PLASMODIUM MALARIJE. * 629 



The segmentation is regarded as a reproductive pro- 

 cess, and these small spherical bodies are believed to 

 be the spores which penetrate a new set of corpuscles, 

 and so begin a new cycle of development. The pig- 

 ment is discharged into the plasma, and partly taken 

 up by the leucocytes. It is finally lodged chiefly in 

 the spleen, liver, and lymphatic organs. The pres- 

 ence of the segmenting forms is invariably associated 

 with the paroxysm. On finding them in the blood it 

 can be predicted with certainty that a paroxysm is 

 imminent. In quotidian fever we have to deal with 

 two groups of tertian (or three groups of quartan) para- 

 sites, maturing on successive days; and the full-grown 

 segmenting forms of to-day's paroxysms and the half- 

 grown organisms of to-morrow's attack are to be found 

 in the blood. 



(b) QUARTAN PARASITE (see Plate II.). The early 

 forms within the red blood-corpuscles are amoeboid 

 bodies, similar to those of tertian fever. Soon, how- 

 ever, it is noticed that the pigment is different ; the 

 granules are larger and blacker, and the amoeboid 

 movements are not so active. In their growth the 

 parasites do not decolorize the corpuscles, which some- 

 times have a greenish, brassy look. From the sixty- 

 fourth to the seventy-second hour the amoebae have 

 reached their full development, occupying the greater 

 portion of the affected corpuscles ; but a thin rim of 

 colored stroma can usually be seen. Some of the cor- 

 puscles are completely filled by the parasites. The 

 cells, as a rule, appear shrunken rather than swollen. 

 Even at this stage a skilled observer can usually 

 recognize the quartan from the tertian organism. The 

 pigment granules then collect toward the centre, and 



