532 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 400. 



further on by Surgeon-General Wyman's let- 

 ter to me dated August 24. 



All that I have related above concerning 

 the four sessions can be corroborated by Dr. 

 0. L. Pothier, who was a member of the work- 

 ing party and attended the sessions. 



Some days after this fourth session I tried 

 to learn from Professor Beyer what had been 

 done in the matter of recognition of my ser- 

 vices, but could get no satisfactory answer 

 from him. I then told him that I intended to 

 criticize the report when it was published, 

 and that the party had failed to get one very 

 important characteristic of the parasite. That 

 characteristic is that all the gametes have a 

 non-contractile vacuole in their anterior 

 halves. If the reader will look over the re- 

 port, he will find that this very important fea- 

 ture is not mentioned. 



Several days after this interview with Pro- 

 fessor Beyer, I received the following letter 

 from Dr. Parker: 



Treasury Department, 

 MARiNE-HosprrAL Service, 

 Washington, D. C, Mch. 6, 1903. 

 Mr. J. C. Smith, 



New Orleans, La. 



My Dear Mr. Smith: Since returning to Wash- 

 ington I have been intending to write to you and 

 ask if you will transmit to me at your earliest 

 convenience yovir opinion of the organism and its 

 phases as you saw them with Dr. Beyer. 



I would like this not only for my own informa- 

 tion, but if necessary to quote you on points that 

 at present may seem somewhat hazy. 



The subject is, as you know, a rather large one, 

 especially for those who are not familiar with 

 more than the rudiments of this branch of the 

 sciences. I hope, however, to acquire enough 

 from my friends and tlie books to make this or- 

 ganism presentaile. 



Very truly yours, 

 (Signed) Herman B. Parker, 



Passed Assistant Surgeon. 



(The italics are mine.) 



To which the following reply was sent : 



New Orleans, La., 

 March 10, 1903. 

 Dr. Herman B. Parker, 



P. A. Surg. Marine-Hospital Service, 



Washington, D. C. 

 My Dear Dr. Parker: Yours of the 6th inst. to 

 hand and from its contents I conclude something 



lian gone wrong * * * . It seems to me that I 

 am not going to receive from your commission 

 (working party), the recognition which I justly 

 claim, so I have concluded to reserve ivhat I have 

 to say about the parasite and the part I have 

 taken to bring it to light until tlie report is pub- 

 lished. If I am mistaken as to the treatment 

 your commission (working party) contemplates 

 according me, I shall say no more about it, but 

 you will have to assure me of my mistake and 

 say just how I am to be recognized before I can 

 feel satisfied to give you my written views as you 

 request in your letter of the 6th inst. 

 Yours truly, 



(Signed) J. C. Smith. 



To which no reply has been received. 



On May 6, during the session of the Amer- 

 ican Medical Association in New Orleans, I 

 had a conference with Surgeon-General Wy- 

 man. At this conference I related the story 

 of my connection with the working party, 

 which was substantially as it is written above, 

 and said to him that I had good reasons to 

 believe that I was not to receive the recogni- 

 tion I was entitled to. In response to his ques- 

 tion as to what recognition I wanted, I handed 

 him the following memorandum : 



The commission is indebted to Mr. J. C. Smith, 

 of New Orleans, La., for his valuable services in 

 working out the sexual life-history of the parasite 

 in the body of the mosquito. 



This to be in the text treating on the parasite. 



He said that was the first time he had heard 

 of my connection with the working party; 

 that the party had no right to go outside the 

 department for assistance; that he would in- 

 vestigate the matter and would do justice to 

 me. 



On June 10 Dr. Wertenbaker, surgeon at 

 the Marine Hospital in New Orleans, called 

 on me and presented a telegram from Sur- 

 geon-General Walter Wyman which read as 

 follows : 



See J. C. Smith and get from him a signed 

 statement of his relation to the working party 

 and his understanding as to recognition. 



On the same day Dr. Wertenbaker was 

 given the signed statement, which contained 

 the same items recorded above, and the fol- 



