OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE PAST 5 



Stinging Marine Animals 



Our knowledge of stinging marine animals dates back to the days 

 of classical antiquity. Aristotle, who wrote during the period from 

 348 to 322 B.C., made reference to the stinging ability of stingrays. 

 Nicander, a Greek poet and physician of the second century B.C., 

 reported the sting of the stingray to cause "gangrene of the 

 wounded flesh." Pliny really got carried away with his subject 

 when he reported that the deadly stingray, called Trygon, was able 

 to kill a tree by driving its sting into one of the roots! He also 

 mentions the serious wounds produced by the weeverfish. 



Numerous scientific and popular reports are to be found in the 

 early literature relative to the dangers of stings from venomous 

 fishes, but serious scientific research on the subject was not con- 

 ducted until the time of Dr. A. Bottard, a French scientist, who 

 wrote the first monograph on the venom organs of venomous 

 fishes, entitled, "Les Poissons Venimeux", published in 1889. Sev- 

 eral scientists had worked previously on the venom organs of 

 weeverfishes, but Bottard was the first to approach the subject in a 

 more or less organized manner. 



One of the earliest known occupational illnesses of divers caused 

 by a biological hazard is the so-called sponge fisherman's disease. 

 This disease is frequently manifested by a severe burning skin rash 

 with areas of painful ulcerations. For many years it was believed 

 that the disease was due to the handling of sponges. Finally, Dr. 

 S. G. Zervos demonstrated in a series of scientific articles published 

 in France in 1903, 1934, and 1938, that the disease was not due 

 directly to sponges, but rather by coming in contact with the sting- 

 ing tentacles of small sea anemones adhering to the sponges. 



We are largely indebted to Dr. H. Muir Evans, an English sur- 

 geon, for our knowledge of the venom apparatus of the stingray. 

 Much of Dr. Evans' medical practice was concerned with taking 

 care of fishermen in Lowestoft, England, who came to him com- 

 plaining of wounds which they had received from weevers, spiny 

 dogfish, and stingrays. The stimulus received from these patients 

 goaded Dr.- Evans into studying the venomous nature of these 

 fishes on a more scientific basis. Thus was opened a new horizon in 

 medicine for Dr. Evans, which he describes in an interesting man- 

 ner in his book, Sting fish and Seafarer (1943). Those of us who 

 have engaged in research on venomous fishes here in America owe 

 much to the challenge provided by the writings of this fine old 

 surgeon of Lowestoft. 



