378

results has come to light: with a small dose all of afew ripened follicles may ovulate, whereas with a

large dose perhaps only one in ten may do so. Inother words, ovulation is not due to the exogenousbut to an endogenous hormone brought into actionby the changes effected in the ovary by the exogenoushormone. The practical application of these experi-ments is the possible production of three instead oftwo " crops " of lambs in eighteen months and anincrease in the number of offspring of each ewe.

VIRUS DISEASES

lMM6M.—An outbreak of influenza in the earlymonths of 1939 was studied by Dr. C. H. Stuart-Harris at the National Institute. The known virusseems to have played a subordinate part; in fact itwas several weeks before the virus could be foundin connexion with this outbreak. The symptoms werevery varied and the virus could not be related to anydefinite clinical picture. Experiments were also madewith prophylactic vaccine.4Lymphocytic claoriomen-angatis.-Mr. W. J. Elford,

Ph.D., by ultra-filtration and differential centrifugation,has measured the diameters of the infecting units oflymphocytic choriomeningitis and found them to

average 46-50 ma.

BIOLOGICAL STANDARDS

Three new standards have been made at the NationalInstitute and adopted during the year: an inter-national standard for " chorionic gonadotrophin " (thegonadotrophie substance extracted from human urine

4. See Lancet, Feb. 3, 1940, p. 205.

SCOTLAND

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT)

THE WINTER EPIDEMIC

DURING the past few winters there have been minorepidemics in, Scotland of what has, often too loosely,been called influenza, but this year Edinburgh andthe south-east of Scotland have been more hardly hit.The staffs of business houses, schools, the university,the hospitals, indeed all branches of activity have beeninterfered with by an epidemic with a high incidenceof tracheitis, laryngitis and bronchitis. Many prac-titioners, already overworked because of the absenceof their colleagues on service, have been inundated.Some have had to pay anything up to 75 or 100 visitsa day for several weeks in addition to crowded sur-gery hours. Many whole families have been confinedto bed. Old people have been particularly affectedand the mortality from respiratory infections has risensharply. The chemists describe the demands for coughmixtures as " positively phenomenal." In Edinburghthe outpatient dispensaries and the outpatient depart-ments of the hospitals have had a succession of voice-less patients, while coughing has reverberated throughall public places. In Glasgow the recent fuel shortagemay have aggravated the outbreak.

ORTHOPEDIC UNIT IN GLASGOW

The Nuffield Trustees have set aside 20,000 toassist the establishment of an orthopaedic unit at

Philipshill, the auxiliary hospital of the VictoriaInfirmary, Glasgow. Some months ago the trusteesinformed the governors of the Victoria Infirmary thatLord Numeld had given some money for the develop-ment of orthopaedic hospital and clinic schemes inScotland, and they asked for the Infirmary’s views

of pregnancy) and British standards for an anti-toxin against the " histolyticus " toxin of gas-gangreneand for diphtheria antitoxin. A standard is beingprepared for the purified protein derivative fromtuberculin.Methods of biological assay and measurement are

being developed for tetanus toxoid, tetanus antitoxin,gas-gangrene antitoxin (perfringens), staphylococcusantitoxin, vitamins A and E, insulin and sex hor-mones.

TROPICAL MEDICINE

Trypanosomiasis.-In Tanganyika Dr. F. Hawkinghas investigated the trypanocidal activity produced inthe blood-plasma by the intravenous injection of try-parsamide and has found it to be approximately equalto that produced by the drug in the cerebrospinalfluid. He has also grown trypanosomes in the bloodof patients who had recently recovered from sleepingsickness, without finding any evidence of trypanocidalantibodies.

- Fccs.—The same investigator has unsuccess-

fully tried to discover, by transfusing micromariseinto uninfected subjects, in what organs microfilariaeare destroyed.Yaws.-In Uganda Dr. C. J. Hackett has re-exam-

ined more than two-thirds of the 350 patients withyaws observed during the previous year. Differenttypes of lesions of the bones were found associatedwith the different stages of the disease. The reactionof the bones appeared to depend on the age of thepatient, producing periosteal deposition in childrenand focal rarefaction in adults. Sabre tibiae appearto be the end-result of more than one antecedent con-dition.

as to how this aim could be furthered. The neworthopedic unit will operate in conjunction with thefracture clinic of the Infirmary, which has been com-pleted this year at the expense of Lord Weir, andwill serve Glasgow and the south-west of Scotland.The Department of Health for Scotland also intimatedthat it was anxious to lease ground and to erect wardsat Philipshill for the treatment of air-raid casualties.The two schemes have now been merged into one. The

Department of Health have agreed to build fourwards containing 60 beds each for the treatment ofwar casualties. When these are no longer required forthe purpose they may be rented by the Infirmarv.The grant from the N-uffield trustees will pay for theadditional accommodation for nurses and domesticstaff and the other ancillary buildings of an ortho-paedic unit.

FRANCE

(FRO’4i OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT)

VENEREAL DISEASE LEGISLATION

A DECREE-LAw dated Nov. 29, 1939, tightens up thecontrol of infectious cases of venereal diseases andslackens the bonds of professional secrecy hithertovalid not only by tradition but also by law. Everydoctor who finds that a patient is exposing othersto infection is authorised to notify the sanitaryauthorities, but he cannot be forced to give evidencein such a case. Terms of imprisonment and fines arelaid down for any woman who, knowing that she issyphilitic, gives breast to children other than her own:any person who knowingly allows a syphilitic infantin his or her charge to be breast-fed by any otherperson than the mother without having disclosed thetruth; and any wet-nurse who does not possess a