ZOOLOGY AND MEDICINE." 



By Raphael Blanchard, 

 Professor of pdrasitolof/i/ to the Faculty of Mediehte of Paris. 



The subject of the present paper is not new. I might cite a consid- 

 erable number of academic discourses or inaugural dissertations that 

 discuss the relations of zoology to medicine; these literary essays 

 attack the subject from dilferent points of view, according to the phil- 

 osophical predilections or the medical doctrines of the period ; but the 

 greater number of them soar into the nebulous heights of metaphysics 

 and each resembles the others in the complete lack of a truly scientific 

 basis. 



In the course of the nineteenth century various sciences sprang into 

 existence, such as comparative anatomy, plnsiology, anthropology, 

 experimental medicine and parasitology, each one of which has 

 thrown a new light upon the nature and the origin of man, and espe- 

 cially upon his relations with the higher vertebrates. It would cer- 

 tainly be a very interesting work, but one far exceeding the limits of 

 a modest paper like this, to educe the scientific ideas that have been 

 derived from these recent studies. I do not intend to enter into a 

 discussion as technical as that would be and for which I have not the 

 necessary time; I shall play a more modest part and limit myself 

 to assisting A'Ou to put the finger upon certain examples which will 

 show what significant advances in medical doctrines are due to 

 zoology, Avhat capital discoveries have resulted from a more exact 

 knowledge of animal parasites, what an unexpected light has been 

 shed by these new ideas upon the origin of the most fatal diseases, 

 what fortunate practical results are derived from them, and, at this 

 epoch of vast colonial enterprises, how much the acclimation and 

 success of our race in hot countries are bound up with the progress 

 of medical zoology. 



a Translation, by permission, of a paper presented at Berne August 15, 1904, 

 at tlie first general session of the Sixth International Congress of Zoology, cor- 

 rected and brought up to date by the author. Original published in Compte- 

 Reudu des Seances du Sixieuie Congres International de Zoologie, Geneve. 100.^). 



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