190 AMCEBA COLL 



had often drunk impure and muddy water ; but I am not at all in- 

 clined to identify his parasite with the above free-living form, for, in 

 spite of much resemblance, there are also many differences (in size 

 and behaviour of the vacuoles) between them. 



The disease of the patient had, on the whole, the appearance 

 of an intense and persistent dysentery, and on post mortem ex- 

 amination the large intestine was seen to be violently inflamed, and 

 in some places, especially in the lower regions, ulcerated. To the 

 important medical question whether the parasite stands in a direct 

 causal relation to the disease or not, our author gives an unreserved 

 affirmative answer. Losch would at least insist that the Amcebw 

 aggravate the inflammation, and do not allow the ulcers to heal. He 

 supports his opinion partly by referring to the immense number of 

 the Amoebae, which, by their uninterrupted movements, could not but 

 cause a mechanical irritation of the diseased mucous membrane, partly 

 by referring to the fact that during the whole course of the illness 

 there was an undeniable relation between the number of the parasites 

 and the intensity of the inflammation. Further, only the systematic 

 use of quinine enemas, 1 which caused the parasites for a time almost 

 wholly to disappear, had any effect in alleviating the malady. Pleurisy 

 afterwards set in, followed by pneumonia, and death finally super- 

 vened, with all the phenomena of complete anaemia and exhaustion ; 

 and it was only in these last stages that the Amcebce wholly disap- 

 peared, and the diarrhoea consequently ceased. 



The convincing argument in favour of Losch's opinion is the result 

 of an experiment which he made. In order to get some direct evi- 

 dence of the pathological import of these parasites he injected three 

 dogs per os et anum with from one to two ounces of fresh stools con- 

 taining these Amoebae, and repeated the injection on three successive 

 days. A fourth dog was similarly treated after an intense intestinal 

 inflammation had been produced by enemas of croton oil This was 

 meant to show whether the Amoebae, were able to aggravate an inflam- 

 mation already existing. 



Only one of the experiments gave any positive results. One of 

 the first three dogs, after recovering from the digestive disorder 

 (vomiting and diarrhoea) which first appeared, seemed to be perfectly 

 healthy ; but eight days after the last injection a small mucous mass 

 of about the size of a pea, and a bloody colour, was found in the 

 otherwise normal excrement, and this on microscopic examination 

 exhibited a great number of living Amoebae. In the course of the 

 next few days the number of Amcebce thus voided rapidly increased, 



1 According to the experimental result of Binz, corroborated, indeed, by the above 

 case, quinine is an efficient poison for organisms consisting of simple protoplasm. 



