202 SAKCOSPORIDIA. 



for want of more exact nomenclature became known, as 

 Aliescher's tubes. Herbst afterwards found them in the muscle 

 fibres of the pig (1851). Van Hessling, who in i!S40 , had 

 observed them in the breast muscle of a roebuck, discovered 

 them also in the myocardium of the ox, calf and sheep ;: and 

 Rainey, in 1857, saw them in the muscles of a pig. Since then 

 similar organisms, mostly of microscopic dimensions, have been 

 observed in most of the higher vertebrates, especially tlie mam- 

 mals, e.g., swine, sheep, cattle, goats, mice, rats, monkeys. Inick, 

 deer, camel, dog, cat, rabbit, kangaroo, horses, etc. ; Sarcosporidia 

 have been found in man by Baraban and .Saint Rainey in the 

 vocal cords of an executed criminal, and on another occasion 

 by Hoche in the muscles of a person who had died of tuber- 

 culosis. Kartulis found a sarcosporidium in tlie liver and 

 muscles of a Soudanese. The parasites found by lladden, 

 Klebs, Koch and Eve in the kidney, and by Rosenberg in the 

 nuiscle of the mitrale valve of a woman, are considered ( by 

 some) to be the other instances of sarcosporidiosis in man. 

 \'uillimin thinks that systematic investigation Avould show Sar- 

 cosporidia to Ije a nmcli more common parasite in man than is 

 generally believed. A sarcosporiditun which is parasitic to elks 

 and deer is also said to be capable of infecting nian.'^' No 

 Sarcosporidia are known to be parasitic in the invertebrate 

 hosts of any kind. 



Occurrence in the Host. 



In their hosts the Sarcosporidia are tissue parasites occur- 

 ring principally in the striated muscles, but occasionalh" in the 

 unstriated. In a few cases they are found in the connective 

 tissues, but this ap])ears to be a secondary condition, in which 

 the ])arasite living in the muscle filires becomes free from them 

 at a later period. In cattle Professor Hedinger nearly always 

 found these Sarcosporidia exclusively in the muscle fibre^i. and 

 very seldom in the intramuscular connective tissue. In most 

 of the animals that died of laiuzicktc the Fleischer's tube.- were 

 present in nearly all muscles, regularly in the heart and tongue. 

 In sheep and pigs Sarcosporidia have been fotmd in great nttm- 

 bers in the mtiscular layer of the oesophagus, and secondarily 

 at the base of the tongue, muscles of the pharynx, cheeks, neck, 

 abdomen, thorax and other skeleton muscles ; cysts were also 

 being seen beneath the pleura and peritoneum. .\ccording to 

 the above investigators, .Sarcosporidia have also l)een mc" \\\\\\ 

 in other tissues than the sarcous tissue. ■:'/.;■., liver, kidne\. 



Spores of the Sarcosporidia have often been encountered in 

 blood smears, sometimes in great nmnbers. ever since the exami- 

 nation of blood diseases was commenced at the Laboratory, 

 Pretoria. 



Cow No. 2.403. that died of poverty at Armoedsvlakte, 



* Brooks. 



