Autism in the Workplace: Creating

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PALGRAVE EXPLORATIONS IN WORKPLACE STIGMA

Autism in the Workplace

Creating Positive
Employment and Career
Outcomes for Generation A
Amy E. Hurley-Hanson
Cristina M. Giannantonio
Amy Jane Griffiths
Palgrave Explorations in Workplace Stigma

Series Editor
Julie Gedro
Empire State College
Rochester, NY, USA
This series is a call to action for organizations to not only recognize but
include, support, and value employees of all walks of life, regardless of the
social stigmas that might create material, affective, or psychological divi-
sions between them and their ostensibly “normal” counterparts. It fills the
gap in scholarship surrounding the difficult issues employees or job seek-
ers might face based on their demographics, life events, or other factors.
The series explores issues such as mental illness and wellness; and alcohol
and drug addiction and recovery. It explores the complex and often times
nuanced issues that face sexual minorities, or those who are formerly incar-
cerated, or military veterans in the context of employment or career deci-
sion making.
Through rigorous research and contributions from the foremost schol-
ars in human resources, books in the series will provide an in-depth explo-
ration of each population and challenge HR scholars and practitioners to
effectively consider and embrace these explorations. and consider expand-
ing their own awareness. The series speaks on behalf of anyone who has
ever been affected–directly or indirectly–by discrimination or exclusion in
the context of work, and promotes a positive, productive, and purposeful
working environment for employees at all levels.

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15458
 Amy E. Hurley-Hanson
Cristina M. Giannantonio • Amy Jane Griffiths

Autism in the
Workplace
Creating Positive Employment and Career
Outcomes for Generation A
Amy E. Hurley-Hanson Cristina M. Giannantonio
Chapman University Chapman University
Orange, CA, USA Orange, CA, USA

Amy Jane Griffiths

Chapman University
Orange, CA, USA

ISSN 2662-3625     ISSN 2662-3633 (electronic)

Palgrave Explorations in Workplace Stigma
ISBN 978-3-030-29048-1    ISBN 978-3-030-29049-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29049-8

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
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 This book is dedicated to all the people in the autism community

Amy E. Hurley-Hanson
I dedicate this book to three people I love:
To my husband, Pete, who turned a dance into forever.
To my mom, Roberta, who taught me to never stop thinking about
tomorrow.
To a person who asked to remain anonymous.
Cristina M. Giannantonio
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Mother Teresa
To my parents, Susie and Joseph Giannantonio, who taught me never to
judge but to see the good in everyone.
Amy Jane Griffiths
To my husband, Ravi, for his love, friendship, and willingness to feed me
and the kids while I typed.
To my children, Diego, Julian, and Nico. You inspire me to make the world
a more inclusive place.
To my gran, without you, I would not be the person I am today.
 Acknowledgments

It is impossible to acknowledge all of the people who have supported

the three of us in the writing of this book. We would like to thank
Chapman University’s Thompson Policy Institute on Disability for
financially supporting some of the research studies presented in this
book. We would like to thank Professor Don Cardinal, founder of the
Thompson Policy Institute and former Dean of the Attallah College of
Educational Studies, for sharing his expertise in disability studies with
us. We would like to thank Don Thompson for introducing us to Dr.
Wallace Walrod, who provided his expertise in labor market data analy-
sis. We would like to thank President Danielle Struppa for connecting
us with the Institute.
We would like to acknowledge the many colleagues who supported us
during the writing of this book. We thank the graduate students of the
Attallah College of Educational Studies who contributed in so many ways:
Sneha Kohli Mathur, Lauren Gomez, and Arantxa De Anda. We thank
Chapman University’s Faculty Personnel Council for granting Amy and
Cris a sabbatical to work on this book. We would like to thank our col-
leagues in the Argyros School of Business and Economics and the Attallah
College of Educational Studies for their support and friendship. We would
like to thank Rita Desjardins, Aulton Kohn Jr., Linda Corcoran, Jennifer
Brady, Gina Madson, Joy-Marie Menzel, Margie McCoy, Hilary Anderson,
John Brady, Kelly Kennedy, Anna Abdou, and Angel Miles Nash.

vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful to our friends and family for their unwavering support,
encouragement, and patience. They kept us sane, while we drove them
crazy. No one should have to listen to every word of every chapter being
read out loud as we edited every sentence and debated which word best
captured our meaning.
Lastly, we want to acknowledge the millions of people in the ASD
(Autism Spectrum Disorder) community, including their families and
caregivers. They have shared their stories, ideas, and experiences with us.
Their resilience and support for each other is rare to see. None of these
people chose this journey, but many are taking it on with vulnerability and
courage. We are energized by the individuals and organizations working
to build more inclusive work environments and hiring individuals with
ASD. We hope that in some small way our actions will continue to push
for positive change for these individuals. May the workplace become a
more understanding and inclusive space for them.
 Contents

Part I The Scope of the Issue   1

1 Generation A and Autism in the Workplace  3

2 The Stigma of Autism 21

3 The Costs of Autism 47

4 The Career Experiences of Individuals with ASD 67

Part II The Transition to Employment  85

5 The Transition Needs of Young Adults with Autism 87

6 Universities with Autism Initiatives111

7 The Labor Market Skills Gap and Autism127

8 Employers’ Perspectives on Hiring Individuals with

Autism153

ix
x CONTENTS

Part III The Employment of Individuals with Autism 177

9 Organizations with Autism Initiatives179

10 Leadership and Autism215

11 A Model for Hiring Individuals with Autism237

12 The Benefits of Employing Individuals with Autism257

Index271
 List of Tables

Table 7.1a High demand skills (supply and demand): Top hard skills 132
Table 7.1b High demand skills (supply and demand): Top common skills 134
Table 7.2 In-demand jobs 136
Table 7.3 Projected job growth 138
Table 7.4 Optimal occupations for individuals with ASD 141
Table 7.5 Top required skills for optimal occupations 148
Table 8.1 Variable description 166

xi
 PART I

The Scope of the Issue

 CHAPTER 1

Generation A and Autism in the Workplace

This chapter presents the individual, organizational, and societal issues

surrounding autism in the workplace. The term Generation A is intro-
duced to refer to the 1.5 million individuals with autism spectrum disor-
der (ASD) who will reach adulthood in the next decade. These individuals
will be entering the workplace in unprecedented numbers. This book is
about the need to find employment for these individuals and to under-
stand the factors that will lead to positive work and career experiences for
individuals with ASD.
According to Autism Speaks (2019), “Autism, or Autism Spectrum
Disorder (ASD), refer to a broad range of conditions characterized by chal-
lenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal com-
munication.” The World Health Organization (2013) describes ASD as
“neurodevelopmental impairments in communication and social interac-
tion and unusual ways of perceiving and processing information” (p. 7). As
such, individuals with ASD often have difficulty in understanding the
thoughts, intentions, and emotions of others (Bruggink, Huisman, Vuijk,
Kraaij, & Garnefski, 2016). Some individuals with ASD may have difficulty
regulating their own emotions. These challenges may create transition and
employment issues for young adults with ASD (Samson, Huber, & Gross,
2012) as they enter the workplace, and potentially throughout their lives as
their careers unfold.

