95 



THE AGUE PLANT. 



Some years since I became interested in the statements of Dr. J. 

 H. Salisbury, of Cleveland, Ohio, in reference to the germs of 

 ague. Dr. Salisbury* believes to have discovered the malarial 

 essence in the cells of certain Palmelloid plants. Desiring to in- 

 vestigate the subject, I sought for the plants described by him, in 

 the ague bottom of the Mississippi river, opposite Keokuk, Iowa, 

 lat. 10° 25'. Not being provided with a suitable microscope, I 

 was unable to discover the microscopic algse described by the 

 doctor. I was pleased, however, to find the fungi, samples of 

 which I send you. Generally it answers Salisbury's description. 



It does not correspond in these important particulars : Salis- 

 bury's plants are so minute that it requires a powerful lens to 

 render them visible. A single specimen of plant may be discovered 

 as you stand. Salisbury's plants were not less. These have roots 

 "S" or t 3 ^" °f an mcn ^ n length. They grow on the flat moist allu- 

 vium of the slough and river margins and their drying beds ; in 

 the vicinity of such localities they may be found on ordinary soil 

 in damp places, even at some elevation. The specimens sent you 

 are green ; I have observed them slate- coloured, pink, and black. 

 They vary in size from a mere point to ■£% of an inch in diameter. 

 When in natural state they are globular in shape and of a fresh 

 colour, when covered with water they swell and present a gelati- 

 nous appearance. They discharge their spores when ripe by slit- 

 ting open at the top and a falling in, collapsing of the upper cir- 

 cumference ; so that a discharged plant appears cup-shaped, and to 

 the naked eye it seems to have lost the upper half of its circum- 

 ference. So far as I have been able to determine with the imper- 

 fect means of observation at my command, the cells are composed 

 of two walls, the outer green or (otherwise coloured), composed of 

 laminated cells, the inner white and structureless. Upon punctur- 

 ing the plants a liquid is forcibly ejected. I have never been able 

 to discover the contained cells for want of a good microscope. 

 By placing the cake of earth sent you in a plate, and adding water 

 enough to make it of about the consistence of potter's clay, and 

 keeping it at a temperature above 60°, you will find a fresh crop of 

 the plant to develop, and you will thus have an opportunity of 

 studying them. Should you allow them to flourish, and remain 

 uncovered in your room, you might have the satisfaction of demon- 

 strating the "cause of ague." This fungus was first found, so far 

 as I know, by Dr. J. P. Saftord, of Keokuk, who was kind enough 

 to search for me while I visited an ague patient. In the locality of 

 their growth they are to be seen in myriads, and near them, even on 

 elevations of over 100 feet, everybody had the ague. The course 

 of this disease seemed pari ])assu with that of the plant. 



Dr. John Bartlett, Chicago. 



* See American Journal of Medical Sciences, 1866. 



