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This paper documents vegetation injury caused by SO2 emissions from a sulphite pulp and paper mill located in Ontario. Acute vegetation injury caused by SO2 was correlated with increased levels of S within injured vegetation, meteorological data, and air sampling records of SO2 monitored by a continuous recorder located adjacent to the vegetation injury zone. The symptoms of injury observed on plants within the injury zone were described, and the relative sensitivity to SO2 was determined for 75 plant species in the area.

Bottom fauna surveys of the Lower Sabine River in the vicinity of Orange, Texas were performed from 1967 to 1969. During this time samples were taken before and after effluent from a black-liquor paper mill was discharge into the Sabine River. Species diversity indices were determined for each station (one station above the discharge canal and four below it). The results obtained indicated that the paper mill effluent was not disturbing the river to a degree that it would cause damage. However, the proximity of Sabine Lake (an estuary) and the very low flow often encountered on the Sabine River makes it imperative that high standards be imposed in treatment of the waste water and that qualified personnel make periodic studies on the river.

In few conditions is the electrophorogram of serum proteins capable alone of deciphering the diagnosis. In conjunction with the assembled clinical data and relevant applied pathological tests the definition of the disease is often clarified. The patterns as observed by the applied pathologist are serially discussed and the importance of the variations in different fractions presented. In several instances, exemplified by liver disease, the assistance rendered toward prognosis has been considerable. Perhaps the most clearcut diagnosis is possible in the agammaglobulinaemia syndrome which is immediately evident by the technique of paper electrophoresis. Current advances are mainly in the direction of estimating the protein-bound carbohydrate and lipid constituents which are believed to reflect the abnormalities in several infections and metabolic diseases. Utilisation of non-ionic detergents has also allowed separation of subfractions of the globulins into numerous new components, including lipo-proteins, some of which had been previously observed during the application of improved buffer systems designed to restrict interference of heavy metals and to facilitate accentuation of fractions having intermediate mobility.

A PAPER Chromatographie study of urinary aminoacids has been carried out in 69 affected and 565 unaffected relatives from 64 families with various types of muscular dystrophy. Only a small proportion of subjects had either generalized or specific hyperaminoaciduria.

A high speed paper tape reader with a maximum speed of 1000 characters per second is described. Relevant principles of construction as well as operating characteristics are given in some detail.

312 male chronic alcoholists without clinical symptons of cirrhosis hepatis are inoculated with heat-killed typhus-paratyphus bacilli. The result of the inoculations is compared with the serum proteins of the patients. A connection between the O-antigens and the γ-globulins is established, and also between specific and unspecific H-antigens and the (α-) β-globulins.

A description is presented on a nonrecording densitometer for photometry of electrophoregrams in passing light. The instrument may be easily made in any biochemical laboratory with the aid of available parts; the parts may be replaced by analogous ones without impairing the quality of the device. A method is presented for tracing the curve of the optic density and for calculation of the ratio of the fractions of the mixture studied.

ESTIMATION of microquantities of purines by paper chromatography was first suggested by Hotchkiss1. Later, detection by photographing with an ultra-violet source has amplified the method2. Tennent et al. 3 and others have designed adaptors for the Beckman spectrophotometer to enable direct estimation of the purines from paper chromatograms. This method requires costly instrumentation, and is time-consuming unless an automatic recorder is provided.

VERY recently, Matthias1 has described a modified technique which may be looked upon as a combination of uni-dimensional and circular paper chromatography. In this case, substances to be chromatographed are applied near the edge of a strip of paper, the end of which is made in the form of a cone; thus the substances are at first radially distributed, which results in better separation.

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THE analysis of the protein composition of blood serum or plasma by means of zone electrophoresis on filter paper has stimulated interest in clinical laboratories throughout the world. In addition to numerous publications dealing with the applications of the technique in various pathological conditions, critical assessments of its validity and accuracy have appeared1–4, in which attention is properly directed to the limitations of the method from the point of view of the numerical evaluation of the separated protein fractions. It has seemed desirable to undertake a study of the accuracy and reproducibility of this method of protein analysis, using two of the most commonly employed protein-dyeing techniques.

