114 The Philippine Journal of Science 



The view that the toxic symptoms in helminthiasis are due 

 to the absorption by the host of poisonous substances elaborated 

 by parasites has been advanced by a number of investigators, 

 who have based their conclusions on the toxic effects produced 

 in laboratory animals following injection with extracts of 

 parasitic worms. So far as I am aware, the experiments de- 

 scribed in this paper afford more conclusive evidence than has 

 yet been offered in favor of a toxaemia in a specific parasitic 

 disease because not only were extracts of Ascaris vitolorum found 

 to be toxic, but also the reactions provoked in susceptible labora- 

 tory animals were similar to the symptoms exhibited by nor- 

 mally infested calves. 



SUMMARY 



1. Physiological salt solution extracts of Ascaris vitolorum 

 were found to be toxic to guinea pigs and rats, and nontoxic 

 to frogs and to a turtle. 



2. Toxic symptoms were provoked in susceptible animals by 

 injecting them intraperitoneally with extracts of this worm and 

 in one case by administering an extract by mouth. In one 

 experiment an extract was still toxic after having been boiled. 



3. The symptoms exhibited by susceptible animals injected 

 with extracts of Ascaris vitolorum were heightened excitability, 

 followed by a state of dullness and prostration that led to fatal 

 termination in several instances. 



4. There was a decided similarity in symptoms exhibited by 

 calves normally parasitized by Ascaris vitolorum to those pro- 

 voked in susceptible animals to which extracts of that para- 

 site were administered. 



5. The data presented in this paper afford more-conclusive 

 evidence in favor of a chemical pathology in a specific helmin- 

 thic disease than has been offered heretofore. 



