Ronald Ross Nobel Lecture

    R E S E A R C H E S   O N   M A L A R I A

101

exact repetition of that of Proteosoma. The authors give no precise differential

experiments in order to prove the connection between the pigmented cells

seen by them and the haematozoa. For this proof they rely upon my Proteosoma

report

42

, to which, however, they scarcely refer. Although their paper gives

to the ignorant the impression of being original, it is in reality merely a re-

script of mine.

Meanwhile Bignami and Bastianelli had been continuing their attempts to

infect men by A. claviger taken from houses; and claimed a second positive re-

sult early in December. In this case, however, by good fortune, the infection

proved to be a mild tertian one. Some months later, these two authors pub-

lished a paper

56 

recording the development of this parasite also in Anopheles.

This was the first, and, indeed, only important Italian result which had not

been previously indicated by me; I had made no observation connecting the

tertian parasite also with the dappled-winged mosquitoes.

Subsequently the same authors and Grassi claimed to have demonstrated

the development of the parasites in Anopheles nigripes, A. bifurcatus, and A. su-

perpictus.

They also claimed to have shown that the members of the old genus Culex

do not carry malaria; but this had long previously been abundantly proved by

me in India, at least with regard to the aestivo-autumnal parasite; and the fact

is that Grassi had only identified my grey mosquitoes, which I had shown to

be negative to this parasite. Their first drawings of the parasites in mosquitoes

were not published until the spring.*

In my first reference to the Italian work I accepted it with some reserve; but

after a careful examination of their writings made in 1900 I felt much more

scepticism. Their work during the winter of 1898-1899 is evidently hasty and

deficient in exact details regarding the various observations; and the general

tenor of their historical passages is so inaccurate as to inspire grave doubts re-

garding the whole literature. I think that at that time they found my pigment-

ed cells in a few, possibly a very few, A. claviger and that Bignami and Bastia-

nelli also showed that the tertian parasite develops in the same insects; but

beyond this it is impossible to speak with confidence. Many of their details

also are derived from me.

My work was completed in the autumn of 1899 at Sierra Leone (section

22) and was published immediately

6 0

. Many of the details are incorporated in

* For an independent account of all these researches the detailed history of Nuttall

65 

and

especially his critique on the priority question

74

, should be consulted.

See also

72,73,76

.

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102 

    1 9 0 2   R .RO S S

Grassi’s book published in June next year

69

. This work, which is dedicated to

Manson, is principally a compilation of the researches of others - the historical

passages being quite inaccurate. At the bottom of page 31 of the first edition,

the author says, "Giova infine far risaltare the io arrivai agli Anopheles mala-

riferi independentemente da Ross, le cui ricerche sui parassiti malarici degli

uccelli furono pubblicate quasi contemporaneamente alla mia prima Nota

preliminare." He and his colleagues found the "Anopheles malariferi" in Italy

by detecting the genus of my dappled-winged mosquitoes; but they did not

incriminate it with certainty until the end of November, five months after

Manson published my work on the malaria of birds

41

. Grassi’s "first prelimi-

nary note"

44 

was published more than three months after this paper of Man-

son’s, and, moreover, refers to my work as a well-known matter even then. I

found the "Anopheles malariferi" in two species of mosquito in India fifteen

months 

before Bastianelli, Bignami, and Grassi found it in Italy. Speaking

quite strictly and accurately it is the principal merit of Grassi to have discov-

ered, not the "Anopheles malariferi", but its correct entomological name.*

Excepting the discovery of the host of the tertian and perhaps the quartan

parasites, the Italian work was simply a local affair, done, like the work of my

colleagues and myself in Sierra Leone and of other observers in many parts of

the world, on the basis of my Indian researches culminating in July 1898 (sec-

tion 17).

Of the sixteen and more species of Anopheles which have now been definite-

ly connected with malaria, only three or four were incriminated by the Ital-

ians; it is therefore quite incorrect to attribute the determination of this rela-

tion to them - much more to attribute it, as some have done, to Grassi alone.

The connection between Anopheles and malaria has been determined by the

united efforts of many observers in many parts of the world.

*Early in 1903 this writer published a pamphlet purporting to be a translation of impor-

tant papers on the subject (Documenti riguardanti la storia della scoperta del mode di transmis-

sione della malaria umana; 

Milano). It contains no bibliography nor accurate history of the

events; and omits most of the principal publications of my work. It purports to give in

full my paper recording the original discovery of the pigmented cells

38

; but on exam-

ining this copy I find that the drawings of the cells given by Manson, and the remarks of

Manson, Bland Sutton, and Thin (all of which, of course, absolutely establish the genu-

ineness of the discovery) are omitted without the smallest explanation. The author then

proceeds to claim the discovery for himself. This work also is dedicated to Manson - a fact

which may lead many to believe in its accuracy; but Manson has publicly stated that it

was dedicated to him without his permission (Lancet and British Medical ]ournal, 28th

March, 1903).

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