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i
PEARLS AND PARASITES
PEARLS & PARASITES

BY ARTHUR E. SHIPLEY

Or Curist’s CoLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE ; M.A., Hon, D.Sc., F.R.S.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1908
a
TO MY SISTER

ED). Et
PREFACE

Most of the following essays have appeared in the
pages of the Quarterly Review, and I am greatly
indebted to the editor and to the proprietor of that
periodical for permission to reprint them. The article
on ‘The Infinite Torment of Flies’ is an address I
delivered before the British Association at Pretoria
in 1905, and the eighth essay appeared in Science
Progress.

As far as possible I have tried to avoid the use of
long words, and thus escape the censure of recent
critics in the Zimes ; but I fear I have not altogether
succeeded, and my excuse must be that with new
discoveries new conceptions arise, and these con-
ceptions require new names, or we cannot talk or
write about them with any precision.

The essay dealing with zebras and hybrids was the
first to be written, and appeared before the rediscovery
of Mendel’s remarkable work, and must be regarded
as a pre-Mendelian contribution to a subject which
has recently, in connexion with the Deceased Wife’s
Sister Bill, again aroused attention. Had it been
written later the language and the attitude taken
would have been modified by recent research.

In the inquiry into the aims and finance of Cambridge

University—the only essay which does not deal with
vii
vili PREFACE

questions of economic zoology—I have had the great
advantage of the collaboration of Mr. H. A. Roberts,
the Secretary of the Cambridge University Associa-
tion. But for his help I fear I should have lost my
way in the intricate mazes of the University accounts.

For the care he has taken in making the Index, I
owe thanks to Mr. G. W. Webb, of the University
Library.

A. E, S.
Curist’s COLLEGE,
CAMBRIDGE.
March 10, 1908.
CONTENTS

PEARLS AND PARASITES

THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA
BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES
ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS
PASTEUR

MALARIA

‘INFINITE TORMENT OF FLIES’
THE DANGER OF FLIES
CAMBRIDGE

INDEX

ix

PAGE

16
42
73
Io1
129
155
174

217
BIBLIOGRAPHY

‘ Report to the Government of Ceylon on the Pearl-Oyster
Fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar.’ By W. A. Herdman, F.R.S.
Parts I. and IJ. Published by the Royal Society. London,
1904.

‘On the Origin of Pearls.” By H. Lyster Jameson.
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1902.

‘Aus den Tiefen des Weltmeeres.’ By C. Chun. Jena:
Gustav Fischer, 1900.

‘ Tierleben der Tiefsee.’ By O. Seeliger. Leipzig: Wilhelm
Engelmann, 1901,

‘Report of the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S.
Challenger.’ Edited by the late Sir C. Wyville Thomson and
John Murray. A Summary of the Scientific Results. Published
by Order of Her Majesty’s Government, 1885.

‘La Vie au Fond des Mers.’ By H. Filhol. Paris:
G. Masson, 1885.

‘The Fauna of the Deep Sea’ By Sydney J. Hickson.
London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co., 1894.

‘British Fisheries: their Administration and their Problems.’
By James Johnstone. London: Williams and Norgate, 1905.

‘An Examination of the Present State of the Grimsby Trawl
Fishery, with Especial Reference to the Destruction of Imma-
ture Fish.” By E. W. L. Holt. Jouynal of the Mavine Biological
Association, vol. iii. Plymouth, 1895.

Journals of the Marine Biological Association of the United
Kingdom, vols. i.-vii. Plymouth.

‘Conseil Permanent International pour |’Exploration de la
Mer. Rapports et Procés Verbaux,’ vol. iii. Copenhagen.

‘Fishery Board for Scotland. Report on the Fishery and

xiii
Xiv BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hydrographical Investigations in the North Sea and Adjacent
Waters, 1902-1903.’ (Cd. 2612.] London, 1905.

‘Marine Biological Association. First Report on the Fishery
and Hydrographical Investigations in the North Sea and
Adjacent Waters (Southern Area), 1902-1903.’ [Cd. 2670.]
London, 1905.

‘Annual Reports of the Inspectors of Sea-Fisheries for
England and Wales.’ London, 1886-1905.

‘The Penycuik Experiments.’ By J. C. Ewart. London
and Edinburgh: A, and C. Black, 1899.

‘Experimental Investigations on Telegony.’ A paper read
before the Royal Society, London, June 1, 1899. By Professor
J. C. Ewart.

‘La Vie de Pasteur.’ Par René Vallery-Radot. Paris:
Hachette, 1goo.

‘Pasteur.’ By Percy Frankland and Mrs. Percy Frankland.
(Century Science Series.) London: Cassell, 1898.

‘The Soluble Ferments and Fermentation.’ By J. Reynolds
Green, (Cambridge Natural Science Manuals.) Cambridge
University Press, 1899.

‘ Micro-organisms and Fermentation.’ By Alfred Jérgensen.
Translated by A. K. Miller and A. E. Lennholm. Third
edition. London: Macmillan, 1goo.

‘Lectures on the Malarial Fevers.’ By William Sydney
Thayer, M.D. London: Henry Kimpton, 1899.

‘On the Rdle of Insects, Arachnids, and Myriapods as
Carriers in the Spread of Bacterial and Parasitic Diseases of
Man and Animals. A Critical and Historical Study.’ By
George H. F. Nuttall, M.D., Ph.D. ‘Johns Hopkins Hospital
Reports,’ vol. viii.

‘Instructions for the Prevention of Malarial Fever.’ Liver-
pool School of Tropical Medicine. Memoir I. Liverpool:
University Press, 1899.

‘Report of the Malaria Expedition of the Liverpool School
of Tropical Medicine and Medical Parasitology.’ By Ronald
Ross, D.P.H., M.R.C.S,; H. E. Annett, M.D., D.P.H.; and
E. E. Austen, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Memoir II. Liverpool: University Press, 1900.

‘A System of Medicine, by many Writers.’ Edited by
BIBLIOGRAPHY XV

Thomas Clifford Allbutt, M.A., M.D., LL.D., vol. ii, 1897;
vol, iii., 1897. London: Macmillan and Co.

‘A Handbook of the Gnats and Mosquitoes.’ By Major
George M. Giles, I.M.S., M.B., F.R.C.S. London: John Bale,
Sons, and Danielsson, Limited, 1900.

‘Reports to the Malaria Committee, Royal Society, 1899
and 1900,’ By various authors. London: Harrison and Sons,
1900,

Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History,
vol. xvi., 1874.

U.S.A. Department of Agriculture, Division of Entomology,
Bulletin 4, new series.

‘Manchester Memoirs,’ vol. li., 1906, p. 1; Quarterly Journal
of Microscopical Science, vol. li., 1907, p. 395.

‘Endowments of the University of Cambridge.’ Edited
by John Willis Clark, M.A., Registrar of the University of
Cambridge. Cambridge: University Press, 1904.

‘Report of a Meeting held at Devonshire House on
January 31, 1899, to inaugurate the Cambridge University
Association.’ Cambridge: University Press, 1899.

‘Statements of the Needs of the University.’ Cambridge:
University Press, 1904.

‘University Accounts for the Year ended December 31,
1904.’ Cambridge University Reporter, March 17, 1905.

‘Abstracts of the Accounts of the Colleges.’ Cambridge
University Reporter, February 10, 1905.
PEARLS AND PARASITES

Know you, perchance, how that poor formless wretch—
The Oyster—gems his shallow moon-lit chalice ?
Sir Epwin ARNOLD..

Certain Eastern peoples believe that pearls are due to
raindrops falling into the oyster-shells which con-
veniently gape to receive them.

‘ Precious the tear as that rain from the sky
Which turns into pearls as it falls on the sea,’

as the poet Moore writes. This belief is of ancient
origin, and is probably derived from classical sources,
since Pliny tells us that the view prevalent in his time
was that pearls arise from certain secretions formed
by the oyster around drops of rain which have some-
how effected an entrance into the mantle cavity of the
mollusc. Probably this theory of the origin of pearls
has ceased to be held for many centuries except in the
East, where tradition has always received more credit
than experiment. In the West it has long been
known that pearls are formed as a pathological secre-
tion of the mineral arragonite, combined with a certain
amount of organic material, formed by the oyster or
other mollusc around some foreign body, whose pre-
sence forms the irritant which stimulates the secre-
tion. This secretion is of the same chemical and
mineralogical nature as the mother-of-pearl which
I
1

2 PEARLS AND PARASITES

gives the inside of the shell of so many molluscs a
beautiful iridescent sheen.

An oyster-shell consists of three layers, the outer-
most termed the periostracum, the middle the prts-
matic layer, and the innermost the macreous layer.
Everywhere the shell is lined by the mantle, consist-
ing of a right and left fold or flap of the skin, which is
in contact with the nacreous layer all over the inside
of the shell. The edge of the mantle is thickened
and forms a ridge or margin; and it is this edge
which secretes the two outer layers. This permits the
shell to grow at its edge whilst the rest of the mantle
secretes all over its surface the nacreous or pearly
layer. The relative thickness of these three layers
varies very greatly. In the fresh-water mussel
(Unio) the nacreous layer is many times thicker than
the two outer layers put together; and such nacreous
shells are usually associated with molluscs which are
known to represent very ancient or ancestral species.
It is also the layer which disappears most readily as
the specimens become fossilized ; and in fossil Mollusca
it is often represented by mere casts, which fill the
position it once occupied.

The fact that the nacre is deposited by the whole
surface of the mantle has been appreciated by the
Chinese. By inserting little flattened leaden images
of Buddha between the mantle and the shell, and
leaving the oyster at rest for some time, the image
becomes coated with mother-of-pearl and incorporated
in the substance of the shell; and in this way certain
little joss figures are produced. This industry is said
to support a large population in some coast districts
of Siam.

The nacre, then, is produced by the outermost layer
of the mantle or fleshy flap that lines the shell—the
external epithelium ; and, if a foreign body gets be-
tween this epithelium and the shell, the mantle will,
FORMATION OF PEARLS 3

in order to protect itself, secrete a pearly coat around
it. But valuable pearls are not those which are par-
tially or wholly fused with the shell, but those which
lie deep in the tissues of the body; and they are prob-
ably formed in the following manner: The intrusive,
irritant body forms a pit in the outer surface of the
mantle; this pit deepens, and at first remains con-
nected with the outside by a pore; ultimately the pore
closes, and the bottom of the pit becomes separated as
a small sac free from all connexion with the outside.
The sac now sinks into the tissues of the oyster,
enclosing in it the foreign body. It will be noticed
that the inside of the sac is lined by and is derived
from the same tissue or epithelium as covers the
outside of the mantle. Now this epithelium continues
to do what it has always been in the habit of doing;
that is, it secretes a nacreous substance all round the
intrusive particle. Layer after layer of this nacre is
deposited, and thus a pearl is formed. At first the
layers will conform roughly to the outline of the
embedded body, but later layers will smooth over
any irregularities of the nucleus around which they
are deposited, and a spheroidal or spherical pearl is
produced. If the irregularities are too pronounced,
an irregular pearl is formed; and such pearls,
on merely esthetic grounds, command a _ lower
price.

It is thus clear that pearls are formed around in-
trusive foreign bodies; and until comparatively
recently these bodies were thought to be inorganic
particles, such as grains of sand. Recent research
has, however, shown that this is seldom the case, and
that as a rule the nucleus, which must be present
if a pearl is to be formed, is the larva of some highly-
organized parasite whose life-history is certainly com-
plicated but as yet is not completely known. The
knowledge, however, which we already possess

I—2
4 PEARLS AND PARASITES

enables us to do much to ensure steady success in
a very speculative industry; and with complete
knowledge there is no reason why pearl fisheries
should not be under as good control as oyster
fisheries now are.

It was about fifty years ago (1857-1859) that
the problem of the Ceylon pearl-oyster fishery was
first attacked in a thoroughly scientific spirit by a
certain Dr. Kelaart. His reports to the Govern-
ment of the island contain the following suggestive
sentences :

‘I shall merely mention here that M. Humbert, a Swiss
zoologist, has, by his own observations at the last pearl
fishery, corroborated all I have stated about the ovaria or
genital glands and their contents; and that he has discovered,
in addition to the Filaria and Circaria (sic), three other para-
sitical worms infesting the viscera and other parts of the pearl-
oyster. We both agree that these worms play an important
part in the formation of pearls; and it may be found possible
to infect oysters in other beds with these worms, and thus
increase the quantity of these gems. The nucleus of an
American pearl drawn by Mébius is nearly of the same form
as the Circaria found in the pearl-oysters of Ceylon. It will
be curious to ascertain if the oysters in the Tinnevelly banks
have the same species of worms as those found in the oysters
on the banks off Arripo.’

Unfortunately Dr. Kelaart died shortly after making
this report, leaving his investigations incomplete.
Some seven years before, in 1852, Filippi had shown
that the pearls in our fresh-water mussel (Anodonta)
were formed by the larve of a fluke (a trematode),
to which he gave the name of Distomum duplicatum.
Many students of elementary biology, as they pain-
fully try to unravel the mystery of molluscan mor-
phology, must have come across small pearls in the
tissues of the fresh-water mussels (Unio or Anodonta) ;
but these are said to have less lustre and to be more
BRITISH PEARLS 5

opaque than the sea pearl; so the pearl fisheries of
the Welsh and Scotch rivers are falling into disuse.
Our ancestors, however, thought otherwise. Less
than fifty years ago the Scotch fisheries brought in
some £12,00c a year; and a writer of the early part of
the eighteenth century describes Scotch pearls as
‘finer, more hard and transparent than any Oriental.’
British pearls were highly thought of by the Romans.
Pliny and Tacitus mention them; and Julius Cesar
is said to have dedicated a breastplate ornamented
with British pearls to Venus Genitrix. Fresh-water
pearls are still ‘fished’ with profit in Central Europe ;
but the Governments of Bavaria, Saxony, and Bohemia
watch over the industry and only grant a licence to
fish any stretch of water about once in twelve years
—a restriction which, had it been imposed on our
fisheries, might have saved a vanishing industry.

In 1871 Garner showed that the pearls in the edible
mussel (Mytilus edulis), which is largely used for bait
upon our coasts, were formed round the larve of a
fluke, a remote ally of the liver-fluke that causes such
loss to our sheep-breeders. This origin of pearls has
been more completely followed out by Mr. Lyster
Jameson. Nor must we forget to mention the re-
searches of Giard (1897) and Dubois (igor) in the
same subject. We know the life-history of the
organism forming pearls in this edible mussel more
completely than we do that of any other pearl-forming
parasite; and, before returning to the Ceylon pearls,
we will briefly consider it.

Mr. Lyster Jameson finds that the pearls of the
Mytilus are formed around the cercaria or larval form
of a fluke which, in its adult stages, resides in the
intestine of the scoter (Zdemia nigra), and was origin-
ally described from the eider-duck (Somateria mollts-
sima) in Greenland and named Leucithodendrium
somaterie, after its first known host. The cercaria
6 PEARLS AND PARASITES

larvee of these flukes form the last stage in a complex
series of larval forms which occur in the life-history of
a trematode or fluke, and they differ from the adult in
two points—their generative organs are not fully de-
veloped, and they usually have a tail; but this organ
is wanting in our pearl-forming cercaria, called a
cercarizeum by Mr. Jameson. Such a larva has only
to be swallowed by a scoter to grow up quickly into
the adult trematode capable of laying eggs. Now
this bird, called by the French fishermen the ‘cane
mouliére,’ is the greatest enemy to the mussel-beds ;
it is not only common around the French mussel-beds
of Billiers (Morbihan), but occurs in numbers at the
mouth of the Barrow channel, close to our English
pearl-bearing mussel-beds. With its diving habits it
destroys and eats large quantities of the mollusc.
Those cercariz which are already entombed in a
pearl cannot, of course, grow up into adults, even if
they gain entrance to the alimentary canal of the
scoter; but those that are not ensheathed may do so.
Further, the fluke may possibly live in other hosts
where no pearl is formed. At any rate, there seems
no lack of larvee successful in their struggle to attain
maturity, for it has been calculated that the alimentary
canal of an apparently healthy scoter may harbour as
many as six thousand adult flukes.

Thus there are two courses open to the cercaria
when it has once found its way into the mussel; it
either forms the nucleus of a pearl and perishes, or it
is swallowed by a scoter, becomes adult, and prepares
to carry on the race. But how do the cercarize make
their way into the mussel, and whence do they come?
At present their birth, like that of Mr. Yellowplush, is
‘wrapped up ina mistry.. We may presume that the
eggs make their way out of the scoter into the sea-
water, and that there they hatch out a free-swimming
larva, which, after the manner of trematodes, swims
PEARLS IN MUSSELS 7

about looking for a suitable host. Within this host it
would come to rest and begin budding off numerous
secondary larvae, in which stage it may assume con-
siderable size and becomes known as a sforocyst. No
one, however, has seen the eggs hatch, or the free-
swimming larva; but Mr. Jameson produces evidence
to show that the sporocyst stage occurs in two other
common molluscs—viz., in a clam (Tapes decussatus)
and in the common cockle (Cardium edule), The
former mollusc abounds in the black gravelly clay
which forms the bottom of the mussel-beds at Billiers;
and every specimen out of nearly two hundred ex-
amples investigated by Mr. Jameson was found to be
infested with sporocysts containing larve closely re-
sembling those which act as pearl-nuclei in the edible
mussel. Exactly similar sporocysts were found in
about fifty per cent. of the common cockles examined
in the Barrow channel, where the species Tapes decus-
satus does not occur.

Within the sporocyst certain secondary larve are
formed, as is habitual with the flukes. These secondary
larvee are the cercariz ; and it is in this stage that the
animal makes its way into the pearl-mussel and ulti-
mately forms the nucleus of a pearl. Precisely how it
leaves the sporocyst and the first host—ze., the Tapes
or Cardium—is not known. Certain experiments made
by Jameson, who placed mussels which he thought
were free from parasites in a tank with some infected
Tapes, are not quite conclusive, and have been ably
criticized by Professor Herdman. It is true that,
when examined later, the mussels were well infected ;
but it was not definitely shown that they were not in-
fected at the start; and further, the numbers used were
too small to justify a very positive conclusion. Still,
on the whole, it may safely be said that life-history of
the organism which forms the pearls in Mytilus edulis
probably involves three hosts: the scoter, which con-
8 PEARLS AND PARASITES

tains the mature form; the Tapes or Cardium, which
contains the first larval stage; and the mussel, which
contains the second larval stage, which forms the
pearl.

Recently Professor Dubois has been investigating
the origin of pearls in another species of Mytilus
(M. galloprovincialis) which lives on the French Medi-
terranean littoral. The nucleus of this pearl is also a
trematode, but of a species different from that which
infests the edible mussel. The interest of Professor
Dubois’ work, however, lies in the fact that he claims
to have infected true Oriental pearl-oysters by putting
them to live with his Mediterranean mussels. He
fetched his oysters, termed ‘Pintadin,’ from the Gulf
of Gabes in Southern Tunis, where they are almost
pearlless—one must open twelve to fifteen hundred
of these to find a single pearl—and brought them up
amongst the mussels. After some time had elapsed
they became so infected that three oysters opened
consecutively yielded a couple of pearls each. These
observations, however, require confirmation, and have
been adversely criticized by Professor Giard.

To return to the Ceylon pearls. The celebrated
fisheries lie to the north-west of the island, where the
shallow plateaux of the Gulf of Manaar afford a fine
breeding-place for the pearl-oyster. The pearl-oyster
is not really an oyster, but an allied mollusc known
as Margaritifera vulgaris. It lives on rocky bottoms
known locally as paars. The fisheries are very ancient
and have been worked for at least 2,500, perhaps for
3,000 years. Pliny mentions them, but he is, com-
paratively speaking, a modern. The Cingalese records
go much farther back. In 550 B.c. we find King Vijaya
sending his Indian father-in-law pearls of great price ;
and there are other early records. From the eighth
to the eleventh century of our era the trade seems
to have been chiefly in the hands of the Arabs and
CEYLON PEARL FISHERY 9

Persians; and many references to it occur in their
literature. Marco Polo (1291) mentions the pearls of
the kings of Ceylon ; and in 1330 4 friar, one Jordanus,
describes 8,000 boats as taking part in the fishery.
Two centuries later, a Venetian trader named Cesar
Frederick, crossed from India to the west coast of
Ceylon to observe the fishery; and his description
might almost serve for the present day, so little do
habits alter in the East.

The records of the Dutch and English fisheries are
naturally more complete than those of their pre-
decessors. The last Dutch fishery was in 1768, and
the first English was in 1796, before the fall of Colombo.
The fishery is not held every year, but at irregular
intervals; and sometimes these intervals have been
long. For instance, the oysters failed between 1732
and 1746, and again between 1768 and 1796, under
the Dutch régime, and from 1837 to 1854 under the
English. On the other hand, the fishing is sometimes
annual; recently, it took place with great success in
1887 and the four following years, culminating in the
record year 1891, when the Government’s share of the
spoil amounted to close upon one million rupees.
After this there was a pause till 1903, when the fishery
became annual.

The Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Everard im Thurn,
now Governor of Fiji, has given a lively account of
the fishing scene. He tells us that every year, in
November, a Government official visits the oyster-
beds, takes up a certain number of oysters, examines
them for pearls, and submits his results to certain
Government experts. If, as they have done recently,
these experts pronounce that there will be a fishing,
this information is at once made known; and, partly
by advertisement, but probably more by passing the
word from man to man, the news rapidly spreads
throughout India, up the Persian Gulf, and to Europe.
10 PEARLS AND PARASITES

In the meantime preparations on a large scale have to
be made,

‘On land, which is at the moment a desert, an elaborate set
of temporary Government buildings have to be erected for
receiving and dealing with many millions of oysters and their
valuable if minute contents. Court-houses, prisons, barracks,
revenue offices, markets, residences for the officials, streets of
houses and shops for perhaps thirty thousand inhabitants, and
a water-supply for drinking and bathing for these same people,
have to be arranged for. Lastly, but, in view of the dreadful
possibility of the outbreak of plague and cholera, not least,
there are elaborate hospitals to be provided.’

By March or April some hundreds of large fishing
vessels have assembled at Manaar; and a population
which varies during the next two months between
25,000 and 40,000 souls has gathered together.

The fishing-boats leave early in the morning for
their respective stations; and, on reaching them, the
Arab and Indian divers descend, staying under water
from fifty to eighty seconds, and eagerly scooping up
the oysters and depositing them in baskets slung
round their necks. By midday the divers are worn
out; and at noon a gun is fired from the master-
attendant’s vessel as a signal for return. The run
home may take some hours, according to the distance
and the wind; and it is during this time that a con-
siderable number of pearls are said to be abstracted.
The men on the boats are occupied with the sorting
of the oysters and cleaning them of useless stones,
seaweed, and other objects which are gathered with
them. The finest pearls lie just within the shell, em-
bedded in the edge of the mantle; and these readily
slip out and are concealed about the person of the
finder. The Government does what it can to check
peculation and keep a guard on each boat; but, in
spite of all its efforts, there seems no doubt that many
of the ‘finest, roundest, and best-coloured pearls’
SELLING THE OYSTERS Il

pass into the possession of those who have no right
to them.

On reaching the shore the oysters are carried to the
Government building or ‘Kottus,’ a vast rectangular
shed, where they are divided into three heaps ; two of
these fall to the Government, and the third belongs to
the divers. This latter share the divers sell as soon
as they quit the ‘Kottus,’ sometimes parting with
dozens to one buyer, and sometimes selling as few as
two or one. In the meantime the Government's two-
thirds have been counted and are left for the night.
At nine o’clock in the evening these oysters are put
up to auction. The Government agent states how
many oysters there are to dispose of, and then sells
them in lots of one thousand. Some rich syndicates
will perhaps buy as many as 50,000 at prices which
fluctuate unaccountably during the evening. Within
a short time the price will inexplicably drop from
thirty-five rupees to twenty-two rupees a thousand,
and may then rise again as suddenly and inexplicably
as it sank. Early in the morning each purchaser
removes his shells to his own private shed, where for
a week they are allowed to rot in old canoes and other
receptacles for water, and are then searched for pearls,
For a couple of months this great traffic goes on, until
the divers are thoroughly exhausted, and the camp
melts away.

Owing to the continuous failure of the fishery for
ten years from 1891, the Government determined to
call in the aid of experts. In the spring of t1901
Professor Herdman of Liverpool was asked by the
Colonial Office, then under the direction of Mr. Cham-
berlain, to visit Ceylon and to report upon the state of
the fishery. He reached Colombo early in 1902. He
was fortunate in taking out an exceptionally well
qualified assistant in Mr. J. Hornell. After a thorough
examination of the fishing-grounds, Professor Herd-
12 PEARLS AND PARASITES

man reported to the Government of Ceylon as
follows:

‘The oysters we met with seemed, on the whole, to be very
healthy. There is no evidence of any epidemic or of much
disease of any kind. A considerable number of parasites, both
external and internal, both protozoan and vermean, were met
with; but that is not unusual in molluscs, and we do not
regard it as affecting seriously the oyster population.

‘Many of the larger oysters were reproducing actively. We
found large quantities of minute “spat” in several places.
We also found enormous quantities of young oysters a few
months old on many of the paars. On the Periya paar the
number of these probably amounted to over a hundred
thousand million.

‘A very large number of these young oysters never arrive at
maturity. There are several causes for this. They have many
natural enemies, some of which we have determined. Some
are smothered in sand. Some grounds are much more suitable
than others for feeding the young oysters, and so conducing
to life and growth. Probably the majority are killed by
overcrowding.

‘They should therefore be thinned out and transplanted.
This can be easily and speedily done, on a large scale, by
dredging from a steamer at the proper time of the year, when
the young oysters are at the best age for transplanting.

‘Finally, there is no reason for any despondency in regard
to the future of the pearl-oyster fisheries if they are treated
scientifically. The adult oysters are plentiful on some of the
paars, and seem for the most part healthy and vigorous; while
young oysters in their first year, and masses of minute spat
just deposited, are very abundant in many places.’

The chief causes of the failure of the fisheries, at
any rate the chief causes which can be dealt with by
man, are overcrowding and over-fishing. It might
be supposed that these factors would counteract each
other ; but it must be remembered that they become
effective at the two opposite poles of the oyster's
existence, which is thought to cover five, six, or seven
years. The overcrowding takes place when the
ORIGIN OF ORIENTAL PEARLS 13

oyster is quite young and hardly fixed on the sub-
merged reefs, whilst the over-fishing takes place when
the animal is fully matured and perhaps growing old.
The fact that Professor Herdman and Mr. Hornell
conveyed the young oysters from Manaar in the north
of the island by boat to Colombo and then on by train
to Galle in the south, and there succeeded in rearing
them, shows that there would be little difficulty in
artificially rearing oysters in convenient localities and
then transplanting them to such fishing-grounds as
show danger of depletion. With regard to over-
fishing, if the grounds are under the charge of a
trained zoologist there is no reason why this should
go on.

When Professor Herdman was called in to advise
the Government, he saw at once that it was the oyster
that had failed in the last ten years, not the pearls
within the oysters. Microscopic examination of thin
sections made through decalcified pearls showed that
they are almost in all cases deposited around a minute
larval cestode or tapeworm. These larvze make their
way into the oyster, and the irritation they set up
induces the formation of the pearl, just as was the
case with the cercaria-formed pearls of the mussel.
Where do these larve come from? We cannot say
with absolute certainty. Older specimens of tape-
worms belonging to the new species, Tetrarhynchus
uniontifactor, also live in the oyster; and it may be that,
were a larva to escape entombment in a pearl, it would
grow up into one of these. But even these never
become mature in the oyster ; to attain sexual maturity
they must be swallowed by a second host. What is
the second host of the pearl-forming cestode? This
question we are only recently able to answer, and
here, again, without absolute certainty. I have
recently described the adult form of 7. untonifactor
from a large ray, Rhinoptera javanica. In this fish,
14 PEARLS AND PARASITES

which feeds largely on oysters, the cestodes exist in
swarms in the stomach, and the eggs make their way
from the fish into the oysters, and there some of them
grow up, but most of them perish in their pearly casket.
If, as I believe, this is the history of the pearl-forming
organism, we must regard the Ahinoptera as a friend
to the industry, and not, as hitherto, an enemy which
helps to destroy the oyster-beds.

The discovery of the cestode larva as a real cause
of pearl-formation received an interesting confirmation
shortly after it had made it. M.G. Seurat, working
independently at Rikitea on the island of Mangareva,
in the Gambier group, discovered a very similar larva
in the local pearl-oyster around which pearls are
formed ; this larva, if we may judge from pictures, is
almost certainly the same as the one from Ceylon.
Professor Giard regards it as belonging to a tape-
worm of the genus Acrobothrium ; and, if he be right,
then Professor Herdman’s larva is an Acrobothrium
too. We have so little knowledge of the early forms
of cestodes that we cannot accept this attribution as
final. We may, however, hope for further informa-
tion, for a French zoologist, M. Boutan, started some
little time ago for the East to work at the problem;
Mr. Hornell is still at work in Ceylon; and Mr. C.
Crossland, who has had much experience in marine
work in the tropics, has been appointed, at the request
of the Soudan Government, to investigate the pearl-
oyster beds of the Red Sea. Finally Dr. Willey, of
the Colombo Museum, has recently described similar
larvee in the pearls of the ‘window-pane’ oyster,
Placuna placenta, from the eastern shores of Ceylon.

In 1904 it was again found possible to hold a fishery
in Ceylon. It was held at a place called Marichikaddi,
also on the north-west coast. In the course of thirty-
eight days over 41,000,000 oysters were taken. The
trade was very brisk; the prices paid were un-
PEARL FISHING SYNDICATE 15

precedented. The 1905 fishery, which began on
February 18, promised to beat all records. On Feb-
ruary 22 the catch was nearly 4,500,000 oysters; and
the Government’s share for that day was £9,000.
Since this date each year has yielded a bountiful
harvest, and in financial circles the London Syndicate,
who have obtained a ‘concession’ of the oyster-beds
for twenty years from the Ceylon Government, are
understood to be ‘ doing very well.’

It is perhaps too soon to attribute this success to
the efforts of Professor Herdman and Mr. Hornell,
the latter of whom, we understand, has been per-
manently retained as biologist to the syndicate;
but we have no doubt that, acting under their
advice, the oyster-bed may be made a steady, in place
of a most intermittent, source of revenue. In this
connexion it may be mentioned that radiography is
now being used, and by its means the oysters con-
taining large pearls can be separated from those that
do not, and the latter returned to the sea. Besides
their valuable work in solving this particular problem,
Professor Herdman and his colleague have made a
rich collection of marine animals, which are being
examined by a number of specialists. The results of
their labours have appeared in a handsome series of
volumes published under the auspices of the Royal
Society; and it is from the first of these that many of
the facts contained in this article are derived. The
memoirs included in the volumes contain many
important additions to our knowledge; but no result
is more interesting or more economically important
than the confirmation of the fact that, as M. Dubois
puts it, ‘La plus belle perle n’est donc, en définitive,
gue le brillant sarcophage d’un ver.’
THE DEPTHS -OF THE SEA

Here in the womb of the wovld—herve on the tie-vibs of earth.
Rupyarp KIpiina.

Tue first recorded attempt to sound the depths of the
ocean was made early in the year 1521, in the South
Pacific, by Ferdinand Magellan. He had traversed the
dangerous straits destined to bear his name during
the previous November, and emerged on the 28th of
that month into the open ocean. For three months he
sailed across the Pacific, and in the middle of March,
1521, came to anchor off the islands now known as the
Philippines. Here Magellan was killed in a conflict
with the natives. The records of his wonderful feat
were brought to Spain during the following year by
one of his ships, the Vzctoria; and amidst the profound
sensation caused by the news of this voyage, which
has been called ‘the greatest event in the most remark-
able period of the world’s history,’ it is probable that
his modest attempt to sound the ocean failed to attract
the attention it deserved. Magellan’s sounding-lines
were at most some two hundred fathoms in length,
and he failed to touch bottom; from which he ‘some-
what naively concluded that he had reached the
deepest part of the ocean.’

It was more than two hundred years later that the
first serious study of the bed of the sea was under-
taken by the French geographer Philippe Buache,

16
HISTORY OF DEEP-SEA SOUNDINGS 17

who first introduced the use of isobathic curves in a
map which he published in 1737. His view, that the
depths of the ocean are simply prolongations of the
conditions existing in the neighbouring sea-coasts,
though too wide in its generalization, has been shown
to be true as regards the sea-bottom in the immediate
vicinity of Continental coasts and islands; and un-
doubtedly it helped to attract attention to the problem
of what is taking place at the bottom of the sea.
Actual experiment, however, advanced but slowly.
So early as the fifteenth century, an ingenious Cardinal,
one Nicolaus Cusanus (1401-1464), had devised an
apparatus consisting of two bodies, one heavier and
one lighter than water, which were so connected that
when the heavier touched the bottom the lighter was
released. By calculating the time which the latter
took in ascending, attempts were made to arrive at
the depths of the sea. A century later Puehler made
similar experiments; and after another interval of a
hundred years, in 1667 we find the Englishman
Robert Hooke continuing on the same lines various
bathymetric observations; but the results thus obtained
were fallacious, and the experiments added little or
nothing to our knowledge of the nature of the bottom
of the ocean. In the eighteenth century Count Mar-
sigli attacked many of the problems of the deep sea.
He collected and sifted information which he derived
from the coral-fishers; he investigated the deposits
brought up from below, and was one of the earliest
to test the temperature of the sea at different depths.
In 1749 Captain Ellis found that a thermometer,
lowered on separate occasions to depths of 650 fathoms
and 891 fathoms respectively, recorded, on reaching
the surface, the same temperature—namely, 53°. His
thermometer was lowered in a bucket ingeniously de-
vised so as to open as it descended and close as it was

drawn up. The mechanism of this instrument was
2
18 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA

invented by the Rev. Stephen Hales, D.D., of Corpus
Christi College, Cambridge, the friend of Pope, and
perpetual curate at Teddington Church. Dr. Hales
was a man of many inventions, and, amongst others,
he is said to have suggested the use of the inverted
cup placed in the centre of a fruit-pie in which the
juice accumulates as the pie cools. His device of the
closed bucket with two connected valves was the
forerunner of the numerous contrivances which have
since been used for bringing up sea-water from great
depths.

These were amongst the first efforts made to obtain
a knowledge of deep-sea temperatures. About the
same time experiments were being made by Bouguer
and others on the transparency of sea-water. It was
soon recognized that this factor varies in different
seas; and an early estimate of the depth of average
sea-water sufficient to cut off all light placed it at 656
feet. The colour of the sea and its salinity were also
receiving attention, notably at the hands of the dis-
tinguished chemist Robert Boyle, and of the Italian,
Marsigli, mentioned above. To the latter, and to
Donati, a fellow-countryman, is due the honour of
first using the dredge for purposes of scientific inquiry.
They employed the ordinary oyster-dredge of the local
fishermen to obtain animals from the bottom.

The invention of the self-registering thermometer
by Cavendish, in 1757, provided another instrument
essential to the investigation of the condition of things
at great depths; and it was used in Lord Mulgrave’s
expedition to the Arctic Sea in 1773. On this voyage
attempts at deep-sea soundings were made, and a
depth of 683 fathoms was registered. During Sir
James Ross’s Antarctic Expedition (1839-1843) the
temperature of the water was constantly observed to
depths of 2,000 fathoms. His uncle, Sir John Ross,
had twenty years previously, on his voyage to Baffin’s
HISTORY OF DEEP-SEA SOUNDINGS 19

Bay, made some classical soundings. One, two miles
from the coast, reached a depth of 2,700 feet, and
brought up a collection of gravel and two living
crustaceans; another, 3,900 feet in depth, yielded
pebbles, clay, some worms, crustacea, and corallines.
Two other dredgings, one at 6,000 feet, the other at
6,300 feet, also brought up living creatures; and thus,
though the results were not at first accepted, the
existence of animal life at great depths was demon-
strated.

With Sir James Ross’s expedition we may be said
to have reached modern times: his most distinguished
companion, Sir Joseph Hooker, is still living. It is
impossible to do more than briefly refer to the numerous
expeditions which have taken part in deep-sea explora-
tion during our own times. The United States of
America sent out, about the time of Ross’s Antarctic
voyage, an expedition under Captain Wilkes, with
Dana on board as naturalist. Professor Edward
Forbes, who ‘did more than any of his contempo-
raries to advance marine zoology,’ joined the sur-
veying ship Beacon in 1840, and made more than
one hundred dredgings in the Agean Sea. Lovén
was working in the Scandinavian waters. Mr. H.
Goodsir sailed on the Frebus with Sir John Franklin’s
ill-fated Polar Expedition; and such notes of his as
were recovered bear evidence of the value of the work
he did. The Norwegians, Michael Sars and his son,
G. O. Sars, had by the year 1864 increased their list
of species living at a depth of between 200 and 300
fathoms, from nineteen to ninety-two. Much good
work was done by the United States navy and by
surveying ships under the auspices of Bache, Bailey,
Maury, and de Pourtalés. The Austrian frigate
Novara, with a full scientific staff, circumnavigated
the world in 1857-1859. In 1868 the Admiralty placed
the surveying ship Lightning at the disposal of Pro-

2—2
20 THE. DEPTHS OF THE SEA

fessor Wyville Thomson and Dr. W. B. Carpenter for
a six weeks’ dredging trip in the North Atlantic ; and
in the following year the Porcupine, by permission of
the Admiralty, made three trips under the guidance of
Dr. W. B. Carpenter and Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys.
Towards the end of 1872 H.M.S. Challenger left
England to spend the following three years and a half
in traversing all the waters of the globe. This was
the most completely equipped expedition which has
left any land for the investigation of the sea, and its
results were correspondingly rich. They have been
worked out by naturalists of all nations, and form the
most complete record of the fauna and flora, and of the
physical and chemical conditions of the deep, which
has yet been published. It is from Sir John Murray’s
summary of the results of the voyage that many
of these facts are taken. Since the return of the
Challenger there have been many expeditions from
various lands, but none so complete in its conception
or its execution as the British Expedition of 1872-1875.
The U.S.S. Blake, under the direction of A. Agassiz,
has explored the Caribbean Sea; and the Albatross, of
the same navy, has sounded the Western Atlantic.
Numerous observations made by the German ships
Gazelle and Drache, and Plankton Expedition, the
Norwegian North Atlantic Expedition, the Italian
ship Washington, the French ships Travailleur and
Talisman, the Prince of Monaco’s yachts, Hirondelle
and Princesse Alice, under his own direction, the
Austrian ‘Pola’ Expedition, the Russian investiga-
tions in the Black Sea, and lastly, by the ships of our
own navy, have, during the last five-and-twenty years,
enormously increased our knowledge of the seas and
of all that in them is. This knowledge is still being
added to. At the present time the collections of the
German ship Valdivia and of the Dutch Siboga Expe-
dition are being worked out, and are impatiently
PART PLAYED BY CABLE-LAYING — 21

awaited by zoologists and geographers of every
country. The Discovery and the Gauss, although
primarily fitted for ice-work, have added much to
what is known of the sea-bottom of the Antarctic;
and amongst men of science there is no abatement
of interest and curiosity as to that ferra incognita.

Before we attempt to describe the conditions which
prevail at great depths of the ocean, a few words
should be said as to the part played by cable-laying in
the investigation of the subaqueous crust of the earth.
This part, though undoubtedly important, is sometimes
exaggerated ; and we have seen how large an array of
facts has been accumulated by expeditions made mainly
in the interest of pure science. The laying of the
Atlantic cable was preceded, in 1856, by a careful
survey of a submerged plateau, extending from the
British Isles to Newfoundland, by Lieutenant Berryman
of the Arctic. He brought back samples of the bottom
from thirty-four stations between Valentia and St.
John’s. In the following year Captain Pullen, of
H.M.S. Cyclops, surveyed a parallel line slightly to the
north. His specimens were examined by Huxley, and
from them he derived the Bathybius, a primeval slime
which was thought to occur widely spread over the
sea-bottom. The interest in this ‘Urschleim’ has,
however, become merely historic, since John Y.
Buchanan, of the Challenger, showed that it is only a
gelatinous form of sulphate of lime thrown down from
the sea-water by the alcohol used in preserving the
organisms found in the deep-sea deposits.

The important generalizations of Dr. Wallich, who
was on board H.M.S. Bulldog, which, in 1860, again
traversed the Atlantic to survey a route for the cable,
largely helped to elucidate the problems of the deep.
He noticed that no alg@ live at a depth greater than
200 fathoms; he collected animals from great depths,
and showed that they utilize in many ways organisms
a2 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA

which fall down from the surface of the water; he
noted that the conditions are such that, whilst dead
animals sink from the surface to the bottom, they do
not rise from the bottom to the surface ; and he brought
evidence forward in support of the view that the deep-
sea fauna is directly derived from shallow-water forms.
In the same year in which Wallich traversed the
Atlantic, the telegraph cable between Sardinia and
Bona, on the African coast, snapped. Under the
superintendence of Fleeming Jenkin, some forty miles
of the cable, part of it from a depth of 1,200 fathoms,
was recovered. Numerous animals, sponges, corals,
polyzoa, molluscs, and worms were brought to the
surface, adhering to the cable. These were examined
and reported upon by Professor Allman, and subse-
quently by Professor A. Milne Edwards ; and, as the
former reports, we ‘must therefore regard this observa-
tion of Mr. Fleeming Jenkin as having afforded the
first absolute proof of the existence of highly organized
animals living at a depth of upwards of 1,000 fathoms.’
The investigation of the animals thus brought to the
surface revealed another fact of great interest, namely,
Yaat some of the specimens were identical with forms
hitherto known only as fossils. It was thus demon-
strated that species hitherto regarded as extinct are
still living at great depths of the ocean.

During the first half of the last century an exag-
gerated idea of the depth of the sea prevailed, due in
a large measure to the defective sounding apparatus
of the time. Thus Captain Durham, in 1852, recorded
a depth of 7,730 fathoms in the South Atlantic, and
Lieutenant Parker mentions one of 8,212 fathoms—
depths which the Challenger and the Gazelle corrected
to 2,412 and 2,905 fathoms respectively. The deepest
parts of the sea, as revealed by recent research, do
not lie, as many have thought, in or near the centres
of the great oceans, but in the neighbourhood of, or
GREATEST DEPTHS 23

at no great distance from, the mainland, or in the
vicinity of volcanic islands. One of the deepest
‘pockets’ yet found is probably that sounded by the
American expedition on board the Tuscarora (1873-
1875) east of Japan, when bottom was only reached at
a depth of 4,612 fathoms. More recently, soundings
of 5,035 fathoms have been recorded in the Pacific, in
the neighbourhood of the Friendly Islands, and south
of these again, one of 5,113 fathoms; but the deepest
of all lies north of the Carolines, and attains a depth
of 5,287 fathoms. It thus appears that there are
‘pockets’ or pits in the sea whose depth below the
surface of the water is about equal to the height of the
highest mountains taken from the sea-level. Both are
insignificant in comparison with the mass of the globe;
and it is sometimes said that, were the seas gathered
up, and the earth shrunk to the size of an orange, the
mountain ranges and abysmal depths would not be
more striking than are the small elevations and inter-
vening depressions on the skin of the fruit.

But it is not with these exceptional abysses that we
have to do; they are as rare and as widely scattered
as great mountain-ranges on land. Itis with the deep
sea, as opposed to shoal water and the surface layers,
that this article is concerned ; but the depth at which
the sea becomes ‘deep’ is to some extent a matter
of opinion. Numerous attempts, headed by that of
Edward Forbes, have been made to divide the sea into
zones or strata; and, just as the geological strata are
characterized by peculiar species, so, in the main, the
various deep-sea zones have their peculiar fauna.
These zones, however, are not universally recognized ;
and their limits, like those of the zoogeographical
regions on land, whilst serving for some groups of
animals, break down altogether as regards others.
There are, however, two fairly definite regions in the
sea; and the limit between them is the very one for
24 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA

our purpose. This limit separates the surface waters,
which are permeable by the light of the sun and
in which owing to this life-giving light, alg@ and
vegetable organisms can live, from the deeper waters
which the sun’s rays cannot reach, and in which no
plant can live. The regions pass imperceptibly into
one another; there is no sudden transition. The con-
ditions of life gradually change, and the precise level
at which vegetable life becomes impossible varies
with differing conditions. With strong sunlight and
a smooth sea, the rays penetrate further than if the
light be weak and the waters troubled.

Speaking generally, we may place the dividing-line
between the surface layer and the deep sea at 300
fathoms. Below this no light or heat from the sun
penetrates ; and it is the absence of these factors that
gives rise to most of the peculiarities of the deep sea.
It is a commonplace, which every schoolboy now
knows, that all animal life is ultimately dependent on
the food-stuffs stored up by green plants; and that
the power which such plants possess of fixing the
carbonic acid of the surrounding medium, and building
it up into more complex food-stuffs, depends upon the
presence of their green colouring matter (chlorophyll),
and is exercised only in the presence of sunlight.
But, as we have pointed out, ‘the sun’s perpendicular
rays’ do not ‘illumine the depths of the sea’; they
hardly penetrate 300 fathoms. This absence of sun-
light below a certain limit, and the consequent failure
of vegetable life, gave rise at one time to the belief
that the abysses of the ocean were uninhabited and
uninhabitable ; but, as we have already seen, this view
has long been given up.

The inhabitants of the deep sea cannot, any more
than other creatures, be self-supporting. They prey
on one another, it is true; but this must have a limit,
or very soon there would be nothing left to prey upon.
DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMAL LIFE © 25

Like the inhabitants of great cities, the denizens of
the deep must have an outside food-supply, and this
they must ultimately derive from the surface layer.

The careful investigation of life in the sea has shown
that not only the surface layer, but all the intermediate
zones teem with life. Nowhere is there a layer of
water in which animals are not found. But,as we have
seen, the a/gw upon which the life of marine animals
ultimately depends, live only in the upper waters ;
below too fathoms they begin to be rare, and below
200 fathoms they are absent. Thus it is evident that
those animals which live in the surface layers have,
like an agricultural population, their food-supply at
hand, while those that live in the depths must, like
dwellers in towns, obtain it from afar. Many of the
inhabitants of what may be termed the middle regions
are active swimmers, and these undoubtedly from
time to time visit the more densely peopled upper
strata. They also visit the depths and afford an in-
definite food-supply to the deep-sea dwellers.

But probably by far the larger part of the food con-
sumed by abysmal creatures consists of the dead
bodies of animals which sink down like manna from
above. The surface layers of the ocean teem with
animal and vegetable life. Every yachtsman must at
times have noticed that the sea is thick as a purée with
jelly-fish, or with those little transparent, torpedo-
shaped creatures, the Sagitta. What he will not have
noticed, unless he be a microscopist, is that at almost
all times the surface is crowded with minute organisms,
foraminifera, radiolaria, diatoms. These exist in quite
incalculable numbers, and reproduce their kind with
astounding rapidity. They are always dying, and
their bodies sink downwards like a gentle rain.* In

* Owing to the comparative absence of bacteria in deep-sea
water their bodies undergo little decay.
26 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA

such numbers do they fall, that large areas of the
ocean bed are covered with a thick deposit of their
shells. In the shallower waters the foraminifera, with
their calcareous shells, prevail, but over the deeper
abysses of the ocean they take so long in falling that
the calcareous shells are dissolved in the water, which
contains a considerable proportion of carbonic acid
gas, and their place is taken by the siliceous skeletons
of the radiolarians and diatoms. Thus there is a
ceaseless falling of organisms from above, and it must
be from these that the dwellers of the deep ultimately
obtain their food. As Mr. Kipling in his ‘Seven Seas,’
says of the deep-sea cables :

‘The wrecks dissolve above us; their dust drops down
from afar—
Down to the dark, to the utter dark, where the blind
white sea-snakes are.’

