152
Scientific Memoirs by
resemblance to other bodies always recognised as such. Further, on account
of their non-cellular character, quick transitional and motile changes, they
should, I think, be regarded as “hæmatozoa” rather than “hæmatophyta”: and,
in particular, they might be referred to the parasitic “monads” amongst In-
fusoria, nearest perhaps to the Trichomonas sanguinis of the rat and equines
elsewhere alluded to in this volume. Yet the organism of ague has peculiari-
ties of its own and may be more than generically diverse, its comportment at
the flagellar stage departing widely, and the resting-stage, as represented by the
crescentic bodies, being singularly predominant : in a sense, such curved bodies
recall the sickle-shaped germs of Coccidium (of the class Sporozoa immediately
below Infusoria), which, as C. oviforme,parasitically, infests the liver and intes-
tines of mice and several domestic animals, not sparing man himself. This is
mentioned because there are indications that several blood-infections of man
causing specific disease, originate in parasites primarily lodged in the tissues
and there harmless.
That at present in the blood these malaria-organisms are essentially foreign,
will be evident : the bright hyaline material of the spheres may offer a certain
resemblance to that of leucocytes and be likewise (if less in degree) amæboid,
yet their pigmentation is well-nigh characteristic, and the flagellate stage even
more so : the crescents from their aspect alone are quite distinct from any
normal blood-structure. In specimens of fresh blood, the spiral bacterium of
man, the flagellated monad of the rat, and that of the human ague-blood, all
cause by their movements appearances of commotion which it might be difficult
at first sight to discriminate ; but yet briefly, for after a few minutes the pig-
mented spheroid loses its appendages for good, the organism of the rat endures
for only a few hours, whilst the bacterium, becoming quiescent, within the same
period commences to grow in the blood and may be preserved for some days.
Lastly, I would note the morphological and biological identity of the ague-
organism, as depicted by its discoverer Dr. Laveran in Algeria and Italy, by Dr.
Osler in the United States of America, and by myself at Bombay. Though
unable at present to insist upon the significance of minute blood-disc changes
so much as authorities elsewhere do ; yet an expression of my own agreement
so far should not be omitted, as fresh testimony upholding [the distinctive
characters widely displayed by the malaria-infection.
NOTE.—After the above had been written out for press, I met with an analysis in English of a paper on the
Microbe of Malaria and its Relation to Phagocytes by Professor Ilia I. Metchnikoff ( sic) of Odessa, which is pub-
lished as No. 7372 in the LONDON MEDICAL RECORD of 15th October 1887, p. 468, and which contains the following
items of comparative interest here :
—
“The red blood-disc changes are freely recognised: discs with the larger intra-cellular spheroids do not take the
eosine stain. Segmentation, or breaking-up, of the spheroids within the red corpuscles is described, and it is con-
idered that the small daughter-spheroids resulting then become free, and enter into other blood-corpuscles.”
( N.B. —The bodies in Plate IX B, Figs. 7 to 10, probably correspond to the so-called ‘rosette,’ or ‘daisy,’ stages
in the evolution of pigmented spheroids, as described by authors in Europe.—H. V. C.)
“As regards identifications Professor Metschnikoff analysing previous investigations, ‘comes to the conclusion
’ that the parasite of malaria belongs to the group of Coccidia, to the genus Hœmatophyllum, which is pretty closely