Untitled-1 © 1905 Nature Publishing Group 104 NATURE [NOVEMBER 30, 1905 most complete and authoritative existing. Messrs. King and Thompson have also taken some unique photographs of the monument. In the Sudan, Dr. Budge, of the British Museum, and Mr. J. W. Crowfoot, Inspector of Education in the Sudan, have completed the work which the former began at Meroe in 1903. They finally cleared out the shrine of the largest pyramid, and made some in- teresting explorations in the country near the Second Cataract. Dr. Budge, whose services had been pre- viously lent to the Sudan Government by the British Museum in 1897, 1899, and 1903, is now engaged on an account of his four missions to that country, which is announced to appear in the spring. We cannot close this account of British arch<:eo- ological work without a word of con- gratulation to our American friends on the success of the excavations of Mr. Theodore N. Davis, assisted by Mr. J. E. Quibell, the British Inspector of Antiquities in Upper Egypt, in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes. Mr. Davis found the un- touched tomb of Iuaa and Tuaa, the father and mother of the great Queen Tyi, consort of Amenhetep III. and mother of the heretic King Akhunaten. The tomb was full of the most magni- ficent furniture, chariots, &c., mostly thickly overlaid with gold. Mr. Davis will proceed with his excavations this winter with the assistance of Mr. Ayrton, who has left the Egypt Exploration Fund for this purpose. THE BEAUTY OF MINUTE STRUCTURE IN NATURE. 1 prominence to curiosities and out-of-the-way objects, we are here brought into close quarters with the familiar, with diatoms and Foraminifera, the whelk's radula and the barnacle's cirri, the butterfly's " tongue " and the scales of the sole, the spine of the sea-urchin and the spider's foot, a gnat and a house- fly's eggs, the dodder entering the clover, the bud of the lily flower, the sting of the nettle and the stem of wheat, and so on through a long list. Along with each of the sixty-five illustrations there is a short and clear description, and a note of the conditions of the photograph, e.g. magnification, focal distance, and exposure. The photographs were taken bv Mr. Arthur E. Smith, and are certainly among the finest that have ever been published. They were taken. for O NE of the many "Ways of beginning the study of natural science is with a " beauty-feast "-of flowers or birds, of shells or gems, of anything- for all natural things are beautiful, in their proper setting at least. It is an old-fashioned mode of approach, com- mending itself to children and simple minds, but one which often leads far beyond <:esthetic pleasure to the joy of understanding. It affords a dynamic to investigation, and fosters a healthy reverence for things. In school " nature- study " the <:esthetic factor should be characteristic, though it is too often con- spicuous by its absence. Indeed, if we had to choose, we should prefer admir- ation without science to science without "admiration. But a simple book like that before us shows that there is no neces- FIG. I.-Diatom, froJil Bori, Hungary, X tooo. From" Nature through Microscope and Camera." sary antithesis; it is a disclosure of beautiful things, and yet within its limits it is quite scientific. The author's aim is to illustrate by well chosen examples the beauty of minute structure, the beauty which the microscope discloses, and he is to be con- gratulated on his success. While older books on " the wonders of the microscope " had to be content with drawings, some of which were exquisitely done, this book presents us with photomicrographs of the highest excellence. It is difficult to over-praise them. Moreover, while the older books gave too much 1 ''Nature through Microscope and Camera.'' By·Richard Kerr; with 65 photomicrogr:1phs by Arthur E. Smith. Pp. I97· (London: Religious Tract Society, rgos.) Price 6s. net. NO. 1883, VOL. 73] the most part, on 12 by ro plates, and have been somewhat reduced in the process blocks. Mr. Smith contributes a useful chapter of practical hints on photomicrography. Mr. Kerr is an enthusiastic photographer, who believes in his " intellectual pastime " as helping, in- directly, to 'remedy some of the ills we are heir to, such as " the amusement fetich." But he is more he is a student of the beautiful things · which delights in, and he can tell their story in a plain straightforward way. The moral that adorns his is expounded by Prof. G. Sims Woodhead in a finely conceived introduction; but we shall only say this, that the whole spirit of this beautiful book is well © 1905 Nature Publishing Group NovEMBER 30. 1905] NATURE lOS expressed in the prefatory quotation from Sir J. F. W. Herschel:-" To the Natural Philosopher there is no natural object that is unimportant or trifling; from the least of Nature's works he may learn the greatest lessons." J. A. T. THE WASTAGE IN ARAIIES BY DISEASE. ' J' HE recent utterances of Sir Frederick Treves on the subject of the Army Medical Service (see NATURE, November 2, p. rs), and the discussion on enteric fever in the army which has appeared in the columns of the Times, have again directed attention to the inadequacy of the means taken in our army to prevent the incidence of enteric fever and other filth diseases. The crux of the matter is this : we have to provide hospital accommodation for IO per cent. of our forces in the field, the Japanese for but 2 per cent. Why this difference? In the South African campaign no less than 746 per rooo of the fighting forces were admitted into hospital for disease which is mainly preventable. In this war there were something like 45o,ooo admissions to hospital on account o-f sickness and some 22,ooo admissions on account Gi wounds or injuries received in action. " Among those admitted to hospital on account of disease alone, there were 14,8oo deaths during the whole war; further, so far as can be estimated at present, 42,741 of the total admissions to ho'spi'tal on account of 'disease, and 7998 of the deaths from disease, were due to enteric fever,· while 3 r ,363 of the admissions and I 248 