246 TRICHOMONAS. 



for years from dyspepsia and diarrhoea. The stools were usually 

 peculiar, of a brownish-yellow colour and heavy putrid smell, and 

 generally, in spite of their thin, pulpy consistence, of a toughish 

 character, which probably arose from the presence of numerous masses 

 of mucus. Under these circumstances, the examination of the feecal 

 masses is sufficient to establish the diagnosis of Cercomonas with 

 tolerable probability, especially since this parasite seems never to 

 occur in the ordinary forms of diarrhoea or in normal stools. 



That the presence of the parasites has a certain connection with 

 intestinal disease cannot be denied, since, according to the unanimous 

 testimony of the investigators, the intensity of the latter is propor- 

 tional to the frequency of the Cercomonas, since an increase in the 

 number of the parasites was always accompanied by an aggravation 

 of the disease, and recovery only took place on their disappearance. 



In spite of this, however, it would bo unsafe to refer the intestinal 

 unhealthiness exclusively to parasites. At any rate, a link is still 

 wanting in the chain of proof. Until this is supplied, it seems more 

 probable to suppose that the mucous masses produced by diarrhcetic 

 conditions supply a favourable breeding-place for the parasites (as 

 was similarly noted in the case of the so-called Bodo winarius), 

 and that they sometimes promote their increase to such an extent 

 that they become a decided irritant, and thus tend to aggravate the 

 disease. ^ 



In one case of a patient suffering from Carcinoma ventriculi, 

 Zunker observed this parasite even in the mouth, among the fur 

 covering the tongue, but in the thin pulpy stools only a few speci- 

 mens could be found. 



Triclioinonas, Donnd 



The oval body is provided not only with a flagellum, usually double 

 or triple, but also with a longitudinal fringe or undulating comb. 



The genus, which we have shortly characterised above, was 

 founded on a parasitic Monad, living in the human vaginal mucus. 

 For a time it appeared as if this form {T. vaginalis) was to remain 

 the only one of its kind, until Dujardin discovered a second {T. limacis) 

 in the intestine of the field-slug. Other species were afterwards 

 added to the genus, but all which have been found and described 

 are parasites, and indeed intestinal parasites, so that there are appa- 

 rently no free-living Trichomonades. We now know that they occur 



1 [GrasBi and Cunningham are both disposed to deny any pathogenic significance to the 



Ccrcomonas.--R. L. ] Digitized by Microsoft® 



