June 17, 1887.] 



8CIE1SICE. 



599 



fact, something of a Nauplius-like appearance to 

 the animal ; and, inasmuch as the Nauplius is the 

 larval stage of certain Crustacea, Pedalion may be 

 said to offer some resemblance to an arthropod. 

 It must be remembered that arthropod limbs are 

 always symmetrically disposed, and never occu- 

 py a position in the median line, except as a 

 secondary modification resulting from the fusion 

 of two originally distinct limbs into one median 

 structure ; as occurs, for example, in the Labium. 

 Moreover, arthropod limbs are the appendages of 

 segments, and are arranged in serial order length- 

 wise of the body and by segments. In the Rotif- 

 era, on the contrary, there is and can be no such 

 arrangement, because there are no segments. In 

 fact, we must interpret the similarity — which, 

 af ter aU, is imperfect — of the limbs of Pedalion 

 to those of the Nauplius as an analogy, and not 

 as an homology. 



So, much may be said to indicate the limit be- 

 yond which the special merits of the work do not 

 extend ; but within those limits we find a great 

 deal of the best excellence, which abundantly 

 justifies our congratulating the authors upon the 

 completion of their capital and thorough treatise. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[Contiuued from p. 592.] 



The cause of consumption. 



This subject is of such great importance not only 

 in the prevention but also in the treatment of the dis- 

 ease, that I feel sure you will permit me to reply to 

 the important objection raised by 'Medicus' to my 

 theory of consumption. In science we proceed from 

 the known to the unknown. Now, we know that the 

 constant inhalation of small particles produces con- 

 sumption, and that they evidently reduce the breath- 

 ing capacity; and we have produced experimentally 

 the disease in animals by simple confinement, which 

 also reduces that capacity. Further, I have pro- 

 duced consumption by reducing the breathing sur- 

 face of the lungs below a certain point, and I have 

 searched the records in vain to find a case of consump- 

 tion in which such conditions were not present. The 

 tribes that are absolutely free from this disease are 

 known to live under conditions that tend to develop 

 the lungs ; and we see the introduction of civilization 

 amongst them — that is, of conditions that tend to re- 

 duce the breathing surface — is followed by the 

 introduction of that disease. But, says ' Medicus, ' — 

 and I have had the same objection here, — that is be- 

 caiase the bacillus has been introduced. I reply, 

 apply the same process of examination to the bacillian 

 theory, and it fails at the very beginning. Koch's 

 important experiments — they mark an epoch in the 

 knowlege of life — resulted in an apparent aflirmative 

 and an absolute negative. In some animals he induced 

 consumption, in others he did not. What is the differ- 

 ence between the two classes of animals ? The former 

 evidently had been, and were, subjected to conditions 

 that tend to reduce the breathing capacity ; while the 



latter had not been, and were not, subjected to such 

 conditions to the same extent. What followed the 

 stoppage of the ventilating shafts of several wards at 

 Brompton, an outbreak of consiimption ? No. Erysip- 

 elas. In civilization we do not know where the ba- 

 cilhis, so called, tuberculosis is not, and I am curi- 

 ous to see who will prove their absence amongst the 

 tribes that are yet free from consumption. And while 

 the germicide treatment of the disease has admittedly 

 failed, that based upon this theory has, both in the 

 experiments and in the four cases to which it has been 

 applied, proved completely successful. 



G. W. Hambleton. 

 London, May 25. 



Scandinavian studies in the United States. 



The readers of Science had their attention directed 

 to this subject in a recent article written by Daniel 

 Kilham Dodge ; but the writer of that article, unwit- 

 tingly I siippose, does injustice to the Scandinavians 

 in this country as well as to the work that is so 

 nobly being carried on by them. He also omits a 

 prominent university in the north-west which is try- 

 ing to do what he thinks ought to be done by many 

 American colleges. As to the success of such efforts, 

 his historical account has important lessons. 



He states that there is "a population of 107,768 

 Scandinavians in Minnesota, and there is not a col- 

 lege in which the parent tongues of this great mass 

 of people can be studied." 



This might convey a wrong impression about the 

 Scandinavians, if the readers of Science were not in- 

 formed that during the year 1886 between seven and 

 eight hundred students attended the Scandinavian 

 institutions of Minnesota. True, these institutions 

 are not as yet complete colleges in the American sense 

 of the term, but the day is not far distant when some 

 will be an equivalent. Their object is not degrees, but 

 qualifications. These people have been nurtured by 

 European universitiy principles, and with university 

 men in their midst : they are not slow in fathoming 

 the shallowness of a great deal of the American col- 

 lege-training. 



Gustavus Adolphus college, situated at St. Peter, 

 Minn. , is a flourishing institution with two hundred 

 students, that is lacking only one year of having a 

 four-years' collegiate course. One-half of the pro- 

 fessorships are held by men who are not Scandi- 

 navians, but Americans educated in eastern Ameri- 

 can colleges. Latin, English, German, mathematics, 

 and natural sciences are taught by these professors. 

 Augustana college, liock Island, 111., is another and 

 older institution, supported by the Swedes, which 

 has been graduating class after class for a period of 

 ten years. Persons holding a diploma from this lat- 

 ter institution are admitted into the University of 

 Upsala without examination. A goodly number of 

 the professors are also American college-bred men. 

 Within recent years a most promising educational 

 work was begiin by the Swedes at Lindsborg, Kan. 

 During the past year, over three hundred students 

 attended the different dejjartments of Bethany college 

 and Normal institute, and at the coming commence- 

 ment they will dedicate an elegant and large college- 

 building. 



The Swedes and the Norwegians are alive on educa- 

 tional matters, and their influence is and will con- 

 tinue to be felt in this country. They are Swedes 