of the deaths. were from dysentery. In other words, no less than one-tenth of the admissions on account of disease were for enteric fever, and one-fourteenth were for dystentery, or these two diseases alone were 'the ·cause of practically one-sixth of the total admissions and about two-thirds of the total deaths on account of disease ; these two diseases also accounted for nearly one-half of . the total losses by death from all causes during the war. As we know that both enteric and dysentery belong to the group of diseases which are largely the outcome of faulty environment the sanitary significance of these figures needs no 1 How does the Japanese Army deal with the preven- tion of disease? The following record sufficiently answers this question :- " The care of the sick and wounded occupied but a small share of the time of the medical officers. The solu- tion of the greater problem of preventipg disease by the careful supervision of the smallest details of subsistence clothing and shelter was their first and most important duty. Nothing was tcio small to escape their vigilance, too to weary their patience, and everywhere, m the field Wtth the scouts or in the base hospitals at home, the one prevailing idea was the prevention of disease. The medical officer was to be found both in the front and in the rear. He was with the first screen of scouts with his microscopes and chemicals, testing and labelling 'wells, so that the army which followed should drink no con- taminated water. When scouts reached a town he imme- made a. thorough of the sanitary condttwns, and Jf caoes of contagwus or -infectious disease were found, he a cordon around the quarter where they were. A medtcal officer accompanied foraging parties and, the commissariat officers, sampled the food, frlllt, and vegetables sold by the natives before the arriva! of the. army. If the foo,d were tainted, or the fruit over-n pe, or Jf the water required boiling, notices to that effect were posted in suitable places. So strict was the discipline from commanding officer to rank and file that obedience. to the orders of the medical officer was absolute. The medtcal officer also supervised the personal hygiene of the camp. He taught the men how to cook, how to bathe, how to cleanse the finger nails so as to free them as w:ll as how to live in general a healthy, vtgorous hfe, and 1t was a part of the soldier's routine t0 carry out these instructions in every particular. As a l Lieut.·Col. Firth, R.A.M.C., Journ. of Hygiene, Sept., •gas, p. 543· NO. T 883. VOL. 7 3] result of this system the medical officer was not obliged to treat cases of dysentery and fevers that follow the use of improper food and the neglect of sanitation. During six months of terrible fighting and exposure in a foreign country there was only a fraction of 1 per cent. of loss from preventable disease." 1 It may be true that vehicles other than water, par- ticularly dust and flies, convey the infection in enteric fever, diarrhma, and dysentery, but much can be done by safeguarding the water supplies. Diminish the incidence of these diseases by any means whatever and the subsequent incidence of the disease will naturally be lessened-cases beget cases. It may or may not be practicable to sterilise the drinking water for a big army in the field, but in camps and in small campaigns such as our " little wars " on the Indian frontier, and in Africa, a great deal more could be done than has been done. Thus in the Tochi Valley, in r8g7, a force of some 4000 men was condemned to inactivity and suffered severc'y from diarrhma, dysentery, and enteric. The British troops averaged an annual strength of 622, and among them there were 59 cases of enteric with 30 deaths, 371 cases of dysentery with 65 deaths, and zu cases of diarrhoea with ro deaths. Here was an ideal instance in which sterilisation of the water or distillation for the sick (as the water was verv saline) could have been carried out, as there was· plenty of fuel, and the extra cost involved would probably have been more than covered by the saving- in pensions, &c. Lieut. Nesfield, I.M.S., in the Tibet campaign used hisiodide iodate tablets (see NATURE, July 27, p. 303, and August 31, p. 432), with the result that of 7oo men who drank water sterilised with them, none con- tracted cholera, while of other batches of men passing through the same region a few days later an average of 3 per cent. contracted cholera. There can be no question that the medical officers of Otjr army are a devoted body of men, highly trained, and fully alive to what should be done, but· they are too few adequately to cope with the problem. of pre- vention, and what is more they receive little encour- ag'ement in this direction from those in authority. In addition, a body of intelligent trained non-commis- sioned officers and men, a sanitary corps, is required to carry out the policy of the medical officers. At present guards for the water supply and similar pur- poses are drawn from the ordinary strength of the regiments, with, of course, no special training. In the China Relief Expedition in rgoo the Japanese provided three skilled men to take care of their sick and wounded for every two provided by the , other armies. In olden times it was thought cheaper to obtain a new soldier than to cure a sick or wounded one; the reverse is the case nowadays if the authorities would but appreciate it, and prevention is even better than cure. R. T. HEWLETT. NOTES. WE announce with deep regret that Sir J. S. Burdon Sanderson, Bart., F.R.S., late Regius professor of medicine in the University of Oxford, died at Oxford on November 23. PROF. EMIL WARBURG, president of the Reichsanstalt in Charlottenburg, and Prof. Henri Moissan, of the University of Paris, have been elected corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences of Munich. THE twenty-first anniversary of Geographical Society was celebrated burgh on Monday, November 27. president of the society, presided. the Royal Scottish by a dinner in Edin- Prof. J. Geikie, the 1 B11"f. Med. journ., 1904, ii. p. 1332. THE BEAUTY OF MINUTE STRUCTURE IN NATURE. 1