In trying to realize the state of things at the bottom
of the deep sea, it is of importance to recognize that
there is a wonderful uniformity of physical conditions
/a-bas, Climate plays no part in the life of the depths ;
storms do not ruffle their inhabitants ; these recognize
no alternation of day or night; seasons are unknown
to them ; they experience no change of temperature.
Although the abysmal depths of the polar regions
might be expected to be far colder than those of the
tropics, the difference only amounts to a degree or so
—a difference which would not be perceptible to us
without instruments of precision. The following data
show how uniform temperature is at the bottom of
the sea.

In June, 1883, Nordenskiold found on the eastern
side of Greenland the following temperatures: at the
surface 2°2° C.; at 100 metres 67° C. : at 450m. 611° C.
In the middle of December, 1898, the German deep-
sea expedition, while in the pack-ice of the Antarctic,
DEEP-SEA TEMPERATURES 27

recorded the following temperatures: at the surface
=f" (C3 ak roo m. —rr™ ©€.)-at.aee m, 16° C.; at
1,000-1,500 m. 1°6° C.; at 4,700 m. —o'5° C. These
may be compared with some records made in the
Sargasso Sea by the Plankton Expedition in the
month of August, when the surface registered a tem-
perature of 24° C.; 195 m. one of 18'8°C.; 390 m. one
of 14°9° C.; and 2 069 m. one of 3°8° C. It is thus clear
that the temperature at the bottom of the deep sea
varies but a few degrees from the freezing-point ; and,
whether in the tropics or around the poles, this tem-
perature does not undergo anything like the variations
to which the surface of the earth is subjected.

There are, however, some exceptions to this state-
ment. The Mediterranean, peculiar in many respects,
is also peculiar as to its bottom temperature. In
August, 1881, the temperature, as taken by the
Washington, was at the surface 26° C.; at 100 m.
145° C.; at 500 m. 141° C.; and from 2,500 m. to
3,550 m. 13°3°C. These observations agree, within one-
fifth of a degree, with those recorded later by Chun in
the same waters. There are also certain areas near
the Sulu Islands where, with a surface temperature
of 28° C., the deep sea, from 730 m. to 4,660 m., shows
a constant temperature of 10°3° C.; and again, on the
westerly side of Sumatra, the water, from goo m.
downwards, shows a constant temperature of 59° C.;
whilst in the not far distant Indian Ocean it sinks at
1,300 m. to 4° C., and at 1,700 m. to 3° C. In spite ot
these exceptions, we may roughly say that all deep-sea
animals live at an even temperature, which differs by
but a few degrees from the freezing-point. Indeed,
the heating effect of the sun’s rays is said not to pene-
trate, as a rule, further than go to 100 fathoms, though
in the neighbourhood of the Sargasso Sea it undoubt-
edly affects somewhat deeper layers. In the Mediter-
ranean the heat-rays probably do not penetrate more
28 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA

than 50 fathoms. Below these limits all seasonable
variations cease. Summer and autumn, spring and
winter, are unknown to the dwellers of the deep; and
the burning sun of the tropical noonday, which heats
the surface water to such a degree that the change
of temperature from the lower waters to the upper
proves fatal to many delicate animals when brought
up from the depths, has no effect on the great mass of
water below the 1oo-fathom line.

Again, in the depths the waters are still. A great
calm reigns. The storms which churn the upper
waters into tumultuous fury have but a superficial
effect, and are unfelt at the depth of a few fathoms.
Even the great ocean currents, such as the Gulf
Stream, are but surface currents, and their influence
is probably not perceptible below 200 fathoms. There
are places, as the wear and tear of telegraphic cables
show, where deep-sea currents have much force; but
these are not common. We also know that there
must be a very slow current flowing from the poles
towards the Equator. This replaces the heated surface
waters of the tropics, which are partly evaporated and
partly driven by the trade-winds towards the poles.
Were there no such current, the waters round the
Equator, in spite of the low conductivity of salt water,
would, in the course of ages, be heated through. But
this current is almost imperceptible ; on the whole, no
shocks or storms disturb the peace of the oceanic abyss.

An interesting result of this is that many animals,
which in shallower waters are subject to the strain
and stress of tidal action or of a constant stream,
and whose outline is modified by these conditions, are
represented in the depths by perfectly symmetrical
forms. For instance, the monaxonid sponges from
the deep sea have a symmetry as perfect as a lily’s,
whilst their allies from the shallower seas, subject as
they are to varying tides and currents, are of every
STILLNESS OF OCEAN DEPTHS 29

variety of shape, and their only common feature is
that none of them are symmetrical. This radial sym-
metry is especially marked in the case of sessile
animals, those whose ‘strength is to sit still,’ attached
by their base to some rock or stone, or rooted by a
stalk into the mud. Such animals cannot move from
place: to place, and, like an oyster, are dependent for
their food on such minute organisms as are swept
towards them in the currents set by the action of their
cilia. A curious and entirely contrary effect is pro-
duced by this stillness on certain animals, which,
without being fixed, are, to say the least, singularly
inert. The sea-cucumbers or holothurians, which can
be seen lying still as sausages in any shallow sub-
tropical waters, are nevertheless rolled over from time
to time, and present now one, now another, surface to
the bottom. These have retained the five-rayed sym-
metry, which is so eminently characteristic of the
group Echinoderma, to which they belong. But the
holothurians in the deep sea, where nothing rolls
them about, continue throughout life to present the
same surface to the bottom ; and these have developed
a secondary bilateral symmetry, so that, like a worm
or a lobster, they have definite upper and lower sur-
faces. These bilateral holothurians first became known
by the dredgings of the Challenger, and formed one
of the most important additions to our knowledge
of marine zoology for which we are indebted to that
expedition.
At the bottom of the sea there is no sound—

‘ There is no sound, no echo of sound, in the deserts of

the deep,
Or the great grey level plains of ooze where the shell-

burred cables creep.’

The world down there is cold and still and noiseless.
Nevertheless, many of the animals of the depths have
30 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA

organs to which by analogy an auditory function has
been assigned. But it must not be forgotten that even
in the highest land-vertebrates the ear has two func-
tions. It is at once the organ of hearing and of
balancing. Part of the internal ear is occupied with
orientating the body. By means of it we can tell
whether we are keeping upright, going uphill or
descending, turning to the right or to the left ; and
it is probably this function which is the chief business
of the so-called ears of marine animals. Professor
Huxley once said that, unless one became a crayfish,
one could never be sure what the mental processes of
acrayfish were. This is doubtless true; but experi-
ment has shown, both in crayfishes and cuttlefishes,
that, if the auditory organ be interfered with or in-
jured, the animal loses its sense of direction and
staggers hither and thither like a drunken man. It
is obvious that animals which move about at the
bottom require such balancing organs quite as much
as those which skim the surface, and it is in no wise
remarkable that such organs should be found in those
dwellers in the deep which move from place to place.

If we could descend to the depths and look about
us, we should find the bottom of the sea near the
land carpeted with deposits washed down from the
shore and carried out to sea by rivers, and dotted
over with the remains of animals and plants which
inhabit shoal waters. This deposit, derived from the
land, extends to a greater or less distance around our
coast-line. In places this distance is very consider-
able. The Congo is said to carry its characteristic
mud 600 miles out to sea, and the Ganges and the
Indus to carry theirs 1,000 miles; but sooner or later
we should pass beyond the region of coast mud and
river deposit, the seaward edge of which is the ‘mud-
line’ of Sir John Murray.

When we get beyond the mud-line, say a hundred
SCENERY AT GREAT DEPTHS 31

miles from the Irish or American coast, we should
find that the character of the sea-bottom has com-
pletely changed. Here we should be on Rudyard
Kipling’s ‘great grey level plains of ooze.’ All around
us would stretch a vast dreary level of greyish-white
mud, due to the tireless fall of the minute globigerina
shells mentioned above. This rain of foraminifera
is ceaseless, and serves to cover rock and stone alike.
It is probably due to this chalky deposit that so many
members of the ‘Benthos’—a term used by Haeckel
to denote those marine animals which do not swim
about or float, but which live on the bottom of the
ocean either fixed or creeping about—are stalked.
Many of them, whose shoal-water allies are without
a pedicel, are provided with stalks; and those whose
shallow-water congeners are stalked are, in the depths,
provided with still longer stalks. Numerous sponges
—the alcyonarian Umbellula, the stalked ascidians,
and, above all, the stalked crinoids—exemplify this
point.

Flat as the Sahara, and with the same monotony of
surface, these great plains stretch across the Atlantic,
dotted here and there with a yet uncovered stone or
rock dropped by a passing iceberg. In the deeper
regions of the ocean—where, as we have already seen,
occasional pits and depressions occur, and great ridges
arise to vex the souls of the cable-layers—the globi-
gerina ooze is replaced by the less soluble siliceous
shells of the radiolarians and diatoms. The former
are largely found in pits in the Pacific, the latter in
the Southern Seas. But there is a third deposit which
occurs in the deeper parts of the ocean—the red clay.
This is often partly composed of the empty siliceous
shells just mentioned ; but over considerable areas of
the Pacific the number of these shells is very small,
and here it would seem that the red clay is largely
composed of the ‘horny fragments of dead surface-
32 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA

living animals, of volcanic and meteoric dust, and of
small pieces of water-logged pumice-stone.’ On
whichever deposit we found ourselves, could we but
see the prospect, we should be struck with the
monotony of a scene as different as can well be
imagined from the variegated beauty of a rock-pool
or a coral island lagoon.

There is, however, an abundance of animal life.
The dredge reveals a surprising variety and wealth
of form. Sir John Murray records ‘at station 146 in
the Southern Ocean, at a depth of 1,375 fathoms, that
200 specimens captured belonged to 59 genera and
78 species.’ He further states that this was ‘ probably
the most successful haul, as regards number, variety,
novelty, size, and beauty of the specimens,’ up to the
date of the dredging; but even this was surpassed by
the captures from the depths at station 147. The
Southern Ocean is particularly well populated. The
same writer says: ‘The deep-sea fauna of the Ant-
arctic has been shown by the Challenger to be excep-
tionally rich, a much larger number of species having
been obtained than in any other region visited by the
expedition; and the Valdivia’s dredgings, in 1898,
confirm this.’ There seems to be no record of such
a wealth of species in depths of less than 50 fathoms,
and we are justified in the belief that the great depths
are extremely rich in species.

The peculiar conditions under which the Benthos
live have had a marked influence on their structure.
Representatives of nearly all the great divisions of
the animal kingdom which occur in the sea are found
in the depths. Protozoa, sponges, ccelenterata, round-
worms, annelids, crustacea, polyzoa, brachiopoda,
molluscs, echinoderms, ascidians, fishes, crowd the
sea-bottom. The Valdivia has brought home even
deep-sea ctenophores and sagittas, forms hitherto
associated only with life at the surface. The same
PHOSPHORESCENCE 33

expedition also secured adult examples of the wonder-
ful free-swimming holothurian, Pelagothuria ludwigi,
which so curiously mimics a jelly-fish. It was taken
in a closing-net at 400 to 500 fathoms near the Sey-
chelles. Most of these animals bear their origin
stamped on their structure, so that a zoologist can
readily pick out from a miscellaneous collection of
forms those which have a deep-sea home. We have
already referred to a certain ‘stalkiness,’ which lifts
the fixed animals above the slowly deepening ooze.
Possibly the long-knobbed tentacles of the deep-sea
jelly-fish, Pectis, on the tips of which it is thought the
creature moves about, may be connected with the
same cause. The great calm of the depths and its
effect upon the symmetry of the body have also been
mentioned ; but greater in its effect on the bodies
of the dwellers in the ocean abysses is the absence
of sunlight.

No external rays reach the bottom of the sea, and
what light there is must be supplied by the phos-
phorescent organs of the animals themselves, and
must be faint and intermittent. A large percentage
of animals taken from the deep sea show phos-
phorescence when brought on deck; and it may be
that this emission of light is much greater at a low
temperature, and under a pressure of 1 to 2 tons
on the square inch, than it is under the ordinary
atmospheric conditions of the surface. The simplest
form which these phosphorescent organs take is that
of certain skin-glands which secrete a luminous slime.
Such a slime is cast off, according to Filhol, by many
of the annelids; and a similar light-giving fluid is
exuded from certain glands at the base of the antenna
and elsewhere in some of the deep-sea shrimps. But
the most highly developed of the organs which pro-
duce light are the curious eye-like lanterns which
form one or more rows along the bodies of certain

3
34 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA

fishes, notably of members of the Stomiadee, a family
allied to the salmons. From head to tail the miniature
bull’s-eyes extend, like so many portholes lit up, with
sometimes one or two larger organs in front of the
eyes, like the port and starboard lanterns of a ship, so
that when one of these fishes swims swiftly across the
dim scene it must, to quote Kipling again, recall a
liner going past ‘like a grand hotel.’ Sometimes the
phosphorescent organ is at the tip of a barbel or
tentacle, and it is interesting to note that the angler-
fish of the deep sea has replaced its white lure, con-
spicuous in shallow water, but invisible in the dark,
by a luminous process, the investigation of which
leads many a creature into the enormous, toothed
mouth of the fish.

A peculiar organ, known by the name ‘ pheodaria,’
exists in the body of certain radiolarians found only
in the deep seas. It has been suggested that this
structure gives forth light; and, if this be the case, the
floor of the ocean is strewn with minute glow-lamps,
which perhaps give forth as much light as the surface
of the sea on a calm summer’s night. There is, how-
ever, much indirect evidence that, except for these
intermittent sources, the abysses of the ocean are
sunk in an impenetrable gloom.

When physical conditions change, living organisms
strive to adapt themselves to the changed conditions.
Hence, when the inhabitants of the shallower waters
made their way into the darker deeps, many of them,
in the course of generations, increased the size of their
eyes until they were out of all proportion to their
other sense-organs. Others gave up the contest on
these lines, and set about replacing their visual organs
by long tactile tentacles or feelers, which are extraor-
dinarily sensitive to external impressions. Like the
blind, they endeavour to compensate for loss of sight
by increased tactile perception; and in these forms
EYES IN DEEP-SEA ANIMALS 35

the eyes are either dwindling or have quite disap-
peared. An instance in point is supplied by the
crustacea, many of whom have not only lost their
eyes, but have also lost the stalk which bore them;
but amongst the crustacea some genera, such as
Bathynomus, have enormous eyes with as many as four
thousand facets. It is noticeable that this creature
has its eyes directed downwards toward the ground
and not upwards, as is the case with its nearest allies.
On the whole the crustacea lose their eyes more
readily, and at a less depth, than fishes. Many of the
latter—e.g., /pnops—are blind, and in others the eyes
seem to be disappearing. Thus, amongst the deep-
sea cod, Macrurus, those which frequent the waters
down to about 1,000 fathoms, have unusually large
eyes, whilst those which go down to the deeper
abysses have very small ones. Many of the animals
which have retained their eyes carry them at the end
of processes. Chun, in his brilliant ‘account of the
voyage of the Valdivia, has figured a series of fishes
whose eyes stand out from the head like a pair of
binoculars; and similar ‘telescope’ eyes, as he calls
them, occur on some of the eight-armed cuttle-fish.
The larva of one of the fishes has eyes at the end
of two stalks, each of which measures quite one-fourth
of the total length of the body.

The colour of the deep-sea creatures also indicates
the darkness of their habitat. Like cave-dwelling
animals, or the lilac forced in Parisian cellars, many of
them are blanched and pale; but this is by no means
always the case. There is, in fact, no characteristic
hue for the deep-sea fauna. Many of the fishes are
black, and many show the most lovely metallic sheen.
Burnished silver and black give a somewhat funereal,
but very tasteful appearance to numbers of deep-sea
fish. Others are ornamented with patches of shining
copper, which, with their blue eyes, form an agreeable

3-2
36 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA

variety in their otherwise sombre appearance. Many
of the fishes, however, present a gayer clothing. Some
are violet, others pale rose or bright red. Others have
a white almost translucent skin, through which the
blood can be seen and its course traced even in its
finer vessels. Purples and greens abound amongst
the holothurians; other echinoderms are white,
yellow, pink, or red. Red is, perhaps, the pre-
dominant colour of the crustacea, though it has been
suggested that this colour is produced during the long
passage to the surface, and that some of the bright
reds which we see at the surface are unknown in the
depths. Violet and orange, green and red, are the
colours of the jelly-fishes and the corals.

It thus appears that there is a great variety and a
great brilliancy amongst many of the bottom fauna.
With the exception of blue, all colours are well repre-
sented ; but the consideration of one or two facts seems
to show that colour plays little part in their lives.
Apart from the fact that to our eyes, at any rate, these
gorgeous hues would be invisible in the depths, it is
difficult to imagine that each of these gaily-coloured
creatures can live amongst surroundings of its own
hue. Again, it is characteristic that the colour is
uniform. There is a marked absence of those stripes,
bands, spots, or shading which play so large a part
in the protective coloration of animals exposed to
light. Although there is no protective coloration
amongst the animals of the deep sea, the luminous
organs, which make, for instance, some of the cuttle-
fishes as beautiful and as conspicuous as a firework,
may, in some cases, act as warning signals. Having
once established a reputation for nastiness, the more
conspicuous an animal can make itself the less likely
is it to be interfered with. One peculiarity connected
with pigment, as yet inexplicable, is the fact that, in
deep-sea animals, many of the cavities of the body are
FEELERS AND ANTENNZ 37

lined with a dark or, more usually, a black epithelium.
The mouth, pharynx, and respiratory channels, and
even the visceral cavity, of Bathysaurus and Ipnops,
and indeed of all really deep-sea fishes, are black.
It can be of no use to any animal to be black
inside; and the only explanation hitherto given is
that the deposit of pigment is the expression of some
modification in the excretory processes of the abysmal
fishes.

It was mentioned above that the absence of eyes is
to some extent compensated by the great extension of
feelers and antenne. Many of the jelly-fishes have
long free tentacles radiating in all directions; the rays
of the ophiuroids are prolonged; the arms of the
cuttle-fish are capable of enormous extension. The
antenne of the crustacea stretch widely through the
water, and, in Aristoeopsis, cover a radius of about
five times the body-length. In Nematocarcinus the
walking-legs are elongated to almost the same extent ;
and this crustacean steps over the sea-bottom with
all the delicacy of Agag. The curious arachnid-like
pycnogonids have similarly elongated legs, and move
about, like the ‘harvestmen’ or the ‘daddy-long-legs,’
with each foot stretched far from the body, acting as
a kind of outpost. The fishes, too, show extraor-
dinary outgrowths of this kind. The snout may be
elongated till the jaws have the proportions of a pair
of scissor-blades, each armed with rows of terrible
teeth ; or long barbels, growing out from around the
mouth, sway to and fro in the surrounding water. In
other cases the fins are drawn out into long streamers.
All these eccentricities give the deep-sea fishes a
bizarre appearance; their purpose is plainly to act as
sensory outposts, warning their possessor of the pre-
sence of enemies or of the vicinity of food.

All deep-sea animals are of necessity carnivorous,
and probably many of them suffer from an abiding
38 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA

hunger. Many of the fishes have enormous jaws, the
angle of the mouth being situated at least one-third of
the body-length from the anterior end. The gape is
prodigious, and as the edge of the mouth ‘is armed
with recurved teeth, food once entering has little
chance of escape. So large is the mouth that these
creatures can swallow other fish bulkier than them-
selves; and certain eels have been brought to the
surface which have performed this feat, the prey
hanging from beneath them in a sac formed of the dis-
tended stomach and body-wall. It has been said of
the desert fauna that ‘ perhaps there never was a life
so nurtured in violence, so tutored in attack and de-
fence as this. The warfare is continuous from the
birth to the death.’ The same words apply equally
to the depths of the ocean. There, perhaps, more
than anywhere else, is true the Frenchman’s descrip-
tion of life as the conjugation of the verb ‘I eat,’ with
its terrible correlative, ‘I am eaten.’

Connected with the alimentary tract, though in
some fishes shut off from it, is the air-bladder, an
organ which contains air secreted from the blood, and
which, amongst other functions, serves to keep the
fish the right side up. The air can be reabsorbed,
and is no doubt, to some extent, controlled by mus-
cular effort ; but there are times when this air-bladder
is a source of danger to deep-sea fishes. When they
leave the depths for shallower water, where the
pressure is diminished, the air-bladder begins to ex-
pand; and, should this expansion pass beyond the
control of the animal, the air-bladder will act as a
balloon, and the fish will continue to rise with a rate
of ascension which increases as the pressure lessens.
Eventually the fish reaches the surface in a state of
terrible distortion, with half its interior hanging out of
its mouth. Many such victims of levitation have been
picked up at sea, and from them we learnt something
SPINES 39

about deep-sea fishes before the self-closing dredge
came into use.

One peculiarity of the abysmal fauna, which, to
some extent, is a protection against the cavernous
jaws mentioned above, is a certain ‘spininess’ which
has developed even amongst genera that are elsewhere
smooth. Such specific names as spimosus, spinifer,
quadrispinosum, are very common in lists of deep-sea
animals, and testify to the wide prevalence of this
form of defence. A similar spiny character is, how-
ever, found in many polar species, even in those of
comparatively shallow water; and it may be that this
feature is a product of low temperature and not of low
level. The same applies to the large size which
certain animals attain in the depths. For instance, in
the Arctic and Antarctic Seas the isopodous crustacea,
which upon our coasts scarcely surpass an inch in
length, grow to nine or ten inches, with bodies as
big as moderate-sized lobsters. The gigantic hydroid
polyps, eg., Wonocaulus imperator of the Pacific and
Indian Oceans, illustrate the same tendency; and so
do the enormous single spicules, several feet long and
as thick as one’s little finger, of the sponge Mono-
rhaphis. Amongst other floating molluscs at great
depths, chiefly pteropods, the Valdivia captured a
gigantic Carimaria over two feet in length. Of even
greater zoological interest were giant specimens of
the Appendicularia, which were taken at between 1,100
and 1,200 fathoms. This creature, named by Chun,
Bathochordeus charon, reaches a length of about five
inches, and has in its tail a notochord as big as a
lamprey’s. All other genera of this group are minute,
almost microscopic.

There are two other peculiarities common amongst
the deep-sea fauna which are difficult to explain. One
is a curious inability to form a skeleton of calcareous
matter. The bones of many abysmal fishes are de-
40 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA

ficient in lime, and are fibrous or cartilaginous in
composition. Their scales, too, are thin and mem-
branous, their skin soft and velvety. The shells of
deep-sea molluscs are as thin and translucent as
tissue-paper; and the same is true of some brachio-
pods. The test of the echinoderms is often soft,
and the armour of the crustacea is merely chitinous,
unhardened by deposits of lime. Calcareous sponges
are altogether unknown in the depths. This inability
to form a hard skeleton—curiously enough this does
not apply to corals—is not due to any want of cal-
careous salts in the bottom waters. It is known that
calcium sulphate, from which animals secrete their
calcium carbonate, exists in abundance; but those
animals which dwell on the calcareous globigerina
ooze are as soft and yielding as those which have
their home on the siliceous radiolarian deposits.
Animals which form a skeleton of silex do not suffer
from the same inability; in fact, the deep-sea radio-
larians often have remarkably stout skeletons, whilst
the wonderful siliceous skeletons of the hexactinellid
sponges are amongst the most beautiful objects
brought up from the depths.

The second peculiarity, for which there seems no
adequate reason, is the reduction and diminution in
size of the respiratory organs. Amongst the crus-
tacea, the ascidians, and the fishes this is especially
marked. The gill laminze are reduced in number and
in size; and the evidence all points to the view that
this simplification is not primitive but acquired, being
brought about in some way by the peculiar conditions
of life at great depths.

When the first attempts were made to explore the
bed of the ocean, it was hoped that the sea would give
up many an old-world form; that animals, known
to us only as fossils, might be found lurking in the
abysmal recesses of the deep; and that many a missing
OLD-WORLD FORMS 4!

link would be brought to light. This has hardly
proved to be the case. In certain groups animals
hitherto known only as extinct, such as the stalked
crinoids and certain crustacea—eg., the Eryonide—
have been shown to be still extant. The remarkable
Cephalodiscus and Rhabdopleura, with their remote ver-
tebrate affinities, have been dragged from their dark
retreats. Haeckel regards certain of the deep-sea
medusee as archaic, and perhaps the same is true of
the ascidians and holothurians; but, on the whole, the
deep-sea fauna cannot be regarded as older than
the other faunas of the seas. The hopes that were
cherished of finding living ichthyosauri or plesiosauri,
or the Devonian ganoid fishes, or at least a trilobite,
or some of those curious fossil echinoderms, the
cystoids and blastoids, must be given up. Certain
of the larger groups peculiar to the deep sea have
probably been there since remote times ; but many of
the inhabitants of the deep belong to the same families,
and even to the same genera, as their shallow-water
allies, and have probably descended in more recent
times. There, in the deep dark stillness of the ocean
bed, unruffled by secular change, they have developed
and are developing new modifications and new forms,
which are as characteristic of the deep sea as an Alpine
fauna is of the mountain heights.
BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

ayer
if
. mévrov 7 civadiav iow ometpasor SuxtvoKAdoToLs,

mepippadys avip. :
SopHocLes: Antigone.

To contemplate all the legislation concerning English
sea-fishing and the administration of this vast in-
dustry during the last century is alike to bewilder
the reason and to fatigue the patience. The industry
is an enormous one, and of the utmost value to the
dwellers in these islands. At the present time there
are over 27,000 vessels, manned by more than 90,000
seamen, fishing from the ports of Great Britain. They
land over 900,000 tons of fish, worth some £10,000,000,
during the year. In addition to the fishermen who
remove the fish from the sea, a considerable popu-
lation of packers, curers, coopers, hawkers, etc., is
employed. For instance, out of the 20,000 hands
employed in the Shetland herring-fishery summer of
1906, 11,000 have been at sea, and 9,120, of whom 7,560
were women, have been employed on shore, not to
mention the large number of railway employés who
are engaged in the transport of a very perishable
article. Apart from the material interests of the trade
(the capital invested in steamers, sailing-boats, and gear
of all kinds being estimated at more than £11,000,000),
the fishing industry is of great importance to the
country as a training-ground for sailors and marine
engineers, and as affording a means of livelihood to a
vigorous and an independent population.

42
EXTENT OF BRITISH FISHERIES 43

Like any other industry, and—because the life-
history of the inhabitants of the sea is still so obscure
—perhaps more than any other industry, sea-fishing
is liable to arbitrary fluctuations. There was, for
instance, a partial failure in the herring-fishery in the
summer of 1906 on the north and north-east of the
Shetlands. The total number of crans landed was
438,950, as against 632,000 in 1905, arecord year; and
some of the Shetlanders have been hard put to it to
live. Such a failure sets thinking those whose live-
lihood is threatened; but fishermen, although keen
observers in what immediately concerns them, are
not widely educated men, and cannot take into
account in estimating causes, the many factors of the
problems, some of which usually escape even the
most talented of marine biologists. Fishermen seek
a sign, usually an obvious one; in the present case,
the bad season was attributed to the presence of
certain Norwegian whaling companies, which a few
years ago established themselves in the Shetlands
and are destroying the common rorqual, the lesser
rorqual, Sibbald’s rorqual, the cachalot, the hump-
backed whale, and more rarely the Atlantic right-
whale. These are killed for their blubber; the flesh
is made into sausages, largely consumed in Central
Europe; and the bones are ground up for manure.

It is, however, doubtful if whaling is in any way
responsible for the scarcity of the herrings. According
to the evidence collected by Mr. Donald Crawford’s
Committee on this subject in 1904, it would appear
that practically the only point on which the fishermen
were then agreed was that the spouting of the whales
was often a good guide as to the position of the
herring-shoals. But the whales do not bring the
herrings; and the fishermen are not even agreed that
they serve to concentrate them. It is probable that
the general migrations and shoaling habits of the
44 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

herrings are far more dependent on the physical
character of the water—a relation which is particularly
clear, as the international investigations have already
shown, in areas where sharply contrasted ocean-
currents are constantly striving for the mastery, as
they are in the neighbourhood of the Shetland Isles.
The hydrographical bulletin of the International
Council recorded a distinctly lower temperature for
the Atlantic current between Iceland and Scotland at
the beginning of the year 1906 than at the correspond-
ing season of 1903, 1904, or 1905 ; and an unusually low
temperature has been characteristic of the Shetland
waters throughout the summer of 1906. The Gulf
Stream could more justly be blamed for the compara-
tive failure of the Shetland fishery in 1906 than the
Norwegian whalers, whose operations have probably
done no more injury to the herring-fishery than they
did in 1905 or the year before. Such failures are often
real disasters to a seafaring population—a race who
are, as a rule, of small versatility and unable to turn
readily to new trades. Their occurrence usually
provokes a ery for legislation.

Such an outcry is in this country usually met by
the appointment of a Commission, or of a special
Parliamentary Committee. Seventeen such inquiries
into sea-fisheries have been held since Queen Victoria
came to the throne, an average of one every four
years. The usual process is gone through; a certain
number of more or less influential gentlemen (one of
them perhaps an expert) are given a ‘ wide reference,’
and they proceed to take evidence. An energetic
secretary, usually a young barrister, collects facts;
a great number of witnesses, like Mrs. Wititterly,
‘express an immense variety of opinions on an
immense variety of subjects.’ These are written
down and printed ; and the Commissioners, with the
aid of the energetic secretary, seek to distil wisdom
FISHERY COMMISSIONS 45

out of the printed evidence of the multitude, and base
on it their recommendations. Legislation is some-
times recommended; but in the case of the sea-
fisheries of this country it has, perhaps fortunately,
seldom followed the presentation of any of these
reports.

It seems, indeed, that the time is hardly yet ripe for
deep-sea fishery legislation, much as it may be needed;
and the reason is that our knowledge of the questions
involved, although rapidly increasing, is still too
deficient to form a sound basis for law-making. We
propose to confine our attention mainly to the North
Sea, and, from another point of view, mainly to
the English fishing authorities, as opposed to those
of Scotland and Ireland, in each of which countries
the fishing industry is controlled by a separate
Board. The fundamental and central question to
be settled is whether there is a diminution in the
fish generally, or in any particular species of food-
fish in the North Sea area, by far the most productive
of our fishing-grounds. If the answer is affirmative,
we may ask, What is the cause of this diminution ?
and, How can it be arrested ?

In 1863 Professor Huxley, Mr. (afterwards Sir)
J. Caird, and Mr. G. Shaw Lefevre were constituted
a Royal Commission to inquire—(1) whether or not the
value of the fisheries was increasing, stationary, or
decreasing ; (2) whether or not the existing methods
of fishing did permanent harm to the fishing-grounds ;
and (3) whether or not the existing legislation was
necessary. Three years later the Commission re-
ported; and their Report forms an important mile-
stone on the road of English fishery administration.

Since 1866 great progress has been made in our
knowledge of the life-history of food-fishes; yet even
to-day we are hardly in a position to answer the ques-
tions set to Professor Huxley and his colleagues. At
46 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

that time nothing was known about the eggs or spawn
of the food-fishes. Even while the Commission was
sitting, in 1864, Professor G. O. Sars for the first time
discovered and described the floating ova of the cod,
and succeeded in artificially fertilizing the ova and
rearing the young. The following year he did the
same with the mackerel; and Professor Malm of Géte-
borg about this time obtained and fertilized the eggs
of the flounder. Since that time we have found out
the eggs of all the valuable food-fish, and artificially
hatched most of them. But the facts about the cod’s
eggs appear to have been unknown to the Commission.
They had to rely upon such data as the return of fish
carried by the railway companies, the current prices
of fish in the market, the return on the capital invested,
and the impressions of leading merchants and fisher-
men. They had little scientific knowledge of sea-
fisheries to guide them, for the knowledge scarcely
existed; and they had no trustworthy statistics.
Nevertheless, as was usually the case when Professor
Huxley was concerned, they arrived at very definite
conclusions—conclusions which subsequent writers
have felt to be, for the time when they were formu-
lated, sound. There was no doubt that at that date,
both in Scotland and in England, the fisheries were
improving ; the number and the value of the fish landed
at our fishing-ports were annually increasing; the
capital invested in the industry yielded a satisfactory
return.

The Commissioners strongly opposed the bounty
system, which had done so much to build up the
herring- fisheries in Scotland. They recommended
the policy of opening the ports and the territorial
waters to foreign seamen. They regarded the sea
as free to all, just as the International Congress of
Lawyers in the autumn of 1906 declared the air to be.
They found no reason to believe that the supply of
FREE TRADE IN FISHERIES 47

fish was diminishing. They were aware of the
enormous destruction, especially of immature fish,
consequent upon the methods of fishing, but regarded
this destruction as infinitesimal compared with what
normally goes on in Nature, and held that it did no
permanent harm to the fisheries. They recommended
that all laws regulating fishing in the open seas should
be repealed, and, with two exceptions, that similar
laws dealing with inshore fisheries should also be
repealed ; and they suggested that an Act should be
passed dealing with the policing of the seas. The Sea
Fisheries Act of 1868 carried these recommendations
into effect, removed from the Statute-book over fifty
Acts, some dating back for centuries, and rendered it
possible for a fisherman to earn his living ‘how, when,
and where he pleased.’

But since 1868 much has changed. Beam-trawls
continued to be increasingly used down to 1893, since
which date they have been replaced, in steam-trawlers,
by the more powerful otter-trawl. There has been
an immense increase in the employment of steam-
vessels. In 1883 the number of steamers was 225,
with a tonnage of 6,654 tons; in 1892 the steamers
numbered 627, with a tonnage of 28,271. During
the same time the number of first-class sailing-
vessels had sunk from 8,058 to 7,319, whilst the
tonnage was practically stationary—244,097 tons in
1883, as compared with 244,668 tons in 1892. The
introduction of the use of ice, which took place about
1850, and the invention of various methods of renew-
ing and aerating the water in the fish-tanks, enabled
the boats to remain much longer on the fishing-grounds,
and to waste much less time in voyaging to and from
the ports where the fish is landed. Further, the time
spent on the grounds was appreciably lengthened by
the employment of ‘carriers,’ which collect the fish
from the fleet of trawlers and carry it to port. This
48 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

process of ‘fleeting,’ as it is called, at first confined to
the sailing-smacks, is still used by the large Hull
fleets of steam-trawlers which provide Billingsgate
and more recently, Hull, itself with daily supplies of
trawled fish fresh from the fishing-grounds. There
has also been a great growth in dock and other
accommodation.

With the tendency to use larger vessels and more
complex machinery came the tendency to form com-
panies and syndicates. The fisherman ceased to own
his boat, and now retains at best a share in it. The
increase in size of both the vessel and the gear
necessitates increased intricacy in the operations of
fishing and increased specialization on the part of the
hands. The old fishing community, whose fathers
and grandfathers have been fishers, is disappearing
before the advance of modern economic forces. The
fishing- village is turning into the cheap seaside
resort.

The scene of operations of the North Sea fisherman
is by no means limited to the area in the map over
which the two words wander. Roughly, for purposes
of definition, we may say that a North Sea fisherman
is one who lands his fish at an eastern port. Should
he do so at a southern or western port, even though
he hail from Lowestoft or Scarborough, he tempo-
rarily ceases, for our purpose, to be a North Sea
fisherman. The North Sea codmen work along the
Orkneys, the Shetland and Farée Islands, Rockall and
Iceland. The fishing-grounds of East Coast trawlers
now range from Iceland and the White Sea to the
coasts of Portugal and Morocco. Boats have gradually
made their way along the Continental coasts on the
eastern side of the North Sea, opening up, about the
year 1868, the grounds to the north of the Horn reef
off the Danish coast. In this direction, as in the
Icelandic grounds, the pioneers have been the codmen
AREA OF NORTH SEA FISHERIES 49

and the ‘liners,’ who catch their fish on hooks attached
to long lines—sometimes seven miles in length and
carrying 7,000 hooks—which are lowered to near the
bottom and attached to buoys. The ‘liners’ also first
exploited the more central portions of the North Sea,
fishing the great Fisher Bank for many years before
the appearance there, about thirty years ago, of the
trawlers, who have only used it as a winter-ground
since about 1885. It was not until about 1891 that
trawlers visited the Icelandic grounds.

In spite of the increase in the area of the fishing-
ground which took place in the last century, the
intensity of the fishing has more than kept up with
the new areas exploited. Professor Huxley’s Com-
mission held the view that not only were there as good
fish in the sea as ever came out of it, but that the fish
were as many and as large as before, and that there
was no reason to suppose their number would
diminish. Indeed, when we consider that an unferti-
lized fish-egg is rarely found in the sea, and that,
according to Dr. Fulton, of the Fishery Board for
Scotland, the female turbot produces annually 8,600,000
eggs, the cod 4,500,000, the haddock 450,000, the plaice
300,000, the flounder 1,400,000, the sole 570,000, whilst
the herring has to be content with the comparatively
meagre total of 31,000, optimism seems permissible.
On the other hand, the reflection that, if the stock
of cod remains about constant, only two out of the
8,600,000 ova attain maturity, gives some idea of the
destructive forces at work.

The eggs are expelled into water, whilst a male is
‘standing by,’ fertilized in the water, and (except in
the case of the herring, whose eggs sink) those of the
chief food-fishes float to the surface, where they pass
the first stages of their development. Except, again
in the case of the herring, which has definitely
localized spawning-grounds, there has hitherto been

4
50 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

little trustworthy evidence as to the existence either
of stereotyped spawning migrations or of very definite
breeding-grounds in the case of the chief food-fishes.
The great Lofoten cod-fishery in spring is based on
such a migration, as it is at this time of the year that
the cod approach the coast in dense shoals for
spawning purposes. During the summer, after the
spawning is over, the cod disappear northwards.
But with respect to the spawning habits of fishes in
the waters most frequented by British fishermen we
know little more than that the greater number of fish
spawn in relatively deep water and at some distance
from land. Light will doubtless be thrown upon this
problem by the international investigations now in
progress. The brilliant discovery by the Danish
investigators of immense numbers of the fry of the
common eel in the deep water of the Atlantic, west
of Ireland, and the absence of the eggs and fry from
the North Sea and Baltic, render it practically certain
that the countless hordes of eels which leave the
rivers of North Western Europe in autumn migrate to
the ocean for spawning purposes ; and, more remark-
able still, that the delicate young elvers which enter
the same streams in autumn have already overcome
the perils of their long return migration.

Before considering the evidence for the existence of
a progressive impoverishment of the fishing-grounds,
it should be recorded that the Trawling Commission
of 1885 held that the increase of trawling had led to
a scarcity of fish in the inshore waters; and that to
get good catches it was necessary to go farther to sea.
Eight years later, the Select Committee of 1893 held that
‘a considerable diminution [had] occurred among the
more valuable classes of flat-fish, especially among soles
and plaice’; and that of 1900 reported that ‘the subject
of the diminution of the fish-supply is a very pressing
one, and that the situation is going from bad to worse.’
DIMINUTION OF FISH SUPPLY 51

The evidence which induced this change of view
rests partly on experiment, partly on_ statistics.
Although the new view may be correct, none of the
older sources of evidence are altogether satisfactory.
One charge which used to be made against the trawl
—that it destroyed the fish-spawn—has been dis-
proved. The ova of all the prime food-fish, as we
have seen, with the exception of those of the herring,
float on the surface ; and the herring is a fish that
shows no sign of diminishing in number. In 1886 the
Scottish Fishery Board began experiments to deter-
mine whether the number and size of fish were
diminishing on a certain limited area or not. The
Firth of Forth and St. Andrews Bay were closed
against commercial trawling, and divided into stations.
Once a month the ship employed by the Board visited
each station and trawled over a given area. The fish
taken were counted and measured. For the first few
years the results indicated an increase of food-fish ;
but, taking a longer period and considering the flat-
fishes alone, we find that the numbers of plaice and
lemon-sole taken sank from 29,869 for the five years
1885-1890, to 28,044 for the five years 1891-1895. On
the other hand, the dab, a comparatively worthless
fish, had increased from 19,825 to 29,483.

These figures, it is true, have not been generally
accepted as an exact measure of the changes which
took place during the period investigated; but inde-
pendent criticism has corroborated their general
tendency. It looks as if protection had been encour-
aging the wrong sort—a process not unknown else-
where. The explanation possibly lies in the facts
adduced by Dr. Fulton that the plaice and lemon-soles
spawn only in the deep water outside the closed
areas, where they are subject to continuous fishing,
with the apparent result of a decrease in the number
of eggs and fry inshore; whilst the dabs spawn to a

4—2
52 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

large extent in the protected waters, and many of
them in the offshore waters are able, in conseqence
of their small size, to escape through the meshes of
the commercial trawl, even when mature.

Two further experiments, carried out in 1890 and
1901 by the Scottish Fishery Board and the Marine
Biological Association respectively, showed for the
first time that the annual harvest of a given area bears
a much larger proportion to the stock of fish than had
been previously supposed. These were experiments
with marked fish, designed originally to trace their
migrations. Out of more than 1,200 plaice liberated
in the Firth of Forth and St. Andrews Bay, more
than 10 per cent. were recovered almost exclusively
by hook and line. Owing to these waters being closed
against trawlers, there is reason to believe that the
number actually recaptured by trawl and line together
was very much greater. Again, out of more than
400 marked plaice liberated on the Torbay fishing-
grounds, 27 per cent. of those liberated in the bay,
and 35 per cent. of those set free on the offshore
grounds, were recaptured by trawlers.

The evidence derived from statistics has hitherto
been, in many respects, unsatisfactory. In spite of
the recommendations of more than one Royal Com-
mission, nothing was done towards a systematic
collection of fishery statistics until the late Duke of
fdinburgh, at a conference held at the Fisheries
Exhibition of 1883, happened to read a paper on some
statistics collected by coastguards as to the quantity
and quality of fish landed. This paper being sent to
the Board of Trade, ‘it was decided to establish a
collection of fishery statistics for England and
Wales on the same lines, and generally by the same
machinery, as has been recommended by His Royal
Highness.’ Unfortunately, neither the lines nor the
machinery have proved sound. The officials have also
FISHERY STATISTICS 53

been hampered by want of funds. The Treasury
offered £500 (afterwards increased to £700) a year for
statistical purposes—a totally inadequate sum when
distributed as wages among the 157 ‘collectors’
scattered round our coasts. The duties of these col-
lectors were to send monthly returns of thirteen
different kinds of ‘wet fish’ and three kinds of shell-
fish, stating the quantities landed and the market
value at the port. They had no powers to demand
information from anyone, or to examine books or
catches or market- and railway-returns ; and they were
subject to but little if any supervision.

Not only were these statistics untrustworthy, even
as a simple record of the quantities of fish landed,
but they were rendered practically useless for exact
inquiries concerning the decline of the fisheries,
through the neglect of any precautions to discriminate
between the catches in the home waters and those on
distant fishing-grounds of a totally different character.
Fish from Iceland, Farée, and the Bay of Biscay, as
these areas were successively exploited, all went to
swell the totals in the single column of ‘fish landed,’
thus rendering it quite impossible to determine the
state of the fishery on the older fishing-grounds
around our coasts. Taking the statistics as they
stand, however, we find that during 1886-1888 the
average quantity of fish annually landed on the coasts
of England and Wales amounted to 6,263,000 cwt.,
valued at £3,805,000; during 1890-1892, 6,184,000 cwt.,
valued at £4,496,000 ; during 1900-1902, 9,242,000 cwt.,
valued at £6,543,000.

The average price of fish per cwt. in these periods
was consequently 12s. 2d. in 1886-1888, 14s. 64d. in
1890-1892, and 14s. 34d. in 1900-1902. The census
returns indicate that the population of England
and Wales had risen in the meantime from about
28,000,000 in 1887 to 29,000,000 in 1891, and 324 millions
54 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

in 1901. We thus see that the people were steadily
increasing their expenditure on fish, viz., from 2s. 9d.
per head in 1887 to 3s. 1d. in 1891, and to 4s. per head
in 1901. The quantity consumed amounted to 25 lb.
per head in 1887, 23'9 lb. in 1891, and 388 lb. in
1901.

To appreciate the significance of these figures it is
necessary to bear in mind that, prior to 1891, the fish-
ing was mostly prosecuted in the North Sea and in
the immediate neighbourhood of our coasts. During
this period the price rose 20 per cent. and the supply
fell—facts which indicate with tolerable certainty that
the yield of the older fishing-grounds had reached its
limits, if it was not actually declining. But in the
following decade the conditions were reversed; the
supply increased 50 per cent., and the price fell 3d.
per cwt. This was the period of rapid increase in the
number of steam-trawlers, of the exploitation of new
fishing-grounds in distant waters, and of a great ex-
pansion of the herring-fishery.

There was thus no question of a general scarcity of
fish. Fishing-boats were multiplying, and supplies
increasing by leaps and bounds. Between 1891 and
1901 the average annual catch of plaice rose from
677,000 cwt. to 959,000 cwt., that of cod from 367,000
to 748,000 cwt., and that of herrings from 1,400,000 to
2,800,000 cwt. In the absence of specific information
as to the yield of the older fishing-grounds, Parlia-
ment and the Government turned a deaf ear to the
fishermen’s complaints.

But in 1900 it was shown to the Parliamentary
Committee on the Sea Fisheries Bill of that year that,
during the past decade, characterized (as we have
seen) by a general fall in the price of fish, the price of
plaice had risen 17 per cent., and that of other valuable
flat-fishes from 3 to 6 per cent. It was also shown
that, while the catching power had multiplied three-
CHRISTIANIA CONFERENCE 55

fold in ten years, the catch of trawled fish had only
increased 30 per cent. In 1gor the inspectors of
fisheries provided a table contrasting for ten years
the annual supply of trawled fish at Grimsby, Hull,
and Boston (which receive the products of the Icelandic
fisheries), with that of other East Coast ports which
derive their fish exclusively from the North Sea. In
the former ports the supply had increased from year
to year, while at the other ports the supply during
the years 1895-1900 was in no year so great as in the
least productive of the years 1890-1895. The fisher-
men’s case was at last made out; and in 1902 the late
Government decided to participate in the investiga-
tions recommended by the Christiania Conference
in 1901 for the purpose of formulating international
measures for the improvement of the North Sea
fisheries.

It is satisfactory to turn from the past records of
neglect, from the supineness of the authorities, the
imperfections of the statistics, the inadequate pittance
devoted to investigations, to the progress which has
taken place since the Government decided to devote a
reasonable proportion of public funds to the improve-
ment of knowledge on fishery subjects. The collection
of official statistics has been reorganized on all our
coasts on a system which aims at obtaining complete
accounts of the results of each voyage of every first-
class fishing-boat ; the catches of trawlers and liners
are now distinguished; the quantities of fish caught
in the North Sea are distinguished from those taken
beyond that area; the quantities of large, medium,
and small fish are separately recorded in important
cases; the numbers, tonnage, and landings of different
classes of fishing-vessels are separately enumerated.

It is interesting to note the first results of the more
exact system introduced in 1903. Considering only the
fish caught in the North Sea and landed on the East
56 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

Coast, we note a marked decline in the total catch of
steam-trawlers during the years 1904, 1905, and 1906,
and an increase in the catch of sailing trawlers. The
former declined from 4? million ewt. in 1903 to 32 million
cwt. in 1905; the latter increased from 277,000 ewt. in
1903 to 296,000 ewt.in 1905. It is shown, however, that
these changes were accompanied by a considerable
fall in the amount of fishing by steam-trawlers and a
rise in the case of the sailing trawlers, so that infer-
ences concerning impoverishment or the reverse would
be premature. Nevertheless a fall in the abundance
of haddock may be inferred from the fact that not only
the total catch of this species, but also the average
catch of the boats fell off continuously from 8°4 cwt.
per diem in 1903 to 61 cwt. per diem in 1905. The
fall is also seen to be mainly due to a scarcity of
‘small’ haddocks in 1904 and 1905 as compared with
1903. With the conclusions to which such data as
these are likely to lead we are not now concerned ;
but these examples are sufficient to show that the
official statistics are no longer a confused mass of
useless figures, but a rational and fairly accurate
system capable of analysis.

