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'V 




d^fj? _ f^r/ i.Mv.l2S71, 




THE 



SYDENHAM SOCIETY, 



INSTITUTED 



MOCCCXLin 




LONDON 



MDCCCLVII. 



MANUAL 



OF 



ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE PARASITES. 



'k. 



ON 



ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE PARASITES 



HUMAN BODY, 

A MANUAL 

OF THE» 

NATUEAL HISTOET, DIAGNOSIS, AND TEBATMENT. 

BT 

DR. FREDERICH KÜCHENMEISTER, 

VBTSXOLLir TO HIS SBBSVB HiaKlTBSS THB DUKB OV SAXB MBIRIVOBF; 00RRR8P0VDIVO XBICBBB 

QV THB I8I8 SOCIRTT AND OF TSB VATÜKAIt HISTORY AHO XBDICAIt 800IBTT OV 

I1RB8DBH; THB XKPIIRXAL 800IXTT OV PHY8I0IAH8 AT TIBITHA, BTO. BTO. 

f 

VBAHBXdlTBD VBOM THB BB00B1> OBJfcXAH BDRXOH, BY 

EDWIN LANKESTER, M.D., F.R.S. 

VOL. II. 

ANIMAL PARASITES WITH STRIPED MUSCULAR 
. FIBRES AND VijaETABLE PARASITES. 

TflTH SEC COPP£R-PLAT£S. 



LONDON: 

PRINTED FOR THE SYDENHAM SOCIETY. 

MDCCOLYII. 

[ The right ^f Reproduction and TVanslation is reierved."} 



BOSTON MEDICAL LIBRARY 

MTHE 
FRANCIS A. COUNTWAY 

UBRARY OF MEDICINE 



PmiKTBD BT J. B. ADLABO, 
BABTBOLOMBW CLOBB. 



CONTENTS OP VOLUME II. 



Animal Parasitbs. 

Sieand Groiqt — ^Parasites with distinctly itriated muscular fibres 

First Prme^ Dfvittofi— ABTICULATA . 

Ftfov/ CZur— ARACHNIDA .... 

Fir$t Onfer— AcABIKA .... 

Fint Famify — ^Linouatülina, Pintastoma 
Linguaiula (Pentastomum) etmstrieta 
JJnguahUaferos, Pentaitomum dentieutatmm 

Second Family — Simonida 

Aearui FolUeulorum, Pimple mite 

TMrd Family — Ac arid a, true Itch-mites 
Jeartu Scabiei, the Itch-mite . 
Mites acddentally transferred from Animals to Man 
Sareopies Caiorum .... 
Sareoptet Canit . 
Sareqptes Eqm 
Sarctptet Bovii . 
Sarcopte$ Ovis 

Family of the Tick» — Izodida 
Leodes Ricinut 
lärodet margvMtu» 
Ixodes jfmericanus 
Argas Persicus 

Family nfthe Gamasida, Beetle-lice 
Sub-family — ^Dbrmantssus 

J)ermanyssus Avium • 

Mite described by Busk 

Mite in Prurigo senilis 

Cheese-mites, &c 

Family qfthe Grass and PutrnZ-ntt/ea^ORiBATiDA ss Lbptu^ 

Sub-family — Leptus . ... 

Lepttts autwimaliSt BSte rouge of Martinique 



PAOB 

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Ylll 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Fourth Clou qf the ARTICULATA— INSECTA, the Insects 68 

First aub'Ckus — Insects without a metamorphosis = AMETABOLA 75 

First and only Order — Apteba, Wingless Insects .75 

First Family — Pediculida, Lice . . . . . 76 

Pedieuhts Capitis, the common louse . . .76 

Pedicuhis Vestimenti, the body-louse . . 81 

Second /Virni/y— Phtutrius, Crab-louse . .82 

Phthirius Pubis, the common crab-louse . . 82 

Second Sub-class^lnMeciu with an incomplete metamorphosis = HEMIMETABOLA 84 



Oraler-— Rhtngota = Hemipteri .... 

/^A Family — Giocbrss, Land-bugs 

Third Sub-family — Ac a nth id a, Soft-bugs 
Acanthia leetularia, the common Bed-bug 

Third Sub-class^lmecU with a complete metamorphosis = HOLOMETABOLA 
Orrfer— DlPTERA two-winged flies .... 

Sub-order — Aphaniptbra 

First and only Family — Pulicida, the Fleas 
Pulex irritans, the common flea 
Pulex penetrans, the land-flea 

Sub-Order — Brachtcbra, true Flies . 

Family qf Bot-ßies—(E9TRii>nA 

Family qf the Flies —MvBCiD A 
Jnthomycida, Flower-flies . 
Creqphila, Flesh-flies 
Musca vomitoria, the great Blue-bottle 
Musca camariß, the common Flesh-fly 
The lanrsB of Musca domestica and M. stabulans 

Sub- Order — ^Nemoceea 
T^mUda, GnwiM 
Simulida, Mosquito» . 

Doubtful Parasites 

DactyUus aculeatus 
Spiroptera Hominis 
Dicerasrude 
Diacanihus polycephalus 



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85 

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87 
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88 




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. 99 




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. 100 




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100 



CONTENTS. 



Sagittula Hominii 
Asearit alata 
Tipula oleracea 
FUaria hommit bronehialia 
Hexathyridium venarum 
Polysioma pinguieola 
Eryatalit tenax 
PtmuMflar 
Clertufarmicariui 

Articulata inflicting wounds on man 
The scorpions 
The true house-spiders 
The hunting spiders . 
The bees, wasps, and hornets 
Snakes, toads, and frogs 
GordiuB aquaticu» 
Hrnmopsit wtrax 
Bombyx proeeaaionea, the Processionary Caterpillar 



PAGE 

100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
101 
101 
101 

102 
102 
102 
102 
103 
104 
105 
105 
105 



Ybobtablb Parasites. 
Oenbral Part .... 

Special Part 

A. AxOiB 
General Remarks .... 

I. Crypioeoeeui Cereviaiaf ferment or yeast-fungus 

Cholera fungus 

II. Meriimopadia VentricuH =: Sarehui VenMeuU 

III. Leptothrix buccaHa 
lY. Leptomitut urophüua 
T Leptomitiu Hannoverii . 
yi. Leptomihu Epidermidia 
ni. Leptomitua Uteri 
yiii. Leptomitua Mud uterini . 
IX. Leptomitua OcuU 
3L, . Oaeillaria InteatirU 

B. FcNOi. 

General Remarks . . . . . 

TRICHOPBTTiB. 

I. Trichophyton tonauranaf Malmsten ss Fungus of Porrigo 

Tryekomycea tonaurana 
no. Myeoderma PUcm Pokmiem 
lib. Trichophyton apormtoidea 

Appendix .... 
III. Trichophyton (?) l/lcerum 



113 
119 

119 
120 
211 
124 
129 
131 
132 
132 
133 
133 
134 
136 



137 

140 
140 
147 
148 
149 
152 



CONTENTS. 



MlCBOSPOKBJi. 

IV. Micratporon Audmäni = FungUB of Porrigo deeaham .153 

T, Microiporon meniagrqphytei, Fungus of Mentagra .155 

VI. Mierosporen fiirfur ss Mycoderma Eichiiaedtii, Fungus of Pityriasii 

vtrneolor . . 158 

Tii. ^cAonon 5^AotfnletNti^Aifi^M Port^tntt, Fungus of Favus 162 

Appendix . . .187 

Literature . . 189 

Yiii. Oidium alöicantf Fungus of Thrush .... 190 

Bxperiroental Appendix . . 217 

Berg's experiments on the growth of the Thrush-Fungus . 217 

Parasites resembling the Thrush.Fungus . 223 

iz. Bennett's Fungus of the lungs .... 224 

X. Jtperffilli speeiei . . 225 

Fungus in external ear . . . 225 

zi. AtpergiiU specie» . . 226 

Fungus in external ear . . 226 

zii. A^ergUU ij) ^eciee, Nail- Fungus .... 227 

Trichosporei . . 231 

Cryptosporei .231 

ziii. Mueor mucedo . . . 23 1 

XIV. Puceinia Favi ...... 232 

Pseudo-Parasites. Belonging to the Class of Algae and Fungi . 234 

Vegetable parasite from the Vagina . 235 
Author's experiments on the parasiticidal effects of various urgently 

recommended remedies . . . . 236 

Conclusion ....... 241 

Translator's Appendix. 
Appendix A. 

I. Note by Mr. Busk on a Case of Tick in the Sole of the Foot . 242 

II. Note on the Tampan from Dr. Livingston's work on South Africa . 243 
HI. Figure of Jcarus Scabiei and its mandibles . 244 

Appendix B. 

I. Note on Brachyeera by the Author .... 245 

II. Case of Living Animals parasitic on the Human Body, by Dr. Green . 249 

III. DescriptioR of Larva, &c. found on the Human Body, by Dr. Arthur 

Farre . . . 252 

Appendix C. 

I. Notes by Author ...... 256 

It. On a Conferva found in the Intestines, by Dr. Arthur Farre . . 265 

III. On the Husks Oatmeal in the Human Intestines, by Dr. H. Munroe . 269 

IV. On a Fungus in the Human Ear, by Mr. Grove . 270 



EXPLANATION OP THE PLATES. 



ANIMAL PARASITES. 

PLATE (TAB.) VIII. 
(This Plate, and the explanation of the figures 1 to 10, are given in the first volume.) 

Fig. 11^-13. Unguatmla ferox =s Penta$(omum deniiculatum (Zenker's), completed 
according to my comparative examination. 
„ 11. LmffuahUaferox (complete). 

a* Chitinous oral ring. 
„ 11. ft. Apparatus of hooks at rest, 
y. Covering of the point. 
e. Intestine. 

d. Clearer spot, possibly an opening on the abdominal surface. 

e. Anus. 

/. Rows of hooks. 
ff. Rows of pores between the last. 
„ 12. Isolated apparatus of hooks. 

a. The peculiar claw or hook. 

b. Chitinous base which bears this hook. 

c. Thread or flap which supports the covering of the point d, 

a, Hypomochlion of the base of the hook a, by which it is balanced in the 

fork b, 
ß. Free end of the base of the hook. 

y. The base of the hook, which, in gliding in and out, presses away the 
covering of the point. 
„ 13. Hook apparatus in action. The covering of the point d has lost the point of the 

hook a. 
„ 17. Lmguainia (PemiMtomum) conttrieta (of Siebold), after Bruner. 
„ 18. The same, after more recent drawings, by Bilharz. 
„ 19* An isolated hook of this animal, after the same. 

„ 20. Magnified view of his head cut off, vrith the mouth and its four hooks, after 
the same. 
Figs. 14 — 16. JearusfolUeulorum. 
Fig. 14. A young, six-legged animal, after Simon. 
„ 15. An eight-legged specimen, after Simon. 

a, a. PapUls on the side of the mouth b. 

c. The feet with three bristles or claws delineated on the free ends. 



xii EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 

Fig. 16. Still more mature, eight-legged example. The bases supporting the feet and 
the hook in the centre of the free ends of the feet. The two side-hooks 
of Simon are not true bristles or hooks, but the projecting points of the half 
moon-shaped free ends of the feet, as is still more clearly represented in 
fig. 16' a. 



PLATE IX. 

Figs. 1—7. Itch mites, after Gudden. 
Fig. 1. Female viewed from the back. 
„ 2. „ „ abdomen. 

„ 3. Male viewed from the abdomen. 

„ 4. Group of mites, with eggs in various stages of development. 
„ 5. Cast-off skin, remaining behind in a passage after the first moulting. 
„ 6. Six-legged mite, as, in order to moult, it conceals itself in its gallery, and draws 

near to it masses of particles and repairs itself in quiet. 
„ 7. Eight« legged mite, which has just moulted in the gallery. 
„ 8. Leptus autumnalist after a drawing kindly given to me by Prof. Leuckart. 
„ 9. Male louse from the head, with the system of tracheae and the respiratory 
stigmata. 
Fig. 9 a. Termination of the head and working apparatus. 
„ 9 b. An isolated and magnified antenna. 
„ 10. Female body louse. 
„ 11. Its masticatory apparatus. 

„ 12. Egg of a louse, found on the hair of a Peruvian mummy. The cover has unfor. 
tunately been neglected to be drawn. The description of the cover of the egg 
of this louse is found in the text in the place relating to it. 
„ 13. Female louse, with the system of tracheae, and the two muscles moving the 
hooks of the second and third pairs of feet at a, which give the last joints 
the appearance of a bell. 
„ 14. Head of the flea. 

„ 15. His double, at first spirally wound-up penis. 
Figs. 16—18. Larvae of the Gad-Fly of Cervu» Capreolut, 

Fig. 16. The same larva seen from the abdominal side, and magnified, a, kind of 
depression, in which the anal aperture opens. 

b. The four bundles of mnsdes which shine through the body of the larva, and 
ce, two small brown valves. 
„ 17. The same, seen from behind. On the bead is seen two small, scarcely per- 
ceptible dark brown hooks, also the fine prickles on the segments, and a dark 
spot on the rounded-off back part of the tail. 
„ 18. A piece of a trachea with the little valve still fa8teiie4 on i^ 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. xin 



VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

PLATE (TAB.) I.— ALG^ 

Fig. 1. Cryptoeoeeut CerevtMB^ discharged from the itomtch of t ptUent during 
Tooiiting. 
a, b, e. Young germs adhering to the mother-cells. 

d, e. Particularly distinct nucleus, or the internal reside. 
/. The same firom beer. 

g. The same from diabetic urine. (Robin.) 
„ r. Cryptocoeeui guttmiMtus, from the intestinal canal of graminiTora, sometimes 
~ found in the human intestines. 

a. An isolated specimen. 

b. Two associated cells. 

e. A large ceU, with a small one on its side. 

d, e. Larger and more adranced stages. (Robin.) 
„ 2. Aferismcpadia VentrieuU^ Sareina^ discharged by vomiting, 
a. Prismatic al or cubical masses, divided by four furrows. 

d. The same united by means of amorphous connective substance. 
g. The same, representing an irregular mass. 

h. Ditto» but with cells which only show two divisions. 

fl. Round or oval isolated cells, with 2 or 3 granules. 

I, m, », 0. Without a nucleus. 

ji, t, V. Coloured masses, ^, with ovoid elongated cells 1 ^ , . 

A, y. Blood coloured cells, with mixed substances J '*^''"** 
f, 3. Leptotkris bueeaH», In the scraped-oiT coat of the tongue, bodies commonly 

found with a central epithelial substance (epithelial processes) firom the papillae 

of the tongue, with enveloping granular masses and thread>shaped fungi on 

the periphery» (Wedl.) 
„ 4. Leptotkrix bueealU, with oral mucus from the coating of the tongue, with 

epithelial cells (a), mucus globules (b), granules and elements of Algae (c). 

The same free in saliva (A, h), 
„ 5. Lepiotkrix bueeaUt. F»>m the ordinary coating of the tongue. 

a. Thallus of bundles of filaments. 

b. Bundle of filamentous fungi themselves ; amongst both, fine root-shaped 
corpuscles without transverse partitions. 

