Volume 60 · Issue 01 · 1941

Early attempts at radical resection of the esophagus for carcinoma date back more than forty years.

The human throat is known to be the most common natural habitat of hemolytic streptococci and to play an important part in the maintenance and spread of streptococcal diseases. Since streptococcal infections vary greatly in their severity, prevalence, and manifestations from time to time and from locality to locality, a knowledge of the organisms harboured in the throats of the general population in a given community is important and worthwhile. Many reports giving such information have come from different parts of the world; a summary of the more recent ones is given in Table 1.

Malignant tumors of the testicle constitute one of the most confusing subjects in the field of pathology. There are still wide differences of opinion as to the origin and nature of these new growths. They have been studied carefully and in spite of many painstaking investigations (1-9), a satisfactory classification based on histogenesis is still far from being established. In general it may be stated that the consensus of opinion at the present time recognizes two main groups: (A) Seminoma. A primary tumor probably derived from the cells of the seminiferous tubules and composed of one specific type of cells, and (B) Teratoma (or embryoma) - a mixed tumor usually cystic in nature and containing tissue arising from more than one embryonic layer. In the latter group heterologous tissue may be present or may have been overgrown. Chorioepithelioma is one of the types of atypicaltissue which has been described as occurring in these tumors. An instance of such occurrence recently was observed in the P.U.M.C. Hospital- The pathological features of this tumor proved to be unusually interesting and for this reason the following case report is published. It is hoped that, together with the observations of others, it may help to throw some light on the many problems associated with the proper understanding of these lesions.

With the object of finding a suitable and economical substitute for Pyrethrum extracts, supplies of which had become limited and increasingly expensive, considerable field and laboratory experimentation was conducted to determine the comparative value of Pyrethrum extracts and certain other substances which had shown promise in earlier investigations. Regarding the materials tested, the senior author was of the opinion that they might prove useful adjuncts to malarial oil. He has, however, to admit that with the exception of general direction and advice, the whole experimental work was devised and carried out by Mr. Silvey and that he himself can claim very little credit for it. Whilst no doubt in areas where semi-skilled labour can be used, the ordinary larvicidal oils are entirely suitable for antimalarial work, it is found locally that to use a larvicide of which the results are observable within a few hours or less, is distinctly advantageous, more particularly in regard to lessening the number of skilled supervisors required. Furthermore, it seems to us that a considerable saving is possibIe, since less oil is used owing to the kill being observed at the time and thus less frequent visits to ponds or areas are necessary.

Since Raynal published in 1937 the diagnostic tables for three species and one variety of Genus Phlebotomus recorded from North China, six other species and three other varieties have been added to the list of sandfly fauna in this country. Of these six species and three varieties, four are known, namely P. stantoni, P. bailyi var; campester, P. barraucli and P. squamlpleuris, while the remaining five consisting of P. kiangsuensis and P. iyengari var. hainanensis of the Erect-haired Division, and P. barraudi var. kwangsiensis, P. kachekensis and P. pooi of the Recumbent-haired Division, are all new to science. In the present paper, diagnostic tables for both male and female species are prepared in the hope that they may be useful to those who wish to obtain a working knowledge of sandflies in China. A note on the recorded distribution of the different species is also included.

Gaschen in 1934 reported the presence of P. barraudi (1), recumbent-haired species from Che-chuan (芷村) in the south of Yunnan. Since then, no further records have been added to the sandfly fauna in this province. In 1940 we were ab7e to secure sandfly specimens from two other localities in this province, namely, Mangshih (芒市) in the west and Kunming (昆明) in the east. In the former place a total of 208 sandflies was collected from the early part of July to the end of October. Of these, 203 were identified to be P. barraudi (155 �? 48♀) and 5 P. siantoni (2 �? 3 ♀), an erect-haired species. This combination of collection shows that P. barraudi was the predominant species in Mangshih in the period surveyed. In the latter district, three female specimens consisting of one found in June and two in July were collected and kindly sent to us by Mr. T. H. Shen, a former member of the staff of our department, for identification. Upon examination, all the three insects were found to belong to one species, namely, P. chinensis.

In the course of a study of the helminth fauna of vertebrates of Kweiyang and its vicinity, four pangolin Manis Pentadactyla L., have been examined during the past three years. They were all captured by the villagers and brought to the city for sale. In the small intestine of all the animals, from 15 to 38 small trichostrongyles were found, which proved to belong to the Genus Trichoskrjabinia and have been assigned as T. costata. In 1896, Meyer described from the same host (Manis Pentadactyla) in Ceylon a nematode which he named Strongylus costatus. Although Meyer gave no full description, it appeared to Baylis (1936) and to Travassos (1937) that the form belonged to the subfamily Trichostrongylinae. Travassos (1937) named it Trichostrongylus (s. 1.) meyeri n. n. The description by Meyer, as far as it is given, shows the morphological characteristics of the present material, and since Meyer's specimen as well as ours were collected from the same kind of host, it may be assumed with a high degree of probability that both belong to the same species. This species corresponds in all essentials to the characters of the Genus Trichoskrjabinia created by Travassos (1937 ) for Trichostrongytinae very simiIar to Oswaldocruzia but provided with a gubernaculum. The present material has therefore been assigned as Trichoskrjabinia costata and a brief description is given in order to supplement the previous one by Meyer.

It is a common observation that parasitism of skin occurs practically in every dog naturally infected with leishmania, and that the parasites are frequently found more abundantly in the skin than in the internal organs: This phenomenon is so striking that it often induces one to consider the possibility of the skin as the primary site where the parasites multiply to such a degree so as to invade eventually the internal organs. Falchetti (1) was inclined to take this view. In opposition to this hypothesis is the belief that the skin lesion is merely one of the general phenomena of the infection. In view of these conflicting opinions, it would be interesting to cletermine whether the cutaneous lesion is an early or a late manifestation of the disease. As no publication of this kind has come to our attention, we believe it is worthwhile to record our observations on the development of the infection in the bone marrow and the skin in two naturally infected dogs.

While the larger and more important endemic areas of kala-azar are fairly well defined, the actual extent of these areas westwards and southwards appears to be extremely vague. In a recent article Hoeppli* states "that although kala-azar may exist in West, Central and South China, the important endemic centres so far have all been found north of the Yangtze Valley." The uncertainty of our knowledge of the extent, of the fringes of the endemic areas should constitute a challenge to all working in those places to make a determined effort to prove the presence or, if possible, the absence of the disease. In these notes I propose to record experiences gained during 1936-37 in the small city of Anlu (old name: Teian-fu) in Hupeh which indicate that in that district the disease occurs with sufficient frequency to constitute an endemic focus of kala-azar in Central China and only a few miles north of the Yangtze Valley.

Adult beri-beri has been known in China since 2697 B. C. (Hwangti, Neiching); but only in those parts where white (highly milled) rice constituted a part of the diet of the population. In the Northern provinces, this disease was unknown until the 6th century A. D. when, together with silk, white rice was imported from the South.

In the total warfare of to-day, the provision of hygienic air raid shelters is no less important and urgent than that of an adequate fire fighting service. With an all-night raid, the shelters have of necessity become, in some parts of Europe, a permanent instead of a temporary abode of protection, as originally conceived and accordingly planned by the authorities responsible for the safety of the community. Hence the problem of overcrowding has come very much to the fore and has been brought home to us here in the disaster that befell a dug-out in Chungking. That the profession may not be unprepared to help with words and deeds, a few suggestions in connection with the subject may be here noted.