We have now to examine those experimental
branches of investigation which are equally necessary
for the effective solution of fishery problems. The
chief possible causes of an impoverishment of the sea
are three in number. First, as in the central United
States the accumulated richness of a virgin soil pro-
duced at first huge crops, so, when fishing began in
the North Sea an accumulated wealth, both in the
number and in the greater size of the individual fish,
was drawn upon. This ‘accumulated stock’ has been
fished out.

Secondly, a given area of the sea, like a given area
of land can support but a limited quantity of produce.
There is a definite amount of food for fish in a definite
CAUSES OF IMPOVERISHMENT 57

volume of sea; a limit is therefore set to the number
of fish in that volume of water. Professor Hensen
and Professor Brandt, of Kiel, have shown that a
square metre of the Baltic produces an average of
150 grammes of dry organic material in the shape of
diatoms, copepods, and other floating organisms. A
similar area of land produces 180 grammes of ultimate
food-substance. The productivity of the sea is judged
on this basis to be about 20 per cent. less than that of
the land. The actual amount is of less importance
than the consequences it entails. If the methods of
fishing are more destructive of one species than
another, comparatively worthless species may become
dominant in areas where they were formerly scarce,
and thus consume the food which should be reserved
for their betters. It is commonly reported that the
dab has tended to usurp the position formerly taken
by the plaice, not only in the Scottish firths, but on the
Dogger Bank, in the Devonshire bays, and in other
localities. Dr. Garstang, of the Marine Biological
Association, tells us that small plaice transplanted to
the Dogger Bank in 1904 grew three times as much in
weight as did their fellows on the coastal banks; but
in the following year they grew only twice as much,
owing to the presence of vast quantities of small
haddocks, which ate the plaice’s food and were never-
theless too small and worthless themselves to be
landed by the fishermen, Yet formerly the Dogger
teemed with large plaice and haddock. It was stated
to the Royal Commission in 1863 that the fishermen
avoided the Bank as causing gluts of fish and deprecia-
tion of price ; and witnesses from Yarmouth and Hull
assured the Commission that between two and three
tons of fish, chiefly haddock and plaice, were fre-
quently taken by smacks in a three hours’ haul. As
small plaice are confined to the coastal banks, and
large plaice are now scarce, it follows that the great
58 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

food-reserves on the Dogger Bank, which seem provi-
dentially designed for the fattening of plaice, are
wasted on worthless dabs and baby haddocks. Thus
may one cause of impoverishment lead on to another.
Perhaps the right remedy in a case like this is to
promote the wholesale transplantation of young plaice,
as in the case of oysters, mussels, etc. The ex-
periments already made by the Marine Biological
Association point strongly in this direction.

Thirdly, the excessive destruction of young fish is
another, and perhaps the greatest, cause of the im-
poverishment of the sea. The destruction is enor-
mous. In the winter of 1882-1883 it was estimated
that in the Firth of Forth, the Firth of Tay, and the
Moray Firth, 143,000,000 of young herrings and a
much greater quantity of sprats were captured.
These were mostly sold as manure. Yet the herring
does not decrease; it is the flat-fish, the plaice and
the sole, that suffer most. In 1896, 368 tons of
small fish were seized by the Fishmongers Company
at Billingsgate ; in 1897, 143 tons ; and in 1898, 96 tons.
These were sold as manure or destroyed. Mr. Holt
estimates that, while over 7,000,000 mature plaice were
landed in the port of Grimsby during the year April,
1893, to March, 1894, over 9,000,000 plaice not sexually
mature were brought to port; or, taking the trade
distinction between ‘small’ and ‘large’ fish, over
6,500,000 plaice under 13 inches in length were landed,
as against 9,700,000 over 13 inches. So many as 10,407
young plaice have been taken from a single drag of
a shrimp trawl. These are but a few instances out of
many, showing the great destruction which is going
on among the young of our more valuable food-fishes.

The questions they suggest are still a matter of
discussion. Whether even this destruction has an
appreciable effect on the adult population is debatable.
It does not seem to have affected the herring ; and we
DESTRUCTION OF SMALL FISH 59

must not forget the prodigious number of offspring
given to fish. The taking of immature fish is not in
itself uneconomic, unless by that means we so far
reduce the total number that the adult stock begins to
dwindle. Sardines are more valuable than their adult
form, the pilchard; whitebait, mainly composed of
young sprats, with from 1 to 20 per cent. of young
herrings, fetch more in the market than the parent
form; and so long as the adults exist in sufficient
number to keep up the stock of fry, sardine and
whitebait fishing is perfectly legitimate.

But, assuming impoverishment from one or other or
all of the causes enumerated, we should ask what steps
can be taken to check it, especially as regards the
more valuable flat-fish. It is at this stage that scien-
tific knowledge becomes particularly important. At
least nine out of every ten Acts of restrictive legisla-
tion have been shown by experience to be futile, or to
have produced results absolutely different from those
anticipated. It is equally plain that the failure of
these attempts to interfere with the natural course
of events has been largely due to inadequate know-
ledge of the complicated factors which affect the
growth, multiplication, and distribution of fish, and of
the influence which particular modes of fishing exert
upon the sources of supply.

Let us examine the first-mentioned cause of im-
poverishment, the destruction of the ‘accumulated
stock.’ This formula has been eagerly adopted by
some who hesitate to admit the existence of any form
of over-fishing. It implies that a state of equilibrium
is possible between the forces of destruction and the
forces of repair; that on virgin territory older indi-
viduals tend to accumulate beyond what is necessary
for the maintenance of the ‘current stock’; and that
their removal entails no real injury to the supply. In
scientific terms this means that the average age of
60 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

mature individuals of a natural stock may be reduced
by man to a lower point which represents the eco-
nomic optimum. The Patagonian cannibals seem to
have been early converts to the soundness of this
theory. The difference between the Patagonian who
eats his mother-in-law and the fisherman who destroys
the overgrown plaice is that the former’s actions are
deliberate and limited, while the removal of the accu-
mulated stock is not so much an object of the fisher-
man as an unpremeditated consequence of the intensity
with which fishing operations tend to be conducted.
Does the fisherman abate his operations when the
economic optimum has been reached? Clearly not.
He fishes till it ceases to pay; and no other motive
affects him. It is plainly a question for scientific
inquiry whether, in a given case, the fishery has been
prosecuted to excess, and has reduced the average age
too far, or not.

On this question the International North Sea In-
vestigations have already thrown valuable light, for
the study of the intensity of fishing by means of
definite experiments with marked fish has formed an
important part of the programme; and the investiga-
tion of the age of plaice, cod, and other species has
been vigorously prosecuted. According to the latest
report of the Council of the Marine Biological Associa-
tion, more than 7,000 marked plaice have been set free
by their staff, and 24 per cent. altogether have been
recaptured. Of the medium-sized fish which, furnish
the best test of the intensity of fishing, 30 per cent. in
twelve months have been captured in the southern
part of the North Sea, where sailing trawlers pre-
dominate, and 4o per cent. on the Dogger Bank and
adjacent grounds, where the fishing is done by steam-
trawlers. It seems, however, that some of the fish
lose their labels before being caught again. A still
closer idea of the severity of the fishing may perhaps
MARKED FISH 61

be got from another experiment with weighted bottles,
which were specially devised by Mr. G. P. Bidder to
act as indicators of bottom currents, and were thrown
overboard from the Huxley in the winter of 1904-1905,
in the southward parts of the North Sea. Out of
600 bottles more than 54 per cent. were returned by
trawl fishermen within twelve months. If anything
like half the adolescent stock of plaice is taken by our
trawlers every year on the deep-sea fishing-grounds,
the establishment of the fact must profoundly affect
our views as to the causes of depletion and the reme-
dies to be applied; for the fishing in these instances
seems not to have been on the so-called ‘small-fish’
grounds or nurseries, but in areas which have always
been recognized as legitimate fields of work.

The possibility of determining the age of fish is
quite a recent discovery, and is based on the observa-
tion that the scales, vertebra, and especially the
‘otoliths’ or ear-stones of fish, show alternate dark
and light rings of growth, corresponding with the
summer and winter seasons of the year, exactly like
the rings in the wood of trees. Many difficult prob-
lems are likely to be cleared up by a knowledge
of the age of fish on different fishing-grounds; and,
to judge from the scale on which this investigation is
being pursued, it will not be long before we may
expect something in the nature of an age-census. The
Council of the Marine Biological Association have
reported no less than 12,000 age-determinations of
plaice by their North Sea staff up to June last; and
the German and Dutch investigators are working on
similar lines.

To conclude our argument, we should now examine
the question whether it is possible to determine to
what extent and in what manner the destruction of
immature fish, which is admittedly enormous, is in-
jurious to the permanent supply. We have already
62 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

referred to Mr. Holt’s statistics, which showed that
40 per cent. of the plaice landed in Grimsby in the
year 1893-1894 were below 13 inches in length. In
1904, 30 per cent. of the plaice landed from the North
Sea on the whole East Coast were below 11 inches in
length. German statistics show that from 1895 to 1904
there was no sensible increase in the total weight of
plaice landed in that country, but the proportion of
‘small’ fish (below 14 inches in length) steadily in-
creased from 68 per cent. in 1895 to 87 per cent. in
1904. There can thus be little doubt that the supply
is being maintained only by drawing more and more
upon the fish of smaller size and of less value.

It seems to have been too readily assumed, however,
that this increasing destruction of small plaice is the
great cause of the declining catches of better fish.
Has the cart not been put before the horse? In view
of what has been said above concerning the general
severity of the fishing, does it not look as though the
capture of increasing quantities of small plaice were a
consequence, and not the cause, of the general deple-
tion of the grounds? The people demand plaice.
The proprietor of a large fried-fish shop in the East
End was a witness before the House of Lords Com-
mittee on the Sea-Fisheries Bill of 1904. His custo-
mers numbered from 500 to 3,000 daily; and there
were 2,000 other establishments of the same kind in
London. He told the Committee: ‘ Plaice is the most
popular fish in our line of business; people do not
care for any other.’ Owing to the higher price of
plaice, however, he was often compelled to substitute
cheaper kinds of fish. In one month he had even
made five purchases of small turbot and brill, against
only two of plaice, in order to meet the demand.
‘You must understand,’ he added, ‘that amongst the
class of people we deal with we do not sell turbot and
brill as turbot and brill; we have to sell it as plaice.
UNDERSIZED FISH 63

Plenty of people, if you said you had turbots, would
not have them.’ It is obvious that fishermen would
not land small plaice if large were plentiful. It was
not until the large fish became scarce that fishermen
began to take the small.

If these facts are correctly stated, the remedial treat-
ment of the undersized-plaice problem must be taken
up from a new standpoint. We must apparently give
up the expectation that by merely stopping the destruc-
tion of small plaice we shall replenish the sea. The
fishing seems to be too severe for that. Every autumn
our trawlers fish the waters between the Dogger and
the eastern grounds, confident that they will take a
good catch of medium-sized plaice averaging 12 to
15 inches in length. These are fish which no fisher-
man in these days would despise. Though mixed
with a considerable proportion of still smaller fish,
no possible size-limit will prevent him from reaping
this annual harvest. These fish, as has now been
shown by the North Sea experiments, are undertaking
their first migration from the coastal grounds to the
deeper waters. However much we protect the still
smaller fish inshore, this wall of nets will be inter-
posed every autumn between the shore and the open
sea. The greater the benefits of protection inshore,
the denser will be the barrier confronting the fish out-
side, and the smaller the chances of escape.

To this must be added a new disturbing element,
mentioned by Dr. Garstang in his evidence before the
House of Lords Committee in 1904. It is generally
agreed that the only possible form which protection
can take is that of a size-limit, below which it shall be
illegal to land or sell fish. In the case of steam-
trawlers this limit must be high enough to render it
unprofitable for the boats to fish on grounds where
the small plaice are most abundant, since the majority
of undersized fish are too much injured in the process
64 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

of capture to be capable of survival if returned to the
sea. It is otherwise with the small local sailing-boats
(whether Danish, German, or Dutch) which are ac-
customed to fish on the small-fish grounds. These
boats catch the fish alive and throw the undersized
fish overboard in a living condition. As they can
operate nowhere else, it may be taken for granted
that the Governments of their respective countries,
however anxious they may be to improve the fisheries,
will scarcely consent to impose such a size-limit as to
render it unprofitable for their local boats to fish.

The utmost possible protection of the small plaice
would consequently be attained by determining (a) a
high size-limit for steam-trawlers, practically debarring
them from fishing on the coastal grounds; and (0) the
highest size-limit for sailing-boats that would be con-
sistent with the profitable pursuit of their calling.
The first pick of the fish would consequently fall to
the local boats; and, if protection should result, as it
is reasonable to expect, in an increase in the number
of plaice on the coastal grounds, there would be every
inducement for these local boats to multiply in number,
with the laudable object of catching as many as possible
of the marketable plaice before they could migrate to
the offshore waters. In practice some fish would
escape; but, in the absence of any restriction upon
the number of local boats, there seems no reason to
expect that the number of emigrant plaice would, in
the long run, be any greater than at present. Even
under existing conditions, the local fishery on the
west coast of Denmark has developed from a value of
about £40,000 in 1897 to nearly £80,000 in 1904.

If, however, we are right in assuming that a given
area of ground can only produce a given weight of
fish per annum, it is fairly certain that, under protec-
tion, the increased density of the fish inshore will
result in a retardation in the average rate of growth,
SUGGESTED REMEDIES 65

an example of which we have given on a previous
page. This must produce one or other of two results:
either the small fish will remain longer on the inshore
grounds before emigration, or they will emigrate off-
shore at a smaller size than at present. Judging,
therefore, from the evidence available, it seems
probable that legislative restrictions on the lines in-
dicated can do little to replenish the offshore fishing-
grounds, while such restrictions may lead to a slight,
and possibly a substantial, increase in the number of
small boats fishing along the coasts affected.

While Great Britain can grudge no benefit to the
fisheries of other countries, it is the improvement of
the deep-sea fisheries which is the paramount interest
of this country. Doubts, it has been said, are resolved
by action; but if we have correctly analyzed the com-
plicated factors which affect this problem, we have
also shown how essential to right action is the fullest
possible knowledge concerning all the factors involved.
Grave as the North Sea problem undoubtedly is, it is
equally certain that the condition of the fishing industry
generally was never more prosperous than at the
present time. The figures quoted in an earlier part
of this article prove this statement to be no paradox.
Interference of some kind, whether by legislation,
transplantation, artificial culture, or some combination
of all these means, seems ultimately to be inevitable.
But, if we are to interfere with the fishing industry
more successfully than our predecessors, we should
take advantage of the present time of prosperity to
increase our knowledge on every side — scientific,
statistical, experimental—so as to be able to act with
conviction when the whole circumstances are clearer
and the adequacy of our proposals is less open to
doubt. Moreover, in view of the growing interest of
other countries, especially Germany and Holland, in
deep-sea trawling, and of the international character

5
66 BRITISH SEA:FISHERIES

of the most critical problems, there can be no two
opinions as to the desirability of continuing these
investigations on some kind of international basis,
a basis which has already been productive of very
promising results.

Before turning our attention to the various bodies
which administer and investigate the fisheries of
England, a short consideration of what is done in
the two great countries which have scientifically
developed their fisheries may be profitable. In
Germany we have the Kiel Commission, and in the
United States the Commission of Fish and Fisheries.
The Kiel Commission exists for the scientific investi-
gation of the German seas. It was established in
1870 at the suggestion of a German sea-fishery society
—an interesting example of the belief which the
German layman has in science. It consists of four
Kiel professors —Hensen representing physiology,
Karl Brandt zoology, Reinke botany, and Kriimmel
geography—and of Dr. Heincke, director of the
biological station on Heligoland. An annual grant
of £7,500 is made by the German Government for the
maintenance of the laboratories at Kiel, the cost of
steamers for investigations, the cost of the handsome
reports published under the name of ‘ Wissenschaftliche
Meeresuntersuchungen,’ and for salaries; of these the
five members of the Commission divide but £270
between them. The German Government has also
spent considerable sums on the biological station in
Heligoland, and make it an annual allowance of about
£1,000.

The American Commission, like that of Kiel, is not
an administrative body, but concerns itself with the
acquisition and application of knowledge concerning
fisheries; like it, too, it is independent of official
control. It reports directly to Congress. It was
established in 1871. Its work is, however, of a more
AMERICAN FISH COMMISSION 67

practical kind; besides general scientific investigation,
it collects fishery statistics and undertakes commercial
fishery inquiries, assists in finding markets, and
generally advises the trade and the Legislature when
diplomatic action is indicated ; finally, it is by far the
most energetic fish-breeding institution in the world.
Much of its work is concerned with the vast system of
inland waters—rivers and lakes—which traverse the
Continent. The work has been carried out on a scale
unknown elsewhere, and Congress has supported it
with ample funds. The appropriation in 1897-1898
exceeded £97,000, of which £41,000 was spent on
salaries, £16,000 on scientific investigations and upkeep
of steamers, £37,000 on fish-culture (mostly fresh-
water), and £3,000 on administration and statistics.
Besides this central body, many of the States possess
fish commissions of their own. The commissioners
control numerous laboratories and fish-hatcheries, two
sea-going vessels, and many railway-cars specially
designed for the transport of fish-fry.

Space does not permit our dealing with the Scottish
and Irish Fishery Boards. The former has existed
for a century, and, being independent of departmental
control, while enjoying a moderate income and the
advice of such zoologists as Goodsir, Allman, Sir
John Murray, Cossar Ewart, W. C. McIntosh—who
has done more than anyone in the Empire to elucidate
the life-histories of marine fishes—and D’Arcy Thomp-
son, together with an able staff, the Fishery Board for
Scotland has done much thorough and useful work.
The fisheries of Ireland suffered from the economic
disturbances which overtook Ireland during the nine-
teenth century, and reached, perhaps, their lowest ebb
in 1890. The industrial revival, with which the name
of Sir Horace Plunkett is so indissolubly connected,
has included in its scope the Irish fisheries. The
fishery branch of the Department of Agriculture and

5—~2
68 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

Technical Instruction receives an annual grant of
£10,000, and, under the guidance of the Rev. S.
Green and Mr. E. W. L. Holt, is already doing
much to promote the fishing of the well-stocked Irish
seas.

The English official fishery staff seems to have
sprung from the requirements of the Salmon Fishery
Act of 1861. To carry out the regulations over fresh-
water fisheries recommended by that Act two in-
spectors were appointed, and these were at first
attached to the Home Office; a further Act in 1886
transferred these inspectors to the Board of Trade,
and extended their duties so as to include the pre-
paration of annual reports on sea-fisheries. In 1903
another transfer took place; and the inspectors were
transferred to the Board of Agriculture, which then
became the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.

At present the central staff consists of an assistant
secretary and two inspectors, in addition to a body of
statistical experts. Their duties are far too numerous
for so small a staff. Much of their time is taken
up with the comparatively unimportant freshwater
fisheries; and these are the subject of a separate
report. Without actually administering the byelaws
of the local committees, they exercise a certain super-
vision over their actions. They have to attend
numerous inquiries all over the country, and to
prepare annual reports; and they are responsible for
the collection of the statistics which have recently
assumed so extensive a development. Besides the
central authorities at the Board of Agriculture and
Fisheries, there are local fisheries committees estab-
lished by an Act of 1888. These committees can be
established by the county and borough councils on
application to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries,
which defines the area over which a committee shall
have jurisdiction. One-half of such a committee is
LOCAL FISHERY COMMITTEES 69

chosen by the local councils, and one-half by the
central authority. The necessary money is raised by
a local rate. A committee may draft byelaws; but
these only become operative if confirmed by the
Board. These byelaws differ, according to conditions,
in different parts of England. They deal largely with
restrictions on trawling. No steam-trawler is allowed
to trawl within the three-mile limit around the coast
of England; even the sailing trawler is forbidden.
The byelaws also deal with the sizes of the meshes of
nets, shrimping, crabbing, etc.

Neither the central authorities, whose chief function
is to administer the law and collect statistics, nor the
local committees, whose expenditure is limited to the
‘ shell-fisheries ’—and, stretch the Act to the breaking
point, you still cannot make a flat-fish into a shell-
fish—have either the time or the money for scientific
experiment. This has to a large extent been left to
local or private enterprise, and is mainly confined to
three centres—the Northumberland coast, the Lanca-
shire and western district, and the Channel and North
Sea. The first-named area has recently been supplied
by a private benefactor with funds for an efficient
laboratory at Cullercoats, from which much useful
work may be expected.

It is difficult to disentangle the Lancashire and
Western Sea-fishery Committee from Liverpool Uni-
versity on the one hand, and from the Liverpool
Marine Biological Committee or Society on the other.
The Committee owns a handsome marine station at
Port Erin, on the Isle of Man; here and at the fish-
hatchery at Peel, in Cumberland, the largest fish-
breeding experiments in England are carried out.
In 1904, 5,000,000 young plaice were reared and put
into the sea from Port Erin alone. The Committee
publishes annual reports and a series of ‘Memoirs.’
It is probably to this Committee that the University
70 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

owes its connexion with the local sea-fisheries authori-
ties. In the laboratories and museums of the Uni-
versity the scientific work of the local districts is
carried on by officials paid by the Fisheries Com-
mittee; and special rooms in the handsome new
zoological department have been assigned to these
two organizations. The connecting link between the
three bodies is the professor of zoology, Dr. Herdman,
who is honorary director of the scientific work, and
to whose untiring energy the University and the
district owe a large debt. With him work two trained
naturalists, Dr. Jenkins, the Superintendent of the
District Committee, and Mr. James Johnstone, whose
lucid and admirable work is mentioned at the head of
this article. From it many of our figures and facts
have been taken.

The third and last body occupied with original
marine research is the Marine Biological Association
of the United Kingdom. It is the most important of
these institutions, and aims at a national rather than
a local activity. The fine laboratory which dominates
the eastern end of Plymouth Hoe was erected at a
cost of £12,000, and opened in 1888. The object of
the Association is to ‘promote researches leading to
the improvement of zoological and botanical science,
and to an increase of our knowledge as regards the
food, life-conditions, and habits of British food-fishes
and molluscs.’ Although a high average of scientific
work has been displayed in the published ‘Memoirs’
connected with the Plymouth laboratory, great atten-
tion has also been paid to matters of practical interest.
In a list of some 350 papers published, with the aid
or under the auspices of the Association, between
1886 and 1900, nearly one-half deal directly with
economic problems. From 1892 to 1895 the officers
of the Association carried on at Grimsby extensive
investigations into the destruction of immature fish ;
MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION 71

and it is gratifying to find that the Select Committee
of 1893 extended its recognition to the ‘facts and
Statistics’ submitted by the Scotch Fishery Board
and by the Association. In the summer of 1902 the
Association, at the request of the Government, under-
took to carry out the English portion of the Inter-
national Investigation of the North Sea. The scope
of this inquiry is immense; and its importance to the
largest fisheries available for our fishermen is incal-
culable. Some idea of the kind of work accomplished
has been furnished in the preceding pages.

What now seems to be most required, in addition to
the maintenance of the work already in progress, is a
closer co-operation of these various bodies with one
another and with the central authority now estab-
lished under the President of the Board of Agriculture
and Fisheries. The outlines of some such scheme
seem plainly indicated by the existing constitution of
these various bodies. The Fisheries Department is
responsible for administration, statistics, and general
advice to the President of the Board on fishery
matters. The Marine Biological Association under-
takes general marine investigations of a national as
distinct from a local character, as well as such local
investigations and experiments as can conveniently
be carried out at its laboratories. The Sea-fishery
Committees need additional powers to enable them
to carry out local scientific investigations more fully
in their respective areas. Perhaps an annual con-
ference between the representatives and experts of
these bodies and the officials of the Fishery Depart-
ment, for the express purpose of drawing up plans of
work for the ensuing year, would, in the first instance,
be the best means of leading up to more intimate
co-operation and organization.

The Reports on the North Sea Investigation so far
published deal only with the work of the earlier years
72 BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES

of the investigations; but already the great prospec-
tive value of the results is fully apparent. The
Marine Biological Association has carried out the
portion of the general scheme entrusted to it with
energy and success; and Englishmen have no need
to fear comparison with the work done in other
countries.
ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

This matchless horse
Is the true peavl of every caravan.
Sir F. H. Dovyie.

THE views and writings of Darwin have influenced
in an unexpected way the nature of the work carried
on by biological investigators during the past fifty
years. To a great extent, whilst generally holding
the doctrines he held, they have forsaken his methods
of inquiry.

If animals and plants have arrived at their present
state by descent with modification from simpler forms,
it ought to be possible by careful searching to trace
the line of ancestry; and it is this fascinating but
frequently futile pursuit which has dominated the
minds of many of our ablest zoologists for the last
thirty years. To such an extent has this pedigree-
hunting been carried that there is scarcely a group of
invertebrates from which the vertebrates have not been
theoretically derived; and one of the ablest of our
physiologists has used his great powers in the attempt
to trace the origin of the backboned animals from a
spider-like creature, and has exercised his ingenuity
in a plausible but unconvincing effort to equate the
organs of a king-crab with those of a lamprey. This
appeal to comparative anatomy and the consequent
neglect of living animals and their habits are no doubt
partly due to the influence of Huxley, Darwin’s most
brilliant follower and exponent. He had the engineer’s

73
74.  ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

way of looking at the world, and his influence was
paramount in many schools. The trend which biology
has taken since Darwin’s time is also partly due to a
fervent belief in the recapitulation theory, according
to which an animal in developing from the egg passes
through phases which resemble certain stages in the
past history of the ancestors of the animals. For
example, there is no doubt that both birds and
mammals are descended from some fish-like animal
that lived in the water and breathed by gills borne on
slits in the gullet, and every bird and mammal passes
through a stage in which these gill-slits are present,
though their function is lost, and they soon close up
and disappear. In the hope, which has been but
partially realized, that a knowledge of the stages
through which an animal passes on its path from the
ovum to the adult would throw light on the origin of
the race, the attention of zoologists has been largely
concentrated on details of embryology, and a mass of
facts has already been accumulated which threatens to
overwhelm the worker.

The two chief factors which play a part in the origin
of species are heredity and variation, and until we
know more about the laws which govern these factors,
we cannot hope to arrive at any satisfactory criteria
by which we can estimate the importance of the data
accumulated for us by comparative anatomists and
embryologists. Signs are not wanting that this view
is beginning to be appreciated. The publication of
‘Materials for the Study of Variation’ by Mr. Bateson
some years ago shows that there exists a small but
active school of workers in this field; and recent
congresses on hybridization give evidence that in
America, on the Continent, and in Great Britain,
one of the most important sides of heredity is being
minutely and extensively explored. Professor Cossar
Ewart’s experiments, which we shall attempt to sum-
LTELEGONY 75

marize, deal with heredity and cognate matters, and
although they are so far from complete that the
results hitherto obtained cannot be regarded as final,
they mark an important stage in the history of the
subject.

Twelve years ago Professor Ewart began to collect
materials for the study of the embryology of the horse,
about which, owing to the costliness of the necessary
investigations, very little is at present known. At
the same time he determined to inquire into certain
theories of heredity which have for centuries influ-
enced the breeders of horses and cattle, and the belief
in which has played a large part in the production of
our more highly bred domestic animals. Foremost
amongst these is the view widely held amongst
breeders that a sire influences all the later progeny of
a dam which has once produced a foal to him. This
belief in the ‘infection of the germ,’ or ‘throwing-
back’ to a previous sire, is probably an old one,
possibly as old as the similar faith in maternal im-
pressions which led Jacob to placed peeled wands
before the cattle and sheep of his father-in-law Laban.
The phenomenon has recently been endowed with a
new name—Telegony. Since the publication of Lord
Morton’s letter to Dr. W. H. Wollaston, President of
the Royal Society, in 1820, it has attracted the atten-
tion, not only of practical breeders, but of theoretical
men of science. The supporters of telegony, when
pressed by opponents, having almost always fallen
back on Lord Morton’s mare, it will be well to recall
the chief incidents in the history of this classic animal.

It appears that early in last century Lord Morton
was desirous of domesticating the quagga. He
succeeded in obtaining a male, but, failing to procure
a female, he put him to a young chestnut mare of
seven-eighths Arab blood which had never been bred
from before. The result was the production of a
76  ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

female hybrid apparently intermediate in character
between the sire and the dam. A short time after-
wards Lord Morton sold his mare to Sir Gore
Ouseley, who bred from her by a fine black Arabian
horse. The offspring of this union, examined by
Lord Morton, were a two-year-old filly and a year-
old colt. He describes them as having

‘the character of the Arabian breed as decidedly as can be
expected where fifteen-sixteenths of the blood are Arabian, and
they are fine specimens of that breed; but both in their colour
and in the hair of their manes they havea striking resemblance
to the quagga.’

The description of the stripes visible on their coats is
careful and circumstantial, but the evidence of the
nature of the mane is less convincing :

‘Both their manes are black; that of the filly is short, stiff,
and stands upright, and Sir Gore Ouseley’s stud-groom alleged
that it never was otherwise. That of the colt is long, but so
stiff as to arch upwards and to hang clear of the sides of the
neck, in which circumstance it resembles that of the hybrid.’

This is the classical—we might almost say the test
—case of telegony: the offspring resembled not so
much the sire as an earlier mate of the dam. The
facts related tended to confirm the popular view, and
that view is now widely spread. Arab breeders act on
the belief, and it is so strongly implanted in the minds
of certain English breeders that they make a point of
mating their mares first with stallions having a good
pedigree, so that their subsequent progeny may
benefit by his influence, even though poorly-bred sires
are subsequently resorted to.

The evidence of Lord Morton’s mare convinced
Darwin of the existence of telegony. After a careful
review of the case, he says: ‘There can be no doubt
that the quagga affected the character of the offspring
subsequently got by the black Arabian horse.’ Darwin,
SUPPORTERS OF TELEGONY "7

however, latterly came to the conclusion that telegony
only occurred rarely, and some years before his death
expressed the opinion that it was ‘a very occasional
phenomenon.’ Agassiz believed in telegony. He was
strongly of opinion

‘that the act of fecundation is not an act which is limited in
its effect, but that it is an act which affects the whole system,
the sexual system especially; and in the sexual system the
ovary to be impregnated hereafter is so modified by the first
act that later impregnations do not efface that first impression.

Romanes also believed that telegony occasionally
occurred. He paid a good deal of attention to the
matter, commenced experiments in the hope of settling
the question, and corresponded at length on this
subject with professional and amateur breeders and
fanciers. The result of his investigations led him to
the conclusion ‘that the phenomenon is of much less
frequent occurrence than is generally supposed. In-
deed, it is so rare that I doubt whether it takes place
in more than 1 or 2 per cent. of cases.’ He adds
that his professional correspondents regard this as an
absurdly low estimate. Tegetmeier and Sutherland
believe that telegony exists in dogs and other animals ;
and Captain Hayes, whose opinion probably coincides
with that of the majority of veterinary surgeons, takes
for granted that it occurs in horses. A controversy
some years ago in the Contemporary Review shows us
that Mr. Herbert Spencer was a firm upholder of tele-
gony, and that he had a theory of his own as to the
mode in which it is brought about.

The explanations put forward by the supporters of
telegony as to the mechanism by which it is effected
differ widely. It will be well to discuss them here.
The view that telegony is due to the mental im-
pression of the dam, held by Sir Everard Home and
many others since his day, has nothing to support it ;
78 ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

but the other two views, which may be termed (1) the
infection hypothesis, and (2) the saturation hypothesis,
demand more detailed treatment.

The infection hypothesis supposes that the repro-
ductive organs of the mother are specifically altered
or infected by bearing offspring to a previous sire.
The method by which this is effected is now most
commonly thought to be by a fusion or blending of
some of the unused germ-cells of the first sire with
the unripe ovain the ovary of the dam. Physiologists,
however, regard this as very unlikely. Although at
the time that the ovum of a mare is fertilized there
are usually other ova almost mature, or approaching
maturity, these disappear during gestation. Subse-
quent offspring arise from successive crops of ova,
into whose composition it is most improbable that
the earlier spermatozoa could enter. Further, it is
known that in the Equidez the male germinal cells do
not live long within the body of the female; they are
already disintegrating eight days after insemination,
and they probably lose their fertilizing power after
three or four days, if not sooner; hence it is not
possible for them to remain in the body during the
whole of a period of gestation and to fertilize the next
succeeding batch of ova.

The second theory which attempts to account for
the phenomenon of telegony is termed the saturation
hypothesis. In the words of Mr. Bruce Lowe, who
has formulated the theory, we may say that, ‘briefly
put, it means that with each mating and bearing the
dam absorbs some of the nature or actual circulation
of the yet unborn foal, until she eventually becomes
saturated with the sire’s nature or blood, as the case
may be.’ Although not very well expressed, it is
obvious what the author means; and if this saturation
really takes place, it accounts for a good deal more
than telegony. It would affect the whole body and
EXPLANATIONS OF TELEGONY 79

nature of the dam, and not only the reproductive
organs, which, according to Romanes and others, are
alone influenced. There is no doubt that matter can
and does pass from the blood of the embryo into that
of the mother—in certain classes of mammalia, at any
rate. The published Report of the Fourth Inter-
national Congress of Zoology, which met in 1898 at
Cambridge, contains a paper by Professor Hubrecht,
of Utrecht, in which he describes certain blood-cor-
puscles formed in the embryo which undoubtedly
make their way into the maternal bloodvessels and
take part in her circulation. That matter can pass
from the bloodvessels of the embryo to those of the
mother is further demonstrated by the experiments of
M. Charrin, who showed that diphtheritic toxins in-
jected into the embryos of a rabbit caused the death of
the mother within five days, and further that a rabbit
can be rendered immune by injecting anti-diphtheritic
toxins into the embryos.

There is nothing in these experiments to show that
the nature of the dam is radically altered; and in the
Equidze, in which, as we have seen, the classical case of
telegony occurred, there is a strong presumption
against any such transference of blood -corpuscles
from the embryo to the mother. Still, taking all the
facts into consideration, it appears that, if telegony
exists, it is more likely to be brought about by satura-
tion than by the direct infection of the ovary; though,
if the former method be accepted, telegony must be
confined to the mammals and the comparatively few
other animals whose young spend some time in the
body of the mother and are not hatched out from eggs
which have lost their connexion with the body of the
mother at an early stage.

Before passing on to consider the views of those
who hold that telegony does not exist and to see
what light the Penycuik experiments throw on the
80 ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

subject, a word or two may be said about Mr. Herbert
Spencer's theory of the mode in which telegony, in
which he firmly believed, is brought about. He sug-
gested that some ‘germ-plasm’ passes from the embryo
into the mother and becomes a permanent part of her
body, and that this is diffused throughout her whole
structure until it affects, amongst other organs, the
reproductive glands. This view, which in some
respects recalls the pangenesis of Darwin, is inter-
mediate between the saturation and the infection
hypotheses. Professor Ewart refers to it as ‘indirect
infection.’

Weismann, to whom we owe the term telegony,
came to consider the facts for and against its existence
in connexion with his well-known inquiry into the
inheritance of acquired characters. If telegony be
true, there is no need to look further for a clear case
of the inheritance of a character which has been
acquired during the lifetime of the parent. The
quagga-ness—if one may be permitted to use such
an expression—of Lord Morton’s mare was acquired
when she was put to the quagga or shortly afterwards,
and was transmitted to her foals. A clearer case of a
character acquired during lifetime and transmitted to
offspring could not be imagined. Weismann does not
absolutely deny the possibility of the existence of tele-
gony, but he would like more evidence. In the Con-
temporary Review he writes: ‘I must say that to this
day, and in spite of the additional cases brought for-
ward by Spencer and Romanes, I do not consider that
telegony has been proved.’ And further: ‘I should
accept a case like that of Lord Morton’s mare as satis-
factory evidence if it were quite certainly beyond
doubt. But that is by no means the case, as Settegast
has abundantly proved.’ He would, in fact, refer the
case to reversion, and quotes Settegast to the effect
that every horse-breeder is well aware that the cases
OPPONENTS OF TELEGONY 81

are not rare when colts are born with stripes which
recall the markings of a quagga or zebra. We shall
return to this point later.

A considerable number of German breeders support
the contention of Weismann that telegony is as yet
unproven, and it may be pointed out that in Germany,
on the whole, breeders have had a more scientific
education than in England, and that in that country
science is regarded with less aversion or contempt
than is usually the case among so-called practical men
in England. Settegast has been quoted above: neither
he nor Nathusius, a leading authority on domestic
cattle, has ever met with a case of telegony, and the
same is true of Professor Kuhn, the late Director of
the Prussian Agricultural Station at Halle. We may
mention one more case of an experienced breeder who
was equally sceptical—the late Sir Everett Millais,
who was, as is well known, an authority of great
weight in the matter of dog-breeding. He writes as
follows, in a lecture entitled ‘Two Problems of
Reproduction’:

‘T may further adduce the fact that in a breeding experience
of nearly thirty years’ standing, during which I have made all
sorts of experiments with pure-bred dams and wild sires, and
returned them afterwards to pure sires of their own breeds, I
have never seen a case of telegony, nor has my breeding-stock
suffered. I may further adduce the fact that I have made over
fifty experiments for Professor Romanes to induce a case of
telegony in a variety of animals—dogs, ducks, hens, pigeons,
etc.—but I have hopelessly failed, as has every single experi-
menter who has tried to produce the phenomenon.’

It is thus evident that there was a considerable
body of opinion, both practical and theoretical, for and
against telegony; and that a re-investigation of the
subject was urgently needed. Such a re-investigation
has been begun by Professor Ewart at Penycuik.
Since the clearest and most definite evidence of this

6
82 ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

throwing back to a previous sire is derived from the
crossing of different species of the Equide, it was
desirable to repeat the experiment of Lord Morton.
This is now unfortunately impossible, because the
quagga is extinct. The zebra is, however, still with
us, and the mating of a zebra stallion with every
variety of horse, pony, and ass, and subsequently
putting the dam to pure-bred sires, has been the more
important part of the numerous experiments carried
on in the Midlothian village some ten miles south-
west of Edinburgh.

Before considering in detail the result of the experi-
ments it will be necessary to say a few words on the
question of the various species of zebra; and since,
like Weismann, Professor Ewart explains certain of
the phenomena attributed to telegony by reversion,
it will be as well to inquire how far reversion is
known amongst the Equide, and what evidence we
have that the ancestor of the horse was striped.

Matopo, the zebra stallion from which Professor
Ewart had, some eight years ago, bred eleven zebra-
hybrids from mares of various breeds and sizes,
belongs to the widely distributed group of Burchell’s
zebras. Many sub-species or varieties are included in
this group, which, as regards the pattern of the stripes,
passes—in certain varieties found in Nyassaland—into
the second species, the mountain zebra, once common
in South Africa. The third species is the Grévy’s
zebra of Shoa and Somaliland; it is probably this
species which attracted so much attention in the
Roman amphitheatres during the third century of our
era. A pair of Somali zebras were presented to the
late Queen some years ago by the Emperor Menelik,
and for a time were lodged in the Zoological Gardens,
Regent’s Park. This species measures about fifteen
hands high, is profusely striped, and stands well apart
from the other two groups. It is important to note
ANCESTRAL HORSES 83

that in Professor Ewart’s opinion it is the most
primitive of all the existing striped horses.

There is no direct evidence that the ancestors of
horses were striped. Certain observers think that
some of the scratches on the life-like etchings on
bone, left us by our palzolithic cave-dwelling ances-
tors, indicate such stripes; but little reliance can be
placed on this. On the other hand there is much
indirect evidence. Every one who has an eye for a
horse, and who has travelled in Norway, is sure to
have noticed the stripings, often quite conspicuous,
on the dun-coloured Norwegian ponies. Colonel
Poole assured Darwin that the Kathiawar horses had
frequently ‘stripes on the cheeks and sides of the
nose.’ Breeders are well aware that foals are often
born with stripes, usually on the shoulders or legs,
less frequently on the face. Such stripes as a rule
disappear as the colt grows up, but can often be de-
tected in later life for a short time after the coat has
been shed; they are sometimes only visible in certain
lights, and then produce somewhat the same im-
pression as a watered silk. From the facts that more
or less striped horses are found all over the Old
World; that in Mexico and other parts of America
the descendants of horses which were introduced by
the Spaniards and which afterwards ran wild are
frequently dun-coloured and show stripes; that foals
are frequently striped; and that mules not un-
commonly have leg and shoulder stripes, the inference
is largely justified that the ancestors of all our horses
were striped.

The hypothesis of reversion has recently been called
in question, and no doubt the term has been much
abused. Animals and plants have been said to revert
to some remote ancestor when they have varied in
some particular, and this variation has then been
described as a primitive character possessed by the

6—2
84  ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

ancestor ; thus there has been much arguing in and
about a vicious circle. But the fact that a term has
been illogically applied does not destroy the existence
of that which the term signifies, and there can be no
doubt that reversion exists. That it exists in the
Equidz is shown by the following proofs: (1) The
ancestors of the horse had four premolar teeth in the
upper jaw; the modern horse has lost, or is losing, the
first of these, and as a rule has only three. When the
first is present—the so-called wolf-tooth—it is small,
and soon disappears. Zebras usually retain the
ancestral number. A few years ago Professor Ewart
had a Shetland pony in which the first premolar was
relatively nearly as large as it is in hipparion, one of
the supposed ancestors of the horse. (2) There is no
doubt that the horse is descended through three-toed
ancestors from five-toed ancestors. All trace of the
latter condition is now lost in development, but an
embryo horse six weeks old has three toes as com-
pletely formed as those of a rhinoceros. The outer
toes then begin to dwindle, and the newly-born foal
supports itself on its central digit alone; but horses
are occasionally born with two digits, each encased in
a hoof, and at very rare intervals with three. Czesar’s
favourite horse was polydactylous, and so was Alex-
ander’s Bucephalus. Major Waddell, in his book on
the Himalayas, refers to a creamy fawn - coloured
pony, which ‘had a black stripe down the spine...
broad black stripes over the shoulders, flanks, and
legs, and dappled spots over the haunches.’ Many
other instances might be quoted, but enough has been
said to show that reversion is found in the Equide, as
in other families of animals.

We now pass to the experiments made at Penycuik
in crossing the zebra Matopo with various mares of
different breeds.

1. Matopo was first mated with Mulatto, one of Lord
stg ofpy IOS OT

‘OdOLV IN

pial

 

 

 
STRIPED FOALS 35

Arthur Cecil’s black West Highland ponies. The
result was the hybrid Romulus, which on the whole,
both in mental disposition and bodily form, took more
after his father than his mother. His striping was
€ven more marked than that of his sire. He had a
semi-erect mane, which was shed annually. The
pattern of the markings, on both body and face, re-
semble the stripes on a Somali zebra—which, as we
have seen, is regarded by Professor Ewart as the
most primitive type—more than they resembled that
of any of Burchell’s zebras. The profuse striping is
a point of difference between this hybrid and Lord
Morton’s. The quagga-hybrid was less striped than
many dun-coloured horses (see illustration).

The mother Mulatto was next mated with a highly-
bred grey Arab horse, Benazrek. The offspring
agreed in all respects with ordinary foals; it had,
however, a certain number of indistinct stripes which
could only be detected in certain lights. The stripes
were not nearly so clear as in a foal bred by Mr.
Darwin from a cross-bred bay mare and a thorough-
bred horse, and they disappeared entirely in about
five months.

Mulatto has produced a third foal to Loch Corrie,
a sire belonging to the Isle of Rum group of West
Highland ponies, and closely resembling its mate.
This foal was about as much striped as its immediate
predecessor. In both cases the pattern of the stripe
differed not only from that of Matopo, the previous
sire, but from that of the hybrid Romulus. These
two foals seem to lend some support to telegony ; but
the evidence which might be drawn from the second
of them is destroyed by the fact that the sire, Loch
Corrie, has produced foals from two West Highland
mares, one brown and one black, and each of these
foals has as many and as well-marked stripes as the

foal of Mulatto.
86 ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

2. Four attempts were made to cross the zebra
with Shetland ponies: only one succeeded. The
hybrid was a smaller edition of Romulus. The dam
Nora had been bred from before, and had produced
by a black Shetland pony a foal of a dun colour which
was markedly striped. After the birth of the hybrid
she was put to a bay Welsh pony; the resulting foal
had only the faintest indication of stripes, which soon
disappeared. It is a remarkable fact that Nora’s foals
were more striped before she had been mated with
the zebra than afterwards.

3. Five Iceland ponies were mated with Matopo,
of whom one produced, in 1897, a dark - coloured
hybrid. The dam, Tundra, was a yellow and white
skewbald, which had previously produced a light bay
foal to a stallion of its own breed. Her third foal
(1898) was fathered by a bay Shetland pony, and in
coloration closely resembled its dam. There was
no hint of infection in this case. In 1899 Professor
Ewart bred from this mare, by Matopo, a zebra-
hybrid of a creamy fawn colour, and so primitive in
its markings that he believes it to stand in much the
same-relation to horses, zebras, and asses as the
blue-rock does to the various breeds of pigeons (see
illustration).

4. Two Irish mares, both bays, produced hybrids
by Matopo, and subsequently bore pure-bred foals.
One of the latter was by a thoroughbred horse, the
other by a hackney pony. The foals were without
stripes, and showed no kind of indication that their
mother had ever been mated with a zebra.

5. Although Professor Ewart experimented with
seven English thoroughbred mares and an Arab, he
only succeeded in one case. The mare produced twin
hybrids, one of which, unfortunately, died immediately
after birth. In the summer of 1899 the same mare
produced a foal to a thoroughbred chestnut ; ‘ neither
‘(6691 NYO) GIO HINOW V NAHM “(OdOLVN Ad) NHOL UIS “TYOd-CINAAH
UHH ANY ‘(8691 NYO) TUIO SNONIO ‘TVOd YAH “(ANOd GNVIAOI NY) VUCNAL

 
EXPERIMENTS WITH RABBITS 87

in make, colour, nor action’ does it in any way re-
semble a zebra or a zebra-hybrid.

_ 6 A bay mare which had been in foal to Matopo
for some months miscarried. Here—if there is any-
thing in the direct infection theory—the unused germ-
cells of the zebra had a better chance than usual of
reaching the ova from which future offspring are to
arise, yet neither of the two foals which this mare
subsequently produced to a thoroughbred horse ‘in
any way suggests a zebra.’

The above is the record of the successful experi-
ments which have been tried at Penycuik, with a view
of throwing light on the existence of telegony in the
Equide. Experiments have also been made with
other animals, such as rabbits, dogs, pigeons, fowls,
and ducks. Space allows us to quote but one. Six
white doe rabbits, all of which had borne pure white
offspring to white bucks, were crossed with wild
brown rabbits. The result was forty-two young
rabbits, all of a bluish-black colour, which in a very
short time turned to a brown. These, at the time of
writing, were about half grown, and Professor Ewart
tells us that it was almost impossible to distinguish
them from a full-blooded wild rabbit kept in the same
enclosure. The half-breeds, however, were tamer
and slightly lighter in colour. The mother does next
bred with white bucks again, and in every case bred
true. The pure white young showed no trace of
throwing back to a previous sire.