„ 6. Larger bundle of this plant from the tartar of the teeth, implanted in fine 

granular masses (a). A little full of roots with fine corpotdes (b). (Fig. 4 — 6 

after Robin.) 
„ 7. LeptamUui Hamooeri^ from ulcerated mncous membrane of the cesophagus, and 

frt>m typhus patients. (Robin.) 
„ 8. Ramifications of the same. 
H 9. LepiomUui of Onbler, from a severe shot-wound iu the palm of the hand. 

a bt d. Single or ramified, articulated filaments. 

e, c. Spores always associated in two. (Robin.) 



x\y EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 

Fiff. 10. Leptomitut Uteri of Lebert. 

a, a. Mycelium tubes without partition-walls. 
hf ht h. With partition-walls. 
et e. Fine granules in the interior of the cells. 
^1 ^tft 9* Spores in various conditions. 

PLATE (TAB.) II.— A. ALGiE. 

„ 1. Wilkinson's Alga. 

Of a. Two primary filaments, which divide into secondary ones. 

c. A flask-shaped swelling on the one end of the filament, 
c'. The same in the middle of the filament. (Sporangium ?) 

d. Round bodies with broken secondary filaments. 
„ 2 and 3. Hannover's Algae in the eye. 

a. Corpuscles mth and without nuclei after treatment with acetic acid, 
a'. Corpuscle with a smaller nucleus proceeding from it. 

b. The filaments treated with acetic acid, their outline resembles certain fresh. 

water Algse. 

B. FUNGI. 

,. 1. Malmsten's zWcAqpAy^ofi /ontMrofw. Hair covered with spores. 

„ 2. The same, isolated rows of spores. 

„ 3. Hair with spores from a Plica Polonica. 

a. Spores breaking out from the hair. 

b. The same enlarged. (Gunsburg.) 

„ 4. Hair-root with the fungus, of which some break through the hair. (Gunsburg.) 
„ 5. Contour of the hsdr with the fungus a, and breaking up of the hair b. (Gunsburg.) 

c. Spores on the epithelium cells. 
6. Hair after Hebra-Wedl much split up. 

a. Spores with bright granules, in groups on the hair. 

b. Shorter, bifurcating Thallus thread. 

„ 7. Champignon des niedres from Lebert, found in a crust of pus. 
a, a. Small sporules. 
bf b. Sporules with gp'anules. 

c. c. Rows of spores. 

e. e. Molecular granules. (Lebert, Atlas XXII, fig. 7.) 

PLATE (TAB.) III. 

„ 1. Microiporon mentagrophytety after Gudden-Beyer. Slender filaments, with spores 

variously arranged. 
„ 2. Ditto, thicker threads, with partition-wall. 
„ 3. Ditto, more enlarged, without partition-walls. 
„ 4. MicrotpoTfmfwrfwt, after Wedl. 

a. Spores with bright oily nuclei. 

b. Projecting from a longer process, two spores melting away. 

c. An accumulated group of spores. 

<f, d. Spores arranged like a rosary for a shorter extent. 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. xv 

Fig. 5. Hiir with FaTUt Fangas : AekorUm SehönleinH. 

a, b. Groups of spores projecting on the surface of the hair, 
e, c, I. Rows of spores, which anastomose or appear on the surface of the hair. 
d. Special forms of spore. 
e,f. Spores on the hroken-up root of the hair. 

gt h. Broken-up root of the end of the hair with spores amongst the lamellae. 
„ 6. Crust of skin taken from the neighbourhood of a favus crust. 

a. Opening in the skin of a sebaceous gland, or of a fine hair-folUcle. 
b,f. Spores adhering to the lamellse of the skin. 
„ 7. Fayus crust of the natural size. 

a. Small favi, four in number, each penetrated by a hair. 

b. The same seen from beneath. 

c. A crust with concentric layers penetrated bythree hairs. 
d» The same seen from beneath. (Fig. 5 — 7 after Robin.) 

,y 8. Network of threads of the thallus of achorion, after Wedl. 
„ 9. The same spores in various forms, after Wedl. 
,, 10. a, bf e. Various thallus threads, after the same. 

„ 11a. Transverse section through the middle of a small crust of favus, four times 
magnified. 
b. Spores germinating on an apple. (Remak.) 



PLATE (TAB.) IV. 

1. A hair from a favus treated with alkali, and with gas in the interior. 

2. The same with thallus threads (450.) (WedL) 

3. Thmsh-fuifgus^ Outturn a^ltfon«. 

a. Fragment of a separated thrush layer implanted in masses of epithelium. 

b. Spores. 

d. Thallus threads with partition-walls. 

e. The free end of a thallus thread somewhat swollen. 

ff. The same as before with constrictions, without partition-walls. 

4. Part of an aphthous crust cut off on the third day of the disease, formed of epithelial 

cells and masses of spores proceeding from a single thallus. 

5. Perfectly developed thallus threads of Oidium, with partition-walls and 

constrictions (a, a), which at the end of the tubes become coarser (6), with fine 
granulations (c), and in parts ramifications (d), and with small fresh branches. 
The origin of the thallus is situated sometimes in a spore heap (^), and begins 
from an elongated spore (^), the free end is sometimes swollen (t) and pre- 
viously notched {k). Spores, which germinated on a piece of aphthous mem- 
brane preserved on a moistened glass (h). 

6. Ends of perfectly developed thallus threads (460). 

7. The same under a higher magnifier (780). 

8. Filaments with grantdatlng cells (a), and without granulations (b, c), from the 

aphthous membrane of an adult. (Fig. 3 — 8, after Robin and Wedl.) 



xvi EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 



PLATE (TAB.) V. 

Pig. 1. Wedl's fiing:u8, from the vomited matters of Dr. Herzfelder*! patient. 

a. Thicker thallat threads. 

b. Thinner thallas threads. 

c. Three threads proceeding from one cell. 

d,etf. Club-shaped primary cells with thaUns threads. 
g. Stretched cells of a thallus thread, with nuclei inside towards the junction 
of the articulations. 
,, 2. Bennet's fungus, from the expectoration in a case of pneumothorax. 

a. Branches with spores. 

b. Articulated spores. 

c. Spores of various forms. 

d. Granulated mother-soil. 

„ 3. Mayer's fungus, frt>m the external ear. 

a. Simple, not swollen, internally granulated filaments. 

b. Developed fungus, with spores on its capltulum. 
„ 4. Meissner's nail-fungus. 

a. The claw-like, curved, degenerated nail. 
„ 4' . a. Articulated filaments. 

b. Sporangia. 

c. Spores. 

„ 5. Mucor mueedo. Observed by Sluyter in a cavity in the lungs. 
„ 6. Puccinia Favi (Ardsten), after Robin. 

a, d. Normal forms. 

b,^ Mass enveloping the fungus. 

g,h. Abnormal forms. 

k. Puccinia Virgaurea. 
„ 7. Fungus of Pityriasit v^nieolor treated with concentrated sulphuric acid and 

Syruput Rubi Idai, 
„ 7'. Copy of the termination of a filament, after Gndden. 
„ 8. Parasite found upon the inflamed vagina of a diphtheritic female, by Professor 

Greuser (sent by Dr. Zenker, of Dresden). The spores and articulated filaments 

are represented. 



Tab. IX 




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ANIMAL PARASITES. 



SECOND GROUP. 



PARASITES WITH DISTINCT TRANSVERSBLY STRIATED MUSCULAR 

FIBRES. 



first principal Division — ARTICULATA. 

The articulate or jointed animals may be described after 
C. Vogt. 

Ariiculata sunt animalia typum bilateralem quoad corporis 
structuram sequentia ; symmetricam organorutn positionem stride 
observantia; organa motoria articulata et ex cavis intemeque 
fnusculosis artictUis formata, exhibentia, inque statu embryonali 
piiellum, embryonis tnedulUe abdominali ex diametro oppositum 
prabentia, ita ut embryo vitellum superficie dorsali tangat. 
^ The Articulata exhibit the following peculiarities : 

1. Ttie greatest symmetry in the arrangement of the lateral and 
median organs. 

2. A transverse division of the body into several rings or zonites, 
which in type stand near the Annelidous worms. 

3. A dissimilar segmentation in different regions of the body, 
which allows us to distinguish, sometimes head, thorax, and 
abdomen, sometimes only an abdomen and a head and thorax 
fused together {Cephalothorax, in spiders and crabs), sometimes 
only a body amalgamated into a single piece (mites). 

4. A knotted nervous cord laid upon the inner wall (not at the 
back as in the Vertebrata) which forms an oesophageal ring by 

1 



2 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

commissures with the cephalic ganglion. The more distinctly 
the articulation is marked^ the more regular is the formation of 
ganglia; the more indistinct the former, the greater is the 
fusion of the ganglia into larger masses. 

5. A tolerably complicated motor system. — In the first place, a 
firm, hard skin, which forms hollow rings or tubes, in the interior 
of which the muscles are attached. Here, therefore, we have 
the organs of motion inclosed in the interior of the levers to be 
moved, whilst in the Vertebrata the muscles are fixed on the 
outside of the framework. And whilst in the lower animals we 
neither meet with articulated limbs nor with levers united by 
articulations, here we meet with limbs which consist of joints 
united by articulations (generally ball and socket or hinge 
joints), and serve in part for all sorts of movements upon the 
earth (hopping, running, springing), in water (swimming), and in 
the air (flying), in part for nutritive purposes, for the capture of 
prey and as assistants in mastication, and partly for the perception 
of the impressions of the senses. They allow the recognition of 
the following individual parts : 

a. The antenna, — They are sometimes double (an anterior 
inner and posterior outer), and sometimes single on each 
side, or apparently entirely deficient from being converted into 
biting or raptorial organs. They stand before and over the 
mouth upon the forehead ; lower down in embryos, and only 
advancing upwards by degrees. They are divided into the 
shaft {scapus), which is usually composed of several joints, and 
the flaffellum. 

b. The oral organs, which serve for piercing the prey, for 
mastication, and closing the mouth, lie round the latter, and 
consist originally of four pairs of lateral jaws, the first of which 
is always, and the last generally, fused together into an oper- 
culum-like lip. In them the following individual parts may 
usually be distinguished : a, an upper lip {labrum) ; ß, a pair of 
upper jaws or mandibles {mandibula),^ sharp, simple, consisting of 
a single powerful piece; y, a pair of lower jaws or maxilla 
{maxilUß, mdchoires), which usually consist of a shaft or body 
(stipes), a lobe^ destined either for maf^tication or concealment, and 
an external feeler or palpus; S, a very composite lower lip 
(labium) . 

c. The masticating feet or foot-jaws (pates-m^choires), which 
form a transition between the organs of motibn and nutri- 



ARACHNIDA. 8 

tion, are wanting in the Insects; thej occur principally in 
animals with a cephalothorax, and are in three pairs. 

d. The true legs => feet {pedes) at least in three pairs» con- 
sisting of a globular or cylindrical hip-joint {coxa): the trochanter, 
which is immoveably soldered to this; the thigh {femur), the 
shank {tibia), and the multi-articulate /oo/ {tarsus). 

e. The false ventral or abdominal feet {pedes spurii, fausses^ 
pattes) oa the segments of the abdomen^ behind the true legs. 
They are wanting in the Arachnida and Insects, 

/. In the higher species^ the jointed appendages upon the 
back^ the unngs. Cilia are entirely deficient, 

6. A peculiar course of development. — A clear distinction is 
produced between the yelk and the germ-foundation from which 
the embryo is formed» which is turned with its back towards the 
yelk» and not with its ventral surface as in the Yertebrata» and 
the organs of which are developed from the ventral side and 
finally close towards the back. 

The Articulata are divided into four classes: 1, Crustacea; 
II» Myriapoda; III» Arachmda; and» IV, Jnsecta, ot which we 
are only interested in the last two. 



A, Class I. Ajuchn»!» 

Arachnida sunt Articulata itynimis cephalothoracica ; in eepha^ 
lothorace, non in abdomine pedes, plerumque 8» gerentiaet antennis 
veris, quorum fimctiones per mandibulas autforcipes venenaiorias 
eskibentur, carentia. 

We find only a cephalotborax with four» rarely with three 
segments» or a single fused mass with oral organs; with four 
pairs of legs on the middle of the body; with the anus and 
sexual orifice on the abdomen« 

Ib detail the Ajrachnida consist of the following parts : 

1. The sJün consists of & soft» ooriaceous^ rarely brittle» exten* 
sible» but not contractile» chitdnous mass« It is rarely naked» 
generally hairy» bristly» scaly» or furnished with jointed appen« 
dages» and also with pigment-granules or vesicles. 

2. The legs consist of a roundish csxa with a short trochanter, 
a powerful femur, a long tibia, aud generally a two-jointed 
tarsus, with or without claws. In the mites, the sections are 
generally of equal size ; in the weaving spiders, the tarsal joints 



4- ANIMAL PARASITES. 

are extremely numerous. The hinder three pairs are usually 
similar ; the anterior is rather a foot-jaw. The last tarsal joint 
bears one or two claws, or a pedunculate adhesive lobe (in the mites), 
or internally a sort of comb or a series of bristles (wefiving spiders). 

3. The oral organs VKvy greatly. The principal weapons are 
the antenneal jaws, which are of the form of a knife, dagger, or 
scissors, or furnished with a thick process with a sharp claw. 
Behind these are the scissor-like or many-jointed maxUUe, with 
very slightly developed palpi at the base, and, beside these, soft, 
puffed, sucking lips.. In the mites, these oral organs stand upon 
an elongated proboscis with a thick base. 

4. The nervous system in the majority is much fused together. 
The mites have only a ventral ganglion with a simple oesophageal 
band, and without cephalic ganglia ; the spiders have a cephalic 
ganglion, an enormous thoracic ganglion, and a ventral ganglion, 
which is usually small, but rarely deficient ; the scorpions have a 
ventral chain of ganglia. 

5. The organs of the senses usually consist only of sim'ple 
eyes, to the number of % — 5, seated laterally or in groups upon 
the cephalothorax or upon the back. The optic nerve is dilated 
into the form of a beaker, and surrounded by dark pigment 
membrane; the vitreous body is globular, and the cornea roundish. 
Some of them are blind. The true spiders appear to possess the 
senses of hearing and smelling. 

6. The intestine is divided into a thin, horny, subsequently 
muscular, oesophagus, and a straight intestine, opening behind, 
without a stomach (scorpions and Crustacea) ; or the same parts 
occur with a stomach and all sorts of csecal appendages, which often 
distribute themselves through the whole body, even into the palpi 
and claws (the other Arachnida) ; salivary glands, a liver, in the 
form of a granular coat of the intestine, or large lobate masses, 
and urinary organs, as thin branched tubes, are present. 

7. The organs of respiration are wanting in many of the lower 
forms ; in the higher ones they are delicate branched air-tubes, 
with stigmata arranged in pairs, or flat air-sacs, which receive 
the air through an opening in the belly, and in their interior 
contain a number of plates, like the leaves of a book (that is to 
say, a series of compressed tracheal stems). 

8. The circulatory organs present a tubular, many-chambered 
heart, from which arteries are given off; they only occur where 
the respiratory organs are developed. 



