Decembeb 23, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



919 



in which he says : " Amoebic changes in form 

 have been noted recently in liver tissue [sic] 

 examined immediately after chloroforming 

 affected turheys" (italics as in original). It 

 is to be presumed that reference vpas meant to 

 the parasites within the tissues. Dr. Smith 

 is of the opinion that the varied etiological 

 conditions encountered in the different 

 species of birds, and in turkeys at different 

 ages, leads to a conclusion that two distinct 

 diseases were encountered and confused. It does 

 not, however, seem to the writers that a differ- 

 ent expression of the effects of a disease among 

 various species, or in the same species at dif- 

 ferent ages, is anything remarkable. Further- 

 more, it was specifically stated that other com- 

 plications were a common accompaniment of 

 the coccidial infection, and one other organ- 

 ism was mentioned which, it was suggested, 

 had the power to produce pathological condi- 

 tions characteristic of blackhead. 



Eegarding the relation of the coccidium ob- 

 served in blackhead to Coccidium cunicuK, 

 the great variability in the shape and size of 

 the cysts led to the tentative conclusion that 

 the two were not to be separated on purely 

 morphological grounds. On page 203 of Bul- 

 letin 141 appears the following: 



It may be here stated that the present writers 

 <Cole and Hadley, 1908) have, in the past, used 

 the name Coccidium cuniculi, merely to signify 

 the morphological [italics not in original] resem- 

 blance to this organism. . . . 



As to the biological tests, some inconclu- 

 sive experiments are reported on p. 183, and 

 on p. 203 it is said: 



Experiments involving such tests are now under 

 way at the Rhode Island Experiment Station, and 

 until their results are clear, the authors do not 

 feel justified in attempting to place the org.tnism 

 of blackhead [i. c, the Coccidium] in its proper 

 systematic position. 



Furthermore, the position taken in Bulletin 

 141 regarding roup as a coccidial disease is 

 merely suggestive — on account of the similar- 

 ity to the schizont stage of a coccidium of cer- 

 tain histological elements found in roup le- 

 sions — and in no sense positive. For example, 

 it is stated on p. 205 that it " seems possible " 



that what Harrison and Streit figure as 

 " swollen nuclei " may represent stages in the 

 development of a coccidium; and again, on p. 

 206, it " seems possible " that the " refractive 

 bodies " described by Gary may also be shizont 

 stages of coccidia. 

 In closing. Dr. Smith (op. cit.) remarks: 



I also wish to protest against the pub'ication 

 of premature, undigested, controversial statements 

 in the form of preliminary notices years before 

 the appearance in print of the actual work on 

 which such statements are presumably based. 



It is certainly much to be regretted that the 

 appearance of the full bulletin was long de- 

 layed awaiting the production of plates. It 

 should be stated, however, that the " prelimi- 

 nary communication " referred to by Dr. 

 Smith was not a special article on the subject. 

 It was merely the abstract of a paper read at 

 the scientific meetings at New Haven and 

 Chicago; and, as such, partook of the abbre- 

 viated form characteristic of most other simi- 

 lar abstracts printed in Science. Needless to 

 state, much " proof " could not be supplied in 

 an article necessarily of so short a nature. 

 Leon J. Cole 

 Philip B. Hadley 



QUOTATIONS 



WOMEN AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 



It is a long time since so interesting a 

 phase of the question of woman's place in the 

 world of intellect has come up as that pre- 

 sented by the proposition that Mme. Curie be 

 elected a member of the Academic des Sci- 

 ences. Of course, nothing really analogous 

 to this case has yet arisen in the course of the 

 advancement of women that has been so re- 

 markable a part of the history of the past 

 generation; there is something more dramatic 

 about the situation presented when the most 

 distinguished group of scientific men in the 

 world debates the admission of a woman into 

 its charmed circle than in the gradual exten- 

 sion of the field involved in the opening of the 

 doors of university after university in country 

 after country, to women students. As for the 

 merits of the case, and its probable outcome. 



