PROTOZOA 279 



Dressier found in the human liver a number of pea-shaped 

 bodies, the milky contents (breisubstanz) of which displayed a 

 multitude of the characteristic corpuscular elements referred 

 to. These particles, already considered as equivalent to, if not 

 identical with, the so-called pseudo-navicellae of gregarinse, were 

 soon encountered by a variety of independent observers. Thus, 

 Leuckart noticed these bodies in various animals ; but with 

 caution remarked : " Concerning the nature of these forma- 

 tions I will not decide. To be candid, however, it appears to 

 me to be in no way made out whether the psorospermiae are to 

 be considered as the result of a special animal development, 

 whether they, like pseudo-navicellae, are the nuclei of gregari- 

 niform productions, or whether they are the final products of 

 pathological metamorphosis.'" Leuckart found these organisms 

 in the intestines of a trichinised dog, also in a sheep and pig 

 fed with Trichinae. He also found them in the muscles of 

 another pig fed with psorosperms, and likewise in the liver of 

 various rabbits. He remarks that in swine these parasites are 

 more abundant than measles. They were present in five of 

 eighteen pigs, and also in two out of four sheep, whose flesh 

 was especially examined. The observations of Lindemann at 

 Nischney-Novgorod are particularly interesting. This medical 

 officer discovered psorospermial sacs attached to the hair of a 

 girl who was being treated in hospital for chlorosis. The sacs 

 in question bore close resemblance to the bodies which we 

 found in abundance in diseased and healthy cattle. It would 

 further appear, from Lindemann's observations, that the affec- 

 tion is not very uncommon amongst the Russian peasants. 



In connection with and attached to the same parasitically 

 affected hairs Lindemann also noticed several movable grega- 

 rinae ; and partly from this circumstance he was led to believe 

 in the existence of a genetic relation subsisting between the two 

 kinds of bodies. He further expressed his conviction that the 

 people contracted the disease by washing themselves with water 

 in which gregarinae abounded. Lindemann moreover refers to 

 Lebert as having noticed similar parasites in a case of favus, 

 and concludes that these organisms are of a vegetable nature. 

 His opinion, though not shared by the majority of parasitologists, 

 is nevertheless supported by the views of Robin, Leydig, and 

 others. Of still higher interest are the observations of Linde- 

 mann respecting the occurrence of psorospermiae in the capsule 

 of the kidney of a hospital patient who died with Bright's 