ACARINA. 6 

9. The venomous organs, which are rarely deBcient here, are 
pairs of twisted glandular tubes, which lie and open in the claws 
of the antenneal jaws in the head, and only in the caudal style 
of the scorpions. Probably only the wounds of scorpions are 
fatal to man ; the utmost that any other Arachnidan can do is to 
produce a little fever or local irritation, as for example, the 
Tarantula and Malmignatte. 

10. The sexual organs in the female are racemose or tubular 
ovarian sacs, lying anteriorly in the abdomen, with short oviducts 
opening into the vagina, and at the orifice of this, with two 
horny seminal pouches and an ovipositor. The sexual organs of 
the male are still very little known. The testes are convoluted, 
glandular cseca, or racemose vesicles, which open at the extremity 
of the abdomen. The mites and geometric spiders have a long, 
horny penis, spines, and a clasping apparatus. In the true spiders 
the palpi are thickened, and have a spiral thread and horny 
pieces (hooks, cups, or saucers) in and upon them, with which 
the males take up the semen and put it into the vagina. 

11. Some mites and scorpions are viviparous ; the other 
Arachnida lay roundish and often large eggs, with a germinal 
vesicle and simple germinal spot when within the oviduct. The 
germ-stratum gradually grows backwards over the yelk. The 
higher species change their skins without any metamorphosis; 
the lower ones with a simultaneous metamorphosis. Here the 
feet are at first undeveloped, without joints, or in smaller number 
(two or three pairs in mites), elongated, and swollen at the anterior 
part in the form of a button. After the first moulting the missing 
pair of feet makes its appearance. The young of the water mites 
pass into a pupa state during the moulting. lAnguatuke lose 
their feet in the later period of their life. 

The Arachnida are divided into, 1, the Spider-like, in which there 
is always a distinct separation of the abdomen from the cepha- 
lothorax, or even of the head from the thorax and a coecal 
intestine; the skin is soft; and, 2, the Crustacea4ike with the 
skin hard, shield-like ; the intestine straight ; the palpi generally 
nipper-like. 

Order I. Acarina {Mites). 

Acarina sunt animalia parasitica, minima, simplicissima ; capite, 
t/torace, et abdomine in unicam massam confusis ; pedibus in statu 



6 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

immaturo d, in maturo 8 articulatii, forma divenissinds, abdomini 
inierti9, out nuilis {in lAnguatvlis maturis iine pedibus, in imma- 
iuris vero cum pedum incremento) ; cute magi$ minusve moUi, 
ionium in Oribatidis (plant-mites) fragili, dura et fere vitrea; 
crganis mauducätorüs formatis es proboscide inierdum ariiculata, 
re- et pro-traciiH, in ^a aculei 2 acuii et gladiforme» reconditi 
sunt ; iubo intestinali probosctdem secuto, appendicibus muliis et 
laieralibus insiructo; ocuHs 3 in anteriore cephalothorace, out 
nuilis (m Acaris sub cute parasitantibus) ; organis anienfurformibus 
binis ad utrumque proboscidis Mus, plerumque ex 5 articuUs com* 
positis, etformd variantUms {exc. in Hydrachnidis aculei- out 
ancora-fbrmibus, out vahaformibus, dentatis in Ixodidis, out Jusi^ . 
formibus in Oribatidis, out seiosis in Bdellidis et OpiUonidis. ifc) ; 
organis respiratoriis tubulosis, ramificatos fascicules formaniibus et 
ex stigmatibus 2 laieralibus, qum plerumque inierpedes posiia sunt, 
exortis ; in inferioribus Acarinorum familiis ntUlis ; corde nuUo. 
Parasita rarissime vivipara, plerumque ovipara ; in juoewUi statu 
6 pedibus instrucia, ex quo in maturum siatum 8 pedibus omatum, 
tempore quodam in otio, sive nutrimento, et inierdum in tenebris et 
cystidibus quibusdam peracto, transeunt. 



First Family — Linouatuxida « PENTAtTOXA. 

Synon : Däsnia ; Distoma et Porocephalus ; Teiragulus ; Echi' 
norhynchus ; Halysis ; Prionoderma ; Pohfsioma et Pentastoma ; 
Monostomum. 

From these names it will be seen at once what yarious places 
in the system have been assigned to this worm. Rudolphi re- 
garded them mostly as Trematoda ; Diesing places them with the 
worms^ as Acanihoiheca. We pass over his views, which have 
been completely refuted by Van Beneden, and refer them, with 
the latter^ to the Articulata, on account of their transversely 
striated muscles. 

Animalia solitaria, alia mascula, alia feminea ovipara. Corpus 
vermiforme, elongaium, depressum vel teretiusculum, ex articuHs 
permultis compositum, keve vel fimbriaium seu aculeaium ; caput 
corpore continuum, fere cephaloihoracicum ; os aniicum, chiiinosum, 
ad ct^ utrumque latus hamuli bini aut semilunares, aut unguis 
formes, simplices aut magis compositi, in exemplaribus juvenilibus 
ad pedes breves, fere inartieulatos affixi, in exemplaribus maturis 



LINÖUATÜLIDA. 7 

ffi rimas {quas Diesing injuria bothria rimceforma nnisetioKa 
nominat) retractiles, iia ut ad cutem abdominalem ipsam affixi sint ; 
prißterea st^matum series inter annalos vel inter fimbriarum series 
in cute {req)iratoria organa). Tractus intestinalis sin^lei?, hinc 
ore, illinc ano terminatus^, Systema nervosum constans ex ganglio 
pectorali, seu tubrnsophageo, crasso ; annulo msophageo 4:ompleto ; 
interdum 4i gangUis abdonünalibus, ex 2 fiUs nervosis paralkäs, 
catenam nervosam articulaiorum exhibentibus exortis, Systema 
vasorum ex Diesingio adest. Penis filiformis, simplex infi-a os 
ex Diesingio, duplex in superficie abdominaü {ex aliis) ; testiculus 
simplex ; ductus deferentes 2. Aperiura feminea in apice caudali, 
vesiculis copulaiorOs magnis, spermatozoidia gerentibus. 

Embryones Crusiaceis Lemaidis {ex. c. AnchoreUis^ aut Pycno- 
gonis) out rectius Acaris similes. 

For the last reason I have^ witli Vogt^ referred the Linguatulm 
to the Acarina ; Van Benedea places them close to the Acarus 
foUiculorum, as the lowest section of the Arachnida, but not both 
in one and the same order. 

To me it has long appeared as though the Acarus foUiculorum 
was a Linguatula, a vieW| however^ which was combated by Van 
Beneden^ when I asked for his opinion on the subject. Be this 
as it may^ the relationship between the Linguatukt and the Acarus 
foUiculorum is extremely close. 

As I refer the Acarus foUiculorum to the order Acarina, I will 
do tlie same with the Linguatula, which^ as the figure shows, are 
very similar to the Acarus foUiculorum, even in the annulatiou 
of the abdomen, and, with Vogt, treat the two close together as 
nearly allied families. 

Deceived by the roundish appearance of the foot-claws, which 
in certain positions almost form a closed chitinous ring, which 
certainly, on a superficial glance, has nearly the aspect of a mouth, 
and by the mobility of these ring-claws, people took these four 
feet for the same number of oral orifices, so that counting in 
the true mouth, five such openings were obtained, and the animal 
received the name of Pentastomum, Beckoning Bilhar2*s species, 
we are now acquainted with thirteen in all. Their number, 
however, would be still further reduced, if Linguatula senata, den*' 
iiculata, emarginata, and temicfides belong to one species. In the 
mature fully developed state, these animals live in the frontal 
sinuses and lungs of Mammalia, or in the lungs of various lizards 
and snakes, but in the immature and encysted state in the 



8 ANIMAL PAEASITES. 

interior of very yarious parenchymatous organs, perhaps to 
undergo a change of skin there, but perhaps also to be swallowed 
in the encysted state by other animals, in the lungs or frontal 
sinuses of which they first attain their maturity, as Gurlt and 
myself suppose. For instance, Linguatula denticulata, which, 
perhaps, having immigrated mechanically into the nose of the dog 
which devoured the rabbit or other herbivorous animal infested by 
it, might become converted into L. tatdoides. The entire cycle of 
existence of any species is still very imperfectly known, notwith- 
standing the endeavours of Van Beneden, who has done such 
high service with regard to the development and systematic 
position of these animals, and the good anatomical descrip- 
tions of Diesing. Very recently it has also been found that 
man harbours such lAnguatula ; but if, with Leuckart we 
regard those parasites observed in 1610 by Fulvius Angelianus 
and Yincentius Alsarius, which were expelled from the nose of a 
patient by sneezing, as a Linguatula, and not as the larva of a 
Oestrus, with the exception of this case, these animals have not 
been found free in the air-passages of the human subject, but in 
other places, either in the encysted state, or enclosed in 
cavities of the human body. We also know at present, both of 
the Linguatula ferox found by Zenker, and of the Linguatula con- 
stricta of Fruner and Bilharz, that in districts where Linguatula 
occurred in the human subject, the same two species also occurred 
in herbivorous domestic animals, or other indigenous Herbivora 
^as, for example, the giraffe). 



1. Linguatula constricta ?, {Pentastomum constrictuml 
Von Siebold = Bilharz). (Tab. VIII, figs. 17—20.) 

Corpus elongatum, cylindricum, anntUatO'Constrictum, antrorsum 
rotundatum, apice caudali conico-obtusum, ventre planiusculum, 
cutis non actUeata. Long. 6 ''', Latit. 1 '". Habitat in hepati 
hominis nigrita. 

Pruner found these parasites twice in negroes, on the hinder 
surface of the liver, on the mucous membrane of the small in- 
testine (?), and on the mesenteric folds, in the form of white, 
chondroma-like, transparent, circular projections ; or, in one case 
(in which he probably had to do with a fresh immigration and fresh 



LINGUATXJLA CONSTRICTA. 9 

exudation) in the form of a larger, active vesicle, of the size of a 
kreotzer. Once the animal had slipped out of its vesicle and 
towards the duodenum. The tissue of the vesicle was elastic 
and strong, analogous to the serous membranes. On cutting the 
vesicle, the animal sprang easily out of it, and lived for five 
hours in water. According to Pruner, the animal, in its perfectly 
extended state, is fully 1'' long and %"' broad, cylindrical on the 
back, flat on the ventral surface, obtuse in front and pointed 
behind. Even with the naked eye, Pruner detected four pro- 
trusible and retractile hooks, which, under the microscope, are of a 
golden-yellow colour. The body was white, composed of rings, 
and the intestine yellowish green. On the notches between 
the segments, on the ventral surface, there were two rows 
of openings {stiffmata). Moreover, Pruner saw, close to the in- 
testine, two milky coils, on the left side in front, a projectile, 
bipartite, cylindrical organ, and on the lower surface of the in- 
testine a delicate white filament, none of which he knew exactly 
what to make of. In the collection of Pathological Anatomy at 
Bologna, also, Pruner found two similar parasites obtained from 
the human liver. 

Bilharz repeatedly found the animal encysted in the livers of 
negroes. Here and there, under the coatings of the liver, he met 
with capsules of the size of a grain of millet, which were filled 
with calcareous contents, and only two (?) colossal hooks. Very 
recently, Bilharz again found specimens of this parasite in 
the liver of a negro, encysted in the liver, of which he sent one 
capsule with the animal to Yon Siebold. Its form and size agree 
with Pruner's figure. The capsule is firmly amalgamated with 
the parenchyma of the liver, consists of ligamentous tissue of its 
host, and is attached so closely to the animal, that, as Pruner said, 
the form of the animal is printed in it. The animal is at 
the utmost 6'^* long and V broad, as Pruner has represented 
it; it is cylindrical, with a sole in the middle of the 
ventral side, conical behind, obtusely rounded off in front, 
flattened from above downwards, separated from the trunk 
by a neck-like constriction, and strongly ringed. On the 
trunk the segments form broad bands, and are separated from 
each other by strong constrictions. Anteriorly, the latter gradually 
become smaller and shallower, but extend even up to the head. 
Small warts make their appearance on the periphery of the head. 
The hooks are, similar, strong, not unlike the thorns of rose-bushes, 



10 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

cat's clairs^ hollow internally, and of a yellowish colour. 
Although cut out, the animals lived nearly a whole day, and crept 
about, extending and contracting themselves. At the conclusion 
of this latest report. Yon Siebold says that he has found every- 
thing as Bilharz described it. 

This unfortunate parasite, in the short time that we have been 
acquainted with it, has seen a great variety of fates, and although 
one would have supposed that it would have been exactly investi- 
gated when it came under the hands of a Yon Siebold (and Yon 
Siebold established a new species upon it), yet its description by 
Bilharz and Yon Siebold is extraordinarily defective, so that the 
note of interrogation which I have placed after consirictüy will 
appear perfectly just to the unprejudiced, for whom alone I write. 
As regards Pruner, in the first place, he has been brought in a 
manner to a recantation with respect to the statement of size 
(fully 1"). And yet I believe that Pruner has given the size 
correctly. In his recantation, he has forgotten that his parasite 
had lain in water, as may be seen clearly in his account. In 
this it was considerably dilated, and he only measured the parasite 
in this swollen state. Hence the different statements of this 
author at different times as to the size of the worm. 

Yon Siebold founds the distinct species, and his assertion that 
we have not to do here with a IAng%iatula ferox sen Pentastomum 
denticulatum (which is the second species of Zenker, without any 
dispute, and was recognised as such, not only by Zenker and 
myself, but also by Yan Beneden), upon the circumstance that 
lAngucUfda ferox is spined, acute at the extremity of the abdomen, 
and smaller, but that L. consiricta is not spined, obtuse at the 
end of the abdomen, and larger. I also regard it as possible, nay, 
even probable, that there is a peculiar species of Lingualula in 
the South, which also attacks men ; that we have to do with a 
peculiar immature and young state of another Lingtfatula. But 
if Herr Yon Siebold wishes that the unprejudiced inquirer may 
form an opinion for himself, he should at least take care that the 
opinion that a lAnguatula ferox is referred to, should not, first of 
all, be smuggled in under his shield. " Those are certainly my 
hooks'' {Das rind ja meine Haken) cried Bilharz, on reading Kauff- 
mann's dissertation upon Pentastomum denticulatum, as Yon 
Siebold tells us in emphasised print. But then Yon Siebold 
might have stated, or have got himself informed by his pupil 
Bilharz — 1, how large Vie hooks are, upon which we have no 



LINGUATULA FEEOX. 11 

information^ aiid the number of which we only know from the 
figure ; 2, whether the hooks have an Apparatus of support, such 
as the apparatus described by me, and afterwards by Zenker, in 
the lAnguaiula ferox of the rabbit, and clearly recognised by Van 
Beueden ; 3, whether the points of the hooks have or have not 
a cover f From these points alone can we obtain distinctions 
adapted for the determination of species. If Von Siebold had 
enlightened us in this fasliion, he would have spared the careful 
2!enker his doubts, and himself that invidious remark at page 331 
of the sevaith volume of his ' Zeitschrift/ 

2. lAnguatula ferox = Pentastomum denticulatum (Zenker), 
emarginatum, senatum et tanioidei aliorum, 

(Tab. VIII. figs. 11—13.) 

