paid to factors bearing on the housing problem. The work includes studies of building practices, and cooperation w i t h efforts to reduce seasonal operation in the construction industries. The last-named work has met with considerable success during t h e past year. Seasonal operation has been f o u n d to be d u e more to custom than to climate, and through its efforts t h e Bureau hopes to even up t h e curve of construction work, which will result in steadier employment to workers and reduced costs to builders a n d the public. T h e work in connection with zoning is of great importance since each year a large number of cities and towns a r e adopting zoning ordinances. It is i m p o r t a n t t h a t these regulations b e preparcd with care, s o as to stand u p under c o u r t decisions, and it is also advisable to have t h e m as uniform as possible throughout t h e country. In this particular field t h e Bureau has been of real assistance. It has also aided t h e individual home owner through written advice and replies to inquiries and by means of publications designed to give sound advice in home buying and construction to t h e general public.
new Gland Extract May Heal Broken Bones. Broken hones can he cured through the use of a new glandular extract that has already proved its us'efulness in curing tetanus. This is the information reaching here from Japan where experiments have been in progress with the hormone of the parathyroids that was isolated last year hy Prof. J. B. Collip of the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Professor Collip obtained from the parathyroid glands a hormone or extract which. when injected or given by the mouth, causes the amounts both of calcium and phosphate in the blood serum to rise. The parathyroids are four very small glands in the neck which lie near the thyroid gland or are embedded in it. His d~scoverywas applied successfully to the cure of tetany, a somewhat rare disease usually found in children, and characterized by peculiar spasms. A much wider utility for it is foreshadowed by the work done subsequently by Dr. Ogawa, in the surgical dinie of the Japanese medical academy of Keijo. As bone is so largely composed of calcium phosphate, a hormone which raises the amount of this substance in the blood might be expected to assist in bone formation. Rats with broken legs were found to produce twice as much new bone when fed with parathyroid glands as when not so fed. Bone consists largely of calcium phosphate, and after a fracture fresh quantities of this substance must he taken from the blood for the formation of new bane. The slawniss of the healing process seems to be largely due to the very small amounts of calcium and phosphorus in the blood. The publication of the results in the case of human beings is awaited with the greatest interest, for there is reason to believe that the administration of parathyroid extract would not only hasten the healing of fractures in the young, hut might render it possible in old age.-Science Sem'ce
