NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 477 
Chyluria. —I have seen some cases of this disease among the natives. It is white 
urine, and is due to chyle or lymph being present. It is caused by obstruction 
and rupture of the lymphatics; also by the presence of the nematoid worm, Filaria 
sanguinis horninis. To me this is a most wonderful worm. The embryo is sucked 
from the blood of man by a female mosquito, and enters the stomach of the same. 
There it develops an alimentary canal, and an instrument for boring. By-and-bye 
the mosquito dies, and falls on water, but the parasite is not dead. It sleeps till it 
reaches a human stomach by the medium of drinking water. From there it travels 
through the tissues to the lymph vessels of the human being, where it becomes 
sexually mature, and breeds. It lies in one of the lymph vessels, and may measure 
from 3 inches to 6 inches long. The embryos of this worm are only seen active in the 
blood at night, and may be present in the human being to the extent of millions. 
There is another form of embryo that is only seen active by day, and a third is seen 
active at all hours of the day or night. 
DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
Simple Meningitis may be seen. 
Apoplexy is not very common. 
Epilepsy.— Falling sickness is very common, strange to say. Very often it is seen 
in children and young people. 
Eesions of any of the Cranial Nerves may be seen. 
Spinal Paralysis is sometimes met with. 
Locomotor Ataxia is seen. 
Lateral Sclerosis. 
Neuralgia. 
Sciatica. 
Headache. 
Megrim. 
Convulsions. 
Tetanus.- —I have seen this in three different surgical cases. 
Insanity.— I have seen several varieties. One form has come frequently under my 
observation in which a native during the course of a disease, such as small pox, or after 
some exposure to the sun, will suddenly become mad and rush to the woods where he 
behaves like a madman—shouting, rushing about, eating leaves. His comrades follow 
him in numbers without the slightest fear, saying he has “ kifunte .” I have seen such 
men brought back to the village, limbs tied, rolling on the ground and eating the dust. 
In a few days the fit of insanity disappears. The cases are peculiarly amenable to drugs 
of the nature of Bromide of Potassium. 
I have more than once been struck by the wisdom the natives manifested in dealing 
with fractures of the bones. They dealt with them in a most rational manner, by 
putting on rude splints and setting the bones in a natural position. Very often, however, 
the bones rode over one another ; but still, they had grasped the principle. Then, 
again, in their treatment of a deep-set inflammation they show a great deal of wisdom. 
They may scarify the surface which in principle we know to be good. They do it in a 
rude way, but they really draw the blood from the deeper organ to the surface. They 
do the same in their dry-cupping. They dry-cup by means of a horn, first scarifying the 
surface, and then putting a piece of flaming moss inside and suddenly applying the cup. 
This is in principle what we do in dry-cupping. The north end natives, too, have, it 
seems to me, a wonderful knowledge of roots and leaves and medicinal plants. This 
I feel sure would reward anyone who had time to devote himself to the subject. 
