Virgin Field Research Articles

Clinical Pathology and Bacteriological Study of Non-erupted Mandibular Molars.

This report suggests a classification of the various lesions of soft tissues produced by the difficult eruption of mandibular third molars. In addition it presents a bacteriological study of dental pulps dissected from embedded teeth which were extracted.Unerupted teeth are classified as either impacted or embedded depending upon their relation to adjacent teeth and overlying bone. Both types may produce neuralgia and other lesions of nerve, muscle or organs of special sense. The local inflammatory reactions are classified under 4 general heads: (1) Simple pericoronitis; (2) Supurative pericoronitis (acute and chronic); (3) Diffuse pericoronitis; (4) Hypertrophic or hyperplastic pericoronitis. These several conditions require certain precautions in preliminary treatment but call ultimately for the removal of the tooth.The bacteriological study of the vital pulps of unerupted third molars is a virgin field. The organisms of dental caries and pyorrhea have been extensively studied but no report has been pub...

THE VALUE OF ORGANIZED SURGERY TO THE POOR SURGICAL RISK

The progress of surgery within the last few years has been extraordinary. It has been accomplished through the discovery and development of asepsis, antisepsis and anesthesia. These three factors made possible any operative procedure that was practicable with the persistence of human life. A virgin field was thrown open for exploration and development, and out of this development have come to us our present magnificent surgical resources. It seems possible to us, however, that we are unjustifiably complacent over our past accomplishments and present possibilities. If we critically observe our present position in surgery, we cannot fail to be impressed with the fact that the field for development of new procedures and new methods is no longer virgin; that progress from now on for a time, unless some revolutionary principles not now apparent appear, will be slow compared with that of the last generation, and that we must for some

Sir Norman Lockyer's Contributions to Astrophysics

By the death of Sir Norman Lockyer the science of astrophysics has lost the energising and stimulating influence of the last of the great pioneers whose labours opened the way to so vast an extension of our knowledge of the universe. The science of celestial chemistry and physics had its real beginning in 1859, when Kirchhoffs famous experiment on the reversal of spectral lines furnished the key to the interpretation of the dark lines of the solar spectrum, and thence to the determination of the composition of the sun and stars. During the earlier years the outstanding features in the development of the new science were the brilliant investigations of Huggins on the spectra of stars and nebuke, and those of Rutherfurd and Secchi on the spectroscopic classification of the stars. Curiously enough, the sun had received but little attention during this period, and Lockyer was practically entering a virgin field when, in 1866, he attached a small spectroscope to the modest 6-in, equatorial of his private observatory, and observed the spectrum of a sun-spot independently of the rest of the solar surface. Simple as it may now seem, this process of “taking the sun to bits”, as Sir Norman used to call it, was an advance of fundamental importance. It not only gave an immediate and decisive answer to the question as to the cause of the darkness of sun-spots which was then under vigorous discussion in England and France, but also very soon led to the famous discovery of the method of observing solar prominences without an eclipse, with which Lockyers name, in conjunction with that of Janssen, will for ever be associated. The story of this epoch-making observation has been told too often to need repetition, but it should not be forgotten that the principle of the method had been clearly recognised by Lockyer two years before he succeeded in obtaining a spectroscope suitable for the purpose in view.

Egypt and the Far East 1

PROF. ELLIOT SMITH has long established his position as our principal authority on the anatomical study of ancient Egyptian mummification. Before he undertook the systematic examination of mummies during the years he spent in Egypt, the vaguest and often the most erroneous notions were current with regard to the technical treatment of the corpse and its intestines by the ancient Egyptian embalmers. To the average Egyptologist such details necessar.ly appeared of a rather gruesome character, and, as a consequence, Prof. Elliot Smith, who brought expert medical knowledge to bear on an unrivalled collection of material, was able to obtain important results in what to all intents and purposes was a virgin field of research. His volume of the Cairo Catalogue, which was reviewed in NATURE on its publication, marked, as was pointed out at the time, a fitting culmination to his labours. When, therefore, its author has anything to tell us in connection with the subject he has made peculiarly his own, he is entitled to more than a respectful hearing. If on some essential points we are inclined to reserve judgment, it is because his theory opens up a number of collateral problems which demand independent examination. But there can be no doubt that the theory as he propounds it is very attractive, and it has the advantage of ranging over a number of detached and separate fields of study. Even for those who may not go quite so far as to believe with him that the influence of ancient Egypt ever spread to the Far East and to America, it is well to re-examine the grounds for scepticism, and, in the process, to take perhaps a less restricted view of the possibilities of intercourse in the ancient world.

