at full term and killed the animals 24 hours later. Histological examination of the alimentary canal of mother and foetus showed pronounced changes in the adult tissues, but practically no deviation from the normal in the section of the irradiated fcetus. Further interesting reports come from Prof. Sidney Russ and Miss G. M. Scott at the same laboratory, from Dr. M. A. C. Cowell of the Holt Radium Institute, and from Dr. Joan Ross of the Royal Free Hospital. At the physics department of the Imperial College of Science and Technology experiments on artificial radio-activity, the biological action of neutrons, and the effects of low temperature on absorption of neutrons suggest interesting possibilities, and much careful work by Mr. W. V. Mayneord, M.Sc., at the Royal Cancer Hospital finally concludes that the c.mg.h. unit is equal to 8.3 rontgens. The section on therapy follows the usual lines and no special innovations call for comment. The number of cases of cancer of the breast treated by radium implantation shows a slight decrease, suggesting that it has not replaced surgery for the early case, while some centres now prefer X ray therapy for the advanced case. The results in cancer of the cervix show a slight but steady improvement, and the very low mortality-rate in the year 1936 is particularly hopeful; it looks as if the immediate dangers of treatment are being overcome. Birmingham draws attention to the danger of necrosis in the treatment of cancer in the mouth, and to the difficulty of distinguishing necrosis from recurrence. For the cases quoted the dose stated is 8000 r in 164 and in 198 hours ; this dose is higher than that delivered in most centres. Finally there is a short report on the one-gramme teleradium units. The two- and four-gramme units which are being installed at University College Hospital and at the Middlesex Hospital are not yet available for treatment.
large encephaloid are
A BRITISH FESTSCHRIFT
MANY contributions to science lie buried in the pages of Festschrifts. Of all references which the research worker needs these are the most difficult to trace. Nor is it always a pleasure to read a heterogeneous collection of technical papers, whatever their individual merits. But there is now to hand a Festschrift with a difference. It is a collection of thirty-one essays1 contributed by a few of the pupils and colleagues of Sir Gowland Hopkins, F.R.S., to celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday. Each essay is written around some subject of which the author has special knowledge. None describes original researches and few are in the nature of formal reviews ; the intention has been rather to allow each contributor full rein to his imagination, to let him shed bit and bridle and range at will through the fields of biochemical speculation. Some, it is true, like welltrained liberty horses, continue to canter neatly in circles ; most are still subject to a certain selfrestraining discipline ; but there are plenty of kicks and scampers, and not a few let themselves go like mustangs on the open prairie. The result is a 1 Perspectives in Biochemistry. Thirty-one essays presented to Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins by past and present members of his Laboratory. Cambridge : University Press. 1937. Pp.361 15s.
with plenty of solid matter in it, to be sure, but always interesting and often provocative, the sort of book one cannot read without getting ideas. As a tribute to Hopkins the work is remarkable. The essays cover an immense variety of subjects : the nature of the gene, the architecture of the cell and its proteins, comparative biochemistry, the chemical administration of growth, cellular oxidations, muscular contraction, vitamins, toxamins, the social implications of biochemistry-to pick a few at random. This variety is in itself a tribute, for it shows how diverse are the interests of those who have drawn their inspiration from this source. Moreover, it is evident that these past and present members of his laboratory see biochemistry as Hopkins himself has always seen it, as the ultimate description of all vital processes-not merely as the organic chemistry of matter which was once alive. The book itself is beautifully produced ; the title page alone is a work of art ; it has a charming informal frontispiece of Sir Gowland with pipette and slide rule; and it is prettily bound in a buckram of Cambridge blue.
stimulating collection ;
SULPHANILAMIDE FOR MALARIA ?
THE latest disease to be treated with sulphonamide compounds is malaria. The report comes from the Pan-American Sanitary Bureau and is published by the United States Health Service " with the hope that a cautious use of the drug by others may determine whether or not it has real value in the treatment of malaria."1 The trial was made by Dr. A. D. de Leon in Mexico, and the preparation he used was Rubiazol Roussel (which corresponds to Prontosil) given by mouth and also injection. The patients had tertian fever, and after treating 15 cases benign " with complete success " Dr. de Leon felt sure that the remedy was effective.
