298 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 347. 



introduction, and terminate with a postscript 

 and bibliography by Koss. At this period the 

 Italians, notably Grassi, Bignami and Bastia- 

 nelli, were endeavoring to follow Eoss's inves- 

 tigations on the development of the malarial 

 parasites in the mosquito, and Dr. Charles 

 acted as an intermediary, informing Eoss of the 

 progress made by the Italians, and similarly 

 communicating to the latter Eoss's observations 

 and handing them his specimens. In the first 

 letter, Charles asks for specimens for Marchia- 

 fava ' of the mosquito in which human malaria 

 develops.' Grassi now denies that Eoss ever 

 detected this species. It is pointed out how 

 closely the Italians followed and how well in- 

 formed they were of the details of Eoss's work, 

 yet now Grassi states that his labors were inde- 

 pendent of Eoss. In the third letter, with re- 

 gard to the cultivation of crescents in the ' dap- 

 pled winged mosquito ' by Eoss, Charles says, 

 "He (Grassi) seemed perfectly satisfied that 

 your description referred to the Anopheles clav- 

 iger.^' Grassi now contends that he could not 

 identify the malaria-bearing mosquito from 

 Eoss's description. Bignami, Grassi and Bas- 

 tianelli have frequently stated that Eoss's first 

 successful experiments with human malaria 

 were unsound, because the insects employed 

 might have already bitten another animal before 

 having been fed on man. Yet in Eoss's publi- 

 cation it is clearly premised that the insects 

 had been bred in bottles from the larvae. — Na- 

 ture. 



IMPRESSIONS OF A GERMAN CONGRESS. 



An occasional correspondent, who speaks 

 from experience, has been moved to unburden 

 his soul as to the mode in which discussions 

 are carried on at some German scientific con- 

 gresses. The picture he draws is not, he de- 

 clares, exaggerated, but his remarks must be 

 understood as applying only to those congresses 

 which are not divided into sections but in 

 which the discussions take place in plenary 

 session. There is a large room where the con- 

 gress is to take place, filled with hundreds of 

 our colleagues, of German and other nationali- 

 ties. These gentlemen are prepared for several 

 days' ennui, but are also resolved not to let it 

 be all dull. They present a very varied ap- 



pearance, and produce a very varied impres- 

 sion by the complexity of sound which their 

 conversation, before the commencement of the 

 proceedings, creates. The management con- 

 sists of a chairman, who is changed at each 

 sitting, and his confreres, the president, the 

 secretary, and the other members of the coun- 

 cil. The chairman opens the day's proceedings 

 by informing the readers of papers that the 

 time limit, namely, half of an hour for papers, 

 and ten minutes for discussion speeches, will be 

 rigidly adhered to. At first all goes smoothly 

 until a speaker has occupied the attention of 

 the House for twenty minutes or so, when 

 there is heard an ever-increasing buzz of con- 

 versation from the back part of the room. Of 

 this the speaker takes no heed, and when the 

 half-hour is past, the chairman merely stretches 

 himself and remains quiet. The next speaker 

 has obviously not been fortunate in the impres- 

 sion that he has made on the House, for the 

 conversation, begun during the last speech, 

 continues, and becomes disturbing. But he, 

 being accustomed to such trivial inconveni- 

 ences, labors on steadily. The hands of the 

 clock steal slowly onward, and when they 

 register that the speaker has been standing at 

 the desk for nearly twenty minutes, a single 

 cry of ' End ! ' (Schluss) is heard. Soon the 

 air is rent with wild delighted cries of 'End!' 

 and feebly tempered by a few subdued re- 

 monstrating ' Gsch.'' The chairman rings his 

 bell. Some order is restored, and he tells 

 the speaker that he has two minutes more. 

 Poor speaker ! He has lost the thread of 

 his argument (for papers must be given from 

 memory, not read), he is face to face with 

 the fact that he has but two minutes more 

 to live — as a speaker — and he thereupon in- 

 variably pitches himself headlong into his sub- 

 ject, at such an enormous rate, and with so 

 much energy, that it becomes a matter of im- 

 possibility to understand what he is speaking 

 of. The noise at the far end of the room con- 

 tinues, and in one minute the second ' sound ' 

 of the bell is heard. The chairman now shows his 

 humanity and asks the House to decide whether 

 the speaker shall continue or not. This is 

 done either by direct appeal and an interpre- 

 tation of the responsive sound, as to what the 



