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■with this parasite in the hope of finding indigenous cases of 

 amoebiasis ; and he soon succeeded in finding three such cases 

 (Laidlaw, 1918). The first case was one of chronic amoebic dysen- 

 tery : the second a case of amoebic abscess of the liver, without 

 concomitant dysentery but with abundant cysts of E. histolytica 

 in the stools. Neither of the patients had ever been abroad. 

 Both were males, aged 38 and 48 respectively, admitted to 

 hospital in the usual way — Case 1 for ' ulcerative colitis ', Case 2 

 with ' lumbar and abdominal pain '. The diagnosis of the second 

 case was arrived at only after laparotomy and evacuation of the 

 abscess thereby discovered. Typical specimens of E. histolytica 

 were obtained from both cases,^ and from both kittens were 

 inoculated and successfully infected. Emetine treatment also 

 had a beneficial effect on both patients. The third case reported 

 by Laidlaw was based upon material supplied by Dr. Perdrau, 

 who showed him sections of an intestinal ulcer and a liver 

 abscess found post mortem in a woman who had never left Britain. 

 In both these E. histolytica was present. 



Evidently these were all cases of indigenous amoebiasis, and 

 they would probably all have passed unrecognized if they had 

 not been specially looked for. They were found among the 

 ordinary admissions to a large London hospital in the same year ; 

 and from his experience Dr. Laidlaw was led to suggest that, 

 even in Britain, ' cases of this type are not so rare as might be 

 thought from the literature '. He concluded ' that cases of 

 ulcerative colitis, colitis, and liver abscess should always be 

 examined with a view to excluding amoebic infection'. 



In the summer of 1918, the "War Office Committee on Dysentery,^ 

 with the results of the Liverpool workers and others before them, 

 decided that further inquiry into the incidence of E. histolytica 

 infection among the resident civilian population of Great Britain 

 was desirable. The time was considered opportune to utilize the 

 services of some of the trained workers, then engaged in examining 

 dysenteric convalescents at military hospitals, for this purpose — 

 the pressure of work at these establishments having, at that 

 moment, somewhat abated : and I was asked by the Chairman of 

 the Committee to organize and supervise investigations, with the 

 aid of the personnel then available at various centres, along the 

 lines followed by the workers at Liverpool and with the object of 

 checking and amplifying their findings. Accordingly, in July 

 1918, I invited five of the protozoologists working at military 

 hospitals to investigate, as far as possible, the protozoal infections 

 occurring in the resident civilian populations in the areas in 

 which they were situated. These workers had all been through 

 a course of instruction with me in London before they were 

 employed at military hospitals ; and as they had all, by this time, 



1 Dr. Laidlaw kindly sent me specimens for examination, and I had no difficulty 

 in confirming his diagnosis. 



2 Consisting of Major-General Sir 'William Leishman, K.C.M.G. (Chairman), 

 Sir Walter Fletcher, K.B.E., Professor (now Sir) F. W. Andrewes, Dr. G. S. Buchanan, 

 C.B., Dr. G. T. Western (Secretary), and the present writer. 



