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control experiments Mr. Gilruth draws the following con-clusions :—

’

1. Guinea-pigs, rabbits, and sheep can completely resist the inocula-tion of large doses of virulent anthrax bacilli, provided these organismsare mixed with a larger quantity of some other organisms which arenon-pathogenic to these animals.

2. Death is frequently delayed very considerably when the organismmixed with the anthrax bacillus is possessed of small pathogenicproperties.

’

3. The anthrax bacillus must be mixed " with the other organism,for if they be injected under different parts of the skin no resistanceresults.

4. An animal which has suffered without absolute impunity theinjection of a large dose of anthrax bacillus when mixed with a foreignorganism may succumb later to a much smaller dose of anthraxbacillus of pure culture although generally some resistance isevidenced. ’

5. It was observed with rabbits and sheep which received repeateddoses of both anthrax and Gaertner bacillus mixed together in increas-ing quantities that a certain amount of immunity to comparativelylarge doses of pure anthrax could.be conferred.

6. If the subject is further investigated it may possibly aftord a surerand more satisfactory manner of conferring immunity against anthrax,and possibly other diseases, than those now in vogue.

THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OFLONDON.

THE lectures of the present year to be delivered before theRoyal College of Physicians of London are as follows. The

Milroy lectures will be given by Dr. T. M. Legge on

March 7th, 9th, and 14th, the subject being Industrial

Anthrax ; the Goulstonian lectures will be given by Dr.W. C. Bosanquet on March 16th, 21st, and 23rd. the subjectbeing Some Considerations on the Nature of Diabetes

Mellitus ; the Lumleian lectures will be given by Dr.’W. H.Allchin on March 28th and 30th and April 4th, the

subject being Some Aspects of Malnutrition ; and the Oliver-Sharpey lecture will be given by Dr. Leonard E. Hill on

April 6th, the subject being the Influence of AtmosphericPressure on Man. The days of the week for the delivery ofthe lectures are Tuesdays and Thursdays. The hour of

delivery is 5 P.M. at the Royal College of Physicians, PallMall East, S.W.

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COFFEE AND SEWAGE.

A RATHER strange decision seems to have been arrivedat in a case which was concluded at the Southwark policecourt on Jan. 24th after an adjournment from the precedingweek. The application made by the chief sanitary inspectorof the borough of Bermondsey was for the destruction of 60tons of coffee salvaged from a ship which had been sunk inthe Thames and the summons was taken out in order to

prevent the berries from being dried and sold for human con-sumption. The evidence of Dr. R. K. Brown, medical officer.of health of Bermondsey, of Dr. J. W. H. Eyre, and of Mr.Bodmer was to the effect that the coffee was moist, sodden,permeated with sewage, and unfit for food purposes. Althoughthey admitted that the necessary roasting might modify- the dangerous conditions they declined to say that the

subsequent decoction would thereby be rendered a whole-some beverage. On the other side, Mr. Friswell of GreatTower-street said that he had drunk coffee made fromthe sewage-laden berries without untoward results. Dr.

F. J. Smith also gave evidence that he was prepared todo the same but that he "would not do so for choice."’The magistrate, Mr. C. Chapman, appears to have been

satisfied that the usual roasting process was sufficient to

Tender the coffee fit for the food of man and dismissedthe application. If he could have ordered that the

-stuff when sold retail should be labelled "coffee and sewage,"so that the purchaser would have the same choice in

,purchasing that the law gives him in the. case of admixturewith chicory, the matter might have passed without.comment. Few, even when tempted by a cheaper price,would be likely to buy coffee if they knew that it had

’undergone soaking in the diluted products of the metro-politan drainage system, although the decision of the

learned magistrate would seem to be a certificate that

60 tons possibly saturated in varying degrees will makea safe and wholesome drink for those who will partakeof it. According to the Standard it now appears that

Mr. Rose, at Southwark police court, refused to revokehis order for the destruction of the coffee in spite ofMr. Chapman holding with regard to a portion of it that

it was fit for human consumption. If this be so we

congratulate Mr. Rose on his attitude.

HEREDITARY TRANSMISSION OF SYPHILIS.ABOUT two years ago Professor Matzenauer, in a paper

read before a medical society at Vienna and published in theWiener Elinisehe TVockensckrift,1903, Nos. 7-13, stated thatin his opinion a direct paternal transmission of syphilis to.theoffspring has not been proved. His principal conclusionsmay be summed up in three general propositions : first, "thatthe mother of a congenitally syphilitic infant is invariablyherself the subject of syphilis, even when to all appearanceshealthy." The second is "that an inheritance.of the disease

through an infected ovum or spermatozoon-that is,hereditary transmission in the true sense of the word-hasnot been proved." The third proposition is the natural con-sequence of these-viz., that the infection of the offspring isin every case secondary and brought about by an infectionfrom the mother by the channel of the placental circulation.If these be accepted it follows that what has been callede7toe en retour, that is, the infection of a. healthy motherthrough the placental circulation by a syphilitic foetus, theresult of paternal infection, does not exist. From the outsetthese conclusions of Professor Matzenauer were vigorouslyattacked and a somewhat polemical discussion raged in

certain German and Austrian papers for some time. A paperhas been published in the -Jftinchener -4-redicinische lY’oc3aen-

schrift, Nos. 49 and 50, 1904, by Dr. Jesionek of Munich,in which two cases of considerable interest are recorded and

Professor Matzenauer’s views are vigorously criticised. The

first case was that of a girl, aged 18 years, admitted intohospital for an attack of gonorrhoea, the gonococci beingrepeatedly demonstrated in the discharge. Since the casewas one brought in by the police and was being dealtwith judicially very careful examination was repeatedlymade by several observers for evidence of syphilitic affectionbut always with negative result. It soon became apparentthat the patient was pregnant and about four months afterthe date of impregnation her general condition, which hadpreviously been good, markedly deteriorated and about amonth later she developed a typical severe syphiliticroseolous eruption. The patient had been in hospital duringthe whole of this time and no evidence could be found of anyprimary chancre or anything to point to infection while

in hospital. Shortly afterwards general enlargement of

lymphatic glands became manifest and the case progressedas an ordinary case of secondary syphilis. About two anda half months later-that is, about the middle of the

eighth month of pregnancy-a dead foetus 35 centi-metres in length was born which showed appear-ances typical of congenital syphilis-viz., maceration,enlarged spleen, swelling and parenchymatous degenera-tion of the liver, general icterus, syphilitic osteo-

chondritis, multiple hæmorrhages, and complete atelectasis.Dr. Jesionek considers it highly improbable that suchadvanced changes as were found in almost all the organs ofthe foetus could have developed in the short space of twoand a half months, and taking into consideration the historyof the case comes to the conclusion that the case is one ofchoo en reto-aor and that infection of the foetus throughthe spermatozoon without direct infection of the mother isthus a possibility. , He also brings forward another case insupport of his contention that the spermatozoa may serve as