45^ 



NA TURE 



[February 17, 1910 



dislocation treated in this way only one died, although 

 at this time recoveries were extremely rare, and the 

 accident was regarded as one of the most dangerous 

 known to surgeons. 



Carbolic acid was first brought to Lister's notice by 

 reading accounts of its deodorising action upon the 

 sewage of Carlisle, and it is interesting to note that 

 this, the first substance used by Lister in his anti- 

 septic method, still retains its pre-eminence as an 

 all-round antiseptic. 



These first methods were only a beginning, and 

 throughout the whole course of his active life Lister 

 busied himself in perfecting his method, striving to 

 find means whereby asepsis could be secured with a 

 minimum irritation of tissues, without deviating in 

 the slightest degree from those scientific principles 

 which had guided him at the outset of his work. 



The conquest of suppuration not only perfected 

 older operations, but opened the way for new ones, 

 and Lister himself introduced a large number of 

 these. Joints, interference with which had been 

 looked upon as utterly unjustifiable, were opened with 

 impunity, fractures with vicious union were exposed 

 and rectified, new principles in amputation introduced, 

 and the use of the aseptic ligature, by obviating the 

 risks of haemorrhage, removed one of the greatest 

 dangers of surgery. 



Not the least interesting of the papers collected in 

 these volumes is that on anajsthetics, a subject to 

 w^hich Lister devoted a considerable amount of atten- 

 tion, and in view of the recently proposed legis- 

 lation it is interesting to note that Lister strongly 

 disapproved of specialists in this branch of practice, 

 holding that the administration of an ansesthetic 

 called for care rather than for special skill and experi- 

 ence. 



Lister in all his writings frankly and gratefully 

 acknowledged and appreciated the work of others, 

 especially Pasteur, and that "hard-worked general 

 practitioner," Koch. His work is its own monument; 

 it has given modern surgery to mankind, and so 

 simplified its performance that operations can be 

 performed without any particular comment which 

 fifty years ago would have left the whole world 

 aghast at their daring. 



.4 NATURALIST IN ECUADOR. 

 Nel Darien e nelV Ecuador. Diario di viaggio di un 



Naturalista. By Dr. E. Festa. Pp. .xvi+397. 



(Torino : Unione Tip.-Editrice Torinese, igog.) 



Price 10 lire. 

 T^ R. E. FEST.\'S main object was the zoological 

 ■L' exploration of Ecuador. However, as the 

 isthmus of Darien or Panama lies on the way to 

 Ecuador, and since this interesting country happened 

 to pass through one of its revolutions, he spent the 

 time from the months of May to September, 1S95, on 

 the isthmus, chiefly among the intricate inlets of the 

 Gulf of San Miguel, on the Pacific side, extending 

 thereby his collecting over every class of the animal 

 kingdom, from sponges to mammals. 



After the political conditions had become a little ! 

 NO. 2103, VOL. 82] 



more settled, he went to Ecuador in September, i8g5, 

 and stayed there to April, i8g8. Entering the country 

 by Guayaquil, he travelled east to Cuenca and beyond, 

 to the headwaters of the Rio Santiago of the Maranon 

 system, and northwards by Quito to Julian, near the 

 frontier of Colombia. His travels, extending, roughlv 

 speaking, from 4° latitude south to 1° north', and 

 between 80° to 78° longitude west, cover only a small 

 part of the vast country of Ecuador, but he explored 

 it thoroughly. 



He was much indebted to the President of the 

 Republic ; for instance, on the strength of his official 

 credentials the local authorities occasionally com- 

 mandeered porters and mules. Above all, he was 

 helped by the missions of the Society Salesiana de 

 Torino, and he had the inestimable advantage of 

 being accompanied on his perilous excursions through 

 the forests of tlie Santiago di'SfHct by a former com- 

 patriot, Sr. G. Pancheri. An agreeable feature was 

 the hospitality offered by many Ecuadorean owners of 

 haziendas. About 500 specimens of mammals, more 

 than 3000 birds, 150 different kinds of reptiles and 

 amphibians, as many kinds of fishes, and ever so 

 many invertebrates, were brought together and given 

 to the Royal Museum at Turin. They testify to the 

 richness of the fauna, and last, not least, to the 

 enormous labours of Dr. Festa and the Italian col- 

 lector whom he was able to take with him. How- 

 ever, they took whatever kind they could, and of 

 every kind as many specimens as possible. For in- 

 stance, no fewer than nine condors were shot at one 

 spot, and in typically national style the travellers 

 spread nets in forest and garden, and gloated over the 

 numbers of little beauties ensnared. The step thence 

 to that pest, the plume-hunter, seems but small ; at 

 least, it is a bad example to the natives. 



Naturally our author experienced many ups and 

 downs, but he had no hairbreadth escapes, as such 

 are now of rare occurrence to veracious travellers. 

 .Mready in the mangrove swamps of Darien he 

 suffered much from fever and severe gastric troubles, 

 and camp life was often utterly spoiled by the pests 

 of insects. It was not only the stinging, poisonous 

 kinds, but a great aggravation were the stingless 

 bees, iMclipone, big and small, which in their numbers 

 insinuated themselves into the hair, mouth, nose, and 

 ears. To make work possible, the traveller had to 

 put smouldering branches upon the table. Some kind 

 of Oestrus stung Dr. Festa in the abdomen, causing 

 several months of torment, and after opening the 

 swelling he extracted a fat maggot, four centimetres 

 in length. The horses suffered indirectly from the 

 bites of the blood-sucking bats, Desmodus, because 

 flies deposited their eggs in the little wounds, and 

 the maggots caused enormous ulcers. Sand-fleas, 

 Sarcopsylla penetrans, were a plague in many places, 

 and every specimen of digging rodents had its feet 

 infested with them. 



Several specimens of the Andine bear, Trcmarctos 

 ornatus, were procured. This creature, preferring to 

 travel in comfort, prepares its bed on the ground, by 

 covering a space about a yard in diameter with 

 branches and twigs to lie upon during the night. 



