DISEASES AND PARASITES 29 



of the International Committee must be continued, and 

 his (the German) Government would certainly continue 

 to do its share of the work. 



The contrast in the British and the German attitude 

 towards science is what is interesting in this episode. It 

 is true that men of science in this country have to be 

 content to take a very modest part in public affairs, and 

 to allow politicians and self-styled " practical " men to 

 treat science as " a handmaiden " thankful when science 

 is not regarded as an enemy. But they know well 

 enough, and those who are really u practical men " know, 

 that science is no handmaiden, but in reality the 

 master the master who must be obeyed ; who alone can 

 give true guidance ; who alone can save the State. The 

 sooner and the more thoroughly the people of this 

 country have recognised this feet, and insist upon its 

 unqualified acceptance in practice by their representatives 

 and governors, the better for them and their posterity. 



1 1 . Discoveries as to Malaria 



Recent scientific work, discovery, and application to 

 practical affairs of the results of discovery, in regard to 

 three great obstacles to human life and prosperity 

 illustrate the vital importance to the state of scientific 

 research. The obstacles in question are the diseases 

 known as malaria, yellow fever, and Mediterranean, 

 or Malta fever. It is now twenty-five years since 

 Dr. Laveran, of Paris, discovered that malaria, or ague, 

 is caused by a very minute parasite which exists in the 

 red blood corpuscles of those stricken with the fever, 

 and suggested that it is probably carried from victim to 

 victim by blood-sucking mosquitoes (gnats). Major 

 Ross, of the Indian Army, who has been rewarded for 

 his discovery by the Nobel prize, determined to find 