Experiments were conducted over three years to determine the effect on yield of storing seed potatoes in paper sacks, with or without the use of the sprout-suppressant tetrachloronitrobenzene (TCNB). Treatment with TCNB increased the proportion of small tubers and decreased the proportion of large ones, even when the crop was grown at wide spacing. There was insufficient evidence to confirm any advantage which paper sacks may have over jute sacks as containers for TCNB-treated potatoes. In comparison with storage in jute sacks under the same conditions, the storage of untreated potatoes in plain paper sacks was found to have no detrimental effect on either total yield or the yield of large tubers.

For 20 centuries, vegetable fibers from various sources have been converted into thin sheets for use in trade, communications, law, and even for shelter. Cotton and linen rags were the first fibrous raw materials to acquire widespread status in paper making, and they are still needed for specialty products. Increasing demands for paper ultimately surpassed the availability of rags, so that other sources of fiber were sought. About the year 1800, numerous other materials of agricultural origin began to come into use somewhat temporarily. Although woods have become the prime source of paper making fibers during the last 100-125 years, annual plant fibers retain their importance. The technical feasibility of non-woody materials is substantiated by more than 300 paper mills throughout the world that use such raw materials. Both necessity and special properties account for their use. The potential for various nonwoody fibrous plants is being investigated intensively by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, to discover new crops that might hare practical significance in the national agricultural program and in the commercial production of paper.

In spite of significant increases in yield of potatoes from the use of mulch paper, its use on a commercial scale is not likely because of the cost of the paper. The paper used in this experiment cost at retail $7 a roll of 300 linear yards or at the rate of over $100 an acre. Even though it could be bought in large quantity at half this cost, the difference between this and the value of the increased crop at 40 cents a bushel would still be in favor of cultivation. The average cost per acre of cultivating potatoes on 100 western New York farms in 1931 was $6.75. Under present methods of applying mulch paper, the saving in cost of cultivation would be far more than outweighed by the cost of applying the paper.

Dr. Seymour B. Sarason is in the Department of Psychology and the Psycho-Educational Clinic, Yale University. This is a report based on a recording of Dr. Sarason's paper which he presented at the Twenty-second National Conference of the Orton Society, Boston, 1971. (Dr. Sarason was unable to prepare a manuscript for publication as he had planned to do ; but his talk generated not only immediate interest and enthusiasm following its presentation at the Conference, but several urgent requests from subscribers to the Bulletin for copies of his remarks. For these reasons, and because we feel his talk to be of special relevance to other papers in this issue of the Bulletin, the staff has taken the liberty of preparing and publishing this report, and take full responsibility for it. We believe it accurately reflects Dr. Sarason's talk.)

THE acid phosphatase test has proved its usefulness in seminal stain examinations and is now in widespread use1–4. The desirability of preparing a stable form of the reagent was obvious, more especially for ‘scene-of-crime’ searching, post-mortem examinations and for scientists and clinicians without laboratory facilities.

A RADIOACTIVE material can usually be detected and quantitatively measured by simple instrumental methods at levels much below those accessible to other analytical techniques. In theory, if an inactive material reacts quantitatively with the active material and the compound formed can be separated from the unreacted activity, then the inactive material also can be analysed at the same low levels. With this in mind, several workers1,2 have reviewed the theory of radiometric analysis and considerable progress has been made in its application3–6. In most cases, however, the difficulty of achieving clean phase separations at μgm.-levels is very great. In addition, to achieve reasonable precision and speed, it has nearly always been necessary to count the excess of unreacted activity rather than the compound formed; a procedure which reduces greatly the sensitivity of the method.

IN a letter to NATURE,1 J. R. Ashworth mentioned the use of a stepped wedge of fine quality tissue paper in describing a method of measuring ultra-violet light from the sky, photographically. In a later issue,2 P. W. Cunliffe pointed out that “a step wedge constructed of a diffusing medium, such as thin tissue paper, does not obey the logarithmic ‘law’ which is valid only for transparent media”. It so happens that I obtained data last spring which bear on this subject.