A phenomenon somewhat similar to telegony, and
one which seems at present quite unexplained, is that
a hen which has been crossed with a cock of another
breed often lays eggs whose shell is no longer like
that of its own breed, but in colour, and frequently in
texture, resembles that of the breed with which it has
been crossed. Mr. Bulman has recorded a case of this
in the pages of ‘Natural Science.’ Some Orpington
88 ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

fowls which laid eggs of a buff tint were allowed to
run loose in a large yard with fowls of various breeds.
After a few months they were confined in separate
pens again, and for several weeks afterwards they
continued to lay white eggs. There seems to be no
doubt of the existence of this curious phenomenon ; it
is mentioned by Gadow in his volume on ‘Birds,’ in
Bronn’s ‘ Thierreich,’ by Nathusius in the Journal fir
Ornithologie, and in Newton's ‘ Dictionary of Birds.’
When one calls to mind that the shell is deposited by
a special shell-gland which is in no way connected
with the ovary, but is a part of the quite distinct
oviduct, and that the change in the colour of the egg-
shell must be caused by some change brought about
in this gland by cross-fertilization, we begin to recog-
nize how mysterious and inexplicable are many of the
problems which affect breeding.

Throughout his account of his experiments Pro-
fessor Ewart is extremely cautious in claiming to
prove anything, but we think he has justified his claim
to have shown that telegony by no means always
occurs, as many breeders believe. His experiments
so far support the view of Continental mule-breeders
that telegony, if it takes place, occurs very seldom.
But the experiments are not complete, and it is much
to be hoped that they may be continued. If it should
subsequently appear that out of fifty pure-bred foals
from dams which have been previously mated with
the zebra no single instance of telegony be found, the
doctrine may surely be neglected by breeders; and if
in the experiments which are now being carried out
with various other mammals and birds telegony does
not occur, the doctrine may be relegated to what the
Americans would term the ‘dumping-ground’ of old
superstitions. The present state of the matter may be
summed up in the Professor's own words: ‘The ex-
periments, as far as they have gone, afford no evidence
EXPERIMENTS WITH PIGEONS 89

in support of the telegony hypothesis.’ Nothing has
occurred which is not explicable on the theory of
reversion.

Partly owing to a certain doubt or distrust which has
recently been expressed as to the existence of reversion,
and no doubt partly because it is reasonable to hold
that the phenomena of telegony may all be referred
to reversion, Professor Ewart has made some direct
experiments on this subject. Darwin, Tegetmeier,
and many others have made numerous breeding
experiments on pigeons, with the result that we may
say that the crossing of extreme forms usually tends
to reversion in the offspring. The ancestor of the
domestic pigeon is known with tolerable certainty to
have been the blue-rock pigeon, Columba livia. By
crossing a male barb-fantail and a female barb-spot
Darwin produced a bird ‘which was hardly distin-
guishable from the wild Shetland species’ of blue-
rock. In his description of this experiment, Darwin,
as Weismann points out, confines himself chiefly to
the coloration: he does not inquire how far reversion
also appears in the structure of the bird. This
question has been answered by one of Professor
Ewart’s many experiments with pigeons. He crossed
a white fantail cock with the offspring of an owl and
an archangel. The fantail was pure white, with thirty
feathers in its tail, and was so prepotent as to produce
white offspring when mated with blue pouters. The
owl-archangel was more of an ow! than an archangel.
One of the young of this complex pair had the
coloration of the Shetland rock pigeon, which has
a white croup and the wings in front of the bars a
uniform blue; the other resembled the Indian rock
pigeon in having a blue croup and the front part of
the wings chequered. In this second bird there was
complete reversion as to colour, and in the first,
wherever measurements were possible, there was
90  ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

practically complete reversion also as to form. ‘In
its measurements it is relatively almost identical with
a typical Shetland blue-rock.’ The tail feathers are
twelve in number, and show but the faintest indica-
tions of any colour-inheritance from their immediate
parents. An additional point of interest is that in
disposition this bird seems wilder and more shy
than the domesticated breeds usually are. It is
vigorous and hardy, and is much admired by the
fanciers.

Another bird whose wild ancestor is known with
a high degree of certainty is the barn-door fowl. It
has sprung from the jungle fowl, Gallus bankwwa, and
less remotely from the game fowl. Hence, if fowls of
different breeds are crossed, the offspring, should
reversion occur, ought to resemble either the jungle
fowl or their less remote ancestors, the game fowl.
A dark red-breasted bantam was crossed with an
Indian game Dorking; of the nine chickens which
resulted, six resembled Dorkings, and three in both
form and colour resembled game birds. Two of the
three grew up, and the only visible trace of their
parentage was a double comb inherited from their
cross-bred father. Here again the reversion does not
stop at the colour and form, but extends to disposi-
tion; the birds are very shy, and fly about like wild
birds. The above are but two instances out of many
which might be quoted from the Penycuik experi-
ments; they are, however, unusually clear cases, and
should do something to restore confidence amongst
recent doubters of reversion.

An animal is said to be prepotent when it strongly
impresses its own peculiarities of form, colour, tem-
perament, etc., on its offspring. In the above-men-
tioned experiment with pigeons the owl had been
prepotent over the archangel in the mother of the
offspring which showed such marked reversion.
PREPOTENCY gl

There is no factor in breeding of more importance
than prepotency, and none which it is more difficult
to estimate. The term is necessarily a relative one,
and, further, it may affect some characters and not
others. Often it must go undetected, as in the case
of the leader of a herd of wild cattle, who may be
highly prepotent, but whose prepotency, unless he
is mated with members of another herd displaying
different characters, may pass unnoticed. Breeders
claim to be able to produce cattle so prepotent that
they will produce their like however mated. A well-
known dealer in highly-bred ponies used to boast that
he had a filly so prepotent that, though she were sent
to the best Clydesdale stallion in Scotland, she would
throw a colt showing no cart-horse blood. Prepotency
is usually obtained by inbreeding, which up to a
certain point fixes the character of a race, and in all
cases tends to check variation and reversion—the
Jews, for instance, as a race are strongly prepotent—
but there is no doubt that it may also arise as a sport,
and this is probably its more usual origin in a state of
nature. Professor Ewart, however, believes that in-
breeding is much commoner among wild animals than
has usually been conceded, and he holds the opinion
that the prepotency so induced has played a con-
siderable part in the origin of species. This, if true,
would to some extent take the place of Romanes’
‘physiological selection’; for Romanes also thought
that, though of great importance, variation and natural
selection were insufficient to account for the origin of
species without some factor which would help to
mitigate the swamping effect of intercrossing—some
such agency as the fences of modern farms and cattle-
ranches—without which the famous cattle breeds of
the world would soon disappear in a general ‘ regres-
sion towards mediocrity.’

In inbreeding the great difficulty of the breeder is
92 ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

to know when to stop. Carried too far it undoubtedly
leads to degeneracy. In the ‘Domesticated Animals
of Great Britain,’ Lowe records the case of a gentleman
who inbred foxhounds to such an extent that ‘the race
actually became monstrous and perished.’ Hogs, if
too closely inbred, grow hair instead of bristles; their
legs become short and unable to support the body ;
and not only is their fertility diminished, but the
mothers cannot nourish the young. That infertility
is induced by inbreeding is further shown by some
experiments of Ritzema Bos with rats. From seven
rats of one family and an unrelated male he continued
inbreeding for a period of some six years, and bred
about thirty generations, The average of the numbers
in each litter fell from 74 in 1887 to 47% in 1891 and
34 in 1892. Further, the offspring of inbred parents
are usually weak. Sir Everett Millais estimated that
60 to 70 per cent. of inbred dogs attacked by distemper
were carried off.

On the other hand, inbreeding often succeeds even
when carried to what the ordinary man would con-
sider excess. The ‘Herd-book’ contains the following
case in point. The bull Bolingbroke and the cow
Phoenix were more closely related to one another
than half-brother is to half-sister. They were mated,
and produced the bull Favourite. Favourite was then
coupled with his dam, and produced the cow Young
Phoenix; he was then coupled with his daughter
Young Phoenix, and the world-famed Comet was the
result. Professor Ewart tells us that if there was
little crossing in the production of Comet, there was
still less in that of Clarissa, the mother .of the cele-
brated Restless. An instance of the faith in close
inbreeding which exists in the minds of breeders
occurred in a letter which the F7e/d published in 1898,
in which the writer stated he had heard ‘Mr. Joseph
Osborne, the ablest authority living on English
 

 

 

 

 

MATOPO.

ROMULUS,

To face page 9
RACEHORSES 93

thoroughbreds, decl
‘ are that you cannot now get
much of Birdcatcher.’ pau

So far as is known, no direct investigations have
been made to test how far inbreeding may be carried
in the Equidz ; but, on the other hand, the breeding of
racehorses may perhaps be looked upon as a gigantic
experiment in this direction. Our English thorough-
breds can be traced back to a few imported sires—the
Byerly Turk, imported in 1689; the Darley Arabian, in
1710; and the Godolphin Arabian, in 1730. Since then,
by careful breeding and nutrition, they have increased
on an average some 8 or g inches in height. There is,
however, a widely-spread impression that at present
there is a marked deterioration in the staying power
and in the general ‘fitness’ of the racer. The falling
off is further shown by a fact commented on by
Sir Walter Gilbey—viz., ‘the smallness of the per-
centage of even tolerably successful horses out of
a prodigious number bred at an enormous outlay.’
In support of this he quotes a sentence from the
Times (December 27, 1897), referring to a sale in
which thirty-two yearlings had been sold for 51,250
guineas.

‘ These thirty-two yearlings ’ (said the Times) ‘are represented
by two winners of five races, Florio Rubattino and La Reine,
who have contributed about £2,000 to the total cost ; and there
is not, so far as can be known, a single one of the thirty others
with any prospect of making a racehorse.’

If, then, it is true that the English racehorse is on
the down grade, what steps should be taken to arrest
this descent? Sir Everett Millais restored a pack of
basset hounds by crossing them with a bloodhound,
the original forefather of bassets. The resulting pups
were bassets in form, but not quite bassets in colour;
when, however, these cross-breeds were mated with
bassets the majority of the pups turned out to be
94 ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

perfect bassets both in shape and coloration. This
indicates that one way to rejuvenate the racehorse
would be to have recourse to a new importation of
the best Arab mares that the plains of Arabia can
produce. Breeders hesitate to adopt this course,
because their present breed is not only larger, but,
over very short distances, fleeter than its forefathers.
The shortening of the course in recent years is
probably a further sign of the degeneracy of our
present racers. Were new blood introduced, and
more three- or four-mile races instituted, we should
doubtless soon have a return to the champion form
of bygone days. Another method would be to import
some of the racers of Australia or New Zealand,
and cross them with the home product. Different
surroundings, food, etc., soon influence the consti-
tution, and this being so, it would be advisable
to select those horses of pure descent which have
been longest subjected to these altered conditions.
Thus the chance of reversion occurring would be
increased.

It has been noticed more than once in the preced-
ing pages that a young animal showing reversion
is strong and vigorous. It is the belief of dog-
breeders that those members of an inbred litter which
show reversion are the strongest and best. Similarly,
experience shows that if an inbred sire and dam pro-
duce a dun-coloured striped foal it almost always
turns out well. Reversion is accompanied by a re-
juvenescence; it is as though the young animal had
appeared at an earlier period in the life-history of the
race, before the race had undergone those changes in
the way of deterioration which so often accompany
inbreeding.

Wild animals are frequently thought to be pre-
potent over tame ones, but of the eleven zebra-hybrids
bred at Penycuik only two took markedly after their
HYBRIDS 95

sire, the zebra Matopo.* There are other experiments
recounted which tell the other way, and at present this
matter remains in a state of considerable uncertainty.
Further experiment may probably show that though
in most cases the oldest type is likely to prevail, the
offspring may take after the most inbred of its parents.
The matter is not altogether as simple as the above
statements would imply. For instance, a sport is often
strongly prepotent. Standfuss’s experiments in hybri-
dizing butterflies tend to show this, and Mr. Galton
even looks upon prepotency as a sport or an aberrant
variation. These butterfly experiments also indicate
that the male is usually prepotent over the female ;
but so many questions of nutrition, the maturity of
the germ-cells, etc., enter into these intricate problems
that it is exceedingly difficult to disentangle the several
factors which play a part in the constitution of every
living being.

Some years ago it used to be taught that species
are infertile zwter se; nowadays it almost seems that
we are giving up the idea of species altogether. No
two naturalists take precisely the same view of what
constitutes a species, and no one has succeeded in
defining shortly and clearly what a speciesis. The
intersterility test has broken down ; the common goose
and the Chinese goose, the common duck and the
pintail duck, various species of pheasant, the ox of
Europe and the American bison or the Indian zebu,
not only breed together, but yield hybrids which are
themselves fertile; and the same is true of many
plants. Why the hybrids of Equidz should prove
sterile is not clear.

This article must not close without a word or two

* The illustration shows the difference between the facial
marks of the zebra and those of the hybrid. The latter, in
this respect, bears much the same relation to the former as a
blue-rock pigeon does to a fancy type.
96 ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

more about the zebra-hybrids. It is mentioned above
that only two out of the eleven which have already been
born took strongly after their father. This is no proof
that the wilder animal is not prepotent. Recent ex-
periments in hybridizing echinoderms, star-fish, sea-
urchins, etc., show that the hybrid tends to resemble
that species whose germ-cells are most nearly
approaching maturity ; and thus the nutrition of the
germ-cell is but another thread in that complex tangle
of heredity which must not be overlooked in attempting
to estimate the part played by prepotency and reversion.

Those who have seen the young hybrids playing
about in the fields at Penycuik must agree that they
are the most charming and compactly built little
animals possible; ‘marvellous steeds, striped as a melon
is, all black and white, as the poet has it. Of Romulus,
the eldest of the herd, Professor Ewart says:

‘When a few days old [he] was the most attractive little
creature I have ever seen. He seemed to combine all the
grace and beauty of an antelope and a well-bred Arab foal... .
What has struck me from the first has been his alertness and
the expedition with which he escapes from suspicious or un-
familiar objects. When quite young, if caught napping in the
paddock, the facility with which he, as it were, rolled on to his
feet and darted off was wonderful.’

The writer can fully confirm all the praise Professor
Ewart lavishes on his pets; in truth Romulus has
been well described as a ‘bonnie colt with rare quality
of bone ... and with the dainty step and dignity of
the zebra.’ Remus, the offspring of the Irish mare,
was from the first more friendly than his half-brother ;
he objected less to the process of weaning, and
promised to be the handsomest and fleetest of the
existing hybrids.

On the whole the hybrids are unusually hardy; at
the time of writing only two have been lost—one, a
twin, which died almost as soon as it was born, and
 

ROMULUS.

Lo pace page 96.
HEALTHINESS OF HYBRIDS 97

another which lived some three months and then
succumbed. It is only fair to say that the dam of the
latter, who was only three years old when the hybrid
was born, had been much weakened by attacks of the
strongylus worm, and that she was the victim of close
inbreeding. Both the zebras and the hybrids which
have been under observation at Penycuik show a
remarkable capacity for recovering from wounds.
Accidental injuries heal with great rapidity. On one
occasion the surviving twin was discovered with a
flap of skin some five inches long hanging down over
the front of the left fetlock. The skin was stitched
into its place again, during which operation the little
hybrid fought desperately, and cried piteously ; but it
soon recovered, the wound healed, and now scarcely
a scar remains. There was no lameness and no swell-
ing either at the fetlock or above the knee. Some
time ago four hybrid colts and three ordinary foals
were attacked by that scourge of the stable, the
strongylus worm. One of the latter died and another
was reduced almost to a skeleton: the hybrids, though
obviously affected, suffered much less than the others,
and soon recovered. It is further noticeable that the
hybrids suffer less from colds and other slight ailments
than the mares and horses amongst which they live.
Thus it seems that Colonel Lugard’s hope has to some
extent proved true. Some years ago, when adminis-
tering British East Africa, he strongly recommended
the breeding of zebra mules from both the horse
and the donkey, believing that they would prove
exceptionally hardy and possibly impervious to the
tsetse fly. So far as Professor's Ewart’s experi-
ments go, the first part of the forecast has proved
correct. Unfortunately, the latter half has not been
justified.

The much dreaded tsetse fly, which has interfered
so seriously with the colonization of whole tracts of

y
98 ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

South Africa, is now known not to be the direct cause
of the disease which follows its puncture, but to be
the means by which the organism which causes the
disease is introduced into the body. In this respect
the tsetse fly resembles the malarial mosquito. It is
not thought that the organism—a hematozoon—
passes through any of the stages of its life-history
within the body of the fly, but that the proboscis of
that insect merely acts like an inoculating needle.
An answer to the important question, Are zebra-
hybrids fly-proof or not? has been attempted.
Professor Ewart generously allowed an experiment
to be tried on two of his hybrids, which were in-
oculated with the hazmatozoon, supplied from the
Pathological Laboratory at Cambridge. The result
was unfortunate, for, although the hybrids resisted
the disease far longer than a mare which was also
inoculated as a control experiment, both ultimately
succumbed.

There is no doubt that it is a comparatively easy
matter to breed these hybrids, and that they are not
only extremely attractive animals to the eye, but hardy
and vigorous, possessed of great staying powers, and
promising to be capable of severe work. It is recog-
nized that one of the gravest difficulties which the
Indian Army Corps has to contend with is the paucity
of mules, both for transport and mountain-battery
work; and at the time of the South African War
a Commission was busily employed purchasing mules
both in Italy and in Texas, and elsewhere. Should
these hybrids turn out as well as they at present
promise, they may fill a want which is acutely felt
by those responsible for the conduct of our frequent
‘small wars,’ and, if bred largely in East Africa, may,

as Colonel Lugard suggested, prove a source of wealth
and revenue in the future.
EXPENSE OF THE EXPERIMENTS 99

We have hitherto said little or nothing about the
book itself with which we have been dealing. The
larger part consists of three articles reprinted from
the Veterinarian and one from the Zoologist; but the
more recent and more important half is the General
Introduction, covering a hundred pages, in which
Professor Ewart sums up the results of his experi-
ments. The form of the work necessarily involves a
good deal of repetition, but in so complex a subject
this is on the whole rather an advantage than other-
wise. Professor Ewart’s style is clear, and his pages
abound in apposite illustrations. The book cannot
fail to attract both the man of science and the practical
breeder.

From what we have said it is evident that the
Penycuik experiments are of the highest interest both
practical and theoretical, and the public spirit and
self-devotion shown by the Edinburgh professor in
carrying them out cannot be too widely recognized.
The expense of feeding and housing some thirty to
forty horses, asses, and zebras is very great, and the
initial expenditure in erecting stables, buying land and
fencing it, is also considerable. It is, perhaps, not too
much to hope that some public body may be willing
to undertake at least a part of the burden. The
Zoological Society of London possesses, not only the
necessary establishment required, including a well-
trained staff, but it also has facilities for obtaining all
kinds of animals which are far greater than those of
any private individual. We hope that the day is not
far distant when experiments of this kind will be
systematically carried on under the direction of the
authorities who control the Gardens in Regent’s
Park. Probably such experiments would have better
prospects of success at a farm in the country than
in London, and there is much to be said for such an

7—2
100 ZEBRAS, HORSES, AND HYBRIDS

experimental farm under the management of a body
like the Zoological Society. Apart from the more
strictly scientific use to which it might be put, it
would serve as a convenient sanatorium for those
animals which cannot stand the fogs and damp of
London.
PASTEUR

Je suis chimiste, je fais des expéviences et je tache de comprendre ce
qu'elles disent.—PasTEUR.

As one walks down the Rue des Tanneurs, in the
small provincial town of Déle, where the main line
from Paris to Pontarlier sends off a branch north-east
towards Besancon, a small tablet set in the facade of a
humble dwelling catches the eye. It bears the follow-
ing inscription in gilt letters: ‘Ici est né Louis Pasteur
le 27 décembre 1822.’

Pasteur came of the people. In the heraldic mean-
ing of the term, he was emphatically not ‘born.’ His
forbears were shepherds, peasants, tillers of the earth,
millers, and latterly, tanners. But he came from
amongst the best peasantry in Europe, that peasantry
which is still the backbone of the great French nation.
The admirable care with which records are preserved
in France has enabled iPasteur’s son-in-law and latest
biographer to trace the family name in the parish
archives back to the ‘beginning of the seventeenth
century, at which period numerous Pasteurs were
living in the villages round about the Priory of
Mouthe, ‘en pleine Franche-Comté.’

The first to emerge clearly from the confused
cluster of possible ancestors is a certain Denis Pas-
teur, who became miller to the Comte d’Udressier,
after whom he doubtless named his son Claude, born
in 1683. Claude in his turn became a miller, and died
in the year 1746. Of his eight children, the youngest,

101
102 PASTEUR

Claude-Etienne, was the great-grandfather of Louis
Pasteur. The inhabitants of Franche-Comté were,
in large part, serfs—‘gens de mainmorte,’ as they
termed them then. Claude-Etienne, being a serf, at
the age of thirty wished to enfranchise himself; and
this he did in 1763, by the special grace of ‘Messire
Philippe-Marie-Francois, Comte d’Udressier, Seigneur
d’Ecleux, Cramans, Lemuy, et autres lieux,’ and on
the payment of four Jouzs-dor. He subsequently
married and had children. His third son, Jean-Henri,
who for a time carried on his father’s trade of tanner
at Besancon, seems to have disappeared at the age
of twenty-seven, leaving a small boy, Jean-Joseph
Pasteur, born in 1791, who was brought up by his
grandmother and his father’s sister.

Caught in the close meshes of Napoleon's conscrip-
tion, Jean-Joseph served in the Spanish campaign of
1812-1813 asa private in the third regiment of infantry,
called ‘le brave parmi les braves.’ In course of time
he was promoted to be sergeant-major, and in March,
1814, received the Cross of the Legion of Honour.
Two months later the abdication had taken place ; and
the regiment was at Douai, re-organizing under the
name of ‘Régiment Dauphin.’ Here was no place for
Jean-Joseph, devoted to the Imperial Eagle and un-
moved by the Fleur-de-lys. He received his dis-
charge, and made his way across country to his
father’s town, Besancon. At Besancon he took up
his father’s trade and became a tanner; and, after one
feverish flush during the Hundred Days, and one
contest, in which he came off victor, with the Royalist
authorities, who would take his sword to arm the
town police, he settled down into a quiet, law-abiding
citizen, more occupied with domestic anxieties than
with the fate of empires.

Hard by the tannery ran a stream, called La
Furieuse, though it rarely justified its name. Across
EARLY DAYS 103

the stream dwelt a gardener named Roqui; amongst the
gardener’s daughters one Jeanne-Etiennette attracted
the attention of, and was attracted by, this old cam-
paigner of twenty-five years. The curious persistence
of a family in one place, combined with the careful
preservation of parish records, enables M. Vallery-
Radot to trace the family Roqui back to the year 1555.
We must content ourselves with Jeanne-Etiennette,
who in 1815 married Jean-Joseph. Shortly afterwards
the young couple moved to Dole and set up house in
the Rue des Tanneurs.

Louis Pasteur’s father was a somewhat slow, reflec-
tive man; a little melancholic, not communicative ; a
man who lived an inner life, nourished doubtless on
the memories of the part he had played on a larger
stage than a tannery affords. His mother, on the
other hand, was active in business matters, hard-
working, a woman of imagination, prompt in
enthusiasm.

Before Louis Pasteur was two years old, his parents
moved first to Marnoz and then to a tannery situated
at the entrance to the village of Arbois; and it was
Arbois that Pasteur regarded as his home, returning
in later life year after year for the scanty absence
from his laboratory that he annually allowed himself.
Trained at the village school, he repeated with his
father every evening the task of the day. He showed
considerable talent, and his eagerness to learn was
fostered by the interest taken in him by M. Romanet,
principal of the College of Arbois. At sixteen he had
exhausted the educational resources of the village ;
and, after much heart-searching and anxious delibera-
tion, it was decided to send the young student to
Paris to continue his studies at the Lycée Saint-Louis.
It was a disastrous experiment. Removed so far from
all he knew and loved, Louis suffered from an in-
curable home-sickness, which affected his health. His
104. PASTEUR

father hearing this, came unannounced to Paris, and
with the simple words, ‘Je viens te chercher,’ took
him home. Here for a time he amused himself by
sketching the portraits of neighbours and relatives,
but his desire to learn was unquenched, and within
a short time he entered as a student at the Royal
College of Franche-Comté at Besancon. This pic-
turesque town, situated only thirty miles from Arbois,
was within easy reach of his home; and, above all,
on market days his father came thither to sell his
leather.

At eighteen Pasteur received the degree of Bachelier
és Lettres, and almost immediately was occupied in
teaching others; but Paris, although once ‘abandoned,
was again asserting its powers of attraction, and by
the autumn of 1842 he was once more following the
courses at the Lycée Saint-Louis. He also attended
the brilliant lectures of Dumas at the Sorbonne, and
vividly describes the scene: ‘An audience of seven
or eight hundred listeners, the too frequent applause,
everything just like a theatre.’ At the end of his first
year in Paris he achieved his great ambition, and suc-
ceeded in entering the Ecole Normale, and entering it
with credit.

For the last year or two Pasteur had been studying
mathematics and physics; at the Ecole Normale he
especially devoted himself to chemistry. Under the
teaching of Dumas and of Balard his enthusiasm re-
doubled, and he passed his final examinations with
distinction. Balard was indeed a true friend. Shortly
after the end of his career at the Ecole Normale, the
Minister of Public Instruction nominated Pasteur to
a small post as teacher of physics at the Lycée of
Tournon. But banishment from Paris meant banish-
ment from a laboratory. Balard intervened, inter-
viewed the Minister, and ended by attaching Pasteur
to his staff of assistants.
CHEMICAL RESEARCHES 105

It must always be remembered that Pasteur was
trained as a chemist—was, in fact, a chemist. In after-
life he attacked problems proper to the biologist, the
physiologist, the physician, the manufacturer; but he
brought to bear on these problems, not the intellect
of one trained in the traditions of natural science,
medicine, or commerce, but the untrammelled intelli-
gence of a richly-endowed mind, ‘organized common
sense’ of the highest order. After the legal, there is,
perhaps, no learned profession so dominated by tradi-
tion, by what our fathers have taught us, as the
medical; and the advances in preventive medicine
which will ever be connected with Pasteur’s name
owe at least something to the fact that he was un-
fettered by any traditions of professional training or
etiquette. Passing from the diseases of the lowest of
the fungi to those of a caterpillar, a fowl, a sheep, until
he reached those of man himself, it must be acknow-
ledged that he approached the art of healing along an
entirely new path.

His first researches were purely chemical—‘ On the
Capacity for Saturation of Arsenious Acid,’ ‘Studies
on the Arsenates of Potassium, Soda, and Ammonia’
—but he had been early attracted to the remarkable
observations of Mitscherlich and others on the optical
properties of the crystals of tartaric acid and its salts.
Ordinary tartaric acid crystals, when dissolved in
water, turn the plane of polarized light to the right;
but another kind of tartaric acid, called by Gay-Lussac
racemic acid, and by Berzelius paratartaric acid—as
M. Vallery-Radot remarks, the name does not matter,
and each is equally terrifying to the lay mind—leaves
it unaffected. In spite of the different actions of the
solutions of these two acids on light, Mitscherlich
held their chemical composition to be absolutely
identical.

This set Pasteur thinking. He repeated the experi-
106 PASTEUR

ments. On examining the crystals of sodium-ammo-
nium salt of racemic acid, he noticed that certain facets
giving a degree of asymmetry were always found on
the crystals of the optically active salts and acids. On
examining the crystals of the racemic acid, he did not
find, as he had expected, perfect symmetry; but he
saw that, whilst some of the crystals showed these
facets to the right, others showed them to the left.
In fact, sodium-ammonium racemate consisted of a
mixture of right-handed and left-handed crystals,
which neutralized one another as regards the polariza-
tion of light, and were thus optically inactive. With
infinite patience Pasteur picked out the right from the
left handed crystals, and investigated the action of
their solutions on polarized light. As he expected,
the one sort turned the plane of polarization to the
left, the other to the right. A mixture of equal
weights of the two kinds of crystals remained optically
inactive. ‘Tout est trouvé!’ he exclaimed ; and rush-
ing from the laboratory, embraced the first man he
came across. ‘C’était un peu comme Archiméde,’ as
his biographer gravely remarks.

His work immediately attracted attention. Biot,
who had devoted a long and strenuous life to the
problems of polarization, was at first sceptical, but,
after a careful investigation, was convinced. Pasteur
began to be talked about in the circle of the Institute.

In the midst of these researches Pasteur’s mother
died suddenly, and her son, overwhelmed with grief,
remained for weeks almost silent and unable to work.
Shortly after this we find the old longing revived, and
Pasteur sought at any cost some post near Arbois,
somewhere not quite out of the reach of those he
loved. Besancon was refused him, but at the begin-
ning of 1849 he replaced M. Persoz as Professor of
Chemistry at Strasbourg.

The newly-appointed Rector of the Academy of
MARRIAGE 107

Strasbourg, M. Laurent, had already gained the
respect and the affection of the professoriate. He and
his family were the centre of the intellectual life of the
town. Within a few weeks of his arrival Pasteur
addressed to the Rector a letter, setting forth in
simple detail his worldly position, and asking the
hand of his daughter Marie in marriage. The wedding
took place on May 29, 1850, and there is a tradition
that Pasteur, immersed in some chemical experiment,
had to be fetched from the laboratory to take his part
in the ceremony at the church. Never was a union
more happy. From the first Madame Pasteur, ani-
mated by the spirit of the Academy of Science, which
always prints ‘Science’ with a capital letter, not only
admitted, but approved the principle that nothing
should interfere with the laboratory; whilst, on his
side, Pasteur always flew to his wife to confide in her
first of all any new discovery, any new advance he had
made in his researches. During the five years passed
at Strasbourg Pasteur continued to work on the border-
line between chemistry and physics. His work on
the polarization of light of the tartaric acid crystals
led him into the question of the arrangement of the
atoms within the molecule. ‘Il éclaire tout ce qu'il
touche! exclaimed the once sceptical but now con-
vinced Biot; and it is hardly too much to say that his
researches were the starting-point of the new depart-
ment of physics which, under the name of stereo-
chemistry, has attained vast developments during the
last quarter of the past century. These researches
were rewarded by the French Government, which in
1853 conferred on him the ribbon of the Legion of
Honour, and received the recognition of our own
Royal Society, which rewarded him in 1856 the
Rumford medal.

It was whilst working at his beloved tartrates that
he made an observation which first directed his atten-
108 PASTEUR

tion towards the problems of fermentation. A German
firm of manufacturing chemists, of whom there were
many in the neighbourhood of Strasbourg, noticed
that impure commercial tartrates of lime, when in
contact with organic matter, fermented if the weather
were warm. Pasteur tested this, and found that, when
racemic acid is fermented under ordinary conditions,
it is only the right-handed variety that is affected ;
and he suggests that this is probably the best way in
which to prepare the left-handed acid.

Before dealing with Pasteur’s work on fermentation
it is well to recall how the matter stood when he
began to study it. From the earliest period fermen-
tation had attracted the attention of mankind, but the
first record of an attempted explanation is that of
Basilius Valentinus, a Benedictine monk and alchemist,
who lived at Erfurt during the latter half of the
fifteenth century. He was, perhaps, more of a phar-
macologist than a chemist, but we owe to him the
introduction of hydrochloric acid, which he made from
oil of vitriol and salt. In his view alcohol existed in
the wort before fermentation began, and fermentation
was a process of purification of this alcohol, in which
the yeast played the part of the impurities. About a
century later van Helmont, a well-to-do physician of
Vilvorde, near Brussels, a kind of regenerate Para-
celsus, noted that when fermentation occurs ‘gas’ is
set free. It was van Helmont, indeed, who invented
the word ‘gas.’ Of the half-dozen words invented by
man—not derived, but created—‘ gas’ is the one which
has most surely come to stay. Curiously enough,
van Helmont’s predecessor, Paracelsus, also invented
two words which have, without the permanency of ‘gas,’
passed into current, though somewhat infrequent, use.
They are ‘gnome’ and ‘sylph,’ the latter, perhaps,
best known as recalling the outline of Miss Henrietta
Petowker in her palmier days. By his new term
FERMENTATION 109

‘gas’ van Helmont did not mean an air or vapour, still
less did he mean an illuminant. He understood by
this term carbon dioxide, and he points out that when
sugary solutions ferment, this gas is given off.

About 1700 Stahl, returning to a view put forward
by Willis in 1659, propounded the first physical view
of fermentation. The ferment was to their minds a
body with a certain internal motion which it trans-
mitted to the fermentable matter. Stahl extended this
view to the processes of putrefaction and decay. One
hundred years later Gay-Lussac taught that the fer-
mentation was set up by the presence of oxygen. The
yeast-cells had been seen and described by Leeuwen-
hoek as far back as 1675, but they seem to have
attracted little attention; and it was not until Schwann
published his researches, the earliest of which is dated
1837, and until Cagniard de Latour, about the same
date, put forward his vitalistic theory—the theory
which attributes fermentation to the action of living
organisms—that they were recognized as playing an
important part in fermentations. Even then they
were not allowed to hold the field. Liebig brought
the weight of his great authority to oppose the
vitalistic theory. In his view the ferment was an
unstable organic compound easily decomposed, which
in decomposing shook apart the molecules of the
fermenting material. This theory and that of Ber-
zelius, who regarded fermentation as a contact action
due to some ‘catalytic’ force, divided between them
the allegiance of the chemical world, when, in the
year 1854, Pasteur was nominated Professor and Dean
of the new Faculty of Science at Lille.

Here, in the centre of the beetroot industry,
Pasteur had ample opportunity to study the pre-
paration of alcohol. The father of one of his students
owned a distillery, and suffered occasional loss from
the fermentations turning sour owing to the formation
110 PASTEUR

of lactic acid. He was willing to place material at the
disposal of the Professor; and Pasteur made endless
experiments, microscopic researches, notes, and at
length had the satisfaction of isolating the organism
which produces the lactic acid fermentation, and of
proving that that, and that alone, was capable of
setting up this particular form of fermentation. Whilst
in the middle of his investigations on milk and the
cause of its turning sour, Pasteur was summoned to
return to Paris, and installed as scientific Director at
his old college, the Ecole Normale.

This was in 1857. The second Empire was at its
zenith, and the Government had little money to spend
on science. Pasteur had to install his laboratory in
a garret, without even a boy to aid him. In this
garret he completed his work on alcohol fermentation,
proved it to be ‘un acte corrélatif d’un phénoméne
vital, d’une organisation de globules.’ During this
work he noted a fact hitherto overlooked. It was
that the alcoholic fermentation is accompanied by
the formation of small quantities of glycerine and of
succinic acid, which had up till that date escaped the
notice of chemists.

During the seven years which followed, Pasteur
was ceaselessly engaged in investigations on fermenta-
tion and on all those processes for which micro-
organisms are responsible. Whilst researching on
the cause of butyric acid formation, he discovered the
remarkable fact that the Bacillus butyricus, which
causes the unpleasant flavour in rancid butter, will
not grow in the presence of free oxygen. Until this
discovery it had been accepted as an axiom that all
living beings, plants as well as animals, require free
oxygen for the manifestation of their energies. Here,
however, was a bacillus which not only did without
oxygen but was injured by its presence. This obser-
vation, it is needless to remark, excited much adverse
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION 111

criticism in the scientific world ; but, as usual, Pasteur
was in the right. From the conditions under which
they grow he suggested the name ‘anaerobic’ for
such bacteria as B. butyricus; and later observers
have shown that many pathogenic micro-organisms
are anaerobic. At the present day bacilli are usually
divided into two groups, those which grow in the
presence of free oxygen (aerobic), and those which will
not grow in the presence of oxygen (anaerobic).

Naturally the question of spontaneous generation
occupied much of Pasteur’s time. The view, that in
certain circumstances living matter originates from
non-living, lasted from the classical times until towards
the end of the last century. The size of the animal
so produced varied, however, inversely with the
growth of our era. Van Helmont in the seventeenth
century had a recipe for producing mice. Place a
piece of linen somewhat soiled in a vessel, add some
grains of corn, flavour with a piece of cheese, and in
twenty-one days the mice will be there, fully adult
-and of both sexes.

About the time that van Helmont died there was
coming to the front in Florence a young Italian poet,
born at Arezzo—in whose cathedral he now lies
buried—who had a singular turn for investigating the
secret workings of organic nature. Francesco Redi
—his name is immortalized in the little larva Redia—
was courtier, poet, doctor, above all zoologist; and
he belonged to that comparatively small section of
teetotallers who have enthusiastically sung the merits
of wine.* By a series of accurate experiments, such

* A volume of Redi’s poems, entitled ‘Bacco in Toscano,’
was published in 1804. Longfellow says of him:

‘Even Redi, when he chanted
Bacchus in the Tuscan valleys,
Never drank the wine he vaunted
In his dithyrambic sallies.’
112 PASTEUR

as nowadays are performed by every cook, Redi
proved conclusively that meat did not spontaneously
produce flies. Shortly afterwards Vallisnieri of Padua
demonstrated that fruit did not of itself give rise to
grubs. In fact, unless an insect deposited its egg in
the fruit, there were no grubs.

The use of the microscope, however, lent a fresh
vigour to the believers in spontaneous generation ;
and, forced to relinquish the mouse and the insect,
they still found satisfaction in germs. In the middle
of the eighteenth century the doctrine was firmly
upheld by an English priest, one Needham, whose
experiments, in spite of the keen, and as we now
know, unanswerable criticisms of the Abbé Spallan-
zani, were so convincing that he was early elected
a Fellow of the Royal Society. From his time till
late in the last century, the question of the spon-
taneous origin of microscopic life has from time to
time troubled the mind of man. Pasteur, Tyndall,
and others have at length laid that ghost. It would
take too much space to discuss all the experiments
made to solve this question. Pasteur’s work did not
escape the liveliest criticism ; and eventually, in order
to settle the matter, he appealed to the Academy of
Sciences to appoint a Commission to report on the
experiments of himself and his opponents. It is need-
less to say that when the Committee met and in-
spected the experiments of Pasteur, and listened to
the excuses of his critics, they pronounced absolutely
in favour of Pasteur.

In 1862 Pasteur succeeded Senarmont as a member
of the Academy of Sciences ; and, it is interesting to
note, he was presented by the mineralogical section.
During this year he had interested himself in the
manufacture of vinegar, which is extensively carried
on in and around Orleans. He investigated the action
of the Mycoderma acett, the mould whose activity
THE BOUQUET OF WINE 113

converts alcohol into acetic acid; and he taught the
manufacturers the importance of pure cultures, show-
ing them how, by a careful manipulation of the
temperature, and by artificially sowing the fungus
which effects the chemical change, the product they
sought could be produced in a week or ten days,
instead of requiring two or three months. This
problem naturally led on to the acetous fermentation
of wine, the cause of great loss to French wine
exporters. Pasteur was able to demonstrate that
the sourness of wine is caused by various foreign
organisms, each of which causes a peculiar flavour
to appear in the wine it attacks. The bouquet of wine
is notoriously a delicate object, easily disturbed; and
the question arose how to check the growth of the
organisms without interfering with the bouquet.
Pasteur solved it as he solved similar problems with
regard to milk. He was able to show that after wine
is properly oxygenated, if it be heated to a tempera-
ture of some 55° to 60° C. the acid-forming micro-
organisms are destroyed, whilst the bouquet is un-
affected. Perhaps one of Pasteur’s greatest triumphs
was his success in demonstrating this to a repre-
sentative assemblage of wine-tasters, notoriously a
very opinionative class of people.

Pasteur’s researches on micro-organisms further
had a profound influence on operative surgery. To
the presence of bacteria is due many of the dangers
which used to follow on operations. If precautions
are taken to exclude the harmful germs much suffering
and danger are avoided. It was about this date—
namely, in the spring of 1865—that Dr. (now Lord)
Lister, who nobly acknowledged the debt he owed to
Pasteur, performed his first operations under anti-
septic treatment at the Glasgow Infirmary. This date
marks an epoch in the history of human suffering.

The chemist Dumas was about this time a member

8
114 PASTEUR

of the French Senate, and in 1865 was charged with
the duty of reporting on the petition of some 3,500
‘propriétaires des Départements séricicoles’ on an
epidemic which had for some years been destroying
the silkworms of Southern France. Dumas was a
native of Alais, a town of the Département Gard,
situated in the centre of the silkworm industry, where
also the distinguished zoologist Quatrefages was born.
Anything that affected Alais affected Dumas; and the
epidemic was destroying the prosperity of his native
town. The disease was indeed becoming serious.
Already in 1849 the silkworms were sickening.
The stage at which the symptoms appeared varied—
sometimes the eggs were sterile; at other times the
silkworms hatched out but to die. If they survived
they became shiny; black spots showed themselves ;
the worms moved with difficulty, refused to eat, and
perished; or, if they lived long enough to pupate,
the pupa either perished or the moth emerged in an
enfeebled state and promptly died.

Efforts had been made to improve the stock by
importing eggs from Spain and Portugal, but the
Peninsula was soon affected. Eggs were then fetched
from Turkey, Greece, and the adjacent islands. These
countries too becoming infected, the French cultivators
sent further afield and brought eggs from Syria and
the Caucasus. Even this resource failed them, and in
1864 every silk-producing country in the world was
infected, with the solitary exception of Japan. The
loss to commerce was prodigious. In a normal year
the value of the cocoons produced in Southern France
is, roughly speaking, about £4,000,000; in the years
1863 and 1864 it had fallen below £1,000,000.

When Dumas first asked Pasteur to investigate the
disease which was ruining large tracts of the South of
France, the latter not unnaturally hesitated. ‘Con-
sidérez, je vous prie, que je n’ai jamais touché un ver
SILKWORM DISEASE 115

asoie. Sij’avais une partie de vos connaissances sur
le sujet, je n’hésiterais pas,’ he wrote to his friend;
but in spite of his hesitation, he left for Alais, and at
once commenced a campaign which lasted during the
summers of the next five years. Almost immediately
on his arrival he detected in the sick silkworms the
corpuscles of Cornalia and Filippi, which we now call
the Micrococcus ovatus. These micrococci are com-
paratively large and very bright; they occur in the
tissues and blood of the silkworm, and are found even
in the eggs of the moth. They cause the disease
known as Pébrine. The occurrence of the micrococci
in the eggs was one of the most important new facts
observed by Pasteur. It was the first recorded
instance of a parasitic organism being conveyed from
one generation to another by the egg; and, although
recently the germ of the Texas fever (allied to the
malarial organism) has been shown to pass from one
brood to another through the egg of the tick which con-
veys it, it is satisfactory to record that the cases in which
this occurs are restricted in number and comparatively
rare. The ease with which Micrococcus ovatus could
be detected suggested a remedy. A child, when
trained, can readily identify the organism. Healthy
moths produce sound eggs and healthy larve ; diseased
moths produce diseased progeny. At the present day,
throughout the silkworm districts of the South of
France, as soon as the moth has deposited her eggs
on the piece of linen provided for that purpose, she is
pinned up with the cloth; and during the ensuing
autumn and winter the women and children are occu-
pied in microscopically examining the body of the
moth, crushed in a little water, for traces of the micro-
coccus. Should any be found, the eggs on the corre-
sponding piece of linen are at once destroyed. Pasteur
also showed that the infected stock spread the disease
by distributing the micrococci on the mulberry-leaves,

8—2
116 PASTEUR

whence they enter the silkworm by the mouth; and
that the sick inoculate the healthy by crawling
over them and piercing the skin with their pointed
claws. He therefore emphasized the importance of
segregating the sound caterpillars.

The above account conveys no impression of the
difficulties under which Pasteur worked. His re-
searches were not only new to himself but to the
world. Processes which at the present day are
carried out by every medical student had to be devised
for the first time. He had to combat the criticism of
scientific men, and to overcome the almost invincible
ignorance of the agriculturist, an ignorance which at
one time advocated the desperate remedy of asperging
with absinthe the leaves of the mulberry on which
the silkworms fed.

Perhaps Pasteur’s greatest difficulty was the fact
that the silkworms did not suffer from Pébrine alone;
and it was some time before he recognized that he
had to deal, not with one disease, but with two. The
second disease, known as the ‘ Flacherie,’ is a disease
of the digestive system caused by overcrowding and
insanitary conditions in the silkworm nurseries. Like
Pébrine, it is caused by a micrococcus, Micrococcus
bombycis. It was whilst investigating this creature
that Pasteur discovered that, although the germ itself
cannot survive a lengthy period of desiccation, it does
in certain circumstances form spores which can survive
conditions fatal to the mature organism. This is the
first case recorded of a pathogenic organism pro-
ducing spores, the existence of which has explained
so many problems in the spread of disease.

During the period from 1865 to 1870 Pasteur was by
no means occupied solely by the silkworm epidemic.
In many respects it was a sad epoch in his life. Only
nine days after his first arrival at Alais he was sum-
moned to Arbois to see his dying father, but arrived
ADMINISTRATIVE WORK 117

too late. In the autumn of the same year he lost his
little daughter Camille, the second who had died. In
1868 he himself was prostrated bya stroke of paralysis,
and, although he slowly recovered, it left traces for
the remainder of his life.

Few distinguished men of science are left to pursue
their investigations undisturbed ; and Pasteur was no
exception. He had much to do with promoting the
publication of the works of Lavoisier, for whose
researches he had the profoundest respect. He
actively intervened in the elections of the Academy
of Science, which appears to consume an infinity of
time. He made some preliminary investigations into
cholera, an outbreak of which towards the end of the
year 1865 carried off 200 victims a day in Paris. He
spent a week at Compiégne as the guest of Louis
Napoleon, and in a series of séances explained the
methods and results of his labours. He wrote on the
work of Claude Bernard; he drew up schemes for
certain reforms in the University; he gave advice on
the higher education of the country, and tried to stem
the troubles of the Ecole Normale. In fact, he drew
lavishly upon his reserve of health and energy until
the breakdown of 1868 was inevitable.

After a tedious recovery he recommenced his work.
The success of his methods had been acknowledged
by the Austrian Government, who conferred on him
in 1868 the prize of 5,000 florins offered to anyone who
should succeed in discovering the best means of deal-
ing with Pébrine. The same year the University of
Bonn conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor
of Medicine; and in 1869 he was elected a foreign
member of the Royal Society. As was to be expected,
detractors were not wanting : but these were silenced
by the campaign undertaken in 1869 by Pasteur on
foreign soil. The Master of the Imperial Household,
Marshal Vaillant, who devoted his declining years to
118 PASTEUR

scientific experiments, had repeated in his apartments
in the Tuileries the observations of Pasteur on the
silkworm disease, and had verified the accuracy of his
conclusions. He suggested to the Emperor that the
Villa Vicentina, a property belonging to ‘the Prince
Imperial, should be placed at Pasteur’s disposal for
further research. This villa, situated a few miles
from Trieste, belonged at one time to the Princess
Elise, one of the sisters of Napoleon I., who had lived
quietly there after the fall of the First Empire. On
her death it passed to her daughter, the Princess
Baciocchi, and she in turn bequeathed it to the Prince
Imperial. It had been a great centre of the silkworn
industry ; but for some years no cocoons had been
produced, owing to the ravages of the disease.

By short stages, owing to his precarious health,
Pasteur made his way to Illyria, taking with him
some sound silk-moth eggs, and during the winter
not only confirmed his previous researches, but re-
established the industry on such a scale that in the
following spring the sale of cocoons from this estate
alone reached the figure of 26,940 francs. During this
winter he dictated to his wife the classic book in
which he recorded the results of his last five years’
work. Pasteur returned to Paris through Munich,
where he had the pleasure of meeting Liebig, one of
the most determined of his adversaries. Although he
was unable to induce the German savant to discuss
scientific affairs, he always dwelt with pleasure on the
courtesy and cordiality with which he was received.

