6 Objects Seen in Cholera Evacuations. [part i. 



writers, that cholera was generated by the consumption of rice in a diseased condition. 

 The author has since modified his views as to the species of fungus in question, but 

 retains the opinion that, whatever the fungus may be called, it closely corresponds 

 with the fungus observed to develop in soil contaminated with choleraic discharges. 

 It will now be seen that Professor Hallier believes that he has established an organic 

 connection between the two kinds of " cysts," "• spores," and " micrococcus." 



The questions naturally arise — (1) Are there such bodies in the choleraic discharge 

 examined in India ? (2) What are they ? and (3) Are they found under similar 

 circumstances elsewhere ? 



SECTION I.—" CYSTS." 



Dr. Hallier appears to have derived the first idea of cholera cysts from the 

 engravings of the " cholera bodies " of Drs. Swayne, Brittan, and Budd, in the year 

 1849, as reproduced in M. Robin's work on Vegetable Parasites* For, after stating 

 that they are undoubtedly of the same nature, judging from the drawings, of those 

 seen by him, a severe reproof is administered to the French author for the summary 

 way in which he disposed of the " cysts " of the Bristol doctors. As these " cysts " 

 have been the subject of discussion for more than twenty years, without any definite 

 conclusion as to their real nature having been attained, a few observations concerning 

 them may not be uninteresting in illustration of their natural history. In September 

 1849, Dr. Brittan published a description of the bodies observed by him, termed 

 "annular bodies," in the London Medical Gazette; this term comprising bodies 

 varying considerably in size and appearance — large masses corresponding to Hallier's 

 cyst, and smaller bodies which probably correspond to Hallier's spores. Mr. Brittan 

 did not attempt any cultivation so as to connect the one class with the other, but 

 inferred that they were the same in diiferent stages of development, because he had 

 observed something like a connection between the size with the severity and duration 

 of the disease. The late Professor Quekett, of the Royal College of Surgeons, coin- 

 cided with him in the belief that they were different stages of the same body, and of 

 a fungoid nature. Mr. Swayne also announced that he had discovered certain cyst-like 

 bodies which were named " cholera-cells," drawings and descriptions of which he 

 published in the Lancet about the same time as Mr. Brittan. He also believed 

 that the larger and smaller bodies figured were mere stages in the development of 

 the same thing. Dr. Budd believed that he found similar bodies in the water of 

 tainted districts, and designated them '' cholera fungi." These announcements caused 

 considerable excitement at the time, which was somewhat lessened when Mr. Busk 

 announced that the bodies in the sample received by him were a species of uredo 

 (Uredo segetum), the bunt of wheat, illustrating his statement by the removal of 

 bodies like the one in question from a loaf of ordinary brown bread. The College of 

 Physicians appointed a Committee of Inquiry, and Drs. Baly and Grull drew up a 



* " Histoire Naturelle des Vegetaux Parasites." Atlas, PL XII., Figs. 4, 5. 



