290 
Oriental Sore 
through from one gate to another. It is unlikely that any of these 
animals have an influence on the disease as it occurs in Bagdad. It is 
popularly believed that not only dogs but other animals and even birds, 
such as canaries, may suffer from the disease. It has become a custom 
to talk of any curious and inexplicable skin lesion in any animal, as 
a sore. This is merely a superstition and is not supported by micro¬ 
scopical examinations. In fact in human beings many skin conditions 
are erroneously considered to be the sore. This is especially true of 
a semi-chronic ulcer from which white people commonly suffer. It is 
easily distinguished however from the fact that it is more painful and 
tender, is surrounded by a greater area of inflammation and that it 
exudes a yellow pus. The organism of Oriental sore cannot be found 
in the scrapings, but a diplococcus much resembling the gonococcus in 
appearance is constantly present. 
The failure to obtain an animal suitable for inoculation experiments 
renders the investigation of the disease much more difficult. If trans¬ 
mission experiments could be carried out with biting flies as in the 
case of trypanosomiasis, one could more readily arrive at results. In 
the case of the sore all such experiments have to be carried out on man, 
and it is difficult to find subjects suitable and willing. In want of 
these experiments tlie following course was adopted. Flies of various 
kinds were fed upon the sore and these were dissected after varying 
intervals and search made for developmental forms of the parasite, 
a procedure which is much more difficult and full of pitfalls than the 
experiment of transmission. In the search for developmental forms 
one is guided by the changes in form undergone by the parasites 
during their evolutions in the blood agar culture. 
C. Examination and dissection of flies and ticks. 
There are of course in Bagdad a large number of arthropods any 
of which can be looked upon as possible transmitters of the parasite of 
the sore. In order to obtain some idea of the intestinal fauna of these 
arthropods, a dissection of such as could be caught was undertaken. 
This was a necessary preliminary to any feeding experiments that were 
to be made. 
House-flies. These occur in great numbers as in all oriental towns. 
They appeared to diminish in numbers to some extent during the 
hottest part of the summer when the maximum shade temperature 
I’eached 110° F. The great heat combined with the dryness of the 
