1188 Journal of Applied Microscopy. 



Medical Notes. 



The Epilepsy Parasite. — The short paper published in the December num- 

 ber of the Journal does not represent the present status of this parasite, and in 

 justice to myself and the cause of science a little more should be said about it. 

 That a parasite, represented in the cut accompanying the December article, is 

 the cause of some forms of reflex epilepsy, is an undisputed fact. In the first 

 case at Chester, Illinois, the boy was cured by the permanent removal of the 

 parasite, and has remained cured. Three other cases are known to the writer 

 where the parasite was found. Only one of these three was known to the writer 

 in detail, and the removal of the parasites cured this case as in the first. 



The parasite was found to be new to science, and a description of it was pub- 

 lished in the September number, 1900, of the Canadian Entomologist, under the 

 name of Gastrophilus cpilcpsalis. In the September number of the Alkaloidal 

 Clinic of Chicago was published a more extended account of what was 

 known of the three cases that had been found then. This article treated the 

 subject more from a pathological standpoint than the article in the Canadian 

 Entomologist. Since that, one other case has been found in Kentucky, where the 

 parasite was connected with epilepsy. 



The parasite, instead of being a Nematoid worm, is the larva of a fly, related 

 to the horse bot-ily, Gastrophilus equi. The adult fly has not yet been recog- 

 nized, nor has it been ascertained definitely how it first gains entrance to the 

 system. In the investigation of this parasite, two other fly parasites infesting the 

 human intestines have been found by the writer that the books do not tell us 

 about, one a species of Eristalis, of the family Syrphidae, and the other a species 

 of Sarcop/iaga, of the family Sarcophagidae. 



I should like to get specimens of intestinal parasites, and have correspond- 

 ence relative to the effect of such parasites on the system of the host. 

 Carbondale, 111. G. H. FRENCH. 



Dr. Klett of Wiirtemberg has recently made important researches upon the 

 phenomena of anaerobic life. In his investigations on the production of spore- 

 less anthrax outside the living body, Dr. Klett found that if nitrogen is substituted 

 for air in the anaerobic conditions, the growth of the organism is not impaired, and 

 spores develop as freely as under ordinary conditions. If, however, hydrogen 

 is substituted in place of air, no spores develop providing the medium is such as 

 to permit intimate contact of gas with the culture. These results would indi- 

 cate that absence of oxygen is responsible for non-production of spores in anaero- 

 bic cultivation of anthrax. 



At a meeting of Pathologists and Bacteriologists in New York on January 

 26th, an American association was organized. The officers elected were : Dr. W. 

 T. Councilman, president ; Dr. H. C. Ernst, secretary ; Dr. Eugene Hodenpyl, 

 treasurer. The first regular meeting will be held in Boston on April 5th. 



