SPIROC'H.ETOSIS OF SUDANESE FOWLS 
49 
diminished in number while this improvement was maintained. .\t least this was the 
impression derived from a daily examination of the peripheral blood. There can ho no doubt 
that towards the end of life a marked increase in the number of bodies took ])lace, and this was 
associated with the remarkable fall in temperature already recorded. The bodies were for the 
most part spherical and of the “ring” form, but at difl'erent times all those presented in Fig. 8 
were to be seen. Towards the end of the illness there were appearances suggesting a breaking 
up of the spherical bodies into tiny “ spores,” and a discharge of these granules from the 
corpuscles. It has to be noted that these bodies do not, as a rule, take on what may be 
termed the classical staining so characteristic of haematozoa, coloured by one of the 
Eomanowsky methods. The typical blue colour seen in Babesia and the malarial parasite is 
rarely presented, though I have seen something approaching it in the case of piroplasma-like 
forms. The staining reaction rather resembles that of the corpuscular nuclei, though it is not 
quite the same, and in many cases, as indicated, there are appearances which suggest the 
presence of chromatin occurring either as a single dot at the pointed end of a Hame-shaped 
form or as a series of dots arranged, usually at fairly definite intervals, round a spherical or 
heptagon-shaped body; or sometimes, but rarely, scattered irregularly about a spherical form, 
the majority being ranged round its periphery. By artificial light these dots show the true 
chromatin-red colour. In addition to the chromatin dots there are masses and streaks of the 
same material, for the most part occurring at the periphery of the spherical forms or at 
the rounded and thicker end of the tiny flame-shaped forms. Now and then the whole appear¬ 
ance was not at all unlike that presented by some of the smaller piroplasmata. The infected 
red corpuscles do not as a rule present any abnormal appearance, but some degree of 
polychromatophilia is common in the blood. 
On employing Ruge’s' modification of Ross’s method for malarial parasites, and thereby 
dissolving out the luBmoglohin from the corpuscles, the bodies can be seen lying near the 
nuclei, and it is noticeable in many cases that they have taken on the stain much more 
intensely than the nuclei. Their shaj)e and general appearance is well shown by this method 
(Fig. 8, B), a fact which was regarded as tending to show that they were true blood parasites. 
Indeed, so far as colour went, they resembled the hue taken on by the central core of 
spirochtetes. That these bodies are really situated within the substance of the corpuscles 
there can be no doubt. Careful focussing shows tbem, at least as a rule, not to be epi- 
corpuscular, and this is also seen to be the case when the fresh blood is examined. 
Fresh films .— On making a good film of the blood these bodies are readily recognised if 
a little cai’e is taken in discriminating them from free leucocyte granules, some of those forms 
mentioned by Nuttall and Graham-Smith^ in their latest paper on Canine Piroplasmosis and 
certain blood appearances classed under the term haemiconia. Some experience, however, 
in this class of work is essential. In freshly shed blood the bodies are invariably of a 
spherical form, and look not unlike young malarial parasites. Bach body appears of a lighter 
colour than the corpuscle containing it, has a well-defined margin, and presents a faintly 
granular aspect. It focusses with the corpuscle, and is apparently embedded in the exti'a- 
nuclear substance of the latter. There is absolutely no sign of pigment. For a long time 
I looked in vain for true motility, both at room temperature and when using either a warm 
stage or a Nuttall’s thermostat at 108° F. The nearest approach to it was a slight and almost 
imperceptible vibration. Recently, however, I saw an undoubted “ body ” move slowly and 
steadily almost completely round its corpuscle, and then come to rest close to the point 
Morphology 
Encloglobular 
bodies in the 
fresh blood 
■Motility 
' Huge, R. (March 19th, lOOH), “Fur Erleichterung der Mikroskopischen Malaria-Diagnose.” Drill, 
Woch., Vol. XXIX. 
- Nuttall, G. H. F., and Graham-Smith, G. S. (October, 1900), “ Canine Piroplasmo.sis.” Journal of 
Hygiene, Vol. VI., pp. .586-650. 
