278 EXTRACTS AND ABSTRACTS FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS. 



sexes. In eight of these, six of 'which had Comedones, I found the ani- 

 malculse sometimes in unnaturally dilated, and at others in perfectly 

 natural, hair-follicles of the nose and immediately surrounding parts. 



I have not hitherto examined the hair-follicles of other parts of the 

 hody. The only bodies in which no animalcule were to be found, 

 were those of the two new-born infants. Dr. Troschel has found them 

 also in the integument of the upper lip of a woman. 



They exhibit differences, arising from age. The form which 1 

 have most commonly observed is 0.085 0.125 of a line long, and 

 perhaps 0.020 of a line broad. The head, which becomes narrower 

 in front, consists of two bodies (the palpi), placed on the sides, 

 and of a proboscis or snout lying between them. The palpi are com- 

 posed of two joints, of which the posterior is the longer. The an- 

 terior and shorter one appears to have small dentations at its free ex- 

 tremity. The snout, which occasionally projects beyond the palpi, and 

 sometimes stands back further than them, resembles a long tube. On 

 the snout there is placed an organ of apparently triangular form, the 

 very short base of which is situated at the posterior part of the snout ; 

 but its point hardly reaches quite to the anterior extremity of that part. 

 By using a stronger power, it is seen that these triangular organs, are 

 made up of two spiculae or bristles lying together. The head is joined 

 immediately to the thorax, which forms about a fourth of the length of 

 the body, and is somewhat wider than the upper part of the abdomen. 

 On each side of the thorax are placed four very short feet, of conical 

 form, the base of which arises from the lateral part of the thorax. Or- 

 dinarily these dark, transverse lines are seen on each leg, which appear 

 to indicate the presence of three distinct articulations. A high power, 

 shows at the extremity of each foot, three slender claws, one long and 

 two shorter. These claws are usually pointed, but sometimes appear to 

 be rounded. 



Figures corresponding to the above description are added to Dr. Si- 

 mon's paper, from which the animalcule he describes would appear to 

 be a minute Acaroid. We have examined the contents of the diseased 

 follicles in many subjects, both dead and living, but hitherto without suc- 

 cess in finding the animalcule described by Dr. Simon. E. M. J. 



Dr. Vogel on the Existence of Vegetable Parasites in Aphtha. Dr. 

 Vogel, like Schoenleiu, Griiby, Gibert, and others, has seen vegetable 

 parasites in different diseases of the human body ; lately he has found 

 them on the buccal cesophageal mucous membrane of an infant who 

 died of aphthae, fifteen days after birth. The mouth and oesophagus, 

 as far as the cardia, were covered with an aphthous eruption. On exa- 

 mining this under a microscope of 220 powers, true confervae, similar to 

 those seen and described by Schoenlein as occurring in Impetigo, were 

 distinctly visible. In these parasites, two elementary bodies were recog- 

 nised : 1st, Small round bodies, with and without a central nucleus. 

 Sometimes these were isolated, and sometimes they were grouped like 

 mould on yeast ; they had a diameter of from 1- 300th to 1- 500th of a 