© The Author(s) 2020 3

A. E. Hurley-Hanson et al., Autism in the Workplace,
Palgrave Explorations in Workplace Stigma,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29049-8_1
4 A. E. HURLEY-HANSON ET AL.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (2018),

1 in 59 children are on the autism spectrum, and the presence of ASD is
four to five times more common in boys (1 in 38) than in girls (1 in 152).
Autism Speaks (2019) estimates that there are 3.5 million people with
ASD in the United States. The number of people affected by ASD is esti-
mated to be in the tens of millions worldwide. Although it is difficult to
get exact numbers, it is estimated that 1% of the world population has
autism (CDC, 2018; Malcolm-Smith, Hoogenhout, Ing, De Vries, &
Thomas, 2013; Schendel et al., 2013; Wallace et al., 2012). Each year the
United Nations hosts World Autism Awareness Day. The theme in 2015
was Employment: The Autism Advantage (http://webtv.un.org/
watch/2015-world-autism-awareness-day-employment-the-autism-
advantage/4149043523001). The theme highlighted the potential for
persons with autism to make significant contributions in the workplace,
given their unique individual strengths. It also noted widespread discrimi-
nation in the workplace against people with autism and the limited voca-
tional training and job opportunities available for those with autism.
Further, over the next decade, close to half a million people with ASD
will reach adulthood (CDC, 2016). These numbers are staggering and
suggest the need to examine the long-term employment, career, and life
outcomes for this generational cohort. While the majority of individuals
entering the workplace in the next decade will be members of Generation
Z, we have chosen the term Generation A to represent people with ASD
who will reach adulthood and who will be poised to enter the workplace
in the next decade.
This book addresses the need to find employment for these individuals
as studies of young adults with ASD have found that they have much
higher rates of unemployment than the general population (Baldwin,
Costley, & Warren, 2014; Krieger, Kinebanian, Prodinger, & Heigl, 2012;
Nord, Stancliffe, Nye-Legerman, & Hewitt, 2016; Richards, 2012; Roux
et al., 2013; Scott, Falkmer, Girdler, & Falkmer, 2015; Shattuck et al.,
2011). The most recent unemployment statistics for adults with ASD
reveal that 85% are unemployed and that 69% of them want to work
(National Autistic Society, 2016). Research has shown that many individu-
als with ASD have never been members of the labor force (Cidav, Marcus,
& Mandell, 2012). Research suggests that 35% of young adults with
autism have never held a job, been members of the labor force, nor
attended educational programs after high school (Cidav et al., 2012;
 1 GENERATION A AND AUTISM IN THE WORKPLACE 5

Shattuck et al., 2012). A study of 200 transition-age young adults with

ASD found that 81% were unemployed (Gerhardt & Lainer, 2011). A
small study of young adults with ASD and intelligence quotients (IQs)
above 50 found that only 11.76% were employed (Howlin, Goode,
Hutton, & Rutter, 2004). Other studies have found that approximately
half of the young adults with ASD have worked for pay after high school
(Roux et al., 2013). The same study also found that the odds of ever hav-
ing a paid job were higher for those who were older, who were from
higher-income households, or who had better conversational or functional
skills (Roux et al., 2013).
There are individual, organizational, and societal costs when individuals
with ASD are unemployed. These include the financial, social, and psycho-
logical costs of unemployment for individuals with ASD, their family, and
caregivers. There are lost productivity costs for organizations facing labor
and skills shortages that might be avoided by employing individuals with
ASD. Finally, there are societal costs associated with supporting individu-
als with ASD who are unable to find and maintain employment.
As Generation A begins to move into the workforce, there is the poten-
tial for numerous benefits to individuals, organizations, and society.
Employment has the potential to result in more positive life outcomes for
both individuals with ASD and their families and caregivers. Sustained
employment and the ability to live independently have the potential to
reduce the financial toll on society of caring for individuals with ASD. The
movement of Generation A into the workplace offers numerous benefits
for the organizations that employ them. In addition to filling the demand
for skilled workers, there are financial and reputation benefits that may
accrue for organizations that hire individuals with ASD. These include tax
incentives provided by the federal government and other economic advan-
tages, as well as positive perceptions of the organization by applicants and
others within the community.

History of Autism and Terminology

The term autistic was first used in 1912 by Eugen Bleuler “to describe
social withdrawal in schizophrenic adults” (Martin, 2012, p. 161). In
1943 Leo Kanner defined autism as a unique disorder, using the term
“early infantile autism.” Kanner also identified “the autism spectrum, or
the concept that autism varied significantly between and within diagnosed
individuals” (Martin, 2012, p. 161). Noting that some individuals with
6 A. E. HURLEY-HANSON ET AL.

autism had better socialization and communication skills than others,

Hans Asperger identified childhood “autistic psychopathy” in 1944. Since
1981, the term Asperger’s syndrome has been used to describe high-­
functioning individuals with autism. ASD in the past referred to a group
of diagnoses including autism, Asperger’s syndrome, childhood disinte-
grative disorder, Rett syndrome, and pervasive development disorder not
otherwise specified (PDD NOS). Autism is defined as reduced functional-
ity in two of the three domains of social interaction, communication, and
repetitive behaviors. There are substantial differences among individuals
within each of these diagnoses. Individuals with Asperger’s typically
develop early language skills and cognitive abilities. In 2013 the Diagnostics
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) combined all of the
above diagnoses into one diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Asperger’s is considered to be one end of the autism spectrum and not a
separate diagnosis.
Research on the causes of autism remains inconclusive and somewhat
controversial. One of the earliest explanations for autism was Bruno
Bettelheim’s “refrigerator mother” theory, which was prevalent in the
United States during the 1950s and 1960s. Bettelheim incorrectly posited
that autism was caused by having an unloving, cold, and distant mother.
He considered autism to be a psychological issue, not a medical issue
(Martin, 2012).
This book does not address the causes of autism or the medical issues
associated with autism. Research suggests that there are multiple causes of
autism. These include the role of genetic, neurological, and environmental
factors. Recognizing the neurological basis for autism has important impli-
cations for the types of services and treatments that are paid for by insur-
ance companies. In addition to psychological services, these services may
include neurological imaging exams, applied behavior analysis (ABA),
other behavioral therapies, and occupational, physical, and social skills ther-
apy. “It is now generally understood in the scientific community that autism
is not a medical issue that may be cured; rather, it is a disorder marked by
display of certain social characteristics” (Martin, 2012, p. 162). Support
services will likely need to continue across the individual’s life span and
throughout the individual’s work history. The level and type of support
services that individuals with ASD require varies greatly and is dependent
on where the individual falls on the ASD spectrum, as well as their level of
functioning. The lack of a definitive classification system for identifying
functioning level adds complexity and highlights the importance of avoid-
 1 GENERATION A AND AUTISM IN THE WORKPLACE 7

