Page:Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, volume 3 (2).djvu/16

54 DESCRIPTION OF Apart from the intensity of the infection there were two points in this case that struck him as of especial interest : First, the lesions extended for a considerable distance up the small intestine ; this was exceptional, for the disease usually confined itself entirely to the great intestine. Secondly, the case seems to have terminated at an early stage in the infection, for no adult worms were found in the lumen of the intestine. The infection probably dated from a single draught of infected water. The worm larvae would enter the blood from the stomach, according to Weinberg, and be disseminated by the blood stream to the walls of the intestine ; there they would form the little blood cysts so beautifully illustrated by Dr. Thomas, and on approaching sexual maturity would break through the mucosa into the lumen of the intestine. The sexually mature pairs would then produce ova that would pass out in the faeces.

He hoped Dr. Thomas would be able to tell them some- thing of the condition of the liver and the spleen. In monkeys suffering from Qj^sophagostomiasis, a considerable amount of pigment was noticed in these organs.

Turning to the description of the worm, he noticed that Professor Railliet now considered CEsophagostomum stepTianostomum and 0. dentigerum to be the same species, but that there were certain varieties. He (Dr. Leiper) did not feel inclined to support the view that there were " varieties " distinguished from one another by real and constant characters. He regarded them all as (Esopha- gostomuT/i stephanostomum — the common parasite of African monkeys ; for it would be observed the only difference mentioned by Professor Railliet as distinctive of the new variety was the internal twisting of the lateral branch of the posterior rays. That this was not a constant