III. 

 The Parasites of Malarial Fevers.' 



No one to whose lot it may fall to have to travel alone in tropical 

 countries can afford to neglect the study of the various diseases 

 there prevalent. This is necessary not only for self-protection and 

 self-cure, but for sake of the influence that may be thus acquired 

 over the natives by a rapid cure or sudden soothing of pain. Of all 

 the diseases which it is necessary for such a one to consider, there 

 are none more important than those of that puzzling series grouped 

 together as malaria. For long it was thought that many ailments 

 included under this name had no connection, for their causes were 

 quite unknown. During the last fifteen years, however, great advances 

 in the knowledge of the subject have been made. England has taken 

 but a very small share in this, as the disease is not one often 

 met with in ordinary British practice. It is true that in the lower 

 parts of the eastern counties there is a good deal of a malarial ague. 

 A " West Coast " captain recently remarked that the malaria on parts 

 of the Essex coast is as bad as it is anywhere in Africa ; but this 

 need not be taken seriously, and only serves as a further illustration 

 of the fact that a West Coast captain will say anything. In the 

 tropics, on the other hand, the disease is one of the most important, 

 but the conditions for its study are not as favourable as might be 

 wished. In Italy, however, both the disease and skilled investigators 

 occur together. There malaria is so prevalent and assumes such a 

 pernicious type, that it has been a matter of study since the earliest 

 days of medical science. Thus, even in the time of Hippocrates, so 

 closely had it been watched that the fevers were then divided into 

 two classes. 



The literature of recent work upon the subject is very scattered, 

 but a general sketch of the whole subject has been given in two 

 monographs, of which a translation has been issued by the New 

 Sydenham Society as the 150th volume in its series. These treat the 

 subject from somewhat different points of view. The first is rather 



1 Two Monographs on Malaria and the Parasites of Malarial Fevers. New Syden- 

 ham Society. 8vo. Pp. xxvi. and 428, six plates, three charts. London, 1894. I. — "On 

 Summer-Autumn Malarial Fevers." By E. Marchiafava and A. Bignami. Trans- 

 lated from the Italian by J. Harry Thompson. II. — "The Malarial Parasites." 

 A description based upon observations made by the author and by other observers. 

 By Julius Mannaberg. Translated by R. W. Felkin, 



O 2 