ing a “one-size-fits-all” approach when designing programs for individuals

with ASD to be successful in the workplace. Determining the types of ser-
vices an organization may need to provide an employee with ASD is depen-
dent on whether the individual has chosen to disclose a diagnosis of ASD
and, in some cases, whether the individual has been formally diag-
nosed with ASD.
Just as the definition of autism has evolved in the last half-century, there
has been an evolution in the terminology used to refer to autism in the
medical and psychological community. While sometimes used inter-
changeably in this book, the term ASD better reflects the wide variance in
individual differences and the widely varying skill sets and levels of func-
tioning exhibited by people on the spectrum rather than the term autism.
Additionally, as noted earlier, the term ASD now includes many other
diagnoses, including Asperger’s syndrome.
Some individuals with ASD prefer to use the term neurodiversity to
describe themselves. In recent years, the term neurodiversity has been
adopted to refer to autism and other diagnoses, including attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia. Often, there are highly simi-
lar behaviors exhibited by individuals with ADHD and those with
ASD. ASD and ADHD are genetically related (Iliades, 2011; Marner,
2018). A recent study found that individuals with ASD had an average of
4.9 additional medical diagnoses. One of the most prevalent coexisting
diagnoses is ADHD. Studies find that 30–50% of people with ASD also
have some form of ADHD (Marner, 2018). While all of these diagnoses
are worthy of attention and research, this book only focuses on adults with
ASD, including high school and college students. The following sections
of this chapter discuss the individual, organizational, and societal issues
surrounding autism in the workplace.

Individual Issues
The individual issues surrounding autism in the workplace include life
outcomes, work outcomes, and career experiences. There are multiple
individual issues within each of these categories and each is discussed below:

Life Outcomes
Four dimensions of life outcomes are discussed: the ability to live indepen-
dently, the question of who will care for them after their parents are gone,
8 A. E. HURLEY-HANSON ET AL.

family financial concerns, and difficulty in obtaining insurance. Research

suggests that quality of life outcomes for young adults is lower than for
those of the general population. Taylor and Seltzer (2011) found that
these young adults are three times more likely to have no daytime activities
compared to individuals with other disabilities. Also, research suggests
that 70% of these young adults will be unable to live independently
(National Autistic Society, 2016). A survey of 200 families of adults with
ASD found that 85% still lived with their parents, siblings, or older rela-
tives (Gerhardt & Lainer, 2011).
Of primary concern to parents is whether their children with ASD will
be able to live independently, as well as be fully employed and able to sup-
port themselves financially. Easter Seals (2008) surveyed over 2500 par-
ents of children with and without ASD. The results indicated that quality
of life was a much more significant concern for parents of children with
ASD than for parents of children without ASD. The parents of children
with ASD were significantly more concerned about what would happen to
their children when they (the parents) die. Many of their fears concerned
financial issues and difficulties.
Parents of children with ASD were worried that the cost of caring for
someone with ASD would drain the family’s finances and be detrimental
to the financial future of the other siblings in the family. Sixty-one percent
of the parents of children with ASD reported having to incur debt to meet
their family’s needs, as compared to 46% of parents of children without
ASD. A significant component of the parent’s financial concerns is the cost
of health care insurance and difficulty in procuring insurance for their
child with a pre-existing condition. Uncertainty regarding the future of
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and rules regard-
ing coverage of pre-existing conditions has contributed to these concerns
and will have a significant impact on life outcomes for individuals with
ASD and their families.

Work Outcomes
Several dimensions of work outcomes are discussed, including unemploy-
ment statistics, the accuracy of these statistics, legislation (Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act—IDEA), transition services, maintaining
employment, underemployment, and disclosure. Previous research sug-
gests that adults with ASD may typically have less positive work outcomes
than those of their peers. The most recent unemployment statistics for
 1 GENERATION A AND AUTISM IN THE WORKPLACE 9

adults with ASD revealed that 85% are unemployed and that 69% of them
want to work (National Autistic Society, 2016). Research has found that
young adults with ASD have much higher rates of unemployment than the
general population (Baldwin et al., 2014; Krieger et al., 2012; Nord et al.,
2016; Richards, 2012; Roux et al., 2013; Scott et al., 2015; Shattuck
et al., 2011), and that many individuals with ASD have never been mem-
bers of the labor force (Cidav et al., 2012).
It is difficult to get accurate estimates of the unemployment rate for
individuals with ASD. This might be due to differences in the populations
studied, such as age, skill level, or functioning level. Individuals who do
not disclose a diagnosis of ASD, or are not aware that they have autism,
would not be included in the unemployment rate calculation. Additionally,
some studies include both full- and part-time employment when calculat-
ing unemployment rates. Individuals with ASD often receive fewer hours
of work than they would like. Baldwin et al. (2014) found that adults with
Asperger’s syndrome, as compared to the general population, were more
likely to work part-time. One study found that 74% of young adults with
ASD who worked were doing so only on a part-time basis (Gerhardt &
Lainer, 2011).
It is also essential to take into account the type of work included in the
definition of employment. One study found that 56% of the individuals
considered employed were working in day programs or sheltered work-
shops (Taylor & Seltzer, 2011). Howlin et al. (2004) found that 12% of
individuals with ASD worked in supported, sheltered, or volunteer
employment and that 61% were in a day program. Sheltered workshops
are jobs for people with disabilities that work separately from others in the
organization. Adult day service centers “provide a place outside the home
for older adults and younger adults with all types of disabilities to be active
in the community, socialize with their peers and receive needed health and
personal care services” (www.easterseals.com). Volunteer work, while
potentially providing several benefits to both the organization and the
individual, does not, of course, involve financial compensation for the
individual. In this book, the focus is on competitive integrated employ-
ment (CIE). “Competitive employment (CIE) is work performed by a
person with an impairment or health-related disability (‘health impair-
ment’) within an integrated setting. Wages are at least minimum wage or
higher and at a rate comparable to non-disabled workers performing the
same tasks” (Logsdon, 2018). CIE may include casual employment where
employees are only paid for time actually worked and receive no payment
10 A. E. HURLEY-HANSON ET AL.

