228 The Philippine Journal of Science i9is 



charitable attitude from the viewpoint of Trichomonas is taken 

 by Minchin(33) who says: 



The common intestinal flagellates belonging to the genus Trichomonas 

 and other genera are * * * not to be regarded as true parasites in 

 any sense of the word * * * Many of these intestinal Protozoa are 

 perhaps useful, rather than harmful to their host. 



At least four authors report infection with Trichomonas 

 through the drinking of impure water, and in at least two cases 

 there were epidemic outbreaks alleged to be due to Trichomonas. 

 Smithies (47) reports two cases of severe dyspepsia in which he 

 recovered Trichomonas from the stomach. These cases occurred 

 in the southern United States. The infection in one case he 

 attributes to the drinking of unfiltered surface water by the 

 patient. In the epidemic in Peru, reported by Escomel,(H) 

 which I have already mentioned, he states that examination of 

 the reservoirs containing the water used for drinking purposes 

 showed the presence of Trichomonas. When the reservoirs 

 were cleaned, the organisms disappeared, and the outbreak 

 ceased. As will be shown later on, Trichomonas has been cul- 

 tivated by at least two groups of workers, and it is a fact well 

 known to all tropical workers that the parasites will survive 

 in stools for many days. Kofoid and Swezy(26) made cover 

 glass preparations of Trichomonas augusta, which they diluted 

 with normal salt solution and sealed with vaseline. They report 

 that the parasites were "kept alive for several months without 

 any change in the medium, or removal of the cover glass." I 

 have had the same experience with Trichomonas lacertse, which 

 I have kept in mounts sealed with paraffin, the organisms con- 

 tinuing to live in physiological salt solution for upward of six 

 weeks. At the end of that time the sealing of the mounts became 

 loosened, and the preparations dried with consequent death of 

 the organisms. Lastly there is the epidemic of trichomoniasis 

 reported by Rhamy and Metts,(44) as involving seventy-eight 

 patients at Liberty Township, Indiana, in 1909. 



Of course, in all these cases possible mistakes in the identity 

 of the forms mentioned must be borne in mind. While undulat- 

 ing membranes of the type seen in Trypanosoma and Trichomo- 

 nas are characteristic of the parasitic species, still there remains 

 the possibility of mistaking some of the multiflagellate species 

 of free-living protozoa for Trichomonas and other intestinal 

 flagellates. 



I might, in passing, remark that I have received, on more than 

 one occasion, contaminated stools or urine that have contained 

 undoubted fresh-water forms such as Phacus, Arcella, and Pera- 



