32 THE ANIMAL PARASITES OF MAN 



to Grassi, 1 the propagation is effected by amoebae, the protoplasm 

 of which is still entire, but which probably will divide later. 

 Calandruccio 2 succeeded in infecting himself by swallowing encysted 

 intestinal amoebae ; twelve days after ingestion amoebae appeared in 

 his faeces. Quincke and Roos obtained the same result in experi- 

 ments on cats, whereas the transmission by means of non-encysted 

 amoebae proved negative. 



Amoebae have frequently been seen in the fasces evacuated by healthy 

 persons and in those of patients suffering from the most varied intestinal 

 disorders. They were first discovered by LambP at Prague in 1859, in 

 the evacuations of a child suffering from dysentery, but this discovery was 

 of little value in itself, as the author stated that he had also found Dimugia 

 and Arcella. At a later date Lewis' and Cunningham 5 observed amoeboid 

 organisms in the stools of patients suffering from cholera and other diseases. 

 We owe the first detailed description and the determination of the species to 

 Losch, who found amoebae in great numbers, as well as pus and blood 

 corpuscles, in the stools of a patient in St. Petersburg who exhibited 

 dysenteric symptoms (fig. i). Losch was also the first observer who 

 sought to confirm the pathogenic action of intestinal amoebae by means 

 of experiment. He introduced small quantities of faeces containing amoebae 

 into four dogs per os et anum,. and eighteen days later, at the autopsy of 

 one of the animals that had already passed sanguineous masses of mucus 

 with amoebae soon after the experiment, he found several ulcers in the 

 rectum containing numerous amoebae. As the three other dogs remained 

 healthy, Losch expressed the opinion that the amoebae should not be 

 regarded as a cause of disease, but that probably they prevented the 

 healing of intestinal ulcers previously present, thus increasing the original 

 inflammatory conditions. 



The occurrence of intestinal amoebae in man has been reported from a 

 great many regions. We hear of them in Germany (Pfeiffer, Schuberg, 

 Behla, Quincke and Roos, Roemer, Boas, Jaeger), in Austria (Cahen, Epstein, 

 Manner, Hlava, Sorgo), in Russia (Losch, Massiutin, Ucke), in Roumania 

 (Babes and Zigura), in Bosnia (Schardinger), in Greece (Kartulis), in Italy 

 (Grassi, Calandruccio, Fenoglio, Casagrandi and Barbagallo, Vivaldi), in 

 France (Peyrot and Roger), in Algeria (Gasser), in Egypt (Sonsino, Kartulis, 

 Koch, Kruse and Pasquale), in Abyssinia (Grassi), in India (Lewis, Cunning- 

 ham, Harold, Manson, Ross), in Hong Kong (Normand), in Tonquin 

 (Laveran), in the Philippines (Flexner), in Sumatra (Kovacs), in Saghalian 



1 Grassi, B., " Protoz. paras, e spec, quelli che sono nelV uomo " (Gazz. med. ital.- 

 lomb, 1879, No. 45); " Int. ad ale. prot. endop." (Atti soc. ital. sc. nat., 1882, xxiv., 

 p. i) ; " Morf. e sist. di ale. prot. par." (Atti Ace. Lincei Rend, iv., i, p. 5) ; " Signif. 

 patol. d. prot. par. dell' uomo " (ibid., p. 83). 



2 Calandruccio, " Anim. par, dell' uomo in Sicilia " (Att. Ace. Gioen., 1890, ii., p. 95). 



3 Lambl, A. d. Franz- Josephs-Kinder spit. i. Prag., 1860, i., p. 362. 



4 Lewis, Sixth Ann. Rep. San. Comm. Government of India, Calcutta, 1870. 



5 Cunningham, D., Seventh Ann. Rep. San. Comm. Gov. of India, Calcutta, 1870. 



8 Losch, F., " Massenh. Entw. v. Amceb. i. Dickdarm" (Virchow's Arch. f. Path., 

 1875, Ixv., p. 196). 