for holidays, full-, or part-time competitive employment. CIE may include

supported employment, obtained through programs that support a per-
son with a disability with the process of finding and retaining a job in the
open job market.
Additionally, measures of the unemployment rate often do not consider
underemployment. Research has shown that young adults with ASD are
more likely to be underemployed (Baldwin et al., 2014; Krieger et al.,
2012; Nord et al., 2016; Paul, Laird, & Tune, 2016; Richards, 2012;
Roux et al., 2013; Scott et al., 2015; Shattuck et al., 2011), overeducated,
and overqualified for their jobs. This means that the work that they do
may be beneath their capabilities (Baldwin et al., 2014). Finally, young
adults with ASD have been found to work in a limited number of occupa-
tions (Roux et al., 2013).
Even when individuals with ASD do work, employment outcomes for
adults with ASD are lower than those for the general population (Jennes-­
Coussens, Magill-Evans, & Koning, 2006; Taylor, Henninger, & Mailick,
2015). Adults with ASD tend to be underpaid compared to their peers
without ASD (Ballaban-Gil, Rapin, Tuchman, & Shinnar, 1996; Howlin
et al., 2004; Roux et al., 2013). Research suggests that individuals with
ASD who secure employment also face significant challenges in maintain-
ing employment (Baldwin et al., 2014; Lorenz & Heinitz, 2014; Richards,
2012; Roux et al., 2013). When they experience conflict or stress at work,
adults with ASD may quit or miss work without prior notice (Richards,
2012). They also are more likely than their peers without ASD to change
jobs frequently and, as a result, to experience higher levels of ongoing
stress and financial concerns (Baldwin et al., 2014).

Career Experiences
Four aspects of career experiences are discussed. These include the impor-
tance of work identity, the impact of autism being a spectrum on career
experiences, legislation (IDEA), and transition services. Occupational
choices are one way in which we define ourselves. Finding and maintain-
ing employment is critical for adults with ASD to become engaged and
active citizens who experience a positive quality of life and feelings of dig-
nity and self-worth. The experience of working and developing a work
identity—the process of defining who one is in relation to work—is a psy-
chological process that is a crucial part of the experience of adulthood
(Dutton, Roberts, & Bednar, 2010; Gini, 1998; Kira & Balkin, 2014;
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 12 feet, thus holding water adequate to the development of
about 100,000 horsepower. The mouth of the canal is 600 feet
from the shore line proper, and considerable work was
necessary in its protection and excavation. The bed is now of
clay, and the side walls are of solid masonry 17 feet high, 8
feet at the base, and 3 feet at the top. The northeastern side
of the canal is occupied by a power house, and is pierced by
ten inlets guarded by sentinel gates, each being the separate
entrance to a wheel pit in the power house, where the water is
used and the power is secured. The water as quickly as used is
carried off by a tunnel to the Niagara River again. …

"The wheel pit, over which the power house is situated, is a

long, deep, cavernous slot at one side, under the floor, cut
in the rock, parallel with the canal outside. Here the water
gets a fall of about 140 feet before it smites the turbines.
The arrangement of the dynamos generating the current up in
the power house is such that each of them may be regarded as
the screw at the end of a long shaft, just as we might see it
if we stood an ocean steamer on its nose with its heel in the
air. At the lower end of the dynamo shaft is the turbine in
the wheel pit bottom, just as in the case of the steamer shaft
we find attached to it the big triple or quadruple expansion
marine steam engine. …
{440}
The wheel pit which contains the turbines is 178 feet in
depth, and connects by a lateral tunnel with the main tunnel
running at right angles. This main tunnel is no less than
7,000 feet in length, with an average hydraulic slope of 6
feet in 1,000. It has a maximum height of 21 feet, and a width
of 18 feet 10 inches, its net section being 386 square feet.
The water rushes through it and out of its mouth of stone and
iron at a velocity of 26½ feet per second, or nearly 20 miles
an hour. More than 1,000 men were employed continuously for
more than three years in the construction of this tunnel. …

"The American Company has also pre-empted the great

 utilization of the Canadian share of Niagara's energy. The
plan for this work proposes the erection of two power houses
of a total ultimate capacity of 125,000 horsepower. … With
both the Canadian and American plants fully developed, no less
than 350,000 horsepower will be available."

"Within the last five years," said the "Electrical Review," in

a "historical number" issued at the beginning of 1901, "there
have been built in many parts of the world electrical
installations of great magnitude, transmitting the power of
cataracts for considerable distances. The longest of these, in
California, operates over a distance of 115 miles. Perhaps the
largest of them is that at Niagara, where 105,000 horse power
is developed, and much of it transmitted … to the city of
Buffalo"—20 miles.

The first transmission of power from Niagara Falls to Buffalo

was made at midnight, November 15-16, 1896, when 1,000
horsepower was sent over the wires to the power-house of the
Buffalo Railway Company. The important event was signalled to
the citizens by the firing of cannon, the ringing of bells and
sounding of steam whistles.

ELECTRICAL SCIENCE:
The rotary magnetic field.
Polyphased currents.
Nikola Tesla's inventions.

"At about the same time [1888], Galileo Ferraris, in Italy,

and Nikola Tesla, in the United States, brought out motors
operating by systems of alternating currents displaced from
one another in phase by definite amounts and producing what is
known as the rotating magnetic field. This invention seems
destined to be one of the most important that has been made in
the history of electricity. The result of the introduction of
polyphase systems has been the ability to transmit power
economically for considerable distances, and, as this directly
operated to make possible the utilization of water-power in
remote places and the distribution of power over large areas,
the immediate outcome of the polyphase system was power
transmission; and the outcome of power transmission almost
surely will be the gradual supersession of coal and the
harnessing of the waste forces of Nature to do useful work."

Electrical Review,
January 12, 1901.

The following description of Tesla's invention was given by N.

