Marcu 7, 1912| 
NATURE 
II 
the scientific reader, not to mention the reviewer, 
the gain would be appreciable. The amount of 
literature put forth is so great that conciseness 
should be aimed at in the interests of all. Again, 
although we must express our admiration for the 
immense amount of labour involved in preparing 
the reviews of recent advances in tropical medicine, 
yet we feel certain that this is not the function of 
the overworked staff of the laboratory, and that 
they should spare themselves the drudgery and 
mental effort involved in producing such a work. 
In Vol. A, Medical, the first article deals with 
a question of the first importance, viz., the extent 
to which sleeping-sickness prevails in the southern 
portions of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and the measures 
C. G. Seriomann. 
_ Gl. morsitans is free from danger to man remains 
yet to be definitely proved. In this article we do 
not see it expressly stated that the thick blood film 
method was employed for diagnosis, but its great 
utility and convenience can hardly be denied. 
The second article likewise deals with trypano- 
somiasis, but in regard to animals. Four species 
occur in the country, viz. T. brucei, T. evansi, 
T. nanum, and T. vivax, but a consideration of 
the question as to whether these names represent 
the species present or not involves us in the very 
difficult problem of trypanosome identification. 
We cannot enter here into this question, but we 
would add a word of caution as to the measure- 
ment-curve method introduced by Sir David 
Pa 
From Fourth Report Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories, Khartoum 
Fic 2,—Dwelling of Shilluk King, Fashoda. 
taken to prevent its spread. So far cases have 
not been detected north of Wandi in the Lado, and 
in the coloured map this is represented as the dis- 
tribution of Glossina palpalis, but this fly exists 
also on the bank of the Nile at Kajo-Kaje, south 
of Rejaf, as was shown later. Inspection posts 
| Bruce. 
have been established, clearing operations in- | 
stituted, and the authorities are keenly on the 
alert. Whether Gl. morsitans in connection with 
sleeping-sickness is a negligible factor is open to 
considerable doubt: that it is not so in Rhodesia 
and Nyasaland, in parts of which we have cases 
oi sleeping-sickness in absence of Gl. palpalis, is 
now established. In these places there appears to 
be a new species of human trypanosome; whether 
in the absence of this particular trypanosome, 
NO. 2210, VOL. 89] 
The number of trypanosomes counted in 
one of the curves given is certainly too small, only 
150, and as a matter of fact the chart (1910) given 
of T. brucei, though it resembles the earlier chart, 
bears not the slightest resemblance to the latest 
chart of this species published by Sir David Bruce. 
The director contributes a lengthy paper on 
spirochetes in fowls, which is exceedingly preva- 
lent, and marshals his evidence in favour of the 
| view that the spirochzte breaks up into granules 
in the internal organs. His paper on fallacies and 
puzzles in blood examination will perhaps do some 
| good in preventing the finding of any bits of 
stained matter in a blood film being recorded as 
new parasites by those desirous of fame; for in 
these days the editorial waste-paper basket is not 
