The discoveries referred to, as is usual, have had to withstand the criticism of conservative physicians, who, having adopted the prevailing theories with reference to the etiology of periodic fevers, were naturally skeptical as to the reliability of the observations made by Laveran and those who claimed to have confirmed his discovery. The first contention was that the bodies described as present in the blood were not parasites, but deformed blood corpuscles. This objection was soon set at rest by the demonstration, repeatedly made, that the intra-corpuscular forms underwent distinct amoeboid movements [resembling those of the amoeba, a jelly-like organism of simple type]. No one witnessing these movements could doubt that he was observing a living micro-organism. The same was true of the extra-corpuscular flagellate bodies [resembling a whip-lash], which may be seen to undergo very active movements, as a result of which the red blood corpuscles are violently displaced and the flagellate body itself dashes about in the field of view.
The first confirmation in this country of Laveran's discovery of amoeboid parasites in the blood of malarial fever patients was made by myself in the pathological laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University in March, 1886. In May, 1885, I had visited Rome as a delegate to the International Sanitary Conference, convened in that city under the auspices of the Italian Government, and while there I visited the Santo Spirito Hospital for the purpose of witnessing a demonstration, by Drs. Marchiafava and Celli, of that city, of the presence of the _plasmodium malariæ_ in the blood of persons suffering from intermittent fever. Blood was drawn from the finger during the febrile [feverish] attack and from individuals to whom quinine had not been administered. The demonstration was entirely satisfactory, and no doubt was left in my mind that I saw living parasitic micro-organisms in the interior of red blood corpuscles obtained from the circulation of malarial fever patients. The motions were quite slow, and were manifested by a gradual change of outline rather than by visible movement. After a period of amoeboid activity of greater or less duration, the body again assumed an oval or spherical form and remained quiescent for a time. While in this form it was easily recognized, as the spherical shape caused the light passing through it to be refracted and gave the impression of a body having a dark contour and a central vacuole [minute cavity]; but when it was flattened out and undergoing amoeboid changes in form, it was necessary to focus very carefully and to have a good illumination in order to see it. The objective used was a Zeiss's one-twelfth inch homogeneous oil immersion.