On his return the Emperor nominated him a Senator
for life; but, before the gazette appeared in which the
nomination would have been recorded, war was de-
clared. From his birth Pasteur had been an ardent
patriot, and during the progress of the war he suffered
acutely. So much did he feel the reverses of his
country, and what he regarded as the undue harsh-
STUDIES ON FERMENTATION 119

ness of the victors, that he felt constrained to return
the diploma of Doctor of Medicine which two years
before he had accepted from the University of Bonn,
He did so in a letter which contained some expressions
of feeling with regard to the head of the invading
army. These had better have been omitted, but were
perhaps pardonable under the circumstances; they in
no way excuse the terms of reply which Dr. Naumann,
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Bonn, permitted
himself to use—terms which would be discreditable in
an ill-bred street gamin.

From 1871 to 1876, the year in which he published
his ‘Etudes sur la Biére,’ Pasteur was again largely
occupied with the study of fermentation. Part of his
object was undoubtedly to place the French brewers
on an equality with the German; and in this he
certainly had a large measure of success. To one
who knew Paris under the Second Empire and who
revisits it under the Third Republic, one of the first
changes observable in the life of the caféis the enor-
mous consumption of ‘bocks.’ Pasteur’s work, how-
ever, went far beyond the establishment of a national
industry. He started investigations which have
changed brewing from an art into a science; and his
most fitting memorial in this respect is the bust which
decorates the hall of the Carlsberg Institution at
Copenhagen, an institution devoted to the study of
all problems of fermentation. In his ‘Etudes’ Pasteur
laid great stress on the fact that every fermentation is
brought about by micro-organisms, and he dwells at
length on the marked influence which certain bacteria
exercise on the nature of the fermentations, and on the
character of the beer produced. He did not, however,
see, what Hansen demonstrated in 1883, that many of
the commonest diseases of beer are caused by certain
species of yeast-cell differing specifically from those
which cause its normal fermentation. Indeed, he paid
122 PASTEUR

Pasteur further noted that the bacillus was not
equally fatal in all animals, and that it changed its
character when passed through the body of certain
classes of animals. It was, however, not in studying
the Bacillus anthracis that he made the far-reaching
discovery of the attenuated virus. This he first noted
when at work on chicken cholera, a disease very fatal
in poultry-yards; and he made the important discovery
by one of those happy accidents which only occur to
those who possess the genius for observation. During
his numerous experiments he one day chanced to in-
oculate some fowls with a forgotten culture some
weeks old. To his surprise the chickens, though
made ill, did not succumb; in fact, they rapidly re-
covered. He immediately tried what the effect would
be if these same fowls were inoculated with fresh
cultures of a kind so powerful as to be undoubtedly
fatal to a healthy bird which had never suffered from
the disease. To his delight, the inoculated fowls
resisted the poison, and proved, in fact, immune. This
simple experiment is the basis of the world-wide pro-
phylactic measures which are now being carried on
against all forms of bacterial disease ; and, although
Pasteur’s explanation of the weakening of the virus—
which he attributed to oxygenation—has been shown
to be erroneous, he must still be regarded as the
originator of methods for the production of immunity
by means of artificially attenuated organisms.

If the virus of chicken-cholera can be attenuated,
and when attenuated produces immunity from later
attacks, the same is probably true of other germs
which can be cultivated outside the body. Arguing
in this fashion, Pasteur returned to his study of
anthrax. Here he also succeeded, and in the spring
of 1881 he demonstrated the value of his treatment.
Out of a flock of fifty sheep one-half were inoculated,
the other half were not; the whole flock was then
SUCCESS OF INOCULATION 123

infected with the disease. In less than a month the
uninoculated were dead of ‘charbon,’ the inoculated
were perfectly healthy. The telegram announcing
the result to Pasteur, anxiously waiting in his
laboratory at Paris, ended with the words ‘Succés
épatant !’

So striking a demonstration naturally had a pro-
found effect. It inspired confidence in the treatment.
Since the date of this experiment some millions of
sheep have been inoculated against anthrax, and
several hundred thousand oxen; and it has been
calculated that, within the succeeding twelve years,
seven million francs were saved by this means alone
to French agriculture. Perhaps the convincing nature
of Pasteur’s work in this connexion is best shown
by the fact that the insurance comparties of France
insist on inoculation before they will insure sheep and
cattle.

We have left ourselves but little space to dwell on
the work which occupied the greater part of the last
twelve years of Pasteur’s life. Already, in the midst
of his work on anthrax, he was thinking of rabies; and
in 1881 he proved that it was conveyed through the
saliva of the mad dog, and that it could be communi-
cated to rabbits. Saliva, however, was not in every
case to be depended on. In some cases it failed to
convey the disease. Experiment showed that the
poison was concentrated in the brain. To this day
no one has succeeded in finding the organism—if it
be an organism—which causes rabies. Hence it can-
not be cultivated on gelatine in test-tubes, and no
modified culture of bacteria can be produced, as is
now done in the case of diphtheria and other diseases.
Other means had to be devised. After countless ex-
periments it became evident that, if the spinal cord of
a hydrophobic rabbit be kept dry at a temperature of
25°C. for a couple of weeks, the strength of the virus
124 PASTEUR

has so far vanished that, if an emulsion of the cord be
injected, it produces no rabies, but has only a slight
vaccinating effect. If two days later an emulsion of a
twelve-days-old spinal cord be injected, the vaccinating
effect is stronger; but the body, already inured to
slight doses of the poison, remains unaffected. Thus,
by gradually increasing the strength of the dose, a
virus may at length be injected which would infallibly
produce rabies but for the previous inoculations.
When an animal is bitten by a mad dog, the poison
transmitted takes some time to develop—some weeks
at least, and often many months. If now the artificially
introduced virus ‘gets the start,’ so to speak, of the
naturally introduced poison, by the time the latter is
at its height the animal has become gradually im-
munified to the specific poison and suffers little
harm. The arsenic-eaters of the Tyrol afford an
analogous case. They consume amounts of arsenic
which would infallibly produce peripheral neuritis in
men unaccustomed to such a diet.

It needed no small courage on Pasteur’s part to in-
oculate his fellow-creatures against hydrophobia. In
1885 a boy some nine years old, from Meissengott in
Alsace, was brought by his mother to the laboratory
suffering from fourteen wounds inflicted by a mad dog.
After long consultations with his assistants and the
most anxious deliberations, he consented to the in-
oculation of the boy. The next fortnight was a time
of intense anxiety, but all went well. His second
patient is commemorated by the bronze statue which
ornaments the front of the Pasteur Institute in Paris.
It represents the struggle between a peasant boy,
armed only with his sabot, and a mad dog; the boy
was terribly bitten, but the treatment saved his life.
It is not easy to arrive at an accurate estimate of the
death-rate caused by rabies; but the most careful and
moderate estimates show that, before this treatment
RABIES 125

was in use, some fifteen to twenty out of every
hundred persons bitten by mad dogs died a most
painful and horrible death. During the fourteen years,
from 1885 to 1899, over 23,000 persons known to have
been bitten by rabid dogs have been inoculated at the
Pasteur Institute; and their average mortality has been
04 percent. In 1899, the latest year for which statistics
are available, 1,614 cases were treated, with a mortality
of o'25 per cent. Of these, 1,506 were French and 108
were foreigners. Of the 108 foreigners, 12 came from
Great Britain and 62 from British India. It is little
short of a national disgrace that we should still be
dependent on French aid to succour those amongst us
who are so unfortunate as to be bitten by a mad dog;
but the nation which gave the use of anesthetics to
the world, and which first showed the value of anti-
septics, is largely dependent to-day on foreign aid in
dealing with great outbreaks of all sorts of diseases
within its borders. The German Koch and the
Russian Haffkine are called in to cope with the
cholera in India; we fall back upon the Swiss Yersin
and the Japanese Kitasato to elucidate the true nature
of plague, and to devise methods for combating its
ravages. When rinderpest broke out in South Africa it
was again to Koch that we turned. The unsatisfactory
position of Great Britain in these matters is to some
extent due to a small but active section of society
whose affection for their lapdogs has overpowered
their sense of duty to their neighbours. It is, how-
ever, we fear, still more due to the unintelligent treat-
ment of men of science by the Government of the
country, and to the want of appreciation of the value
of science shown by society at large. If, to balance
the list given a few lines above, we recall the work of
our countryman Major Ross on the malarial parasite,
it serves only to remind us of the difficulties placed
in the way of his research by the officials of the
126 PASTEUR

service to which he belonged and the slightness of
the recognition which for many years he received
from the Government.

In 1874 the French National Assembly voted
Pasteur, as some recognition of his work on seri-
culture, a pension of 12,000 francs a year; nine years
later this was increased to 25,000 francs, and it was
further agreed that the pension should be continued
to his wife and children. In 1881 he was nominated
to represent France at the International Medical
Congress, which met that year in London. The re-
ception accorded him when, with his host, Sir James
Paget, he mounted the platform in St. James’s Hall,
overwhelmed him. ‘C’est sans doute le prince de
Galles qui arrive,’ he remarked to his host, never
dreaming that such acclamations could be meant for
him. The following year he succeeded to Littré’s
fauteuil at the Academy. In 1888 the President of
the Republic opened the Pasteur Institute, which had
been erected and endowed by a public subscription
from all countries and from all classes; and there in
1892 he received a distinguished collection of scientific
men, who had come from all parts of the world to
congratulate him on his seventieth birthday.

Three years later his health began rapidly to fail.
Two strokes of paralysis followed one another at a
short interval, and on September 28, 1895, he died.
He lies buried in the Institute he loved so well. A
nobler monument, or one more worthy of him who
lies therein, has never been erected by man. The
benefits which his simple, strenuous, hard-working,
noble life conferred on humanity cannot be estimated.
They help us, however, to realize the truth of the old
Arabian proverb, ‘ The ink of science is more precious
than the blood of the martyrs.’

M. Vallery-Radot has given what will probably
prove to be the definitive Life of Pasteur. He has
LOVE OF TRUTH iZ7

written at length, and he has written well. That he
is not a man of strict scientific training in no way
detracts from the merit of the work; rather, in many
respects, this makes the book more readable. The
pupils of Pasteur, who are now carrying on his work,
have, out of the abundance of their knowledge, helped
in the more technical portions of the book; whilst
M. Vallery-Radot, from his intimacy and relationship
with the subject of his biography, has been able to
supply those personal details which form so essential
and so interesting a part of every good biography.
For one who knew Pasteur only during the last
decade of his life to attempt any account of his
character may savour of impertinence. Still, it is
impossible to close this article without some tribute
to his simple dignity of manner, and, above all, to his
infinite kindness. No man has done more to lessen
suffering in this world, both in man and in the lower
animals, and probably but few have felt so much
sympathy with suffering in others. As a boy—and
French country boys are not more thoughtful about
the suffering of animals than those of other races—he
refused to go shooting. ‘La vue d’une alouette
blessée lui faisait mal.’ As an old man it was a
touching sight to see him amongst the sufferers under
treatment at the Institut Pasteur, patting the little
children on the head, heartening up the timid and
giving sous to the brave, infinitely tender to the
frightened mothers. ‘Men of science, my Sandra, are
always the humanest,’ as Laura said in ‘Vittoria.’
Another dominating trait in his character was his
unflinching desire for truth; to ‘prove all things,’
and to ‘hold fast that which is good,’ was the
motto of his working life. His success was in no
small measure due to the rigorous tests he applied
at all stages of his investigations; it was also due
to the untiring assiduity with which he worked,
128 PASTEUR

never sparing himself, never in any way thinking of
himself. But, above all, it was due to the intense
thought he bestowed upon his researches. Concen-
trating his intellect upon the problem in question, he
thought out all possible solutions, and was prepared
for all possible eventualities. It was this power of
thought, coupled with a matchless gift of observation
and experiment, that enabled him to leave a name
which cannot be forgotten whilst civilization endures.
MALARIA

Theve in a watlful choy the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies.
Joun Keats: ‘To Autumn.’

It has been said that one-half the mortality of the
human race is due to malaria. This may very well
be an exaggeration, but there can be little doubt that,
of all the ills that flesh is heir to, malaria is the most
deadly, and exercises the most profound influence on
the distribution and activities of man. It will be seen
later that the disease is most rife where the densest
populations are found, and the mortality of such a
closely crowded area as India gives some idea of the
enormous loss of life and the widespread suffering
caused by this disease. In 1892, out of a total popu-
lation in India of 217,255,655, the deaths from all
causes reached the figure of 6,980,785. Of these,
4,921,583 were ascribed to ‘fever.’ All these fevers
were not, of course, malarial, but comparison with
other statistics leads to the belief that a high per-
centage of them was caused by malaria. Major Ross
states that in 1897 over 5,000,000 deaths in the same
country were recorded as due to ‘fever,’ and that out
of a total strength of 178,197 men in the British army
in India, 75,821 were treated in the hospitals for
malaria. Fifty years ago the loss from malaria
amongst the European population of India was 13 per
thousand. With improved methods of living and
129 9
130 MALARIA

more skilful treatment this has been reduced to 7 per
thousand; but the native, who is slow to change his
ways, and usually averse to modern methods of treat-
ment, still retains a very high fever death-rate—over
18 per thousand. During the years 1887-1897 the
average mortality in Italy attributed to malaria was
15,000 a year, and 2,000,000 patients annually suffered
from ‘fever.’

Apart from the mortality due to this disease, the
amount of suffering and the decline in human power
and activity which it entails deserve careful attention.
Compared with the number of patients, the number of
deaths is by no means large. In round numbers, out
of every thousand soldiers in the British army in
India in 1897, 420 men were attacked by malaria, but
only one in a thousand died; even in the ‘most
malarious’ districts the death-rate only amounted to
6 per thousand. In Sierra Leone, a district much
more fatal than any in India, the average death-rate of
the white troops, based on hospital records extending
from 1892 to 1898, is estimated by Major L. M. Wilson
at 42°9 per thousand, whilst that of the coloured
troops is 5°9 per thousand. On the other hand, the
European troops show an annual number of cases of
2,134 per thousand, and the non-European troops
one of 1,056 per thousand. These figures probably
under-estimate the amount of fever amongst the
troops. It must be remembered that many soldiers
who have slight attacks of fever do not present them-
selves at the hospital, whilst of those who do a
considerable number are only detained for slight
treatment, and are never entered on the hospital
books, and so are not recorded on the returns.

From the statistics quoted above, it appears that of
our soldiers in India three out of every seven suffer
from an annual attack of malaria sufficiently pro-
nounced to be recorded on the medical books, whilst
DISTRIBUTION OF MALARIA 131

our soldiers on the west coast of Africa have an
average of at least two attacks a year, and a consider-
able number of them die. There is no reason to
believe that the civil population of India or West
Africa is in any degree more exempt from the disease
than the military, but the statistics in the latter case
are more readily accessible.

Malarial fever, when it does not kill, leaves great
weakness behind; and all who have watched malaria
patients, or patients who are already recovering from
an attack, cannot fail to have noticed the listlessness
and want of interest in their surroundings and the
lack of inclination to work that they all show. Apart
from the mortality, the disease probably levies a
heavier tribute on the capacity of the officers and
officials who administer the British Empire than does
any other single agency.

Before describing the organism which causes all
this misery a word or two must be said about the
distribution of the disease. Roughly speaking, malaria
is confined to a broad irregular belt running round
the world between the 4th isothermal line north of
the Equator and the 16th line south. It is, however,
said to occur occasionally outside these limits—for
instance, in Southern Greenland and at Irkutsk in
Siberia; but until recently the accurate diagnosis of
the disease has been difficult, and too much reliance
must not be placed on these statements. The chief
endemic foci of the disease are along the banks and
deltas of large rivers, on low coasts, and around
inland lakes and marshes. Malaria is common all
round the Mediterranean region: it was well known
to, and its symptoms were clearly noted by, the early
physicians since the time of Hippocrates. They even
recognized the difference between the mild spring
and summer attacks and the more pernicious effects
of the autumnal fever. In France there are several

o—2
132 MALARIA

prominent malarial districts: the valley of the Loire
and its tributary the Indre, and the valley of the
Rhone; also the sea-coast stretching from the mouth
of the Loire to the Pyrenees, and again the Medi-
terranean sea-board. It occurs in Switzerland, and
is found in Germany along the Baltic coasts, and on
the banks of the Rhine, the Elbe, and other rivers,
and in many other parts. Scarcely a province in
Holland is quite free from it, and it is found in
Belgium and around Lake Wener, in Sweden. It
extends along the Lower Danube and around the
Black Sea, and spreads across Russia, being especially
prevalent along the course of the Volga and around
the Caspian. From Europe it spreads over Asia
Minor, and affects all Southern Asia as far as the
East Indies, but in Japan it is curiously rare. It is
also infrequent in Australia—where it is confined to
the northern half of the continent—and in many of the
Pacific Islands; and it is unknown in the Sand-
wich Islands, New Zealand, Tasmania, and Samoa.
In America it is more common, and of a more severe
type on the Atlantic sea-board than on the Pacific ;
in the last hundred years its northern limit is said to
have retreated in the centre of the continent, though
some observers think it is creeping further north in
the Eastern States. In a mild form it is known
around the Great Lakes, and in Canada and in New
England ; but it reaches a high degree of intensity in
the Southern States, Mexico, Cuba, and Central
America, where it probably played a greater part in
ruining the projected Panama Canal than all the
corrupt financing of the speculators in Paris. It
extends throughout the warmer parts of South
America, and is known in a virulent form all over
Africa except the extreme south.

In Great Britain it used to flourish. The following
extract from Graham’s ‘Social Life of Scotland in the
MALARIA IN GREAT BRITAIN 133

Eighteenth Century’ shows what a part it played in
the life of the Scottish peasant :

‘The one ailment to which they were most liable, and in
which dirt had no share, was ague. This was due to the
undrained land, which retained wet like a sponge, and was full
of swamps and bogs and morasses in which “ green grew the
rushes.” Terribly prevalent and harassing this malady proved
to the rural classes, for every year a vast proportion of the
people were prostrated by it, so that it was often extremely
difficult to get the necessary work of the fields performed in
many districts. In localities like the Carse of Gowrie, which
in those days abounded in morasses and deep pools, amongst
whose rushes the lapwings had their haunt, the whole popula-
tion was every year stricken more or less with the trouble,
until the days came when drainage dried the soil, and ague
and lapwings disappeared.’

In England it was once very prevalent. James I.
died of ‘a tertian ague’ at Theobalds, near London,
and Cromwell succumbed at Whitehall to a ‘bastard
tertlan ague’ in 1658, a year in which malaria was
very widely spread and very malignant; and it is
only within recent memory that the fen districts in
Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, Romney Marsh in
Kent, and the marshy districts of Somerset, have lost
their evil reputation for ague. The older chemists in
the towns in the fen districts still recall the lucrative
trade their fathers carried on in opium and prepara-
tions of quinine with the fenmen during the first half
of last century ; but with the improved drainage of
the fens this has all disappeared, and at present cases
of endemic malaria appear to be unknown in England,
though sporadic cases turn up at rare intervals. It
was also very prevalent along the estuary of the
Thames, both on the Essex and Kentish marshes.
Pip in ‘Great Expectations’ says to his convict :

«« T think you have got theague.” “I’m much of your opinion,
boy,” said he. “It’s bad about here,” I told him. “ You’ve been
lying out on the meshes, and they’re dreadful aguish.”’
136 MALARIA

life-cycle varies in the different species. The account
given here applies in the main to them all. »

The organism which Laveran saw living in the
blood-corpuscles of his malarious patient was a minute
cell of irregular shape whose nucleus can be demon-
strated by the use of appropriate reagents. The cell
constantly but slowly changes its outline, pushing
out and withdrawing blunt rounded processes; in
fact, the cell resembles the lobate forms of one of the
simplest microscopic animals we know, the Amceba
(Fig. 1). The movements and change of shape con-
sequent on them are termed ameeboid, and the
organism in this stage is known as an ameebula.
These amcebulz whilst in the blood-cell grow rapidly,
and in some way they collect the hemoglobin, or
colouring matter of the red corpuscle, within their
own bodies, and convert it into a number of dark
brown or black pigment granules, which crowd around
the nucleus of the parasite. This pigment, the so-
called malarial pigment or melanin, had been recog-
nized by Virchow and others about the middle of the
nineteenth century as a characteristic product in the
blood of malarial patients. The amcebulz continue
to grow rapidly, at the expense of their cell-host,
until, after a definite period, which varies from one to
several days, they become mature, and by this time
they have completely filled up the red corpuscle,
whose scanty remains form a tight skin round the
fully-grown parasite (Fig. 1, 1-8). When mature, one
of two things happens—either they become (1) game-
tocytes, whose meaning and fate we will consider
later, or they become (2) sporocytes. In the latter
case the nucleus of the amcebula breaks up into a
number of small nuclei, and each surrounds itself by
a small mass of protoplasm and forms a spore
(Fig. 1, 5-8). The result of this process of division
may be roughly realized if we imagine an orange with
 

FIG. I.—THE PARASITE OF TERTIAN FEVER, H.EMAM(CEBA VIVAX

(ROSS). HIGHLY MAGNIFIED.

Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, show the growth and the changing shape of the parasite

within the blood-corpuscle; Nos. 3, 4, etc., show the aggregation of
the pigment, melanin, in the parasite; No. 5 is a sporocyte, which
in Nos. 6, 7, and 8, shows the several stages of sporulation; No. 9
shows the spores derived from a single sporocyte, escaped from the
blood-corpuscle and free in the blood-plasm, ready to infect new
corpuscles; No. 10 is a male gametocyte, removed from the body
of man, and either in the stomach of Anopheles or on a microscope-
slide, forming there flagella or spermatozoa. a, Parasite; b, red
blood-corpuscle ; ¢, spore ; d, granules of pigment, melanin; ¢, flagellum
or spermatozoon. (From Thayer.)

 

FIG. 2.— VARIOUS STAGES WHICH THE PARASITE OF THE STIiVO-

AUTUMNAL FEVER, HASMOMENAS PRACOX (ROSS), PASSES
THROUGH IN THE BODY OF THE MOSQUITO ANOPHELES.
MAGNIFIED 2,000 TIMES. AFTER ROSS AND FIELDING-OULD,

. I, Flagella or spermatozoa from male gametocyte (see Fig. 1 above) ;

No. 2, flagelium or spermatozoén entering and fertilizing the female
gametocyte; No, 3. the fertilized cell or zygote; Nos. 1, 2, 3, are
found in the blood in the stomach of the Anopheles; No. 4, the
fertilized cell piercing the wall of the stomach of the mosquito to
come to rest at No 5. between the epithelial lining of the stomach
and the muscular sheath.

To face page 136.
LIPE-HISTORY 137

but one pip in each quarter. Then the skin of the
orange will represent what is left of the red blood-
corpuscle, the flesh will represent the divided sporo-
cyte, each quarter will represent a spore, and the
pip will represent its nucleus.

At this stage the skin to which the red corpuscle
has been reduced breaks, and the spores fall into the
liquid part of the blood (Fig. 1, 9). The pigment
granules which escape at the same time also pass into
the liquid of the blood, and are eaten up and removed
by those scavengers of the vascular system, the white
corpuscles. Each of the spores, after remaining a short
time in the fluid of the blood, attaches itself to a new
red corpuscle, penetrates its body, and becomes a
small amoebula, which repeats the life-history de-
scribed above. In this way a few organisms will
soon produce enough spores to infect a very large
number of blood-corpuscles ; as many as 60 per cent.
are in some cases infected. The severity of the attack
naturally depends in a great degree on the number of
corpuscles infected. Laveran not only first recognized
and described the organism* we are dealing with, but
he definitely connected its presence with malaria; but
it was not until some time later, in 1885, that Golgi
described the sporulation of the sporocyte and pointed
out that the moment of the escape of the spores from
the red corpuscle coincides with the paroxysm of the
fever. Since all the amcebule of one crop are at about
the same stage of growth in any one host, millions of
spores in a well-infected patient are thrown into the
liquid of the blood at about the same time; and it is
clear that this must be accompanied by a profound
disturbance of the system. This disturbance mani-
fests itself in a feverish attack. The period when the
spores have left the corpuscles and are free in the

* It had been seen before by Virchow and others, who,
however, did not recognize its importance.
138 MALARIA

liquid of the blood is also the time at which the
administration of quinine is said to be most effective.
Further, it is only at this stage that the disease can be
artificially transferred from one man to another. All
efforts to transmit the gametocytes have ended in
failure.

Hemameba vivax, which causes the tertian fever,
passes through the various stages of its life-history in
man in forty-eight hours; hence the febrile paroxysm
occurs every second day. Malaria is usually of the
tertian type, and this is certainly the most common
form in temperate climates. Occasionally the infection
has been repeated, and we may find that there are two
groups of the parasite present in the blood, which
arrive at the sporulating stage on alternate days; in
this case the febrile symptoms manifest themselves
every day, and the type of malaria is designated
‘quotidian intermittent fever.’ In this case, if a single
dose of quinine be administered at the right time, one
group of parasites is killed off and the quotidian fever
is reduced to a tertian. There may occasionally be
more than two groups present, or the parasites may
for some reason have failed to arrange themselves in
groups, in which case the fever becomes irregular or
continuous.

In the quartan fever the parasite Hamameba
malarie takes seventy-two hours to complete its
cycle in man, and the paroxysms occur every three
days—that is, there are two days without febrile
symptoms, followed by a day when there is a
paroxysm. This form is common in Sicily and in
certain parts of Italy—for instance, around Pavia. Just
as in the tertian fever, so in quartan there may be a
second infection, in which case paroxysms arise on
two successive days, followed by a day of intermission
of the fever. If a third group be present, we have a
quotidian fever. The zstivo-autumnal fever, due to
QUARTAN FEVER 139

Hemomenas preecox, is noted by a marked irregularity
in its clinical symptoms. It usually sets in during
August, September, or October, and is attended by
much more serious results than are the regular inter-
mittent fevers. The pernicious or malignant form
of malaria, rarely seen in temperate climates, but
common in the tropics, is caused—in many cases,
though perhaps not in all—by the same parasite.

From what has been above described, it is evident
that when once the parasite has obtained entrance to
the blood it may remain and multiply for years. The
parasite is, however, very susceptible to the poisonous
action of quinine, and this is especially the case at the
time when sporulation has just taken place and the
spores are being set free inthe blood. Quinine seems
to have little or no effect on the organisms whilst they
are inside the blood-corpuscle, but shortly before the
paroxysm is due it should be administered. Quinine
is amongst the very few absolutely trustworthy
specifics known to medical science. It seems to have
been introduced into Europe in the year 1640 by the
Countess of Chinchon, a small town south-east of
Madrid. The Countess was Vice-Queen of Peru, and
in 1638 was cured of a tertian fever by the use of
Peruvian bark. Shortly afterwards she started for
Europe with a supply of the drug, but unfortunately
died on the voyage. About a hundred years later
Linneeus named the plant after this lady, but acting
on erroneous information omitted the first ‘h’ in the
name, and called the plant Cinchona. According to
some authorities the word ‘quinine’ is derived from
‘quina,’ the Spanish spelling of the Peruvian word
‘kina,’ which signified bark.

But to come back to the parasite. It was mentioned
above that the amcebule become either sporocytes or
gametocytes. We have followed the fate of the former
and must now turn our attention to the latter. In the
140 MALARIA

genus Hemameba the gametocyte has a general re-
semblance to the sporocyte before its nucleus divides
and it begins to form spores; and it is impossible to
predict which amcebulz will become sporocytes and
which will become gametocytes. In Hamomenas,
however, the gametocyte can be recognized at an
early stage. In this genus some of the amcebule
become globular and ultimately form spores, whilst
others become elongated and slightly curved; in fact,
they assume the shape of minute sausages. These are
the gametocytes. It is on this difference in shape that
Ross has founded his new genus for the parasite of the
zestivo-autumnal fever, all the essential characters of
which had, however, been previously recognized by
Italian and American observers.

So long as the gametocytes remain in the blood of
the patient they undergo no further development; on
being liberated from the cell into the fluid of the blood,
they degenerate and die; but if they be removed, even
only on to a microscope-slide, they begin to develop.
They escape from the red corpuscle in which they
have hitherto been confined, and some of them—the
male gametocytes—are then seen suddenly to emit
long filaments (Fig. 1, 10). These filaments can be
watched under a high power struggling violently to
free themselves from the cell which has given rise to
them. Ultimately they succeed, and breaking loose,
at once dart away amongst the corpuscles and other
debris on the slide. So long ago as 1880 Laveran had
seen these bodies, but until 1897 their nature was quite
misunderstood. This formation of the filaments or
flagella, sometimes called ‘flagellation,’ can only take
place at comparatively high temperatures. This has
an important relation to the seasonal variation in the
prevalence of the disease.

Hitherto in this article we have only studied the
malarial parasite inside the body, with the exception
REPRODUCTIVE PHASES 141

that we have just seen that, should it get out, certain
cells undergo a further development and produce
mobile filaments. It occurred to many that these
filaments might be spores, which were in some way
carried into the blood of man. Later research showed
that this is not their true meaning ; but, acting on some
such belief, Dr. Patrick Manson propounded the hypo-
thesis that the spores may be conveyed to man by the
intervention of some blood-sucking insect; and the
brilliant and laborious researches of Major Ross,
undertaken with the view of establishing the truth
or falsehood of this hypothesis, have within the last
few years cleared up the whole question of the trans-
mission of the disease from one patient to another.

It is a well-established belief in many malarious
countries that the mosquito plays a part in the infec-
tion. The negroes of the Usambara Mountains, who
acquire the disease when they descend to the plains,
even use the same word to denote the disease and the
mosquito. In Assam, in Italy, and in Southern Tyrol,
the belief in the mosquito origin of malaria obtains.
Experienced travellers, like Livingstone, Emin Pasha,
and General Gordon, insisted on the importance of
mosquito-nets, thinking that the netting ‘acted as a
filter against the malarial poison,’ and knowing by
experience that its presence diminished the tendency
to the disease. The whole epidemiological evidence
was put together in a masterly essay on the mosquito
theory, read before the Philosophical Society of
Washington in 1883, by Professor A. F. A. King.
There was thus a considerable body of opinion in
favour of the mosquito-malaria theory, when, in 1894,
Manson explained his views to Major Ross, at that
time a surgeon in the Indian Medical Service.

Manson’s own epoch-making researches on Filaria—
another human parasite whose intermediate host is the
mosquito—no doubt strengthened his faith and helped
142 MALARIA

to encourage Major Ross, who in 1895 began in
Secunderabad a series of investigations, which, after
much weary. work, were crowned with brilliant
success. The difficulties of the work were very great.
Hardly anything was known about the great number
of gnats and mosquitoes which are found all over
India, and it was often impossible to have them accu-
rately determined. Then no one could predict the
appearance of the parasite within the body of the
mosquito—if it were there—or in what part of the body
it should be looked for. The mosquito had to be
searched cell by cell. The difficulty of dissecting a
mosquito is great even in temperate climes, and when
we recollect that hundreds of all the available species
were dissected in the most malarious districts in
India, we must recognize that it was only a faith akin
to that which moves mountains which sustained the
courage and stimulated the perseverance of the tire-
less worker. For nearly two years and a half Major
Ross searched in vain. No matter what species of
mosquito he worked at, the results were negative. A
less determined man would long ago have abandoned
the research; Major Ross only tried new methods.
At Sigur Ghat, near Ootacamund, a_ peculiarly
malarious district, he noticed for the first time a
mosquito with spotted wings which laid boat-shaped
eggs. Shortly afterwards he was able to feed eight
specimens of this mosquito on a patient whose blood
contained the parasites in the gametocyte stage—and
it should have been mentioned above that all mos-
quitoes dissected were first fed upon the blood of
malarious patients. Six of these insects were searched
through and through, organ by organ, but without
result. The seventh showed certain unusual cells in
the outer surface of the stomach, which contained a
few granules of the characteristic black pigment or
melanin of malarial fever. The eighth and last speci-
MAJOR ROSS'S RESEARCHES 143

men showed the same characteristic cells with the
same characteristic pigment; but the peculiar cells,
quite unlike anything hitherto met with in the mos-
quito’s body, were larger and further developed.
‘These fortunate results practically solved the malaria
problem.’

Without following in detail the various stages of
the further investigations carried on by Major Ross,
we must endeavour to give an account of the final
results obtained by him and later investigators.
Being unable to obtain material for the study of
malaria in man owing to the scare caused by the out-
break of plague amongst the natives, Ross worked
out the life-history of an allied organism which causes
malaria in birds. It is to the brilliant researches of
the Italian school—prominent among whom are Grassi,
Bastianelli, and Bignami—that we owe the first com-
plete accounts of the life-history of the human parasite.
It has already been explained that some of the para-
sites do not form spores, but persist in a more or less
unchanged condition whilst in the blood of man as
gametocytes. We have also seen that when removed
from the human body some of these gametocytes
throw off actively mobile filiform bodies. In 1897
MacCallum of Baltimore showed what these filiform
bodies really are. Certain of the gametocytes do not
produce them, but lie passively still on the microscope-
slide, or in the blood within the mosquito’s stomach.
These are destined to form the female cell; the fila-
mentous bodies which break off from the first-named
gametocyte were seen by MacCallum to fuse with
them, and, in fact, to play the part of the male cell or
spermatozoén. This, in fact, happens when a mos-
quito feeds on a malarious patient. The gametocytes,
unchanged in the blood of man, as soon as they reach
the stomach of the insect, swell and burst from their
red corpuscle. The male gametocyte throws off the
144 MALARIA

filiform bodies, which actively swim about seeking
a female gametocyte (Fig. 2, 1). When found they
fuse with it, and thus produce a fertilized cell or
zygote (Fig. 2, 3). This zygote is produced on the
microscope-slide, and in the alimentary canal of certain
mosquitoes, but so far as is known at present it under-
goes further development only in the stomach of the
various species of the mosquito genus Anopheles. In
all other cases it dies or is digested. In Anopheles,
however, the zygote travels to the walls of the
stomach, pierces the inner coats and comes to rest
underneath the muscular tunic which ensheaths that
organ (Fig. 2, 4 and 5).

At first the zygote is very small, about the size of
a red blood-corpuscle ; but it grows, and in the course
of about a week it has, roughly speaking, increased to
five hundred times its original bulk (Fig. 3, 1 and 3).
Its contents have not only increased, but have divided
into some eight or twelve cells, called meres; and
each of these meres has given off round its periphery
a number of filiform cells, called blasts (Fig. 3, 2).
The structure of the mere, with its coating of blasts,
may be easily understood by a zoologist when it is
mentioned that it very closely resembles that stage in
the formation of the spermatozoa of the earth-worm
just before the spermatozoa separate themselves from
the blastophor ; the lay mind may gain a better idea
of its appearance by recalling the head of amop. As
the zygote, still resting on the outside of the mos-
quito’s stomach, matures, the cells which are giving
rise to the blasts diminish in size and disappear,
leaving the capsule packed with thousands of minute
filiform slightly spindle-shaped blasts (Fig. 3, 3).
Then the capsule bursts and the blasts make their
way into the body-cavity, or space between the
stomach and the wall of the mosquito’s body. It is
not known whether they have any movement of their
4

Yop

Dorn

ngs
hg
5

a

Wise Boye

Vag 288 Zyl
3 Zane f = fe
XY

  

ara
ofojofatolatefoJofofofofof

  

 

FIG. 3.—FORMATION OF THE BLASTS OF H/MOMENAS PRACOX
(ROSS) WITHIN THE BODY OF THE MOSQUITO ANOPHELES.
MAGNIFIED 2,000 TIMES. AFTER ROSS AND FIELDING-OULD.

No. 1, The full-grown zygote dividing up into meres ; No. 2, an isolated
mere which has developed its filiform bodies or blasts; No. 3, the
zygote crammed with blasts is bursting ; No. 4, the blasts are making
their way into the salivary gland of the mosquito a, through it into the
cesophagus b, and finally into the proboscis c¢,

To face page 144
SCHEME OF LIFE-HISTORY 145

own, but in some way or another they make their way
into the salivary glands of the insect and accumulate
in the cells which secrete the saliva. Thence the
blasts pass into the salivary duct and down the grooved
proboscis of the insect (Fig. 3, No. 4). The next time
the mosquito has a meal off a man, some of these
blasts will be washed into the man’s blood by the
saliva which causes the irritation set up by a mos-
quito’s bite. It is known that when an infected insect
bites a healthy man malaria ensues; and though the
blasts have not hitherto been seen to enter the blood-
corpuscles, they certainly give rise to the disease, and
it can hardly be doubted that they force their way into
the red corpuscles and form the young ameebule
which we described at the beginning of this article.

The appended scheme will perhaps make clear the
very diverse phases of the somewhat polymorphic
organisms. Those stages which occur in the blood of
man are printed in ordinary type, but those which
occur in the mosquito are in italics:

AMGBULA.

 

Sporocyte. Female Gametocyte. Male Gametocyte.

Spores
(in liquid of blood).
Female Gametocyte. Filamentous bodies or

 

 

Ameebule. Spermatozoa,
|

Sporocyte. l

Zygote.

Spores Meves.

and da capo. |

Blasts.

Ameebule.
| , |

Sporocyte. Female Gametocyte. Male Gametocyte.

Io
146 MALARIA

The foregoing account of this varied and romantic
life-history is no hypothetical one. With the excep-
tion that, so far as we know, no one has yet seen
the blasts enter the corpuscles and become amcebule,
every stage in the story has been verified over and over
again by competent observers, and their observations
are now accepted by all whose opinion in such matters
has weight. Further, the facts here recorded are not
peculiar to parasites in man. Allied forms of Protozoa
attack other vertebrates, and, in fact, the first hama-
tozoén whose life-history was thoroughly worked out
by Ross was the Hamameba (Proteosoma) relicta, which
causes a malaria-like disease in birds, and is conveyed
from one bird to another by means of the common
gnat, Culex pipiens. Again, the parasite which causes
so much loss to stock-owners, the Texas fever organ-
ism, Pyrosoma bigeminum, is, thanks to the researches
of Smith and Kilborne, now known to be conveyed
from one ox to another by the cattle-tick, Bodphilus
bovis. Thus, however strange the life-history of the
malarial parasite may seem to the unscientific, it is
very much what might have been expected by zoolo-
gists who have worked on allied organisms, and it is
vouched for in its main features by the most expert
workers in England, France, America, Italy, and
Germany. The whole literature of the subject of
transmission of disease by insects has been ably sifted
and brought together by Dr. Nuttall in a monograph
whose title is mentioned in the Bibliography.

For two years and a half Major Ross dissected
mosquitoes, looking for traces of the malaria organism
and finding none, but at last found what he sought in
a species of mosquito that had hitherto escaped his
attention. This means that, like most other parasites,
the Hemamcebidz will develop in one kind of animal
and in one kind only. If taken up by another kind
they are simply digested. The mosquito with the
 

ANOPHELES MACULIPENNIS.
MALE, IN CHARACTERISTIC

ATTITUDE.

 

ANOPHELES MACULIPENNIS.

FEMALE.

To face page 146.
MOSQUITOES 147

spotted wings and boat-shaped eggs undoubtedly be-
longed to the genus appropriately named Anopheles ;
and only the species of this genus, so far as we know,
are capable of conveying the infection from man to
man. In their bodies only will the gametocytes
develop. If swallowed by other biting insects or by
leeches, etc., they disintegrate, and are no more.

The word mosquito has no scientific import ;
derived from the Spanish or Portuguese, it simply
means ‘little fly’; it is used popularly to denote a
gnat which bites, and most gnats bite when they have
achance. The word is sometimes extended to include
certain midges. The Dipterous family, Culicide, to
which the gnat belongs, contains, according to Major
Giles, some 242 species, divided amongst 8 genera.
The great majority of species, some 160, however,
belong to the genus Culex; Anopheles includes 30;
whilst the remainder are divided amongst the
other 6 genera, none of which are large. The
collections which have been made at the British
Museum, and which were worked out by Mr.
Theobald, contain many species of Anopheles new
to science; so that we have now some half
hundred species of the genus ‘which has been
hopelessly convicted of being the medium by which
the malaria parasite is transmitted from person
to person.’ According to the last-named authority,
we have in England 17 species of Culex, and 2 of
Anopheles, A. bifurcatus and A. maculipennis (claviger),
though some authorities are inclined to add a third,
A. nigripes. Five other species, belonging to the
smaller genera of Culicida, make a total of some
24 species of gnat or mosquito found in England.
Culex pipiens, probably the commonest gnat the wide
world over, conveys the parasite Proteosoma, or, as
Ross now calls it, Hamameba relicta, of the avian
malaria from bird to bird; but it will not carry the

1o—2
148 MALARIA

parasite of human malaria. Indeed, 14 different
species of Culex have been tried in this respect, and
in each case with negative results. The same nice
adjustment of parasite to host is found in Anopheles.
It will not convey the bird malaria, that is to say,
the gametocytes are destroyed in its body, but it is
readily infected by the human parasite, and at the
present date a considerable number of species have
been successfully tried, and this not only in Europe,
but in Africa, India, and the United States.

Anopheles is obviously worth studying. It has now
been found very commonly distributed in England,
A. maculipennis abounding in the eastern counties.
Its boat-shaped eggs, laid, not as are those of the
genus Culex, in little rifts, but singly, give rise to a
charming little larvae, whose diet of minute alge gives
a greenish tint to the centre of the body, which else-
where is of a brownish hue. When at rest, these
small larve float on the water parallel with the sur-
face, and not hanging down into the water as does the
larval Culex. They have a most beautiful arrange-
ment of minute hairs, arranged like the ribs of an
umbrella turned inside out, along the upper surface of
their backs, and by the action of these hairs they hang
on to the surface-film. Their breathing organs open
near the tail, but are not produced into the long
respiratory tube by which the Culex larva can be so
easily recognized. They possess the most marvellous
arrangements on the head for setting up currents con-
veying food to the mouth, and, in fact, they afford one
of the most charming objects of ‘animated nature’ that
one could desire to watch. After some days, varying
in number according to the temperature, the larva
turns into one of those curious active Dipterous pup
which are well known in the case of other gnats.
Like the larva, the pupa floats at the surface of the
water. When mature its integument splits along the
MOSQUITOES 149

back ; then the perfect insect steps out, rests a moment
to dry its wings, and sails away into the air.

It is very doubtful if the male Anopheles, which can
easily be distinguished from the female by its bushy
feathered tentacles, quite visible to the naked eye, ever
sucks blood. The habit in the female is possibly
prompted by a desire to obtain material for the
growth of the ova. Out of the numerous genus Culex
only four species are known in which the male bites ;
and it is probable that malaria is always conveyed
from man to man by the activity of the female. It
is difficult to say how long mosquitoes live in the
imago state—certainly, if fed, for many weeks. The
earlier collectors, not knowing how to feed them, used
to cork them up in glass tubes, and then, noticing in a
day or two that the poor insect had died, retired to
their studies and wrote moral essays on the brevity of
life, or learned treatises on the duration of life in rela-
tion to the methods of ovipositing. Now we feed the
imagos—as a rule, on bananas—and they live well in
confinement. The fertilized female survives the winter,
hibernating in some dusky corner, and it is probable
that some of the eggs also carry the species over the
cold months from autumn to the following spring.

It should, perhaps, be mentioned that the infected
mosquito does not transmit the parasites to its off-
spring. This was an important point to ascertain,
because it is known that the tick which causes Texas
fever does transmit its parasite to the young ticks,
and they in turn communicate the disease to the oxen.
A somewhat similar case of the transference from
parent to offspring of an organism causing disease
is that of the Pébrine, caused by a parasite which
attacks silkworms, and which is conveyed by the in-
fected ova from one generation to another.

The above short résumé of the life-history and
habits of Anopheles has been given as a prelude to the
150 MALARIA

important question: What can be done to diminish
malaria? <A few years ago, before we understood the
cause of the disease, much had been done to lessen it.
While aiming at other objects, we drove malaria out
of England by draining. Now that we know the
secret of the disease we can direct our efforts more
intelligently. There are two points exposed to attack.
The first is the sporulating organism in the blood of
man, the second is the insect. If we could eliminate
the organism from man, the mosquito would be saved
much suffering, and would be powerless to infect
man ; or, if we could prevent the mosquito from access
to man, either by guarding him against its bites or by
killing off the insect, the hemotozoén would, in the
course of time, gradually die out.

Both methods should be tried. Malarious patients
should, so far as possible, be treated with quinine, and
no effort should be spared to free their system from
the parasite. Special precautions, such as hanging up
mosquito curtains, etc., should be taken to prevent the
access of the mosquito to the patient; otherwise he
acts as a centre of infection. It is almost equally
important to protect the healthy man living in a
malarious place. The mosquito net must be carefully
made, and let down over the bed well before sunset ;
its free edges should be tucked under the mattress,
and the greatest care should be taken to prevent the
ingress of a mosquito, especially when slipping within
the curtains. Punkahs should be employed as much
as possible ; they certainly tend to keep the Anopheles
at adistance. In the summer of 1899 an experiment was
initiated by Sir Patrick Manson which must convince
even those least open to conviction that malaria is
preventable if proper precautions be taken. That the
bite of an infected mosquito can convey malaria may
be taken as proved by the voluntary submission of
Mr. T. P. Manson to the experiment, as recounted in
EXPERIMENTS WITH ANOPHELES 151

the Times.* This gentleman allowed himself to be
bitten, in this country, by insects previously fed on
malarious patients; and in due course the disease—
tertian ague—showed itself in him. To prove the
other side of the case required even more courage
and endurance. During the spring of 1899, Dr. Low
and Dr. Sambon, of the London School of Tropical
Medicine, with Signor Terzi, an Italian artist, and
two servants, have been living in a mosquito-proof
hut, near Ostia, in the Roman Campagna, and
remained in perfect health. The spot selected for this
experiment is so malarious that the Romans regard
spending a single night there as equivalent to contract-
ing a virulent type of malaria. Yet, when Professor
Grassi and several other experts visited the mosquito-
proof hut on September 12, 1900, they found the inhabi-
tants in perfect health—a fact which they telegraphed,
with their salutations, to Sir Patrick Manson, ‘who
first formulated the mosquito-malarial theory.’ The
conditions under which Dr. Low and Dr. Sambon
and their Italian companions lived were all directed to
the avoidance of being bitten by mosquitoes. During
the daytime they were allowed out of their hut, because
the chance of being bitten in broad daylight is so small
that it may be neglected; but they were ‘gated’ an
hour before sunset, and were not allowed out until an
hour after sunrise. The mosquitoes were kept out of
the hut bythe use of wire-gauze doors andwindows. By
these precautions contact between mosquito and man
has been avoided, and man has now lived for months
in one of the most malarious spots in Europe without
acquiring a trace of malaria. It is most satisfactory to
record that a similar success has attended the efforts
of the Italian authorities to improve the state of things
in the great plain of Salerno. Visitors to Paestum and
Battipaglia cannot fail to have noticed how malaria has
* The Times, September 21, 1900, and medical papers.
162 MALARIA

marked that district as its own. By taking such precau-
tions as are indicated above, the peasants and railway
signalmen have, during the last few years, for the first
time, escaped the disease ; whilst for the first time new-
comers to the district have failed to contract it. The
intelligent activity of the Italian Government, and the
well-known interest taken in the question by the King
and Queen of Italy, cannot fail to have a profoundly
beneficial effect upon the lives of some of the poorest
and most hard-working of European peasantry.

