204 BEVIEW — TROPICAL MEDICINE, ETC. 



Tropical Attention may be directed to a paper on microscopical technique as applied in Tropical 



Medicine— Medicine, by Langeron.' A great deal of useful information is given, especially perhaps with 

 continual reference to the staining, mounting and preservation of parasitic vyorms. 



Mention must also be made of a new protozoal parasite, Sistoplasma capsulata, found by 

 Darling-* in a case from Panama. The parasite, which somewhat resembles the Leishman- 

 Donovan body, produces in the lungs a condition of pseudo-tuberculosis, and in the liver, 

 spleen and lymph nodes areas of focal necrosis. In the lung the majority of the bodies were 

 found in the interior of the epithilial cells lining the alveoli, which, detached and distended, 

 were often united in masses simulating tubercles. In the liver the parasites invade the 

 hepatic cells and the endothelial cells. In the spleen and bone marrow the majority are 

 free in the plasma. They may be found in the mononuclear leucocytes, as is the case with 

 those in the lymphatic glands. 



A second case of this curious infection has been encountered. 



Trypanosomiasis. On no subject connected with tropical medicine has such a 

 mass of literature recently accumulated as that dealing with the pathogenic and non- 

 pathogenic trypanosomes. The question, so far as human beings are concerned, has 

 already been discussed under Sleeping Sickness, while as regards the Sudan it is the subject 

 of a special article (Third Eeport). 



Hence it will not here be necessary to enter into the matter very fully especially as 

 Nabarro's^ translation of Laveran and Mesnil's classical work presents English readers with 

 a recent and very complete review of the whole question. Nearly every week, however, 

 something new is discovered, so that some reference to it is necessary. 



Fraser, ' in the Malay States, succeeded in definitely proving that Tabauidie were capable 

 of transmitting trypanosomes. This is of interest as, so far as one knows, this had only 

 been hitherto definitely proved in the case of Atylotm nemoralis and At. tomentosus in 

 Algeria. That this family of biting flies must frequently be concerned is, however, certain 

 from experience in India, Abyssinia, the Sinai peninsula and other regions where the tsetse 

 is wholly unknown. Hippoboscidm, of course, may sometimes be effective as in the case of 

 H. rufipes and T. theileri in South Africa. As to the implication of Stomoxys and other 

 blood-sucking insects, Nabarro's work must be consulted. 



The question of big game and " fly " will be found discussed in The Asian for 

 November 2nd, 1907, the article being reviewed in the Journal of Tropical Veterinarij Science 

 for May, 1908. 



Papers on Surra, in India, and in Indo-China, by Holmes and Schein respectively, the 

 former entering into the results of treatment with atoxyl, tartar-emetic, perchloride of 

 mercury, etc., appear in the Journal of Tropical Veterinanj Science for May, 1908, and are 

 likely to interest those working in these countries. 



Franga' * has recorded a curious observation : — 



Some blood from a frog, doubly infected by T. coslaium and T. rotritorium, was left between slide and cover, 

 sealed with paraffin. Four days after the author was astonished to find in place of the trypanosomes a large 

 number of small, very mobile flagellates, resembling spirochfetes and herpetomonads. The nucleus stains 

 deeply, and the blepharoplast is placed anteriorly, and gives origin to a very distinct flagellum. On repeating 

 the observation, the author finds that after two days a sort of dissociation of the costas of T. costntum takes 

 place, resulting in fusiform protoplasmic masses, more or less active, which ultimately separate, leaving behind 

 a residuum of amorphous protoplasm. A fiagellum is then developed at one end, by means of which they move 

 about in the blood, though the other ends are still adherent. When stained, these forms show a small nucleus 

 and a blepharoplast at the flagellate end. 



Besides these, distinctly culturable round forms were met with, and along with them trypanosomes preparing 

 to divide. In these latter there may be distinguished a series of nuclei and blepharoplasts placed in the 

 projecting ribs on the surface of the parasite, the projection gradually becoming pinched ofE and separating. 

 Lastly, in preparations where the blood was, to begin with, strongly oxygenated, small trypanosomes, with a 

 simple undulating membrane, which he regards as intermediate forms, were met with. 



^ Langeron, M. (March 20th, 1908), "Technique Microsoopique Appliquee a la Medecine Coloniale." Arch. 

 dc Parasit., Vol. XIL, No. 1. 



^ Darling, S. T. (April 28th, 1906). Journal of the American Malical Association. 



' Nabarro, D. (London, 1907), " Trypanosomes and Trypanosomiasis." 



* Fraser, H. (1906), Eep. Inst. Med. Res. Fed. Malay States. 



• Pran9a, C. (November 1st, 1907). Quoted in Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, p. 360, Vol. X. 



* jVi-ticle not consulted in the original. 



