2 PARASITIC AMCEB.E OF MAN. 



also of demonstrating their presence in association 

 with diarrhoea. Following Lambl in 1870, Lewis 

 and Cunningham found amcebse in the f eces of nearly 

 20 per cent, of cholera patients studied in India. 

 These amoeba? were described by them as large, 

 granular, vacuolated, amoeboid organisms, which mul- 

 tiplied by gemmation. They also found them in 

 patients who were suffering from other diseases and 

 in healthy individuals. These investigators did not 

 consider the parasites of any pathological significance, 

 but interpreted them as stages in the development 

 of flagellates. 



It was not until 1875 that a really accurate de- 

 scription was given of an amoeba occurring in man. 

 At that time Loesch, of St. Petersburg, had the good 

 fortune to observe a patient suffering from dysentery 

 in whose feces numerous amoeboid organisms were 

 constantly found. The history of this case shows 

 it to have been one of typical amoebic dysentery, 

 several relapses occurring at intervals, during which 

 the amoeba? were demonstrated in the feces. The 

 description of the organisms, as given by Loesch, 

 makes it evident that they were pathogenic in nature 

 and it is probable that he actually studied Entamceba 

 histolytica, the pathogenic species afterward differ- 

 entiated by Schaudinn. To this parasite he gave 

 the name "Amoeba coll." He was successful in 



