Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-12-26
FOUND In THE BLOOD
A PARASITE THAT SPORTS ABOUT IN
THE VEINS AND ARTERIES.
Professor sonsino's Researches Into the
Functions of snake-Like Worm
That Causes "Poor Blood"
washington Post.)

rive at milestone where the way is be-
sieged with all sorts OF serpents and fiery
dragons. medicine and science are now
able to demonstrate that snakes live and
move In ones being. An important dis
covery I'm this direction, only few
months old in Europe and just announced
In this country. was told a representative
OF the Post The other day by DR.. C. w.
Stiles, of the Bureau Of Animal Industry,
at the Department OF Agriculture. IL is n
small white make that lives in the veins.
securing entrance into the body through
the medium OF drinking water 1t wrig-
giles about md chases up and down the
avenues Of the blood at its pleasure These
little reptiles have strange domestic h8b-
its. The male is about four-ffths OF an
inch N length, and curves himself into
the form OF half circle. On the inside
OF the curve he forms little canal with
the edges OF his body. and there be keeps
Mrs. Snake. She isn't larger than a cot
ton thread nor longer than the breadth
OF ones finger. but together they are ca
pable OF working a great deal or damage
TO a healthy mans circulation. IL Is
certainly not comfortable thought to
know that you may have few pairs OF
these animals tucked away inside your
jacket. The medical men have another
name for the disease which results from
their devastations, but II would be popu-
larry called poor blood"
RESEMBLES A FLUKE WORM.
The story OF this parasite existence is
curious. Its name has long been known,
but its life history, which is the most In
teresting and the most important hing
to know, was only recently discover by
Professor Sonsino. learned man OF Pisa,
Italy In some respects this snake ~ ike
a fiuke worm. The eggs or larvae from
which IL matches are found In the water
whittier they have come from some mans
body. They swim about there until they
find a certain kind Of microscopic crab
This crab they seize upon and live
with. They stay inside Of him till some
one drinks the water and the crab. which
Is nothing but n harmless animalcula, ana
then the human snake Is in its element
II grows and grows. and bores its way
through the walls Of the intestines with
the persistency OF a WOODWORK TIL 1t
finds lodgment in the veins.
As this pestiferous reptile infests cattle
as well as human beings, some knowledge
of # is necessary for the farmer as well
as the physician, and Dr. stiles has been
searching vigorously for its existence In
announced. and is prosecuting his search
at the Bureau Of Animal Industry.
The disease Is best known in Southern
EuroDe and in Africa. An Egyptian AT
the Worlds Fair who danced with one OF
the attractions in the Midway Plaisance
was afflicted with this. disease, ana De-
came a patient at the United States
Army Hospital Aside from this case the
parasite has probably never been recorneu
In this country. but DR.. stiles thlhks II
by no means improbable that II VIII De
found among the negroes OF the Soulh
In fact. the original slaves imported from
Afric1 brought with them kindred ills
and through them, perhaps, this snake
has been living for two or three hundred
wears. SO long as the affection spreads
with great rapidity, 1t Is not Improbable
that Chicago may have siege Jf II on
account of the luckless Egyptian. III IL
dificuIt to conceive how the Chicago wa
ter could have escaped pollution, as the
larvae are given off readily and in great
numbers.
THE NEGRO RACE A VICTIM.
rrdeed there are many species of snakes
that wander about and find pasture IN the
blood and so far as they are concerned
in America their history Is intimately
connected with the negro race. All appear
IN have come out of the East. one OF the
most peculiar is the fiery dragon OF the
children of Israel. Dr. Stiles has one OF
these Biblical monsters at the Bureau Oh
Animal Industry, which can De seen A"De
to face. 1t throws deal Of light upon
the Scriptural version of the story anu
leaves one no longer to look az IL uainsy
through the glass In fact IL Is as pi'iii
as is that two and two makes loui 'Ii ss
G-kx .Nl
neonIe in their Journey TO the PROMISED
iond we're not dragons that attacked them
from without, but cruel shaheS '''"S
upon them from within " A.
The Mosaic narrative says that tue
Lord sent this plague upon the peop'e
as they iourneyed In the nelghDoIhoou
of the Red Sea. but this Is the laVoIIuo
land for the idiosyncrasies or the merry
dra,,on 10 this day. They are long, shh'
white creations. and they get INTO the
body In the same manner as the SNAKES
first mentioned, through drinking WdteI,
The scientific men reason that as israe'
tourneyed camps were often pitched oesiue
the waters. and there was niue means vi
filtering what was drank. Inc larNa iloIii
which the dragon derives It's existence
No. an undue friendship also for minute
crah whose home Is in good Drinking
n,oter So the people of Israel became
ao1,cted. and Moses devised the cure Oh
the braZen serpent upon winch
might look and live,
MOsEs'S CURE SCIENTIFICALLY EN-
PLANNED.
Some of the scientific men have an eN-
planation for Moses's cure. Ihey uehese
IL to have been physician Khile ,aSh
toned like unto serpent and used LOT
Il from the body. IncSt
dragons have a curious way of breaking
out at the groins, through (which they
rear their heads deiantly and gnaw away
tho nuscles. II extracted whole the SUI
ferer NAV live: but II the dragon he parted
In twain during the operation OF taxing
him out the patient dies most eH-
cruciatinC death. These monsters nave
MANY characteristics of the dragons OF
the world, and Israel was probably war
ranted In thus calling them by name
They seem 10 make the body hidihs-
place. and when touched they dash pach
and coil themselves up In the muscles
where they have followed out caVi'~s III
which TO rest In repose.
A province OF Arabia bordering upon
the Red Sea is their home. They are
visited upon the negroes and the dark
races OF Africa, however, and were
brought over 90 the new world with tne
slaves. The affection broke out ON the
island of Curacao. one of the West In
dies north OF Venezuela, in the Carri-
bean Sea, soon after black men were
first brought there. and attacked the
aborlgines as well as the foreigners with
great fury.
HEROpS FATAL DISEASE ALSO M
PORTED.
There Is yet another species OF HIS
resulting from human snakes in the blood
that the negroes have brought to TINS
country, and 1t is not second to either
of the others in Importance. II Is called
the disease which King Herod died Win.
No one knows that II was the cause OF
the imperial taking of, but tradition has
Il SO. and hence the name. Here also long,
white snakes the size of a thread get INTO
the blood A popularity of theirs which
the Others do not have is that they are
peaceful In a mans waking hours. They
betake themselves during that time to
the organs deep within the body. sleep,
and keep quiet But when the victim re-
clincs upon his weary couch they begin
their unearthly racket, and In their run
nlnrs TO and fro through the veins and
arteries make life torture.
MANY CASES IN AND NEAR WASH