OCTOBEK 15, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



531 



THE " PAN-AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 



To THE Editor of Science : You will pardon 

 me if I desire to draw your kind attention to 

 the term " Pan-American Scientiiio Congress " 

 as applied to the congress which, according to 

 the last issue (No. 1,083) of Science, is to meet 

 in the city of Washington next December. 

 Scientific bodies are generally understood to 

 represent bodies dealing with science or exact 

 knowledge. Now, inasmuch as geography is a 

 science, and geographical science teaches us 

 that the continent of America includes lands 

 from the northernmost tracts of British Amer- 

 ica to the southernmost areas of Patagonia, the 

 term " Pan-American " can not be properly 

 applied to any scientific congress, body or 

 society which does not include all the countries 

 and lands of the continent of America. 



H. A. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Handhooh of Medical Entomology. By Wm. 



A. Eilet and O. a. Johannsen. Ithaca, 



N. T., Comstock Publishing Company, 1915. 



Pages 1 to 348. Figures 1 to 1Y4. 



The writing of a book on a subject to which 

 so many important contributions are being 

 made as to medical entomology is not an 

 easy undertaking. The author is likely to 

 fitnd, when he lays down his pen at the end 

 of a chapt-er, that an article has appeared 

 which makes it necessary for him to revise his 

 statements in many important particulars. 

 The writers of this book are both successful 

 teachers and the experience they have had in 

 the class room has been brought into play in 

 the manner of presentation of the subject. As 

 a matter of fact six years of teaching medical 

 entomology is undoubtedly the best possible 

 preparation for the writing of such a volume. 

 Consequently it is not surprising, at least to 

 those who are familiar with the work of Drs. 

 Eiley and Johannsen, that their " Hand- 

 book" is a very clear and logical treatment 

 of the subject with which it deals. 



The division of the subject into topics 

 treated in separate chapters is most com- 

 mendable. The directly poisonous species, 

 the accidental parasites, the simple carriers of 



disease, the direct inoculators of disease 

 germs, the essential hosts of pathogenic organ- 

 isms, and other groups are thus treated. The 

 method is undoubtedly more satisfactory from 

 the standpoint of the student than the one fol- 

 lowed in many works on the same subject 

 which divide the matter on the basis of the dis- 

 eases transmitted. Of course it is important 

 to consider the latter phase of the subject and 

 this is done in the series of chapters following 

 those dealing with the different classes of in- 

 sect transmission of diseases. 



The judgment of the authors has been exer- 

 cised in the discussion of such diseases as 

 poliomyelitis, pellagra, verruga, and others in 

 which insect intervention in any important 

 way has not been fully established. Thus they 

 pursue a conservative course and one which 

 must be beyond criticism by those who are 

 inclined to minimize the importance of insect 

 transmission of diseases. 



The last part of the work includes taxonomic 

 tables dealing with ticks, flies, bugs and other 

 insects which are concerned in the transmis- 

 sion of diseases. This is an essential part of 

 the book and will serve as a basis for the work 

 of students for many years. 



That the book is up to date is shown by the 

 fact that though the preface is dated January, 

 1915, it includes, as an appendix, an important 

 article by Stokes which appeared in a medical 

 journal for the month of December, 1914. 



The bibliography will be found most useful, 

 although some important works, like Howard's 

 book on the house fly, and a number of articles 

 to which references are made in the early text, 

 are not included. 



Recently the center of interest in medical 

 entomology has been England, and the fact 

 that the work of Smith and Kilbourne on 

 splenetic fever in this country, of the Amer- 

 ican Army Commission which investigated 

 yellow fever in Cuba, and of Ricketts on spot- 

 ted fever, helped to lay the foundation of our 

 knowledge has to some extent at least been 

 overlooked. The " Handbook " places the rela- 

 tive contribution of different agencies in a 

 clear light but its most important function 

 will undoubtedly be to stimulate interest in 



