June 16, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



855 



passing through a cycle of life similar to that 

 described by Ross for the proteosoma of birds 

 in the gray mosquito, and by the anthus and 

 grassi for the semilunfe in the Anopheles Clav- 

 iger. In this cycle of life the Tertian sporozoou 

 remains distinguishable by its morphological 

 characters from that of semilunar origin ; the 

 young forms are distinguished principally by 

 the form of the sporozoon and the characters 

 of the pigment ; the forms undergoing develop- 

 ment by the size of the bodies produced suc- 

 cessively by nuclear division ; the mature 

 forms are distinguished as a rule by the dis- 

 position of the residue of segmentation, per- 

 haps also by the size. The distinction of the 

 species of malarial parasites, therefore, remains 

 unaltered. The same conclusion is also obtained 

 from the third experiment, which demonstrates 

 that the semilunse which have given only Ter- 

 tian at first, passing through the Anopheles 

 Claviger, maintain unchanged their specific 

 characters. The study of the life of the Ano- 

 pheles in the Koman Campagna explains, in a 

 satisfactory mode, the behavior of the Tertain 

 at the change of the seasons. It has been 

 demonstrated experimentally that very few 

 punctures — indeed, even one only — by the in- 

 fected Anopheles may produce the infection in 

 man. 



A CIRCULAR letter has been issued by the 

 committee arranging for a University of Birm- 

 ingham, asking for subscriptions to make the 

 the first endowment £300,000. A copy of Mr. 

 Andrew Carnegie's letter giving £50,000 to the 

 fund is enclosed. As this is of interest to 

 American men of science we quote it in full : 



Langham Hotel, London, May 9, 1899. 



Deae Me. Chambeelain. — You have interested 

 me in your proposed University at Birmingham for 

 the people of the Midlands. May I suggest that an 

 opportunity exists for such an institution to perform 

 a great service for the vchole country? After the 

 members of the Iron and Steel Institute had returned 

 to New York from their tour of observation through 

 the United States, the officials dined with me. Many 

 pleasing short speeches were made ; the close of one I 

 have never forgotten. A partner in one of your fore- 

 most steel companies said : ' Mr. Carnegie, it is not 

 your wonderful machinery, not even your unequalled 



supplies of minerals, which we have most cause to 

 envy. It is something worth both of these combined; 

 the class of scientific young experts yon have to man- 

 age every department of your works. We have no 

 corresponding class in England.' Never were truer 

 words spoken. Now this class you must sooner or 

 later secure, if Britain is to remain one of the princi- 

 pal manufacturing nations, and it seems to me the 

 Jlidlands is the very soil upon which it can most surely 

 be produced. If I were in your place I should recognize 

 the futility of trying to rival Oxford and Cambridge, 

 which, even if possible, would be useless. Tliese 

 twin seats of learning have their mission and fulfil it, 

 but Birmingham should make the scientific the prin- 

 cipal department, the classical the subsidiary. If 

 Birmingham were to adopt the policy suggested, tak- 

 ing our Cornell University as its model, where the 

 scientific has won first place in the number of stu- 

 dents, and give degrees in science as in classics, I 

 should be delighted to contribute the last £50,000 of 

 the sum you have set out to raise, to establish a scien. 

 tific department. I am sure our people of the Birm- 

 ingham across the Atlantic will heartily approve this 

 gift to their prototype on this side of the water, for 

 what does not the younger owe of its greatness and 

 prosperity to the old land. Bessemer, Siemens, 

 Thomas — the triumvirate through whose inventions 

 we have been enabled to make and sell steel by the 

 millions of tons at three pounds for a penny— all 

 made their experiments in your midst. Let the gift, 

 therefore, be considered as only a slight acknowledg- 

 ment of a debt which Pittsburgh, the greatest bene- 

 ficiary of your steel inventions, can ever hope to re- 

 pay- 



Wishing you speedy success, sincerely yours. 

 An DEE w Caenegie. 



We learn from The British Medical Journal 

 that a grand festa has been held in Reggio, 

 Emilia, in honor of the first centenary of the 

 death of Lazzaro Spallanzani, who was born at 

 Scaudiano, in Modena, January 12, 1729, and 

 died at Pavia, February 12, 1799. Spallanzani 

 studied at Bologna, took holy orders, and in 1775 

 was elected professor of logic, Greek and rhetoric 

 at Reggio. Among his works are : Le osserva- 

 zioni microscopiche sulla teoria della generazione 

 di Needham e Buffon, in which he defended the 

 doctrine of biogenesis against those authors ; 

 and Dei fenomeni della circolazione and Memorie 

 sulla respirazione. Spallanzani was the first who 

 saw the circulation of the blood of warm-blooded 

 animals under the microscope. He made use 



