Medical Officers of the Army of India.
In the course of comparing phenomena, I have noted as a similarity of the
equine to the human relapsing fever the occurrence of a ravenous appetite in the
sick during even the febrile state, and without much manifest benefit when
gratified : also a tendency to intensifying of symptoms ( e.g., the jaundice and
petechiœ) at the acme of the successive febrile events, according to Mr. Steel,
who seems to refer to a clustering of the organisms at this time such as I had,
connected with incipient sporing of the human blood-spirillum then. The re
markable tendency of the pathogenous flagellated organisms to attach them
selves to or attack the red blood-discs, is insisted on, even a disintegration of
the corpuscles being thus imagined possible ; such tendency is apparent in the
organisms of the rat's blood, without seeming so peculiar, and in less degree it is
notable of the fever-spirillum in man. Coarse deterioration of the blood is not
apparent in the rat, and not marked in equines nearly so much as in anthrax ; it
is little evident in spirillum-fever : minuter changes in " surra " are expressly stated
to follow the advent of the parasite, and to consist of increase of white cells,
diminution of the red, with an appearance of granular specks in the serum
(Evans). If the parasite be viewed as the immediate infecting agent, there
becomes evident a similarity of equine to human fever-blood in so far that loss
of infecting power ensues on dessication ; but, on the other hand, a contrast with
anthrax as regards ingested blood, since in order to infect this must contain
spores of the bacillus, whilst germs of the monad will either not suffice or perish
far sooner, as Dr. Evans' experiment shows. Surra-organisms (or the spirillar)
were not found in the secreta or excreta, though lately quiescent monad-para-
sites have, it is said, been detected in the urine during apyretic intervals (Gunn) ;
anthrax-bacilli are to be seen in bile, milk, and the urine during illness. Trans-
mission of each of these infections to the fœtus seems to be an uncertain
datum : the ready communicability of anthrax and spirillum-infection to man
appears in marked contrast to the non-communicability of monad-infection,
so far as known (Steel). It is worth adding that the site of successful inocu-
lation of virus in all three cases may present no sign of local irritation ;
whilst after unsuccessful attempts local swelling may follow, not necessarily
suppurating : such were also noted in unaffected ruminants after surra-inoculation
(Steel) ; they were not observed after use of tainted rat's blood.
For some other comparative points of interest reference must be made to the
following paragraph and to the appended Table ; my work on " Spirillum-fever "
would also afford some aid in following out details.
Amidst the obscurity surrounding a new disease, as yet but imperfectly investigated, it
would be warrantable to seek for light by way of analogy with better-known diseases of the
same class ; and the search would be more encouraging if there were available a satisfactory
standard or type to which to refer. Such a type exists in anthrax, the history of which
is full of applications to the case in hand. (See " Leçons sur le charbon par Dr. J. Strauss," in
73