.Jan\)ABY 1, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



29 



be due to the transfer of the cult to a locality 

 where serpents do not exist. 



In reference to the human remains collected 

 by Dr. Fewkes, Dr. Hrdlicka said that a com- 

 parison of the Poi-to Eican skull with South 

 American skulls shows it to be like specimens 

 from Brazil., In answer to an inquiry from 

 Dr. Lamb, Dr. Fewkes said the bones were 

 found in a mound near Utuado. 



Under the head of voluntary communica- 

 tions, Dr. Hrdlicka suggested that archeolog- 

 ical and anthropological work be carried on at 

 Panama in connection with work on the canal. 



The secretary presented data on the destruc- 

 tion of ruins in the southwestern United 

 States, and suggested that the movement for 

 their preservation inaugurated some years ago 

 be revived. After a brief discussion in which 

 the president, Dr. Kober, Dr. Fewkes and Dr. 

 Hrdlicka took part, the matter was postponed 

 to the next meeting. Walter Hough, 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE ANIMAL PARASITE SUPPOSED TO BE THE CAUSE 

 OP YELLOW FEVER. 



To THE Editor of. Science: In your issue of 

 October 23, 1903, you publish a communica- 

 tion from Mr. J. C. Smith, of New Orleans, 

 in regard to the animal parasite in the bodies 

 of mosquitoes infected from yellow-fever sub- 

 jects. While the article is on its face con- 

 tradictory and unsatisfactory, its burden is to 

 claim the credit for scientific work to which 

 he is not entitled. It reflects unfairly and 

 unjustly upon Professor George E. Beyer, as- 

 sociate professor of biology in Tulane Univer- 

 sity, who was the biologist of the working 

 party of the yellow-fever institute of the U. 

 S. Public Health and Marine-Hospital Serv- 

 ice, which made the investigations in Vera 

 Cruz in 1902. 



Professor Beyer is an acting assistant sur- 

 geon in that service, and for that reason can 

 make no publication in the matter. 



In the first paragraph of the article Mr. 

 Smith claims that he was ' the first to have 

 correctly interpreted and given value to the 

 things found in the bodies of the mosquitoes 

 infected from yellow-fever patients.' After 

 setting forth this claim, he closes with the 



vastly more modest claim that he was entitled 

 to have printed in the report of the working 

 party an acknowledgment of his valuable serv- 

 ices in working out the sexual life history of 

 the parasite. 



Mr. Smith fixes January 23, 1903, as the 

 time when his assistance was asked, and his 

 work was performed subsequent to that date. 



The facts are that the working party dis- 

 covered the animal parasite in mosquitoes in- 

 fected from yellow-fever subjects in the sum- 

 mer of 1902, that they classified and named 

 the parasite, illustrated it with drawings, and 

 sent the drawings in November, and a pre- 

 liminary report to the Surgeon-General in 

 July of 1902, nearly six months prior to the 

 time fixed by Mr. Smith. This report is an 

 official record, is on file in Washington, and of 

 itself shows that Mr. Smith was neither the 

 discoverer nor the first correctly to interpret 

 the parasite. 



The eighth paragraph of the article does a 

 particular injustice to Professor Beyer. It 

 says: "Up to this time (January 23, 1903) 

 Professor Beyer, who was the biologist of the 

 party, knew of no evidence of a parasite in 

 these mosquitoes, excepting some granular 

 bodies, as they were styled, which were found 

 in the cell of the salivary glands, and which I 

 afterward showed the party were not granular 

 bodies, but were linear bodies, five or six times 

 longer than wide, the sporozites. On Jan- 

 uary 30 [1903] I reported having found in 

 the bodies of a number of the mosquitoes an 

 animal parasite in process of sexual develop- 

 ment." 



Professor Beyer had found this parasite six 

 months before the time fixed by Mr. Smith 

 as the day when he saw it in slides loaned 

 him by Professor Beyer and known by the 

 latter to contain the parasite. A number of 

 physicians were acquainted with the discovery, 

 its interpretation and value, in the summer 

 and fall of last year. Dr. N. Del Rio in a 

 statement acknowledged before the American 

 Consul at Vera Cruz, June 8, 1903, says that 

 as delegates of the Superior Board of Health 

 of Vera Cruz, he. Dr. Matienzo and Dr. 

 Iglesias were, during June and July, 1902, 

 shown by Professor Beyer in the stomach and 