W. Perry in the "Engineering Magazine": "If the north and
south poles of a small horseshoe magnet be suspended over a
bar of soft iron free to revolve in a horizontal plane, or be
placed over an ordinary compass-needle, the latter will be
attracted at either end by the poles of the magnet and take up
a position parallel to a straight line drawn between the two
poles of the magnet. Now if the latter be revolved through any
angle the soft iron or needle will follow, being dragged
around by the magnet, and if the magnet be caused to revolve
regularly the iron will also revolve, being pulled around by
the full force of the magnet. It was not feasible, however, to
cause the magnet to revolve in this way, and Tesla's invention
consisted in obviating this trouble and, in fact, greatly
simplifying the problem. He conceived the idea that if he took
an iron ring and used two alternating currents, one of which had
its maximum value at the instant that the other had a zero
value—or, in other words, two currents whose periods were such
that one waned as the other increased—he could produce in that
iron ring by winding these circuits in alternate coils
surfaces that without any mechanical movement of the parts
would travel around that ring with a rapidity equal to the
number of changes of direction of the currents employed. He
thus had a ring, the north and south poles of which were
rapidly revolving just as would the poles of the horseshoe
magnet were it tied at its middle to a twisted string and
allowed to revolve. A piece of iron pivoted at its middle
placed concentric with this ring would therefore be dragged
around by the changing poles of the ring. He had thus
discovered what is somewhat awkwardly expressed by the
expression, 'the rotary magnetic field,' and also the use of
what have been termed 'polyphased currents'—the one referring
to the magnetism and the other to the combination of currents
by which this changing magnetism was produced. This discovery
is undoubtedly one of the most important that has ever been
made within the domain of alternating currents."

Engineering Magazine,
volume 7, page 780.

Another of Tesla's inventions or discoveries which excited

greater popular interest was that which produced what were
called "high frequency effects," first publicly shown in
connection with a lecture at Columbia College, in the spring
of 1890. "Mr. Tesla started with the idea of setting matter
into vibration at a rate approximating that of light (some two
and a half millions a second), with the expectation that
under such violent molecular agitation it would emit light. He
has not as yet succeeded in obtaining so high a rate, but a
much lower one produced some very surprising luminous effects.
… The dynamo method for getting very high frequencies was soon
abandoned as inadequate, and the oscillatory discharge of a
Leyden jar or plate condensers was substituted. … Perhaps the
most surprising of the new facts elicited from his
investigations is that the shock due to these very high
voltage and high frequency currents can be supported by a
person without any serious inconvenience. He passes a current
of two hundred thousand volts through his body with perfect
impunity."

F. J. Patten,
New Science Review,
volume 1, page 84.
ELECTRICAL SCIENCE:
Development of the Telephone System.

The annual report of the American Telephone and Telegraph

Company (by which the property and business of the American
Bell Telephone Company were taken over at the close of the
year 1899) for the year ending December 31, 1900, contains the
following brief review of the development and growth of the
telephone system, especially in the United States: "The year
just passed rounds out the quarter century, within which is
compassed the discovery and application of the art of
transmitting speech by telephone.
{441}
A brief review of the development and growth of this new
industry, which has become so important a factor in commercial
and social life, seems appropriate at this time. Twenty-five
years ago the wonderful invention of Professor Bell was made
known to the world. Twenty-three years ago the first telephone
exchange in the world was established in the United States, and
from that beginning has been built up the great system of
exchanges, and the network of connecting lines over which
conversation can be held between points over a thousand miles
apart. Twenty years ago there were 47,880 telephone
subscribers in the United States, and 29,714 miles of wire in
use for telephonic purposes. At the end of last year, there
were 800,880 exchange stations equipped with our instruments,
and 1,961,801 miles of wire were employed for exchange and
toll line service. The United States has, from the beginning,
held the leading place among nations in respect not only of
the extensive development of the business, but in the
employment of modern and improved appliances, tending to
greater efficiency of service.

"In connection with the record of development of telephone

service in this country, some comparison of the systems of
foreign countries is of interest. The latest reports that can
be obtained, part of which are for the year 1899, others to
 the close of 1900, show the countries next in order to the
United States, as respects the development of telephone
service, to be the German Empire, having 229,391 stations;
Great Britain, 171,660; Sweden, 73,500; France, 59,927;
Switzerland, 38,864: Austria, 32,255; Russia, 31,376;
Norway, 29,446.

"As before stated, there were, at the close of last year, more
than 800,000 stations connected with the exchanges of our
licensee companies, which exceeds the aggregate number of
subscribers in all the countries of Continental Europe. In
addition to this, there were over 40,000 private line stations
equipped with our telephones. The number of exchange and toll
line connections in the United States now reaches almost two
thousand millions yearly."

More detailed and precise statistics of the telephone service

in the United States are given in the report as follows:

January 1,
January 1,
1892.
1901.

Exchanges. 788
1,348
Branch offices. 509
1,427
Miles of wire on poles. 180,139
627,897
Miles of wire on buildings. 14,954
16,833
Miles of wire underground. 70,334
705,269
Miles of wire submarine. 1,029
4,203
Total miles of wire. 266,456
1,354,202
Total circuits. 186,462
508,262
Total employees. 8,376
32,837
Total stations. 216,017
800,880

The estimated number of exchange connections daily in the

United States, made up from actual count in most of the
exchanges, is 5,668,986. Or a total per year of about
1,825,000,000. The number of daily calls per station varies in
different exchanges from 1 to 15.9, the average throughout the
United States being 7.1. The average cost to the subscriber
varies according to the size of the exchange and character of
the service, from less than 1 to 9 cents per connection.

ELECTRICAL SCIENCE:
Dr. Pupin's revolutionary improvement
in long-distance Telephony.

The most important advance in telephonic science that has been

made since the invention of the Bell instrument was announced
at about the beginning of the new century, as the result of
studies pursued by Dr. Michael I. Pupin, of Columbia
University, New York. Mathematical and experimental
investigations which Dr. Pupin had been carrying on, for
several years, led him to a determination of the precise
intervals at which, if inductance coils are inserted in a long
conductor, an electric current in traversing it may be made to
travel far without much loss of force. He is said to have
taken a hint from seeing how waves of vibration in a cord are
strengthened by lightly "loading" it at certain exact points,
determined by the wave lengths. It is probably correct to
 describe his invention as being a scientific ascertainment of
the points in a long telephonic circuit at which to load the
electric current in it, and the precise loading to be applied.

In a paper published in the "Western Electrician," describing

his investigations mathematically, Dr. Pupin wrote: "If an
increase in efficiency of wave transmission over a cord thus
loaded is to be obtained, it is evident that the load must be
properly subdivided and the fractional parts of the total load
must be placed at proper distances apart along the cord,
otherwise the detrimental effects due to reflections resulting
from the discontinuities thus introduced will more than
neutralize the beneficial effects derived from the increased
mass. … The insertion of inductance coils at periodically
recurring points along the wave conductor produces the same
effect upon electrical wave transmission as the distribution
of the small loads along the stretched cord … produces upon
mechanical wave transmission along the cord."

