34 - Henry B. Ward 



was in case 19 where the worm was removed from the orbit of 

 a negress said to belong to the Mina race of Brazil. It must 

 be noted that at best the determination of the species in these 

 twenty cases is only probable, and confusion with Draamculus 

 medinensis is not excluded, while possibly rare cases of native 

 American species showing similar habits may also be . included. 

 In any event it is important to note the complete disappearance 

 of these cases from the West Indies and South America just 

 about three-quarters of a century after the first one was 

 recorded. Thus far also the negro race might be looked upon 

 as the distinctive host of this parasite, as indeed some authors 

 maintained even much later than this date. 



The first recorded specimens which had been taken from Cau- 

 casians were described by Morton (1877) ^"d Bachelor (1880), 

 while the next, that sent Leuckart from Loango and described 

 by him in 1881, is also the first one positively identified as a 

 distinct species capable of difl:"erentiation from the Guinea worm 

 with which the majority of previous observers had classed this 

 parasite. Following close upon this case numerous others in 

 Caucasians definitely established the fact that the parasite exhib- 

 its no racial preference in its hosts. 



The first case recorded in Europe was that of the French 

 physician Lota (case 30), who had previously lived in Gaboon 

 and after his return to France found himself infected. In this 

 case the parasite was not removed. In France there have been 

 listed four other later cases (Nos. 51, 52, 74, and 78) in all of 

 which the parasites were removed. All five cases probably orig- 

 inated in the French Congo. A time interval of fifteen years 

 separated the first from the other three. 



The French Congo was also the probable source of infection 

 in the single case in which the worm was extracted in Switzer- 

 land (No. 31) and in that from Belgium (No. 33). The first 

 specimens extracted in Germany (No. 42) probably came from 

 western Africa, even though the extensive travels of its host 

 render the exact region of infection impossible to determine ; 

 the second (case 81) from Kamerun. In England six specimens 

 have been removed. In the first five cases the source of the 



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