420 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 



axostyle, are seen. The organism is from 10/u. to 2;xlong and 5/i to 12/u broad. 

 Multiplication by longitudinal binary and multiple fission occurs. Resistant 

 cysts are produced. These finally contain four nuclei, the remains of the 

 axostyle and the parabasal bodies. The cysts serve to spread the parasite. 

 Giardia was found to be the commonest flagellate infection in the stools of 

 soldiers from Gallipoli examined by us, 471 stools out of 3,800 examined in three 

 months containing this Protozoon, while on 137 occasions it was the only 

 Protozoon present. The stools were sometimes of peculiar colours and con- 

 sistencies, and were often bulky and diarrhoeie in character. There was a 

 distinct increase in the number of mononuclear leucocytes and lymphocytes in 

 the blood of the patients. By enumerative methods it was found that there was 

 a greater uniformity of distribution of cysts in a diarrhoeie stool than in a 

 semi-solid or formed one. The number of cysts in a bulky stool was calculated 

 to be 14,400,000,000, the bulk of the stool being 950 c.c. "in a stool of average 

 volume the number was 324,000,000, the bulk being 150 c.c, while in a small stool 

 of 50 c.c. volume 10,000,000 cysts were found. As each cyst, produced from a 

 suctorial form, is resistant, efforts should be made to attack the flagellate form, 

 which is probably most numerous in the intestine when cysts are few in the 

 faeces. The periodicity in the ajppearance of the maximum crops of cysts varies 

 slightly in different cases, the period being about a fortnight in some and a 

 little less in others. Giardia may produce severe diarrhoea in children. 



We have shown experimentally that Giardia of human origin is pathogenic 

 to kittens and to mice. Animals fed with contaminated food became emaciated, 

 suffered from either persistent or recurrent diarrhoea, and in most cases died. 

 Erosion of the intestinal cells byi the Giardia occurred, and blood and shed 

 epithelial cells were found in the ffeces. Sections of the intestine showed such 

 epithelial erosion and abscessed conditions. The virulence of different strains 

 of Giardia varies, and the cysts can remain infective for some time. Rats, 

 mice, and cats can act as reservoirs of the disease. By contaminating the food 

 or drink of man with their excrement, they may propagate lambliasis. Noc 

 and others have found lambliasis among patients whose homes were infested 

 with rodents. Bismuth salicylate was found effective in reducing the number 

 of parasites, the cysts disappearing in some cases. 



Cerromonns hominif! and C. parva occurred in some of the dysenteric stools 

 examined by us. They were not very common. The parasites were active, 

 the nucleus was distinct, and the flagellar movements were pronounced. 



Befere7ices. 



Fantham, H. B. (1916). The Nature and Distribution of the Parasites 

 observed in the Stools of 1305 Dysenteric Patients. Lancet, June 10, 1916, 

 pp. 1165-1166. 



Fantham, H. B. (1916). Protozoa in 'The Animal Parasites of Man.' Bale 

 and Danielsson, London. See pp. 54-62, 623-625, and 734-737. 



Fantham, H.B., and Porter, A. (1915). Protozoa found in cases of Dysentery 

 from the Mediterranean. Proc. Cambridge Philosoph. Soc, vol. xviii., 

 pp. 184-188. 



Fantham, H. B., and Porter, A. (1916). The Pathogenicity of Owrdm 

 (Lamhlia) tnfestinnlifi to Men and Experimental Animals. Brit. Med. Joxirn. 

 July 29, 1916, pp. 139-141. 



Porter, A. (1916). An Enumerative Study of the Cysts of Giardia (Lamhlia) 

 intestinalis. Lancet, June 10, 1916, pp. 1166-1169. 



4. War and Eugenics. By Hugh Eichardson, M.4. 



