Jan. 1, 1903.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
453 
Thk Prevention of Malarial Fkvers.— 
Protect yourself as much as you can by mosquito 
curtains. If you are compelled to live in malarial 
dislricts in the worst times of tlieyear, render your 
house gnat-proof. If tliis is too expensive, take 
quinine alioub twi a week, and an occasional 
purgative during liie worst season. See that no 
water in little pools is allowed to remain in your 
compound, especially in December and January. 
H^MOSPORIDIUM IN CATTLE. —Pyrop! asma 
Bigeminuni is one of the Hajmosparidw 
which causes Htemoglobinuric or Texas fever 
in cattle, and is spread by a tick called 
Rhipicephalus Annulatus, which, su3king the 
blood of the animal, transfers the parasite to its 
eggs, and by the larvae the parasite is injected into 
the cattle. 
The Metazoa —These are multicellular animals, 
and can be divided into two groups: — A. — The 
Invertebrata, without bones ; B. — The Vertebrafca, 
with bones. 
A— The Invertebrata — Those invertebrata 
animals which mainly interest us with regard to 
disease belong to the groups of — I. — Vermes ; II. — 
ArachnidfE ; III.— Insectre ; IV.— Mollusca. 
I. — Vermes, — A great many worms are parasitic 
and cause more or less disease in man, but of these 
I only wish to consider two :— Anchylostoraa 
Duodenale; Filaria Bancrofti. 
Anchylostoma Duodenale,— This is the cause 
of a great deal of disease and death in Ceylon 
among various classes, but especially among coolies. 
Its life history is most coni|)licated, and unfortu- 
nately the way in which it gains access to man is 
at present quite unknown. 
Filaria Bancroftk— You must all have 
notifcd the numbers of people who go about the 
streets of Colombo with an enormously enlarged 
foot and leg. This disease, which is common in 
Galle, is called Elephantiasis, and is due in the 
first instance to a worm called Filaria Bancrofti, 
which lives in the lymphatics, and the young of 
which enter the blood stream at night, being called 
the Filaria Noctnrna. Very many people have 
filarire in their systems, and they suffer no incon- 
venience from them till they injure a part, say the 
leg ; then comes fever, and an attack like erysipelas, 
and when the attack is over the leg is found to be a 
little larger than it originally was. This is 
repeated till the large legs you Icnow so well are 
produced. The embryos of Filaria Bancrofti are 
very small, and though none of them are to be 
found in the blood in the day time, yet many are 
found about midnight. Night is the time when 
the female mosquito is on the warpath, but now 
it is the Culex {Culex ciliaris) which sucks the 
blood, and with it the young filariae, into its own 
stomach. In the stomach they cast off their sheaths 
and pierce their way into the thoracic muscles of 
the mosquito, and then gradually, in about sixteen 
to twenty days, they undergo a metamorphosis. 
Then they pierce their way into the proboscis, and 
lie there among the stilette, knives and saws until 
they get the chance of entering a suitable subject. 
In tliis way the filarial worm is spread from man to 
man by the agency of a Culex, 
II. — The Arachnidae.— This is the class to 
which scorpions, spiders, mites and ticks belong 
and among tliem there are many parasites, some 
at present but little known. The ticks are inte- 
resting, as they are said to cause ' Tick fever ' in 
Central Africa, a disease characterised by symp- 
toms somewhat like dysentery associated with 
fever. 
III. — The Insecta.— Of insects, the Uip(eraor 
flies are the most important in causinii diseases. 
The cumnion house fly is now proved to be one of 
the means of spreadinfi typhoid fever. In Ceylon 
it often has filarial worms in its mouth parts, as 
was pointed out to me by Mr Green of Peradeniya, 
but only in the so-called Mad flies ; but I am afraid 
all the wickedness of the common house fly is not 
yet known. The mosquitoes belong to ihe Diplcra 
and of tlipse. Anopheles is the spre tder of mala- 
ria, Culex of filaria and another, called Stegoni^ia 
tascita, has been proved to be the means of spread- 
ing yellow fever. A wingless Dipteron, called the 
Chigoe, started on its travels from South America 
in 1830, and having crossed Africa from west to 
east has arrived in India and causes much trouble 
by penetrating the feet. Another group called the 
Hymanoptera includes the ant which has been ac- 
cused of spreading a plague in India. 
IV. —The Mollusca. — Among molluscs, oysters, 
mussels and cockles have been convicted of spread- 
ing typlioid fever. 
B.— The Vertsbrata.— Among the vertebrata, 
rats, cats, mice, squirrels and monkeys may spread 
the plague ; horses may infect men with a disease 
called glanders ; parasites may be introduced from 
fish, ^.ogs, pigs and oxen ; and man himself may 
spread disease to other men, 
The Lecturer was loudly applauded on resuming 
his seat. 
Dr. Griffin, in proposing a vote of thanks to the 
lecturer, said ;- Your Excellency, Ladies and 
Gentlemen, — I have the honour and pleasure of pro- 
posing a vole of thanks to Dr Chalmers for the 
very interesting lecture he has given us tonight. 
My only justification, or rather excuse, for taking 
this duty upon myself is that, perhaps, I am better 
aware than most of you what great interest and 
considerable labour Dr Chalmers has undertaken 
to inaugurate thi* series of lectures and more 
particlarly to give us an interesting anil instruc- 
tive lecture tonight, Dr Chalmers has travelled 
in many lands and has well availed himself of the 
opportunity of studying the habits of these animals 
which spread diserse ; and I think not the least 
important of these lectures is this one tonight 
which gives us an outline of how many diseases are 
spread, and it will, I hope, be the means of inte- 
resting you and the rest of the public of Ceylon in 
measures to stop the spread of these diseases 
(Applause.) 
INDIAN PATENTS: TEA. 
The 27ih June 1902.— applications in respect of 
the undermentioned inventions have been filed. 
No 249 of 1002.— David Keid, Tea Planter, and 
John Dale, Engineer, both of Baraoora, South 
Sylhet, Assam. A tea di'uing and glazing 
machine, called " Ecid and Bales tea-drying 
and glazing machine y No 253 of 1902.— Horace 
Drummond Deane, Tea Planter, of Stagbrook Tea 
Estate, Peermaad, Travancore, and Charles George 
Landseer Judge, Journalist, of 47, Free School 
Street, and No 5-1, Council House Street, in the 
Town of Calcutta, both in British lu<lia An im- 
proved method and apTparatus for man » fact w 
ing green tea,— Indian Engineer, Nov. 29, 
