SCIENCE. 



6 1 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Prog r ess. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



Published at 

 229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 

 P. O. Box 3838. 



SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12. 1881. 



It appears to be a fact not generally known in the 

 United States that a prize is annually offered by His 

 Majesty, the King of the Belgians, amounting to the 

 sum of twenty-five thousand francs, for the encourage- 

 ment of intellectual effort. 



The intentions of the King were made known by a 

 decree dated the 14th of December, 1874, inviting the 

 authors of all nations to compete, and placing the 

 settlement of the award in the hands of a jury ap- 

 pointed by His Majesty, composed of seven members, 

 three of whom must be Belgians, and four foreigners 

 of different nationalities. 



The prize for the year 1881 will be awarded " to the 

 best work on the means of improving ports established 

 on low and sandy coasts like those of Belgium." 



The original time for sending in these essays, which 

 may be either printed or in manuscript, was the 1st of 

 January, now last past, but we are authorized in stat- 

 ing that the time has been extended to the 31st day 

 of March, 1881. 



Foreigners desiring to compete for this prize are re- 

 quired to send their works to the Minister of the In- 

 terior at Brussels ; but Mr. John Eaton, U. S. Com- 

 missioner of Education, advises competitors in the 

 United States to forward their articles through the De- 

 partment of State at Washington. 



We are informed that the manuscript work obtain- 

 ing the prize must be published in the course of the 

 year following that in which the prize shall have been 

 awarded, but in what manner the publication shall be 

 made is not stated in the document placed in our 

 hands. 



Engineers and scientific men who would avail 

 themselves of this opportunity must act promptly, and 

 we would advise such to apply directly to Mr. John 

 Eaton, of the Bureau of Education, in regard to any 

 further information required for facilitating their work. 



CHIMPANZEES IN NEW YORK. 



The last of the Chimpanzees at the New York Aqua- 

 rium died on the 2d of February, of a throat affection. 

 It was a remarkably well developed specimen. Its princi- 

 ple dimensions were, height (when standing) from heel 

 to vertex 33 inches, distance from coccyx to vertex 20^ 

 inches. Length of foot 6^ inches. Length of hand ex- 

 actly the same. Its weight was twenty-four pounds. 

 The brain was obtained by Dr. Edward C. Spitzka, mak- 

 ing the third brain of this species in his possession. New 

 York has been comparatively rich in anthropoids during 

 the past three years. At one time there were five Chim- 

 panzees and one Orang-Outang on exhibition together. 

 The former lived about nine months. Altogether there 

 have been at different times nine Chimpanzees at the 

 Aquarium. Of the first pair, "Nip" and "Tuck," the 

 former died of a tubercular meningitis, the latter passed 

 successfully through an attack of Enteritis and later of 

 Diphtheria, to die at Coney Island. A comparatively 

 large animal standing over 3^ feet high, died of neo- 

 plasm in the lung. A female of depraved propensities 

 .'uch as have not yet been noted in anthropoids (devour- 

 ing her own excrement), and a little two year old, one of 

 the finest and most active anthropoids yet kept in cap- 

 tivity, died of catarrhal affections contracted at the sea- 

 side Aquarium, whither supposed business interest had 

 directed they should go. Two well-developed animals, 

 aged over two years, were sold to the Philadelphia Zoo- 

 logical Gardens. 



A single survivor remained at the Aquarium. This 

 animal had been in excellent health for a year and grown 

 considerably during that period. About two years ago a 

 new specimen arrived which had been brought from 

 Africa, after a very stormy voyage, in a sailing vessel ; it 

 looked shrivelled and shrunken, weighed nine pounds, 

 and was not expected to live. Those who saw it 

 remarked that it bore the same relation to the 

 other that a starved inmate of a baby farm does to a 

 healthy, well-nourished child. But after a year it had 

 outstripped its comrade in growth, and altogether gained 

 fifteen pounds weight in the two years of its life of cap- 

 tivity. There must be considerable disparity between in- 

 dividual anthropoid apes in a state of nature, and this 

 observation seems to confirm it, 



TRICHINAE IN PORK. 

 Dr. Ed. W. Germer, Health officer, of Erie, Pa., sends to 

 us a portion of trichinous pork, as a sample of meat which 

 infected a family of seven persons with trichinosis. The 

 pig in question was raised with another, both being fed 

 with the same food and reared under the same conditions. 

 The pigs were killed at the same time, and an exam- 

 ination by Dr. Germer showed that one of these pigs was 

 infected with trichinae while the other was free from the 

 parasite. 



The owner of the diseased pig, his wife and two chil- 

 dren were all taken sick simultaneously, and were treated 

 for typhoid fever. Later three persons visited the house 

 and were all seized with the same symptoms. The at- 

 tending physician attributed the trouble to a well which 

 supplied the family water. The mystery was solved by 

 Dr. Germer who made the discovery of trichinous pork, 

 and under his treatment the patients recovered. Dr. 

 Germer suggests the possibility that many cases of trich- 

 inosis occur which are treated for other diseases, and 

 trusts the time is not distant when young physicians will 

 purchase a microscope before buying a gold watch or a 

 gold-headed cane. We have examined the sample of 

 trichinous pork, and confirm Dr. Germer's report; 

 stripping a portion of the sarcolemma from the muscle 

 we found seven trichina; in the field of the microscope, 

 using a }{th objective. The trichinae were in a free condi- 

 tion without cysts, and very transparent ; for this reason 

 they could be seen only by making very thin sections, 



