NOVEMBEB 12, 1909] 



SCIENCE ■ 



687 



biology how much more difficult the organiza- 

 tion and prompt completion of annual sum- 

 maries requiring, as these do, the cooperation 

 of specialists in less closely associated sub- 

 jects ! Nevertheless Professor Woltereck and 

 his associates have undertaken the seeming 

 impossible and Bd. I. contains as a supplement 

 the first section of the Jahresiibersicht for 

 1908 including : I., Limnography ; II., oceanog- 

 raphy; m., fresh-water botany; IV., marine 

 botany; V., applied hydrobiology (polluted 

 waters and water supplies) ; VI., fresh-water 

 zoology (excluding vertebrata). The remain- 

 ing parts (with Nachtrage to those above 

 named) wiU be issued in the current year. 

 These are VII., marine zoology (excluding 

 vertebrata) ; VIII., marine and fresh-water 

 fisheries with supplement on " Aquarium- 

 kunde " ; IX., potamology, moorkunde, thermal 

 and cave waters. 



Obviously a considerable part of this field 

 (in., rV., VI. and VII.) is already covered in 

 the long-established botanical and zoological 

 summaries and bibliographies, but all too often 

 imperfectly and not from the standpoint of 

 hydrobiology. The other fields are sorely in 

 need of just such summaries and bibliography 

 as are here projected. Every worker in these 

 fields should help on the project of securing 

 complete and prompt representation of the 

 literature by providing the Eevue with re- 

 prints or notices of his work. Naturally there 

 are many deficiencies in the parts now pub- 

 lished, but they are to be expected in the 

 initial stages of all such enterprises. The 

 bibliography and summaries of literature 

 form a supplement with independent pagina- 

 tion. 



The new Eevue should receive the cordial 

 support and cooperation of all who are inter- 

 ested in the manifold phases of hydrobiology, 

 whether descriptive, experimental or applied. 



Charles A. Kofoid 

 Univeesitt of Califobnia 



THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TICK- 

 TRANSMITTED DISEASES. 



Ever since the discovery of the destructive 

 efiect of quinine on the causative organisms of 



malaria, investigators have dreamed of the 

 possibility of discovering similar therapeutic 

 agents for use in other diseases caused by 

 blood-infesting organisms. A recent paper by 

 Messrs. Nuttall and Hadwen,' dealing with 

 experiments conducted at the University of 

 Cambridge, seems to indicate that drugs have 

 been discovered which display the same de- 

 structive effect upon certain species of disease- 

 causing species of Piroplasma as quinine baa 

 upon the organism of malaria. 



There are four distinct diseases of domestic 

 animals caused by as many species of Piro- 

 plasma.' Of these, splenetic or Texas fever 

 occurs in various of the warmer parts of the 

 earth and causes tremendous economic losses. 

 Malignant jaundice of the dog occurs in India 

 and South Africa and displays a very high 

 lethality. Biliary fever of horses occurs in 

 Africa, the loss is considerable. Carceag of 

 sheep occurs in southern Europe and is con- 

 sidered an important disease. In all these 

 diseases certain ticks have been found to be 

 the agents of transmission. 



In the experiments of Messrs. Nuttall and 

 Hadwen the most remarkable results were ob- 

 tained from the use of the stains known as 

 trypanrot and trypanblau, in aqueous solutions 

 injected subcutaneously. These were found 

 to exert a direct and observable effect upon the 



» Nuttall, J. H. F., and Hadwen, S., " The Suc- 

 cessful Drug Treatment of Canine Piroplasmosis 

 together with Observations upon the Effects of 

 Drugs on Piroplasma cams," Parasitology, II., 

 Nos. 1-2 (double number), pp. 15G-191, July, 

 1909. 



^ In the literature the organism of the so-called 

 Rhodesian fever of cattle is referred to as Piro- 

 plasma parva. However, Mr. Nuttall has pointed 

 out that this species is not congeneric with those 

 causing splenetic or Texas fever of cattle, malig- 

 nant jaundice of dogs, biliaiy fever of horses and 

 carceag of sheep. He has therefore erected the 

 genus Theileria for the organism referred to as 

 Piroplasma parva. This is especially interesting 

 in view of the fact that the drugs which were 

 found to have a most decided effect upon the true 

 Piroplasma species did not exert any effect what- 

 ever on the parasite of Rhodesian fever. 



