5o6 A HcBmatozoon 7n Human Blood. [part hi. 



marked haematuria, in more than twenty patients, several samples having been 

 obtained from nearly all of them: these microscopic Filariae have been present — in 

 either the urine or the blood, or in both — on every occasion. Of the persons thus 

 affected, five were ascertained to be of pure European parentage, but three of them 

 were born in this country ; the remainder were either East Indians or natives, in 

 about equal proportion. 



yy I regret that I lost opportunity of fully ascertaining the previous history of the 

 case in which the Hsematozoa were first detected. Having satisfied myself of the 

 identity of the worms previously observed in the urine and now in the blood, by 

 careful comparison of their form, structure and measurements, I returned on the 

 following morning to the Medical College for this purpose, but to my great disap- 

 pointment found that the man had been discharged, at his own request, an hour 

 before my arrival. He had, it appears, suffered from diarrhoea for about a fortnight, 

 which had become greatly aggravated a few days before his admission into hospital; 

 but nothing further could be learnt of the state of his health beyond that he had 

 complained of deafness, especially of one ear.* 



He had left no address, except that he was a blacksmith living in a large bazaar 

 in the neighbourhood; but as some three or four thousand persons are crowded into 

 this bazaar, a great proportion of whom are smiths in some form or another, thos 

 acquainted with the intricate geography of such places in the East will not be 

 surprised to learn that I spent a whole afternoon searching for him in vain. I then 

 enlisted the friendly aid of the police, but this also proved fruitless. 



A few days after this occurrence. Dr. D. B. Smith informed me that there was a 

 native woman in one of his wards suffering from hsematuria combined with a Chylous 

 condition of the urine, and very kindly forwarded a specimen of it on the following 

 morning; this urine as usual under such circumstances contained the worms in 

 abundance. 



I saw the woman on the evening of the same day, and learnt that the complaint 

 from which she was suffering had first made its appearance during the third month 

 of her last pregnancy, but that it had apparently passed off in about five or six 

 weeks. After the birth of this child, which was now five months old, the disease 

 came on again, she was unable to suckle her infant, the lacteal secretion being 

 altogether absent.f 



*One of the patients brought to my notice, who had suffered from Chyluria for several months, had 

 been in hospital for another complaint, and had actually left the hospital without having mentioned a word 

 about the condition of his urine. He stated afterwards that he did not like to do so as it was no great 

 inconvenience to him, and he imagined it was the temporary result of an " indiscretion." 



f A case is recorded by Drs. Mayer and Pearse as having occun-ed in the Madras Presidency, in which 

 a young East Indian woman had suffered after two pregnancies in this manner ; she continued to suckle 

 ' her children uninterruptedly, but on being advised on the last occasion to discontinue doing so, the urine 

 returned to its natural appearance. — Brit, and For. Med.-Chir. Review, Vol. IX., 1852, p. 511. 



