Page:Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, volume 1.djvu/201

Rh elephantoid fever an attempt should be made to examine the serum and to cultivate it, and I shall look forward to the time when some skilled observer demonstrates the presence of some specific organism.

I have thus tried, very imperfectly, I am aware, to review the present state of our knowledge as to the relationship between filariasis and disease, but, of course, it has been impossible for me to consider all the arguments for and against within the limits of this paper. And while I do not take up the extreme position of denying the possibility of F. bancrofti being at times the cause of lymphatic obstruction and its results, I venture to think that I have at least made out a case for the Scotch verdict of "Not proven," and a plea for further research in the direction I have indicated.

, in opening the discussion, said that one could agree with most of the statements in the first part of the paper, especially with the view that craw-craw was not due to filaria, and was not a specific disease. In Africa he had seen many skin affections which were called craw-craw, but they were nothing but scabies, or some other common skin disease. Coining to the question of Filaria nocturna, the author had adopted an attitude of scepticism as to the claim that filaria was the cause of elephantiasis and other diseases usually associated with its presence. Dr. Prout stated: "I propose, then, for the sake of argument, to assume that elephantiasis is not due to filaria, to criticise as impartially as possible the various suggestions put forward, to examine the possible mechanism of its production, and to see whether, if possible, there is not another explanation which would account for the production of this and other so-called filarial diseases." In the adverse