CULTIVATION OF PARASITIC AMGEBJE. 61 



cessful in other regions are employed, is sufficient 

 proof that the parasitic amoebae of man have not been 

 cultivated. In no other way can we explain the suc- 

 cessful results attending the cultivation of amoebae in 

 the tropics and the unsuccessful results in temperate 

 regions even though material be used from patients 

 heavily infected with Entamoeba histolytica, or En- 

 tamoeba coli. 



A review of the literature on the subject and of 

 the methods which have been used in cultivating 

 amoebaB is here given. I do not believe that any of the 

 methods recommended for cultivation have been suc- 

 cessful so far as the parasitic species of man are con- 

 cerned, but modifications of them may prove of 

 service in further research work upon these para- 

 sites, while the study of cultures of free-living species 

 is of service in comparative morphology. 



Cunningham in 1879, and Grassi in 1882, claimed 

 to have been able to cultivate dysentery amoebae and 

 stated that such cultures produced dysentery in cats. 



In 1890, Kartulis attempted to cultivate amoeba? 

 from the intestinal discharges of cases of dysentery 

 occurring in Egypt and stated that he obtained pure 

 cultures in sterile straw infusion and in feces diluted 

 with alkaline bouillon. Both his observations and 

 those of Cunningham and Grassi are now discredited 

 so far as the cultivation of the parasitic species of man 

 is concerned. 