THE improvement of technique achieved in zone electrophoresis through the use of potential gradients up to 150 V/cm has been found to be partially offset by difficulties of manipulation due to the poor wet strength of conventional papers. The marketing of ‘Benchkote’ (‘Benchkote’ (Whatman) sold by H. Reeve Angel and Co., Ltd., 9 Bridewell Place, London, E.C.4, in rolls 45 cm × 50 m), a polythene-backed filter paper (primarily intended as a protective covering for benches) of very high wet strength, prompted the tests described here, to determine if such a material would exploit the advantages of high-voltage electrophoresis to the fullest extent.

I HAVE recently developed in our laboratory the following method for the circular development of a large paper disk which has the advantages of (a) rapidity, requiring no more than two and a half hours for a satisfactory separation of sugars and amino-acids, and (b) simplicity, as it does not need the various devices of other workers1,2.

THE net resultant flow of solvent through the capillary channels of paper used in chromatography is in a direction away from the point of feed, and it was therefore considered possible that such a system might result in the setting up of a streaming potential1.

COMPARATIVELY little use has been made of paper chromatography for micro or semimicro preparative purposes. A difficulty encountered in such work is that of applying relatively large quantities of material to the paper. The methods hitherto used are either time-consuming, for example, multiple, manual application of contiguous spots along a line some 24 in. in length, or require special apparatus, such as the kymograph method of Yanofsky, Wasserman and Bonner1. The need for a quick and simple technique of application has led to the development of the following procedure.

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PAEDIATRICS. R~flections on Paediatrics. T. Kavanagh. 1949. Pp. 842-853. PAIN, RELIEF OF. Ancient Anody~e,~. G. S. Ellis. London. Heinemann. 1946 (Review by J. B.) 1946. p. 724. PARACELStTS. Marvellous Paracelsus. Kathleen Murphy. 1941. Pp. 635-640. PARE, AMBROISE. Ambroi,~e Pard : army surgeon of France. Win. Doolin. 1939. Pp. 765 777. PARKER, HARRY LEE. Charles Horace Mayo. An appreciation by Harry Lee Parker. 1939. Pp. 614-617. Personality and Achievement. 1944. Pp. 596 606. PARRY, L. A. See Trials of medical men. PARSONS, ALFRED R. (1856-1952). Obituary by V. M. Synge and E. MacCarthy. 1952. Pp. 138-139. PATHOLOGY. Plica Polonica. John Knott. 1917. CXLIII. Pp. 49-62. PEACI-IEY, GEo. C. See Hunter, Wm. and John. PEARSON, CtIAS. YELVERTO~. Retirement of Professor Pearson, F.R.C.S.I., from the chair of Surgery, University College, Cork. 1928. p. 25. PECK A~D WILKINSON. See Withering, William. PEPYS, SAMUEL. Pepys, Evelyn, and Lady Montagu on Smallpox. W. D. O'Kelly. 1941. Pp. 97-107. PETTY, SIR WILLIAM (1623-1687). Sir WiUiam Petty. T. P. C. Kirkpatrick. 1932. Pp. 315-331. Sir William Petty. J. Prendergast. Proceedings of B.M.A. Meeting, Dublin, 1933. 1933. p. 542. PHELPS, ROBERT. See Kirkpatriek, T. P. C. I:)tIILATELY, MEDICAL. MEDICINE AND SCIENCE IN POSTAGE STAI~i~S. W. ~. Bishop and hi. M. Matheson. London. Harvey and Blythe, 1948. (Review by F. S. Bourke.) 1948. p. 749. PHYSICL~NS. Royal College of Physicians in Kilkenny (1687). (Charter of incorporation.) 1918. CXLV. Pp. 178-180.

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The quality and uniformity of metallurgical coke are becoming increasingly important as blast furnace burdens and operating practices are improved. Under such conditions, and with the continuing decrease in the amount of coke required to produce a ton of iron, small changes in the character of the coke can have a relatively large influence on blast furnace performance. To minimize the possible disruptive effects of such changes, one must develop adequate means to control the quality and uniformity of the coke. To this end, we have been conducting research to identify the important influencing factors and determine the effect of these factors on the character of the coke produced.