The Structure of Trypanosoma lewisi in Relation to Microscopical Technique

Abstract

ABSTRACT Much has been written of late years about the minute structure of trypanosomes, and also about the merits or demerits of the various methods in vogue for preparing them for examination with the microscope, that is to say, the technique of fixing, staining, and preserving these tiny creatures. Since our knowledge of the structure of trypanosomes is based almost entirely on the results of a number of complicated chemical and physical processes practised on a very delicate protoplasmic body, it is clear that a knowledge of the effects produced by these processes on the organisms are most important in interpreting the microscopic image finally obtained, in order to estimate, in any given case, how far the trypanosome may have undergone deformation or change as the result of the treatment it has gone through. In a perfect state of scientific knowledge it would, no doubt, be possible to deduce exactly such results from the known action of the reagents employed upon the protoplasmic body, but in the present condition of our knowledge it is only possible to arrive empirically at an approximate estimate of the effects of technique by comparing carefully the results yielded by it.