MALARIAL FEVERS 237 



was observing a living micro-organism. The same 

 was true of the extra-corpuscular flagellate bodies, 

 which may be seen to undergo very active move- 

 ments, as a result of which the red blood corpuscles 

 are violently displaced and the flagellate body itself 

 dashes about in the field of view. 



The first confirmation in this country of Laveran's 

 discovery of amoeboid parasites in the blood of ma- 

 larial-fever patients was made by myself in the path- 

 ological laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University 

 in March, 1886. In May, 1885, I had visited Rome as 

 a delegate to the International Sanitary Conference, 

 convened in that city under the auspices of the 

 Italian Government, and while there I visited the 

 Santo Spirito Hospital for the purpose of witnessing 

 a demonstration, by Drs. Marchiafava and Celli, of 

 that city, of the presence of \heplasmodium malarice 

 in the blood of persons suffering from intermittent 

 fever. Blood was drawn from the finger during the 

 febrile attack, from individuals to whom quinine had 

 not been administered. The demonstration was 

 entirely satisfactory, and no doubt was left in my 

 mind that I saw living parasitic micro-organisms in 

 the interior of red blood corpuscles obtained from 

 the circulation of malarial-fever patients. The mo- 

 tions were quite slow, and were manifested by a 

 gradual change of outline rather than by visible 



