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675 NOTES, COMMENTS, AND ABSTRACTS PROTECTION OF INFANTS AGAINST GAS A PROTECTIVE helmet for babies was demonstrated by officials from the Home Office on Monday last in London. It is designed to protect infants from birth up to the time when the child can wear a respirator -which is normally about two years of age-but it can be used for children up to four or five. It consists of a hood of impervious fabric with a large window of non-inflammable cellulose acetate. The hood encloses the head, shoulders and arms and is closed round the waist with a draw tape. The hood is fastened inside a light metal frame which is lengthened on the underside with an adjustable tail-piece, so as to form a support and protection for the child’s back. The tail-piece is turned up at the end to form a seat. The infant is secured in the helmet by means of a T-shaped supporting strap connected to the end of the tail-piece. The frame and strap are adjustable to fit different sizes of children. The hood is padded on the underside. Air is supplied to the inside of the hood by means of a rubber bellows of a concertina type. The air passes through a filter and enters the hood through an orifice which deflects the air upwards away from the baby’s head. It is stated that a steady rate of pumping of about 40 strokes per minute is adequate to keep out gas and to supply sufficient air. The space in the hood is large enough to allow pumping to be stopped for some minutes. There is said to be no limit to the time during which a child may remain in the helmet if the steady pumping is carried out. At the demon- stration two infants, aged three weeks and eight weeks, were placed in helmets with no difficulty and appeared to be unaffected by the experience. They were not taken into a concentration of gas, but it was stated that this had many times been done. From the physiological standpoint the helmet seems to be practical and well thought-out. It weighs about 6 lb. and is fairly easily carried by the mother. The children shown in the helmet were certainly quite comfortable. Older children are often not so placid, but it was claimed that even the most excitable and fractious child could come to no harm in the device, and that temperature and humidity inside had been carefully checked and found to be satisfactory. It seems likely that this is so, at least from the purely physical point of view. What the psychological results of enclosing a violently protesting child in such a helmet might be is another and different matter. The psychological objection to the hood would, however, probably be shared by any device capable of protecting a child against gas. It was stated that 1 million of these helmets have been ordered, and that distribution will begin fairly shortly. Distribution is to be done principally by the use of the facilities available in maternity and child-welfare work. THE STORAGE OF EGGS THE habits of the hen are such that the supply of eggs is at a maximum in April and a minimum in November, and the prices vary in inverse ratio to the supply. If cheap eggs are to be available when they are most needed they must therefore be stored for over six months. The cold storage of eggs has not been much practised in this country of recent years, though a large trade in stored eggs is done in the United States, but there are now indications of a renewed interest in egg storage over here. The advan- tages and disadvantages of cold storage and gas storage are set out by Mr. T. Moran, D.Sc., in a free pamphlet issued by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. He does not deal with the " pickling " processes, either with water-glass or the more modern organic sealing solutions, presumably because these are unsuitable for large-scale use. From the time of laying the egg begins to change, more especially if it has been fertilised. Hence unfertilised eggs are preferred for storage. Even so, and assuming that bacteria and moulds do not pierce the shell and its membranes, eggs stored in a dry atmosphere will dry and contain a larger air-space, whilst the white may shrink and liquefy, the yolk membrane and the yolk itself weaken, and a slight but unpleasant metallic taste develop. Eggs, like milk, also tend to take up tastes and odours from their surroundings. These defects, apart from rendering eggs unpalatable, may affect their physical behaviour when boiled or poached. Cold storage at 29°-32° F., with control of humidity only, allows increase of the air-cell and yellowing of the white; the yolk becomes flabby, and a storage taste develops which shows up par- ticularly in boiled eggs. It is, nevertheless, satisfactory for storage not exceeding five months-not long enough for a satisfactory carry-over from April to November. Partial gas storage, in an atmosphere containing 2-2 per cent. of carbon dioxide, with control of humidity, is more satisfactory. After nine months the yolk is firm and there is no storage taste, but the white still becomes rather yellow and the air-cell is large. Full gas storage with 60-100 per cent. of carbon dioxide and no control of humidity prevents enlarge- ment of the air-cell, since the atmosphere is saturated with moisture and the egg cannot dry up, but the thin part of the white is watery and the thick part considerably shrunken. Both gas-storage methods, presumably because of condensation on the shell of water containing a relatively high concentration of carbon dioxide and because of solution and re-deposi- tion of calcium carbonate, cause some roughening of the shell. Ozone, up to one part in a million, slightly delays the appearance of storage taste in the yolk but higher amounts tend to produce a metallic or cucumber taste. For most purposes eggs stored by these methods for nine months or even longer should be above reproach, but the person of critical taste will probably still prefer his boiled or poached egg to be new laid. THE MEDICAL CURRICULUM IN GERMANY LAST week the president of the Royal College of Physicians, speaking unofficially, quoted the old saying " you can’t get the terriers too soon to the rats." The new scheme for medical education in Germany announced in our issue of Jan. 14 (p. 103) seems to be giving it practical application. From further particulars now available (Med. Klinik, Jan. 27, 1939, p. 132) it seems that the course of the German student is really to be shortened by some two years, for not only is the time of study reduced from 11 to 10 half-years but the year’s practical work, formerly done at the end of the course, is now to be included in this period. The time occupied by the final examination is also to be reduced. But if the student has less time he has more to do ; for subjects which were formerly optional have now been made com- pulsory-notably eugenics, radiology, nature-cure methods, and occupational diseases. The student must also spend six weeks in agricultural or factory service " so that he may gain practical experience of living with people in other occupations and under other social and working conditions which will be of great value to him later as doctor." It is stated that these changes aim at giving the young doctor an earlier financial independence. According to the Manchester Guardian’s Berlin correspondent (March 11) compulsory military and labour service occupy over 2t years and the medical graduate has often been nearly 30 before he could earn his living. Figures quoted in the Miinchener Medizinische Wochenschrift (March 10, 1939, p. 391) suggest that there may be other considerations which are at least as pressing as the wish to give the doctor an earlier professional start. In Prussia for the year 1931-32 there were 2910 candidates for the premedical examination, but in 1936-37 the number had fallen to 1590.
