Nematoda

NEMATODA, a group of unsegmented worms ("thread worms"), frequently regarded as forming, with the Nemato morpha and Acanthocephala (qq.v.), a phylum Nemathelminthes, but of extremely doubtful affinities. The form of the body is generally cylindrical, and the worms vary in length from a frac tion of a millimetre to about a metre. A large number of nema todes (mostly of very small size) are free-living, and occur in water (fresh and marine), soil, moss or decaying substances; while many others are wholly or partly parasitic on plants or in the bodies of other animals, and may be of considerable economic or medical importance.

General Morphology.

The body-wall consists of (I) a tough, elastic, homogeneous cuticle, sometimes provided with spines or bristles; (2) a thin syncytial subcuticular layer ; and (3) a single layer of muscle-cells which vary considerably in form and arrangement, but act only in a longitudinal direction. The musculature is divided into four longitudinal strips by internal thickenings of the subcuticular layer, the lateral "fields" and dorsal and ventral lines. The body-cavity, bounded by the muscles, contains a fluid in which the internal organs lie free. The mouth, situated at the anterior end, leads either into a buccal on Sept. 13th and on the 29th was off to Cadiz.

Trafalgar.

The victory of Trafalgar (q.v.) which followed on Oct. 21 set the seal on his fame. Tactically it was a master piece and his famous signal "England expects that every man will do his duty," made as the fleet moved into battle, together with his death in the moment of victory, added, and still add, to its lustre. The "Victory," after passing through the French line, was engaged with the "Bucentaure" and the "Redoutable," and Nelson, as he walked up and down his quarter-deck with his flag captain, Thomas Hardy, was struck by a bullet from a sharp shooter firing from the top of the last-named ship. His spine was broken, and he was carried below to the cockpit, suffering great pain. Here, amidst the din and racket of battle and the groans

of the injured and dying, he lingered for a few hours. To the last he retained his interest in the battle and Hardy came to him from time to time to tell him of its progress. As his sight grew dimmer and he felt the end approaching he asked Hardy to kiss him. "Now I am satisfied," he said, "Thank God I have done my duty." "These words," says Southey in his moving account, "he repeatedly pronounced and they were the last he uttered." His body was brought home and laid in state in the Painted Hall at Greenwich Hospital, and was buried in St. Paul's.

So died the most famous of English seamen, and, indeed, the most famous of all seamen. He was more than merely a tactically and strategically brilliant Commander ; he was a true leader of men—and men of all types, for the common seamen trusted and venerated him as much as did his officers. These latter were, in their turn, trusted by him and were ever in his confidence—his "band of brothers" he called them. No officer under Nelson could ever complain that he went into action not knowing his Commander's plans and intentions—and it is as much to this as to his tactical ability that his successes were due. The common seamen he always treated with humanity and kindness and these qualities were extended to his junior officers whom, remembering his own misery during his first days at sea, he was ever willing to encourage. On the other side it has been said that he was vain, liked flattery, and was an egotist. This is merely to say that he had the common faults of genius.

Nelson had no children by his wife. In November 1805, in recognition of Nelson's great services to his country, his brother William (1757-1835) was created Earl Nelson of Trafalgar, an annuity of £5,000 being attached to the title.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Southey's

Life of Nelson edited by Professor Geof frey Callender (1922). C. E. Forester, Lord Nelson (1929). (D.H., X.)