794 PATHOGENIC PROTOZOA 



thelioma of birds, hoof and mouth disease, jaundice of silk worms 

 and others. The delicate organisms are first noticed as fine dots of 

 chromatin lying in the cytoplasm of the infected cell (the so-called 

 elementary bodies). When larger they are called initial bodies and 

 are believed to set up a reaction in the cell, which causes an extru- 

 sion of the plastin from the nucleus; this envelops the initial bodies 

 like a mantle, hence the name "chlamydozoa," from the Greek stem 

 "chlamys," meaning mantle. Inside of this covering they multiply, 

 in some instances invading the nucleus. 



Their very existence is a matter of dispute, yet at the present time 

 the consensus of belief is that they constitute a group of parasites 

 and are not merely forms of cell inclusions or degenerations. 



Nogouchi 1 has shown that in trachoma these organisms may be 

 found alone without any other pathogenic organisms being present, 

 and that they may be transferred to the conjunctiva of the baboon 

 and higher apes, producing* a mild form of the disease. Smears of 

 the exudate, taken from the infected animals and stained with Giemsa, 

 show cell inclusions without the presence of bacteria. 



i Nogouchi, Jour. Exp. Med., N. Y., 1915, xxii, 304. 