The result is said to be that conversation by telephone over a

distance of 3,000 miles is made not only practicable but easy,
and that it is believed to be as practicable through submarine
cables as through overland wires. If it does not make the
telephone a common instrument of communication from continent
to continent, it will, at least, improve oceanic telegraphy
beyond measure. According to newspaper report, Dr. Pupin's
invention has been sold to the Bell Telephone Company for a
very large sum.

ELECTRICAL SCIENCE:
Wireless Telegraphy.

"In 1864 Maxwell observed that electricity and light have the
same velocity, 186,400 miles a second, and he formulated the
theory that electricity propagates itself in waves which
differ from those of light only in being longer. This was
proved to be true by Hertz, in 1888, who showed that where
 alternating currents of very high frequency were set up in an
open circuit, the energy might be conveyed entirely away from
the circuit into the surrounding space as electric waves. … He
demonstrated that electric waves move with the speed of light,
and that they can be reflected and refracted precisely as if
they formed a visible beam. At a certain intensity of strain
the air insulation broke down, and the air became a conductor.
This phenomenon of passing quite suddenly from a
non-conductive to a conductive state is … also to be noted
when air or other gases are exposed to the X ray.

{442}

"Now for the effect of electric waves such as Hertz produced,

when they impinge upon substances reduced to powder or
filings. Conductors, such as the metals, are of inestimable
service to the electrician; of equal value are non-conductors,
such as glass and gutta-percha, as they strictly
fence in an electric stream. A third and remarkable vista
opens to experiment when it deals with substances which, in
their normal state, are non-conductive, but which, agitated by
an electric wave, instantly become conductive in a high
degree. As long ago as 1866 Mr. S. A. Varley noticed that
black lead, reduced to a loose dust, effectually intercepted a
current from fifty Daniell cells, although the battery poles
were very near each other. When he increased the electric
tension fourfold to sixfold, the black-lead particles at once
compacted themselves so as to form a bridge of excellent
conductivity. On this principle he invented a
lightning-protector for electrical instruments, the incoming
flash causing a tiny heap of carbon dust to provide it with a
path through which it could safely pass to the earth.
Professor Temistocle Calzecchi Onesti of Fermo, in 1885, in an
independent series of researches, discovered that a mass of
powdered copper is a non-conductor until an electric wave
beats upon it; then, in an instant, the mass resolves itself
into a conductor almost as efficient as if it were a stout,
unbroken wire. Professor Edouard Branly of Paris, in 1891, on
this principle devised a coherer, which passed from resistance
to invitation when subjected to an electric impulse from afar.
He enhanced the value of his device by the vital discovery
that the conductivity bestowed upon filings by electric
discharges could be destroyed by simply shaking or tapping
them apart. …

"The coherer, as improved by Marconi, is a glass tube about 1½

inches long and about 1/12 of an inch in internal diameter.
The electrodes are inserted in this tube so as almost to
touch; between them is about 1/30 of an inch filled with a
pinch of the responsive mixture which forms the pivot of the
whole contrivance. This mixture is 90 per cent. nickel
filings, 10 per cent. hard silver filings, and a mere trace of
mercury; the tube is exhausted of air to within 1/10000 part.
… The coherer, when unexcited, forms a link which obstructs
the flow of a current eager to leap across. The instant that
an electric wave from the sending-station impinges upon the
coherer it becomes conductive; the current instantly glides
through it, and at the same time a current, by means of a
relay, is sent through [a] powerful voltaic battery, so as to
announce the signal through an ordinary telegraphic receiver.

"An electric impulse, almost too attenuated for computation,

is here able to effect such a change in a pinch of dust that
it becomes a free avenue instead of a barricade. Through that
avenue a powerful blow from a local store of energy makes
itself heard and felt. No device of the trigger class is
comparable with this in delicacy. An instant after a signal
has taken its way through the coherer a small hammer strikes
the tiny tube, jarring Hs particles asunder, so that they
resume their normal state of high resistance. We may well be
astonished at the sensitiveness of the metallic filings to an
electric wave originating many miles away, but let us remember
how clearly the eye can see a bright lamp at the same distance
as it sheds a sister beam. Thus far no substance has been
discovered with a mechanical responsiveness to so feeble a ray
of light; in the world of nature and art the coherer stands
alone. …

"An essential feature of this method of etheric telegraphy,

due to Marconi himself, is the suspension of a perpendicular
wire at each terminus, its length twenty feet for stations a
mile apart, forty feet for four miles, and so on, the
telegraphic distance increasing as the square of the length of
suspended wire. In the Kingstown regatta, July, 1898, Marconi
sent from a yacht under full steam a report to the shore
without the loss of a moment from start to finish. This feat
was repeated during the protracted contest between the
'Columbia' and the 'Shamrock' yachts in New York Bay, October,
1899. On March 28, 1899, Marconi signals put Wimereux, two
miles north of Boulogne, in communication with the South
Foreland Lighthouse, thirty-two miles off. In August, 1899,
during the manœuvres of the British navy, similar messages
were sent as far as eighty miles. …

"A weak point in the first Marconi apparatus was that anybody
within the working radius of the sending instrument could read
its message. To modify this objection secret codes were at
times employed, as in commerce and diplomacy. A complete
deliverance from this difficulty is promised in attuning a
transmitter and a receiver to the same note, so that one
receiver, and no other, shall respond to a particular
frequency of impulses. The experiments which indicate success
in this vital particular have been conducted by Professor
Lodge."

G. Iles,
Flame, Electricity and the Camera,
chapter 16 (New York: Doubleday, Page & Co.).

"Shall we not," said Professor John Trowbridge, in an article

published in the "New York Tribune," January 6, 1901, "in the
 next hundred years dispense with the limitations of wires and
speak boldly through space, reaching some expectant human ear
hundreds of miles away with the same ease that we now converse
in a room? It is already possible to send messages by dots and
dashes sixty to seventy miles without the use of wires. In the
early days of the telephone this was the practical limit of
that instrument, and we are all familiar with the immense
extension which has taken place. Shall we not see a similar
extension in the field of wireless telegraphy? Some late
experiments which I have made lead me to be optimistic in
regard to a possible great extension of the methods of
wireless telegraphy.

