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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1220 



realm of demonology, incantai;ions, amu- 

 lets and miasmas, hand in hand with ad- 

 vancing zoological knowledge. The mem- 

 bers of the great sister societies meeting 

 with us here to-day, ostensibly as allied 

 medical devotees, are nothing in the world 

 but camouflaged zoologists. For proof of 

 my statement you need look only at the pro- 

 gram of the so-called Anatomists. Have 

 they not outdone the Zoologists themselves 

 in presenting a purely zoological program ? 

 Moreover it is one which can not even be 

 appreciated without considerable back- 

 ground of zoological knowledge. Contem- 

 plating the Zoologist's and the Anatomist's 

 programs side by side, I am reminded of 

 (that foolish bit of verse attributed to Bill 

 Nye, 



Tie Autumn leaves is f allin ', is f aUin ' everywhere. 

 Is f allin' through the atmosphere, and likewise 

 through the air. 



Can any one here, even with a Tasehiro's 

 biometer, detect a difference between the 

 anatomical atmosphere of the one program 

 and the zoological air of the other 1 



Next glance at the program of the Physi- 

 ologists or of any of the other affiliated so- 

 cieties and does not a somewhat similar 

 condition exist ? In all of these are we not 

 merely looking through different windows 

 at the common science of zoology? Is not 

 an acquaintance with the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of the latter the most logical and di- 

 rect approach to any one of them 1 



The study of zoology not only gives the 

 beginning medical student practical skill 

 in preparing for the study of the human 

 body, but it also supplies him with a fund 

 of conceptions and develops an attitude of 

 mind that should be of great service to him 

 in all his future work. Acquaintance with 

 a wide variety of animals has invariably 

 proved a boon to physiologists, and knowl- 

 edge of the life of any form throws re- 

 flected light upon human life. 



If more specific reference is required to 

 show the relation of zoological science to 

 sanitation and medicine, then let me call at- 

 tention to the fact that some of our most 

 dread diseases are of animal origin. At 

 once comes to mind such scourges as syphi- 

 lis, sleeping sickness, malaria, various 

 amebic diseases, hookworm infection, ele- 

 phantiasis and other filarian diseases, 

 spotted fever, relapsing fever and many 

 other fevers. And where the malady itself 

 i^. not directly attributable to an invading 

 animal parasite, it is in many cases con- 

 veyed by animal carriers. For instances 

 of this we have only to think of bubonic 

 plague, yellow fever or typhoid fever. 



So important has become the subject of 

 animal parasites in relation to man and 

 useful animals that not a few zoological de- 

 partments in our larger universities have 

 thriving courses in animal parasitology. 

 These are elected not only by prospective 

 medical students but by agricultural and 

 veterinarian students and by practically 

 all who expect to go into any branch of eco- 

 nomic zoology. Even students of plant 

 pathology are finding that they have to 

 look beyond their rusts, smuts, molds and 

 bacteria, and learn something of nematodes, 

 soil protozoa and other animal forms. 



2. In Agriculture, Animal Hushandry 

 and Related Interests. — Possibly even more 

 conspicuous than in medicine are the appli- 

 cations which have been made of zoological 

 knowledge to the field of agriculture and 

 related interests. When we realize that in- 

 jurious insects alone cause an annual loss 

 in the United States of well over a billion 

 of dollars, and that with proper knowledge 

 of insect life and intelligent application of 

 this knowledge, probably at least half of 

 the loss could be avoided, the importance 

 of economic entomology is at once evident. 

 And when we add to this the long list of 

 disabilities and deaths of our common ani- 