Corpus obovato-elongatum, retrorsum attenuatum, apice caudali 
interdum emarginatum, ventre nunc panum, nunc concavum, dorso 
convexiusculum, 70 — 80 annuftrum et fimbriarum seriebus ; caput 
rotundatum ; as ellipticum ckitinosum, cujus ad latus utrumquepar 
unum magnorum aculeorum, qui in cute abdominali chitinoso ap^ 
paratu gnadam {stylo retrorsum cwrvato, antrorsumfurccUim dislante 
et apice chitinoso cavo, qui mucrones hamuli quieti tegit) affixi sunt. 
Longit. ad IJ"', latit. antrorsum ^'\ retrorsum ^'\ Habitat in 
hepate {et quidem inprimis in superfide anteriore lobuli sinistri, 
rarius in hbulo dextro), rarius porro in renibus, in mesenterio, in 
tela submucosa duodeni et in tunica mucosa intestini tenuis, hondnum 
qui Europam mediam incoiunt. 

The species here referred to was very exactly described by 
Zenker, who first found it in the human subject, and every one 
who knows how to determine the Linguatmla will see that in 
Zenker's case young LinguatuUs feroces are referred to. These 
LinguatuUB are common to man and our herbivorous domestic 
animals, and if the opinions of Ourlt and myself prove to be 
correct, they are the immature descendants of the Linguatula 
t^ni&kles inhabiting the frontal cavities of the dog, which we 
regard as synonymous with Linguatula dentieulata^ emarginata, 
and serrata, and only as different grades of development of the 
same species. They may reach the closed cavities of the bodies of 
men in exactly the same way as in the Herbivora. 

Hitherto Zenker has found the animal only inclosed in a firm, 
even cartilaginous, fibrous capsule, loosely attached to the peri- 



12 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

toneal coat and readily detached^ which forms a small longish 
knot, 1 — li'" Par. = 2\ — 3-37 millim. in length, imbedded hori- 
zontally or perpendicularly in the liver, and projecting a little 
beyond its level. The animal, which measures about 3*2 millim. 
= r417''' Par. in length, has usually a lunate curved form in the 
human subject ; it is calcified, and of a yellow colour, and adheres 
so firmly to the capsule, that the animal can only be freed from 
it uninjured, with great difficulty, as Van Beneden found in other 
Linguatula. The animal is usually found on its side ; its convex 
margin represents the back, its concave one the belly ; the head, 
0*76 mill, in breadth, as well as the tail, which diminishes 
towards the extremity to a breadth of 0*15 mill., are both 
rounded ofi^. Constrictions are exhibited at the margins, pro- 
bably caused by death. The body is about 0*84 mill, in breadth. 
The deposition of calcareous matter takes place in the interior of 
the body after death ; by the application of muriatic acid and 
moderate pressure, the animal becomes transparent, with evolution 
of carbonic acid. 

The skin, which in the uninjured animal brown and opaque, 
and in separate fragments colourless, limpid, and homogeneous, 
is beset throughout with series of spines running round the 
animal (60 — 80 in all), each of which bears about 160 acute, 
slender, conical, flexible, glassy spines, directed backwards, and of 
different lengths in different parts, but on an average about 
0-02 — 3 mill. long. In the free space of about 007 mill., between 
two rows of spines, we see at somewhat wider intervals rows of 
small, dark rings with double outlines = spiracles = Stigmata 
respiratoria (Diesing), so that two stigmata occur for 3 — 4 spines. 

Of internal organization nothing can be detected from the cal- 
cification of the animal. The most important point is the 
knowledge of the apparatus of hooks, which I first detected in 
the lAnguatula ferox of the ruminants, and Zenker afterwards 
again found upon his preparations, which Van Beneden also can 
confirm as regards Zenker^s preparations. 

In the middle of the forehead, and near its anterior margin, 
there is, in the first place, a yellowish chilinous oval ring, of 
about the form of uninjured eggs of T(ßnia dispar ; at each side 
of the oral ring lies a pair of yellowish, rather large, strongly 
curved hooks, recognisable even by the common lens, which 
resemble the claws of large tapeworms, such as Ttenia crassicollis, 
if imagined without stems, and the bases of which are brpad. 



LINGUATULA FEROX. 13 

obtuse angled and emarginate. From this point tliej narrow 
rapidly towards the apex. They exhibit double contours^ are 
hollow internally, and lie for the most part in an inversion of the 
ventral skin. Each of these hooks is borne by a peculiar chiti- 
nous apparatus of support. The latter consists of a sort of furrow 
or fork, the stem of which is bent in the form of a hook, becomes 
constantly more diminished and curved posteriorly and towards 
the free apex, but widens anteriorly. This broader portion divides 
into two sections uniting at an acute angle. The portion turned 
from the ventral side and directed outwards, divides into two 
broad, forked lamellae, which receive the base of the true claw 
between them, and allow it to swing. The massive portion of the 
stem directed upwards and inwards ceases at this point at the same 
level with the lamellae of the fork, and becomes converted, as it 
appears to me, into a very thin filament, which, as it were, furnishes 
the skeleton or point of support for two lateral lobes, which are 
nothing but two lobes of the ventral skin. These lobes are pro- 
duced by the impression which the convexity of the hook- 
apparatus forms from the ventral skin towards the dorsal and into 
the ventral skin. They are only the mechanical consequences of 
this impression, and assist in forming the anterior part of those 
peculiar structures, which the authors describe as cl^ft-like open- 
ings, and which have led to their being confounded with a mouth. 
Whether this delicate chitinous thread or ridge is really there, or, 
as Zenker, for example, thinks is not present, others may decide; 
it is not indispensably necessary, for the convexity of the hook 
itself might certainly hold the skin upright and stiffen it in the 
median line of the lobes. Quite in front, and at the point where 
the sides of the lobes of skin again unite with the flat tissue of 
the ventral skin, there is a small chitinous structure, which, so to 
speak, looks like a three-cornered hat in minimo. This little 
body has a cavity which is directed downwards and outwards, and 
a closed convexity or cover which is turned towards the ventral 
membrane. In front there is a little beak, exactly like the 
anterior handle of a three -cornered hat. This little beak usually 
stands straight out and downwards ; by force and strong pressure 
it may acquire all sorts of different forms, and, for example, bend 
into a hook. I have formerly given this last-mentioned structure 
the name of the " Navicula ;" J. Müller, when I explained to him 
the mechanism of the movements of the hooks oi Linguatula, gave 
it the very characteristic name of the ''point-cover*' {Spitzendecker). 



14 ANIMAL PAEASITES. 

This very point-cover has its own history^ so many erroneous inter- 
pretations has it received. It has usually been regarded as a 
hook, which may easily happen^ when the point is bent back and 
the mechanism of its movement is unknown. Hence all authors had 
hitherto described the point-covers as *' the small hooks of the 
Pentasioma." According as the authors saw all the four point- 
covers, or only some of them, they speak of two, three, or four 
small hooks. The mistake is explained as soon as one sees a 
living animal. The hooks swing with their base in the fork, and 
when in movement, press back the lobes of skin with the hinder- 
most point on the lower extremity of the true convexity of the 
hook. At the same time the point of the hook escapea downwards 
from the cavity of the point-cover. If the hook returns again to 
a state of repose, the lobes of the ventral skin again apply .them- 
selves more closely to the whole hinder surface of the hook, the 
point glides back into the cavity of the little point-cover, and is 
completely covered by it. With this mechanism the chitinoua 
thread or ridge in the middle between the lobes of skin would be 
very well adapted to facilitate the play of the hooks, by stiffening 
the lobes, and, as it were, forming a firm channel for them. 

The measurements of . the hooks are as follows, according to 
Zenker : 

Distance between the point of the hook (a) and the foremost 
point of the base (i) swinging in the fork, 0'6^" = 0*095 milL 

Distance between the hook-point (a) and the hinder extremity 
of the emarginate basal portion of the hook (c) 0-083'" =0- 188 
mUl. 

Distance from b—c = 0055'" = 0-124 mUl. 

Distance between the point b, and the hinder convex extremity 
of the hook, in a straight line, 0059"' = 0-133 mill. 

This parasite is not very rare amongst us, as Zenker found it 
thirty times in two hundred dissections. 

Second Family — SibIonida (Vogt). 

Corpus vermieiUare, ataie profidscente iUmimttum; eephah- 
thorace latiore et molli ; pedes breves truncique, mediano aculeo 
nu^re armati, in statu immaturiore pedibus 6, in maturiore 8 ; 
Organa mandticatoria rostellum parvulum medianum, duabus lamnäs 
gladiformibus acutis armatum, pcdpisque 2 brevibus, duos articulos 
ewMbentibus conicisgue instructum pr^sbentia. 



ACARUS FOLLICULORUM. 15 

Acorus folliculorum (Simon, V. Siebold). Pimple mite. 
(Tab. VIII. figs. 14—16.) 

Synonyma: Demodex folliculorum, Owen; Macrogaster platypus, 
Miescher ; Simonea folliculorum^ Gervais ; Eniozaon, afterwards 
Sleazoon folliculorum^ Wilson ; Comedonenmilbe. 

According to You Siebold the name of Acorus is to be retained 
for it in preference, as there are also long-tailed Acari, for 
example, that discovered by Dug^ in small, pouch-like galls of 
the leaves of the lime. 

Signa generis, Longit. ^''\ Organis generaiionis omnino ignolis; 
evolutione imperfeciissime cognita. Species vivipara (Wedl). ? 
Habitat : in capillorum folliculis glandvlisque sebaceis humanis et 
sanisetiegre intumidis, imprimis in tola pilis mc^oribus carente facie, 
prate^'ea etiam in reliqtäs corporis regionibus, ex. c, in pectore, 
dorso, eJfC. 

According to Schönleiu there is a notice of a mite living in 
pimples as early as 1682 {* Act. Erudit.,^ p. 317) ; but according 
to Scliönlein and Remak, the figure given by Bonanni agrees 
better with the so-called ErdFs mite, or more correctly the bird- 
mite, which will be hereafter referred to. The true pimple-mite 
was found by Henle and Gustav Simon in 1842, almost simul- 
taneously and independently of each other. Henle found them 
in the hair-follicles of the external ear, but took the tail for the 
head, and the feet for sucking discs composed of pads. Simon 
found them in the pustules of acne, and described them correctly. 

With a very variable form the mite is 0*085 — 0125'" in length, 
and 0020"' in breadth. On the head there are two lateral two- 
jointed palpi, a tubular proboscis, and a triangular biting orgau 
composed of two fine acute bristles or saws. The head and thorax 
pass immediately into each other {cephalolhoraai). The short, 
conical, three-jointed feet are articulated to a chitinoua longitu- 
dinal ridge of the belly by a chitinous stalky and are, as it were, 
borne by this stalky which runs towards the anterior side of the 
foot, and thence sends a chitinous branch backwards and round 
the base of the foot. That these horizontal stalks run round the 
whole anterior part of the body, as Simon thinks, I have never 
observed, but I think they belong to the base of the foot. The 
terminal joint of the anterior feet, according to Miescher, has 
four, that of the hinder feet five processes. Simon describes each 



16 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

terminal joint as bearing three claws at its extremity ; a long one 
and two shorter. Wedl could not quite make out these extremi- 
ties. If we make use of the assistance of varying illumination 
of the preparation^ we see^ as I thiuk^ only a single hooked claw^ 
of a very delicate kind^ projecting from the centre of the foot. 
On the sides of the anterior free margin of the foot we see a pair 
of straight^ acute processes^ which are certainly not homy claws, 
but only membranous projections of the extremity of the foot, 
which probably even change their form in different move- 
ments. With transmitted light the larger claw may be traced 
distinctly as a lighter streaky a certain distance up into the 
substance of the last joint of the foot^ whilst the two apparent 
lateral spines retain the colour of the mass of the foot itself. The 
free-standing central claw apparently may be erected and somewhat 
curled. Thus if we employ coloured oils (for example, Macassar 
oil) in the examination, all the oil is sometimes displaced at this 
spot during the movement of the foot, and a small round surface 
is produced, which appears to adhere to the extremity of the foot 
like a little sucking pit — an illusion which has already frequently 
occurred. 

We meet with the animal in several forms. 

First form. — The abdomen is about three times as long as the 
anterior part of the body ; the tail notched like a file. The 
contents are finely granular, brown or blackish by transmitted* 
light; we also see transparent, irregular, round, oval or quadran- 
gular spots (fat-drops or epithelium). Some observers say they 
have distinguished an oesophagus, intestine, and liver. This form 
must certainly be one more approaching to maturity. 

Second form, — The abdomen is considerably abreviated, until 
at last it is scarcely larger than the cephalothorax, and when 
regarded by itself forms a conical body, pointed towards the 
caudal extremity, on which the rudiments of segments or trans- 
verse rings may be distinguished. This form has always eight 
legs. There is no doubt that it is the nearest to maturity. But 
whether the appendage in question at last falls away entirely or 
not, is at present still a matter of dispute. For my own part, it 
appears to me improbable that it should be altogether thrown off. 
Moreover, in one case, I found this form particularly plentiful, 
whilst Simon mentions the first form as the most abundant ; 
circumstances which probably vary according to the season, the 
duration of the disorder, &c. 



ACARUS FOLLICULORÜM. 17 

Third form, — It has only three pairs of feet, is narrower than 
the other forms, the transverse rings iu the abdomen are wanting, 
and the contents are paler, and less in quantity; in other 
respects it resembles the first form. This younger grade is cer- 
tainly converted into a higher form by a change of skin. 

With these forms there also occurs in the follicles of the skin 
a cordate body, which Simon regards as an empty egg-shell, and 
Wedl as a very young animal. The latter appears to suppose that 
this very young animal occurs already in the anterior part of the 
belly of the mother, and that he was able to observe the develop- 
ment of the six-legged form from this structure, its middle and 
hinder part diminishing in breadth, and becoming elongated, 
when oval organs and pad-like elevations (feet) grew forth. 
Gruby states that he has found the same species of this family of 
Acari upon the dog, after an experiment on the transference of 
the human Acarua to that animal, and at the same time observed, 
tliat in the course of two years these mites had increased so 
enormously that they occupied every cutaneous follicle, and the 
dog became in consequence quite naked ; statements which have 
been already doubted justly by Simon and Wedl. Oschatz found 
a similar Acarus in the glands of the eyelids of a sheep, ^t was, 
however, broader generally, and especially in front. 

Symptomatology. — Even Simon admits the possibility that thi^ 
animal, innocent aa it is in general, may, by excessive increase, 
become the cause of morbid beauty-spots (pimples and acne 
pustules). Very recently Remak has narrated the case of a healthy 
tradesman, twenty-six years old, who travelled a great deal, and 
had suffered for three years disfiguring acne on the chin, nose, 
and forehead, as well as on the back. On account of a sore on 
the glans penis, which was observed about a year after thiß eri^p- 
tion, but soon disappeared without leaving a scar, the patient had 
subsequently been dosed with mercury, Zittmann's decoction, cod- 
liver oil, and many other things, without these remedies or the 
prescribed water-cure having any influence upon the disorder. At 
length, after long seeking, Remak found the mite, but with great 
diflSculty, namely, by entirely removing the pustules, and dragging 
the Simonian mite from their bottom, sometimes from a depth 
of nearly a line. From this case it appears that in particular 
cases the mite may become the true cause of pathological condi- 
tions. 

