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could see no reason to alter the opinions expressed inthe communication made last year. Quinine destroys slarge numbers of the malarial parasites, the broken-down bodies of which act as an antigen to stimulatethe production of antibodies which, if present insufficient amount, bring about a sterilisation of theinfection and the cure of the patient. Some evidencehas been obtained that the drug acts indirectly indestroying parasites, certain body cells cooperatingwith the quinine in producing a substance directlytoxic to the parasites. The use of large doses andprolonged courses of quinine is not advocated ; thebest method of treating malaria is to deal with theattack with a few moderate-sized doses and awaitdevelopments ; if relapses occur, repeat the treatmentand maintain the general health by diet and avoidanceof exhaustion, for relapse depends on the reaction ofthe patient himself and his capacity to developimmune body. ____

ANTHROPOLOGY AND PREVENTIVEMEDICINE.

THE fact that certain persons are more liable thanothers to contract or to succumb to certain diseasesmust have been known from the earliest days ofobservation, but the science of immunology is ofrecent birth and has not yet found an answer to the ’,fundamental question as to why A is happy inimmunity while B is not. The facts and experimentsconcerning racial and species immunity at presentrecorded form a tangled skein of unrelated andunexplained threads for the unravelling of which thehelp of the anthropologists is needed. For thisreason Lieut.-Colonel J. Cunningham, I.M.S., himselfthe son of a distinguished anthropologist, chose as thesubject of his paper before a recent meeting of theRoyal Anthropological Institute " Some Factors inRacial Immunity." India is peculiarly suited for a studyof the problems of race immunity since peoples oftotally different genealogy, diet, habits, and sanitarystandards are there encountered living side by sideunder identical environmental conditions. Among the Iobservations on record are those of Dr. Agnes Scotton osteomalacia, the incidence of which she found tocorrespond with the purdah system or, in more generalterms, with any area where the women live sedentary,secluded, and unhygienic lives. Colonel Cunninghamhimself has noted the limitation of kala-azar epidemicsin Kayalpatnam, S. India, to the Mohammedancommunity. These, being traders, came in contact withinfected towns, but never communicated the diseaseto the segregated Hindu agriculturists living in thesame village. He has also investigated the relationbetween climatic conditions and dysentery in certaingaols of Southern India. The largest peak in the chartof dysentery incidence was found to correspond withthe summer rains, while two lesser peaks indicatedrelapses occurring at the onset of the hot and coldweather respectively. In fact, the cases of acuteattack could be correlated with the sudden changesof temperature accompanying thunderstorms. Anexample of species immunity is seen in the reaction ofrodents to anthrax, the rat being almost immune,the guinea-pig and mouse extremely susceptible, whilethe rabbit is less so. The racial variation in suscepti-bility to tuberculosis is strikingly seen in the incidence of the disease in the French Army of occupation, thefigures per 1000 being : French 9-5, Moroccans 11-7,Arabs 13-3, Annamites 15-3, and Senegalese 86-1.Modern tests, such as the Calmette and von Pirquetreactions, the Schick test for diphtheria, and the Dicktest for scarlet fever, provide an accurate method forestimating natural immunity. On Thursday Island96-8 per cent. of the population were found to besusceptible to diphtheria. Rose Carter has shown thatthe supposed immunity of the negro to yellow fever isreally a case of susceptibility to toxin rather than tomicro-organism, so that the death-rate is definitelyless among negroes than among white men,although it is doubtful whether the incidence differsgreatly.

It has been stated that the European in India ismuch more liable to intestinal disorders than thenative, but 25 per cent. of the natives are infectedwith dysentery and the apparently greater liability ofthe white man may be accounted for by his unwittingcontact with infected servants. The original claimthat native races showed a relative immunity tocancer has been modified in recent years, and thelatest statistics tend to show that it is only theparticular variety of malignant growth that variesfrom race to race. The Chinese are especially liableto carcinoma of the stomach and to an epithelioma ofthe hip, due to sleeping on the hot k’ang, and Easternraces generally suffer from a primary carcinoma ofthe liver that takes the place of Western intestinalcancer. The Javanese show a high percentage ofmalignancy of liver and uterus. The importance ofthe factor of exposure to infection, personally or

racially, has not yet been adequately assessed. Negroraces that have only recently come into contact withcivilisation manifest a very high tuberculosis mortalitywith low morbidity, while those that have been longassociated with the white man show figures similarto Western statistics. In Colonel Cunningham’sopinion there is no evidence of true racial immunityin man, comparable to that seen in animals, but thecooperation of anthropologists and immunologists isrequired in the further- investigation and ’interpreta-tion of the facts obtainable.

ICE-CREAM AND SCARLET FEVER.

Dr. Ai. Mearns Fraser has reported to the PortsmouthHealth and Housing Committee on an outbreak ofscarlet fever arising from infected ice-cream. Up tothe last week in May there was no undue prevalenceof scarlet fever in Portsmouth, but on May 29th21 notifications were received, on May 30th 21,on May 31st 14, on June 1st 8, on June 2nd 6, onJune 3rd 1, and on June 4th none. Altogether therewere 83 notifications in five days. It was soon notedthat the common feature was the consumption aday or two previous to the attack of ice-cream madeby a firm of dairymen and sold at various branchshops. On May 30th a medical practitioner notifiedeight patients who had attended a whist drive andwere at first thought to be suffering from foodpoisoning. They had partaken of ice-cream at thewhist drive. Three assistants at the branch dairyshops were among those notified. Ultimately it wasfound that all the ice-cream was made by a man anda boy at one of the branch shops. The boy went homeill on the night of May 29th and was diagnosed asscarlet fever on May 30th. It was stated that theboy had a sore-throat, which he did not mention, fora week before going off work. Apparently the rash

was not noticed until the night of May 29th. There

were no cases of scarlet fever among the customerswho only consumed milk supplied by the dairy, andafter full consideration of the facts Dr. Fraser concludesthat the ice-cream was infected by the boy and thatnone of the other three employees at the other brancheswas in any way implicated. The dairy firm gaveevery assistance in the investigation and were quiteunaware of the fact that the boy was indisposedduring the week previous to his definite attack.The outbreak fortunately was of a mild type. Afeature, which has been observed before in the case ofmilk outbreaks, was the shortness of the incubationperiod in many of the cases. Another noteworthyfeature was the early stage of the illness at which theboy was able to infect the milk. Again, it has beencommon to a number of other milk epidemics that thesymptoms of the apparent infector have frequentlybeen obscure. Dr. Fraser is not aware that scarletfever outbreaks have ever been traced to ice-creambefore, although enteric fever outbreaks from thissource are on record. A noteworthy example of thelatter occurred a few years ago in the South Shieldsrural district. The ice-cream in the Portsmouthcase was made of cream custard and eggs in an