The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-01-24
WORK OF PARASITES.
snRiSe-Like Organisms That Circu-
late Through the Arteriai
system Mt Night.

"In order TO follow the story OF dis
eases in which parasites occur, let us
take the bloodworm. In the lympha,ic
vessels of the human body there may be
present a hair-like worm about three
inches in length. 1t pours cut young,
and these contrive to find access TO the
blood. They are microscopic, actively
moving snake-like organisms. They
circulate with the blood during the
night, but during the day they disap-
pear from the general circulation, and
lie up in the lungs. Now, the mosquito.
IN animal OF nocturnal habits, attacks
man at the time when the young para
sites are circulating in the blood"
at might all be the plot of story
~f tragedy"
AT night the mosquito bites.and with
the blood swallows one or more OF those
parasites. The organism, being once in
the mosquitoes body, undergoes re-
markable development. increasing in
size and acquiring organs of digestion.
The mosquito in the ordinary course Of
nature lays her eggs about the seventh
day after feeding. She always does this
on the surface of water, and then she
dies ard falls into the water. The para
site thereupon escapes from the mos
quito into the water, and should that
water be drunk by person the para
site is acquired. have been speaking
of the germ of elephantiasis, but
similar thread of history applies 10
most parasites and to many other dis
eases"
Does the man who takes the para
site with the water necessarily develap
disease?"
"Oh, no; that all depends on cir
cumstances. 1t will depend on the
general condition of his health, on the
part of the body in which the organism
locates-on a score of things. You see
that ihe mosquito prepares the parasite
TO do its deadly work, and then places
II where il can do it. The mosquito
takes the thing, makes it robust. and
then spreads it where it can find
ready passage into the human body.
The whole scheme is like a wheel, re-
volving and revolving, once it has OBJ
tanned motion"
That is the process of action of
parasite making a prey of man"
1T is a sample. In the case Of ma
laria the process is probably much more
involved. mean that the journey be-
tween the parasite and its very first
form. and the development Of human
disease as a result, may be much longer
My friend Surgeon Major Ross has re-
Gently carried out some interesting and
experiments in India. He got
that had fed on sparrows in
fected with the organisms of which |
have spoken. He kept the insects for
five or six days, until he knew the or
yanisms had developed. He then let
them loose again on sparrows in the
blood of which, US established by exam
nation, there were no organisms. On
his lot of sparrows being tested later
t was found that they now had re-
,eived the organisms from the mosqui-
oes."
"You think distinctly that malaria
nay be acquired by the bite of mos
Iuito?"
"Ies; but whether that is the only
way | cannot venture to assert. Per-
laps not, for malaria multiplies indeh-
litely outside the human body. quite a
Independently OF man. That we know.
nd, in fact, malaria is most prevalent
Ii places where man is not. Such a state
f multiplication must demand some
hing more thar Il short cycle of from
nan to mosquito and from mosquito 10
man, Possibly an infection of mosquito
y mosquito is necessary, as in tick dis
ase or in silkworm disease. What we
amt is a complete story of the various
pecies of mosquito in malarial and
ther lands, and Of their behavior in
egard to the different varieties OF ma
irial parasites. London Chronicle.
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