The problem in Africa is more complex, owing
to the fact that the native population is thoroughly
permeated with the parasite. Mr. Christophers and
Dr. Stephens, in their ‘Further Reports to the Malaria
Committee,’ have shown that the children of natives
are in the great majority of cases infected with malaria.
In one village where the Anopheles was found in ‘con-
siderable numbers,’ go per cent. of the babies suffered,
57 per cent. of the children up to eight years, 28 per
cent. of the children up to twelve years, after which
age the children were ‘very rarely infected.’ This is
but one example out of many, all tending to show that
after a time a certain immunity to the disease is
acquired, and, further, that travellers should as far
as possible avoid the neighbourhood of native villages,
and, above all, decline to sleep in native huts.

The destruction of the mosquito, at any rate in
neighbourhoods inhabited by man, is a matter of
difficulty, but is worth attempting. To expect to
destroy the mature insect seems a vain thing, but the
larva can be more easily dealt with. Axopheles—
unlike the common gnat, which breeds close to
houses, in cisterns, garden fountains, old tubs, drains,
etc.—prefers rain-water puddles, natural hollows by
the roadside, small ponds, and rice-fields. We have
occasionally found the larvae of Anopheles and Culex
in the same water in England, but this is probably
DESTRUCTION OF MOSQUITOES © 153

exceptional. In England, so far as our experience
goes, the Anopheles larve are usually met with in
shallow water easily heated by the sun’s rays; and
we have always found them in association with the
common green water-weed Sfirogyra, though they are
not known to eat this.

Attention to the standing water round houses or
near towns will do much to diminish the scourge of
mosquitoes. All pots and pans containing water
should be regularly turned out once a week, and
puddles should be brushed out. The larva takes
some seven days to develop, so that once a week
suffices to destroy each brood. All useless water
should be drained away and stagnant ponds filled up.
The introduction of fish has markedly diminished the
number of mosquitoes around the late Mr. Hanbury’s
celebrated garden at La Mortela on the Riviera. They
eagerly devour the larvee, and should be made use of
in all large areas of water. For smaller areas some
‘culicide’ should be tried, and more experiments in
this direction are urgently needed. One of the
simplest remedies known is kerosene oil. A piece of
rag tied to a stick should be dipped into the oil, and
then applied to the surface of the water. The oil
diffuses in a fine film over the surface and clogs the
breathing tubes of the larval insect ; it possibly inter-
feres with the action of the surface tension—at any
rate, the larve die. Fresh tar has the same effect.
This ‘painting’ of the water must be renewed once
a week. Wells and cisterns should be kept closed.
A more careful selection of the site for houses, and a
more liberal use of wire-netting mosquito shutters,
will do much to minimize the risk to Europeans in
malarious districts.

The various remedies suggested above have been
tried with success in different parts of the world.
The writer has been assured by an old inhabitant of
154 MALARIA

Colombo that the mosquitoes have distinctly dimin-
ished in number in parts of that town since the custom
of storing water near the houses was abandoned.
During the summer of 1900 the authorities at Sassari
in Sardinia claim to have ‘practically exterminated the
mosquitoes ... by killing the larve in the swamps
with petroleum, and the flies with chlorine and other
destructive chemicals.’*

The extinction of malaria in England is a kind of
by-product of the draining operations which restored
to the agriculturist large tracts of land in the fen
districts and elsewhere. The breeding-places of the
mosquitoes were dried up and their numbers materi-
ally lessened; at the same time the parasite was
killed in an increasing number of patients. Thus the
mosquitoes which survived had fewer opportunities
of infecting themselves, and as time went on the
parasite was ultimately eliminated. Anopheles, though
in diminished numbers, is still with us, and is espe-
cially to be found in those parts of England once
infested with the malaria; but the parasite has
disappeared.

* Vide p. 162.
‘INFINITE TORMENT OF FLIES’

Wheve the water is stopped in a stagnant pond,
Danced ovev by the midge,
R. Browninc: ‘ By the Fireside.’

Tue last few years of the nineteenth and the first few
years of the present century are marked in the annals
of medicine by a great increase in our knowledge of
certain parasitic diseases, and, above all, in our know-
ledge of the agency by which the parasites causing
the diseases are conveyed from host to host.

Chief among these agencies in carrying the disease-
causing organisms from infected to uninfected animals
are the insects, and, amongst the insects, above all
the flies. Flies—eg., the common house-fly (Musca
domestica)—can carry about with them the bacillus of
anthrax, and, if brought into contact with a wounded
surface, may thus set up an outbreak of woolsorter’s
disease. Flies, ants, and other even more objection-
able insects, are not only capable of disseminating
the plague bacillus from man to man, and from
rat to man, but they themselves fall victims to the
disease, and perish in great numbers. They are active
agents in the spread of cholera, and the histories of the
South African and Cuban wars definitely show that
flies play a large part in carrying the bacilli of enteric
fever from sources of infection to the food of man,
thus spreading the disease. They are also accused
of conveying the inflammatory matter of Egyptian

155
156 ‘INFINITE TORMENT OF FLIES’

ophthalmia, and of the ‘sore-eye,) so common in
Florida, from one human being to another.

The diseases already mentioned are caused by
bacteria. But flies also play a part in the conveyance
of a large number of organisms which are not bacteria,
but which, nevertheless, cause disease, and cause it
on the largest scale.

Of all the twenty-two orders into which the modern
entomologist divides the class Insecta, that of the Dip-
tera, or true flies, is, perhaps, the easiest to recognize,
for it is characterized by one very obvious feature, the
presence of the fore-wings only. The hind-wings are
replaced by a pair of small-stalked, club - shaped
‘balancers,’ which are readily visible in some kinds
of fly—e.g., the daddy-long-legs—but in others are by
no means conspicuous. Thus it is an easy matter to
determine whether an insect be a fly or not. To
determine what particular kind of fly it be is, however,
a very different affair. At present some forty thousand
species of Diptera are known, and have been more or
less completely described or figured; and Mr. D.
Sharp estimates that this number is ‘only a tithe of
what are still unknown to science.’ Further, the group
has been rather neglected. Flies, speaking generally,
are neither attractive in their appearance nor engaging
in their habits, and it is a cause for no astonishment
that entomologists have preferred to work at other
groups.

In considering the part played by flies in dissem-
inating diseases not caused by bacteria, we can neglect
all but a very few families, those flies which suck
blood having alone any interest in this connexion.

From the point of view of the physician, by far the
most important of these families is the Culicida, with
over three hundred described species and five sub-
families, of which two, the Culicina and the Anophelina,
interest us in relation to disease. The gnats or
GNATS 157

mosquitoes—the name is indifferently used, and has no
scientific application—are amongst the most graceful
and most beautiful insects that we know, but they have
been judged by their works, and undoubtedly are
unpopular, and we shall see that this unpopularity
is well deserved. Gnats belong both to the genus
Culex and to the genus Anopheles. The genus Culex,
from which the order takes its name, includes not only
our commonest gnat, often seen in swarms on summer
evenings, but some hundred and thirty other species.
Members of this genus convey from man to man the
Filaria nocturna, one of the causes of the widely-spread
disease filariasis, one variety of which is the elephan-
tiasis, so common in parts of the tropics. In patients
suffering from this disease minute embryonic round-
worms swarm in the bloodvessels of the skin during the
hours of darkness. Between six and seven in the even-
ing they begin to appear in the superficial bloodvessels,
and they increase in number till midnight, when they
may occur in such numbers that five or six hundred may
be counted in a single drop of blood. After midnight
the swarms begin to lessen, and by breakfast-time,
about eight or nine in the morning, except for a few
strayed revellers, they have disappeared from the
superficial circulation, and are hidden away in the
larger bloodvessels and in the lungs.

In spite of their incredible number—some authorities
place it at thirty to forty millions in one man—these
minute larval organisms, shaped something like a
needle pointed at each end, seem to cause little harm.
It might be thought that they would traverse the walls
of the bloodvessels and cause trouble in the surround-
ing tissues; but this is prevented by a curious device.
It is well known that, like insects, round-worms from
time to time cast their skins, and the young larve in
the blood cast theirs, but do not escape from the
inside of this winding-sheet ; and thus, though they
158 “INFINITE TORMENT OF FLIES’

actively wriggle and coil and uncoil their bodies, their
progress is as small and their struggles as little
effective as are those of a man in a strait-waistcoat.

The causes of the periodicity of the appearance of
these round-worms in the superficial bloodvessels are
not completely understood, but they appear to have
more relation with the usual sleeping hours of
humanity than with day and night. In individuals
who sleep by day and work by night the Filana
nocturna is found in the bloodvessels of the skin
during the day. Thus, whilst between 5 p.m. and
7 or 8 a.m. the vessels of the skin of Cox the Hatter
would be well peopled by the round-worms, they
would only come to the surface in Box the Printer
during the daytime, whilst he was sleeping in the
lodgings of Mrs. Bouncer.

One reason of the normal appearance of the
creatures in the blood at night is undoubtedly con-
nected with the habits of its second host, the gnat or
mosquito. Two species are accused of carrying the
Filaria from man to man—Culex fatigans and Anopheles
nigerrimus. Sucked up with the blood, the round-
worms pass into the stomach of the insect. Here they
appear to become violently excited, and rush from one
end to the other of their enveloping sheath, until they
succeed in breaking through it. When free, they
pierce the walls of the stomach of the mosquito, and
come to rest in the great thoracic muscles. Here the
Filarias rest for some two or three weeks, growing
considerably, and developing a mouth and alimentary
canal; thence, when they are sufficiently developed,
they make their way to the proboscis of the mosquito.
Here they lie in couples, and it would be interesting
to determine whether these couples are male and
female. Exactly how they effect their exit from the
mosquito and their entrance into man has not yet been
accurately observed, but presumably it is during the
FILARIA 159

process of biting. Only inside man they work their
way to the lymphatics, and very soon the female
begins to pour into the lymph a stream of young
embryos, which reach the bloodvessels through the
thoracic duct. It is, however, the adults which are
the source of allthe trouble. They are of considerable
size, three or four inches in length, and their presence,
by blocking the channels of the lymphatics, gives rise
to a wide range of disease, of which elephantiasis is
the most pronounced form. We can consider later
how the disease can be averted by keeping down the
number of gnats and by preventing their access to
infected patients.

We now pass to the second of the diseases carried
by gnats, that of malaria.

The parasite which causes malaria is a much more
lowly organized animal than the /ilaria. It is named
Hemameba, and it, too, is conveyed by an insect,
and, so far as we know, by one genus of mosquito
only, the Anopheles. Hence, from the point of view
of malaria, it is important to know whether a district
is infected with Culex or Anopheles. The former is
rather humpbacked, and keeps its body parallel with
the surface it is biting, and its larva hangs at an angle
below the surface of the water, by means of a respi-
ratory tube. Anopheles, on the other} hand, carries its
body at a sharp angle with the surface upon which it
rests, and its larva lies flat below the surface-film and
parallel with it. The malarial parasite lives in the
blood-cells of man, but at a certain period it breaks up
into spores, which escape into the fluid of the blood,
and it is at this moment that the sufferer feels the
access of fever. The presence and growth within the
blood-cells result in the destruction of the latter, a
very serious thing to the patient if the organisms be
at all numerous. If the spores be sucked up by an
Anopheles, they undergo a complex change, and ulti-
160 ‘INFINITE TORMENT OF FLIES’

mately reproduce an incredible number of minute
spores or ‘blasts,’ each capable of infecting man again
if it can but win entrance into his body.

Under normal circumstances, for each Filaria larva
which enters a mosquito, one Fi/aria issues forth,
longer, it is true, and more highly developed, but not
much changed. The malaria-parasite undergoes, in
its passage through the body of the Anopheles, many
and varied phases of its life-history. As the French-
man said of the pork, which goes into one end of the
machine in the Chicago meat factories as live pig, and
comes out at the other in the form of sausages, ‘II est
diablement changé en route.’ The mosquito is as
truly a host of the malarial parasite as man, and is as
necessary for its full development as is man. Judging
by the number and extent of the lesions in the insect’s
body, it must suffer far more than man, and it is un-
doubtedly killed at times, and perhaps fairly frequently,
by the parasite.

Whoever has watched under a lens the process of
‘biting’ as carried on by a mosquito, must have
observed the fleshy proboscis (/abi:um) terminating in
a couple of lobes. The labium is grooved like a
gutter, and in the groove lie five piercing stylets, and
a second groove, or /abrum. It is along this labrum
that the blood is sucked. Between the paired lobes
of the labium, and guided by them (as a billiard cue
may be guided by two fingers), a bundle of five
extremely fine stylets sinks slowly through the epi-
dermis, cutting into the skin as easily as a paper-knife
into a soft cheese. Four of these stylets are toothed,
but the single median one is shaped like a two-edged
sword. Along its centre, where it is thickest, runs an
extremely minute groove, only visible under a high
power of the microscope. Down this groove flows
the saliva, charged with the spores or blasts of the
malaria-causing parasite. Through this minute groove
HABITS OF ANOPHELES 161

has flowed the fluid which, it is no exaggeration to
say, has changed the face of continents, and pro-
foundly affected the fate of nations.

It is an interesting fact that, amongst the Culicide,
it is the female alone that bites. The mouth-parts of
the male are weaker, and seem unable to pierce the
skin. It has been suggested that a meal of blood is
necessary for the development of the eggs; but the
evidence for this is not conclusive. There must be
millions and millions of mosquitoes in sparsely in-
habited or uninhabited districts, in Africa, in Finland,
in Northern Asia, and America, which never have a
chance of sucking blood; and it is impossible to
believe that these millions do not lay eggs.

The female is undoubtedly greedy. If undisturbed,
she simply gorges herself until every joint of her
chitinous armour is stretched to the cracking-point.
At times even, like Baron Munchausen’s horse after
his adventure with the portcullis, what she takes in
at one end runs out at the other. But she never
ceases sucking. The great majority of individuals,
however, can never taste blood, and subsist mainly
on vegetable juices. In captivity they cannot last
longer than five days without food and drink; but
they can be kept alive for weeks on a diet of bananas,
pineapples, and other juicy fruits.

Anopheles is often conveyed great distances by the
wind, or in railway trains or ships; but of itself it
does not fly far; about five or six hundred yards—
some authorities place it much lower—is its limit.
Beyond this distance they do not voluntarily stray
from their breeding-places. Both Anopheles and Culex
lay their eggs, as is well known, in standing water,
and here three out of the four stages in their life-
history—the egg, the larva, and the pupa—are passed
through. The larva and the pupa hang on to the
surface-film of the water by means of certain sus-

Il
162 ‘INFINITE TORMENT OF FLIES’

pensory hairs, and by their breathing apparatus.
Anything which prevents the breathing tubes reach-
ing the air ensures the death of the larva and pupa.
Hence the use of paraffin on the pools or breeding-
places. It, or any other oily fluid, spreads as a thin
layer over the surface of the pools and puddles, and
clogs the respiratory pores, and the larve or pupez
soon die of suffocation.

In Ismailia the disease has been reduced to an
amazing extent, and quite recently remarkable
results have followed the use of these preventive
measures at Port Swettenham, in the Federated Malay
States. Within two months of the opening of the
port in 1902, 41 out of 49 of the Government quarters
were infected, and 118 out of 196 Government servants
were ill. Now, after filling up all pools and cleaning
the jungle, no single officer has suffered from malaria
since July, 1904, and the number of cases amongst
the children fell from 34°8 to 0°77 per cent. The only
melancholy feature about this wonderful alleviation of
suffering due to the untiring efforts of the District
Surgeon, Dr. Malcolm Watson, is that his fees for
attending malarial cases have dropped to zero.

Thus a considerable degree of success has attended
the efforts of the sanitary authorities, largely at the
instigation of Major Ross, all over the world, to
diminish the mosquito plague. It is, of course,
equally important to try and destroy the parasite in
man by means of quinine. This is, however, a matter
of very great difficulty. In Africa and in the East
nearly all native children are infected with malaria,
though they suffer little, and gradually acquire a high
degree of immunity. Still, they are always a source
of infection; and Europeans living in malarious
districts should always place their dwellings to the
windward of the native settlements. Knowing the
cause, we can now guard against malaria; mosquito-
YELLOW FEVER 163

nets and wire windows and doors are a sufficient
check on the access of Anopheles to man. If they
could only be kept permanently apart, we might hope
for the disappearance of the parasite from our fauna.
In relieving man from the pest, all lovers of animals
will rejoice that we are also relieving the probably
far more acute sufferings of one of the most delicate
and beautiful insects that we know.

Another elegant little gnat, Stegomyia fasciata, closely
allied to Culex, with which, until recently, it was
placed, is the cause of the spread of that most fatal of
epidemic diseases, the yellow fever. Like the Culex,
but unlike the Anopheles, Stegomyia has a hump-
backed outline, and its larva has a long respiratory
tube at an angle to its body, from which it hangs
suspended from the surface-film of its watery home.
It is a very widely distributed creature; it girdles the
earth between the Tropics, and is said to live well on
shipboard. It breeds in almost any standing fresh
water, provided it be not brackish. The female is
said to be most active during the warmer hours of
the day, from noon till three or so, and in some of the
West Indies it is known as the ‘day-mosquito.’

The organism which causes yellow fever has yet to
be found. It seems that it is not a bacterium, and
that it lives in the blood of man. It evidently passes
through a definite series of changes in the mosquito,
for freshly infected mosquitoes do not at once convey
the disease. After biting an infected person, it takes
twelve days for the unknown organism to develop in
the Stegomyia before it is ready for a change of host.
The mosquitoes are then capable of inoculating man
with the disease for nearly two months. The period
during which a man may infect the mosquito, should
it bite him, is far shorter, and extends only over the
first three days of the illness.

Very careful search has hitherto failed to reveal the

1I—2
1644 ‘INFINITE TORMENT OF FLIES’

presence of the parasite of yellow fever. By its works
alone can it be judged. It seems that, like the germ
of rinderpest and of foot-and-mouth disease, it is ultra-
microscopic, and our highest lenses fail to resolve it.
From the course of the disease and the nature of its
host, it will probably prove to be something like the
organism which causes malaria. The means of
warring against Anopheles and Culex are equally
applicable in the case of Stegomyia, but, since the
last-named flies by day, they are more difficult to
carry out, and more irksome to endure. By the in-
telligent application of these preventive measures the
Americans have freed Havana for the first time from
yellow fever, and have materially reduced the amount
of malaria, and they have been equally successful at
Panama.

King Solomon sent to Tarshish for gold and silver,
ivory, and apes and peacocks, and at the present day
people mostly go to Africa for gold, diamonds, ivory,
and game. These are the baits that draw them in.
Of the great obstacles, however, which have for
generations succeeded in keeping that great continent.
except at the fringes, comparatively free from immi-
grants, three—and these by no means the least im-
portant —are insignificant members of the order
Diptera. We have considered the case of Culex and
Anopheles ; the third fly we have now to do with is
the tsetse fly (Glossina), which communicates fatal
diseases to man and to cattle and domesticated animals
of all kinds.

There are at least seven species of the genus which
received its name as long ago as 1830, when Wiede-
mann first described it. Perhaps the best known
species is Glossina morsitans, which was named by
Westwood.

The members of the genus Glossina are unattractive
insects, a little larger than our common house-fly,
TSETSE FLY. 165

with a sober brownish or brownish-grey coloration.
When at rest the two wings are completely super-
imposed, like the blades of a shut pair of scissors;
and this feature readily serves to distinguish the genus
from that of all other blood-sucking flies, and is of
great use in discriminating between the tsetse and
the somewhat nearly allied Stomoxys and Hama-
topota.

The tsetse flies rapidly and directly to the objects
it seeks, and must have a keen sense of smell or sight,
or both, making straight for its prey, and being most
persistent in its attacks. The buzzing which it pro-
duces when flying is peculiar, and easily recognized
again when once heard. After feeding, the fly emits a
higher note, a fact recalling the observation of Dr.
Nuttall and the present writer on the note of Ano-
pheles, in which animal they observed that, ‘the
larger the meal, the higher the note.’ The tsetse
does not settle lightly and imperceptibly on the
sufferer as the Culicide do, nor does it alight slowly
and circumspectly after the manner of the house-flies,
but it comes down with a bump, square on its legs.
Like the mosquito, the tsetse is greedy, and sucks
voraciously. The abdomen becomes almost spherical,
and of a crimson red, and in the course of a few
seconds the fly has exchanged the meagre proportions
of a Don Quixote for the ampler circumference of a
Sancho Panza. There is a good deal of discrepancy
between the reports of the various sufferers as to the
pain of the bite. No doubt different persons are very
differently affected, and suffer to very varying degrees.
Unlike so many of the blood-sucking Diptera, in which
the habit is confined to the females, both sexes of
Glossina attack warm-blooded creatures.

The fly always seems to choose a very inaccessible
portion of the body to operate on—between the
shoulders in man, or on the back and belly in cattle
166 ‘INFINITE TORMENT OF FLIES’

and horses; even inside the nostrils in the latter, or
on the forehead in dogs. According to Lieutenant-
Colonel D. Bruce, R.A.M.C., to whom we owe so
much of our knowledge of this fly and its evil work,
the female does not lay eggs, but is viviparous, and
produces a large active yellow larva, which imme-
diately crawls away to some secluded crevice, and
straightway turns into a hard, black pupa, from which
the imago emerges in some six weeks. Thus two
stages, the egg and the larva, both peculiarly liable to
destruction in the Culicidz, are practically skipped in
the tsetse—at any rate, in some species. On the other
hand, this advantage is probably to a great extent
counterbalanced by the smallness of the number of
the larve produced, compared with the number of the
eggs laid by the oviparous Diptera.

The genera of the Culicidae which we have con-
sidered are found practically all over the world, but
the genus Glossina, except that it just reaches Arabia,
is fortunately confined to Africa. From the admirable
map of the geographical distribution of the fly com-
piled by Mr. Austen we gather that its northern limit
corresponds with a line drawn from the Gambia,
through Lake Chad to Somaliland, somewhere about
the 13th parallel of north latitude. Its southern
limit is about on a level with the northern limit of
Zululand. The tsetse, of course, is not found every-
where within this area, and, though it has probably
escaped observation in many districts, it seems clear
that it is very sporadically distributed. Mr. Austen
further thinks that it may occur outside the boundary
above laid down, and suggests that the great mortality
amongst the horses in the Abyssinian campaign
against King Theodore may have been caused by it.

Even where the tsetse is found it is not uniformly
distributed, but occurs in certain localities only.
These form the much dreaded ‘fly-belts.’. The normal
FLY-BELTS 167

prey of the fly is undoubtedly the big game ot Africa,
including crocodiles, but they are not the only factor
in its distribution; the nature of the land also plays a
part. There are the usual discrepancies in the accounts
of travellers, especially of African travellers, as to the
exact localities the Glossina affects ; but most writers
agree that the tsetse is not found in the open veld. It
must have cover. Warm, moist, steamy hollows, con-
taining water and clothed with forest growth, are the
haunts chosen. Even within the fly-belt there are
oases, due, perhaps, to an absence of shrubs or trees,
where no flies are.

The’ tsetse fly belongs to the family Muscidz, the
true flies, a very large family, which also includes our
house-fly, blue-bottle fly, etc. These flies, unlike
Anopheles and Culex, are day-flies, and begin to dis-
appear at or about sunset, a fact noted centuries ago
by Dante:

‘ Nel tempo che colui, che il mondo schiara,
La faccia sua a noi tien meno ascosa,
Come la mosca cede alla zanzara.’*

The practical disappearance as the temperature
drops has enabled the South African traveller to
traverse the fly-belts with impunity during the cooler
hours of the night. At nightfall the tsetse seems to
retire to rest amongst the shrubs and undergrowth,
but, if the weather be warm, it may sit up late; and
some experienced travellers refrain from entering a
fly-belt, especially on a summer's night, until the
temperature has considerably fallen.

The sickness and death of the cattle bitten by the
tsetse were formerly attributed to some specific
poison secreted by the fly, and injected during the
process of biting. It is now, largely owing to the
researches of Colonel Bruce, known to be due to the

* «Tnferno,’ xxvi. 26-28,
168 ‘INFINITE TORMENT OF FLIES’

inoculation of the beasts with a minute parasitic
organism conveyed from host to host by the fly. The
disease is known as ‘nagana,’ and the organism that
causes it is a species of Trypanosoma, a flagellate
Protozoon or unicellular organism, which moves by
means of the lashing of a minute, whip-like process.
Since Bruce's researches a number of Trypanosomas
have been found causing diseases in various parts of
the world. Thus 7. evansit causes the ‘surra’ disease
of cattle, horses, and camels in India. TJ. equinum
produces the ‘mal de caderas’ of the horse-ranches of
South America, and 7. equiperdum is responsible for
the North African disease called by the French the
‘dourine.’ 7. ¢heileri causes the gall-sickness, and there
are others. These parasites were first seen by Gruby,
who named them in 1843, in the blood of a frog;
they live, not as does the malaria parasite, in the
blood-cells, but in the fluid of the blood. The par-
ticular species of Zrypanosoma which causes nagana
is Trypanosoma brucei, and it does not attack man, and
some goats and donkeys seem also immune; but, with
these exceptions, all domesticated animals suffer, and
in a great percentage of cases the disease terminates
in death. Just as the native children in Africa form
the source of the supply of the malarial parasite with-
out appearing to suffer much, so the big game of the
country abound in 7rypanosoma without appearing to
be any the worse. They are, in Lankester’s phrase,
‘tolerant’ of the parasite, and a harmony between
them and the parasite has been established, so that
both live together without hurting one another.
Under a more natural condition of things than at
present obtains in South Africa, the big game formed
the natural prey of the tsetse; and, indeed, so
dependent is the fly on the antelopes, etc., that, in
places where the game has !been exterminated, the fly
has also disappeared. It is from the big game that
SLEEPING-SICKNESS 169

the disease has spread. In their bodies the harmful
effect of the parasite has through countless genera-
tions become attenuated, but it leaps into full activity
again as soon as the 7rypanosoma wins its way into
the body of any introduced cattle, horse, or domesti-
cated animal. Whether the 7rypanosoma does any
harm to the fly, or whether it passes through any
stages of its life-history in the body of the fly, is
still a debatable point. Possibly it does not, and the
proboscis of the fly acts then simply as an inoculating
needle.

The Report of Colonel Bruce, which was issued
three years ago, shows that the sleeping-sickness
which devastates Central Africa, from the West Coast
to the East, is also conveyed by a species of tsetse
fly. Writing over a hundred years ago of Sierra
Leone, Winterbottom mentions the disease. ‘The
Africans,’ he says, ‘are very subject to a species of
lethargy which they are very much afraid of, as it
proves fatal in every instance.’ Early last century it
was recorded in Brazil and the West Indies; and in
all probability the deaths which our slave-owning
ancestors used to attribute to a severe form of home-
sickness, or even to a broken heart, were in reality
caused by sleeping-sickness. The severity of the
disease, which always terminates fatally, is shown by
the fact that in a single island—Buvuma—the popula-
tion has recently been reduced by it from 22,000 to
8,000, whilst whole districts have been almost depopu-
lated. In one year the deaths in the region of Busoga
reached a total of 20,000; and it is calculated that
although the disease was only noticed in Uganda for
the first time in 1901, that by the middle of 1904 100,000
people have been killed by it. The disease is caused
by the presence of a second species of 7rypanosoma
in the blood and in the cerebro-spinal fluid. The
existence of this parasite has now been proved in all
170 ‘INFINITE TORMENT OF FLIES’

the cases recently investigated. Apparently the
Trypanosoma can live in the blood without doing
much harm, and only when it reaches the cerebro-
spinal canal does it set up the sleeping-sickness. It is
also found in great numbers in the lymphatic glands,
especially those of the neck, which in patients infected
by the parasite are usually swollen and tender. From
the similarity of the parasite to that causing the cattle
disease of South Africa, the idea at once arose that the
Trypanosoma was conveyed from man to man by a
biting insect. Along the lake shores a species of
tsetse (Glossina palpalis) abounds; and it was noticed
that if the fly, having fed off a sleeping-sickness patient,
bit a monkey, the monkey became infected. Further,
flies which were captured in a sleeping-sickness
district were also capable of conveying the disease to
healthy monkeys. The proof that sleeping-sickness is
due to a Trypanosoma known as T. gambiense present
in the cerebro-spinal fluid of the patient, and that it is
conveyed from man to man by Glossina palpalis,
seems now complete. Fortunately, like its congener,
G. palpalis is confined to certain districts. The know-
ledge of these, and of the habits of this species of fly,
will suggest preventive measures; and the brilliant
research of Colonel Bruce and his colleagues, Captain
Grieg and Dr. Nabarro, may yet save the much-
tried African continent from the most fatal of recent
diseases.

Finally, we come to a last class of disease which is
of the utmost interest to the agriculturist and settler,
and yet at present is but little understood. These
diseases are caused by various species of a Protozoon
named Pzroplasma, and the diseases may collectively be
spoken of as piroplasmosis. When they are present
in cattle they are spoken of in various parts of the
world as Texas fever, tick fever, blackwater, redwater,
and many other French, German, Italian, and Spanish
TICKS 171

names. Heartwater in sheep is a form of piroplas-
mosis. Horses also suffer, and the malignant jaundice
or bilious fever, which makes it impossible to keep
dogs in certain parts of this country, is also caused by
a Piroplasma. Finally, under the name of Rocky
Mountain fever, spotted or tick fever, the disease
attacks man throughout the west half of the United
States.

The organisms which cause the disease live for the
most part in the red blood-corpuscles, but they are
sometimes to be found in the plasma or liquid of the
blood. Unfortunately, we know but little about the
life-history of the Piroplasma, or of the various stages
it passes through, but we do know how it is trans-
mitted from animal to animal and from man to man.

We have seen that the carrier or ‘go-between’ in
the case of the malaria is the mosquito, and in the case
of the sleeping-sickness is the tsetse fly. The Pero-
plasma, however, is not conveyed from host to host by
any insect, but by mites or ticks, members of the large
group of Acarines, which include beside the mites the
spiders, scorpions, harvestmen, and many others.

The ticks differ from the insect bearers of disease
inasmuch as the tick that attacks an ox or a dog does
not itself convey the disease, but it lays eggs—for
I regret to say here, as with the Anopheles, it is the
female only that bites—and from these eggs arises the
generation which is infective, and which is capable of
spreading the disease. The tick which conveys the
Piroplasma from dog to dog is called Hamophysalis
leacht. The brilliant researches of Mr. Lounsbury
have shown that even the young are not immediately
capable of giving rise to the disease. The female tick
gorges herself with blood, drops to the ground, and
begins laying eggs. From these eggs small six-legged
larvee emerge. These larve, if they get a chance,
attach themselves to a dog, gorge themselves, and
172 ‘INFINITE TORMENT OF FLIES’

after a couple of days fall off. If their mother was
infected they nevertheless do not convey the parasite.
After lying for a time upon the ground the larval tick
casts its skin and becomes a nymph, a stage roughly
corresponding with the chrysalis of a butterfly. This
nymph, if it has luck, again attaches itself to the dog
and has a meal, but it also fails to infect the dog.
After a varying time it also drops to the ground,
undergoes a metamorphosis, and gives rise to the
eight-legged adult tick. Here at last we reach the
infective stage ; the adult tick is alone capable of giving
the disease to the animal upon which she feeds, and
then only when she is descended from a tick which has
bitten an infected host. Think what a life-history this
parasite has! Living in the blood-corpuscles of a dog,
sucked up by an adult tick, passed through her body
until it reaches an egg, laid with that egg, being
present while the egg segments and slowly develops
into the larva, living quiescent during the larval stage
and the nymph stage, surviving the metamorphosis,
and only leaping into activity when the adult stage is
reached. This most remarkable story probably indi-
cates that the Piroplasma undergoes a series of
changes comparable to those of the malaria organism
when it is inside the mosquito ; what these stages are
we do not at present know, but Dr. Nuttall and
Mr. Smedley at Cambridge, and many other observers
elsewhere, are at work on the problem, and soon we
shall have more light.

With regard to bovine piroplasmosis, Koch, and
others have distinguished redwater fever, which is
conveyed by Fhipicephalus annulatus, and in Europe
probably by /xodes reduvius from the Rhodesian fever,
which is conveyed by Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, and
I regret to say by a species dedicated to myself,
Rhipicephalus shipleyi.

The heartwater disease of sheep and goats is
BEELZEBUB 173

similarly conveyed by Amblyomma hebreum, the Bont
tick, and many farmers accuse /xodes pilosus of causing
the well-known paralysis from which sheep suffer in
the early autumn ; and there are many others, diseases
such as the chicken disease of Brazil, which is so fatal
to poultry yards, and which is conveyed by the Avgas
persicus.

I will not weary you with more diseases. [I think I
have said enough to show that within the last few
years a flood of light has been thrown upon diseases
not only of man and his domestic animals, but upon
such insignificant creatures as the mosquito and the
tick. I have tried to show how these diseases inter-
act, and how both hosts are absolutely essential to the
disease. We can now to a great extent control these
troubles; the old idea that there is something un-
healthy in the climate of the Tropics is giving way
to the idea that the unhealthiness is due to definite
organisms conveyed into man by definite biting
insects. We have at last, I think, an explanation of
why Beelzebub was called the Lord of Flies.
THE DANGER OF PLIES

And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will entveat
the Lovd that the swarms of flies may depart from Phavaoh, from
his servants, and from his people, to-movrow.—Exobus.

It is one of those facts which not unfrequently occur
in science that we know less about the life-history and
habits of the commonest insects than we know about
scarce and remote species: For instance, the life-
history of the common house-fly, one of the most
widely distributed insects in the world, is as yet very
incompletely known.

It was Linnzus who first described this insect and
named it Musca domestica, and de Geer who, in the
middle of the eighteenth century, first described its
transformation. In 1834 Bouché described the larva
of the insect as living in the dung of horses and fowls.
In 1873 the well-known American entomologist, A. S.
Packard, reinvestigated the question, and L. O.
Howard has recently written on the subject. In our
own country C. Gordon Hewitt is publishing a mono-
graph on the house-fly, which will, when completed,
fill a long-felt want. Packard noted that in the August
of 1873 the house-fly was particularly abundant,
especially in the neighbourhood of stables. He was
able to observe the insects laying their ova in clumps
containing some 120 eggs in the crevices of stable
manure, ‘ working their way down mostly out of sight.’
The eggs hatched in about twenty-four hours, but he
noticed that those hatched in confinement required

174
FLY LARVE 175

from five to ten hours longer, and that these larve
when hatched were smaller than those hatched out in
the open. The eggs are oval and cylindrical, one
twenty-fifth to one-twentieth of an inch long and
about one-hundredth of an inch wide, and of a dull,
chalky-white colour.

The little larva has not been seen emerging from
the egg-case, but probably, as in the case of the meat-
or blow-fly, Musca vomitoria, the eggshell splits longi-
tudinally and the maggot pushes its way out. The
length of the newly-hatched larva in its first stage (or
instar) is seven-hundredths of an inch, and it remains
in this stage about twenty-four hours, when it casts
its skin and appears as a larger maggot three-
twentieths of an inch long. In this condition it
remains from twenty-four to thirty-six hours. After
a second moult the maggot attains the length of one-
quarter of an inch, and in this stage it remains five or
six days. During its life the larva moves actively
about amongst its surroundings, eating up the decay-
ing matter, but avoiding bits of straw and hay. There
is some evidence to believe that, if pressed for food,
larvee may devour one another. After living altogether
some five to seven days, the larva somewhat suddenly
turns into a dark brown pupa or chrysalis. The
transition takes place very rapidly—in the course of
a few minutes—and the pupa remains enclosed in the
last larval skin. After another period of five to seven
days in normal circumstances the insect hatches out,
at first running around with soft and baggy wings,
which, however, soon stretch out, harden, and dry.
It is worthy of note that whereas Howard found the
complete metamorphosis to take ten days, and Packard
from ten to fourteen days, in the cooler climate of
Manchester Hewitt finds it takes from twenty to
thirty days. The last named gives some interesting
particulars as to the effect of the weather upon the
176 THE DANGER OF FLIES

rate of development. It is believed that many flies
pass the winter in the pupa state; the adult fly also
survives the cold weather hidden away in cracks and
crevices, from which it may from time to time emerge
when the sun shines warmly.

When the larve are reared in too dry manure, they
attain only one-half their usual size. Too direct
warmth and the absence of moisture and available
semi-liquid food also tend to dwarf them.

A word may be said about the distribution of the
insect. It is practically cosmopolitan. As Mr. Austen
records :

‘The British Museum collection, though very far from com-
plete, includes specimens from the following localities: Cyprus;
North-West Provinces, India; Wellesley Province, Straits
Settlements; Hong Kong; Japan; Old Calabar; Southern
Nigeria; Suez; Somaliland; British East Africa; Nyassaland;
Lake Tanganyika; Transvaal; Natal; Sokotra; Madagascar ;
St. Helena; Madeira; Nova Scotia; Colorado; Mexico;
St. Lucia; the West Indies; Para, Brazil; Monte Video,
Uruguay; Argentine Republic; Valparaiso, Chili; Queens-
land; New Zealand.’

It is carried all over the world in ships and trains,
and seems to be equally at home in the high lati-
tudes of Finmark or in the humid heat of Equatorial
Brazil.

The diseases which flies convey from man to man—
which rendered them by no means the least formidable
of the plagues of Egypt, and fully justified Beelzebub’s
title of the ‘Lord of Flies’—are for the most part con-
veyed mechanically. The proboscis acts as an inocu-
latory needle. No part of the life-history of the
disease-causing organism must necessarily be carried
on in the body of the fly; it is conveyed mechanically
and without change from an infected to a healthy
subject. The mouth parts can pick up the anthrax
bacillus, and if the fly then alight upon a wounded
FLIES AND DISEASE 17

surface it will set up woolsorter’s disease. It, to-
gether with the flea, is accused of transmitting the
plague bacillus, not only from man to man, but from
rat to man. Flies are active agents in disseminating
cholera; and anyone who has watched them cluster-
ing around the inflamed eyes of the children in Egypt,
or in Florida, will not readily acquit them of being the
active agents in the spread of inflammatory ophthalmia
or of ‘sore eye.’

It is worthy of note that after exhaustive experi-
ments on the tsetse fly (Glossina palpalis), which
conveys that most fatal of diseases, sleeping-sickness,
Professor Minchin and his colleagues, Mr. Gray and
Mr. Tulloch, have come to the conclusion that the
Protozoon (Zrypanosoma gambiense) which causes the
disease does not—as might be expected—pass through
certain stages of its life-history in the fly, but is
mechanically conveyed upon the biting mouth parts
of the insect. The deadly parasite is, indeed, so easily
cleaned off these appendages that a single bite is
sufficient to wipe them off. A tsetse fly which has
bitten an infected person will set up the disease in the
next person (or monkey) it bites; but the insertion of
the proboscis, quick and instantaneous as it is, serves
to clean it—to wipe off adhering trypanosomes, and if
it now bite a second person (or monkey), it fails to con-
vey the disease. This is a most important discovery,
and contrary to what we should have expected; but
our knowledge of the history of the genus 7rypano-
soma is still too small to justify generalization, difficult
as it is to avoid it. The diseases which in our country
are disseminated by flies are all bacterial and all
mechanically conveyed.

In passing, it is worth recording that, contrary to
the usual statement that tsetse flies are confined to the
continent of Africa, Captain R. M. Carter* has recently

* Brit, Med. Journ., No. 2,394, November 17, 1906, p. 1393.
12
178 THE DANGER OF FLIES

brought some back from the Tabau River and from
other localities in South Arabia. Mr. Newstead has
recognized the specimens as belonging to the species
Glossina tachinoides. It evidently does not live on big
game here, since, except the gazelle, game is absent.
The Bedouins say that it bites donkeys, horses, dogs,
and man, but not camels or sheep. It is at times so
troublesome as to force the natives to shift their
camps.

The common house-fly has been known for some
time to be an active agent in the dissemination of
bacterial diseases. In intestinal disorders—such as
cholera and enteric fevers, which are caused by micro-
organisms, the flies convey the bacteria from the
dejecta of the sick to the food of the healthy. In the
recent war in South Africa they are described in the
standing camps as dividing their activities ‘between
the latrines and the men’s mess-tins and jam rations.’ *
In the Spanish-American War in Cuba, and in the
South African War, and in several recent outbreaks
of enteric fever in the British army in India, flies have

been proved to be the carriers of the Bacillus typhosus.
Dr. Veederf writes:

‘In a very few minutes they may load themselves with
dejections from a typhoid or dysenteric patient, not yet sick
enough to be in hospital or under observation, and carry the
poison so taken up into the very midst of the food and water
ready for use at the next meal. There is no long roundabout
process involved. It is very plain and direct; yet when
thousands of lives are at stake in this way the danger passes
unnoticed.’

Similar records come from the Boer camp at Diyata-
lawa in Ceylon. The bacilli are conveyed direct, just
as they might be by an inoculating needle. They do

* Austen, Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, vol. it.,

1904, pp. 651-667.
1 Medical Record, vol. liv., 1898, pp. 429, 430.
FLIES AND BACILLI 179

not pass into the body of the fly, neither do they
undergo any part of their life-history in its tissue.

Dr. Sandilands* has recently investigated outbreaks
of epidemic diarrhcea. He points out that the preva-
lence of diarrhoea follows the earth’s temperature, and
does not follow the temperature of the atmosphere.
It is a well-known fact that this illness is more preva-
lent in the houses of the poor than in the mansions of
the rich. As Dr. Newsholme, late Medical Officer of
Health for Brighton, said:

‘The sugar used in sweetening milk is often black with flies
which have come from neighbouring dust-bins or manure
heaps; often from the liquid stools of diarrhcea patients in the
neighbouring houses. Flies have to be picked out of the half-
emptied can of condensed milk before it can be used for the
next meal. When we remember the personal uncleanliness of
some mothers, and that they often prepare their infants’ food
with unwashed hands, the inoculation of this food with virulent
colon bacilli of human origin ceases to be a matter of surprise.’

Compared with cow’s milk, which nourishes a very
numerous progeny of bacteria, the bacterial content of
Nestlé’s milk is very low, according to Dr. Sandilands.
In certain seasons the cow’s milk is exposed to
temperatures which favour an enormous multiplication
of bacteria, and yet it is not then a frequent source of
diarrhcea—in fact, mere numbers have little or no
influence on the incidence of the illness. The greater
number of cases are due to infection conveyed from
some patient in the near neighbourhood and conveyed
mechanically by flies.

The great attraction of the sweetened condensed
milk for flies to some extent explains the greater
prevalence of infantile diarrhcea among children fed
on this preparation.

As was stated above, one of the most remarkable

* Journal of Hygiene, vol. vi., 1906, pp. 77-92.
12—2
180 THE DANGER: OF FLIES

features in the prevalence of infantile diarrhcea is that
it follows the rise and fall of the earth’s temperature,
and not that of the air. In the same way the number
of house-flies does not reach its maximum with the
first burst of hot weather. The prevalence of these
insects follows rather than coincides with periods of
great heat. The flies, in fact, lag behind the air
temperature and persist for a time after the hot
weather has ceased. In other words, the meteoro-
logical conditions associated with an increase or a
diminution of the prevalence of diarrhoea exercise a
similar influence on the prevalence of flies.

The transference of the Filaria bancrofti, whose
presence in the human body in the adult stage is
associated with various diseases of the lymphatics,
the most pronounced of which is the terrible ele-
phantiasis, is due to more than one species of gnat or
mosquito. It is true that no one has ever seen the
actual transference of the Filaria from the biting
organs of the Culex, Anopheles, Panoplites, or Stego-
myia into the human body, but the circumstantial
evidence is so strong that on it any jury would
convict. Noé and Grassi have demonstrated a similar
mode of infection for the Filaria immiutis, which exists
in the adult stage in such incredible numbers in the
cavity of the right side of the heart of dogs, especially
in tropical and in sub-tropical countries, that it is
difficult to see how the circulation can be maintained
at all. It is therefore interesting to note that the
proboscis of our common house-fly frequently harbours
a larval nematode which has been described by
Carter* under the name of Habronema musce; and
again (if it be the same species) by Generalif under
the name Nematodum sp. (?), and again by Piana,t who

* Ann. Nat. Hist., ser. 3, vii., p. 29.
+ Atti Soc. Modena, ser. 3, ii., Radiconte, p. 88.
{ Atts Mus, Milano, xxxvi., 1896, p. 239.
PARASITES OF FLIES 181

is inclined to think it is the larval form of Dispharagus
nasutus (Rud.). What the further history of this
parasite is we do not conclusively know, but, judging
by analogy—and in the case of the grosser parasites it
is not always wise to do that—the nematode probably
develops in some higher animal which eats the fly.
Piana brings forward a good deal of evidence that this
is the domestic fowl.

Another parasite which attacks flies is the fungus
or mould Empusa musce, whose growth is fatal to the
insect. The hyphz penetrate into the body, and as
they grow weaken the fly until it is unable to lift a
leg, but remains glued by its viscid feet to the object
upon which it rests. The fungus spreads and radiates
out in all directions, covering the fly as with a velvety
pile, and giving off countless minute spores, which are
blown away, to alight, if they are lucky, on a further
victim.

I think enough has been said to prove that flies are
a very real danger to our community. I have re-
frained from giving the appalling statistics of our
infant mortality, partly because of the difficulty of
discriminating between the claims of the flies and
those of other agencies which affect the lives of our
babies —e.g., the insurance companies which do a
large trade in insuring infants. Legislation has not
attempted to control the latter. Sanitation might do
much to destroy the former. In well-administered
towns slaughterhouses no longer ‘fill our butchers’
shops with large blue flies’; they have been replaced
by abattoirs, under proper inspection. Stables should
also be segregated or controlled. The practice of
backing the mansions of Berkeley Square by stable
yards should either be given up, or the manure-heaps
in which the flies breed should be under cover so
close as to prevent the access of the fly. A layer of
lime spread over the manure effectively prevents the
182 THE DANGER OF FLIES

fly laying. Creolin, in its cheap commercial form, is
also recommended, sprayed over the manure-heaps
every two or three days. It not only deters flies from
ovipositing, but should they succeed in doing so it
kills the resulting larvee.*

Ross has shown us how to clear Ismailia of malaria ;
the Americans have rid Havana, for the first time in a
century, of yellow fever ; the same could be done with
flies, if only the people liked to have it so. The motor-
car, with all its destruction of nervous tissue, its pre-
vention of sleep, its danger to life and to limb, has one
great merit—it affords no nidus for flies.

* Theobald, ‘Second Report on Economic Entomology,’
British Museum (Natural History), London, 1904, p. 125.
CAMBRIDGE

‘Our deay Cambridge.’
Cow Ley:
‘On the Death of Mr. William Hervey.’

Tue grant of a charter to the Victoria University in
1880 marked the beginning of a new era in English
education. Not to speak of Scotland and Wales,
there are in England to-day six Universities which
bring the new learning and the old to the very doors
of the vast populations which surround their seats.
Birmingham claims the Midlands; Manchester, Liver-
pool, Leeds, and Sheffield instruct the manufacturing
and commercial centres of the North; while the Uni-
versity of London, full of new aspirations, does its
best for the huge and somewhat apathetic population
of the capital. The calculated prodigality of the State
endowments of Germany, the individual generosity of
the citizens of the United States, the vigour of the
young Universities of Canada, have smitten the
national conscience, if not with shame, at least with
fear. But, while so powerful a lever as the dread of
industrial decay may have been necessary to overcome
the intellectual inertia of the country, the consequent
impetus given to the study of science and (it may be
hoped) of letters is not dying away, but rather taking
permanent shape ; and it is now impossible to say, as
was said in 1903 by one of the members of the Mosely
Educational Commission, that ‘in this country... we
seem to be doing nothing for its own sake, and least
of all in education.’
183
184 CAMBRIDGE

The new edition of the ‘Endowments of the Uni-
versity of Cambridge’ suggests other, though kindred,
reflections. The book has for its basis a series of
documents, beginning with the year 1293, and ending
with the year 1904. The learned Registrary has
prefaced the account of each bequest with an explana-
tion, and, by his discriminating comment, has invested
his material with something of that charm which
characterizes all his work. In one aspect his book
serves, and is intended to serve, as a history of the
progress of education in Cambridge; and the large
amount of new matter which has been incorporated
since the previous edition of the ‘Endowments’ in
1876 is, in this aspect, highly satisfactory. Yet, though
it is a mistake to suppose that the flow of benefactions
to the ancient Universities has entirely ceased, the
fact remains that Cambridge has twice appealed—once
in 1898, and once again in the spring of 1904—for help,
without which she cannot meet her national responsi-
bilities. Oxford has at last been constrained to confess
that she is in a similar, if not yet so dire, a strait; and it
is easy to understand the effort which it has cost her, as
well as her sister University, to sue zm forma pauperis.

