AucusT 6, 1914] 
the greatest investigator of the deep and the 
highest authority on all that concerns the science 
of the sea—would seem to require no more in the 
way of review and recommendation than the men- 
tion of that fact. Yet it may be well to state 
that within the compass of 256 pages of thirty 
lines each we have perhaps the most concise and 
the most scientific account of this immense sub- 
ject that has yet been written, set forth in 
language that the reader most unfamiliar with 
the subject can grasp with perfect facility. In 
being, alas! the final contribution to science, we | 
believe, from John Murray’s pen, it is sadly appro- 
priate as a summing up of the work to which his 
long, arduous, and brilliant scientific life was 
devoted. Its various chapters deal with the 
methods and instruments of deep-sea research, 
the depths of the ocean, the physical characters of 
its waters, oceanic circulation, life in the ocean, 
marine deposits, and the geospheres. A glossary, 
a concise bibliography, and a sufficient index close 
the volume. It is more fully illustrated than most 
of its predecessors. There are twelve plates, of 
which six are coloured maps by Bartholomew of 
wonderful clearness notwithstanding their size, 
showing the deeps, the salinity, the surface tem- 
peratures, the currents, the surface density, and 
the deposits of the ocean. 
THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEM OF 
SLEEPING SICKNESS. 
Be Report of the Inter-Departmental Com- 
mittee on Sleeping Sickness (Cd. 7349, price 
3d.), recently published, is a most valuable summary 
of present knowledge on the subject. The committee 
have taken the evidence of all the leading authori- 
ties on the subject, both British and foreign, and 
the enormous mass of evidence put before them 
(printed separately as Cd. 7350) has been’ very 
carefully sifted and analysed in the Report, which 
is signed by all members of the committee with 
certain reservations by two of them (Dr. W. A. 
Chapple, M.P., and Mr. J. Duncan Millar, M.P.), 
who have appended a separate memorandum em- 
bodying their opinions with regard to the game 
question. 
The following are some of the opinions or re- 
commendations expressed by the committee with 
' regard to controversial questions either of scientific 
knowledge or practical administration. 
The problems which arise with regard to try- 
panosomiasis in man in Nyasaland and Rhodesia 
are wholly distinct from the problems which arise 
in Uganda. Nyasaland trypanosomiasis is caused 
by T. rhodesiense and conveyed by Glossina mor- 
sitans; it is a very small factor in the general 
bill of mortality ; it is probably an old and endemic 
disease, and there appears to be no evidence to 
indicate that it is likely to become epidemic. On 
the other hand, Uganda trypanosomiasis is caused 
by T. gambiense and conveyed by G. palpalis ; it 
has been known on the west coast of Africa for at 
least one hundred years, but was first introduced 
NO. 2336, VOL. 93] 
NATURE 
587 
into Uganda at the end of the last century, prob- 
ably by infected native porters coming from the 
Congo, and it is believed to have destroyed about 
200,000 natives between 1898 and 1906. There is 
a general agreement among experts that Uganda 
trypanosomiasis is not endemic beyond the range 
of G. palpalis. T. rhodesiense infection is much 
more virulent than T. gambiense infection. All 
authorities believe the diseases to be distinct, 
though allied. 
The committee considers that the elimination of 
Glossina as the carrier must be the principal 
object of all efforts to check or get rid of the 
disease. The evidence all points to the conclusion 
that if the tsetse-fly could be eliminated or removed 
from contact from human settlement, sleeping 
sickness would practically disappear, infection 
conveyed by other flies being a negligible factor 
in the spread of the disease. For this reason the 
committee attach great importance to a proper 
| and sufficient equipment of entomological research 
into the bionomics of the incriminated tsetse-flies. 
This form of research has, in, their view, been in- 
sufficiently pursued. up to the present time. In 
this form of research there-is a large element of 
chance; accident may at any time lay bare a result 
which may lead to the solution of the problem, 
and the multiplication of the workers is the multi- 
plication of chances. 
With regard to the vexed question of the re- 
servoir and the advisability or otherwise of game- 
destruction :—(1) As regards Uganda trypano- 
somiasis, there is abundant evidence that human 
beings, infected but able to get about, serve as 
reservoirs of the virus, maintaining the endemicity 
of the disease, and that they may in travelling 
distribute it widely. There is also evidence that 
in the absence of men wild animals may be a 
source of the virus. It is doubtful how much im- 
portance should be attached to the antelope as 
a reservoir of T.. gambiense. The part this reser- 
voir plays is probably small in comparison’ with 
infected man, and to a less extent his domestic 
animals; for cattle, sheep, and goats have been 
known to harbour this trypanosome and take no 
harm. 
(2) As regards Nyasaland trypanosomiasis, the 
committee consider the identity of T. rhodesiense 
with. the’ similar trypanosome found in game, in 
the same districts, as unproven. The wild animals 
in question are undoubtedly reservoirs of the 
trypanosomes pathogenic to stock; but the evi- 
dence is conflicting as to whether the wild animals 
which are a reservoir of the disease affecting 
domestic stock are a danger to man. Knowledge 
of the disease, its cause, and its remedies, is still 
in the making, and hasty and imperfectly con- 
sidered action of a drastic character such as the 
attempt to effect a general destruction of wild 
animals is not justified by the evidence before the 
committee. In Nyasaland and Rhodesia the in- 
cidence of the disease on the population is slight 
and it is not increasing. ; 
The proposed experiment of removal of wild 