THE next session of the General Medical Council will open at 2 P.M. on Tuesday, Nov. 23rd, under the presidency of Sir Norman Walker. Mr. A. CHESTER BEATTY, who has recently been elected vice-president of the Royal Cancer Hospital, Fulham-road, has purchased the old Freemasons’ Hospital nearby with the intention of equipping it for conversion into a cancer research institute. This will give space to develop the research institute which has been for many years under the direction of Prof. E. L. Kennaway. Mr. Beatty is also re-equipping the radiotherapeutic department of the hospital and
providing
an
university travelling scholarship
which will enable a student, after obtaining the academic diplomas in medical radiology, to spend a year abroad. Mr. JOHN AUGUSTUS VOELCKER, who has just died at the age of 84, had been consulting chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England for the last 52 years. Following the lead of his father, Augustus Voelcker, F.R.S., he early studied chemistry in relation to agriculture at London University and later at Giessen, where he took his Ph.D. For the whole of his active life he was director of the Experimental Farm and Pot-culture Station at Woburn, Beds, and at one time or another he was public analyst for several English counties. He was president of the Society of Public Analysts, of the Farmers’ Club, and of the London Athletic Club. His younger brother, Dr. A. F. Voelcker, survives him. Publ. Hlth Rep., Wash. Oct. 15th, 1937, p. 1460.
large encephaloid are
A BRITISH FESTSCHRIFT
MANY contributions to science lie buried in the pages of Festschrifts. Of all references which the research worker needs these are the most difficult to trace. Nor is it always a pleasure to read a heterogeneous collection of technical papers, whatever their individual merits. But there is now to hand a Festschrift with a difference. It is a collection of thirty-one essays1 contributed by a few of the pupils and colleagues of Sir Gowland Hopkins, F.R.S., to celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday. Each essay is written around some subject of which the author has special knowledge. None describes original researches and few are in the nature of formal reviews ; the intention has been rather to allow each contributor full rein to his imagination, to let him shed bit and bridle and range at will through the fields of biochemical speculation. Some, it is true, like welltrained liberty horses, continue to canter neatly in circles ; most are still subject to a certain selfrestraining discipline ; but there are plenty of kicks and scampers, and not a few let themselves go like mustangs on the open prairie. The result is a 1 Perspectives in Biochemistry. Thirty-one essays presented to Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins by past and present members of his Laboratory. Cambridge : University Press. 1937. Pp.361 15s.
with plenty of solid matter in it, to be sure, but always interesting and often provocative, the sort of book one cannot read without getting ideas. As a tribute to Hopkins the work is remarkable. The essays cover an immense variety of subjects : the nature of the gene, the architecture of the cell and its proteins, comparative biochemistry, the chemical administration of growth, cellular oxidations, muscular contraction, vitamins, toxamins, the social implications of biochemistry-to pick a few at random. This variety is in itself a tribute, for it shows how diverse are the interests of those who have drawn their inspiration from this source. Moreover, it is evident that these past and present members of his laboratory see biochemistry as Hopkins himself has always seen it, as the ultimate description of all vital processes-not merely as the organic chemistry of matter which was once alive. The book itself is beautifully produced ; the title page alone is a work of art ; it has a charming informal frontispiece of Sir Gowland with pipette and slide rule; and it is prettily bound in a buckram of Cambridge blue.
stimulating collection ;
SULPHANILAMIDE FOR MALARIA ?
THE latest disease to be treated with sulphonamide compounds is malaria. The report comes from the Pan-American Sanitary Bureau and is published by the United States Health Service " with the hope that a cautious use of the drug by others may determine whether or not it has real value in the treatment of malaria."1 The trial was made by Dr. A. D. de Leon in Mexico, and the preparation he used was Rubiazol Roussel (which corresponds to Prontosil) given by mouth and also injection. The patients had tertian fever, and after treating 15 cases benign " with complete success " Dr. de Leon felt sure that the remedy was effective.
THE next session of the General Medical Council will open at 2 P.M. on Tuesday, Nov. 23rd, under the presidency of Sir Norman Walker. Mr. A. CHESTER BEATTY, who has recently been elected vice-president of the Royal Cancer Hospital, Fulham-road, has purchased the old Freemasons’ Hospital nearby with the intention of equipping it for conversion into a cancer research institute. This will give space to develop the research institute which has been for many years under the direction of Prof. E. L. Kennaway. Mr. Beatty is also re-equipping the radiotherapeutic department of the hospital and
providing
an
university travelling scholarship
which will enable a student, after obtaining the academic diplomas in medical radiology, to spend a year abroad. Mr. JOHN AUGUSTUS VOELCKER, who has just died at the age of 84, had been consulting chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England for the last 52 years. Following the lead of his father, Augustus Voelcker, F.R.S., he early studied chemistry in relation to agriculture at London University and later at Giessen, where he took his Ph.D. For the whole of his active life he was director of the Experimental Farm and Pot-culture Station at Woburn, Beds, and at one time or another he was public analyst for several English counties. He was president of the Society of Public Analysts, of the Farmers’ Club, and of the London Athletic Club. His younger brother, Dr. A. F. Voelcker, survives him. Publ. Hlth Rep., Wash. Oct. 15th, 1937, p. 1460.