OliSliRVATlOXS ON FILAKKE. <» 



yet Ave have never once, any one of us, seen the slightest lengthen- 

 ing or shortening of the Filaria itself. And Dr. Magalhaes, per- 

 fectly ready to show the involucruni, confesses his inability to de- 

 monstrate the lengthening and shortening of the Filaria. I can, 

 therefore, only repeat what I said in my former paper : — " Either 

 Dr. Lewis, having a preconceived idea that the Filaria exists inside 

 a closed sac, and seeing occasionally, as he supposed, half of that 

 sac empty, inferred, but did not observe, the shortening of which he 

 speaks — that shortening being, in fact, an inference and not an 

 observation — or he is there in India observing a Filaria altogether 

 different from ours here in Bahia." 



Extract from a Paper by Dr. Magalhaes, of Rio Janeiro, on 

 THE Origin of the Involucrum of Filaria sanguinis hominis. 



" In my preceding article I had said that if Dr. Paterson and I 

 lived in the same town, it might, perhaps, be possible for me to 

 show him on which side lay the truth ; that is, prove to him that 

 the involucrum of the Filaria is constituted by a true membrane, and 

 not by coagulated fibrine. More exacting, Dr. Paterson replies 

 that if I could ensure showing him the palpable changes in the 

 length of the Filaria, he should almost feel tempted to come to Eio 

 de Janeiro on purpose. If Dr. Paterson puts off his coming to this 

 city till I can assure him of what he thus desires, I fear that Kio de 

 Janeiro will not have the pleasure of welcoming such an illustrious 

 guest ; as the collaborator of the ' Gazeta-Medica ' must be aware 

 that, if in the course of innumerable repetitions of minute and pro- 

 longed observations, both in Bahia and in Rio de Janeiro, it was 

 only on some rare occasions that I succeeded in observing and 

 demonstrating the movements oi' shortening and lengthening, I 

 could not compromise myself to show him, at any given time, such 

 histological phenomenon, the manifestation of which I have not the 

 power of bringing about at will. 



" If in all the FilaricB Wuchereri such movements were clearly 

 manifested, then, assuredly, the observation of the sheath would not 

 be the difficult matter it is, nor would it have escaped the search of 

 so many observers." 



Final Note by the President. 

 I am sorry such savans as Drs. Paterson and Magalhaes should 



