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Other people have calculated the addition at half-a-crown. The amount, in any event, would be incon-siderable, and to throw the cost on the motoringpublic appears to the committee to be the onlypracticable method of collecting the money. Themedical profession is unlikely to feel much exhilarationat the prospect of the exiguous fees which the SelectCommittee regard as sufficient payment for workpossibly difficult and anxious and likely enough tointerfere seriously with the claims of ordinary patients.But since, more often than not, the doctor at presentdoes not get a penny, he may console himself withthe philosophical reflection that something is betterthan nothing.

VITAMIN B2 AND GLOSSITISTHE clinical symptoms produced by a diet lacking

in vitamin B2 or conversely, its curative properties,are difficult to estimate, since products rich in thisvitamin contain also other substances, at presentunidentified, to which any effects noticed may be due.D. K. Miller and C. P. Rhoads 1 have recently soughtto elucidate the action of vitamin B2 by prolongedfeeding of dogs on diets partially but not completelydeficient in this vitamin and have been able to producesymptoms very similar to those of sprue. The dietwas low in protein, high in fat and carbohydrate, andcontained only that amount of the vitamin-B complexwhich is present in rice polishings. A proportion ofdogs developed stomatitis, glossitis, and gastro-intestinal disturbances. Anaemia occurred in 60 percent. of the animals, and in half of these it was severein type. Histological study of the bone-marrow inthe latter group showed features similar to those

occurring in sprue or Addisonian pernicious anaemia.A. M. Hutter, W. S. Middleton, and H. Steenbock 2have also been able to produce glossitis in rats bydiets deficient in vitamin B. These experiments,together with earlier investigations, suggest that theglossitis of sprue and Addisonian pernicious anaemiamay be due to lack of part of the vitamin-B complex.On the other hand Hutter and his colleagues foundthat the addition of vitamin B in the form of yeast tothe diet of patients with Addisonian pernicious anemiawas not invariably successful in curing the glossitisunless liver was also given. Clinical glossitis cannottherefore always be due to a simple deficiency. Theexact character of the yeast used was unfortunatelynot defined. L. Wills has clearly shown that theantianaemic potency of yeast varies according to itspreparation, and is not related to its vitamin-Bcontent, and it is possible that the antiglossitis effectof yeast shows corresponding variations. It is clearlyessential for workers to use some purified source ofvitamin Bl and B2 for dietetic experiments.

THE MIND AND BRAIN OF THE KENYA NATIVE

AT a recent meeting of the Eugenics SocietyDr. H. L. Gordon described a series of investigations,carried out by himself and Dr. F. W. Vint, upon thebrain and mind of the Kenya native. A series con-

sisting of several thousand male natives, representativeof the different tribes found in Kenya, were examinedby anthropometric and psychological methods, theformer according to the technique elaborated byProf. R. J. A. Berry and the latter by performancetests and the Porteous maze test. The results of thepsychological tests point to the conclusion that,according to the standards used, the average Kenyanative exhibits a definite degree of mental inferiorityas compared with the average European. These

1 Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. and Med., 1933, xxx., 540.2 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1933, ci., 1305.

findings were generally supported by the examinationof a series of 100 brains of adult male natives per-formed by Dr. Vint in the Government MedicalResearch Laboratory. Dr. Gordon concluded hisaddress with a plea for the institution of a comprehen-sive investigation of the same material under approvedscientific auspices. If, as here suggested, a relativedegree of cerebral deficiency characterises some of thenative races under British trusteeship, consequencesof the utmost medical, legal, and educational impor-tance are raised for the imperial administratur. It isto be hoped that Dr. Gordon’s plea will find a

sympathetic hearing.

MEDICINE AND LITERATURE

THE Lloyd Roberts lecture, delivered before theMedical Society of London on Nov. 16th by SirHumphry Rolleston on this subject proved, as wasinevitable, seeing the lecturer, a thoroughly valuabledisquisition, and one which librarians should keep asa book of reference. The practical difficulty of

keeping pamphlets and reprints of lectures andaddresses is a very real one to them, as to all whomake collections of books, so that it is worth whilementioning that this essay should secure a place inlibraries and be made easy of access there. How

great has been the association between medicine andliterature, apart from medical literature, is not realiseduntil we have before us an orderly category such asSir Humphry Rolleston provided, and the multifariousinformation is supported by amusing references and awealth of accurate dates.

THE COOKING OF MEAT

OUR knowledge of the composition of commonarticles of diet is based almost entirely on analysisof uncooked food-a handicap to the physicianprescribing for the needs of individual ’ patients.Cooking has hitherto been considered mainly as

an art, but Dr. R. A. McCance and Mr. H. L. Shipp,in a report 1 from the biochemical laboratory of

King’s College Hospital, have dealt with it as a

scientific problem, directing their study to the causeand extent of the various losses caused to flesh foodsby cooking. The effect of this inquiry is to upseta number of ancient and cherished prejudices. Manypeople who have never heard of the pellicle theoryhave a vague idea, encouraged by cookery books,and even by the Encyclopaedia Britannica, that the"goodness" may be kept in meat by starting tocook it at a high temperature. The idea is thatthis will cause the proteins on the outside of themeat to coagulate, thus forming an impermeableskin which retains the water, salts, and protein inthe meat. But Dr. McCance and Mr. Shipp findthat it makes no difference to the losses whethermeat is plunged straight into boiling water or placedin cold water and slowly heated to 100° C., and theysuggest that to bring water to the boil or to raise anoven to a high temperature before inserting the

joint is merely a waste of heat unless it can be

supported on grounds of palatability or digestibility.Other things being equal, the best method of cookingis generally assumed to be the one which producesleast loss, and cooking by steam, especially in thesmall autoclave or pressure cooker, is popularlybelieved to be very conservative. The investigationproves, however, that shrinkage and loss becomeintensified when the temperature is raised above100° C., so that the only economy effected by pressurecooking as against steaming is economy in time and

1 The Chemistry of Flesh Foods and their Losses on Cooking.M.R.C., Spec. Rep. Ser. No. 187. H.M. Stat. Office. 2s. 6d.