5IO A Hcematozoon in Human Blood. [part hi. 



she was living a few miles from Calcutta — at Hooghly. It continued for six months 

 and in her opinion was cured by taking an infusion of the seed of an aromatic plant used 

 by the natives for flavouring curries, called " kahlajeera" a species of Nigella (sativa ?). 



In the following year she was again confined, but the symptoms did not return ; 

 in 1859, whilst residing at Rajshahye, the disease reappeared. She was then neither 

 pregnant nor nursing. In three and a half months the symptoms subsided, the above- 

 named native remedy having been administered as before. 



Since this period she has given birth to two more children, the last child having 

 been born in 1864 ; but no symptoms of her complaint had appeared until within a few 

 days of her admission into Dr. Smith's ward, when they came on suddenly after a lapse 

 of eight years. During the first three weeks of her stay in hospital no marked alteration 

 in her condition was observed, neither for better nor for worse — Hsematozoa were per- 

 sistently present in her blood, no matter from what portion of her body the fluid was 

 obtained ; they were also present in the urine. 



Dr. Smith tried muriate of iron, gallic acid, as well as numerous other remedial 

 agents, mineral and vegetable, not omitting the " kahlajeera," in which she had much 

 faith ; but none of them seemed to produce the slightest effect. The proportion of 

 blood in the urine increased, painful diarrhoea set in, with rapid emaciation, and she 

 died about six weeks after her admission. 



It was with considerable difficulty that permission was obtained to make a post- 

 mortem examination, which had moreover to be so hurriedly performed, that Dr. 

 McConnell, the Professor of Pathology, was unable to give me notice; but he has 

 most kindly placed at my disposal the careful notes which he made of the appearances 

 presented by the various viscera (fourteen hours after death), a summary of which 

 is here given. 



The brain was soft and somewhat anaemic ; otherwise there was nothing special 

 to be observed in its structure, nor in its ventricles. The right side of the heart 

 contained small semi-decolorised clots, as also did the left auricle, but the ventricle 

 was empty. There was some thickening of the mitral valve, and slight, irregular 

 thickening of the lining membrane of the aorta ; further than this there seemed to 

 be nothing abnormal. The mucous surface of the trachea and bronchi appeared to be 

 healthy. Scattered throughout the whole of the right lung were numerous specks 

 of what appeared to be softening tubercule, each about the size of a pea ; in addition 

 to which two circumscribed cavities, one of the size of a hen's egg, the other about 

 half that size, were found in the substance of the middle lobe ; each cavity was lined 

 by a distinct ." pyogenic membrane " and contained thick muco-pus. The left lung 

 contained a few small, irregularly distributed nodules of softening tuberculous matter, 

 and one cavity, the size of a pigeon's egg, filled with muco-pus. The weight of the right 

 lung was 5 ounces and six drachms, and that of the left was 8 ounces and 4 drachms. 



The mucous membrane of the stomach was of a bright pink colour, not altered in 



