i88 



NA TUBE 



[Ju^E 20, 1907 



Otto Pettersson ili'llvcrrd a lecture on Monday, June lo, 

 before the Royal Geographical Society, on " Oceanic 

 Circulation," in which he elaborated his theory of the in- 

 fluence of melting ice in the polar regions upon the general 

 circulation of the oceans. In the course of the discussion 

 which followed, Dr. Nansen gave a short account of the 

 Norwegian hydrographical results and the nature of the 

 actual currents which had been found lo exist in the 

 Norwegian .Sea. He directed special attention to (he 

 cyclonic nature of the currents, which had been found to 

 exist in that area. Prof, (jilson (Belgium), Prof. Honicn 

 (Finland), and Dr. Hjort (Norway) also spoke. 



From June 10 to June 13 the delegates and experts were 

 engaged on the work of the various conimitteis of the 

 Council, when arrangements for the conduct of the investi- 

 gations during the coming year were elaborated. 



The very full programme of festivities in connection with 

 the conference, which was referred to in our 1,-isl week's 

 issue, was most successfully carried out, and it was fell 

 by all who took part in the proceedings that much benefit 

 would result from the friendly intercourse which took place 

 during the week between the representatives of science on 

 the one hand and those of the official and fishing interests 

 on the other. 



On Friday. June 14, the delegates and experts were 

 received at Buckingham Palace by the King, who ex- 

 pressed his sense of the importance of the work in which 

 they were engaged. 



INTEKNATIO.XAL CONFERENCE ON 

 SLEEPING SICKNESS. 

 T) EUTfiR'S .Xgency announces that, at the invitation of 

 -^^ the Colonial Office, a conference of various African 

 colonies and protectorates has been summoned to discuss 

 concerted international measures for dealing with sleeping 

 sickness. This conference met at the Foreign Office 

 for the first time on Monday, Government delegates 

 being present from Germany, Congo Free State, France, 

 Great Britain, Portugal, and the Sudan. The delegates 

 are as follows : — (iermany, Herr von Jacobs, Dr. Ehrlich, 

 and Dr. F'ulleborn ; Congo Free .Stale, Colonel Lanton- 

 nais, V'ice-Governor General, Commandant Tonneau, 

 M. Rutten, and Dr. van Campenhout ; France, Dr. 

 Kermorgant, Dr. Paul Gouzion, Prof. Blanchard, and 

 Dr. Laveran ; (ireat Britain, Lord Fitzmaurice (presi- 

 dent). Sir W. Foster, .Mr. A. W. Clarke, Mr. H. J. 

 Read, and Sir Patrick .Manson ; Portugal, Dr. Correa 

 Pinto; Sudan, Colonel Hunter and Dr. Balfour, of the 

 Gordon College, Khartoum. The work before the con- 

 ference includes the question of the holding of regular con- 

 ferences, the establishmegt of a central bureau of inform- 

 ation, and the assignment of definite points for investi- 

 gation to particular countries or individuals. Lord Filz- 

 mauricc, president of the conference, made the following 

 remarks at the opening meeting to describe the objects in 

 view : — 



We are met together in the horie that it ni.iy be 

 possible to concert meassures which will enable the Powers 

 which wc represent to wage a more effective warfare 

 against that terrible epidemic of sleeping sickness, which 

 has already devastated so great a part of Africa, and which 

 appears to be assuming even greater and greater propor- 

 tions. This disease, as you are aware, has decimated the 

 natives in large areas of the Congo Free State ; it has 

 levied a heavy toll on the natives of Uganda, of whom 

 200,000 out of a total population of 300.000 in the infected 

 area have fallen victims to it. It has invaded portions of 

 the French Congo and (he Portuguese posse.ssions ; it has 

 appeared the Sudan, and is now threatening German East 

 Africa, Rhodesia, and the British Central Africa Protec- 

 torate. .\lre;idy not a few Europeans have died of the 

 diseasr', and many of (hose still alive are known to be 

 infected. 