In truth, the neglect, almost absolute, of Oxford and
Cambridge, while the new Universities are finding
generous benefactors, either leads to the conclusion
that the old Universities are condemned and found
wanting, or has its origin in a profound misconception of
their efforts and resources. It may be urged that neither
alternative is true; that the needs of the new Univer-
sities are more urgent, and that the needs of Oxford
and Cambridge will in turn receive attention. Buta
delay of a few years may in these days involve damage
which will not be repaired for more than one genera-
tion. Of Cambridge, at any rate, it is asserted that she
is at the end of her means, that in the last forty years
she has, in her efforts at development, strained her
ENDOWMENT ABROAD 185

resources to the utmost, and that without assistance,
which, to be effectual, must be both prompt and
generous, no further advance is possible. Science
has emptied the University chest, yet, as the late
master of Trinity Hall said, ‘Science is still hungry
and aggressive. As the result of her straitened
resources Cambridge can no longer satisfy the just
demands either of science or of letters. When we
compare this state of things with that in Germany,
where the University of Berlin enjoys a State endow-
ment of £170,000 per annum, or in the United States,
whose Universities have received from private bene-
factors alone £42,000,000 sterling in the last thirty
years, apart from large funds provided by the State,
we are forced to recognize that much yet remains to
be done in England.

It is not difficult to suggest some reasons for the
comparative neglect of the older Universities in the
matter of benefactions. In the first place, neither of
them can appeal to local patriotism ; and an appeal on
the wider ground of national efficiency is not so easily
nor so effectively pushed home. Next, it is hard to
imagine that a University whose colleges enjoy a
corporate income of something hike £300,000 a year
can be in serious want of funds. Moreover, if this
deficiency really exists, it is generally regarded as the
result of the squandering of revenue on an extravagant
system of ‘prize fellowships’—that is, fellowships
given as the reward merely for a high place in ex-
amination, and held by barristers, doctors, and civil
servants, professors and lecturers in other Universities,
and even successful men of business—persons who
do not contribute in any way to the efficiency of the
University as a teaching or as an investigating body.

We propose briefly to examine the University
balance-sheet, the college system, and the question of
186 CAMBRIDGE

the fellowships, and to endeavour to give the candid
inquirer some ground for a judgment on the claims
of Cambridge. But we must first discuss what is
perhaps the most serious obstacle to the satisfaction
of her needs. This obstacle is the belief, appa-
rently ineradicable, that the older Universities teach
and care for nothing but the ancient languages,
theology, and mathematics. For the persistence of
this belief the daily press and public speakers are in
a great measure to blame. Scarcely a week passes
without an allusion which betrays, if not a culpable
levity, a most unfortunate ignorance. Cambridge
men have listened with amazement to the covert
attacks on Cambridge science, and have wondered
how long it may be before Cambridge letters are also
disparaged. Of late, too, another note has been heard ;
and, notwithstanding the just aspiration of the new
Universities to a many-sided activity, alike in the
literary and scientific fields, an attempt, which must
be stigmatized as ungenerous and illiberal, has been
made in the press and on the public platform to limit
the functions of the ancient Universities, and to drive
them back into the grooves of the thirties and forties,
from which Cambridge, to say nothing of Oxford, has so
completely escaped. Whatever the reason may be, it
is at least certain that Cambridge is frequently written
and spoken of as if she were still the Cambridge of 1850.

It has been suggested, even in responsible journals,
that Oxford and Cambridge would do well to keep to
the older lines of education, and to leave newer studies
to their younger rivals. The obsession of men’s
minds by an ideal which passed away half a century
ago can alone account for the impression that the
policy of restriction to the ancient learning is in any
way possible, or has been possible for these fifty
years. Those who know Cambridge may well be
astonished that responsible persons should gravely
RISE OF MODERN STUDIES 187

speak of the University of Newton and Charles
Darwin, of Maxwell and Rayleigh, as still shrouded
in medieval shadow.

It cannot be too often repeated that since the Com-
mission of 1850, or rather since the promulgation of
the new statutes in 1856, the University has advanced
without pause to claim as her own the whole field of
modern knowledge; and that it is the rapidity of her
advance which has depleted her treasury. The state
of things before 1850 need here be referred to only for
purposes of contrast. The only avenue to an honours
degree was then the Mathematical Tripos, or, for
students of classics, the Mathematical combined with
the Classical Tripos. Science formed no part of the
regular course of instruction. Adam Sedgwick him-
self, pre-eminent geologist as he afterwards became,
knew nothing of geology when admitted to his pro-
fessorship. When he was appointed to his chair,
classics, mathematics, and, in a less degree, theology
and law, were well endowed; but effective provision
for modern studies or for science there was none.
In 1851 was founded the Disney professorship of
archeology, and the creation of this chair may fairly
be considered to be the first step towards the recog-
nition of the sciences of ethnology and anthropology.
The imperial value of ethnological and anthropological
research is incontestable, and to this research no more
important contribution has been made than by the
bands of Cambridge travellers and students.

Mention has been made in the first place of the
studies more closely related to the ‘humanities,’
because it does not seem generally to be realized how
thoroughly even the ancient learning is to-day im-
bued by the scientific spirit. But, so early as the
year 1851,* new avenues to an honours degree were

* The dates given for the triposes are those of the first
public examinations held.
188 CAMBRIDGE

opened by way of the Moral Sciences Tripos (em-
bracing at present psychology, logic and methodology,
political economy, ethics, metaphysical and moral
philosophy and psychophysics), and the Natural
Sciences Tripos (embracing chemistry, physics, miner-
alogy, geology, botany, zoology, human anatomy, and
physiology). In 1857 the Sadlerian professorship of
pure mathematics was founded by the consolidation
of an old endowment; and Cayley was the first
occupant of the chair. In 1863 the block of buildings
known as ‘The Museums’ was commenced, with a
view to providing accommodation for the professors
of the natural sciences; additions were made to the
original buildings in 1877, 1880, 1882, 1884, and 1890,
as new branches of science became important. In
1858 the ‘Civil Law Classes’ were replaced by the
Law Tripos; the professor of civil law and the
Downing professor of the laws of England were given
a colleague by the creation of the Whewell professor-
ship of international law in 1867; and the Law School.
has since 1904 possessed a worthy habitation, built
partly at the expense of the University, partly by the
help of eminent Cambridge lawyers, and completed
by the generous donation of the law library by
Miss Squire. In 1866 the professorship of zoology
was founded.

The School of Medicine has grown continuously ;
and its progress is associated with the great names,
to mention no others, of Sir George Humphry, Sir
George Paget, and Sir Michael Foster. In 1883 were
founded the professorships of surgery, physiology, and
pathology. The diploma of public health was insti-
tuted in 1875, and the diploma in tropical medicine—
the first of its kind in the kingdom—in 1904. The
latter diploma is destined to a brilliant future in
Cambridge; and the University, together with the
schools of tropical medicine in London and Liverpool,
FOUNDATION OF NEW PROFESSORSHIPS 189

is doing much to raise the scientific standard of re-
search in a study so vitally important to the teeming
populations of our tropical possessions. The students
attending the School of Medicine in Cambridge
number nearly four hundred, despite the high standard
of the attainments necessary for qualification. In 1904
important new buildings, with provision for bacteri-
ology, pathology, and public health, were opened by
the King.

The year 1869 was marked by the foundation of the
Slade professorship of fine art, and the professorship
of Latin. The endowment of the latter chair is but
4300 a year, half provided by the University and
half by the friends of the late Dr. Kennedy, the
famous headmaster of Shrewsbury School. That the
University should have had to wait till 1869 for the
foundation of a chair of Latin, and that the parsimo-
nious contribution of £150 a year was all that could
be spared towards the stipend of the professor,
scarcely lends colour to the prevailing belief that the
University, kindly and naturally as she may be dis-
posed towards the old learning, squanders on the
teaching of ancient languages resources which ought
to be otherwise employed. In 1875 the Historical
Tripos was founded; and the School of History,
starting under the influence of Seeley, has become
one of the most popular avenues to an honours
degree. A professorship of ancient history was
founded in 1898..

The Historical Tripos already provided in some
measure for the study of political science and political
economy as component parts of a liberal education.
But latterly the need for a more thorough study of
economic conditions has been felt to be imperative for
those who look forward to a career in the higher
branches of business or in public life; while, as
regards the professional economist, it has been realized
190 CAMBRIDGE

that his work as a student must be carried much
farther than has hitherto been customary, if he is to
attack with success those problems which bring his
science close to reality and to the needs of the prac-
tical man. A Tripos in Economics has therefore been
established, the first examination for which was held
in 1905. The advanced portion of it includes such
subjects as modern methods of production, transport
and marketing, trusts, the recent development of
joint-stock companies, railway and shipping organiza-
tion and rates, banking systems, stock exchanges,
investment markets, international aspects of credit
and currency, tariffs and bounties ; and it is expected
that, as in the second parts of most other triposes, a
mass of new work, the result of current research, not
yet available in text-books, will be placed before the
students.

The Medieval and Modern Languages Tripos dates
from 1886. It provides for the study of English,
French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Russian. A
colloquial test has recently been added. The Semitic
Languages Tripos was established in 1878; the
Indian Languages Tripos was founded in 1879, and
merged in the Oriental Languages Tripos in 1895.
The University founded a professorship of Sanskrit
in 1867; and a chair of Chinese has existed since
1888. The University possesses the finest Chinese
library in the world outside of China, the gift of Sir
Thomas Wade. Provision is made for the teach-
ing of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hausa, Burmese,
and the Indian vernaculars of Bengali, Hindu-
stani, Marathi, and Tamil. The teaching of living
Oriental languages for the benefit of practical
students is carefully co-ordinated under a recently
appointed director of studies; and not only are the
most necessary languages taught in their living forms
by competent scholars, but these latter are assisted by
CAVENDISH LABORATORY 1gI

a staff of carefully selected native répetiteurs. Towards
the expenses of this work the University contributes
about £2,800 a year. A professorship of Anglo-Saxon
was founded in 1878.

In 1871 the chair of experimental physics was
founded, a chair held in succession by Clerk Maxwell,
Lord Rayleigh, and J. J. Thomson; and in 1874 the
famous Cavendish laboratory, the munificent gift of its
late chancellor to the University, was opened. The
laboratory was designed by Maxwell; and the chan-
cellor himself, soon after its completion, provided all
the instruments which were immediately required.
In 1894 the area of the laboratory was increased, the
cost being defrayed, in part, by a sum of £2,000 saved
by Professor Thomson out of fees received from
students ; but the constant pressure on the available
space by research students coming from all quarters
of the globe rendered further extension urgently neces-
sary, an extension which Lord Rayleigh’s generous
gift of the Nobel Prize has now enabled the University
to undertake. Astronomy has a traditional home
in Cambridge; and the observatory, which in 1706
found a strange temporary site over the gateway
of Trinity College, began to be built on its present
site in 1822. The observatory, which takes its regular
share of the work mapped out for the observatories
of Europe, has received important additions in the
shape of both building and equipment in recent
years.

In 1875 the professorship of mechanism and applied
science was established; and in 1878 the first engineer-
ing workshops were built in the University, and fitted
with machine tools and other necessary equipment.
In 1894 the new engineering laboratories were opened
during the tenure of the professorship by Dr. Ewing,
now director of naval education. In 1894, also, the first
examination for the Mechanical Sciences Tripos, which
192 CAMBRIDGE

gives a degree in honours to students of engineering,
was held. In 1899 the generosity of Mrs. Hopkinson
and her family made possible the addition of a much
needed new wing to the laboratory. The buildings of
the department now contain lecture-room accommoda-
tion which seats about 360 students simultaneously, a
drawing-office for a class of ninety, two rooms for
elementary heat and mechanics, a boiler-room, an
engine-room with ten heat-engines of different types,
arranged so that the measurement of all quantities
concerned may be systematically made by the students,
a large room for dealing with strength of materials and
with hydraulics, a dynamo-room fitted with various
kinds of dynamos, a motor-room fitted with motors of
all the usual types, and several other rooms for special
purposes. The greater part of the staff have had
practical engineering experience of some kind; and it
is usual during the long vacation for one or two
members of the staff, as well as a number of the
students, to go into a drawing-office or into works
in order to keep in touch with practice. The school
numbers at present more than 250 students, and
supplies young engineers with a scientific training to
various public services, as well as to mechanical and
electrical firms.

The University chemical laboratory was built in
1887 ; and, while planning it, the professor of chemistry
spent some months in visiting the newest laboratories
on the Continent and in America. The importance of
botany has of late years so greatly increased that its
study is represented in Cambridge by a professor,
a reader, and two University lecturers, besides demon-
strators, assistant demonstrators, and attendants. In
1904 botany was housed in a separate building of its
own, the finest devoted to that science in the United
Kingdom, and one of the finest in Europe. The
physiology of plants, bacteriological research, and the
AGRICULTURE 193

cultivation of hybrids and seedlings, are completely
provided for. The extensive botanic garden belong-
ing to the Senate is at the disposal of the staff
and the students, the more distinguished of whom,
after completing their degree course in Cambridge,
start on a course of research in this country or
abroad. The importance of the department as touch-
ing agriculture on its scientific side can hardly be
overestimated.

The professorship of agriculture was founded in
1899, and endowed for a term of years by the
munificence of the Worshipful Company of Drapers,
a body which, with commendable breadth of view,
recognizes alike the importance of applied scientific
instruction for the artisan and of scientific investiga-
tion in all forms of the national activity. The depart-
ment of agriculture is conducted on the most practical
and progressive lines. It provides instruction in the
principles of agriculture for the sons of landowners,
farmers, and others. It conducts experiments on
crops and live stock, making every effort to secure the
intelligent co-operation of farmers. The University
experimental farm, for the use of which the department
is indebted to the generosity of a member of Clare
College, has an areaof 140 acres. The County Councils
of Cambridgeshire and nine neighbouring counties co-
operate in the work and assist it by subsidies. The
field experiments of the department extend over ten
counties. Parties of farmers visit the experimental
plots every season in order to see the results of the
experiments and to discuss them with members of the
staff; and reports which summarize these results are
widely distributed in the districts concerned. Of the
suitability of Cambridge as a site for a school of agri-
culture, and of the importance of the work undertaken
by the school, it may be well to leave the late pro-
fessor to speak for himself.

T3
194 CAMBRIDGE

‘I have but recently become a member of the University,
and, like a good many others, I at one time doubted the possi-
bility of founding a thoroughly satisfactory school of agriculture
in one of the old English Universities. But I no longer doubt;
and as one who, before coming to Cambridge, was a teacher
or student in five British Universities, I will venture to say
that nowhere else do such opportunities exist. Apart altogether
from the exceptional facilities for the study of science possessed
by the University, and apart, too, from the exceptional practical
skill of the farmers in the surrounding counties, the old
University appears to me to be more disposed to extend a
helping hand to agriculture than many of her younger sisters ;
and nowhere has a more friendly reception been given than at
Cambridge to the new organization fostered by the activity of
the Board of Agriculture... .

‘ American experience leaves no room for doubt that modern
scientific methods are capable of greatly increasing the pros-
perity of agriculture, and that the farmer has no better ally
than the laboratory worker. But, if we wish to make these
benefits ours, we must cease to be satisfied with imported
information; . . . we must aim at securing for agriculture the
services of British specialists, men who will give their whole
time to the study of one subject under the conditions which
prevail in our own country. To the extent of our resources
this has been the policy of our agricultural department in
Cambridge,

‘We are in the centre of the finest land in England; we
already have an organization by which we reach the farmer ;
we know his wants; and the University has supplied us with
well-qualified teachers of applied science. If we were in
possession of suitable laboratories, properly equipped for
research, we should find competent investigators and willing
assistants among the younger members of the University who
are always ready to engage in original work, either with the
view of gaining knowledge or in order to qualify themselves
for appointments,’

In considering the development of all these depart-
ments, and the foundation of the chairs and other
teaching posts made necessary by them, it must be
remembered that the professorships already existing
before 1850 included, among others, those of chemistry,
DIPLOMAS 195

anatomy, botany, geology, mineralogy, medicine,
physic, political economy, moral philosophy, modern
history, Arabic, and music; that these chairs had,
before the Commission of 1850, no very important
duties attached to them; and that in the last fifty
years each has been adapted to its place in the
University system, and each has in turn become a new
centre of activity round which, to use a convenient
term unfamiliar in Cambridge, a ‘faculty’ has crystal-
lized. To many important developments it has been
possible to allude only in the most cursory manner.
The merest mention must suffice for the diploma in
geography; the diploma in mining engineering, with
its provision for practical experience in mines in this
country or abroad; the diploma in forestry, which is a
logical outcome of the development of the botanical
and agricultural schools; the provision for military
studies, and the Day Training College for teachers.
The latter has both a primary and a secondary depart-
ment, and the certificate given by the University in
the theory, history, and practice of education, and for
practical efficiency, attracts teachers in great numbers
from all parts of the country.

Development so wide and so rapid as that which we
have sketched has been of necessity costly. The ex-
penditure since 1862 on buildings devoted to science
alone must have considerably exceeded £300,000, the
greater part having taken place in the latter years of
the period; and it must be remembered that the Uni-
versity has had also to equip and maintain the observa-
tory, the cost of which is not included in the amount
just mentioned, and to spend large sums on the Uni-
versity library. Except in one or two cases, in which
a special benefaction fund had been appropriated to
adornment by the desire of the benefactor, these build-
ings have been erected with the strictest regard to

13—2
196 CAMBRIDGE

economy. The amount expended cannot be said to
be an inordinate sum for a modern University to have
spent on scientific buildings and equipment. Yet even
this expenditure would have been impossible without
external help.

The cost of the maintenance of the buildings erected
and of the very inadequately paid staffs, now presses
on the limits of the available income; and it is con-
tended that but little more can be attempted for many
years, if ever, without external aid. We will proceed,
then, to a rough analysis of the resources of the Uni-
versity and colleges, and of the allotment of these
resources. Before doing so, however, it may be well
to state that the colleges provide adequately, but not
extravagantly, for the teaching of classics and mathe-
matics, for elementary teaching in many other subjects,
and for individual assistance to the student and super-
vision of his work in the subjects taught in the Uni-
versity. The collegiate system also ensures a close
contact and intercourse between teacher and student
not otherwise or elsewhere attainable. The Uni-
versity, in its teaching aspect, may be regarded as
an organization for providing instruction in all those
branches of knowledge the teaching of which cannot
be economically undertaken by the colleges. Thus,
for the teaching of science, and for the provision of
costly laboratories, the University is responsible; and
the higher and more specialized teaching in most other
departments is also provided by the University. The
ancient endowments are, in the main, college endow-
ments; but the history of the development of modern
subjects is also the history of the development of the
University; and it is the University rather than the
colleges which is at present in need of substantial
financial help. But to suppose that the colleges do
not heartily co-operate in the University teaching
would be erroneous; at the present time one college
INCOME OF THE COLLEGES 197

may be better organized than another for this par-
ticular purpose, but the colleges may safely be trusted
soon to come into line.

The corporate income of the seventeen colleges is,
roughly, £310,000 per annum. This, with a sum of
about £52,000 (called the Tuition Fund), received
annually from the lecture and laboratory fees of the
3,200 students, and £30,000 received annually by the
University for degree and other fees, constitutes the
whole available income for college as well as Uni-
versity purposes, if we except certain Trust Funds
for the endowment of some professorships, and those
funds of the nature of charities of which the colleges
are merely administrators.

The corporate income of the colleges consists of
(1) endowments, usually in the form of estates, which
bring in £220,000 a year; (2) fees, rent of rooms, profits
on kitchens, and so forth, which bring in £90,000. But
the colleges are great landowners and have the out-
goings of landowners. Though the expenses of the
estate management are only about 7 per cent. of the
revenues arising from the estates, yet £130,000 a year
are spent on management, repairs, and improvements
on the estates, rates and taxes,* interest on loans, and
the maintenance of the costly college buildings in
Cambridge. Many of the latter are national monu-
ments of surpassing interest, the proper care of which
is a duty to the nation. When allowance has been
made for the inevitable expenditure under these heads,
there is left only £180,000 for all other purposes. The
fellowships and the stipends of the heads of houses
absorb £78,000; and the contributions of the colleges
towards scholarships, as determined in the main by
statute, and as distinct from any separate endowment,
account for £32,000.

An analysis of the distribution of the fellowship

* Rates, taxes, and tithe alone swallow up £45,000.
198 CAMBRIDGE

money may conveniently be deferred for the moment ;
but it may be stated that the sum spent on scholar-
ships finds, inside the University at least, many critics.
The expenditure on scholarships is undoubtedly, how-
ever, in the main, a fulfilment of the intentions of their
founders, and, if we may judge by the recent expendi-
ture of County Councils, is in accordance with public
feeling. After deduction of fellowships and scholar-
ships, there is left of the corporate income a sum of
£70,000. Of this sum, £32,000,* or nearly one-half, is
paid as a direct contribution to the University ; but,
as will be seen immediately, the colleges contribute to
the University in many other ways. Of the £38,000
remaining, £4,000 goes to supplement the Tuition
Fund of £52,000 received from the students as fees;
the sum of £56,000 so obtained is applied to the
provision of college and University lecturers. A
large proportion of these fees is paid to the scientific
departments of the University; and of the fees
so paid the greater part is assigned as a contribu-
tion to the maintenance of the several depart-
ments, and not, directly at least, to the payment of
lecturers.

Deducting the sum of £4,000, contributed by the
colleges to the Tuition Fund, we have left over of the
corporate income a sum of £34,000, or about £2,000
per college, available for the payment of college
officers and servants, the expenses of the college
libraries, printing, and other expenses. If, then,
it can be shown that the £78,000 spent on the
fellowships is not extravagantly allotted—and of this
more below—it is clear that the colleges can contribute
but little more than they do at present to the Uni-
versity teaching.

An idea of the serious effect of the fall of agricultural
rent on the college incomes may be gathered from

* Including about £10,000 capitation tax.
FELLOWSHIPS 199

the fact that one of the larger colleges has in the
last thirty years suffered a loss of revenue amounting
to £10,000 a year.

We now turn to the question of the fellowships.
The sum of £78,000 was in 1904 divided among seven-
teen heads of houses and about 315 ordinary fellows.
Of this sum the heads of houses received among them,
as far as can be ascertained, the not excessive amount
of £15,000, very unequally divided. The average
stipend of a fellow is thus about £200 per annum.
When the last Commission sat, the maximum stipend
of a fellow was fixed at £250; and it was thought that
this sum would usually be reached. But, except in
the case of one or two colleges, which are the fortu-
nate possessors of town property, the maximum is
now never reached ; and in certain cases the value of
a fellowship has fallen to less than £100 per annum.
Of the 315 fellows, some 245 were in 1904 resident
and some 7o non-resident. Of the residents, about
225 were holding some University or college office,
educational or administrative. Of the non-residents,
and of the residents who were holding no office, the
greater number had earned their fellowships by hold-
ing some qualifying position, such as a lectureship for
a given number of years, usually twenty. Among the
non-residents, in addition to fellows who hold their
fellowships as a pension, were to be found students
who are prosecuting research away from Cambridge;
such students are, as a rule, liable to be summoned to
reside, as college exigencies may demand. Several
other non-residents are fellows who have but recently
received appointments away from Cambridge; their
fellowships will, under the new statutes, lapse in a
year or two.

The analysis shows that the number of ‘prize fellow-
ships’ is small; and it is believed that they are steadily
vanishing. To assist the reader in obtaining a general
200 CAMBRIDGE

idea of what is done with the fellowships, the com-
bined result in the case of two colleges is here given.
The two colleges in question have been chosen be-
cause the writers happen to be in a position to account
for the occupant of every fellowship in each college.
As will be seen, the two colleges render most valuable
assistance to the University; and they have practically
rid themselves of the burden of prize fellowships im-
posed on them by the Commission of 1856. The two
colleges dispose, according to the University calendar
of 1995-6, of forty fellowships between them. Of these,
five are pension fellowships; five are held by pro-
fessors in the University, as part of their stipend;
twelve are held by University lecturers, demonstra-
tors, or other University officers; eleven are held by
college officers or lecturers ; five are held by research
students in Cambridge; two junior fellowships are
held by non-residents. One of the latter was recently
appointed to a professorship in another University,
and his fellowship has just lapsed; the other holds a
prize fellowship. It is unlikely that, when his fellow-
ship lapses, another prize fellow will be elected in his
place. There are in residence at each of the two
colleges a number of University lecturers and officers,
and of college lecturers, for whom no fellowship can
be found. Speaking generally of the fellowships
allotted to college teaching, it may be said that, with
the help of a portion of the Tuition Fund, they enable
the colleges to provide the college lecturers with
stipends on which an unmarried man, occupying
rooms in college, may comfortably live. When we
turn to the University lectureships, there is often
another tale to tell.

The University income, which has to bear almost
the whole cost of modern developments, is made up
of the following items: matriculation, degree, ex-
amination, and other fees, £30,000; direct contribu-
UNIVERSITY INCOME 201

tions from colleges, £32,000; income from endowments,
42,000—£ 64,000 in all.

In 1904 the University, in the course of its ordinary
work, expended £65,300, distributed roughly as
follows:

 

4
Officers, secretaries, and servants.. 2 4,100
Maintenance of business offices, registry,
senate house, and schools ee =< 5300
Rates and taxes ’ ss 3,400
Obligatory payments from i income mx 1300
Stipends of professors... .. 12,400
Stipends of readers, University ‘lecturers,
demonstrators, and other teachers ss Q,I00
Maintenance and subordinate staff of scientific
departments (including the botanic garden
and observatory) + 9,600
University library, staff, ‘and upkeep -» 6,300
Examiners’ fees, etc. ... 5,900
Debt on buildings, sites, sinking ‘fund, and
interest on building loans re . 8,500
Printing and stationery .. j wie 23000
Pension funds (professors, £200; saan:
£150) iat ee re es 350
Miscellaneous expenses ... its dig 450
£65,300

There are forty-four professors, very few of them
receive £800 or more a year (including fellowships),
while the lowest limit of a professor’s stipend, unless
he holds a fellowship, is about £90 a year. The
average annual income of a professor is not more than
£550, and of the yearly revenue of £24,000 required to
produce this average, £7,000 are paid in the shape of
fellowships by the colleges, and about £4,600 from the
income of special trust funds and other benefactions,
one payment of £800 a year being for a term of years
only. One or two professors at most receive a pro-
portion of the fees paid for lectures and laboratories
202 CAMBRIDGE

in their respective departments. There are twelve
University readers (or sub-professors). The new
statutes contemplated for a reader the salary of £400 a
year, but, owing to the inadequacy of the University
income, none receives more than £300, and in several
cases only £100 is paid. There are fifty-three Uni-
versity lecturers whose stipends range from £200 a
year to £50, and it is melancholy to note how many of
these receive the lower sum, without any assistance
from endowments, such as fellowships or the like.
There are thirteen University teachers, almost all of
them appointed by the Board for Indian Civil Ser-
vice studies, and occupied, in the main, in teaching
eastern dialects; and there are forty-four demon-
strators, curators, and superintendents of museums,
whose stipends range from £200 a year to nothing
at all.

The incomes of some of these gentlemen are supple-
mented by fellowships, of others by a share of lecture
fees ; a few, too, may hold two such offices as curator
and lecturer simultaneously. But, when the addition
from all sources (about £8,000 from fees or special
funds, and £13,000 from fellowships) has been made
to the annual sum (£9,100) which the University has
to give, we arrive at a total of about £30,000, giving
the surprisingly low average income of £250 a year
for any University teacher other than a professor. A
few of the older teachers may hold some college office
which adds a little to their income, but these are rare
exceptions. There are no resources from which these
incomes may be increased according to the service of
the holder, and there is practically no provision for
pension, except in the case of those teachers (less than
one-half of the whole number) who hold fellowships,
and may expect, after many years of service, to earn
the right to retain them permanently.

In these circumstances it is not surprising that the
INDIRECT ENDOWMENT 203

University finds a difficulty in retaining many of its
abler teachers. At the beginning of 1904 it was esti-
mated that over two hundred professors and lecturers
at other Universities (as distinct from University
colleges) in the United Kingdom had been educated at
Cambridge, and, though that is by no means a matter
for regret, yet it is not too much to say that, in supply-
ing this demand for teachers, the University has done
a great national work for which she is poorly requited
by her difficulty in retaining a sufficient staff for her-
self. Fortunately, when all other funds are exhausted,
the fund of patriotism remains inexhaustible. It is
not known how many fellows, possessed of some
private means, and attached to the University through
sheer love of their work, return their stipends to their
colleges to be employed for the general good; such
men are always anxious that their names should be
concealed, but the present writers know of three in
the restricted circle of their immediate personal
friends. The special correspondent of the Times
writes, on the occasion of the royal visit in 1904:

‘I may be permitted to say, as the result of my personal
inquiries, that the amount of work done either gratuitously
or for very inadequate remuneration by professors, readers,
lecturers, demonstrators, and other teachers in many depart-
ments of study and instruction, really constitutes a very sub-
stantial endowment, freely contributed by men who have no
worldly goods to give, but who give lavishly of their time,
their energy, their intellectual capacity, their acquired know-
ledge, and their disinterested devotion to the advancement of
learning. If this asset were evaluated in pounds, shillings,
and pence, the University balance-sheet would wear a very
different aspect.’

On a consideration of the analysis just made, and of
the additional facts that the Reserve Fund set aside
by the University for building and equipment during
the years of her development is now exhausted, and
204 CAMBRIDGE

that her borrowing powers have been seriously
reduced, it would appear that further progress is
almost entirely dependent on an increase of endow-
ment.

A few years ago certain of the University autho-
rities, foreseeing the approach of a financial crisis,
put away their pride, and, with the countenance of
the chancellor, boldly begged for help. Their appeal
resulted in the collection of about £100,000, which
has been expended on the erection and equipment of
various buildings devoted to science, such as the
museum of geology and the botany school, the Uni-
versity itself contributing a large proportion of the
expense incurred. In the list of contributors occur
the names of no fewer than 500 Cambridge men, past
and present, out of a total of 620 names. This number
is a sufficient retort to the suggestion which has been
made that Cambridge does not help herself. It must
be remembered, too, that a sum of about £14,000 a
year is contributed by members of the Senate to the
funds of the University and of the colleges for the
privilege of continued membership, and that these
fees are often paid out of very slender incomes on
grounds which are, as a rule, purely patriotic.

In enumerating the needs of the various depart-
ments it is fitting that the older studies and their
modern developments should be first passed in
review, for, though in certain respects these studies
are well equipped, and though the provision of what
is necessary would not be so costly as in the case of
science, yet, in the deficiency of income available for
development, there is real danger that the humanities
may be starved.

Theology is well endowed by the piety of former
generations. Yet the present Bishop of Winchester,
when Hulsean Professor of Divinity, pleaded for an
CLASSICAL AND ORIENTAL STUDIES 205

increased stipend for the professors which would
permit them to save enough to retire upon; and, in
view of the small sum, £200 a year, which the Uni-
versity is able to pay to its pension fund, such an
increase cannot be said to be unreasonable. In law, a
new post for the teaching of jurisprudence, or of juris-
prudence combined with Roman law, is the chief
requirement. The teaching of Latin and Greek is
largely and effectively supplemented by the provision
made by the colleges, but the demand for a professor-
ship instead of a readership in classical archeology
cannot be called extravagant, while it is little short of
scandalous that the University possesses no professor,
and can make no permanent provision for the study of
ancient philosophy.

The teaching of Oriental Janguages is perhaps more
dependent than that of any other subject on the self-
sacrificing generosity of the staff. Though but a
nominal stipend and a nominal duty attach to his
chair, the Lord Almoner’s professor of Arabic volun-
tarily undertakes a large share of the teaching. The
payment of the Talmudic reader, depending mainly on
the generosity of a private person, is guaranteed only
during the tenure of the present reader. The cost of
the colloquial teaching of spoken Arabic, Turkish, and
Persian by native instructors is guaranteed, and some-
times in part provided, by the Sir Thomas Adams
professor of Arabic. The professor of Chinese has
the inadequate stipend of £200; and the professorship
terminates with the tenure of the present holder.
Apart from the necessity of providing teaching for
practical students, the proper care of the Chinese
library alone renders the permanence of the pro-
fessorship a necessity. There is no _professor-
ship or readership of Japanese. The stipend of the
present lecturer in Persian is inadequate. Egypt-
ology is not provided for, although there is a fine
206 CAMBRIDGE

collection of mortuary objects in the Fitzwilliam
Museum ; and Assyriology, although the professor of
Assyriology at King’s College, London, lives in
Cambridge, is wholly unrepresented. No provision
is made for the teaching of the Iranian dialects.
Altogether some £2,000 a year could well be spent in
Oriental languages alone.

There is no chair of English literature in the
University. The professorship of Anglo-Saxon is a
recent endowment. By the exertions of the occupant
of that chair a sum of £2,100 has been collected, which
yields an endowment of £60 a year for an English
lectureship. To this small stipend the University adds
#50ayear. It is not surprising that the distinguished
student who has so long occupied the post should at
last have been attracted to London by a higher
stipend.

French and German are represented by two readers,
who in the last twenty years have taken a large share
in the development of a sound and growing school.
In the provision for the teaching of modern languages,
Cambridge ought not to be behind the northern
Universities ; and it is most desirable that professor-
ships should be established in at least French and
German. The University is indebted to a private
fund for a small endowment for the lectureship in
Russian and other Sclavonic tongues. This lecture-
ship should be made permanent; and lectureships
should be established in Spanish and Italian.

As in the case of classics and mathematics, the
University teaching in history is largely supplemented
by the colleges; but the Regius professor pleads for
an additional reader and two lecturers. A central
building with professors’ rooms and_ lecture-rooms
and accommodation for the professorial library is
urgently required.

The newly-established school of economics and
ECONOMICS AND ANTHROPOLOGY 207

politics is in urgent need of three or four lectureships,
to which definite duties in research should be attached,
in order to extend the present range of economic
study, and to bring it close to the great problems
of modern industry. While in the Universities of
Edinburgh, London, Manchester, Leeds, North and
South Wales, and Montreal, political economy is
taught by economists trained at Cambridge, their
alma mater is starved of the means necessary to
produce their successors.

The anthropological collections are, for want of
space, in a chaotic state. The University is fortunate
in possessing many ardent workers; and its collections
are most valuable. The existing museum of arche-
ology and ethnology is, however, quite inadequate for
their display, or even for their storage; and a disused
warehouse has been hired at Newnham to accommo-
date the further collections which generous donors
continue to present. To such an extent has it been
necessary to carry the economy practised in this
department that the shelves of the warehouse have
been made from old boxes. A site for anew museum
has been provided by the University, and plans have
been prepared; but without the help of extraneous
benefactions it is impossible to build at present. An
adequate building would cost perhaps £25,000. The
removal of the museum to a new site would set free
space greatly needed for other purposes. The Disney
professor of archzology and the curator of the arche-
ological museum plead also for the foundation of a
chair, or at least a readership, for the comparative
study of religions; and, in view of the relations of the
Empire to every kind of cult, it 1s scarcely creditable
that neither of the older Universities makes any
provision for this study.

The present staff consists of the Disney professor of
archeology, and a lecturer on ethnology with a salary
208 CAMBRIDGE

of £50a year. The only accommodation for the latter
is a room in the basement of the medical school, where
he takes classes in practical work. Physical anthro-
pology is associated more directly with the department
of human anatomy, and is represented by another
lecturer at £50a year. The collection of skulls brought
together by Professor Macalister affords unrivalled
material for demonstrations; and, as two recent
volumes from the pen of Dr. Duckworth show, good
use is made of the material. The University has
recently recognized the importance of anthropology
by adopting a scheme for granting degrees for research
in this subject.

The growing importance of the architect's profes-
sion, and the widespread recognition of the fact that
the young architect must have a preliminary scientific
training, point to the desirability of establishing a
school of architecture at Cambridge, resting on the one
hand on the engineering school, and on the other on
the Slade professorship of fine arts, and the school
of archeology. The school might be organized on
lines similar to those of the medical school; and the
young architect would pass his early years of pro-
fessional study on thoroughly practical lines, in the
midst of admirable examples of almostall the different
styles.

In 1877 Cambridge led the way in that difficult
science called sometimes physiological psychology,
sometimes experimental psychology, and sometimes
psychophysics. In that year the present professor of
mental philosophy and logic, and Dr. Venn, made a
vigorous effort to establish a psychophysical labora-
tory. They unfortunately failed; had they succeeded,
Cambridge would have possessed the first laboratory
of this kind in the world. In 1878 Wundt opened his
laboratory at Leipzig ; and there are now some seven
psychophysical laboratories in Germany, two in
PSYCHOPHYSICS AND MATHEMATICS 209

Russia, ten in the United States, one in Copenhagen,
one in Paris, one in Geneva, and one in Canada. It is
not that psychophysics is not studied in Cambridge,
for Dr. Rivers, the lecturer on the subject, and
Dr. Myers, have formed a school there which is second
to none in Great Britain; this school has recently
supplied a reader to Oxford. But the work is done
under most discouraging circumstances. The labora-
tory is at present established in a dilapidated cottage
in Mill Lane and in an adjacent disused granary.
Further and better provision for this growing subject
is urgent ; and the present lectureship should be con-
verted into a readership. The interest which is taken
in the subjects under the control of the Board of Moral
Science is shown by the successful launching of the
Journal of Psychology, the first number of which was
published by the University Press in 1904. Lecture-
rooms and a departmental library are wanted ; and the
establishment of a readership in pedagogy should not
be long delayed.

In mathematics two new professorships are needed,
one in pure mathematics and one in applied mathe-
matics; two of the present lecturers should be made
readers; and the salaries of all the lecturers should be
raised to £100 a year. One pressing need is that for
two lecture-rooms, with an adjacent library and a
museum of mathematical models. Cambridge is per-
haps the most renowned mathematical school in the
world; yet its provision for the accommodation of
the staff is far behind that of the chief American
Universities. A munificent benefactor has recently
left a sum of £5,000 for repairs, etc, to the Newall
telescope; but there is no stipend forthcoming for
Mr. Newall, who for sixteen years has discharged
the duties of observer without remuneration. The
Lowndean and Plumian professors pay the salary of a
demonstrator.

14
210 CAMBRIDGE

The Cavendish laboratory, owing to the position it
has for years taken in the promotion of physical
research, is overcrowded with students and researchers.
Lord Rayleigh has most generously given to the
University the Nobel prize gained by him in 1904. Of
this benefaction, £5,000 have been assigned as a con-
tribution towards the desired new wing; but money
will be required for maintenance; and the professor
estimates that a sum of £7,500 is now wanted for
instruments, machinery, and laboratory fittings. The
professor of chemistry asks for more apparatus and
higher stipends for his teachers. He draws attention
to the need for a metallurgical laboratory, the provision
of which, in view of the recent establishment of a
diploma in mining engineering, is urgent. Mineralogy
asks only for a trained attendant and £35 a year; but
for meteorology there is no real provision.

The Sedgwick museum, in which the department of
geology is now housed, has involved much expense in
furnishing. Although the existing furniture was all
retained, there is still a demand for more cabinets;
and Professor Hughes would like to spend £2,800 on
these alone, while a large sum should be set apart for
maintenance, wages, and the increase of stipends.
The demands of botany are not yet completely satis-
fied. A readership to deal with the newly recog-
nized study of scientific forestry has recently been
created.

In zoology, if we leave out of account the need
for higher stipends for teachers and higher wages for
attendants, which runs like a thread through all the
departments, there are two chief requirements. The
first is for a new or, at any rate, a greatly enlarged
museum. It is doubtful if the existing site is large
enough to allow an adequate increase to the present
structure; and to build a new building on another
site would probably cost £30,000; nevertheless, with
ZOOLOGY 211

the ever-increasing collections housed in rooms already
overstocked, this expenditure must soon be faced.

A branch of experimental science dealing with the
study of variation and heredity in plants and animals
has recently arisen, and has already attained very
considerable proportions in Cambridge. It seems,
indeed, that we are entering on a period when such
studies will absorb the energies of most of the younger
biological students. Under Mr. Bateson some twelve
researchers are already at work following out Mendel’s
law in many varieties of plant and animal. The ex-
treme importance of these studies, which, if they
prove a key to heredity, will place in man's hands an
instrument as powerful as Watt’s application of steam,
is shown by the fact that Mr. Biffen has already
discovered that susceptibility to rust in wheat is
Mendelian, and is thus a property which may be
eliminated by breeding. For all these studies land
is required, as well as a greenhouse, outbuildings,
and a trained gardener. None of these is as yet
attainable.

The recent discoveries of the protozoic origin of
malaria, sleeping-sickness, and other human and many
other animal diseases, has directed attention both to
the protozoa, with their complicated life-histories, and
to the insects which convey them from one creature
to another. Both protozoa and insects are highly
specialized groups of animals. The establishment,
by the aid of the Quick bequest, of a chair of proto-
zoology will do something to meet the necessities of
the case, so far as the protozoa are concerned; but
some provision for the study of the insects is still
needed.

A chair of physiological chemistry is urgently
wanted. The pressing problems of the day in physi-
ology require a chemical solution. Remarkable strides
have already been made in this subject; the inter-

14—2
212 CAMBRIDGE

action of the various tissues of the body by means of
the blood, the functions of the ductless glands, the
problems of immunity, are all being worked out upon
a chemical basis. In this country there are but two
professors of physiological chemistry, whereas in
Germany there are eleven, in Austria eight, in France
six. That Great Britainis lamentably behind in this
branch of learning is even more markedly shown when
we consider the output of original memoirs. In 1903
over 3,000 papers, written by some 2,500 workers,
were published; to this total the United Kingdom
contributed no more than seventy. Cambridge has
produced many brilliant physiologists ; but the school
cannot afford the outlay for even a necessary piece of
apparatus costing £10; and the demonstrators pay,
out of their pittances, part of the wages of their
attendants.

The new medical schools, opened by the King in
March, 1904, are but a portion of the original plan;
and, until the remaining laboratories can be erected
(at a probable cost of about £12,000), the various de-
partments must necessarily be cramped. Many more
teachers in special subjects are wanted, and the need
of a professorship, or at least a readership, in hygiene
is pressing. A new lecture-room is wanted in the
department of human anatomy, which at present
shares a room with physiology. A considerable sum
is also needed for instruments, fittings, attendants,
and libraries.

The school of engineering needs provision in metal-
lurgy, mining subjects, and naval architecture; of the
latter, in the greatest shipbuilding country of the
world, but two chairs—one at Glasgow, and one at
Newcastle-on-Tyne — exist. New workshops and
engine-rooms are also greatly needed. The present
workshops date from 1878, and are far too small for
the demands on them. The provision of a sum of
AGRICULTURE 213

money which can be expended by the professor on
the encouragement of research is much needed.

The department of agriculture is fairly well staffed,
but at present is obliged to carry on its indoor
work in four rooms in the basement of the chemical
laboratory. The amount of research carried on by
the staff has fully justified them in establishing the
Journal of Agricultural Science, which appeared for the
first time in 1904. This is the only periodical in the
country devoted entirely to scientific agriculture. A
laboratory for agriculture is a most pressing necessity ;
a site is available, but at present there is not sufficient
money for the building, which, including provision
for maintenance, would cost £20,000. The Drapers’
Company has generously promised a conditional £5,000
towards this sum, and some £12,000 has been collected
from other sources.

Besides numerous smaller needs, there are two of
primary importance which have not yet been men-
tioned. The first is that for the provision of exam-
ination rooms. The University examinations are at
present held in the Guildhall, the Corn Exchange, and
other hired rooms, often badly lighted, badly heated,
and badly ventilated, and in no case well adapted to
the purpose of conducting examinations. The hiring
and arranging of the rooms costs the University at
least £450 a year.

The other great need is some adequate provision
for that priceless national treasure, the University
library. Mr. J. W. Clark has himself inaugurated an
appeal on its behalf. The list of donors which he is
already able to print is headed by His Majesty the
King; and a sum of over £18,000 has already been
collected. This sum includes a donation of £5,000
from the Goldsmiths’ Company, and £2,700 assigned
by Lord Rayleigh from the Nobel prize; to the
remainder, resident masters of arts have largely
214 CAMBRIDGE

contributed. When it has been shown by their con
tributions how keenly the residents feel on the subject
of the library, it is hoped that some generous measure
of help may be forthcoming from hands more able to
give it. The library is the mainspring of University
activity ; and its well-being and good organization
are important to all departments alike. Every member
of the Senate, and every other person entitled to use
the library, have access to the shelves; and no serious
student, whether a member of the University or not,
is refused.

But, in its restricted area, the library cannot expand
further; and the result is congestion and inevitable
disorder. The furniture and fitting up of the rooms
recently rendered available for the library will cost
some £15,000. Towards this expenditure the Financial
Board has been able to grant only £5,000, spread over
three years. The cost of furnishing a reading and
reference-room is estimated at from £800 to £1,000.
Further, an increase of the staff is urgently needed.
The library grows at the rate of about 11,000 books
per annum; and there are considerable arrears of
cataloguing to be overtaken. The magnificent gift of
Lord Acton’s library, for which the University is in-
debted to Mr. Carnegie and Mr. John Morley, has
involved considerable outlay. The number of volumes
presented is about 59,000; the binding, cataloguing,
printing of titles, and the provision of bookcases will
cost about £8,000, to which the University has con-
tributed £6,900. Gifts such as these are of priceless
value to Cambridge; but they entail heavy expen-
diture. Additional assistants, moreover, are needed
to look after them; and every new room added to the
library increases the cost of maintenance. Altogether,
it is estimated that a sum of £21,200 is required for
present use; and that £3,800 a year is required for
additions to the staff, the purchase and binding of
LIBRARY 215

books, and for the additional expense entailed by the
Acton library. This annual income, if capitalized,
represents a sum of £126,700.

Modern education is a costly thing; and when, in
1904, the heads of departments in the University made
an estimate of the outlay necessary to place their
several provinces in a state of efficiency, their de-
liberate and responsible calculations showed that a
sum of £270,000 was required for building and equip-
ment, and an additional annual income of £38,000 for
the increase of salaries on the very moderate scale
suggested, and for maintenance; in all, say a capital
sum of a million and a half. Even this estimate takes
no account of the desirability of providing pensions
for professors who have reached the age of seventy.
As the published list of benefactions shows, Cam-
bridge has reason to be grateful to her recent
benefactors. But to raise an endowment comparable
to that of £1,400,000 which the Johns Hopkins
University received from private munificence seems
in this country to be hardly within the bounds of
possibility.

