EXTRACTS AND ABSTRACTS FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS. 277 



had only moderately compressed the object, under the glass, I perceived 

 motion in it. Since then I have repeated the observation so often, that 

 I am perfectly convinced of its correctness. 



I have also shown to many of our naturalists and physicians living 

 specimens, which have been recognized as animals by all who have seen 

 them. As the occurrence of hitherto unknown animalculse in the hu- 

 man skin, appeared to me a very remarkable circumstance, the objection 

 occurred to me, that these creatures might in some way become mixed 

 with the matter extracted from the Comedones, either from the water 

 employed or otherwise. It it true, the animals were invariably, closely en- 

 veloped by the fat cells, and became obvious when these were moderately 

 drawn apart. But this did not appear to me altogether sufficient. I 

 freed two perfectly clean slips of glass from all organic particles, by 

 heating them strongly over a spirit-lamp, and extracted, with a needle 

 cleaned in the same way, the contents of a Comedo from a living person, 

 and placed them, without admixture of water or anything else, between 

 the glasses, and still found the animalculse. That these had been situ- 

 ated, not on the outer surface of the skin, but within it, was readily 

 proved, by examination with a lens, which would have shown them, 

 had they been on the surface. Also, when I scraped the surface of the 

 skin with a knife, in persons whose Comedones contained animalculse, 

 and examined the matter thus removed under the microscope, I never 

 found any in it ; but these were always first apparent when the con- 

 tents of the follicles were expressed. Altogether, up to the present 

 time, I have found the animalculse in three living men, whose ages were 

 respectively 40, 30, and 22 years. All of them were healthy and very 

 clean persons. The Comedones were in all three situated on the nose. 

 In seven other living persons, in whom I had examined the contents of 

 the follicles, I was unable to find any of the animalculse. 



Having in the above manner rendered it certain, that a peculiar spe- 

 cies of parasite occurs in the integuments of living persons, I proceeded 

 to search for it in that of the dead body. I chose for this purpose six 

 bodies, four of which had very numerous Comedones in the nose, the 

 other two but few. I took thin laminae from the integument of that 

 part, made by perpendicular sections, and in such a way that in each of 

 them, some of the Comedones were present. On placing these lamellae 

 under the microscope, I remarked that the Comedones, which were evi- 

 dently dilated hair-follicles filled with adipose matter, almost all con- 

 tained animalculae, many of which were still alive. By compression, I 

 could also, most commonly, express these creatures through the open- 

 ing of the hair-follicle, together with the sebaceous matter. 



The examination of these portions of integument rendered it also clear 

 to me, that many of the apparently normal hair-follicles contained ani- 

 malculse. In order to procure a satisfactory view of the width and 

 other particulars of perfectly normal hair-follicle, I took thin slices from 

 the integument of the nose of two bodies, in which there was no appear- 

 ance of Comedones, and submitted them to the microscope, and found 

 also in this instance one or more of the animals in many hair-follicles. I 

 have altogether, up to the present time, examined ten bodies ; two of new 

 born infants, one of a child three years old, and seven of adults of both 



