344 



NA TURE 



[February 8, 1906 



of the Caribbean Sea. The account of the Jamaican 

 seal is all the more interesting because it seems likely 

 to become extinct, possibly partly because it is one of 

 those animals which, to preconceived ideas at all 

 events, seem out of place. But in this connection we 

 are reminded that there is also a Mediterranean seal, 

 and that the leopard is actually as European as the 

 brown bear. Another extinct animal which we are 

 glad to have an account of is the Antarctic wolf of 

 the Falkland Islands, finally exterminated by the 

 sheep-farmers in self-defence; its possible introduction 

 to the Falklands is discussed, and the question 

 whether it was really distinct or merely a modified 

 form. 



These extracts will serve as a fair sample of the 

 score of essays in the new volume. In the case of 

 rare or extinct forms there is an indication of the 

 known specimens now or formerly in collections. The 

 value of photographs from life of rare, and especially 

 of " threatened," species is emphasised by the 

 author, who illustrates his essays with eighteen photo- 

 graphic plates. Even in the London " Zoo " it is not 

 always easy to photograph an animal. The clouded 

 tiger was under observation for five years before a 

 satisfactory picture (which we are enabled to repro- 

 duce) could be obtained. O. V. A. 



MINERS' WORM. 1 



THE dreadful disease known as ankylostomiasis, 

 " tunnel disease," " cachexia of miners," or 

 " miners' worm," is definitely known to be caused by 

 the nematode worm Ankylostoma duodenale. The 

 alarming spread of the disease in the mines of 

 Hungary, France, Germany, and Belgium, and its 

 recent introduction into some of the mines of this 

 country, have necessitated a thorough investigation 

 of the anatomy, development, and life-history of the 

 worm. Already some 750 papers treating of the 

 disease have been published, but only a few of these 

 deal with the parasite itself, and still fewer with the 

 details of its anatomical structure. 



The splendid work before us now gives in full 

 detail the gross and minute structure of the adult 

 worm, but a second part is yet to come from the 

 pen of the same distinguished parasitologist in which 

 the development and life-history will be described. 

 If the second part is as full of detail and as well 

 illustrated as the first, the monograph will be the 

 most complete account of any single species of animal 

 that the world possesses. 



The Ankylostoma was first discovered by Dubini 

 in 1838 in the intestine of a peasant woman who died 

 in the hospital at Milan, but it was not until some 

 years later that he associated the worm with disease 

 and published an account of it. Soon after Dubini 's 

 discovery the worm was found in Egypt by Pruner 

 and by Bilharz. Dr. Looss considers carefully the 

 suggestion that has been made that the worm Heltu 

 mentioned in the Ebers papyrus of ca 1550 B.C. was 

 Ankylostoma, and that the disease was known to the 

 ancient Egyptians, but he comes to the conclusion 

 that there is not sufficient evidence to support this 

 suggestion. 



The discovery of Ankylostoma in Brazil by 

 Wucherer, and in other warm and tropical places, led 

 to the belief that ankylostomiasis was peculiar to such 

 climates, but the epidemic of " tunnel disease " 

 among the workers in the St. Gothard Tunnel, and 

 the recognition by Perroncito of its identity with 



1 " The Anatomy of Agchylostoma duodenale^ Dub." By A. Looss. 

 Records of the Egyptian Government School of Medicine. Vol. iii. (Cairo : 

 National Printing Department tqos.) 



NO. 1893, VOL. 73] 



ankylostomiasis, was the first indication of the serious 

 part this worm was to play in the medical history 

 of the present day. 



Dr. Looss devotes some pages to a full discussion 

 of the systematic position of the species and of the 

 generic characters of this and the other genera of the 

 family Agchylostominas. I must confess to some dis- 

 appointment that, influenced by the writings of Stiles, 

 of Washington, the author has come to the con- 

 clusion that the genus must be written Agchylostoma. 



" I freely confess," he writes, " that I find the 

 term Agchylostoma abominable," and throughout the 

 monograph he uses the spelling Ankylostoma in 

 roman letters and Agchylostoma in italics. It is 

 extremely inconvenient, in any case, to restore an 

 ancient and " abominable " spelling of a generic 

 name, and it is to be especially deplored in a mono- 

 graph of such value and importance as this one ; but 

 no rules of nomenclature can justify the course 

 adopted of spelling a generic name in two distinct 

 ways on almost every page. 



The text consists of 140 pages of elaborate details 

 of microscopic anatomy and histology, and the illus- 

 trations consist of ten plates of very beautiful draw- 

 ings by the author, lithographed by Werner and 

 Winter, of Frankfort. 



The monograph was originally written in German, 

 but has been translated with very great skill into 

 English by Mrs. H. M. Bernard. 



Sydney J. Hickson. 



THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE. 



MR. HALDANE and the other members of the 

 departmental committee who for the last two 

 years have been considering the important questions 

 referred to them have earned the nation's gratitude. 

 If the scheme they propose be carried out (and there 

 is reason to believe that it will be, and at once) a 

 great step forward will have been made towards pro- 

 viding that complete higher education the absence of 

 which has made us the laughing stock of those 

 countries the Ministers of which are more intelligent 

 than our own. As the reporters are careful to show in 

 their general review, many of our scientific industries 

 are an easy prey in international competition as it is 

 carried on to-day. 



We give below extracts from the recommendations 

 made in the final report, just issued, which will 

 sufficiently indicate the proposals of the committee ; 

 many paragraphs have been omitted which deal with 

 details. 



The unification of the teaching which already exists 

 or is already provided for at South Kensington, and 

 the additional buildings, teaching and research sug- 

 gested, will certainly provide an institution admir- 

 ably designed to meet modern needs. But we are 

 grateful to the reporters for more than this ; they tell 

 us with no uncertain sound that technical education 

 must crown, and not replace, a general education, 

 so the resources of the Royal College in the future 

 will not be frittered away in trying to teach those who 

 have not learned how to think and in turning out in- 

 complete men. A sufficiency of professors is also 

 postulated, so we may hope that researches as well 

 as teaching will be intensified, both for professors and 

 students. 



Messrs. Wernher, Beit and Co. are happy endowers ; 

 it is not often that such munificence as theirs, which 

 set the inquiry going, leads to such a rapid and satis- 

 factory result. Their 100,000/. is now supplemented, 

 roughly, by the interest of a million from the 

 State, of another from the County Council, perhaps 



