72 
SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
On the 29tli October some cysts were placed in white of egg 
in a small glass cell which was covered over with a glass plate and 
rendered approximately air-tight by vaseline. On October 31st 
the cysts were found to be intact and the spores capable of move¬ 
ment when heated slightly. On 2nd November, the culture was 
still clear, and the spores normal, moving vigorously on being 
heated, the movements continuing indefinitely after the source of 
heat was removed. On 5th November the albumen was slightly 
clouded by developing schizomycetes, but the cysts appeared 
unchanged. A similar test with similar results was made by 
employing milk as the nutritive medium. 
The experiments require further amplification, but it would 
seem that they are sufficient to indicate that, unlike bacteria and 
infusoria, the spores of sarcocystis will not resist hostile 
influences, but will live for a long time under favourable condi¬ 
tions and in an albuminoid medium. These observations may be 
useful as a guide to the means by which the parasite is transmitted 
from one host to another, but they have no further application in 
the existing state of knowledge. 
XI.— Sarcocystis as a Human Parasite. 
Sarcocystis has been found in the human subject in a few 
isolated cases but never as an epidemic. 
The few cases in which it has been found in man may rank as 
clinical curiosities. It has not been recorded as a human parasite 
in Ceylon. It is not safe to say whether any danger to public 
health is to be apprehended from the consumption of tainted 
meat. It is probable, however, that under normal conditions the 
danger is reduced to a minimum or actually non-existent since 
the cysts are killed by cooking and their contents transformed 
into a shapeless coagulum. 
ARTHUR WILLEY. 
ALBERT J. CHALMERS. 
Wm. MARSLIALL PHILIP. 
Colombo, November 20, 1903. 
References . 
1892.—Neumann, L. G. A Treatise on the Parasites and para¬ 
sitic diseases of the Domesticated Animals. Translated and 
edited by George Fleming. 
1901.—Smith, Theobald. Production of Sarcosporidiosis in 
the Mouse. Journ. Experim. Med. Baltimore, vol. VI., No. 1, 
pp. 1 to 21. 
1903.—Minchin, E. A. The Sporozoa. Lankester’s Treatise on 
Zoology, Part I. Introduction and Protozoa, Second Fascicle. 