By a bitter irony the European administration of 

 Africa, while producing a more settled state of affairs 

 than formerly existed, has led to more frequent and more 

 extended travel on the part of the natives, and so helped 

 to diffuse and spread the infection. In view of this state 

 of affairs, which is little less than a calamity for tropical 

 NO. 1964, VOL. 76] 



.Africa, His .Majesty's (iovcrnment has been endeavouring, 

 by subsidising and otherwise encouraging investigation 

 into the nature and cause of sleeping sickness, lo acquire 

 the necessary knowledge on which to base a scheme or 

 .schemes for the prevention, and possibly the cure, of this 

 disease. Happily these ellorts have met with tonsiderable 

 success. It has been definitely ascertained that Trypano- 

 soma gambictise is ihe cause of the disease, and it is all 

 but proved, bolh experimentally and by analogy, and also 

 by considerations of distribution, that this parasite is con- 

 veyed from the infected to the uninfected by at least one 

 species of tsetse-fly {(ilossina palfialis), and that the dis- 

 tribution of this liy is strictly limited to the close neigh- 

 bourhood of open w.iter. It has further been ascertained 

 experimentally in animals, and therapeulically in man, that 

 the infection, once acquired, can be controlled to some 

 extent by various substances — arsenic, certain colours, 

 dyes, and combinations of arsenic and colour dyes — e.g. 

 atoxyl — and by mercury. Lastly, though sometimes difficult 

 to diagnose in its incipient stages, symptoms have been 

 discovered w-hich enable the expert to recognise the earlier, 

 and, from the point of view of infection, equally dangerous 

 .stages of the disease. It may be that we are already, in 

 ihese respects, in possession of the knowledge which, if 

 energetically applied, would enable us to prevent the spread 

 and possibly (o exurniinatc sleeping sickness. It is by no 

 means improbable that there are other factors at work 

 determining the spread of the disease, of which we are at 

 present in ignorance, and which, if ignored, might render 

 futile any ellorts, founded on a limited knowledge, we 

 might take. 



As our several countries are responsible for (he good 

 government and prosperity of tropical .Africa, His Majesty's 

 Government, feeling sure that they would be willing to 

 cooperate in the struggle against sleeping sickness, has 

 asked them to send you here lo devise some scheme directed 

 lo this end, and by way of initiating discussion on the 

 subject, I would submit for your consideration the follow- 

 ing outline: — (i) .Annual or biennial conferences of 

 delegates from the several countries interested in sleeping 

 sickness; (2) a central bureau to extract and circulate all 

 new literature on the subject ; (3) assignment of definite 

 points for investigation to particular countries or in- 

 dividuals — e.g. (a) to determine whether Glossina palpalis 

 is a direct or an indirect conveyer of the trypanosome; 

 (/') rf the trypanosome undergoes necessary developmental 

 changes in the Glos.tiim palpalis ; (c) if such be the case, 

 whether the developed germ be conveyed by the original 

 Glossina or by its larva, when the latter arrives at Its 

 im.ago stage ; (d) how long an Infected Glossina continues 

 mfectiye ; (c) whether other species of Glossina can convey 

 (hf trypanosome; (/) (he geographical dis(ribution of the 

 infecting species and (heir habits; (g) the role the verle- 

 brale fauna other than man play In the spread of the 

 infection; (h) the best methods for exterminating Glossina; 

 (1) the best methods for preventing Ihe introduction of the 

 infection into virgin country; (;1 the best UK'thods of con- 

 (rolling the spread of the disease in an infected country, 

 including segregation of the infected and removal from 

 Ihe infected area of those as yet uninfected; (t) the ex- 

 perimental study on animals of drugs which destroy the 

 trypanosome ; (/) the therapeutical application of these 

 drugs to man. 



Doubtless other points for consideration will occur 

 to the delegates. The foregoing have been suggested 

 merely to start discussion. In conclusion. His Majesty's 

 Government feels sure that, unless cooperation is 

 secured, not only will time and labour be lost by the 

 superfluous overlapping of the uncoordinated studies of 

 men of science, but that it will be impossible to carry 

 out anything like a general plan in the nature of quaran- 

 tine or the restriction of the movements of the native 

 population more immediately interested in this important 

 disease. Much money and effort are now being expended 

 by the different European administrations, but as there is 

 no common plan of action there must be a considerable 

 waste of energy. It is in the hope of organising the forces 

 of tho.se administrations to the best advantage against the 

 common enemy that His Majesty's Government has 

 invited the Powers concerned to send their representatives 

 to this conference. 



