Gilpin observer., 1913-10-23
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presence stimulates human beings to eat clay and
earth But there is another route, and one Of the
romances of science must now be explained To
wards the end of the last century, when cholera
was prevalent in Alexandria, Doctor Looss, the
distinguished parasitologist. was working in the
local laboratory at the larva of ancyostoma. In
transferring some of the water containing larvae
from one watchglass to another by means of a
pipette he accidentally split drop to the back
OF his hand. He did not wait to wipe 1t off. but
after a time he noticed that the place where the
drop had fallen intensely irritable and had be
come reddened and inf1amed He then made a
further experiment; placing a drop of the fluid
swarmng with larvae on the back of his hand he
allowed 1t partially to dry up The burning and
the reddening of the skin began over again. and
little later when he removed what was left of the
fluid very few of the larvae to be found. The
great majority of them had disappeared. These
little trif1es gave Doctor Looss "furiously to
think" as the French say, and he then repaired
to the hospital, where he found boy whose leg
was about to be removed. He dropped little of
the huid full of ancylostoma larvae on the leg and
after the leg was cut off the area in question
removed and cut into sections. When these sec.
tons were examined through the microscope the
little ancylostoma larvae were seen forcing their
way down into the body through the skin espe
cially travelling by the hair focles and to a
lesser extent, through the sweat glands into the
deeper layers Of the skin. II was, of course, i'm
possible to pursue this work with the human
ancylostoma and Doctor Looss had to carry on
his work with another species The larvae OF
caninum were traced into the blood vessels and
lymphatics OF the dog Swept along in the blood
stream, they easily reach the lungs. Once arrived
In the lungs the larvae have no difficulty in trav.
ersing the soft pulmonary tissue and making their
way in the cavity OF the respiratory organs
Thence they travel along the bronchial tubes and
SO to the windpipe and into the larynx and up al.
most into the mouth, and here they turn back into
the oesophagus and SO down into the stomach and
Intestine The whole OF this remarkable Journey
takes from seven to ten day. They then shed the
skin OF their second mout and later. when they
reach the alimentary canal. they undergo a third
and fourth ecdyss or moult In eight days they
become capable OF reproduction, and in a very few
more days the eggs are then passing away from
the body OF the host. The whole cycle of their
lifehistory has taken. under favorable circum
stances, from month to six weeks; under unfa
vorable circumstances It can be almost indefinite
ly prolonged. The truth OF this, very remarkable
and, until Doctor Looss investigations, quite un.
heard OF life-history is now accepted Doctor Sam.
bon however. thinks that in mary cases the an
cylostoma larvae reach the alin,entary canal with
the blood stream, and directly penetrate its walls
without passing through the lungs.
Since the middle OF the seventeenth century a
fatal disease has been known to exiet in the
warmer parts of America. In 164s Piso. In his
Historic Medico Braziliae" gives an account
,f disease which he calls "Oppiacao" and