Diagnosis, — In living persons, especially if fat, as well as in 

2 



18 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

dead bodies^ the contents of one or several vesicles may be pressed 
out by placing the nails npon the skin about 2 — 3 lines apart, 
and then moving them towards each other. By this manoeuvre 
the contents of the glands often issue in long rolls. Others use 
hard instruments for this purpose, such as the handles of lancets ; 
Simon employed a hair pin^ or a thin bent sound.' With this 
pressure is to be applied in the neighbourhood of the vesicle. I 
prefer the former process, because the person to be examined may 
perfectly well apply the pressure with his own nails, and the sur- 
geon keeps his hands free for the collection of the masses pressed 
out. We usually find an Acarus when we spread these masses 
upon a glass, facilitate their diffusion by a gentle pressure, and 
add a drop of (red) Macassar oil. Frequently, however, the 
result is negative, especially with enormously developed vesicles, 
and I have sometimes only attained my object by again pressing 
the spot which has been pressed once already. In the sebaceous 
matter which then issued, and which was collected with a knife, 
I found the animals very easily. In dead subjects I have also 
evacuated them by pressure, but here the animal often retires 
very deep, and nearly to the origin of the follicle. In such cases 
we can frequently only obtain the animal by cutting through the 
skin. In the nose and other parts which cover open cavities in 
corpses, we may, in case of need, introduce a broad, firm instru- 
ment, such as a spatula, into the cavity, and press a glass plate 
against it from without, so as to collect the sebaceous matter at 
once upon the glass. The collection of the animals is most easily 
eflected in fat people. But this probably varies according to the 
general faculty of the skin, to give up the contents of the cuta- 
neous follicles with greater or less ease on pressure. If there is 
difficulty, the outer covering of the pustules may be first of all 
pricked, or removed by the knife. We shall then find that the 
animals occur in extreme abundance, and that authors like Wilson, 
according to whom but few men are free from the mites, are in 
the right. 

Mode of life of the mites, — They occur sometimes singly, some- 
times several, sometimes many (13) together in one hair-follicle. 
In hair-follicles into which small sebaceous glands open, the 
animals lie close to the hair; in the large composite sebaceous 
glands, into which small hair-follicles open, they take up their 

1 Hebra makes use of a rather wide watch-kej, the opening of which he places on 
the most prominent spot and tlien presses. 



ACARIDA. 19 

positiou in the efferent duct of the gland^ commonly nearer to 
the outlet of the duct than at the bottom, except when found in 
corpses. The abdomen is usually directed towards the orifice and 
the head towards the bottom of the gland; rarely the reverse. 
They continue to live for a considerable time in fatty oils, 
whether they are taken from living or dead subjects. If the 
animals be still, this is only a sort of apparent death, and they 
again become lively by the application of a gentle heat. Even 
the warmth diffused by a study lamp excites them to give renewed 
signs of life. This is also probably the reason why it is so diffi- 
cult to make permanent preparations of them. For in oily 
media they at last creep entirely away under the varnish, Sec. 
In general their motions are sluggish. 

Therapeutics, — According to Remak, the eruption improved by 
ft mixture of equal parts of spirits of camphor and oil of turpen- 
tine ; but young mites were still found in four weeks, and in three 
years the disease was as bad as ever. A popular remedy, a very 
dear one certainly, is essential oil of cinnamon. The most ra- 
tional thing would be to apply Durand^s gall-stone mixture 
{OL Terebinthirue and-^VÄ. Sulfur.) externally, after the sebaceous 
matter has been squeezed out. 

Family of the true Itch-mites. Acartda. 

Animalia, mimina, cteca, mollia, non color ata, fflobiformia, out in 
cute animalium cuniculos agentes, et uti videiur venenata, quorum 
morsu pustulosum exanthema efflorescit, aut in materiis vegetabilibus 
out animalibus putrescentibus viventia. Pedibus 8, injuventute 6, 
brevibus, difformibus, crassiua articulatis, a chitinosa machina, ad 
abdomen affixa, portatis et a linea mediana ea^trinsecm distantibus, 
qui in articulo libero et extremo aut unguiculis aut aroliis in stylo 
quodam affixis aut capillis mobilibus armati sunt ; rostello longo, 
crasso, conico ; maxillis crassis, ex forficum forma ; palpis parvis 
cum rostello coalitis. Species plerumque ovipara. Mares minores 
et tenuiores ; pedibus posteinoribus usque aroliis armati. Femina 
majores et crassiores, pedibus posterioribus interdum carentes. 

1. Acarus Scabiei. The Itch-mite. (Tab. IX, figs. 1 — 6. 

Synon. Sarcoptes Hominis seu Scabiei ; Cheyletes Scabiei. 
Animalia cuniculos in cute humana agentta, setosa et spi- 



20 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

nosa ; corpore in una massa rotunda coalite ; pedibus crasHs, 
brevUms, quorum anteriores in utroque genere cn-olia, quorum par 
tertium in utro(fue genere lor^am setam, quorum par quartum 
in maribus aroHa, in feminis setas gerit ; dorso limarum deniibus, 
in plures ordines redactis, armato ; organis manducatoriis generis, 
Animalia vemationem ante maturitatem ter ewuentia. Mares 
omnino tenuiores, minus asperi, machind pedum ckUinosa in pedi- 
bus posterioribus inter se juncia ; femina majores, aspeynores, 
machina pedum posteriorum inter sejuncta. Species ovipara. 

There is no doubt that the itch was known to, and much 
dreaded by, the ancient Greeks and Romans. We might cer- 
tainly think that Aristotle in the fifth book of his Historia 
Animalium, cap. 31, knew the mites by the eruption of pustules, 
as he there says, "the lice (^elpe^) ^re produced from the 
flesh ; when the lice have remained longer upon the skin {orav 
juiWwtriv, but not, as the Leyden edition translates it, quibus 
futuris) small pustules, as it were, sprout forth, from which, when 
pricked, the lice issue.'^ But as, even with great uncleauliness, 
lice do not form pustules, or bury themselves beneath the skin, I 
refer this observation rather to those cases of so-called phthiriasis, 
which, as we shall hereafter mention, Fuchs has indicated as pro- 
duced by mites, unless, perhaps, we are to suppose, from the 
following passage in Avenzoar, who also still calls the mites lice, 
that with Aristotle, as with Avenzoar, itch-mites were understood 
by the lice being under the skin. Avenzoar in the twelth century 
appears first with certainty to have recognised the mites (Soab) 
as the cause of the itch. "Syrones,^^ says he " sunt pedicilli 
subter manuum crurumque et pedum cutem serpentes, et pustulas 
ibidem excitantes, aqua plenas, tarn parva animalcula, ut vix visu 
perspicaci discerni queant.'^ Although, in accordance with the 
defective entomological knowledge of hi« period, he may have 
regarded the animals in question as a species of louse, he cer- 
tainly meant thereby quite a different animal from the head- 
louse, and recognised the mite as the cause. Through the whole 
of the middle ages the knowledge of this mite was now maintained. 
Scaliger writes in his epistle against Cardanus in 1557 : " De 
Acaro senibus Aristotelico recto eum cum Garapate coropa* 
rasti. At quare longo minoris animalis oblitus es? Pedi- 
cellum Piceni, Scirum Taurini, Brigantem Vascones vocant. 
Nempe admirabile est. Et forma nulla expressa, prseterquam 
globi. Vix oculis capitur magnitude. Tarn pussillum est, ut 



ACARUS SOABIEI. 21 

non atomis coostare, sed ipsum esse una ex Epicuri atomia 
videatur. Ita sub cute habitat^ ut actis cuniculis urat. Ex- 
tractus acu^ super ungue positus^ ita demum sese movet^ si solis 
calore adjuvetur. Altero ungue pressus baud sine sono crepat^ 
aqueumque virus reddit/' Joubert, who probably only re- 
produces Scaliger, in 1580 refers to the itch-mite as a small 
species of louse {Syro), which, like the mole under the earth, 
produces passages under the skin, and thus causes a troublesome 
itching. Aldrovandi (lib. v, 'De Insectis,^ cap. iv, p. 215, article 
Genus differentiae) in 1623, also gives a sort of paraphrase of 
Scaliger; he thinks the mites are destitute of feet (which, ac- 
cording to him, had been incorrectly said by Mercurialis of the 
crab-louse, but which might have been said with greater justice 
of the itch-mite), describes them as concealed beneath the skin, 
and explains the popular name Pellicelli, ^' quod inter pelliculam 
et cutem serpant " (as he afterwards adds, '^ clam erodendo, et 
molestissimum excitando pruritum), sinuantes sibi velut cunicu- 
los, sen vesiculas non suppurantes, quas si quis perforet, exeunt albi, 
adeo tamen parvi utvix deprehendi oculispossint; non tarnen fugiunt 
acriorem visum in loco maxime lucido/^ He also states that the 
extracted animals, when crushed between the nails, burst with a 
noise. He then continues : " Minimi, quos Cyrones et Pediceilos 
nominari diximus, manuum ac pedum digitos potissimum inficiunt, 
inter cutem et cuticulam, ova Fapilionum quodammodo sua figura 
semulantur : sunt enim rotundi, exigui, subcandidi.^' I have re- 
produced this passage exactly, because the Englishman Moufet 
(1634) is usually cited as being the best acquainted with this mite 
of any one in the middle ages, of whom, however, I must assume 
tliat he was much less acquainted with this animal than the 
Pontifex maximus of natural history at the commencement of the 
17th century, Aldrovandi, and moreover, that he was the first to 
introduce the unfortunate confusion with the cheese-mite. Mar- 
tiny quotes the passage from Moufet^s * Insectorum Theatrum,' 
Londini, 1634, p. 266, as follows: ''Syro (apud Germauos ' Seu- 
ren')animalculum est omnium minutissimum, soleus innasci caseo et 
cerse et cuti item humanse. Syronibus nulla forma expressa praeter 
quam globuli vix oculis capitur; magnitudo tarn pusilla, ut non 
atomis constare ipsum, sed unum ex atomis Epicureis dixeris . . . 
Ita sub cute habitat et actis cuniculis pruritum maximum loco 
ingenerat, prsecipue manibus vel aliis partibus. Hos peculiariter 
vulgus acicula extrahit ; sed cum non simul toUatur causa, eorum 



22 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

fomes, perseverat affectio. Itaque prsestat unguento vel fotu eos 
occidere^ quo simul tollatur pruritus ille infestissimus/^ 

It is not easy for an author to arrive at such unmerited 
honour as.Moufet, who has copied what is good in this descrip- 
tion, and added what is bad ; for example, even the statement 
that the cause of disease cannot be removed with the needle.^ — 
After these authors, as Martiny states, we have to mention par- 
ticularly as writers upon the Sarcoptes — Hauptmann, of Dres- 
den (' Uralter Wolkensteinischer warmer Bade und Wasserchntz,' 
Leipzig, 1657, and a letter to P. Kircher, who thought he had 
seen the animals in the plague-boils, and figured them with six 
feet and four hooks) ; HafenreflFer (* Nosodochium, cutis affectus/ 
Ulm, 1660) ; and Redi, who in 1683 described and figured the 
mites very well after a letter of Bonomo's, which was afterwards 
claimed by Lanzoni for himself (* Osservazioni intorno a pellicelli 
del corpo umano, dal G. C. Bonomo, Fiorenze^), and was inserted in 
the ^ Miscellanea naturae curiosorum,' translated into Latin in 
1691, but subsequently confounded with a letter of Cestoni to 
Vallisneri in 1710, and arranged in the ' Collection Academique/ 
The itch-mite is also referred to in the 'Acta Eruditorum,' 
1682, and the 'Philosophical Transactions^ for 1703. Linne, 
whose scholar, Nyander, describes the actions of the mite very 
well in his dissertation, 'Exanthemata viva, Upsal, 1757, accord- 
ing to the opinion of most people never saw it, but mistook the 

I A fundamental confusion prevails here, because one has copied from the other 
without criticism. In the fifth book of his * Historia Animalium/ cap. 31 , Aristotle treats 
of the lice of men and animals, even those of the fishes and also of the ticks (Ixodida), 
and states that the ass is without either lice or ticks. In the thirty-second chapter he 
no longer treats of lice, but of the moths, Acarif the paper-mite, &c. Aldrovandi, on 
his part, has fallen into an error, in appending the Aristotelian Acorus immediately to 
the Scirronei, the true human itch-mites, merely on account of their smallness. In a 
remarkable manner Aldrovandi also allov^ the Aristotelian Acorus to be an animal 
living in wax, probably misled by the edition which he used, and which was probably 
the Leyden edition of 1590 also used by me. In this, in the text edited by Theodor 
Gaza, stands Koi Iv Ktjpif yivirai, whilst we should read with Sylburg, Iv rvpip = in 
easeo. The Aristotelian Acorus is nothing but the common cheese-mite. The case 
of Aldrovandi, who refrained from giving an opinion upon the Acorus in wax, 
l>ecause he found no Acorus in wax in Italy, is the case also with us in Germany, and 
will be the case with everyone everywhere. I have inquired about wax-mites from a 
well-informed artisan, now seventy years of age, who has been in contact vnth wax from 
his youth, but he assures me that he had never seen or heard of such a thing. Then to 
make the confusion complete, Moufet mixes all together, and describes the mite as living 
in cheese and wax, but at the same lime also in the human skin. 



ACARI3S SCABIEI. 23 

meal-raite for this animal^ and regarded it as a variety of the 
cheese- and meal-mite, nsAcarus humanus subcutaneus et scabiei 
Geoffroy and De Geer regarded it as a distinct species ; Mor- 
gagni, Fabricius (who saw it amongst the Greenlanders,) and 
Wichmann were very well acquainted with it ; but as it is diflS- 
cult to find, it was for a long time forgotten, until at last the 
Parisian student Gales, in 1812, was the occasion of attention 
being again paid to it, by the famous substitution of the cheese- 
mite for the true mite (^ Essai sur le diagnostic de la Gale, sur 
ses causes et consequences medicates et pratiques ä deduire des 
vraies notions de cette maladie,^ Paris). His figures resemble 
De Geer^s figures of the cheese-mite. In 1834, following the 
Corsican Benucci, Raspail at last succeeded in finding the true 
mite and detecting the mistake of Gales, so that the renewed 
knowledge of the mite dates from Raspail, although he could 
not prevent Lareille from uniting the itch-mite and the cheese- 
mite in Cuvier's ' Regne Animal,^ or Lamarck and Nitzsch from 
expressing the opinion that two species of mites might perhaps 
occur in the itch. Since this time the knowledge of the mite 
has been gradually advanced, especially by Eichstadt, who was 
not acquainted with the male, by Hebra and Gudden, also 
through Krämer, of Gottingen, in 1846, who first distinguished 
the male from the female, and later above all by Bourguignon, 
who first gave a good description of the male, which was dis- 
covered by Languetin. 

