COCCIDIUM OV1FORME 255 



further in the rabbit's liver, but outside the animal's body, and in contact 

 with moisture, the plasma of the cell divides into four oval mother spores, 

 each of which again divides into two sickle-formed daughter spores. 

 When these sickle-formed spores gain entrance to an animal's stomach, 

 the membrane of the mother spores is dissolved by the gastric juice, the 

 free spores entering the intestines and ultimately the gall-ducts. All 

 the parasites in an affected liver do not complete the above cycle of 

 development, but sporulate during their growth in the epithelial cells, 

 exhibiting 4 to 50 sickle-formed nucleus-containing bodies, which finally 

 cause a general disease of the liver. White particles are sometimes 

 found floating in the bile, consisting of masses of coccidia, and, according 

 to Rivolta, the parasite sometimes develops in the epithelium of the 

 gall-bladder. 



Staining Reactions. The parasite stains well with haematoxylin 

 and eosin in sections and cover-glass specimens. The author obtained 

 some specimens from a Jack-rabbit's liver in California in 1895, which 

 exhibited the same reactions towards Ehrlich's aniline water fuchsin as 

 the bacillus of tuberculosis. (See Photomicrograph of same, Fig. 97 ; 

 for Photomicrograph of section of the same liver, showing the Coccidia 

 unstained, see Fig. 98.) 



According to Leuckart, the intestinal species is known as Coccidium 

 perforans, but that it is a distinct species is not exactly proven, as both 

 forms frequently coexist in the same host, the difference probably arising 

 from the different positions of the parasites in the affected animals. 



In man, cases of coccidia are recorded in the liver, kidneys, and 

 pleural exudate. 



Rivolta also mentions the presence, along with the Coccidium 

 oviforme in the rabbit's liver, of other coccidia belonging to the species 

 Elimeria falciformis. 



PLASMODIUM MALARLE. 



This parasite was discovered in the blood of malarial patients by 

 Laveran in 1882. 



Microscopical Appearances. The young forms of the parasite 

 are about 1 to 2 /i in size, colourless and motile ; in stained specimens 

 small nuclei are visible. The parasites either cling to the outside of 

 the blood-corpuscles, or enter the interior of the same. The parasites 

 developing in the interior of the red blood-corpuscles, form at the 

 expense of the haemoglobin, or brown or black granular pigment. At 

 the height of its growth the parasite may fill the whole blood-cell ; and 

 in this condition, when it sporulates, the spores rupture the remains of 

 the blood discs, thus liberating themselves. 



