The Thompson Yates Laboratories Report

Abstract

THE first ninety pages of part i. of this Report are occupied by a description of the filariæ or blood-worms obtained by the Liverpool Expedition to Nigeria. This practically constitutes a monograph upon this important group of parasites, is from the pen of Messrs. Annett, Dutton and Elliott, and a number of new species are described and illustrated. Dealing with human filariæ, the opinion is expressed that, notwithstanding certain differences between them, the weight of evidence is on the side of the identity of Filaria nocturna and F. diurna. The bibliography accompanying this paper should prove of the greatest value to future workers in the subject, The other important papers in part i. are the “Flora of the Conjunctiva in Health and Disease,” by Dr. Griffith, and the use of bile-salt broth as a test for fæcal contamination, by Drs. MacConkey and Hill. The former gives a very complete account of the bacteriology of the conjunctival sac, and, like Lawson, Griffith has found the Xerosis bacillus to be a common inhabitant of the normal sac. In MacConkey and Hill's bile-salt broth we have a very useful medium for the detection of the Bacillus coli and allied species in water but the procedure recommended, viz. to add 1 c.c. of the water to each of three tubes, would detect, in all probability, only a highly polluted water, not one in which the B. coli was present in small amount, in which case it is essential to concentrate the water by filtration through a porcelain filter and to examine the deposit. The same remarks apply to the examination of samples of the Liverpool water supply; the quantity of water examined (1 c.c.) is far too little to give a trustworthy negative result.

The Thompson Yates Laboratories Report.

Edited by Rubert Boyce C. S. Sherrington. Vol. iv., part i., 1901, and vol. iv., part ii., 1902. Pp. 563. (London: Longmans and Co.)

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