Life Sciences Commons^™

Circling The Drain: The Extinction Crisis And The Future Of Humanity, Rodolfo Dirzo, Gerardo Ceballos, Paul R. Ehrlich

Harold W. Manter Laboratory: Library Materials

Humanity has triggered the sixth mass extinction episode since the beginning of the Phanerozoic. The complexity of this extinction crisis is centered on the intersection of two complex adaptive systems: human culture and ecosystem functioning, although the significance of this intersection is not properly appreciated. Human beings are part of biodiversity and elements in a global ecosystem. Civilization, and perhaps even the fate of our species, is utterly dependent on that ecosystem’s proper functioning, which society is increasingly degrading. The crisis seems rooted in three factors. First, relatively few people globally are aware of its existence. Second, most people who …

Lice Of Public Health Importance And Their Control, Harry D. Pratt, Kent S. Littig

Harold W. Manter Laboratory: Library Materials

Lice have been intimately associated with man for centuries. Infestations with lice occur today in the United States and many other countries despite great efforts to maintain high standards of public health. Public health agencies are often called upon if infestations include or expose large groups of people, particularly those in public institutions such as schools, jails, hospitals, or homes for the aged.

The three sucking lice that infest humans are: the body louse (Pedlculus humanus humanus), the head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis), and the crab louse (Pthirus pubis). The body louse is the …

Summary Of Two Years' Study Of Insects In Relation To Pellagra, Allan H. Jennings

Harold W. Manter Laboratory: Library Materials

Excerpt:

With the growing interest in pellagra, following the authoritative recognition of its presence in the United States in 1907, the study of its etiology was taken up by various investigators and the several theories of causation were subjected to close scrutiny.

Prominent among these theories was that of insect transmission, first advanced by Sambon, who limited this function to the species of blood-sucking gnats comprising the genus Simulium.

The importance of the disease and the possibility of such a factor in its causation, led the Bureau of Entomology, late in 1911, to undertake an investigation of the subject …

Dr. Nott's Theory Of Insect Causation Of Disease, William A. Riley

Harold W. Manter Laboratory: Library Materials

Excerpt:

The danger in using isolated sentences from an article as a basis for interpreting the author's theories, is generally recognized, but sometimes the most careful workers fall into the trap. Once the mistaken interpretation is published, it may be copied over and over again until it rises to the dignity of a dogma.

A striking illustration is afforded by the practical unanimity with which writers on the subject of insects and disease credit Dr. Josiah Nott with being the earliest to formulate definitely the theory of mosquito transmission of yellow fever.

Nuttall, in his classic monograph On the Role …