SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, il 



The want which has been long felt in cities for properly trained 

 nurses has been fully met by the training-schools, which have 

 sprung up in almost every city, .and in connection with almost 

 every hospital. But in the smaller towns and villages the need is 

 as great as ever, and, so far as we know, no effort has been made 

 to meet it. It has been claimed that the supply has not been fur- 

 nished because there was no demand for such services. This may 

 be true to some e.xtent, but does not account for the almost total 

 lack of properly educated nurses in the country. The explanation 

 is, we think, rather that, the system being a comparatively modern 

 one, it was but natural that it should at first be put mto operation 

 in the large centres of population ; and, as these are now fairly 

 well supplied, it will doubtless follow that when the supply exceeds 

 the demand, as it bids. fair soon to do, the trained nurse will natu- 

 rally seek employment in the smaller towns and villages. In the 

 mean time residents of these villages who desire to introduce such 

 a system into the places of their residence will find the fullest in- 

 structions in a book recently written by Dr. Worcester of Wal- 

 tham, entitled ' A New Way of training Nurses.' 



THE STANLEY EXPEDITION. 



It may be well to review at the present time the progress of the 

 Stanley expedition and the events on the upper Kongo, in order to 

 understand the real value of the numerous rumors that have been 

 reported as to the fate of the explorer and of his caravan. On 

 March 18, 1 887, Stanley arrived at Banana, and with some difficulty 

 reached Leopoldville on Stanley Pool on April 20. On June 2 he 

 left his camp at the mouth of the Aruvimi, ascending the latter 

 river. At that time it was hoped by well-informed persons that he 

 might be able to reach Wadelai towards the end of July, although 

 a delay of many months did not seem at all improbable. On Aug. 

 4 it was announced that on the i8th of June, Stanley had reached 

 the rapids of the Aruvimi, and that he was preparing to make a 

 portage. On June 23 Stanley sent a letter from Yambuya on the 

 Aruvimi, and on July 12 a despatch was sent that all was well. He 

 was proceeding up the Aruvimi with a caravan of fifty Europeans 

 and four hundred and sixty-five soldiers and carriers. 



Near the mouth of the Aruvimi, Major Barttelot was left in com- 

 mand of a fortified camp with four European and one hundred and 

 twenty-five Zanzibar soldiers, and ample provisions, with the in- 

 struction to follow on Stanley's route as soon as Tippo-Tip should 

 have gathered a sufficient number of carriers. It will be remem- 

 bered that at that time the Arabs were in possession of Stanley 

 Falls Station, and that, by appointing Tippo-Tip chief, the Kongo 

 Free State hoped to again get control of that place. On May 31 

 Stanley and Tippo-Tip separated, after having passed Bangala. 

 The latter, accompanied by ninety-six persons, and Major Barttelot, 

 who was in command of forty Sudanese soldiers, proceeded up the 

 Kongo. On June 22 Barttelot reached Yambuya, where he met 

 Stanley. Tippo-Tip, on his arrival at Stanley Falls, and on an- 

 nouncing his appointment as chief of the Falls Station, met with 

 some resistance among the Arabs, particularly from one Said-ben- 

 Habub, who refused to obey him. Tippo-Tip then demanded from 

 the Kongo Slate two officers and thirty soldiers for enforcing his 

 commands. When this news reached Europe, Captain Licvin \'an 

 de \elde was appointed commander of the garrison of Stanley 

 Falls, and left Antwerp on Oct. 23. Unfortunately he died a few 

 days after his arrival on the Kongo. For a long time no news from 

 Barttelot reached the coast, until a despatch from St. Paul de 

 Loanda, dated May i, announced that Mr. Ward had arrived from 



Yambuya at Boma, with the news that nothing had been heard 

 from Stanley since July, 1887. Tippo-Tip had left for Kasongo, 

 situated above the Falls, on Nov. 16, but in March he had procured 

 only two hundred and fifty carriers. Jamieson had gone to the same 

 place to urge the despatch of three hundred and fifty carriers more 

 who were wanted. He was expected back at Yambuya on May 

 14, and Barttelot did not expect to leave until June i. It was his 

 intention to proceed v/a Stanley Falls, where he intended to leave 

 an officer in charge of every thing he could spare. Later on, Jamie- 

 son reported their intention to start. The last news from this 

 region was that the Falls Station was re-occupied by the Kongo 

 Free State, under command of Captain van Gele. 



The numerous reports of Stanley's death or of his progress that 

 were published at brief intervals were without any foundation. The 

 only rumors from the west coast that had any elements of truth were 

 contained in Barttelot's last letter, which was received in Brussels 

 on the 15th of June. In December, 1887, several deserters from 

 Stanley's expedition were met with several days' journey up the 

 Aruvimi by Arabs. They told that they had left Stanley after five 

 months' hard travelling in a mountainous region, covered with dense 

 forest and very populous, the expedition having to fight frequently 

 against the natives. In one of these struggles Stanley was said to 

 be wounded. The situation at Yambuya was very difficult on ac- 

 count of scarcity of food. Tippo-Tip, although not unwilling to 

 keep his promise of sending carriers, found it extremely difficult to 

 induce the natives to take part in an expedition toward the unknown 

 northern regions. 



It is well known that deserters always describe the state of the 

 caravans as hopeless, in order to exculpate themselves, and there- 

 fore their tale must be accepted cum grano sa/is. This report was 

 repeated, somewhat amplified and exaggerated, by a despatch of 

 Renter's Bureau. 



We turn to considering the news coming from East Africa. A 

 despatch of May 28 shows how slowly trustworthy information 

 travels this way. This telegram, which was published in the Lon- 

 don Times, stated that letters were received from Barttelot, dated 

 Stanley Falls, Oct. 25, which referred to some deserters having 

 come down to that station. 



While this meagre news is all we know about Stanley, letters 

 from Emin Pacha come in comparatively regularly, showing that 

 an open route exists from his province to Zanzibar. The last letter 

 from the region occupied by Emin Pacha was written on Dec. 5, 1887, 

 by Casati, at Guaia in Unyoro. He says, " I do not believe that 

 Stanley will arrive very soon. No news, however vague, has come 

 here from the West. I am convinced that he cannot be here before 

 March. The size of his caravan, and consequent difficulty of ob- 

 taining provisions, sickness, etc., — these are serious obstacles to 

 his rapid progress." 



Another report from this region was obtained at Cairo, July 5. A 

 messenger who had left Khartum May 25 says that he has noticed 

 the preparations made by the Mahdi since the middle of March for 

 an expedition against Emin. The expedition consisted of four 

 thousand men, who took passage in four old steamboats of Gordon. 



The last exciting reports from this region are the Reuter de- 

 spatches referring to the white pacha who was said to be encountered 

 by Arabs in the Bahr-el-Gazal region. It is hardly possible to tell 

 what may be the foundation of these repeated reports. 



From all these facts we conclude that there is no foundation to 

 the numerous reports of Stanley's death. The difficulties he must 

 have encountered on his march must have been unexpected, or he 

 may have had in view an object entirely different from the alleged 

 ' relief ' of Emin Pacha. So far, we are not justified in supposing 

 that he has perished, else some news to this effect would have 

 reached the Kongo. 



A few days ago a despatch was sent from the Kongo reporting 



