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The chemistry of antigens and antibodies
282
PUBLIC HEALTH.
Another feature of the Health Congress is the Health Exhibition arranged in conjunction with the meeting. Here will be found various appliances, foods, etc., illustrating municipal activities and hygiene of the home. Manufacturers from all parts of the country will be represented. Particulars of the Congress and Exhibition may be obtained from the ~Secretary of the Royal S a n i t a r y , Institute, 90, Buckingham Palace Road, London, S.W.1.
The ~Etiology of Dissecting Aneurysms. S H E N N A N of Aberdeen, in p aROFESSOR report issued by the Medical Research Council, * gives a detailed account of the clinical features and pathology of aneurysms, chiefly of the aorta, in which blood from the lumen of the vessel " dissects " its way through a breach in the wall so as to form a swelling between the coats. In addition to describing the nature of the degenerative changes found in the coats of the affected vessel, and which lead to the development of the aneurysm under stress of some sudden increase in blood-pressure due to physical effort or to strong emotion, the author discusses the causes of the degeneration. For this reason reference to the report appears necessary. This is all the more the case since Professor Shennan concludes that in most cases the outstanding cause is the cumulative effect of toxins throughout life. Syphilis is not commonly an apparent factor in the zetiology, a respect in which dissecting aneurysms differ from ordinary aortic aneurysms. It is of interest to note that the condition is by no means invariably fatal ; in some cases the new channel acquires a lining of endothelium and assumes part of the function of the original vessel, while exceptionally the blood-clot becomes completely organised into new tissue and the ~cavity is thereby obliterated. The review has been extremely well done, and though of particular value to pathologists and clinicians who may encounter the condition during life, it is not without interest to workers in the field of preventive medicine also. * Special Report Series, No. 193. H.M. Stationery Omee, 1934. Price 2s. 6d. net.
JunE,
The Chemistry of Antigens and Antibodies. HE results of this investigation have been T embodied in a report by Dr. J. R. Marrack, and issued by the Medical Research Council* as a guide to further investigations into the chemical nature of the phenomena associated with immunity to infection. As this is a subject in which members of the Society are greatly concerned, and some of the points discussed in the report a r e r e f e r r e d to in a paper elsewhere in this issue, Dr. Marrack's report must be of interest and value to public health workers. Medical bacteriologists are of necessity closely concerned with chemical studies which may lead to fuller knowledge of the conditions of life of pathogenic micro-organisms, or to better understanding of the responses--often highly specific--which these organisms evoke when they invade the human body. Work on these lines, if progress is to be made, must obviously take account of fundamental advances in the science of chemistry, and it is therefore important that knowledge of these advances and of their bearing on the special problem should be made readily available to the investigators. Dr. Marrack, of the London Hospital, at the request of the Bacteriology Committee of the Medical Research Council, has collected the more important results of recent experimental work upon the chemistry of antigens and antibodies, and has reviewed that subject in the light of present-day knowledge of molecular structure.
Obituary. WILLIAM HENRY WELCH, M.D. COLUMBIAUNIV., SC.D. CAMB., F.R.C.P. EDIN.
the death, in the Johns Hopkins Hospital, B YBaltimore, on April 30th, of Professor Welch, the Society has lost one of its most distinguished Honorary Fellows. On April 8th, Dr. Welch celebrated his eighty-fourth birthday ; and April 7th was the fiftieth anniversary of his connection with Johns Hopkins University, his appointment as Professor of Pathology in the university having commenced on that day in 1884, when he was thirty-four years of age. Born at Norfolk, Connecticut, he began his medical curriculum in 1871 at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. This he * Special Report Series, No. i94. H.M. Stationery Office, 1934. Price 2s. 6d. net.
PUBLIC HEALTH.
Another feature of the Health Congress is the Health Exhibition arranged in conjunction with the meeting. Here will be found various appliances, foods, etc., illustrating municipal activities and hygiene of the home. Manufacturers from all parts of the country will be represented. Particulars of the Congress and Exhibition may be obtained from the ~Secretary of the Royal S a n i t a r y , Institute, 90, Buckingham Palace Road, London, S.W.1.
The ~Etiology of Dissecting Aneurysms. S H E N N A N of Aberdeen, in p aROFESSOR report issued by the Medical Research Council, * gives a detailed account of the clinical features and pathology of aneurysms, chiefly of the aorta, in which blood from the lumen of the vessel " dissects " its way through a breach in the wall so as to form a swelling between the coats. In addition to describing the nature of the degenerative changes found in the coats of the affected vessel, and which lead to the development of the aneurysm under stress of some sudden increase in blood-pressure due to physical effort or to strong emotion, the author discusses the causes of the degeneration. For this reason reference to the report appears necessary. This is all the more the case since Professor Shennan concludes that in most cases the outstanding cause is the cumulative effect of toxins throughout life. Syphilis is not commonly an apparent factor in the zetiology, a respect in which dissecting aneurysms differ from ordinary aortic aneurysms. It is of interest to note that the condition is by no means invariably fatal ; in some cases the new channel acquires a lining of endothelium and assumes part of the function of the original vessel, while exceptionally the blood-clot becomes completely organised into new tissue and the ~cavity is thereby obliterated. The review has been extremely well done, and though of particular value to pathologists and clinicians who may encounter the condition during life, it is not without interest to workers in the field of preventive medicine also. * Special Report Series, No. 193. H.M. Stationery Omee, 1934. Price 2s. 6d. net.
JunE,
The Chemistry of Antigens and Antibodies. HE results of this investigation have been T embodied in a report by Dr. J. R. Marrack, and issued by the Medical Research Council* as a guide to further investigations into the chemical nature of the phenomena associated with immunity to infection. As this is a subject in which members of the Society are greatly concerned, and some of the points discussed in the report a r e r e f e r r e d to in a paper elsewhere in this issue, Dr. Marrack's report must be of interest and value to public health workers. Medical bacteriologists are of necessity closely concerned with chemical studies which may lead to fuller knowledge of the conditions of life of pathogenic micro-organisms, or to better understanding of the responses--often highly specific--which these organisms evoke when they invade the human body. Work on these lines, if progress is to be made, must obviously take account of fundamental advances in the science of chemistry, and it is therefore important that knowledge of these advances and of their bearing on the special problem should be made readily available to the investigators. Dr. Marrack, of the London Hospital, at the request of the Bacteriology Committee of the Medical Research Council, has collected the more important results of recent experimental work upon the chemistry of antigens and antibodies, and has reviewed that subject in the light of present-day knowledge of molecular structure.
Obituary. WILLIAM HENRY WELCH, M.D. COLUMBIAUNIV., SC.D. CAMB., F.R.C.P. EDIN.
the death, in the Johns Hopkins Hospital, B YBaltimore, on April 30th, of Professor Welch, the Society has lost one of its most distinguished Honorary Fellows. On April 8th, Dr. Welch celebrated his eighty-fourth birthday ; and April 7th was the fiftieth anniversary of his connection with Johns Hopkins University, his appointment as Professor of Pathology in the university having commenced on that day in 1884, when he was thirty-four years of age. Born at Norfolk, Connecticut, he began his medical curriculum in 1871 at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. This he * Special Report Series, No. i94. H.M. Stationery Office, 1934. Price 2s. 6d. net.