Note 247 — ON PARASITES IN GENERAL. (continued 5)

According to Gourvitch (“Bal. coli. Darmk. d. Menschen,” Russ. Arch. f. Path., klin. med. u. Bact., Petrograd, 1896), the conjugated Balantidia are supposed to fuse with each other and form oval cysts two or three times the size of the free organisms, and to divide into numerous globules within the cystic membrane; the process, however, has hitherto not been confirmed. The supposed Balantidium cysts appeared in two patients who were simultaneously suffering from Dibothriocephalus latus, after the administration of anthelminthics. It therefore seems, according to the description, that in reality these forms were actually abnormally large, possibly swollen, young eggs of the tape-worm mentioned.