"In the first place, I believe that these experiments prove

that wireless telegraphy is not necessarily or merely
accomplished through the air, but, on the contrary, that the
earth plays the controlling part, and that the message flows,
so to speak, through the earth or over its surface rather than
through the air. The most striking experiment was as follows:
The poles of a storage battery of twenty thousand cells were
connected with the ground at the Jefferson Laboratory, and I
was enabled to receive the message in a room three quarters of
a mile from the laboratory without the use of masts or wires
of any sort. The earth was the medium of communication, and it
seems possible, by arranging the sending and receiving apparatus
suitably in connection with the electrical capacity of the
earth, that we may dispense with lofty masts and overcome in
this way the curvature of the earth."

{443}

Extensive experiments in wireless telegraphy are being

conducted by the United States Weather Bureau, of which the
following is a recent report: "Recognizing the advantage that
would result to commerce and navigation by the establishment
of wireless electrical communication between vessels at sea
and exposed points on our lake and sea coasts, and also
between islands along said coasts and the mainland, the
Weather Bureau was directed to systematically investigate the
various methods of electrical communication without wires. The
progress made is eminently satisfactory. New appliances have
been devised for the transmission of signals, and receivers
have been constructed that probably are more delicate than any
heretofore made. Messages already have been successfully
transmitted and received over 50 miles of land, which
presented a rough and irregular surface, conditions most
unfavorable for the transmission of electro-magnetic waves. It
is believed that the efficiency indicated by such transmission
overland is sufficient to operate successfully over several
hundred miles of water. The apparatus used is capable of
further improvement. I hope the time is near at hand when the
great number of craft employed in the coastwise commerce of
the United States and over its great inland seas will be
placed in instantaneous communication with the numerous
stations of our Weather Bureau, which are located at all
important ports. The matter is one of such great importance to
our commerce that I have authorized extensive experimentation,
which, from the success so far attending our efforts, will be
vigorously prosecuted."

United States, Annual Report of the

Secretary of Agriculture,
November 24, 1900, page 12.

On the 12th of March, 1901, the chief of the Weather Bureau,

Professor Moore, gave to the Press the following statement as
to experiments in progress along the Virginia and North
Carolina coast: "The most efficient method of long distance
transmission has been found to be from wire cylinders. The new
coast stations are being equipped with cylinders of sixteen
wires each and 140 feet in length. From these cylinders it is
expected to cover a magnetic field of not less than five
hundred miles. The stations now in operation are at Hatteras
and at Roanoke Island, in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina.
 Workmen are beginning the construction of a station at Cape
Henry, which will be the third station. When this is finished
the two remote stations will be 127 miles apart."

MECHANICS:
Steam turbines.

"The latest form of steam-engine recalls the first. The

steam-turbines of De Laval and of Parsons turn on the same
principle as the æolipile of Hero. That simple contrivance was
a metallic globe mounted on axes, and furnished through one of
its trunnions with steam from a boiler near by. As steam rushed
out from two nozzles diametrically opposite to each other, and
at tangents to the globe, there resulted from the relieved
pressure a swift rotation which might have done useful work. …
Before the steam-turbine could be invented, metallurgists and
mechanics had to become skilful enough to provide machinery
which may with safety rotate 10,000 times in a minute; Watt
had to invent the separate condenser; means had to be devised
for the thorough expansion of high-pressure steam; and the
crude device of Hero had to be supplanted by wheels suggested
by the water-turbine.

"The feature which gives the Parsons steam-turbine its

distinction is the ingenious method by which its steam is used
expansively. In a piston-engine the cylinder is filled to
one-twelfth or one-fifteenth of its capacity with
high-pressure steam, when communication with the boiler is cut
off; during the remainder of its stroke the piston is urged
solely by the steam's elasticity. In the Parsons turbine, by
arranging what is practically a series of wheels on the same
shaft, the steam passes from one wheel to the next, and at
each wheel parts with only a fraction of its pressure and
velocity. …

"The 'Turbinia,' a torpedo-boat of 44½ tons displacement, 100

feet in length, and 9 feet in beam, driven by this turbine,
 has consumed but 14½ pounds of steam an hour per indicated
horse-power. The 'Viper,' a torpedo-boat destroyer of 325
tons, and provided with a turbine capable of developing as
much as 12,000 horse-power, ran at the rate of 37 knots in a
rough sea during her trial trip in November, 1899."

G. Iles,
Flame, Electricity and the Camera,
chapter 5
(New York: Doubleday, Page & Co.).

MEDICAL AND SURGICAL:

The determination of germ diseases.

"Since 1880 it has been proved that anthrax, Asiatic cholera,

cerebro-spinal meningitis, diphtheria, one form of dysentery,
erysipelas, glanders, gonorrhœa, influenza, certain epidemics
of meat poisoning, pyæmia and suppuration in general,
pneumonia, tetanus, relapsing fever, tuberculosis, bubonic
plague, and typhoid fever are due to minute vegetable
organisms known as bacteria; that malarial fevers, Texas
cattle fever, and certain forms of dysentery are due to forms
of microscopic animal organisms known as microzoa; and for
most of these diseases the mode of development and means of
introduction of the micro-organism into the body are fairly
well understood. To the information thus obtained we owe the
triumphs of antiseptic and aseptic surgery, a great increase
of precision in diagnosis, the use of specific anti-toxins as
remedies and as preventives, and some of the best practical
work in public hygiene."

Dr. John S. Billings,

Progress of Medicine in the Nineteenth Century
(New York Evening Post, January 12, 1901).

MEDICAL AND SURGICAL:

Antitoxine.
 Treatment of diphtheria.

"In the early study of germs and their relation to disease it

was supposed that the symptoms of the disease depended
directly upon the germs themselves. This, however, has been
proven to be false with reference to most of the infectious
diseases studied. Thus, in diphtheria, the bacilli were found,
as a rule, only in the throat or upper air passages, while the
effects of the disease were far-reaching, involving the heart,
the nerves, and other distant parts of the body. This, and
other like observations, led to the careful study of the
products produced by the growth of bacteria. As the result of
the work of Roux in Paris, and Brieger in Berlin, the exact
nature of the toxic products of the diphtheria bacillus was
discovered. It was found that this bacillus produces in its
growth a poison which is known as the diphtheria 'toxine.'
This was isolated and injected into animals with the
reproduction of all the symptoms of diphtheria excepting the
membrane in the throat. …

{444}

"In his early work upon splenic fever and chicken-cholera

Pasteur, having established the causes of these diseases, set
himself the task of discovering means of preventing them.
After very many experiments he found that animals inoculated
with the germs of splenic fever, when these germs had been
cultivated at a relatively high temperature, were protected
against the disease itself, while these inoculations
themselves were harmless. … These methods of producing
immunity have been extensively used in Europe for the past
twenty years and have been of immense practical value.

