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Messrs. Roy, Brown, and Sherrington. 



cells — which they resembled in the degree to which they were stained 

 with, fuchsine, methylene-blue, and other aniline dyes — that they had 

 one or more processes proceeding from them, we were always able to 

 observe ; but these processes, being unstained, could not be followed 

 by us in the tissues. It was only where in a specimen of a kidney we 

 saw several of these granules lying in the lymph space outside the 

 membrana propria of a convoluted tubule that we could see against 

 the clear background the arrangement of the filaments which we had 

 noticed proceed from the granules in other specimens. We could 

 then see that delicate filaments connected the granules one with 

 another in a manner so striking that the possibility was forced on us 

 of the structure in question being a vegetal parasite. As we our- 

 selves know no more regarding the morphology of the lower vegetal 

 micro-organisms than is known ordinarily to the pathologist, we 

 judged it best to show the specimen to Mr. Yines and Mr. Gardiner, 

 whom we thought well fitted to assist us in the question whether or 

 no we had before us a vegetal parasite, and if so of what kind. 

 They at once informed us that forms such as the one we showed them 

 were characteristic of the Chytridiacese, an order which includes 

 many rapidly growing and virulent parasites of vegetables. They in- 

 formed us, moreover, that they should not expect the envelope of such 

 parasites to give the ordinary cellulose reactions ; and also that in 

 their opinion some method of staining in methylene-blue would be 

 found best fitted to differentiate such a micro-organism from the sur- 

 rounding tissues. The necessity which we felt of finding some method 

 which would stain the mycelium-like threads of this structure before 

 its presence could be demonstrated in the tissues of cholera cases, led 

 us to spend much time experimenting with the different methods of 

 staining in methylene-blue which we thought might be of use for this 

 purpose. After many failures, we found that it was possible, bv using 

 a method almost identical with that of Loffler, to stain with methy- 

 lene-blue the micro-organism in question, although even with this 

 method considerable care is required to stain satisfactorily the fila- 

 ments of which it is partly composed. When observed in a success- 

 fully stained preparation, it is impossible to doubt that the structures 

 referred to are parasitic, which will, we believe, be admitted on 

 examination of the specimens which we show at this meeting. The 

 difficulty of staining the parasite satisfactorily, and the fact that, so far 

 as we know, Loffler's method has not been employed to stain sections 

 of tissues taken from fatal cholera cases, sufficiently explains to our 

 minds why a parasite having so striking a form could have been over- 

 looked by the many competent observers who have sought for micro - 

 parasites in the tissues of fatal cholera cases. That its presence in our 

 specimens could not be explained by accidental contamination after 

 removing the tissues from the body we have satisfied ourselves by 



