It has thus happened that each observer has indicated as the cause of
malaria a different variety of alga, whichever he found to be most
abundant in the swampy ground that he had to examine. Thus Salisbury has
indicated the _palmella gemiasma,_ which is found with us in places
perfectly free from malaria, while it is often wanting in malarious
marshes in the center of Italy; Balestra, a species of alga which is as
yet indeterminate; Bargellini, the _palmogloea micrococca;_ Safford and
Bartlett, the _hydrogastrum granulatum;_ and Archer, the _chitonoblastus
oeruginosus_. There is not a single one of these species the parasitic
nature of which has been demonstrated; and as regards the two last named
varieties, it can be positively denied that they are capable of producing
a general infection, for the diameter of their spores and filaments is
greater than that of the capillary blood vessels.
It was only in 1879 that Klebs and myself, after having been thoroughly
freed, by a long series of preparatory studies, from the unfortunate
paludal idea, undertook together some investigations in malarious
districts of the most varied character, marshy and not marshy. We employed
the system of fractional cultivation, making experiments on animals with
the final products thus obtained.
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