"With the discovery that it was not the bacteria themselves

which produced most of the symptoms, but their poisonous
products or toxines, new experiments in immunity were made by
injecting these toxines into animals. It was found that if the
quantity of the diphtheria toxine introduced was at first so
small as not to kill the animal, the dose could gradually be
increased until finally such a tolerance was established that
the animal could resist enormous doses of it. Many theories
were advanced as to the manner in which this tolerance was
established. The conclusion was finally reached that it was
due to the gradual production in the blood of larger and
larger quantities of some substance which neutralized the
toxine, i. e., an 'antitoxine.' … Later experiments showed
that if some of the blood of an animal, which in this way had
been made insusceptible to diphtheria, was injected into
another animal, the latter likewise became to a certain degree
and for a certain time insusceptible; that is to say, became
'immunized. …

"The present plan of producing antitoxine is somewhat as

follows. Large animals, such as the horse or cow, are usually
employed for purposes of injection. In the beginning as large
a quantity of the toxine of diphtheria is injected as the
animal will bear without danger to life. … It is found that
the dose of the toxine can gradually be increased with each
injection until enormous quantities can be tolerated. When
this point is reached at which the injection of large amounts
of the toxine produces no reaction, the animal is said to
possess a high degree of immunity. At this time the
blood-serum contains a very large amount of the antitoxine. A
long time is required for the production of this condition,
the period being from three to twelve months, according to the
size of the animal, its susceptibility, and many other
conditions. … The antitoxine is obtained from the blood of the
animal, generally by bleeding from the jugular vein. … After
standing for a few hours this blood separates into a clot and
a clear portion above which is known as the serum. The
anti-toxine is contained in the blood-serum."

L. E. Holt,
The Antitoxine Treatment of Diphtheria
 (Forum, March, 1895).

See, also (in this volume),

PLAGUE.

MEDICAL AND SURGICAL:

Discovery of the secret of malaria.
Detection of the mosquito as a carrier of disease.

"Twenty-five years ago the best-informed physicians

entertained erroneous ideas with reference to the nature of
malaria and the etiology of the malarial fevers. Observation
had taught them that there was something in the air in the
vicinity of marshes in tropical regions, and during the summer
and autumn in semi-tropical and temperate regions, which gave
rise to periodic fevers in those exposed in such localities,
and the usual inference was that this something was of gaseous
form—that it was a special kind of bad air generated in
swampy localities under favorable meteorological conditions.
It was recognized at the same time that there are other kinds
of bad air, such as the offensive emanations from sewers and
the products of respiration of man and animals, but the term
malaria was reserved especially for the kind of bad air which
was supposed to give rise to the so-called malarial fevers. In
the light of our present knowledge it is evident that this
term is a misnomer. There is no good reason for believing that
the air of swamps is any more deleterious to those who breathe
it than the air of the sea coast or that in the vicinity of
inland lakes and ponds. Moreover, the stagnant pools, which
are covered with a 'green scum' and from which bubbles of gas
are given off, have lost all terrors for the well-informed
man, except in so far as they serve as breeding places for
mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. The green scum is made up
of harmless algæ such as Spirogyra, Zygnema Protococcus,
Euglena, etc.; and the gas which is given off from the mud at
the bottom of such stagnant pools is for the most part a
well-known and comparatively harmless compound of hydrogen and
carbon-methane or 'marsh-gas.'

"In short, we now know that the air in the vicinity of marshes
is not deleterious because of any special kind of bad air
present in such localities, but because it contains mosquitoes
infected with a parasite known to be the specific cause of the
so-called malarial fevers. This parasite was discovered in the
blood of patients suffering from intermittent fevers by
Laveran, a surgeon in the French army, whose investigations
were conducted in Algiers. This famous discovery was made
toward the end of the year 1880; but it was several years
later before the profession generally began to attach much
importance to the alleged discovery."

G. M. Sternberg,
Malaria
(Popular Science Monthly, February, 1901).

"It was the French doctor Laveran who, after a stay in a

deadly malarial region of Algeria, discovered the malaria
parasite in 1880. True, that pigment-cells, which we should
now describe as malaria-parasites, were observed in human
blood as early as 1835, among others by Virchow; but their
relation to the disease was not known. In 1881, Laveran
embodied his researches in a book, but its importance was
overlooked. Bacteria attracted then general attention, and
Laveran's parasite, not being a bacterium, was little thought
of. He stuck, nevertheless, to his discovery, and was soon
joined in his researches by Golgi (the Italian professor to
whom we owe the method that led to the discovery of the
neurons), as also by Marchiafava, Celli, Councilman,
Sternberg, and the Viennese doctor Mannaberg who published in
1893 a full compendium of these researches. Dr. Mannaberg
proved in this book that the real cause of malaria is
Laveran's parasite, and he told its most interesting
life-history so far as it was then known.
 "The parasite of malaria is not a bacterium. It is one of the
protozoa—namely, as it appeared later on, a coccidium, which,
like all other members of that family, undergoes in its
development a series of transformations. … Laveran saw that
some parasites ('corps à flagelles') would send out thin and
long flagella which soon parted company with the mother body,
and, owing to a proper helicoidal movement, disappeared in the
plasm of the blood. This never happened, however, in the body of
man, but only when a drop of his infected blood was drawn and
placed on the glass plate under the microscope.
{445}
Laveran noticed, moreover, minute 'crescent-shaped bodies'
which adhered to the red corpuscles and looked very much like
cysts, protected by a harder envelope. From fifteen to twenty
minutes after these bodies had been placed under the
microscope, they also gave origin to a great number of
'flagella'; and this evolution, too, he remarked, seemed to be
accomplished only when the cysts were taken out of the human
body.

"It was only natural to conclude from these observations that

the further development of the flagella may take place in the
body of some other animal than man, and this consideration
brought Laveran, in a book which he published in 1884, to the
idea that, taking into consideration the quantities of
mosquitoes in malarial countries, they may be the agents of
transition of malaria. This remark passed, however,
unperceived. Many had the suspicion that gnats may play some
part in the inoculation of malaria: the Italian peasants
always thought so, and in the medical literature an American
doctor, Mr. King, had advocated the same idea. But the
complete life-history of the malaria parasite being not yet
known fifteen years ago, the necessity of the mosquito or of
some other living being serving as a host for the completion
of the reproduction-cycle was not understood."

P. Kropotkin,