43 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Leydenia gemmipara Schaudinn. The organisms are round or poly- 
morphic, with radiating or hair-like processes. They are considerably 
larger than leucocytes, and contain fat-globules and pigment. Repro- 
duction took place by budding and by fission. The specimens were 
obtained by centrifuging the exudate, which was examined at 25° and on 
the hot- stage. 
iEtiology of Texas Fever.* — Herren Weisser and A. Maassen ex- 
amined blood from the kidneys of oxen imported from America to 
Hamburg. No bacteria were found, but within the red corpuscles 
peculiar bodies were observed. Transfer and cultivation experiments 
were negative. The red corpuscles contained spherical bodies — usually 
single, occasionally in pairs, and rarely more than two. Not infre- 
quently the parasites were found free in the plasma. As a rule, the 
parasites were spherical, but sometimes elongated and pyriform. They 
stained readily, but not equally, with anilin dyes. The parasites were 
also met with in the blood and juices of spleen, liver, heart, and lym- 
phatic glands. Thus the observations of the authors confirm those of 
Smith and Kilborne, who first described the parasite of Texas fever 
under the name of Pyrosoma bigeminum. 
Sarcosporidia in Muscle - Fibres of the Tongue of Cattle and 
Sheep. | — Prof. Fr. Sanfelice found in sections of tongues of cattle and 
sheep almost invariably sarcosporidian tubes which, under a power of 
15-20, are seen as small white spots. As a rule, fully developed tubes, 
occupying the half to the whole thickness of the muscle fibres, pre- 
dominate, the early stages of development being of rare occurrence. 
The larger tubes are invested in a very delicate structureless membrane 
and contain sickle-shaped bodies composed of two substances, one of 
which has an irregular distribution and the other is highly refracting. 
In stained preparations, uncoloured places are brought out, but no 
nuclei. The youngest stage of development consists of a protoplasmic 
mass without structure. Infection continues by bursting of the ripe 
tubes, the escape of the sickle-shaped bodies, and the invasion of fresh 
muscle-fibres. Herein they form new tubes, after enlargement and fis- 
sion. As a further stage of development, the author found protoplasmic 
masses containing nuclei, which, as they increased in size, became oval, 
and were finally converted into sickle-shaped bodies. 
* Arb. a. d. Kaiserl. G-esundheitsamte, xi. p. 411. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., l te Abt., xx. (1896) pp. 704-5. 
f Zeitschr. f. Hygiene u. Infektionskr., xx. p. 13. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., l te Abt., xx. (1896) p. 754. 
