Fig. 50.
Trypanosome Gambiense, from the blood of men suffering from the early symptoms of sleeping sickness. A, after Bruce and Navarro; B, after Castellani. They show a large oval nucleus (drawn as a black mass), and a small black “micronucleus,” or “blepharoplast” in front.
A most characteristic feature, which has been made out by the careful study of these trypanosomes by means of colouring reagents and very high powers of the microscope, is that, whilst there is a large granular nucleus there is also a small body at the anterior end of the animalcule which readily stains and is placed at the end of the root (so to speak) of the vibratile flagellum or free thread. This smaller nucleus has been variously called the “micronucleus,” the “centrosome,” and the “blepharoplast.” It is identical with a structure similarly placed in non-parasitic microscopic animals to which trypanosoma is undoubtedly related. We find it in the phosphorescent noctiluca of our seas, and in various animalcules called “Flagellata.”
Fig. 51.
The Trypanosome (T. equiperdum) of the disease called “Dourine,” as seen alive in the blood of a rat, eight days after inoculation.
A, the actively wriggling cork-screw-like parasites; B, the blood-corpuscles of the rat. This figure, of comparatively low magnification, gives an indication of the relative size of the parasites and the blood-corpuscles.