Planning for Distribution of Industries

Some interesting and instructive articles written by Mr. Graham Taylor, Jr., and published in The Survey under the title of Satellite Cities, cover in a very clear way the conditions which exist in the purely industrial communities which have grown up adjacent to but distinct from the large cities. These articles lay bare the mistakes and faults in street planning, real estate control, housing and social and political development in these communities. They touch on but do not discuss the industrial areas which lie inside of and are a part of the life of the city itself. Neither do they discuss what are purely large industrial communities such as the manufacturing towns of New Jersey and Massachusetts. Little could be added to this study of Satellite Cities made by Mr. Taylor. It is not the purpose of this paper, however, to treat of Satellite Cities. Our purpose is rather to discuss and determine the forces and tendencies which are at work within the city itself, and which control its industrial development and to try and find, if possible, some way of directing and adjusting these forces and tendencies in such a way that the whole city may develop in the best possible manner. To take an absolutely unoccupied stretch of country and lay out upon it an industrial area and fit to this industrial area the proper street system, the proper transportation lines and the proper laws of housing, is a matter of comparative physical ease. The real problems which arise in such a case depend for their solution on the ethical and moral sense of the individual or corporation responsible for the development, rather than upon the ingenuity of the architect or engineer who makes the design. Upon the individual or corporation lies the burden of carrying out the design; on him rests the control of the nature of the dwellings which shall be erected, of the political and social organization which shall be developed; his is the responsibility for the actual carrying out of the improvements suggested for transportation and for streets. He has an absolutely free hand in a virgin field in which to work and his falling short is due to his carelessness, to his lack of ethical sense, or to his greed.

Sir William Huggins, K.C.B., O.M., F.R.S

ONE of the pioneers of the new era of astronomy opened by the application of the spectroscope and photographic plate to celestial bodies has just passed into silence, and though the memorial formed by his works remains with us, no new block can be added or detail elaborated by the hand of its builder. It is not given to many men of science to have their scientific careers associated so closely with new developments as was that of Sir William Huggins, whose death on May 13, at eighty-six years of age, we regret to record. It may almost be said that he was present at the birth of celestial spectroscopy; when he commenced his work nearly fifty years ago, he had a virgin field of study before him, so that “nearly every observation revealed a new fact, and almost every night's work was red-lettered by some discovery.” It was inevitable that some lines laid down in this early survey required modification as more exact instruments and methods became available, but the observations served their purpose in showing that new regions awaited exploration, and. Sir William Huggins lived to lead investigators into the realm thus gained for science, and to stimulate a new generation to study it in detail.

The Rôle of Liquid Crystals in Nature

THIRTY-SIX years have elapsed since Prof. Otto Lehmann, while a student at Stuttgart, designed a novel form of microscope which permitted of the optical examination of substances at temperatures differing considerably from that of the surrounding air, and thus obtained access to an almost virgin field for research, to the cultivation of which he has strenuously devoted himself. The results of a long series of observations were collected and published in the form of the fine volume entitled “Flüssige Krystalle,” which was noticed in NATURE in 1904 (vol. Ixx., p. 622). Prof. Lehmann, however, by no means intended that work to constitute his last word on the subject, and, as is testified by the numerous papers which have since that date appeared from his pen in various journals, he has in no way relaxed his efforts in the prosecution of his investigations. Of recent years, moreover, other workers have in greater number been attracted to the subject, and their observations are, on the whole, in harmony with his, and confirm the substantial correctness of the views he has put forward. In particular, mention may be made of Prof. D. Vorländer's extensive investigations of the azoxy-compounds. Although there was in early days, not unnaturally, considerable scepticism regarding the correctness of Prof. Lehmann's observations and the deductions he made from them, there is at the present time little reason to doubt the reality of the existence of anisotropic liquids and the importance of the rôle they play.

THE RELATION OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION TO THE PUBLIC.

The stream rises no higher than its source, the fabric partakes of the color and character of its component fibers; and the medical profession is no exception to this rule. Certainly it is not to be denied that medicine stands sponsor for much that is intimately associated with human progress, happiness and well-being. We look with satisfaction at the record of medical science and point proudly to her achievements in the relief of human suffering and in the prolongation of human life. Vaccination, anesthesia and antiseptics compare well with any of the discoveries that grace the annals of human progress in any field. Pathology and bacteriology have thrown beneficent light on many of the hidden problems and have placed some of the older tenets of medical faith on a scientific basis. In the virgin but fertile field of preventive medicine a few furrows have been turned, some seed scattered, and

Geographical Notes

AN interesting pamphlet, on the systems of writing used by the various races which inhabited or still inhabit the Philippine Islands, has just been published by Senor Pardo de Tavera under the title “Contribucion para el estudio de los Antiguos I Alfabetos Filipinos.” It is illustrated with plates containing the alphabets discussed, which include those of the Tagals, Visayas or Bisayas, and the Battas. This archipelago offers a comparatively virgin field to students in almost every branch of inquiry. Prof. Blumentritt of Leitmeritz has devoted much study and research to the early history of the Spanish occupation of Luzon, and to the settlements of the Chinese and Japanese there during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but since the publication of Jagor's work nearly thirty years ago little that is generally known in Europe has been done to solve the various problems which the languages, races, and geography of the islands present. In Spain there exists an important literature, chiefly of the last century, on the subject, and the works of Kray Gaspar, Argensola, Bravo, and others should be a mine for the modern student. The ethnology of the Negritos of the Philippines has been discussed in Germany by Dr. Mundt-Lauf; but of the wild mountain tribes of the interior, and of those who are in a state of chronic war with the Spaniards to the south of Iloilo, hardly anything is known. There is a vague surmise that some of them (the Igorrotes of Luzon, for example) are descendants of Chinese pirates of the latter end of the sixteenth century, who having attacked the Spanish settlements were defeated, and fled to the mountains, where they took themselves wives of the natives and became the progenitors of a new race.