The sun., 1907-03-10
BUG SYTRS UP THE SCIENTISTS
."FRAUDm CRIES S0RENSEN Ar
GIBOCELLUM SUDETICUM

lftp n Spider and Has been Believed IN for
Thirty Years Many Pages Printed
About It-NOw ITS sponsor In Accused
or FakIng nc Out or HLs magma ton.
A remarkable accusation has jnsa hS-s
made in the Bulletin OF the Royal Academy
OF Sciences of Copenhagen against a scien-
tific man who has enjoyed wide celebrity.
He is accused Of having imposed, thirty
years ago, upon the attention Of zooloRista
| q creature that never existed.
Tho exposure Of this alleged Tniscous
duct fiIls thirty-five pages OF the labese
number OF the Bulletin. The critic. Prof,
William S0renssn, fortifies his own investiS
cations with the testimony OK other men
OF science and arrives at the conclusion
that the alleged animal was wholly derived
from the imagination Of Prof. A. Stecker,
who introduced his remarkable bug to the
world in 1875.
1t is astonishing how great a contro4
versy a little bug may excite. His great
discovery was announced to biologists In
1875 in a pamphlet OF sixteen pages in which
he said that he had discovered In the Riesens
Eebirge new arachnid (of the spider family
TO which he had given the name GibocellunA
sudeticum.
in his opinion. they formed part Of group
Of arachnida Of which only four speoiss
| we're known in the whole world. He dsa
scribed minutely the aspects in which n
! differed from any other species and, IA
J fact, it was quite distinct in several pars
| ticulars from any other known insect.
! His pamphlet excited wide interest among
I biologists, not only because the alleged
arachnid belonged to a group Of very Ssw
| species, but particularly because the new
! insect, in fact, formed a special family. The
result was that his memoir was translated
! into several languages and Stecker was
encouraged later in the same year to give
] a more minute description Of his discovery
| in a monograph Of fifty-three pages, il
which he showed four drawings Of thS
| animal representing its exterior and its
| anatomical structure.
The new insect gained wide currency in
! biological books and writings. II was ads
| mitted to a place in all the great treatisea
! on zoology, and enlarged copies Of Stecker's
drawings Of it's anatomy were used in natural
! history classes in at least few Of the unIa
versities.
Stecker's discovery was received at fra
! without question both on account OF hiD
reputation for erudition and also because
! little was known Of the group OF animals
to which he assigned it..
Prof S6rensens arguments and proofs
20 show that Stecker's spider is simply pigA
ment Of his imagination are intensely
scientific and mean nothing to the laymanI
who can get out of his paper only the idea
| that Sorensen claims to have proved beyond
a possibility OF a doubt that the animal is
preposterously abnormal and could nos
possibly exist. Sorensen admits that scien-
| tific works do not always stick closely t6
the exact truth. but he says there is wide
difference between such writings and the
memoirs OF Stecker, which were spun ouS
! Of whole cloth.
The judgment Of some other distinguished
naturalists is not 80 severe as that Of Sorena
| sen. Some say that IL Stecker succeeded Il
mystifying his contemporaries for many
years it is only an additional proof Of his
Ooniua