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United States of Colombia, South America, and at that timeclaimed to be 184 years old. The writer goes on to say that’ there is very little doubt about this remarkable case.

THE LANCET investigated it thoroughly in 1878, and cameto the conclusion that the man was at least 180 years oldthen." This is evidently an over-estimate of the attentionwhich we have given to this particular instance. The factsare that in our issue of Sept. 7th, 1878, p. 343, we men-tioned the current rumour on the subject and spoke of theman’s alleged age as "offered for our credence." Moreover,a fortnight afterwards-namely, on Sept. 21st, at p. 427-we published a letter from Dr. W. L. Dudley of Cromwell-road, South Kensington, who had resided for over 20 yearsin Bogotà and had been physician to the General Hospitaland to the British and American Legations. This gentlemanwrote to us that, speaking within his knowledge, he wouldjudge that the age of this individual, six years before thedate of writing, was between 80 and 90. He added that

longevity was rare in these districts and that there was nobaptismal or other kind of registry in the city. Readers in

search of "records" " of longevity may perhaps be gratifiedby the perusal of Mr. Charles W. De Lacy Evans’s "CanWe Prolong Life ? "’ reviewed in THE LANCET of June 21st,1879, p. 884. An antidote to Mr. Evans’s extravagancieswill be found in the first half of Mr. T. E. Young’s interest-ing and scientific summary of the present state of knowledgeon this subject. 2

THE KING’S CORONATION DINNER TO THEPOOR.

LENT being over it is natural that the thoughts of menshould turn to feasting. His Majesty the King, as we

announced in THE LANCET of March 22nd, p. 840, has

signified his intention of giving a dinner to 500,000 of hispoorer subjects so that they may share the joy of the coro-nation in a tangible form. The money for this feast is at

hand, supplied by His Majesty from his own purse, the

food is easily obtainable, and there will be no lack of

guests. But to bring the food to the right persons willcall for powers of organisation scarcely inferior to those atpresent demanded by the situation in South Africa. In 1897we expressed our opinions as to the carrying out of theJubilee dinner organised by the gracious lady who was thenPrincess of W’ales. In our issue of May 22nd, 1897, p. 1423,we said :-

We have no details at present as to how the scheme of feeding thesepoor people is to be carried out, and in our opinion a vast amount of.careful organisation will be required if the project is not to end infailure. That there is a terrible depth of bitter poverty in London noone can doubt, but as a rule it is just the most deserving who hidetheir misery and prefer to suffer in silence. Will any steps be taken toseek out the really deserving and, more important still, will there beany attempt to confine the dole to the poor of London alone ? If some-thing of this kind is not attempted every scoundrel or loafer-all thosewho have never done any work and never mean to do any-willcome from all parts of the kingdom and batten on the charity pro-vided. This was the case some years ago when the MansionHouse famine fund was started; the metropolis was inundated withprovincial tramps and there was great doubt as to whether the reallyneedy profited at all. Another matter of vital importance is the likeli-hood of the spread of infection by the gathering together of those whoowing to their mode of life are most prone to contract and disseminateinfection. The revelations made some year or so ago by Dr. Waldoabout Salvation Army shelters showed that even under ordinarycircumstances the crowding together of the homeless was anything’but free from danger and such danger will be multiplied a thousand-fold in the coming month. The most careful watch should be kept upon all lodging-houses and workhouses on the roads leading intoLondon as well as in that city itself and we think that some attemptshould be made to see that the food supplied does not go to fill thebellies of those who make a trade of poverty.

We have no wish to pose as alarmists and so far as statisticsshow no increase in the number of cases of infectious diseasefor 1897 could be traced to the crowds assembling for theJubilee celebrations. But still the risk has to be thoughtof and precautions should be taken, for owing to the

1 Baillière, Tindall, and Cox, second edition, 1885.2 On Centenarians. London : Charles and Edwin Layton. 1899.

increase in population and the world-wide interest takenin the coronation all the points of difficulty which wehave mentioned above exist with even more force to-daythan in 1897, more especially in face of the small-

pox epidemic, as regards the danger of the spread ofinfectious disease. It would be well, we think, if somemethod could be hit upon of excluding those who have notresided in London for a certain time-at least since Christmas

Day, 1901-but perhaps this check would be impossible toimpose. In the meantime, we can but await details of theorganisation by means of which the scheme is to be carriedout.

__

THE STAGES OF THE MALARIA PARASITE ANDTHEIR TERMINOLOGY.

