Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the EctozoaCobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Science
Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the Ectozoa
Cobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Helminths; Parasites
Compressed into a small compass, I think the above is a fair statement
of the leading facts and phenomena discovered by Lewis. The whole
subject of hæmatozoology immediately received additional impulse, the
consequences of which have not yet terminated. In this country Welch was
stimulated to investigate the structure of _Filaria immitis_ in the dog,
whilst others sought diligently for nematoid hæmatozoa abroad.
On the 20th of April, 1874, Dr Prospero Sonsino communicated to the
Neapolitan Royal Academy his memoir entitled “Researches concerning
_Bilharzia hæmatobia_ in relation to the endemic hæmaturia of Egypt,
with a notice concerning a nematoid found in the human blood.” In this
brochure he made known the fact of his having discovered microscopic
Filariæ in a young Egyptian Jew, in the following words:--“On the 1st of
February last, having well washed the finger of the boy, I placed one
drop of blood under the microscope, when with astonishment I discovered
a living organism of the form of a nematode, resembling _Anguillula_,
in the midst of the hæmatic corpuscles. The worms glided amongst the
globules, which were tossed about by their lively movements, showing
various appearances according as they presented themselves either from
the sides, the edges, or the front of the disk” (‘Ricerche,’ &c., pp.
11, 12). Dr Sonsino took every precaution to prevent error, subsequently
verifying his “find” from the same patient. Dr Sonsino directs attention
to two of his own characteristic figures of the worm, and subsequently
states not only that he found examples of the Filariæ in the urine
of this same youth, but also “in the urine of another patient.” The
parasites from these two sources being figured side by side, it was
clear, from their resemblance, that they referred to one and the same
species of entozoon. Dr Sonsino having compared the facts supplied
by these cases, was satisfied that the nematodes in question were
specifically identical with those that I had previously obtained from
my little African patient. However, Dr Sonsino was of opinion that his
Filariæ were not precisely the same as those that had been described by
Lewis.
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