lOO THE AMOEBAE LIVING IN MAN 



have found that emetine has a specific action upon E. gingivalis, and 

 they therefore advocated the administration of this drug in pyorrhoea. 

 It will be sufficient to note here that these claims have never been sub- 

 stantiated, and that many workers have now found that emetine is not a 

 specific cure for pyorrhoea or amoebic infections of the mouth. 

 Goodrich and Moseley (1916), Mendel (1916), and others, have failed to 

 observe any effects produced upon £. gingivalis by giving emetine to its 

 host. Lynch (1915), who apparently believes in emetine as a specific for 

 " oral endamebiasis," cites a number of cases in which it appears to have 

 been useless. It thus seems very probable that emetine has no specific 

 action upon £. gingivalis, and that the original claims were based upon 

 insufficient evidence. No other substance has, up to the present, been 

 regarded as a specific for infections with this amoeba. 