PROFESSOR LANKESTER has devised and communicated tothe Royal Society a set of terms applicable to the compli-cated series of stages through which the parasite causingmalaria passes during its life-history in the mosquito and inourselves. The aim is that the terms made use of should

explain themselves; and, accordingly, such vague and

barely explanatory terms as "sporozoites" " and blasts" "

are dropped out of use and replaced by a new set whichhave the merit of serving as a memoria tee7tnica to thestudent desirous of remembering the manifold changesexhibited by the sporozoon of malaria. We may convenientlycommence with Professor Lankester at the spore which is

injected into our blood by the bite, and with the saliva, ofthe anopheles. This spore, a minute needle-shaped particle,is formed in the gnat’s body, and as we naturally look uponthe most important stages in its life as being those whichare passed in our bodies the name of " exotospore

"

may be

applied to this acicular spore as indicative of its originoutside our bodies. These spores ultimately enter each oneof them a red blood corpuscle, though the actual mode oftheir entry has not yet been observed. Arrived within theblood disc they lose the acicular shape and become amoebi-form. For this stage the expression "amœbula" " is used.The amcebula grows and moves about as far as possiblewithin the blood corpuscle ; finally it breaks up into a

number of spherical spores which are set free by the destruc-tion of the red blood corpuscle. To these spores, the third

stage in the life-history of the sporozoon, the term " en-

hæmospores " is applied by Professor Lankester. The term

signifies, of course, that they are formed within the bloodof the infected human being. The enhasmospores remain inthis condition for several generations, entering other

corpuscles and multiplying by further division. It

is this process which infects the whole body with the

parasite. After a certain time, which varies, and owing toconditions which have not yet been ascertained, the

enhæmospore ceases to break up into fresh enhaemosporesbut grows largely in size and becomes different in shape.This stage is commonly crescentic in form ; it still remainswithin the red blood corpuscle which loses its pigment; thepigment is devoured by, and undergoes slight alterations incolour within the body of, the sausage-shaped or crescent-shaped parasite. This is designated the " crescent " or"crescent-sphere."

" This fifth stage, the "crescent," is to

be differentiated from those which have been already con-sidered by the important fact that it is sexual, but nomeans exist of distinguishing the male from the femalecrescents, except, of course, their subsequent behaviour.It is, moreover, the last stage which we find in thehuman body. Arrived at this stage the parasite can

undergo no further development unless it is sucked upby a mosquito. When this latter event happens thecrescents become rounded and from the one kind, the male.develop spermatozoa much in the fashion after which theydevelop in the sperm mother-cells of the earthworm-that

981

is, the periphery is converted into spermatozoa, while thecentral mass remains undifferentiated. This stage is to be

called "sperm mother cell," while the corresponding femalebody is termed the "egg cell.

" The result of the fertilisa-

tion of the last by the first is the "zygote." The zygotegrows and becomes vermiform in shape, exhibiting fairlyactive movements. To this stage, which is the largest in

point of bulk, the term "vermicule" is applied. Up tothis point the parasite has remained within the stomach ofthe gnat. But the vermicule by the help of its active

movements pushes or bores its way out of the stomach

and gains access to blood-spaces, enveloping that organ,where it acquires a spherical form, enlarges greatly,and surrounds itself with a structureless membrane.

This may be called the "cyst" " or " spore-cyst.

"

From the breaking up of the protoplasmic contents of ithis enlarged cell the exotospores arise and the cycle is Icompleted. This latter process is not, however, direct. The Icyst at first breaks up into smaller "spore mother cells"

"

from which latter the needle-like exotospores are formed bysubsequent division. Professor Lankester’s paper concludeswith a useful tabular comparison of the stages in the life-history of this hsemosporidian, as the group of the order

sporozoa which contains the malaria parasite is called, withthe corresponding stages exhibited by the two other sub-divisions of the order-viz., the gregarinidea and coccidiidea.

GLAUCOMA FROM A LAYMAN’S POINT OF VIEW.

A COMMUNICATLON which will be found in anothercolumn of our present issue demonstrates the advantage thatmay be obtained from an account by an educated laymanof his own symptoms in cases of disease. In this instancethe affection was diagnosed by the ophthalmic surgeon,Dr. C. E. Glasscott of Manchester, under whose care thepatient placed himself, as one of chronic glaucoma, anda grave forecast of the result was given. This view was

subsequently supported by Professor A. Maitland Ramsayand was fully borne out by the progress of the disease.The patient, who seems to have been one of the