Had an appeal such as that issued by Cambridge
been made in the United States, there is little doubt
that it would have met with a prompt response.
There is in Montreal a University, officered largely
by Cambridge men, and equipped with a princely
magnificence of which Cambridge dares not even
dream. Dr. Ewing’s comment is pertinent. ‘It is
good,’ said he, ‘to see the colonial daughter sitting
down to so lavish a table; but is it well that the alma
mater at home should be left looking wistfully at the
crumbs?’ Nearer home, Mr. Carnegie has shown
what a large-minded liberality can do for the Scottish
Universities. A great benefactor who would free the
University of Cambridge from a sordid struggle, in
216 CAMBRIDGE

which every pound spent on development has to be
laboriously begged, would earn an enduring fame in
the annals of British education. It has been the
earnest desire of the authors of this paper to show
that the University is not unworthy of such generosity ;
that she has displayed great courage and great self-
denial in facing modern conditions; and that her
reputed wealth is a fiction, while her poverty is a
grim fact.
INDEX

ACARINES, I71
Acids, butyric, Formation of, 110
glycerine and succinic, Forma-
tion of, 110
lactic, Fermentation of, 110
tartaric, 105
Acvobothrium, 14
Acton, Lord, Library of, 214
Africa: Native children infected
with malaria, 162
Native population permeated
with the malarial parasite, 152
West Coast of, Average of two

malarial attacks a year
amongst British soldiers on
the, 131

Agassiz, A., 20, 77
Alcohol, Fermentation of, 110
Alexander’s Bucephalus, 84
Alge, 24, 25
Absence of, below 200 fathoms,
ai
Allman, Professor, 22, 67
Amblyomma hebvewum conveys the
heartwater disease in sheep, 172,
173
America, Distribution of malaria
in, 132
Gifts of the Universities of, 185
Anodonta, 4
Anopheles, 144, 145
bifurcatus, 147
does not fly far by itself, 161
Eggs of, 148
Larve of, 148
Life-history of, 148, 149
maculipennis (claviger), 147, 148
Male, 149
nigevvimus, 158
nigvipes, 147
Position of, 159
Pupz of, 148
Anthrax, 120, 121
produced by Bacillus anthvacis,
Iai

 

Appendicularia, 39
Arbois, 103, 106
Argas persicus conveys the chicken
disease of Brazil, 173
Aristoeopsis, Antenne of, 37
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 1
Arragonite, 1
Arripo, 4
Arsenic-eaters of the Tyrol, 124
Austen, Map of the geographical
distribution of the tsetse fly
by, 166
Mortality amongst the horses
in the Abyssinian campaign
caused by the tsetse fly, 166
On the distribution of the fly,
176
es Distribution of malaria
in, 132

Baciocchi, Princess, 118
Bacillus anthracis, Behaviour and
life-history of, 121
susceptible to variations
of temperature, 121
butyricus, TIO
typhosus, 178
Bacilli, Aerobic, 111
Anaerobic, 111
Bache, 19
Bailey, 19
Balard, 104
Barrow Channel, Mussel-beds of
6,7
Bastianelli, 143
Bateson, W., Materials for the study
of variation, 74
Researches on Mendel’s law,
21
Bathochordeus
Chun, 39
Bathybius, 21
Bathynomus, Eyes of the, 35
Bathysaurus, Blackness of the mouth

of, 37

charon, named by

217
218

Battipaglia, malarious district of,
151, 152

Beelzebub called Lord of Flies,

173

Benazrek mated with Mulatto, 85

Benthos often stalked, 31, 32

Berlin, University of, State endow-
ments of the, 185

Bernard, Claude, 117

Berryman, Lieutenant, 21

Berzelius, 109

Besancon, 102, 106

Royal College of Franche-
Comté, 104

Bidder, G. P., Experiments with
weighted bottles on the intensity
of fishing, 61

Biffen, Mr,, Discovery that sus-
ceptibility to rust in wheat is
Mendelian, 211

Bignami, 143

Billiers, Mussel-beds of, 6

Biot, 106, 107

Blackwater fever, 170

Bos, Ritzema, Experiments of in-
breeding with rats, 92

Bouché, Description of the larva of
the house-fly, 174

Bouguer, 18

Boutan, 14

Boyle, Robert, 18, 120

Brandt, Professor, 57, 66

British sea-fisheries. See Sea-
Fisheries, British

Bronn, 88

Bruce, Colonel D,: Female tsetse
fly does not lay eggs, 166

Buache, Philippe, 16

Buchanan, John Y., of the Chal-
lenger, 21

Buddha,
of, Zz

Bulman, 87

Buvma, Sleeping-sickness in, 169

Burchell’s zebras, 82

Stripes of, 82, 85

Busoga, Sleeping-sickness in, 169

Butterflies, Hybridizing, 95

Byerly Turk, 93

Mother-of-pearl images

Cable, Recovery of the, by Fleeming
Jenkin, 22

Cable-laying : Survey by Lieutenant

Berryman, of the Arctic,

21

by Captain Pullen, of the
Cyclops, 21

by Dr. Wallich, in the
Bulldog, 21

 

INDEX

Cesar, Julius, and British pearls, 5
Favourite horse was polydac-
tylous, 84
Caird, Sir J., 45
Cambridge, 183
Agriculture, Department of,
conducted on the most
gen and progressive
ines, 193
Experimental farm, up-
held by County Councils
of Cambridgeshire and
nine neighbouring coun-

ties, 193
Journal of Agricultural
Science, established in
1904, 213
Need of Laboratory for,
213
Professorship of, founded
in 1899, 193
Anglo-Saxon, Professorship of,
206
Appeal of authorities of, 184,
204

Archzology, Disney professor-
ship of, founded 1851, 187
Architecture, school of, Desira-
bility of establishing, a, 208

Botanic garden, 193
Botany housed in a separate
building in 1904, 192
Cavendish laboratory, opened
in 1874, IgI, 210
Chemical laboratory, built in
1887, 192
Chemistry, physiological, Chair
of, needed, 211
Chinese, Chair of, 190
Chinese library, Proper care
of, renders the per-
manency of the pro-
fessorship a neces-
sity, 205
Gift of Sir Thomas
Wade, 190
Colleges, Analysis of the re-
sources of, 196
Collegiate system, 196
Corporate income of the
seventeen, 197
Day training, 195
Fall of agricultural rent on
incomes of, 198
Fellows, Average stipend
of, 199
Fellowships and _ stipends
of the heads of houses,

197
INDEX

Cambridge—continued : Cambridge—continued :

Colleges, Fellowships, Number
of prize, is small, 199
- Expenses of estate
management of the, 197
Income of, £300,000 a year,
185
Scholarships, 198
Tuition Fund, 197
Commission of, 1850, 187
Diplomas in forestry, 195
in geography, 195
in mining engineering, 195
Downing Professor of the Laws
of England, 188
Economics, school of, Need of
lectureships in the, 206,
207
Tripos in, founded, 190
Endowments of the University
of, 184
Engineering laboratories
opened during the tenure
of the professorship by
Dr. Ewing in 1894,

IgI
New wing added in 1899
through the generosity of
Mrs, Hopkinson, 192
Ethnology and anthropology,
Recognition of, 187
Examinations, Inadequate
rooms for, 213
Expenditure for the mainten-
ance of buildings and
staffs, 196
in 1904, 201
on buildings devoted to
science since 1862, 195
French and German professor-
ships, Need of, 206
Historical Tripos founded in
1875, 189
History, Ancient, Professor-
ship of, founded in 1898, 189
Income, University, 200, 201
of lecturers, 202
of professors, 201
of readers, 202
of teachers, 202
Indian Languages  Tripos,
founded in 1879, 190
Latin, Professorship of, 189
Law School, 188
Law Tripos replaces the ‘ Civil
Law Classes’ in 1858, 188
Library, J. W. Clark’s appeal
on behalf of the, 213
Lord Acton’s, 214

 

219

Library, Needs of, Donation of
the Goldsmiths’ Com-
pany for the, 213

Mathematics, Newall telescope,

209

Mechanical Sciences Tripos,
First examination for the,
held in 1894, 191

Mechanism and applied science,
Professorship of, established
in 1875, IQI

Medicine, School of, 188,

189
Tropical, Diploma of,
instituted in 1904, 188
Medieval and Modern Lan-
guages Tripos, founded in
1886, 190
Metallurgical laboratory, Need
of a, 210
Military studies, Provision for,

195
Moral Science Tripos, New
avenues to an honours degree
opened in 1851 by the, 187,
188
Museums for natural sciences
commenced in 1863,
188
Additions to, made in 1877,
1880, 1882, 1884, 1890,
188
Natural Sciences Tripos, 188
Needs of the various depart-
ments, 204
Nobel Prize, Gift of the, by
Lord Rayleigh, 191
Observatory, building com-
menced in 1822, Loz
Oriental Languages Tripos,
founded in 1895, 190
Pathology, Professorship of,
founded in 1883, 188
Physics, Chair of experi-
mental, founded in 1871,
191
Held in succession by
Clerk Maxwell, Lord
Rayleigh, and J. J.
Thomson, 191
Physiology, Professorship of,
founded in 1883, 188
Professors and lecturers of
other Universities educated
at, 203
Proto-zoology, Establishment
of a chair of, by the aid of
the Quick bequest, 211
220

Cambridge—continued :

Psychology, Journal of, first pub-
lished in 1904, 209

Psychology, Physiological, in
1877, 208

Psycho-physical Laboratory,
Efforts made in 1877 to es-
tablish a, 208

Psychophysics, Study of, 209

Public Health, Diploma of,
instituted in 1875, 188

Sadlerian professorship of pure

mathematics, founded in
1857, 188
Sanskrit, Professorship of,

founded in 1867, 190
Sedgwick Museum, 210
Semitic Languages

founded in 1878, 190
Slade professorship of fine art,

founded in 1869, 189
Surgery, Professorship of,

founded in 1883, 188
Whewell professorship of inter-

national law created in 1867,

188
Zoology, Professorship of,

founded in 1866, 188

Cambridgeshire, County Councilsof,
and nine neighbouring counties,
assist in upholding the agricul-
tural experimental farm, 193

‘Cane mouliére,’ 6

Cardium edule, 7

Carinavia captured by the Valdivia,

Tripos,

39
Carnegie, A., and Morley, John, Gift
of Lord Acton’s library to Cam-
bridge University, 214
Carpenter, W. B., 20
Carter, R. M., House-fly harbours
a larval nematode, named
Habronema musc@ by, 181
Tsetse flies not confined to
Africa, but also found in
South Arabia, 178
Cavendish, 18
Cecil, Lord Arthur, 85
Cephalodiscus, 41
Cercaria as nuclei of pearls, 4, 5
Cercarizum, 6
‘Charbon’ or ‘sang de rate,’ Disease
of, in cattle, 120
Charrin, M., Suggested explana-
tions of telegony, 79
Chicken, Disease of, Brazil, con-
veyed by the Avgas persicus,

173
Cholera, 122

 

INDEX

Chinchon, Countess of, Quinine
introduced into Europe in
1640 by the, 139
Cured of tertian fever by
Peruvian bark, 139
Cholera, Investigations into, 117
Christophers, S. R., Children of
African natives infected with
malaria, 152
Chun, Eyes of fishes, in his account
of the voyage of the Valdivia, 35
*Circaria.’ See Cercaria
Clark, J. W., Appeal on behalf
of the Cambridge University
Library, 213
Cocoons, Value of, 114
Cod, Fertilization of the floating
ova of the, 46
Colombo, 11, 13
Columba livia, 89
Cornalia and Filippi, Corpuscles of,

115
Crawford’s, Donald, Committee on
the scarcity of herrings, 1904, 43
Cromwell, O., Death of, from a
‘ bastard tertian ague,’ 133
Crossland, C., 14
Ctenophores, Deep-sea, 32
Culex, Position of, 159
Culicidz, 156
Anophelina, 156
Culicina, Sub-families of, 156
Female alone that bites, 161
Cusanus, Nicolaus, 17

Dana, 19
Dante, A., on flies, 167
Darley, Arabian, 93
Darwin, 76, 187
Breeding experiments
pigeons, 89
on pangenesis, 80
on stripes of a foal bred by, 85
Day-mosquito, 163
De Geer: First description of the
transformation of the house-fly,
174
De Pourtalés, 19
Diarrhoea, Epidemic, 179
Infantile, 180
Diatoms, 31
Diptera, Characteristics of, 156
Species of, Forty thousand esti-
mated as only a tithe by D.
Sharp, 156
Dispharagus nasutus (Rud.), 181
Distomum duplicatum, 4
Déle, ror, 103
Donati, 18

with
INDEX

Dourine disease caused by T, egui-
perdum, 168
Drapers’ Company, Promised dona-
tion of the, for establishing an
agricultural laboratory, 213
Dubois, 15
on pearls, 5, 8
Dumas, Lectures of, 104
Report on the epidemic of the
destruction of silkworms,
113, 114
Durham, Captain, 22

Edwards, A. Milne, 22

Eider-duck, 5

Ellis, Captain, 17

Emin Pasha on the importance of
mosquito-nets, 141

Empusa musca, 181

England, Malaria in, 133

Equidz, 82

Reversion hypothesis in the, 84

Eryonide, 41

Europe, Distribution of malaria in,
131, 132, 133, 134

Ewart, Cossar, 67

Experiments in heredity, 74

Fen districts, Malaria in the, 133
Fermentation, Acetous, of wine, 113
Alcoholic, r10
First physical view of, 109
Lactic acid, 110
Presence of oxygen, 109
Processes of putrefaction and
decay, 109
regarded as a contact action, 109
Studies on, 119
Vitalistic theory, 109
Opposition against the,
109
Yeast-cells, 109
Fever in India, 129
Redwater, conveyed by Rhifpi-
cephalus annulatus, 172
conveyed by Ixodes reduvius
in Europe, 172
Rhodesian, conveyed by Rhipi-
cephalus appendiculatus, 172
conveyed by Rhipicephalus
shipleyi, 172
Rocky Mountain, 171
Spotted, 171
Texas, 170
Tick, 170
Yellow, Cause of the spread of,
163
Organism not known which
causes, 163

 

221

Filavia, 141
Elephantiasis, 159
bancrofti, 180
immitis, existing in the heart
of dogs, 180
nocturna, 157
Round-worms in the disease
of, 157
Filariasis, Disease of, 157
Elephantiasis a variety of,

157
Filhol, on luminous slime, 33
Filippi, on origin of pearls, 4
Flacherie disease in silkworms, 116
Flies, Sce also under Anopheles,
Culicide, Diptera, Filaria
Beelzebub called Lord of, 173
Blue-bottle fly, 167
Danger of, 174
Destruction of, creolin deters
flies from ovipositing, 182
‘ Fly-belts,’ 166
House-fly, 167
Agent in the dissemination
of cholera and enteric
fevers, 178
Distribution of the, 176
First described and named
Musca domestica by Lin-
nzeus, 174
Larva of, described by
Bouché, 174
of the, turning into a
dark brown pupa or
chrysalis, 175
Larve of, Food of the,

175
Life-history of, 175
Transformation of, de-
scribed by de Geer, 174
Meat, or blow-fly, Musca vomi-
toria, Maggot in the Larva
of, 175
Parasites of, 181
Disphavagus nasutus (Rud.),
181
Empusca musce, 181
Habronema musca, 181
Nematodum sp. (?), 181
Tsetse fly conveys sleeping-
sickness, 169
Female does not lay eggs,
166
Larva of, 166
Pupa of, 166
Geographical distribution
of the, 166
(Glossina), 164
Habits of, 165
222

Flies—continued :

Tsetse fly, Mortality amongst
the horses in the Abys-
sinian Campaign per-
haps caused by the, 166

Prey of the, is the big game
of Africa, including
crocodiles, 167

and bacilli, 179

Epidemic diarrhoea caused
by, 179

Infantile diarrhoea caused
by, 180

and disease: Agencies for
carrying disease-causing
organisms, 155

Agencies for transmitting
the plague bacillus, 155,
177 ;

Agencies for carrying Egyp-
tian ophthalmia, and the
‘ sore-eye' so common
in Florida, 155, 156, 177

Agencies for carrying the
bacilli of enteric fever,
155 ,

Agencies for carrying the
Bacillus typhosus, 178

Agencies for disseminating
cholera, 177

Cause of woolsorter’s
disease, 155, 177

Musca domestica carry the
bacillus of anthrax, 155,

177
Flounder, Fertilization of the eggs
of the, 46
Foraminifera, 31
Forbes, Edward, 19, 23
Foster, Sir Michael, 188
Fowl, Wild ancestor of the Barn-
door, go
Frederick, Czesar, 9
Fulton, Dr., Diminution of plaice
and lemon-soles due to their
spawning only in deep water,

51

Increase of dabs due to their
spawning in protected waters,
51, 52

Gabes, Gulf of, 8

Gadow, H., 88

Galle, 13

Gall-sickness caused by T. theileri,
168

Gallus bankiva, go

Galton, F., on prepotency as a sport,
95

 

INDEX

Gambier group 14
Garner, 5
Garstang, W., Transplantation of
small plaice, 57
Evidence before the House of
Lords Committee in 1904,
63
Gas, Invention of the word, 108
Gay-Lussac on racemic acid, 105
Generali: House-fly harbours a
larval nematode called Nema-
todum sp. (?), 181
Generation, Spontaneous, 111, 112
Giard on pearls, 5, 8, 14
Globigerina, 31
Glossina morsitans, named by West-
wood, 164
palpalis, conveyer of sleeping-
sickness, 170
tachinoides, 178
Gnome, Invention of the word,
108
Godolphin, Arabian, 93
Goldsmiths’ Company, Donation of
the, for Cambridge University
Library, 213
Golgi, 137
Goodsir, H., 19, 67
Gordon, General, on the Import-
ance of mosquito-nets, 141
Graham, Extract on the social life
of Scotland, 132, 133
Grassi, 143, 151
Green, Rev. S., 68
Grevy’s zebra, 82
Gruby, Trypanosoma parasites first
seen by, 168
Gulf Stream, 44

Habronema musca@, 181
Haeckel, on ‘ Benthos,’ 31
on Deep-sea medusz as archaic,

41
Hemameba malaria, 135
pracox, 135
vivax, 135
Hematopota, 165
Hezmatozoa, Three species of,
which correspond to three kinds
of Malaria, 135
Hemophysalis leachi conveys the
Piroplasma, 171
life-history of, 171, 172
Haffkine, 125
Hales, Rev. Stephen, 18
Hansen on the Common diseases
of beer caused by certain species
of yeast-cell, 119
Hayes, Captain, 77
INDEX

Heartwater disease in sheep con-
veyed by Amblyomma hebreum,
171, 172, 173

Helmont, van, Gas set free when

fermentation occurs, 108
Inventor of the word ‘ gas,’ 108
receipt for producing mice, 111

Hensen, Professor, 57, 66

Herdman, W. A., 7, II, 13, 15, 70

Heredity a factor in the origin of

species, 74
Experiments by C. Ewart, 74

Hewitt, C. Gordon, on the house-
fly, 174, 176

Hippocrates, 131

Holt, E. W. L., on Fishery statis-
tics, 58, 62, 68

Home, Sir Everard, 77

Hooke, Robert, 17

Hooker, Sir Joseph, 19

Hopkinson, Mrs., adds new wing
to engineering laboratory, Cam-
bridge, 192

Hornell, J., 12, 13, 14, 15

Horses, 73

Bucephalus, 84
Polydactylous, 84
Striped ancestors of, 83
Kathiawar horses, 83
Norwegian ponies, 83
in Mexico, 83
Howard, L. O., on the House-fly,

174, 176
Hubrecht, Professor, Suggested
explanations of telegony, 79
Humbert, 4

Humphry, Sir George, 188
Huxley, Professor, 21, 30, 45
Hybrids, 73, 95
Female production of, 75
Hardiness of, 96
Healthiness of, 97
Romulus, 85, 96
Unhealthiness of, caused by
strongylus worm, 97
caused by tsetse fly, 97
Zebra, 96
Hydrophobia,
against, 124

First inoculation

Inbreeding, 91
Effects of, 92
Experiments, 92
in racehorses, 93
India, British Army in, Death-rate
from malaria of the, 129, 130
Inoculation, Success of, 123
Saving of cattle due to, 123
Ipnops, Blindness of, 35

 

223

Intercrossing, Swamping effect of,

91
Ireland free from malaria, 134
Ismailia, Malaria reduced at, 162
Isobathic curves, 17
Italy, Average mortality in, from
malaria, 130
Ixodes pilosus, cause of paralysis in
sheep during the early
autumn, 173
veduvius conveys redwater fever
in Europe, 172

James I., Death of, by a ‘ tertian
ague,’ 133
Jameson, Lyster, on formation of
pearls, 5, 7
Jeffreys, Gwyn, 20
elly-fish, Tentacles of, 37
enkin, Fleeming, 22
Jenkins, Dr., 70
Johnstone, James, 70
Jordanus, 9

Kathiawar horses, 83

Kelaart, 4

Kennedy, Dr., 189

King, Professor A. F. A., Essay on
the mosquito theory, 141

Kipling, Rudyard, 16, 26, 31, 34

Kitasato, 125

Koch, 125

‘ Kottus,’ rr

Kriimmel, 66

Kihn, Professor,
proved, 81

Telegony not

Lankester, Sir E. Ray, Description
of a parasitic organism, 135
Latour, Cagniard de, 109
Laveran, Discovery of Protozoa
organism in malaria, 134, 137
Lavoisier, 117
Leeuwenhoek, 10g
Lefevre, G. Shaw, 45
Leucithodendrium somateria, 5
Liebig, 109, 118
Lille, Faculty of Science at, 109
Linnzus, on Peruvian bark, 139
House-fly named Musca domes-
tica by, 174
Lister, Lord, First operations under
antiseptic treatment, 113
Livingstone, Importance of mos-
quito-nets, 141
Loch Corrie mated with Mulatto,

85
London School of Tropical Medi-
cine, 151
224

London, Zoological Society of, 99

Longfellow, 111

Lounsbury, C. P., Life - history
of Hemophysalis leachi, 17%

Lovén, 19

Low, Dr., and Sambon, Dr., Experi-
ment against the bites of the
mosquito, 151

Lowe, Bruce, Effects of inbreeding

foxhounds, 92
On the saturation hypothesis,

78
Lugard, Colonel, 97
MacCallum on Malaria parasite,

143
McIntosh, W. C., 67
Mackerel, Fertilization of the float-
ing ova of the, 46
Macrurus, Eyes of the, 35
Magellan, Ferdinand, 16
Malaria, 129
Estivo-autumnal, 135, 138,
139
Africa, Children of natives in-
fected with, 152, 162
Amebula, 136
carried by gnats, 159
Cause of, 134
Death of James I. from, 133
Oliver Cromwell from, 133
Death-rate, Average, of white
troops in Sierra Leone
from, 130
Average, of coloured troops
in Sierra Leone from,
130
Average, in Italy from, 130
of the British Army in
India from, 130
Discovery of Protozoa organ-
ism in, 134
Distribution of,
132
in Australia, 132
in Europe, 131, 132, 133,

in America,

134
Endemic foci of the disease,
131
Gametocytes, 136
Hemameba, 135, 138, 140
vivax, 135, 138
Hemomenas, 140
pr@cox, 135, 139
in England, 133
in Fen Districts, 133
in the British Army in India,

129
Ireland free from, 134

 

INDEX

Malaria—continued :
Loss of the European popula-
tion of India from, 129
Malarial pigment or melanin,
136
Mosquito origin of, 141
Quartan, 135, 138
Quinine, Use of, in, 139, 150
‘Quotidian intermittent fever,’
138
Sporocytes, 136
Tertian, 135, 138
Malarial parasite, Destruction of,
by quinine, 162
Life-history of the, 145
Major Ross’s work on the,
125
Natives in Africa permeated
with the, 152
‘Mal de caderas,’ caused by T.
equinum, 168
Malm, Professor, of Géteborg,
Fertilization of the eggs of the
flounder, 46
Manaar, Gulf of, 8, 10, 13
Mangareva, 14
Manson, Sir Patrick, Researches
on Filavia, 141
T. P., Experiment on, to prove
that an infected mosquito can
convey malaria, 150, 151
Marco Polo, 9
Margaritifera vulgaris, 8
Marichikaddi, 14
Marsigli, Count, 17, 18
Matopo, 82, 84, 86, 95
Maury, 19
Maxwell, 187
Mediterranean Sea, Temperature
of the, 27
Mexico, Striped horses of, 83
Micrococcus bombycis, 116
ovatus, Examination of the moth
for traces of, 115
Millais, Sir Everett, Telegony not
proved, 81
Mitscherlich, Observations on the
optical properties of tartaric acid,
105
Mébius on pearl formation, 4
Mollusca, Fossil, 2
Monaco, Prince of, 20
Monocaulus imperatoy, Size of, 39
Monorhaphis, 39
Moore, Thomas, 1
Morley, John, See Carnegie, A.
Morton, Lord, Letter to Dr, W. H.
Wollaston, 75
Lord Morton’s Mare, 75, 80
INDEX

Mosely Educational Commission,
183
Mosquitoes, Anopheles.
Anopheles
Blasts, 144
Boéphilus bovis, 146
Culex, 147
fatigans, 158
pipiens, 146, 147
Culicidee, nae .
‘ Day-mosquito,’ 163
Derivation of the word ‘ mos-
quito,’ 147
Destruction of, 152, 153, 154
by paraffin, 162
Fish used in the, 153
Kerosene oil used in the,
153,
at Sassari, 154
Growth of the zygote in, 144
Lesions in the bodies of, 160
Meres, 144
Mosquito-nets, Importance of,
Iq
Origin of malaria in, 141
Process of ‘ biting’ by, 160
Production of the zygote in,

See under

144 ;
Proof of mosquito theory,
151
Suffering of, 150
Mother-of-pearl, Formation of, 1, 2
Mulatto mated with Benazrek, 85
Loch Corrie, 85
Matopo, 84
Mulgrave, Lord, 18
Murray, Sir John, 20, 30, 32, 67
Musca domestica, or house-fly, de-
scribed and named by Linnzus,
174, 175
Muscidee, 167
Mycoderma aceti, 112

Myers, Dr. See Rivers, Dr.
Mytilus, 5
edulis, 5,7

galloprovincialis, 8

Nacreous layer, 2
‘Nagana’ disease caused by Try-
panosoma brucei, 168
Nathusius, 88
Telegony not proved, 81
Needham, 112
Nematocarcinus, Walking-legs of, 37
Nematodum sp. ? 181
Newall Telescope, 209
Newsholme, Dr., 179
Newstead on Glossina tachinoides,
178

 

225

Newton, 88, 187
Noé and Grassi, Mode of infection
for the Filavia immitis, 180

Nora, 86

Nordenskiéld, 26

Norwegian Ponies, 83

Whaling Companies, Estab-

lishment of, in the Shet-
lands, 43

CGEdemia nigra, 5

Osborne, gee 92

Ouseley, Sir Gore, 76

Oysters, Artificial rearing of, 13
Sale of, 11

Paars, 8
Packard, A, S., Metamorphosis of
the house-fly, 176
Reinvestigations on the house-
» 174

Paestum, Malarious district, 151

Paget, Sir George, 188

Panoplites, 180

Parasite, Malarial, Major Ross's

work on the, 125
Paris, Ecole Normale, 104, IIo,

117
Lycée Saint-Louis, 103, 104
Parker, Lieutenant, 22
Pasteur, Claude, to1
Claud-Etienne, 102
Denis, 1o1
Jean-Henri, 102
Jean-Joseph, 102
haracter of, 103
Marriage to Jeanne-Etien-
nette Roqui, 103
Jeanne-Etiennette, Character
of, 103
Louis, tor
Administrative work, 117
Appointed Professor and
Dean of the Faculty
of Science at Lille,

109
Professor of Chemistry
at Strasbourg, 106
Scientific Director at

the Ecole Normale,

Ilo
Awarded the ribbon of the
Legion of Honour,

107
the Rumford Medal by
the Royal Society,

107
Death, September 28,
1895, 126

¥5
226

Pasteur—continued :
Louis, Discovery of the attenu-
ated virus, 122
Education at the Ecole
Normale, Paris, 104
at the Lycée Saint-
Louis, Paris, 103,

104
at the Royal College
of Franche-Comté at
Besangon, 104
under Dumas and
Balard, 104
Elected a foreign member
of the Royal
Society, 117
Member of the Aca-
demy of Sciences,
I12
‘ Etudes sur la Biére,’ 119
Fermentation, Work on,
108, I19
Investigations into cholera,
117
into the cause and pre-
vention of contagious
disease, 120
into the manufacture
of vinegar, 112
Life of, by M. Vallery-
Radot, 126, 127, 128
Marriage with Marie
Laurent, 107
Nominated a Senator, 118
Originator of methods for
the production of im-
munity, 122
Pasteur Institute, Opening
of the, 126
Pedigree, ror, 102, 103
Promoting the publication
of Lavoisier’s works, 117
Receivesa pension of 12,000
francs a year,
126
increased to 25,000
francs a year,
126
the degree of Bache-
lier és Lettres, 104
Researches, Chemical, 105,
106, 107
Strokes of paralysis, 126
Studies on the behaviour
and life-history of Bacil-
lus anthracis, 121
Succession to Littré's
fauteuil at the Academy,
126

 

INDEX

Pasteur—continued :
Louis, Teacher of physics at the
Lycée of Tournon, 104
Work on rabies, 123
Pear! Fisheries, Bavarian, 5
Bohemian, 5
British, 5
Ceylon, 4, 8,9
Chief causes of the
failure of the, 12
Failure of oysters, 9
Report on the, 12
Cingalese records of, 8
Dutch, 9
English, 9
Recent, 14
Saxony, 5
Scotch, 5
Syndicate, 15
Trade in the hands of the
Arabs and Persians, 8, 9
Welsh, 5
Fishery, Mode of, 10
oyster, Filaria in, 4
oyster-beds of the Red Sea, 14
Pearls, Finest, ro
Formation of, 3
by larval cestodes, 13
by tapeworms, 13
in mussels, 7
Origin of, 1
of Oriental, 13
Sale of, 11
Pébrine disease, 115, 116, 117, 149
Pectis, Stalks and tentacles of the, 33
Pelagothuvria ludwigi, 33
Penycuik, Experiments on
gony at, 79, 84
Periostracum, 2
Periya paar, 12
Peruvian bark, Use of, 139
‘Pheodaria' existing in radio-
larians, 34
Philippine Islands, 16
Piana, House-fly harbours a larval

tele-

nematode, Disphavagus nasutus
(Rud,), 181

Pigeons, Breeding experiments
with, 89

'‘ Pintadin,’ 8

Piroplasma, 170
conveyed: by Hemophysalis

leachi, 17%
Malignant jaundice or bilious
fever in dogs caused by a, 171
Piroplasmosis spoken of as Texas
fever, tick fever, blackwater,
redwater, etc., when present in

cattle, 170
INDEX

Piroplasmosis, Heartwater in sheep
a form of, 171
Under the name of Rocky
Mountain fever, spotted or
tick fever, the disease attacks
man, 171
Plankton Expedition, 27
Pliny, r
on British pearls, 5
on Ceylon pearls, 8
Plunkett, Sir Horace, 67
Polarization, 106
Poole, Colonel, Stripes of Kathia-
war horses, 83
Port Swettenham, Malaria reduced
at, 162
Prepotency, Importance of, in
breeding, 91
Obtained by inbreeding, 91
Sport often prepotent, 95
Prismatic layer, 2
Protozoa, Discovery of, in Malaria,

134
Puehler, 17
Pullen, Captain, 21
Pycnogonids, Legs of the, 37

Quagga, Domestication of the, 75,
82

Quinine, Introduction of, into
Europe, 139

Use of, in Malaria, 139, 150,
162

Rabbits,
with, 87
Rabies, 123, 124, 125
Attenuated virus of, 123, 124
First inoculation against, 124
Racehorses, Breeding of, 93
Byerly Turk, 93
Darley Arabian, 93
Deterioration in the staying
power of, 93
Godolphin Arabian, 93
Radiolarians, 31
‘ Pheodaria’ existing in, 34
Skeletons of, 40
Rayleigh, Lord, 187
Gift of the Nobel Prize, 191
Recapitulation theory, 74
Red clay, 31
Redia larva, 111
Redi, Francesco, 111
Redwater fever, 170, 172
Reinke, 66
Remus, 96
Rhabdopleuva, 41

Breeding experiments

 

227

Rhinoptera javanica, 13, 14
Rhipicephalus annulatus conveys Red-
water fever, 172

appendiculatus conveys Rho-
desian fever, 172
shipleyi conveys Rhodesian
ever, 172
Rikitea, 14

Rivers, Dr., and Myers, Dr., For-
mation of a school for psycho-
physics, 209

Romanes, on ‘ Physiological selec-

tion,’ gt
on ‘Regression towards medi-
ocrity,’ 91
on the Swamping effect of inter-
crossing, 9I
Suggested explanations of tele-
gony, 79
Romulus, 96
Production of, 85
Ross, Sir James, 18
Sir John, 18, 19
Major R., on Hemameba (Pro-
teosoma), relicta worked

out by, 146

on Number of deaths due
to ‘fever’ in India,
129

Researches, 142, 143
Work on the malarial para-
site, 125, 141

Sagitta, 25, 32

Sambon, Dr. See Low, Dr.

Sandilands, Dr., Investigations on
epidemic diarrhoea, 179

Sargasso Sea, Temperature of the,

27
Sars, Professor G. O., Fertilization
of the floating ova of the cod,

46

Fertilization of the floating ova
of the mackerel, 46

Michael, 19

Sassari, Extermination of mos-
quitoes by the use of petroleum,
154

Schwann, 109

Scoter, 6

Sea, Atlantic current, Temperature

of the, 44

Colour of the, 18
Deep, Explorations, A. Agas-
siz’s voyage in the
Blake, 20
Albatross’s voyage, 20
Bache's, 19
Bailey's, 19
15—2
228

INDEX

Sea—continued :

Deep, Captain Wilkes and

Dana's Expedition, 19
De Pourtalés, 19
Discovery of extinct

species, 22
Dr. W.B. Carpenter's and

G. Jeffrey’s voyage in

the Porcupine, 20
Expedition in the Discovery,

21

in the Drache, 20

in the Gauss, 21

in the Gazelle, 20

in the Travailleuy, 20

in the Talisman, 20

in the Valdivia, 20

in the Washington, 20
Lord Mulgrave’s Expedi-

tion to the Arctic Sea,

18
Lovén’s, 19
Maury’s, 19
Michael and G. O. Sars’s,

19
Prince of Monaco’sexpedi-

tion in the Hirondelle

and Princess Alice, 20
Plankton Expedition, 20
‘ Pola’ Expedition, 20
Professor E.  Forbes’s

voyage in the Beacon,

19
Professor W. Thomson's

and Dr. W. B, Carpen-

ter’s voyage in the

Lightning, 19, 20
Russian investigations in

the Black Sea, 20
Siboga Expedition, 20
Sir James Ross and Sir

Joseph WHooker’s Ant-

arctic Expedition, 18, 19
Sir John Franklin’s expe-

dition with H, Goodsir

in the Erebus, 19
Sir John Murray's voyage

in the Challenger, 20
Sir John Ross’s voyage to

Baffin's Bay, 18, 19
Soundings, History of, 17,

18, 19
Voyage of the Novara, 19

Depths of the, 16

Absence of storms in the, 28

Absence of stripes, bands,
spots, or shading in
animals from the, 36

Absence of sunlight in, 24

 

Sea—continued :
Depths, Abundance of animal

life in the, 32

Air-bladder of animals from
the, 38

Alga living in the, 24, 25

Bones of many abysmal
fishes deficient in lime,

9, 40
Cavities of the bodies of
animals lined with a
black epithelium, 36, 37
Challenger dredgings in the,
2

9

Colour of creatures from
the, 35

Currents in the, 28

Diatoms in the, 25, 26

Distribution of animal life
in the, 25

Division into zones by E,
Forbes, 23

Effect of the absence of
sunlight on the animals
in the, 33

Enormous jaws of animals
from the, 38

Eyes in the animals from
the, 35

Fauna of the Antarctic
shown by the Challenger
and the Valdivia to be
exceptionally rich, 32

Feelers and antennz of the
animals from the, 37

Foraminifera in the, 26

Formation of a skeleton of
silex by animals from
the,

of the, Holothurians in
the, 29

Inability of the deep-sea
fauna to form a skeleton
of calcareous matter, 39,

40

Inhabitants of the, 24

in the Carolines, 23

in the Friendly Islands,

23

Jelly-fish in the, 25

Large size of Polar animals
from the, 39

Mudline of Sir J Murray,

0

Oid-woetd forms from the,
40, 41

Phosphorescence of ani-
mals from the, 33

Radiolarians in the, 26
INDEX

Sea—continued :

Depths, Records of Captain
Durham in the South
Atlantic, 22

of the Challenger and
Gazelle, 22
of the Tuscavova East
of Japan, 23
Reduction and diminution
in size of the respiratory
organs in animals from
the, 4o
Replacement of visual
organs by tentacles or
feelers by the inhabitants
of the, 34
Sagitta in the, 25
Salinity of the, 17
Scenery of the, 31
Spines of animals from
the, 39
Sponges in the, 28
Stillness in the, 28, 29
Symmetry of animals in
the, 29
Temperature of the, 17, 18,
26, 27
in the Mediterranean
Sea made by the
Washington, 27
in the Sargasso Sea
made by the ‘ Plank-
ton’ Expedition, 27
near the Sulu Islands,
27
on the westerly side of
Sumatra, 27
Transparency of sea-
water, 18
Uniformity of physical
conditions in the, 26
Fisheries Act, 1868, 47
America, American Com-
mission, 66
Fish-breeding institu-
tion, 67
Beam.-trawls used in steam-
trawlers until 1893, 47
Board of Agriculture and
aeons Central Staff,
6
Bounty system Objections
to the, 46
British, Extent of, 43
Statistics of, 42
Value of the industry
to the inhabitants,
42
Bye-laws, 69

 

229
Sea—continued :
Fisheries, Carriers, Employ-
ment of, 47

Causes of impoverishment,

56
‘Accumulated stock’
has been fished out,

56, 59 |
consumption of the
plaice’s food by

small haddocks, 57
Dab has usurped the

position of the plaice

on the Dogger Bank,

57

destruction of young
fish, 58, 59

limited area for fish
in a limited volume

of water, 57
Christiania Conference,
1gol, 55

Commissions of, 45
Dabs, Increase of, due to
their spawning in pro-
tected waters, 51, 52
Denmark, Development of
the local fishery on the
west coast of Denmark,
64
Determination of the age
of fish, 61
Diminution of fish recorded
by the Trawling
Commission of 1885,

50
of fish-supply being
caused by the trawl
disproved, 51
Distinction between
‘small' and ‘large’
fish, 58
Dogger Bank, 57, 60
Eggs, Number of, in
various fish, 49
English fishing authorities,

45
Experimental Investiga-

tions, 56
Experiments with marked
fish, 52, 60, 61

with marked plaice, 60
Firth of Forth and St.
Andrews Bay, Closure

of, 51

Fish-breeding experiments,
69

Fishmongers’ Company,

Seizure of small fish, 58
230 INDEX

Sea—continued : Sea—continued :

Fisheries, Fleeting, Process of,
8

4
Free Trade in, 47
Germany, Kiel Commis-

sion, 66

Haddock, Diminution of
the, 56

Heligoland, Biological
Station, 66

Herrings, Scarcity of,
doubtful if due to

whaling, 43
Spawning-grounds of
the, 49
Ice, inteodactiod of the
use of, 47

Increase in the emplo
ment of steam vessels,

47
ihaniries, Seventeen, with-
in the last seventy years
into, 44
Inspectors attached to the
Home Office, 1861,
68
transferred to the
Board of Trade,
1886, 68
transferred to the
Board of Agricul-
ture, 1903, 68
Intensity in the conduction
of fishing, 60
in the conduction of
fishing shown by
experiment with
weighted bottles, 61
International character of
problems, 65, 66
Lancashire and Western
Sea-Fishery Committee,

69

Local Committees, 68

Marine ass Associa-
tion, 70, re

Marine Bio ee Associa-
tion Memoirs, 70

Marine Biological Associa-
tion, Transplantation
experiments of the, 58

Methods of renewing and
aerating the water in
fish-tanks, 47

Migration of the common

eel in the Atlantic,

 

50
of the Lofoten cod-
fishery, 50

Fisheries, North Sea, 45

Area of the, 48, 49

International investi-
gations of the, 60, 71

International
measures for the
improvement of the,
1902, 55

‘Liners’ used for
catching fish in the,

49
Otter - trawl used since
1893, 47 :
Parliamentary Committee
on the Sea-Fisheries Bill,

1900, 54
Peel, Fish-hatchery, 69
Plaice, Average annual
catch of, 54
Demand of, in the
fried-fish ‘shops in
the East End of
London, 62
Diminution of, and
lemon-soles due to
their spawning only
in deep water out-
side the closed areas,
51
Diminution of soles
and plaice recorded
by the Select Com-
mittee of 1893, 50
Rise in the price of, 54
Small, increase of,
transplanted to the
Dogger Bank, 57
Plaice, small, Protection
of, 64
Port Erin, Marine Station
at, 69
Price of fish, 53, 54
Productivity of the sea, 57
Relation of the ova to the
trawl, 51
Royal Commission of,
1863, 45. 57 |
Royal Commission Report,
1866, 45
Salmon Fishery Act of
1861, 68
Sardines more valuable
than their adult form,
the pilchard, 59
Scottish and Irish Fishery
Boards, 67
Select Committee of 1893,

qi
INDEX

| Sponges, 28

Sea—continued :
Fisheries, ' Shell-Fisheries,’ 69
Soles, Diminution of, and
plaice recorded by the
Select Committee of
1893, 50
Statistics, 52, 53, 54, 55
Suggested remedies, 65
Undersized fish, 63
United States, Commission
of Fish and Fisheries,
See Sea- Fisheries,
America, American Com-
mission.
Whitebait fetch more in
the market than the
parent form, 59
Sedgwick, Adam, 187
Seeley, Professor, 189
Settegast, Telegony not proved, 80
Seurat, G., 14
Seychelles, 33
Sharp, D., Diptera, 156
Siam, Mother-of-pearl in ages made
by the coast population of, 2
Sierra Leone, Average death-rate
of coloured troops from
malaria, 130
Average death-rate of white
troops from malaria, 130
Silkworms, Cocoons, Value of, 114
Disease, Detection of the cor-
puscles of Cornalia and
Filippi in, 115
‘ Flacherie,’ 116
Parasitic organisms being
conveyed from one gene-
ration to another by the
egg, 115
Pébrine, 115, 116
Sleeping - sickness conveyed by
Glossina palpalis, 170
Conveyed by the tsetse fly,
169
Due to Trypanosoma gam-
biense, 170
in Busoga, 169
in Buvuma, 169
in Uganda, 169
Somali zebra, Stripes of a, 82, 85
Somatevia mollissima, 5
Species, Constitution of, 95
Intersterility test, 95
Origin of, Heredity and varia-
tion chief factors in the, 74
Spencer, Herbert, Supporter of
telegony, 77
Suggested explanations of
telegony, 80

 

231

Spores, Production of, by a patho-
genic organism, 116
Sporocyst, 7
Squire, Miss, Donation of, to Law
School in Cambridge, 188
Stahl, 109
Standfuss’s experiments in hybrid-
izing butterflies, 95
Stegomyia, 180
fasciata, Cause of the spread of
yellow fever, 163
Larva of, 163
Stephens, J. W. W., Children of
African ‘natives infected with
malaria, 152
Stereo-chemistry, 107
Stomiade, Light produced by eye-
like lanterns of the, 33, 34
Stomoxys, 165
Strasbourg, 106
Strongylus worm, 97
Surgery, Operative, 113
‘Surra’ disease caused by T.
evansit, 168
Sutherland, 77
Sylph, Invention of the word, 108

Tacitus on British pearls, 5
Tapes decussatus, 7
Tartaric acid, Observations on the
optical properties of, 105
Tegetmeier, 77
Breeding experiments
pigeons, 89
Telegony, 75
Explanations of, by Herbert
Spencer, 80
by infection hypothesis, 78
by M. Charrin, 79
by the pangenesis of Dar-
win, 80
by the Penycuik experi-
ments, 79
by Professor Hubrecht, 79
by reversion hypothesis,
80, 83, 84
by Romanes, 79
by saturation hypothesis,

with

78
Opponents of Kihn, 81
Nathusius, 81
Settegast, 81
Sir Everett Millais, 81
Weismann, 81
Supporters of : Agassiz, 77
Captain Hayes, 77
Herbert Spencer, 77
Romanes, 77
232

Telegony—continued :
Supporters of :
Home, 77
Sutherland, 77
Tegetmeier, 77
Weismann's inheritance of
acquired characters in, 83
Terzi, Signor, Experiment against
the bites of the mosquito, 151
Tetravhynchus unionifactor, 13
Texas fever, Cause of, 149
Germ of, 115
Theobald, 147
Thompson, D'Arcy, 67
Thomson, Wyville, 20
Thurn, Sir Everard im, 9
Ticks convey piroplasma, 171
Tinnevelly pearl banks, 4
Tournon, Lycée of, 104
Trypanosoma brucei causes the ‘ na-
gana ’ disease, 168
equinum causes the ‘mal de
caderas’ disease, 168

Sir Everard

equiperdum causes the ‘dou-
rine’ disease, 168
evansii causes the ‘surra’

disease, 168
gambiense causes sleeping-sick-
ness, 170, 177
theilevi causes ‘ gall-sickness,’
168
Tsetse fly, 97. See also under
Glossina and Flies
Tundra, 86
Tyndall, 112
Tyrol, Arsenic-eaters of the, 124

Uganda, Sleeping-sickness in, 169
Unio, 2, 4
Universities, New, in England, 183

Valentinus, Basilius, Explanation of
fermentation, 108
Vallery-Radot, M., ‘Life of Pas-
teur,’ 126, 127
Vallisnieri, 112
Variation a factor in the origin of
species, 74
‘ Materials for the study of,’ 74
Veeder, Dr., Flies the carriers of
the Bacillus typhosus, 178
Venn, Dr., Effort to establish a
psychophysical laboratory in the
University of Cambridge, 208
Venus Genitrix, 5
Vijaya, King, 8

 

INDEX

Vinegar, Manufacture of, 112

Virchow, Malarial pigment or me-
lanin, 136

Virus, Attenuated, Discovery of
the, 122

Waddell, Major, 84
Wade, Sir Thomas, Chinese library
presented to Cambridge Uni-
versity by, 190
Wallich, Dr., 21
Watson, Dr. Malcolm, Reduction
of malaria at Port Swettenham,
162
Weismann, Inheritance of acquired
characters in telegony, 80
Westwood, Glossina morsitans named
by, 164
Wiedemann, First description of
the tsetse fly, 164
Wilkes, Captain, 19
Willis, 109
Wilson, Major L. M., 130
Wine, Acetous fermentation of, 113
Bouquet of, 113
Winterbottom, 169
Wollaston, Dr. W. H., 75
Woolsorter's disease, 177
in man, 120, 177
Wundt opened the first psycho-
physical laboratory at Leipzig in
1878, 208

Yeast-cell, Nucleus of the, 120
Thirty different species of, 120

Yellow fever. See Fever

Yersin, 125

Zebras, Attempts to cross, with
Shetland ponies, 86
Burchell’s, 82
Stripes of, 85
Experiments with, 82
Grévy's, 82
Mountain, 82
Somali, 82
Stripes of, 85
Striped ancestors of horses, 83
Zebra-hybrids, 96
Zoological Society of London. See
London
Zygote, Blasts, 144
Growth of the, 144
Meres, 144
Production of the, 144
Zymase, 120

 

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