In this historical statement I have followed Martiny and my 
own studies, but departed essentially from Gudden, who ascribes 
Cestoni^s letter to Bonomo, makes it to have been directed to 
Redi instead of Yallisneri, and altogether sums up the history 
very superficially in these words : " If we add thereto (Cestoids 
letter) from recent times, the works of Eichstadt and Hebra, 
and perhaps also those of Bourguignon, we have got together 
the best of the literature upon this subject.^' In details I shall 
follow the treatment and arrangement of the subject according 
to Hebra, Schinzinger, and Gudden, with reference to my own 
observations. 

Habitation of the mites and the mode of finding them. — Even 
Nyander says in his dissertation : " Acarus sub ipsa pustula 
rainime quserendus est, sed longius recessit ; sequendo rugam 
cuticulae observatur ; in ipsa pustula progeniem deposuit, quam 
scalpendo ofi*ringimus et disseminamus, ita cogente natura.'^ 
According to Gudden we find the mites and their egg-passages 



24 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

on almost all parts of the body, and not onlj on the hands^ the 
male organs of generation, and the nipples of women, if we only 
search for it carefully everywhere. Nevertheless, the hands pre- 
sent peculiarly favorable conditions for the discovery of the galle- 
ries, because these become more strongly marked in consequence 
of the collection of dirt in their air-holes; and they are also 
usually more numerous on the hands, and on the organs most fre- 
quently touched by them, such as the male generntive organs, or 
the female breasts. Nevertheless, there are cases in which, whilst 
the trunk is covered with passages, the hands are quite free from 
them ; as is the case, for example, with those who, like painters 
and lacquerers, soil their hands daily with fats and oils of all 
kinds. According to Gudden, the hands of such individuals 
especially remain unattacked, in whom the hands are always cold, 
as, for instance, iu potters, or those who have always wet, cold 
hands, such as washerwomen. In individuals suffering from 
habitual cold feet, who can only get warm with diflSculty even in 
bed, the whole body except the. feet may be covered with mites. 
For it is a fact abundantly proved by experience, that the mite 
becomes more active at all times and in all places when warmed 
(for instance, in the warm bed, by staying in the sun or at the 
stove, by dancing, or heating movements or beverages in the 
winter), but becomes more sluggish in the cold ; so that the 
patient may diminish the troublesome itching immediately and in 
a short time by leaving his bed in the winter, if he does not 
sleep in a heated room. For all these reasons the mites do not 
like the face, which is usually kept bare even in bed, and exposed 
to the cold ; but they nevertheless nestle in it perfectly well in little 
babies, which are completely packed up in bed. Mites were also 
found in the face of a man who used to sleep upon his left side 
and draw the bed-clothes carefully up to his chin ; but only in 
the left cheek which was kept warm. 

At the moment of penetration it gives the mites the greatest trou- 
ble to pierce through the uppermost horny layer of the epidermis; 
and this the greater, the thicker, firmer, and coarser the uppermost 
epidermal layer is. They effect this penetration in a nearly perpen- 
dicular direction, placing themselves upon their anterior feet, and 
supporting the body with their long posterior setae. For the 
boring in itself they require from ten to thirty minutes. For these 
reasons the mites in general prefer the delicate, less firm, and 
thinner spots of the body ; and therefore the space between the 
fingers, the outside of the hand, the inner surface of the wrist. 



ACAEUS SCABIEI. 23 

the inner surfaces of the limbs, the entrance to the axillae, the 
abdomen, the anal cleft, the scrotum, the penis, the nipples, the 
cavity of hair-follicles, &c. "When they have got under the epi- 
dermis, the boring goes on more rapidly. The hinder part of 
the animals sinks, and the mite penetrates in an obliquely 
pierced passage towards the cutis. The kirowledge of this 
direction is of importance for the discovery of the mites in their 
galleries. 

Various methods have been employed for the detection of the 
mites. The best is that of Eichstädt and Hebra, which Guddea 
has only modified in one point. To examine places in the skin 
on which points, papillae, vesicles, or passages occur, the skin is 
raised, if possible, into a fold, and the epidermis, with the super- 
ficial layer of the cutis, is removed from it, according to Eichstädt 
and Hebra, with a pair of scissors, but to suit the surface ; and, 
according to Gudden, with the rapid stroke of a fine sharp 
knife, which certainly gives some pain, but not so much as the 
removal with the scissors, and does not leave such a bad wound. 
Eichstädt rubbed green soap into the Spot selected for inci- 
sion on the previous day, in order to produce a slight inflamma- 
tion and exudation, which somewhat elevate the gallery and 
facilitate the excision. The fragment of skin thus removed is 
carefully spread, with the inner suiface upwards, upon a glass 
plate, and the preparation is allowed to dry slowly, but not to 
become brittle; it is then turned over, laid in concentrated 
mastic varnish, and after getting rid, as far as possible, of inju- 
rious »air- vesicles by gentle pressure, or, when this is of no use, 
by leaving the preparation for twenty-four hours in the varnish, 
it is put under the microscope. The outlines of the gallery are 
certainly thus rendered almost transparent and extremely deli- 
cate, but particularly easy to recognise where they contain a mite, 
or a few balls of excrement. In short, in this way we contrive 
to observe the entire natural history of the mite at one glance. 
Still more easy, and in ordinary cases sufficient for the diagnosis, 
is the method already described by Aldrovandi, Nyander, Bate- 
man, and Wichmann, and again introduced into science by 
Benucd, who learnt it from the Corsican women. With the 
naked eye or with the lens (Schinzinger), we examine a large pas- 
sage, and pierce it carefully from the side at the end, where a 
whitish point shines through, with a cataract needle, a lancet, 
or a common needle, remove the covering from the passage, and 



26 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

thus get below the mite, which is exposed^ and lift this out. 
Many have acquired great expertness in this process. 

The males can only be found with the lens. According to 
Worms they are always in the vicinity of the galleries, and 
shine^ as brown points, through the skin, which only exhibits 
slight traces of reaction. Here we must choose the removal of 
such points with the knife. 

The young mites are usually found only in fresh vesicles, as 
they readily emigrate ; but mites engaged in the change of skin 
often occur in the papillae and vesicles which have already 
attained a further development. If we wish to search for these 
little pale creatures, great care is required, and we must have 
good magnifying glasses attached to the eyes. The object is 
better attained in this case by the removal of the vesicle, espe-? 
cially if we examine the vesicles starting up after a thorough 
washing with soap (Eichstädt), or, what is better, with oil of tur- 
pentine. The mites remain dead on the spot where they lie, 
and the reaction subsequently produced shows their position. In 
vesicles (that is to say, the anterior extremities or heads of the 
galleries) or in true pustules, we either find no mites at all, or 
only dead ones. 

The course of the disease, from the moment of the immigra- 
tion of the mite into the skin up to its height, has certainly 
been best elucidated by Gudden, by his inoculation experi- 
ments. 

If a female, a male, or a young animal, gets upon the warm, 
uninfected skin, the little animals, and especially the males, run 
quickly about, according to Worms, passing over a space of two 
centimetres in a minute, then stop, turn round, run further, and 
either bite in immediately, or quit the spot and commence afresh 
in another place. These manoeuvres may be traced with the 
naked eye or with the lens, when a specimen of one of the above- 
mentioned degrees of development is placed upon the outer 
lateral surface of the hand, of which the mites are particularly 
fond, and where they may be easily isolated. If the animals 
run away from it they are brought back with the needle, or if 
they will not bite in at all, they are removed altogether. The 
mites bore, as already stated, perpendicularly into the epi- 
dermis, and when they have pierced this layer, they penetrate 
obliquely into the cutis, never below this, as under the lowest 
stratum of the epidermis, they find their principal food. If they 



ACARUS SCABIEI. 27 

arrive by this means a little later at the level of the nervous 
papillae^ they attack these directly or indirectly, and produce a 
fine, pricking pain, which is either repeated or remains quiet for 
a considerable time, and which we denominate biting. The 
deeper the bite goes, the more abundantly does the exudation 
pour itself out in consequence of the reaction between the cutis 
and the youngest laminae of the epidermis ; this elevates the mite, 
and also occurs in its stomach as a colourless paste. In general, the 
more abundant the nutritive material furnished to the mites, the 
less do they penetrate, and the less do they plague with biting. 
The younger the mite is, thp younger is the epidermis which it 
requires for its nourishment, and therefore the young penetrate 
most deeply, irritate, gnaw, bite, and produce the strongest reaction 
and exudation. Young mites, however, when they find a sufl5- 
ciency of nourishment, remain more at the surface; older mites, 
also, in one and the same gallery, sometimes go deeper, probably 
when there is a deficiency of nourishment for them, and even 
have blood in their stomachs. Here and there, in the larger 
galleries, when laid bare and rendered transparent, there is an 
extensive exudation ; but when the mite remains at the sur- 
face, no exudation is produced. Where the epidermis is very thin, 
as, for example, on the generative organs, the mites pass deeper 
towards the cutis, in order to bore into it, by which the 
exudation becomes rich in fibrine and traces of blood. Besides 
the shooting and evanescent sensations of pain, little is ob- 
served at first externally of the mites which have immigrated 
into the epidermis. They remain in the galleries, advance 
further in a horizontal directiou, or wander out and enter afresh 
at another place. The most restless are the six-legged young 
before they change their skins, and the raaturer males, which 
rarely remain in the same place longer than one to three days ; 
and the galleries of which, therefore, are seldom 1"' in length. 
Fecundated females bore further in their galleries, just as females 
after the third change of skin, usually make themselves a long 
passage. 

But whether the mites remain or emigrate, wherever their bite 
goes deeper, there is always formed an exudation in the course of 
a short time in the normal skin ; and this, usually on the second 
day, elevates the epidermis with the gallery of the mite into a 
papilla or vesicle. From the fifth day the vesicle begins to dry up 
slowly ; the epidermis scales drop off, and the itch-process has been 



28 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

gone through in that place. The mechanical injury done to the 
skin by the mite, does not, however, appear to be the cause of the 
eruption of the itch ; but, according to Gudden^ this is to be found 
in the circumstance that the mites, like other parasites, emit an 
irritating flaid with their bite. Gudden supports this view by the 
fact that we may penetrate beneath the skin with a needle, and 
rub cinnabar into a canal thus formed and yet produce no itch- 
like eruption, whilst by dropping in tincture of cantharides on 
the mass formed of triturated mites, a little pain is produced at 
first, and in the course of a day or two a slight exudation. More 
remote proofs of this supposition mfiy also be found, in my opi- 
nion, in the phenomena following experiments in inoculation with 
the matter of smallpox and syphilis. 

From Gudden's experiment of the transference of a mature, 
impregnated female upon the healthy skin of an individual, the 
following was ascertained as to the time of the process of develop- 
ment. The mite dug its gallery and deposited its eggs. On the 
ninth and tenth days, the individual experienced distinct gnawing 
and pricking on particular parts of the hand, readily distinguishable 
from the imaginary itching hitherto felt over the whole body, of 
which the person had complained. Vesicles and papillae now rose 
immediately, and these gradually diffused themselves in increasing 
numbers along the arm ; from some of the vesicles which were just 
rising Gudden was able to extract the mite with the needle, and 
in others, when the mite was already gone, he could detect the 
gallery. The latter appears rounded off at the end, but sharply 
bitten out at its entrance, and has, although only when superficially 
examined, an accidental similarity with hair-follicles destitute of 
hair, with the convolutions of sudorific canals, err especially with 
the epidermic hoods of the cutaneous papilla;. 

By experiments carried on simultaneously on distant parts of 
the body, as well as in fresh cases of infection with itch, we may 
perceive that every egg-gallery becomes the centre of a circle of the 
disease, from which the young brood diffuses itself in radiating 
galleries. When the disorder has lasted longer, the separate cir- 
cles certainly become mixed, and it is then impossible to discover 
them. 

The galleries vary greatly in size, and may be distinguished into 
the long-known larger ones, which are recognisable by the naked 
eye, scarcely raised above the level of the skin, and sensible to the 
fiuger, and the smaller ones, which are scarcely visible. The larger 



ACAEUS SCABIEI. 29 

galleries are burrowed out by females after the third change of skin, 
and by fecundated females ; the longest (up to i'' or more in 
length) are fw egg-galleries. The burrows of the young mites 
are shorter, at the utmost V^ in length, and pass obliquely from 
the epidermis to the cutis ; the shortest galleries (mere holes) 
are those of the males. The burrow of the galleries corresponds 
with the breadth of their inhabitants ; old galleries become nar- 
rower by their walls approaching each other more towards the 
entrance. The direction of the galleries^ which is probably deter- 
mined by the direction and depth of the furrows of the epidermis, 
varies; it is sometimes straight, sometimes tortuous, sometimes 
angular, sometimes bent and looped, so that the gallery intersects 
itself. The entrance is generally free ; in the case of males before 
copulation, sometimes covered with fragments of epidermis; its 
margins are sharply bitten out; when the galleries are not too 
long it serves at the same time as a means of egress. Galleries 
after the third change of skin have a separate egress. The im- 
pregnated females leave their galleries no more ; they constantly 
burrow further onwards and die in its blind extremity. The 
males also appear to die after copulation in the last gallery which 
they have excavated. The larger galleries on the hand form 
blackish punctured lines (which is due to the lodgement of dirt); 
on the body these lines are whitish. The latter colour is due to 
dried epidermic scales, but the points are round or cleft-like aper- 
tures in Hie upper wall of the gallery (air-holes and apertures of 
egress for the brood), which are never wanting in large galleries, 
and which stand at equal or unequal distances apart. In the gal- 
leries we often see cast skins and balls of excrement, longitudinally 
rounded, slightly tubercular, dark-yellow or dark-brown bodies, of 
about -},''' in length, and often caked together (Eichstadt), which 
vary according to the size of the animal, and represent its excrement. 
These would be the primary objective phenomena, which, how- 
ever, very rarely occur alone, as Baum, Eichstadt, and Gudden 
have seen, when all reaction and exudation keeps away. According 
to the variable irritability and reaction of the skin, various 
secondary objective phenomena associate themselves herewith, or 
the immigration of the mite combines with other accidental cuta- 
neous diseases of the individual. If certain cutaneous diseases 
are endemic anywhere, a peculiar external form may, as it were, be 
impressed there endemically upon the itch. As regards the former, 
we must refer particularly to the quantity of exudation and the 



30 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

resistance of the skin. When the quantity of exudation is small, 
and the resistance of the epidermis strong, we meet with papillae, 
and the formation of vesicles is hardly attained ; if the contrary 
be the case, the progress is more rapid, and the papilla then occurs 
only as a transition state. The quantity of the exudation is de- 
termined by the depth of the bite, and by the local reactive power 
of the organism ; the resistance of the epidermis by the delicacy 
of its uppermost layer, and by the firmness of its adhesion to 
the rete Malpighii, which varies in different places. Thus on the 
hair-follicles, to which the mites willingly attach their galleries^ 
on the extremities (with the exception of the hands), and on the 
trunk, we usually find only papillse, on account of the firm adhesion 
of the epidermis to the rete Malpighii; between the fingers we 
generally meet with vesicles, but on the penis only with points 
with a fibrinous layer of exudation, the epidermis indeed being very 
delicate, but the rete Malpighii very imperfectly developed. By 
gradually increasing pressure we may press the exudation up in 
the skin, and convert papillae into pustules. These are therefore 
no internal differences in the disease, but only accidental ones ; 
the only characteristic mark is the gallery of the mite. 