victims of the struggle for existence in these days, was

originally strong and vigorous and could, he tells us,cover 30 miles in a day without distress. He attributesthe onset of the glaucomatous symptoms to a combinationof constant mental worry and excitement, over-exertion ofthe eyes in literary work, and the damp and cold climate ofthe North-west of England. He gives a graphic account ofthe early stages of the disease, including the ciliary neuroses,fogs, and obscurations of vision and flashes of light that areso commonly observed. Various symptoms mentioned, how-ever, seem to show that the case was not one of pure

glaucoma, but that the central nervous system was

more or less implicated, as, for example, the kind

of paralysis of the nose, the lips, and the chin,making speech occasionally quivering, the periodicalnumbness of the forehead, and the occurrence of

fantastic designs, figures, and phantasmagoria which do notr commonly accompany glaucoma. No mention is made

throughout of increase of tension in the eyes, though thepatient must often enough have been tested to determinethis point and must have perceived the importance attachedto it by his medical attendants. Presuming the globes tohave been normal or subnormal we think that a wise con-clusion was arrived at in abstaining from the performance ofiridectomy or any of the substitutes for that operation. Atthe same time it is easy to conceive that differences of

opinion in regard to the cause and nature of the diseasemight have led to different modes of dealing with it in thehands of different practitioners. We have, however, no

desire to comment on the treatment pursued, but we have pub-lished the case as extremely interesting because it is rare to

meet with a clear account of the progress of any disease fromthe patient himself, and where such patient is intelligentsymptoms may be noticed which the surgeon might easilyoverlook but which might afford valuable hints in regard totreatment.

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SMALL-POX IN LONDON.

THE returns of small-pox for the past week are as follows :On Saturday, March 29th, there were 48 fresh cases notifiedand removed; on Sunday, the 30th, there were 46 fresh

cases ; on Monday, the 31st, there were 61 fresh cases ; onTuesday, April lst, there were 62 fresh cases; and on

Wednesday, the 2nd, there were 57 fresh cases.

THE CONTINENTAL ANGLO-AMERICAN MEDICALSOCIETY.

i A PROPOSAL by Dr. F. H. Burton-Brown (of Rome) was laidbefore the annual meeting of the Continental Anglo-AmericanMedical Society that a luncheon of the society should beheld every year at the meeting of the British MedicalAssociation. A special committee was then appointed toconsider how far the proposition could be carried out with aprospect of success. Any members of the society whopropose to be present at the annual meeting of the BritishMedical Association to be held at Manchester in July, 1902,are requested to write to that effect before leaving theirwinter quarters to one of the members of the special com-mittee : Dr. D. W. Samways, Place St. Roch, Mentone;Dr. Leonard N. Robinson, 1, rue d’Aguesseau, Paris ; andDr. StClair Thomson, 28, Queen Anne-street, London, W.

ACHONDROPLASIC DWARFS, HISTORICAL ANDPREHISTORIC.

DR. FELix REGNAULT has recently published an interest-ing study of the action of achondroplasia in producingdwarfism not only in the human subject but among the

lower animals as well. His article, which is profuselyillustrated and fills 24 pages of the February number of theArohives Générales de Méde&bgr;ine, does not deal with livingexamples but with museum specimens, individuals of whomhistorical accounts or portraits are extant, ancient Greek orRoman statues, and pictorial representations on Egyptianmonuments. In the achondroplasic foetns the long bones areshortened and thickened and the deviations from the normalstraightness which they present are not gradual curvaturesbut are obviously angular ; the resulting appearances are

distinguished from the effects of intra-uterine fractures bythe fact that in achondroplasia the bendings of the bones aresymmetrical on each side at the same level; the deformitiesproduced by intra-uterine rickets differ also from thoseof achondroplasia, for the former are gradual curvaturesof considerable radius. In achondroplasia the facial bonesseem to recede and the forehead to project, the nasal

bones being at the same time flattened. In adult subjectsthe shortening of the long bones is more pronounced in thehumerus and the femur than in the radius and the tibia and

the three middle fingers are of equal length ; the skull is largeand brachycephalic ; the facial and nasal bones are as alreadydescribed. Among the dwarfs whose likenesses have beenpreserved from past generations Dr. Regnault distinguishesthose whose condition was due to achondroplasia on the onehand or to myxcedema on the other. Two of his achondro-

plasic dwarfs are (1) Owen Farrel, an Englishman who diedin 1742 and whose portrait is in the Royal College of

Surgeons of England; and (2) Sebastien de Morra, a servitorof Philip IV. of Spain. Two of his myxoedematous dwarfsare Tom Thumb and Simon de Paap, a Dutchman who wasexhibited in the early years of the nineteenth century.Among the ancient Egyptian deities the figure of Phtah is