Evening star., 1924-08-03
ny GEORGE H. DACY.


adeptl at answering riddles, try
this one: What is it that oc-
ours in the arid desert, at the
bottom Of lakes and rivers. in hot
springs, in the frozen polar seas,
at enormous depths in the ocean and
as parasites Of birds. fishes and most
other living thingsT'
1t Is dollars TO tea waters that if
you are just an ordinary citizen with
out scientific education, you will have
to give UP cudgeling your brain over
the perplexity. for the answer Is
''Nemas." and even then to the great
majority OF US that lame is about
as clear as black mud just scooped
from the ancient Nile.
Most nemas during the epochal
events of their life cycles are micro
scopic in size-much too small to be
visible to the human eye. Truth
to tell. some few nemaS attain a
length of several feet and grow to
the diameter Of lead pencil, but the
ninety and nine of their mates are
more likely to be just large enough
to be much of anything SO far as the
human eye can discern. The smallest
nemas are only 1-2o0th OF an inch
In length when full grown.
Many Of these mites, which have to
be magnihed two or three thousand
times by the use OF a 60-cylinder NIL
croscope before Mister Ordinary Citi-
Nf he
among creations most troublesome
mischief makers.
Take the gall nema for example.
tiny midget, -knee-high to the thick
ness Of a spiders web. The worst
pirates of the seven seas were rank
amateurs as compared with this Capt
Kidd Of the crop world. The gall
nema preys on no less than 500 differ
ent forms Of plant life, including
practically every crop Of economic
importance. The annual tribute
which it collects runs into billions
Of dollars total so great that il
would fag an adding machine to COM
pute all its debts.
"Nemas are something new, aren't
they?"
Yes, new as the Bible. new as
the history OF the ancient Greeks.
The Bible mentions a fiery serpent"
which probably was the nema known
commonly as the guinea worm" In
microscopic form it entered the hu-
man body. Thereafter, as it devel-
oped, it caused a large, deep sore.
which in time became angry and
fiery.
One of the earliest wood cuts, now
priced as a historical relic, shows the
extraction Of one of these nemas. or
fiery serpents." In those baby days
of medical science these nemas were
extracted by inserting small stick
into the sore and under one of the
loops of the nema and then grad
ually winding the parasite, one turn
per day, onto the stick.
The worm theory Of disease, which
was a plausible explanation for sick
ness which early men used. owes it's
inception to nemas, probably intes-
tinal worms. which during those days
of insanitation were legion.
Just to get an idea Of the i'm
measurably vast hordes of nemas
which now occur on the earth and in
of average low-lying alluvial soil
contains more than 3.000,000.o00
nemas. In 10 acres of good, arabic
soil there are sufficient nemas to gir-
die the globe at the equator if placed
Indian file.
DR- n. A. COBB of the United States
- Department of Agriculture, who
has lived in Washington the last
score of years, is world authority
on nemas, a scientist who knows
more about these diminutive forms
OF life than any other living investi-
gator.
DR.. Cobb has discovered and classi-
fed several thousand species of
nemas. His collection Of nema speci-
mems is the largest in existence. He
has travelled all continents and all
the seven seas except the polar in
his search for nemas.
Corked away in bottles up in this
scientists laboratories at present,
are enough nema specimens to keep
an expert scientist busy at the micro
scope good portion of a century,
eight hours a day. if he were but to
accord each specimen the most cur
sorry examination-a hasty scrutiny
Of only a minute or two.
Nemas inhabit the soil in countless
millions and billions, while the
aquatic species are even more numer-
Gus. Many thousands of additional
species occur as parasites in animals
and plants. In fact. about a hundred