The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1899-02-16
WORK OF PARASITES.
tnake-Iike Organisms That Ctrcu-
late Through the ArteriRi
system at Night.


an order to follow the story of dis
Eases in which parasites occur, let us
take the bloodworm. In the lympha,ic
vesels of the human body there may be
present a hair-like worm about three
inches in length, 1t pours out 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
uight. but during the day they disap-
pear from the general circulation, and
ie up in the lungs. Now, the mosquito.
an animal of nocturnal habits, ATTACKS
man at the time when the yorrg para
ites are circulating in the blood"
1T might all be the plot of a story
- n 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
| lies and 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 n
similar thread of history applies TO
most parasites and to many other dis
eases"
Does the man who takes the para
site with the water necessarily develop
lisease?"
"Oh, no; that all depends on cir
,umstances. II 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 the mosquito prepares the parasite
10 do its deadly work, and then places
IL where il can do. it. The mosquito
takes the thing, makes il robust, and
then spreads it where 1t can find a
ready passage into the human body.
The whole scheme is like a wheel, re-
volving and revolving, once it has OBJ
,ained motion"
"That is the process of action of q
parasite making prey of man"
at is n sample. In the case of ma
laria the process is probably much more
involved. l 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
| IL st,,.r
valuable experiments in India. He go
mosquitoes that had fed on spnrrows in
fected with the organisms of which
have spoken. He kept the insects TO
five or six days, until he knew the or
ganisms had developed. He then le
them loose again on sparrows in th
blood of which, as established by exam
ination, there were no organisms. o.
this lot of sparrows being tested late
It was found that they now had re
celved the organisms from the mosqui
I toes"
"You think distinctly that malari
, may be acquired by the bite of mos
quito?"
; "Yes; but whether that is the onl
r way ] cannot venture to assert. Pei
haps not, for malaria multiplies jndef
, nitely outside the human body, quit
, independently of man. That we know
and, in fact, malaria is most prevaler
In places where man is not. Such a stat
of multiplication must demand som'
, thing more than short cycle of froi
, man to mosquito and from mosquito
man. Possibly an infection of mosquit
: by mosquito is necessary, as in tick di
= ease or in silkworm disease. What W
want is complete story Of the varior
. species of mosquito in malarial an
? other lands, and OF their behavior
t regard to the different varieties of m'
arial parasites. London Chronicle.