200 PARASITES OF MAN 



rally accepted as true ; and, as in the case of Jenner's immortal 

 discovery, there will always remain a certain number of peculiar 

 people who show themselves hostile to every advance in science. 

 Dr Manson may take comfort from this consideration, and rest 

 assured that the value of his discovery is quite unaffected by 

 the opposition referred to. 



Since I communicated the results obtained by Manson, 

 Lewis, myself, and others to the Linnean Society, an even 

 more exhaustive summary of the facts has been published 

 by Dr Bourel-Ronciere, in the ' Archives de Medecine Navale/ 

 The distinguished author does full justice to the writings 

 of English helminthologists, and dwells, with emphasis, upon 

 the finds and interpretations of Lewis, Manson, and Bancroft. 

 Incidentally, also, he comments upon Sir Joseph Fayrer's early 

 recognition of the etiological identity of haemato-chyluria and 

 elephantiasis, on other than helminthic grounds. The frequent 

 concurrence of the two affections had especially struck Sir J. 

 Fayrer as pointing to a probable common origin. He had also 

 surmised that the disorders might be due to parasites. 



Dr Bourel-E-onciere, alike with the caution, precision, and 

 logical reasoning of a cultured savant, concludes his elabo- 

 rate review in the following terms : " There are the facts. 

 Certainly, many points remain obscure, many problems await a 

 solution, and the last word has not been said on the actual part 

 which the parasite plays in the pathogenesis of the affections 

 above enumerated its mode of action, the importance of its 

 role, the extent of its pathological domain, the habitat of its 

 progenitors, their identity, and so forth. All these questions 

 will only be elucidated by necroscopic researches, which at 

 present remain absolutely wanting." 



" However, notwithstanding the doubts which hover over the 

 future value of these curious discoveries, it is difficult not to 

 recognise their importance in' the study of certain tropical 

 diseases which up to the present time have been attributed to 

 vague and undetermined causes haemato-chyluria and ele- 

 phantoid affections principally. Apart from the interest which 

 attaches to the natural history of the nematoids, they raise, in 

 effect, etiological and prophylactic questions, the extreme im- 

 portance of which we believe it would be needless to demon- 

 strate. It is greatly to be desired that the researches should 

 be taken up in other parts of the globe, where endemicity and 

 perhaps greater facilities for necroscopic investigation would 



