Carroll County democrat. (Huntingdon, Tenn.) 188?-1971, 1913-10-24
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presence stimulates human beings to eat clay ana
earth But there lis 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 parastologist, was working in the
local laboratory at the laTVa Of aRoylostoma. In
transferring some Of the water containing larvae
from one watchglass to another by means Of
pipette he accidentally split drop ON to the back
Of his hand. He did not wait to wipe 1t of, but
after time he noticed that the place where the
drop had fallen was intensely irritable and had be-
come Redeemed and infamed. He then made
further experiment; placing drop Of the fluid
swarming with larvae the back Of his hand he
allowed it partially to dry up The burning and
the reddening of the skin began over again, and a
little later when he removed what was left Of the
fluid very few Of the larvae were to be found The
great majority OF them had disappeared. These
little trihes gave Doctor Looss "furiously to
think" as the French say and he then repaired
to the hospital whore he found boy whose leg
was about to be removed He dropped little Of
the fluid full OF ancylostoma larvae on the leg, and
after the leg cut off the area in question was
removed and cut into sections When these sec
tions we're 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 follices, and, to a
lesser extent, through the sweat glands into the
deeper layers OF the skin. It 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 A
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 tray-
ersng 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 moult, and later when they
reach the alimentary canal they undergo third
and fourth ecdysis 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
life-history has taken, under favorable circum-
stances, from month to six weeks; under unfa-
vorable circumstances 1t 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 many cases the an
cyl0stoma larvae reach the alimentary canal with
the blood stream and directly penetrate its walls
without passing through the lungs
Since the middle of the seventeenth century
fatal disease has been known to exist in the
warmer parts Of America. In 1913 Piso in his
Historic Medico BraziIiae" gives an account
Of disease which he calls @oppilacao," and