io6 



NATURE 



[Dec. 9, 1875 



extensive with that of all the other parasitic diseases rolled 

 together. Whilst one can but admire the energy dis- 

 played by our Transatlantic brethren in turning every 

 scientific discovery to practical account, we must at the 

 same time observe that only a very few of the voluminous 

 reports received by us from the various States contain 

 matter sufficiently novel to demand extended notice at 

 our hands. Dr. Sutton's report, admirable as it is in 

 many respects, forms no exception to the general rule. 

 By European helminthologists the recognition of Trichi- 

 nosis in the human subject is no longer spoken of as a 

 '■ recent discovery," seeing that Zenker, whose merit in 

 this relation is supreme, diagnosed the " loathsome 

 disorder" in i860, whilst the antecedent steps in the 

 chain of evidence were long previously established by 

 Leuckart and Vichow (1859), Herbst (1850), and so on 

 backwards, until we come to the date of the original dis- 

 covery of the worm as a nematoid by Paget, and its sub- 

 sequent description by Owen (1835). We may go even 

 further back than this, and point to Wormald and Hilton's 

 previous and independent recognition of the calcified 

 trichina capsules, and also to their still earlier detection 

 by Peacock (1828), to say nothing of the evidence in 

 favour of Tiedemann (Froriep's Notizen, 1822). We must 

 dissent altogether from the view expressed by Dr. Sutton, 

 that Trichinosis probably caused " the ancient Jew to pro- 

 hibit the use of pork" as food. On the other hand, we 

 are glad to perceive that our author adds his testimony 

 to the view previously taken by ourselves and others, that 

 there is no connection between trichinosis and the so- 

 called " hog cholera." In this regard Dr. Sutton would 

 have done well to have consulted Prof. Verrill's various 

 papers {/linerican Journal of Science and Arts ; Report 

 of Connecticut Board of Agriculture, 1870), and, if 

 possible to him, also, our own subsequent contribution 

 on Stepha7iurtis (Nature, vol. iv. p. 508). Lastly, we 

 can only remark that if Germans will not abandon their 

 habit of eating " smoked sausages " they must expect to 

 be trichinised. Clearly, the fault is their own. 



T. S. COBBOLD 



The Sea. By Jules Michelet. (London and Edinburgh : 



Nelson and Sons, 1875.) 

 Michelet, as our readers know, wrote a number of 

 works on subjects which suggest a scientific treatment — 

 "L'Oiseau," " L'Insecte," "La Mer," and "La Montagne." 

 The present volume is a translation of the third men- 

 tioned, and we believe that at least one of the others has 

 been put into an English dress. These works can hardly be 

 regarded as scientific, except in so far as Michelet seems 

 to have taken laudable pains to acquaint himself, before 

 writing, with some of the principal and especially the 

 most interesting facts which science has discovered in 

 connection with his various texts. For really the titles 

 of his quasi-scientific works are only texts, or rather 

 themes, round which he accumulates a vast variety of 

 more or less appropriate facts, reflections, and word- 

 pictures. He might indeed be regarded as the rhapso- 

 dist of science, a man of distinctly poetic or imaginative 

 temperament, excited to enthusiasm by reflections on the 

 facts furnished to him by science. Of course no one would 

 think of resorting to Michelet's works to study any of 

 the subjects he thus treats, but nevertheless his works 

 have their uses from a scientific point of view, uses which 

 we have often referred to in speaking of popular scientific 

 works. "The Sea" will no doubt attract many EngUsh 

 readers now that it is translated, and notwithstanding its 

 rhapsodical nature it contains a very fair amount of really 

 useful and trustworthy information concerning marine 

 physics and marine hfe. But, as in his other works, 

 Michelet skips about his subject on all sides, poses it 

 in every possible attitude, sings about it from every pos- 

 sible point of view. The illustrations are charming, and 

 the book as a whole is got up with great taste. The Messrs. 

