11. Morris Fishbein, "Progress of Medical Science." Scientific American, Sept., Nov., 1925. 12. Victor G. Heiser, "Leper Colony," Scientific American, Oct., 1925. 13. "Physical Basis of Disease," Sciatifi Month&, Jan.-June, 1925. 14. "Fighting Disease with Aniline Dyes," Scientifi American, April, 1925. 15. "Prevention and Incidence of Goiter," Scientific Monthly, June, 1925.
Cites Agriculture's Gains through Work of Scientists. The benefits derived by agriculture from the applications of science were outlined by Secretary of Agriculture W. M. Jardine in a recent address before the American Institute of Chemists. I n conclusion, Dr. Jardine made a plea for greater attention to, and increased s u p port for fundamental research in pure science. He said in part: "American science, I am convinced, needs to concern itself more with fundamental research than i t has done heretofore. No country in the world has made such -prosress in applied science, but our record in pure science is not so flattering. Since 1900, when the Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, and medicine were inaugurated, 76 awards have been made. Of thew. 24 went to Germany. 11 to England, 10 to France, 6 to the Netherlands. 5 to Sweden, 4 to the United States, 3 to i)mmark, 3 to Switrerland, 2 each to Austria, Canada, Italy, and Russia, and 1 each to Belgium and Spain. On the basis of population, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland received one to every million inhabitants; Germany one to every two and ane-half million; Austria one to every three million: England one to every three and one-quarter million; France one to every four million; the United States, one to every twenty-nine million. This is the situation despite the fact that we have vastly more students in colleges and universities in proportion to the population than has any other country in the world. The difficulty seems to me twc-fold: we are not laying enough emphasis on pure science in .proportion to our emuhasis on the a~dications of science: and we are not stirnulatins . .. . and training an adequate personnel in scientific research."-Science Service Gennan Drw. Insulin Action Duvlicated by . Synthetic . - A synthetic drug that acts lie insulin in remedying diabetic conditions, but which can be taken by mouth instead of necessitating troublesome daily injections with a hypodermic needle, is the discovery reported by Dr. E. Frank of the University of Breslau. The new compound is a derivative of guanidine, a substance long well known to organic chemists, and bas been named "synthalin" by its discoverer. I t is not nearly so powerful as insulin in the crystalline form, first prepared by Dr. John J. Abel of the Johns Hopkins University, but its effects are indistinguishable from those of the natural drug produced from the pancreatic gland. Injected into the blood stream of Laboratory animals afflicted with diabetes, i t quickly reduces their blood sugar concentration to normal, and an overdose produces the convulsions that are a symptom of excessive insulin. These convulsions can be cured by injecting sugar solution, as they are in the case of those produced by the natural insulin. Dr. Frank states that the new chemical will be of use chiefly in the treatment of mild and moderately severe cases of diabetes, and he cautious prospective users to be exceedingly careful in regulating the size of the dose. Synthalin alone, he says, will not avail against diabetes in its more advanced stages. I n these the frequent injection of insulin is still the only effective treatment. But even here, be claims, synthalin will be useful as an auxiliary medicament, for by swallowing properly adjusted doses of it the patient can cut the number of insulin injections needed daily from three down to one.-Science Service