Frequently the exudation after each bite is tolerably abundant, 
fluid, and purulent, forming large pustules ; at other times 
it is in small quantity, more consistent, and causes the cutis 
to swell more, so that the place where the mite sits is surrounded 
by a wall like circle of injection, although no vesicle is perceptible. 
The latter, as is well known, has led to the admission of a Prurigo 
sine papulis. From all this it appears that the eruption and 
number of mites generally stand in a certain relation one to 
another, and that, in the examination of individual cases, we must 
not leave unnoticed the difference in the reaction of the cutis. 
Particular mention is due here to the so-called Norwegian itch 
(in the distinct Bergenstift). Its cause, according to Hebra, is not, 
as he at first supposed, to be found in a peculiar AcaruSy but in 
the ordinary Acarus Scabiei, According to Boeck, who first 
treated of this itch, and Ilebra, the peculiarity of this form con- 
sists in the formation, according to circumstances, upon larger or 
smaller spaces of the body, of several yellowish, dingy-white, scaly 
scabs, from a line to an inch in thickness, or of callous masses, even 
with a greenish tinge (epidermal swellings), which sometimes 
coalesce, and sometimes not. Such wheals even extend to the 
face. When the nails participate in the process, they appear un- 



ACARUS SCAßlEI. 31 

even, rise up, ana become inflated. No one would have supposed 
that we had to do here with the common itch, if the mites had not 
been found in it. With regard to the progress of the disease, 
Boeck states, that the disorder commences with the formation of 
red spots upon the hands and feet ; the epidermis then becomes 
covered with scales, and afterwards with thick crusts, first on the 
extremities, then on the buttocks, on the face, the hairy scalp and 
the neck, and at the same time the nails begin to degenerate. The 
crusts can be removed by baths, when the skin appears red 
beneath them and is quickly regenerated. Lastly, there is 
found upon the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, on the 
flexures of the thighs and legs, on the buttocks and elbows, 
ou the hairy scalp and the neck, firmly adhering crusts of 2 — 3'" 
in thickness, of a dingy grayish-green colour, and as hard as bark, 
rendering the extension of the fingers impossible, and the skin 
beneath them inflamed and moist. The nails formed are an uneven, 
cartilaginous, yellowish-brown mass; the hairs fall out upon the 
detachment of the crusts, and bald places remain. The rest of 
the skin is inflamed, and exhibits brownish-red round spots on the 
lower extremities, and separate vesicles ou the forearms. 

Under the microscope, mites, mites' eggs, and excrement, im- 
bedded in epidermic layers, were met with on all the afiected parts, 
but no galleries were foTiud, and the eggs were therefore found 
without order in the mounds of epidermis and in the callous 
thickenings — crusts of the epidermis — inhabited by the mites 
instead of galleries. All the patients in the same ward, as well 
as the nurse, were infected with ordinary pustular itch, although 
here also no galleries were to be found. Subsequent investigations 
made the last result doubtful^ and above all, the observations upon 
the Continent have diflfused light over this disease. 

In his first report (^Wiener Med. Wochenschrift,' xlviii, 1852), 
Hebra thought that the great uncleanliness, the phlegm, and the 
indiflerence to diseases displayed by the Norwegians, were the 
causes of this form, by allowing the mites to accumulate in masses 
upon the body, constantly seeking new and more convenient 
places, and hence, even reaching the face. But, according to him, 
even the migration to spots which mites do not usually attack, would 
not suffice, if room were not given, by the accumulation of epi- 
dermis, for the mites and their eggs, in the formation of the 
wheals, which only consist of an agglutination of these three 
structures with plastic, hardened lymph. In the January number 



32 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

of the same journal, for the year 1853, Hebra also reports that in 
one of the most intense cases of the disease, Boeek only met with, 
single living mites. This appears to me to show that the pro- 
duction of this form of the disease is determined, not alone by the 
number of the mites, but by a certain disposition oiüxe skin, caused 
by bad management, or by endemic influences and climate, or com- 
municated by diseases (local or general), and which consists in the 
separation of the plastic lymph in large masses. If the manage- 
ment of the skin in certain districts be particularly bad, and a 
tendency to plastic cutaneous diseases be also indigenous there 
(we may refer to the Radesyge in Norway,) the disease may pro- 
bably become endemic, whilst in other districts it only occurs 
isolated in particular cases. Fuchs is probably of the same opinion, 
when he recommends that those individuals who suffer from 
psoriasis or from squamose cutaneous eruptions, should be infeoted 
Avith itch-mites, a recommendation which is certainly worthy of 
consideration for the elucidation of this subject. For the views 
just expressed, notwithstanding the shortness of our acquaintance 
with the existence of this disease, we already find, in prcLxiy various 
vouchers from the most different countries. Thus, in one case, 
Fuchs saw pustular itch and the ordinary itch-mites and their 
galleries upon the whole body, whilst on the elbows and knees he 
found large scaly crusts (epidermic laminae laid over one another, 
with immense numbers of mites, with their excrements and eggs), 
which Hebra and Boeck declared to be identiwil with the crusts 
common in Norway. In a second case, which had existed for 
fourteen years, the pustular itch appeared all over the body, 
but on the upper-arm, the upper part of the body, and 
especially on the elbows and knees, nay, in the face, there were 
crusts of the size of four- to eight-groschen pieces. Rigler, of Con- 
stantinople, saw these crusts all over the body of a Jew boy, with 
the exception of the upper-arm, the axillae, the hairy scalp, and the 
back of the chest. Hebra himself saw these crusts developed in 
the palms of the hands of a syphilitic patient, whilst on the rest 
of the body all forms of itch occurred. Büchner, of Tubingen, 
lastly, describes a case which I reproduce here, from No. 4 of the 
' Deutsche Klinik,' for 1855, as being peculiarly instructive with 
regard to this form. The skin of the whole trunk, especially on 
the right side, was of a dark-red colour in spots, covered on the 
back with ragged epidermis in the act of being thrown off; it was 
also thickened on most parts of the trunk, uneven, and in places 



ACARUS SCABIEI. 83 

forming hard knots. The entire right arm, especially the fore- 
arm aud hand^ appeared enlarged and thickened aboat one half, as 
in elephantiasis, unyielding, covered with knot-like elevations, and 
on the back of the arm with bran-like scales. Immobility and 
thickening of all the fingers^ want of strength, weight, insensi- 
bility, and nselessness of the right arm, with violent pain in it, 
followed. The entire inflamed cutaneous surface of the trunk and 
arm secreted a pale greenish, tenacious fluid, which left stiffened 
spots in the linen. The skin of the scrotum, also, as well as that of 
the lower extremities, presented the commencement of degeneration^ 
although only in a moderate degree. The patient experienced a 
troublesome biting and itching over the whole body, especially at 
night ; from this the insensible right arm only remained free. In 
a few days, galleries and Acari were found. The introduction of 
treatment for the itch removed the itching, the moisture, and the 
eruption. The limbs acquired a normal epidermis, diminished in 
bulk and increased in mobility, so that a complete cure may be 
hoped for. 

After this digression we return to the description of the 
disease in its ordinary course, and have still to speak of the 
subjective phenomena, consisting in the sensation of biting and 
itching, which lead to scratching, which again, as a fresh irri- 
tation, increases the objective symptoms, renders the exudation 
more abundant, distends the papillae and vesicles, removes larger 
galleries from their positions, or, when the inflammation penetrates 
more deeply into the cutis^ produces red spaces round the pustules, 
and even patches of inflammation under the galleries. In a still 
higher degree, scratching leads to loss of blood, in consequence of 
the bursting of blood-vessels which are at the bottom of the 
exudation, to the desiccation of the latter into small, reddish- 
brown, hard crusts, or small sores covered with scabs ; but very 
reckless scratching produces furunculi and larger ulcers, which 
are seen particularly upon those places which the hands can 
easily reach (Hebra), whilst in cripples, who cannot scratch 
themselves, and individuals who are confined in a strait-jacket, 
or those who can command themselves sufficiently not to scratch, 
they are wanting. 

Description of the Itch-mites, 

1. The adult female mite is visible with the naked eye, and 
forms a roundish, dimly-shining, grayish-white corpuscle, \ — J'" 

3 



84 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

in lengthy aud j — J"' in breadth, with hairs and bristles ; under 
the microscope, a truncated, tortoise-like oval, notched before and 
behind^ flat on the belly and convex on the back. The skin 
breaks with difficulty, and exhibits irregular segments, with margins 
lying over one another posteriorly, which form a system of 
parallel lines. On the back we see small, transparent cones, 
or, more correctly, teeth, in several rows, which I have indicated 
4n the mite of the cat as file-teeth for boring the galleries, and also 
near these some long, thin hairs, and on each side ten peculiar, 
truncated, hollow processes, which are moveable, according to 
Eichstädt, and of which the three anterior are shorter and thicker ; 
the seven posterior, arranged in two rows, are longer, and, 
according to Gudden, open at their extremity, but form little 
rings at their base, in the cavity of which they are inserted with 
a short stalk. It appears to me to be an optical illusion to 
suppose them to be open. What purpose they serve, I do not 
know ; but they may, perhaps, be employed as organs of touch. 

The feet are supported by a yellow, chitinous framework, 
attached to the belly. For the first pair of feet of the female 
there is a single massive bearer (band or stalk), the common 
simple sten} of which runs in a straight line almost from the 
middle of the animal towards the head. At a short distance from 
the head this stem divides into a fork, and then forms a sort of 
triangular framework for each separate basal joint of the first 
pair of anterior feet. On each side of this straight stem, aud 
nearly in the same level with its hinder extremity, there originate 
two massive bands (stems or bearers), convex towards the median 
line of the animal, and concave externally, which bear the same 
triangular framework at their anterior extremity, for the basal 
joint of the foot of the second pair. 

The two hinder pairs of feet are also supported by a particular 
horny framework. The third pair of feet is attached by a more 
bowed stem, concave internally, convex outwardly, and furnished 
on the outside with a small tubercular spine; from this the 
triangular framework of the basal joint of these feet originates. 
The last (fourth) pair of feet exhibits a short and straighter stem, 
which runs obliquely from within outwards. It is characteristic 
of the mature female that there is no transverse band between 
the posterior pairs of feet. It would deprive the eggs of the 
space necessary for their evolution, and render the extension of 
the belly difficult or impossible. Each of the four anterior feet 



ACARUS SCABIET. 35 

consists of four more or less distinct joints, on the foremost of 
vhich there is a hollow, moveable staff, permeated by a sinew, 
with a sucking cup also perforated in the centre, which is extended 
flat at the moment of adhesion, and collapses longitudinally, 
when the animal lets go its hold. At the same time there are 
some hairs upon the foot which become strong bristles quite 
anteriorly at the origin of the staff, on the inside of which a 
sort of short, sharp claw shows itself. The hinder feet are shorter 
and weaker, and at the same time less clothed with hairs on the 
side. Instead of the staves with their sucking discs, they have a 
long bristle, the third pair a longer one than the fourth, and on 
the inside of this bristle a much smaller bristle or claw. At the 
base of all the feet there is a powerful, readily recognisable, 
transversely striated muscular structure. 

The head, which is to a certain extent retractile, consists of 
two valvular upper-lips, which are firmly coalescent with the 
slightly toothed jaws ; of two jointed maxilke, which are arranged 
in the manner of a grating, and saw in a horizontal direction 
upwards and downwards ; and of the more massive, immoveable 
lower-lipSy which are coalescent beneath, and stand out from each 
other in the form of a channel above. It has eight fine, inar- 
ticulate filaments or hairs (four lateral and four directed forwards), 
and on each side a vesicular, globular dilatation, which, according 
to Gudden, probably produces an acrid secretion, which causes the 
formation of eruptions. The eyes are wanting. After the head 
follows the oesophagus, with the muscles of the jaws originating 
from it, and after this a lobate stomach, which is seen most dis- 
tinctly when it is full of blood, or when the animal is made to 
swallow oil (for which I regard coloured oils, as, for instance. 
Macassar oil, as the best adapted), and from the lowest angle of 
which originates the extremely delicate and slightly curved 
intestine, which can only be traced in parts when in the full 
state. The latter opens into the anus, that is, into a longitudinal 
cleft at the posterior margin of the animal, between the larger 
orifices of the vagina, through which mature eggs may be passed 
out by a gentle pressure. Tracheae are wanting. If the mite 
be laid upon its back and covered with a thin glass, we may, 
according to Oudden, simultaneously with a movement of the 
jaws, see air enter in small vesicles into a narrow air-sac, which 
extends below the oesophagus and stomach, beyond the middle of 
the ventral surface. But whether this is actually the way in 



36 ANIMAL PAllASTTES. 

which the mites breathe is very doubtful^ as most of the 
Arachnida respire through an aperture iu the anterior part of the 
belly. In point of fact^ a small, round aperture, surrounded by 
a horny ring, does exist in the middle of the anterior part of the 
belly, just behind the end of the stem which supports the first 
pair of feet. That this may serve as the opening of the respi- 
ratory sac is very probable. This supposition acquires still 
further confirmation from the circumstance that when mites are 
forcibly pressed, a small air-vesicle collects at this spot, and 
therefore on the ventral surface of the mite, which can only be 
got rid of with difficulty. The nervous and circulatory systems 
are wanting. The animal contains numerous fat-drops. The 
ovary exhibits one large egg, ripe for laying, of -^^ in length and 
^'' in breadth, and also several oval eggs of various sizes, of 
which one female lays more than fifty. They strongly refract 
the light, lie with their longitudinal diameter in the transverse 
diameter of the gallery, on the hands in rows of 2 — 6, on the 
body in uninterrupted rows of as many as twenty-one close together. 
The greater number of the eggs in a gallery of this kind are 
already burst and collapsed at one end. Fresh eggs have 
amorphous contents, and pass through an ordinary process of 
segmentation and development up to fully developed young 
moving in the interior of the shell. In making their escape they 
extend the bristles, which are at first crossed upon the belly, 
against the bottom of the shell and burst it. 

The young mite either quits the parent gallery through one of 
the air holes soon after its exclusion, or eats its way deeper into 
the bottom of the passage, producing phenomena of reaction, or 
digs a lateral gallery for itself to the outside^ and then burrows 
in again at a greater or less distance. The mite is now about 
T^'" in length, and hexapod. 