 Nelson have done well in publishing such a translation. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[TTie Editor does not hold him self responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.^ 



The Dresden "Gorilla" 



It is a mere chance that I did not sec the numbers of Nature 

 from Sept. 30 till to-day, and I therefore missed the note (vol. 

 xii. p. 482) about the female chimpanzee of the Zoological 

 Garden of Dresden, siid to be a young gorilla. In my opinion 

 there can be no question that this ape is not a gorilla. It is 

 only a very fine specimen oi a chimpanzee with a darker face 

 than usual, it is true, but this is by no means sufficient in the 

 present state of our knowledge to separate it specifically from 

 Troglodytes niger. I only mention here the one characteristic 

 referred to in Nature— "the slight webbing between the 

 fingers." There is no webbing at all between the fingers which 

 deserves to be called so, and there is a fundamental difference 

 from the hand of a gorilla, not only in respect to this charac- 

 teristic, but also in respect to the proportion of the fingers to 

 each other. The hand of the Dresden specimen is very long and 

 slender; the hand of the gorilla, even of the young one, is known 

 to be broad and short fingered. But there is a long series of 

 reasons which clearly speak against the suppo-ition that this 

 specimen is a gorilla, and I really do not perceive how anyone 

 can advance this opinion after a very insufficient ins-pec'.ion. It 

 is not enough to say, "I take the specimen for a gorilla;" 

 scientific reasons are needed, and that, too, from some one who 

 really understands the question ; it was at least very rash to 

 come out with this gorilla. As soon as anyone of the supporters 

 of the opinion that this chimpanzee is a gorilla shall have pub- 

 lished scientific reasons, I will take occasion to report about 

 it, and to discuss these reasons. Till then there is no reason 

 whatever to go- deeper into the matter, and to regard this ap3 

 as anything other than a Troglodytes niger. 



The two specimens of Birds oi Paradise, about which I wrote 

 to you some time ago (vol. xii. p. 434), are now in the Zoological 

 Garden of Berlin. A. B. Meyer, 



Director of the Royal Natural History 



Dresden, Dec. 3 Museum o; Dresden 



Dr. Stoliczka's Collection of Mammals 



I SEND you an extract of a paper lately published in the 

 fournal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal by I\Ir. W. T. Blanford, 

 on the mammals collected by the late Dr. Stoliczka in Yarkand, 

 &c., and have italicised one or two of the more important sen- 

 tences. These show how the value of the fine collection has 

 been materially reduced by the appropriation of the finest heads 

 of ruminants, &c., after Dr. Stoliczka's death. The collection 

 before its arrival in Calcutta was known to contain some splendid 

 heads of Ovis poli, and other wild sheep, all of which were 

 carried at the expense of the Indian Government fiom Yarkand 

 over the Karakoram vid Kashmir to India, a long and costly 

 journey. The finest of these heads, it is well known, have 

 passed into private hands, while the Government Museum in 

 Calcutta cannot show a specimen of decent size. The whole 

 should have passed intact to ihe above museum, and would have 

 been there examined, and the duplicate specimens sent to the 

 Indian and British Museums here in England. The extract from 

 Mr. Blanford's paper tells its own tale, and I think it would do 

 good to let the fact of the partial destruction of a valuable collec- 

 tion of an able naturalist be more widely known than to the few 

 readers of the fotirnal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Every 

 specimen in the collection was as much public property as the 

 munitions in a Government store, and could not be disposed 

 of by any member of the Government or mission. 



Extract from the ^'■fournal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.'''' 

 Vol. xliv. Part II., 1875. 



"List of Mammalia collected by the late Dr. Stoliczka when 

 attached to the Embassy under Sir D. Forsyth in Kashmir, 

 Ladak, Eastern Turkistan, and Wakhau, with descriptions 

 of new species. By W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., F.Z.S. 



" The collections made by Dr. Stoliczka in Kashmir, Ladak, 

 Kashgar, and Wakhau comprise a very fine series of Mammalia, 

 the description of which has been entrusted to me by Mr. Hume, 

 who has undertaken the general direction, besides a very large 

 share in the details of a woric intended to be a memorial of our 



