112 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The Balantidium is quite actively motile, but soon loses its 

 motility if exposed to cold, acids, or disinfectants. Solutions of 

 quinine, creolin, or other similar agents, apparently soon kill it 

 unless it be encysted or protected by the tissues. 



These paramoecia are found normally in the faeces of swine 

 (Leuckhart, Stiles). In man it is present only when associated 

 with diarrhoea or other intestinal disease (Doplein). 



The pathogenicity of this infusorium is still in question. Be- 

 yond doubt it may be considered as a normal inhabitant of the 

 intestine of the hog, as stated by Leuckhart and Salmon, but in 

 other animals its innocence is not as clear. As mentioned above, 

 it has been found in the human subject only when associated 

 with diseases of the intestine, particularly after cholera or 

 typhoid, and associated with the Amoeba coli in tropical dysen- 

 tery. I am informed that Strong, of the army, now Director 

 of the Pathological Laboratory at Manila, states that it is un- 

 doubtedly a pathogenetic factor in the production of the dysen- 

 teries prevalent in the Philippines. The observations of this 

 scientist should receive the most respectful attention on account 

 of the great facilities afforded him for the study of diseases of 

 this class and because of his previous accurate and careful work. 



Experiments conducted by us seem to demonstrate that feed- 

 ing by the stomach, in the lower simians, or injecting into the 

 colon of faeces rich in living Balantidium coli, will not produce 

 the disease in certain members of the monkey family. Unfort- 

 unately for the Zoological Park, however, our experience has 

 demonstrated beyond doubt that the parasite is pathogenic to 

 the orang and the chimpanzee. 



It should be noted, as pointed out by Dr. Miller, that all the 

 animals fell sick at the same time. Throughout the entire epi- 

 demic, after routine microscopic examinations of the stools had 

 been instituted, it was clearly shown that the degree of diarrhoea 

 present and the severity of the general symptoms corresponded 

 with the number and activity of the parasites found in the faeces. 



Disinfectant enema caused a retardation or cessation of move- 

 ment in the organism, and was followed by amelioration of the 

 symptoms. 



Concerning the lesions produced by the Balantidium coli in 

 the higher primates, I can perhaps best illustrate from the some- 

 what voluminous protocols of the examinations conducted upon 

 the orangs and chimpanzee, which died from the disease. 



