The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-12-22

IAN, 14O0AEX AND RAE8A8IVI01h
Tho Investigations into many dis
Gases which have been carried on in
recent years have emphasized some
unusual relationships among animal
species. In blood studies, for instance.
the same results are obtained In some
cases in monkeys ~ In man. A recent
writer remarks that embryology. pal
eontology ana comparative anatomy
may have taught the same general
facts, but it comes as somewhat Of q
shock to many to realize that mans
kinship to the monkey goes as far as
q blood relationship" Few parsons
are as yet aware Of the fact that this
relationship Of man by no means ap-
plies to all Of the monkey tribe. but
only to that group including such ex-
amples as the chimpanxee. orang, go
rilla and gtbbon. and not to the more
common monkeys. This distinction II
Of unusual scientific interest. v. l.
KellogE, entomologist Of Leland STAN
ford Junior. university. and q former
Kansas, has furnished new and some
what startling kind OF evidence OF the
relationship Of man to the anthropoid
group OF apes in distinction from others
Of the monkey tribe. It IL based on the
contention that the presence Of para
sites Of the higher animals. including
birds and mammals, Is governed moro
by the relationships Of the animals than
than by geographic range or any other
environmental condition. II this il
correct the kinds Of parasites found on
individual animals viii indicate in some
measure their relationship.
According to Kellogg the parasite of
birds and mammals are Of two groups.
namely, the biting lice, feeding on the
feathers and hair, and the sucking lice,
feeding on blood. Certain mites may
perhaps also be assigned to this cate
cory, but the fleas cannot be, for they
hop on and on their host. and all their
immature life 10 non-parasitic and
wholly apart from their future hosts.
The biting lice. Of which nearly two
thousand species are now known. oc-
cur chiefly on birds. while the sucking
lice. Of which less than a hundred are
known so far. arc confined to mammals.
No biting lice have been found on man
or ON any anthropoid ape. Sucking lice
occur on man. Representatives likewise
have been found on the anthropotd glib
bons and chimpanzees. The other
tailed monkeys which. in contrast with
the man-lilke apes, are shown BY the
blood relationship tests to be unre-
lated to man. harbor parasites OF an
entirely distinct kind. The resemblance
Of man to his simian cousins crops
out in this most unexpected fashion.
How these remarkable affinities OF
host and parasite are preserved is not
easy to explain. The California en-
tomolcgist responsible for the facts re-
cited states that he has often become,
in the course Of collection. the tenn
porary host of various bird and mann
NAL investing biting lice. but these par
asites all seemed a. anxious to escape as
he was to have them. And they did
escape; or, II they did not. they died
in a few hours. There is. indeed. says
The Journal Of the American Medical
Association, an extraordinarily exact
fitting Of parasite to host in the case
of biting and sucking lice. 1t IL hard
to understand OF just what details this
fitting consists, but it would seem to
indicate a certain relationship between
animals similarly infested.