388 allot equitably the available foodstuffs, and con- tiont of the filterable virus requires a very special cluding : " We make appeal to the conscience of technique,t of which McNee and his colleagues do the men of enemy peoples in whose breast the notI seem to have taken full advantage, as Edward sense of responsibility before the tribunal of Hort,7 whose pioneer work in this connexion is history is not stifled." unique,1 pointed out, and it is quite possible that all these investigations may eventually be merged THE RECENT INCIDENCE OF SMALL-POX. into a single life-history. Until such a consumma- tion is attained we can but place on record such SMALL-POX has recently appeared in different findingsf as those of Dr. Coles without, for the of Britain. that there were parts We understand amoment,I attempting to evaluate them. few cases in Scotland ’towards the close of last year, 8 cases being notified in Aberdeen, and 1, which was probably infected in Aberdeen, in Fochabers in THE RESTORATION OF SERBIAN LIBRARIES. Elginshire. Since the beginning of the year 29 WHAT Serbia has suffered in destruction of in The disease cases have been notified . human1 life and property during the last four years in in occurred January the following sanitaryccan never be accurately stated, but in one direction 3 :-Metropolitan of Battersea, thet loss is precisely known and very detrimental to cases; of St. Pancras, 4 cases ;thet resumption of normal intellectual life. Serbian urban of in the of Benfieldside, libraries1 and printing presses seem to have been a 5 Durham, cases ; Lower Bebington , specialg object of enemy attentions, their efforts Cheshire, 3 cases; of Bootle, 7 cases ;tto destroy the monuments of Serbia’s ancient Rowley Regis, Staffordshire, 1 case; ,civilisation( and the future means of culture and 1 case. The following districts were affected ineducationE in that being extremely thorough. February:-Urban district of Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Ther library contained in the University of Belgrade 2 3 cases; Hartlepool, cases; of.was destroyed, together with the University itself, Flaxton, N. of Yorks, 1 case. There has duringi. the bombardment of that ; the library thus been a wide topographical distribution of the of( the monastery of Dechani was pillaged; and we disease, although nothing as yet like epidemic may] add to the list the library of Nish, the scien- prevalence. Since a large proportion, especially oftifici library of Alexinatz, the theological library the younger section of the community, is now of( Prizren, and those of Sloplje and Kragujevatz. unprotected by vaccination, the recurrence ofSerbia’sf heroism has defeated the military purposes small-pox will demand vigilance on the part of of( her enemies, but she will be largely dependent the health authorities of this country. upon1 her Allies for help in the re-establishment of her literary needs. In another column of this issue SPIROCHÆTES IN TRENCH FEVER. Lord Crewe makes an appeal on Serbia’s behalf for books of every kind, old or new. Many people in IT is just three years since McNee, Brunt, and this country will respond generously to Lord Renshaw proved the infectivity of the blood in Crewe’s appeal from a pure desire to help an unfor- cases of trench fever. One year later, Riemer tunate ally, and it may not unfairly be pointed out described scanty spirocheates in direct blood films that their gifts will promote the study of our from cases of Volhynian fever, which is undoubtedly language and literature in a country where it has the same disease. Later, in 1917, Nankivell and hitherto been little known. The secretary of the Sundell observed and recorded spirocheetes in the organisation for the restoration of Serbian Libraries, urine of trench fever cases. The American Com- which is being promoted by the Royal Society of mission, under Strong, proclaimed that the virus of Literature, is Miss Waring, 2, Bloomsbury-square, trench fever is filterable, and a very recent paper London, W.C. ____ by Sir John and his colleagues seems to confirm this. Arkwright and Duncan demonstrated RADIUM TREATMENT OF EPITHELIOMA OF THE the constant presence, after a suitable time, of LOWER LIP. bodies (Rickettsia bodies) in the and minute gut THERE is considerable diversity of opinion as to excreta of lice fed upon trench fever patients. the value of radium in the treatment of the These bodies were not found in healthy lice fed different forms of malignant tumour. Some upon healthy men, and their presence was correlated enthusiastic advocates of the to the virulence of the febrile attack. In this issue therapeutic pro- of radium contend that it is of use in Dr. A. C. Coles describes scanty spirochaetea found perties almost any form of superficial malignant tumour in the blood of trench fever ’ patients purposely or at of the disease. The more con- infected at The characters of the any stage Hampstead. spiro- servative, however, hold that, while radium is of chætes on the whole with those described agree decided value in the treatment of certain Riemer in 1917 and also, but to a lesser extent, by cancerous its of is limited, with those of Nankivell. Perhaps the most striking growths, scope utility and, on the whole, its main value lies in its employ- common feature is the looping and intertwining to ment as an adjunct to surgery. Epithelioma of which Riemer refers very Nankivell distinctly.l the lower is a form of cancer did not remark this on the other lip which, perhaps, feature, and, best lends itself to treatment radium. described a end to his by hand, tapering spirochaete, In the International Jou,rnal for whereas Dr. Coles finds that his never of Surgery spirochæte December, 1918, Dr. of Toronto, The as to whether these various George Elliott, tapers. question discusses at some the radium treatment of have common length findings any ground appears partly of the lower and the of such solved the of the Rickettsia bodies epithelioma lip origin by possibility growths. That chronic irritation from of filterable size, and also by the very pipe-smoking being pertinent is a or even an cause he is fact to which Coles that frequent exciting alludes-namely, Noguchi inclined to and statistics from the found that the spirochæte of Weil’s disease will doubt, Depart- ment of the Registrar-General of Ontario were pass through a Berkefeld V filter. The investiga- quoted in support of this view. Recently in one 1 See THE LANCET, 1917, i., 347. year in the of Ontario the figures relating