008 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
were afflicted with mycosis. Mycosis, syphilis, and phagedenic ulcer were the 
three chief diseases. He describes sixteen cases of mycosis diagnosed by exam- 
inations, in which Scopulariopsis was found, one of pseudomycosis in which an 
encapsulated bacillus was encountered, one of pseudomycosis with a micrococcus, 
two of mycosis in which Acremoniwm was encountered, one with Cephalos- 
porium, and three with Hyalopus. 
A further study of the mycotic infections in parts of Africa by one carefully 
trained in both mycology and bacteriology is needed. Obviously most rigid 
precautions must continually be taken with reference to cultures in the humid, 
hot regions. Our sterile tubes of Sabourraud’s medium, potato dextrose, etc., 
though carefully sealed, would very frequently develop, as the months passed 
by, colonies of fungi, even before the tubes were opened. In some unexplainable 
way, a few very minute spores evidently found their entrance to these tubes. 
It seemed very probable that the infection was not originally present in the 
tubes and media at the time they were sealed, since the media in many of the 
tubes became contaminated only after they had been in Africa for some six to nine 
months. Obviously, one cannot conclude from the development of fungi in cul- 
tures made from surface lesions of patients that the fungi have necessarily an 
etiological relationship or pathogenesis. The histological examination of the 
diseased tissues frequently gives additional valuable information of this nature. 
It is also exceedingly difficult to recognize the spores of some fungi in necrotic 
lesions, for at times, unless they have a double contour (and many have not), it is 
impossible to distinguish them in their morphology, from rounded chromatinie 
particles or granules extruded from endothelial cells or leucocytes. 
The danger of postmortem invasion of organs and tissues both before and 
after the performance of the necropsy must also be borne in mind. We have en- 
countered in Africa such postmortem invasion of the intestine and spleen with 
fungi (see page 223). The possibility of tissues becoming infected with fungi 
through the water which is used for washing the ones hardened in Zenker’s solu- 
tion, should also be considered. ‘There is no running water, except that in brooks 
or streams in the regions of Africa in which we carried on all of our field work. 
The quality of the water obtained particularly in parts of East and Central Africa 
is none too good for any purpose for which man may wish to use it. 
At the recent meeting of the Royal Society of Medicine ! the urgent need for a 
satisfactory botanical classification of pathogenic fungi which would permit of 
rapid and certain identification of these fungi was emphasized. It was further 
pointed out that in many cases the pathogenicity of the fungi obtained is not at 
all certain. Weidmann * has recently pointed out the importance of employing 
the monospore technique in the study and differentiation of the dermatophytes. 
Hormodendrum infection. An unusual case of swelling and deformity of the 
left foot of a negro was observed in the Belgian Congo at Lukutu (Case 500). 
The man looked to be about forty years of age, and his general condition appeared 
to be good. He walked about with the assistance of a staff. The left foot was 
1 Trop. Dis. Bull. (1928), XXV, 739. 
2 Weidmann: Arch. Derm. and Syph. (1929), XIX, 867. 
