ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
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up the gut. The pear-shaped parasites, at the thicker end of which were 
two flagella, were 0 • 006-0 • 024 mm. long, and exhibited lively oscillating 
movements. The numbers varied in the same child from day to day, 
and on the whole were more numerous the more liquid the stool. 
In formed motions they are infrequent and only found on the surface. 
Neither conjugation, nor fission, nor resting stages were observed. 
Cultivations in water, in pepton, and meat broth failed. Diarrhoeas 
associated with the presence of Monocercomonas are indistinguishable 
from diarrhoeas of other origin ; as a rule there are numerous and copious 
evacuations which resemble pea-soup or milk-coffee; their reaction is 
usually acid, though sometimes alkaline. The course of the disease may 
be acute or chronic, and the parasite may be observed for a series of 
weeks. The connection between the parasite and the disease is sup- 
ported by the observation that six children inhabiting one room were 
almost simultaneously affected, the source of infection probably being 
drinking-water. 
In five of the twenty-six cases Amoeba coli was also observed ; its 
presence apparently did not aggravate the disorder. In fresh prepara- 
tions Amoeba coli lived longer than Gercomonas. 
Supposed Cancer Parasites.* — Drs. G. Massari and E. Ferroni are 
convinced that all the appearances described as being cancer bodies and 
parasites of cancer belonging to the Sporozoa are nothing more than the 
products of pathological changes in the tissues, and therefore originate 
directly from epithelial cells and their nuclei. This view is supported 
by the observation that similar appearances can be demonstrated in non- 
cancerous tissues. 
Parasitic Cell-Inclusions in Sarcomatous Tissue.f — Dr. A. D. 
Pawlowsky examined fourteen sarcomata for parasitic cell-inclusions. 
He found in more or less abundance polymorphic bodies about the size 
of a Macrococcus, usually round, but sometimes oval. They lay either 
free in the cell-plasma, or more rarely were surrounded by a single or 
even doubly contoured capsule. Sometimes they were met with between 
the cells. As a rule the cell-nucleus, the capsule, and the contents 
stained differently and presented the phenomena of metachromatism. 
The author considers these forms to be true parasites, to be Micro- 
sporidia, a group of the Protozoa. The oval bodies are spores from 
which sporocysts arise by fission. The latter burst and their contents, 
the spores, are set free and penetrate neighbouring cells, which are 
thereby excited to proliferate. On the other hand degeneration phe- 
nomena may be observed with sporocysts. The author considers there 
is an aetiological connection between these forms and the development 
of sarcoma. 
* La Riforma Med., 1893, No. 154. See Centralbi. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., 
xiv. (1893) p. 812. 
f Virchow’s Archiv, cxxxiii. (1893) No. 1. See Centralbi. f. Bakteriol. u. Para- 
sitenk., xiv. (1893) p. 810. 