The male, which is extremely small, lives in small galleries, or, 
more correctly, in small holes, and appears to die soon after 
copulation. It is about half the length of the female. The 
anterior feet resemble those of the female, except that they 
approach more nearly to the hinder feet than in the latter. The 
horny frameworks and supports of the individual hinder feet are 
certainly similar in structure in the two sexes, but in the male 
they are not free as in the female, but inserted into a slightly 
sigmoid transverse band, running across the body of the mite, 
from the central point of which issues an apparatus also of a 



ACARUS SCABIEI. 37 

chitinoas nature^ which has the appearance of the vertical section 
of a belli and is destined to support the powerful penis which is 
obtusely rounded at its apez^ but perforated through the middle. 
The third pair of feet is otherwise exactly similar to that of the 
female, but the fourth pair resembles the anterior feet in being 
furnished with a stalked sucking-cup. In other respects the 
males exactly resemble the females. 

Bourgnignon describes the male sexual organs as follows : 
On the surface of the abdomen^ between the epimera of the 
hinder legs {i.e., between the comb-like processes which pass 
from the coxa of the hinder legs in a bent form forwards and 
outwards) I there are the four following sections of structures, 
which are wanting in the female: 1. A portion placed between 
the epimera of the last pair of feet, broader at its anterior 
extremity, narrower behind, then again broader, and soon dividing 
into two branches running backwards. 2. A portion enclosed 
in front by branches of the first portion, which has a glandular 
body at its central point, and thence also divides into two 
branches, which are at first parallel with those of 1, but after- 
wards intersect them externally. 3. A portion enclosed by 2, 
also divided into two branches running bacl^wards, and with a 
glandular body upon its median line. 4. A portion usually 
originating in the abdomen, upon and below the plane of this 
apparatus, and only visible after the destruction of the mite, 
namely, a filiform structure, uncoiling posteriorly, the penU, 
which protrudes from its sheath at a little distance from the 
orifice of the rectum. (See also Krämer, ^Illustrirte Med. 
Zeitung,' iii. No. 10.) 

The male has also a sucking-cup on the fourth pair of feet 
instead of a hair, and the epimera of his hinder feet are united 
by a transverse band. Bourguignon here states tliat the third 
and fourth hinder feet of each side are only united by a band, 
but that the transverse band is wanting, in which he is wrong. 
In the male, also, the horny appendages of various sizes and 
thicknesses on the dorsal shield are wanting, which, according to 
Bourguignon, prevent retrogression and facilitate progression. 
The male is never whitish, shining, thick, and globular, but blackish, 
flattened, with a retreating angle at the level of the hind legs; and, 
lastly, much stronger and more active than the female. The 
hexapod form exhibits no sexual distinction. The male digs his cave 
in 10 — 15 minutes without any pain to his host, Bourguignon 



38 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

is in the wrong wben he says that it never makes itself a gallery. 
According to Bourguignon^ the greater activity of the male is 
effected by the suckers upon the fourth pair of feet, which I 
cannot agree to, any more than the statement that the male quits 
his dwelling every twenty-four hours, and goes upon the quest at 
night like all wandering mites. This takes place under the 
influence of warmth {vide iftfra) whether by day or nighty, as is 
also confirmed by Hebra. 

Before becoming mature males and females, the young mites, 
like all Arachnida, pass through a sort of moulting. Previous to 
this change of skin, they always contract all the moveable parts 
of the body, resign themselves to repose, and remain benumbed 
and stiff in the hindermost blind extremity of the gallery. The 
contents of their body form an amorphous mass, as in the e^g, 
during its segmentation. We usually count three such changes of 
skin. From the first moult the hexapod mite comes forth with 
eight legs ; everything else, even the processes, remains the same 
in all stages. Before each change of skin the skeleton of the 
mite is darker and harder, the head and extremities are smaller 
in proportion to the body, and the whole animal in better con- 
dition and fatter. . After this change the skeleton is softer and 
paler, the head and extremities larger in proportion to the body, 
and the animal is not so fat. 

Besides this change of skin, the octopod mite undergoes a 
further moulting, from which it issues again without sexual 
organs, which it only obtains after the third change of skin. 
Older females, which have remained nnimpreguated, wander out 
of their passages, shrivel up, and take up a position as before 
moulting. Whether these pass through another change of skin 
is unknown. 

The cast skins remain lying rolled up together in the passages. 
After the first and second changes the female mites wander out 
and bore themselves new galleries, but after the third, they mine 
further on in the gallery in which they have changed their skin, 
until they are sought out by the male. The size of a female 
mite in its first change of skin is ^'", in the second i"', and in 
the third J''' ; the males are proportionately smaller. 

TTie act of copulation was seen by Worms, who states with 
regard to the males in general, that they like to be in the vicinity 
of the galleries of mature females. The male creeps, as in the 
lice, under the belly of the female in such a manner that the 



ACARUS SCABIEI. 39 

two ventral surfaces are in contact, the dorsal surface of the 
female touching the corresponding spot of the upper, and that 
of the male the lower wall of the canal. To judge from cor- 
responding proceedings in other mites, however, the male only 
passes with a small portion of his abdomen under the end of the 
belly of the female, and would ha^e no hold during the act itself, 
if the female did not embrace the male with the long bristFes of 
her hinder feet, and the male the female with the bristles of his 
third pair of feet, and at the same time attach himself firmly to 
the ventral surface of the female with the sucking cups of his last 
pair of feet. The males never penetrate into the galleries of 
impregnated, egg-laying females, as is shown by the unbroken 
series of the eggs. 

Of the duration of the life of the mites in their particular 
stages of development, Gudden gives the following calculation : 
The hatching time of the eggs lasts about eight days ; on the 
seventeenth day after transference hexapod broods in the act of 
moulting are found, in forty-three days female mites after their 
last change of skin, and in forty-eight days the first egg-gallery 
with eggs. We may therefore reckon somewhat in this manner : 
eight days, hatching time of the eggs ; duration of each change 
of skin six days, interval between them five days ; which gives as 
the commencement of the first change of skin about the four- 
teenth day, of the second the twenty-fifth day, of the third the 
thirty-sixth day, and of the oviposition the beginning of the 
seventh week. If the males die soon after copulation, they would 
attain an age of about six weeks. 

Mode of infection of itch. — Gudden first discussed this 
question rationally in accordance with the desire of wandering at 
the difi'erent periods of life. The most restless are the males 
seeking after females, and next to these the young ; these, there- 
fore, are the most easily transferred ; lastly, just fertilised females 
after the third change of skin, which wander out of their old 
passages, in order to dig new ones for themselves, in which to 
lay their eggs. Females already engaged in oviposition, or near 
it, can rarely, if ever, be the cause of itch, as they never leave 
their galleries again. It is only in deep-seated itch that these 
last may perhaps be transferred from one place to another on the 
body of the same individual. Hebra and Gudden do not coin- 
cide with the opinion defended by Von Liebig and Bourguignon, 
that the itch-mites are nocturnal predaceous animals ; they regard 
the wanderings of the mites as solely and wholly dependent upon 



40 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

warmth^ as I myself had previously stated in Giinsburg's ' Zeits- 
chrift/ Dancing; the long junction of the heated hands of the 
dancers in warm ball-rooms (but not every simple contact of the 
hands); the carrying of young children by itchy nurses (when the 
latter lay their bare hands upon the nates of the children), 
sleeping with itchy subjects^ or taking possession of their beds 
whitet still warm, and putting on clothes and linen which they 
have just worn, are the principal agents of infection. In general, 
however, there is too much fear of wearing clothes which have 
been long left off by the patients. Even the greatest cleanliness 
is no protection against the itch, of which I am one of the most 
convincing examples^ as notwithstanding my daily custom of 
washing my body morning and evening with soap and water, I 
was infected when a lad of seventeen on a holiday journey 
towards home. 

The summer alone perhaps furnishes no favorable momentum 
for the infection; but this is perhaps only apparent, because 
common people prefer going into the hospital in the idle time, as 
Schinzinger has already mentioned. Men are affected much 
more thau women, on account of their occupation (in the propor- 
tion of 12 to 1). The seat of the disease also varies according 
to the sex. Men are very soon and readily affected on the penis ; 
women rarely in the generae organtivs ; but the itch is very easily 
communicated from infected nurses to the genitalia of children 
in arms. The more delicate the skin, the more is it disposed to 
infection. Whether a certain degree of hairiness facilitates the 
transfer, as mites willingly climb upon hairs, is a question still 
undecided, the investigation of which I have already suggested, and 
in favour of which the more frequent occurrence in men is an 
argument. Schinzinger, Hebra, &c., have prepared the following 
table according to trades, descending from the most favorable 
occupations to those less favorable : tailors, shoemakers^ joiners, 
male and female servants, day labourers, and factory labourers 
(the last three denominations in pretty equal numbers), girls of 
the town, bricklayers, book-binders, paper-hangers, bakers, hat- 
makers, tanners, whilst the soap-boilers, according to Schinzinger, 
are quite free, and it is well known that potters are very rarely 
attacked. 

The geographical distribution of the it^h is universal, in south 
and north, in inland districts, and on the sea coasts (Greenland, 
the poasts of Schleswig-Holstein in the last war), and both in 
the Old and New worlds. 



ACARUS SCABIEI. 41 

The diagnosis is possible in all cases with a lens and the 
microscope, but without them completely impossible in many 
cases, or a mere piece of luck^ which a conscientious surgeon 
should never allow to have any dominion over him in cases where 
he has the means of a diagnosis. Suspicion is excited in dirty 
cases^ by nocturnal itching, increased by warmth, with eruption 
of vesicles and papillae. The diagnosis is founded upon the de- 
tection of the gallery of the mite with the balls of excrement, eggs, 
or remains of the mites, by the aid of the microscope. By the latter, 
and by this alone, even those cases are recognised in which 
it does not come to reaction, or in which the formation of galleries 
retrogrades, as is' sometimes the case in the so-called Norwegian 
itch. 

Therapeutics. — ^The only indication is that of killing the mites, 
as there can hardly be cases of spontaneous cure. The attempt 
at attaining this object by internal remedies is mere folly. Such a 
process is only introduced now-a-days by quacks, ignoramuses, or 
pick-pockets, and should be punished by the authorities on account 
of the infection to which others are exposed by such a treatment 
of the disorder. The destruction of the mites is the first and 
principal object of the treatment, and that remedy is the most 
deserving of recommendation which causes their death with the 
greatest rapidity, and with the least inconvenience to the patient. 
We need never despair of this destruction and the cure pro- 
duced thereby. Even very old cases rapidly yield to treatment. 
But if in a pi^icular case we should be in dread because the 
long existence of the disease has led to habitual secretions, of the 
sudden suppression of which by the rapid cure we are frightened^ 
it is only necessary to maintain a fontanelle or an artificial sore 
for some time, and allow this to heal up slowly. Usually, how- 
ever, this is quite unnecessary. (See Langenbeck, ' Bericht de 
24 Versammlung der Naturforscher zu Kiel,' p. 161.) 

The remedies fiall into three series : 

1 . Those which remove the mites mechanically, to which I have 
given the name of Itch-miie^ombs fKr'atzmilbenkamme), a series 
of remedies, with regard to which I have been so misunderstood 
by Gudden, that I cannot but think that he has not read my 
essay, referred to by him, upon the testing of the rapidity of the 
remedies as regards the destruction of the mites; 

2. The remedies which have a chemico-physiological action 
upon the mites and kill them (Antisarooptica); 



42 ANIMAL PAEASITES. 

3. Combinations of the first and second methods. 

I. Remedies which remove the mites mechanically {Milben-' 
kämme), and methods founded upon them. 

a. Picking off the mites, — This plan is still in use in Corsica ; 
very deserving of recommendation^ according to Hartwiz and Walz, 
with the large mange-mites of animals {e,g. horse- mites), and 
also effected by König with the Sarcoptes hominis, and recom- 
mended by Schinzinger for those perfectly fresh cases in which 
only a few galleries are found. To effect this picking (especially 
in the latter case) we have simply to cut out or slit up the entire 
passage, capture the mite, and then apply caustic to the place. 
In general, however, this method is too tedious, and in old cases 
even dangerous as a point of medical police, from the prolonged 
danger of infection. 

b. Rubbing off the mites unth charcoal, chalk, brick-dust, fine 
sand, pumice-stone, ^*c, — This plan is too tedious alone, and 
allows too much chance of diffusion ; in combination with other 
methods it is deserving of consideration. 

c. The removal of the passages unth their inhabitants (mature 
mites, brood, and eggs) by the cutaneous infiammation produced by 
soft soap. — This method is especially represented by the old, 
English, Yezinian method, which has hitherto been the one 
most in use. In this the patient is treated with soft soap 
from top to toe, with the exception of the penis, which is care- 
fully protected by cloths; this treatment is continued for eight 
days, during which he is kept at a temperature of 100° P. (30° R.). 
He is then laid naked between woollen blankets until the in- 
flamed epidermis breaks off in fragments. Circumstances enough 
to render it desirable to do away with this method are to be 
found in the great inconvenience which it inflicts upon the 
patient, the troublesome eczema which is scarcely ever absent, 
the injurious employment of the method only in the summer 
time, the long duration of the treatment itself, which is still 
further prolonged by the frequent relapses (caused, according to 
Volz, by the penis, a principal seat of the mites, remaining 
entirely out of treatment, and thus furnishing a fresh source of 
infection), in the great expense caused by the soft soap, the 
heating, and the purchase of the blankets, in the impossibility 
of applying the method out of the house of the patient, and in 
the disgusting nature of the method itself. 



ACAKUS SCABIEI. 43 

d. The removal of the mites by the external application of 
Sulphur -remedies, known even to Celsus, which, from my experi- 
ments in killing the mites, I cannot reckon amongst the an/i* 
sarcoptica, as mites lived for days in such remedies as the simple 
ointment of flowers of sulphur. That they cure the itch, there is 
no doubt. They can therefore only act by the production of 
cutaneous inflammation, like soft-soap, and consequently also 
belong to the "Milbenkämmen/' The methods here coming 
before us are various, partly simple, partly complicated, as every 
one will see from what follows, and every one may select his 
remedy accordingly. Here belong : 

a. Horn's method, recently praised by Jenni, of Glarus. — 1 part 
of flowers of sulphur and 2 parts of soft soap diluted with soap 
and water and rubbed in. Soap baths are also prescribed. In 
very inveterate cases Horn gives baths of sulphuret of potassium, 
an ointment of iodide of sulphur (12 grains to 1 ounce of lard), 
and purgatives. 

ß. The method of Tilly of Courirai. — 100 parts of flowers of 
sulphur and 150 parts of lard are heated until the sulphur is 
completely melted, and then 150 parts of black pitch, and 100 
parts of soap are added. First of all a bath of one hour is given, 
then the ointment is rubbed in three times a day for two days, 
and on the third day a tepid soap-bath. No subsequent diseases 
were observed. 

y. Hebra's method, of which the one just mentioned only ap- 
pears to be a modification. The patients are first of all washed 
at the ordinary temperature of the sick-room, and then every 
evening and morning, for two days, rubbed with an ointment com- 
posed of sulphur, pitch, lard, and a little pounded chalk, but only on 
the places where the galleries of mites and vesicles occur (therefore, 
particularly on the hands, feet, penis, breasts, navel, and buttocks.) 
The sheet is then drawn close up under the arms, and the hands 
rolled up in it, so that the patient may not transfer the ointment 
to other parts of the body. On the third day the patient washes 
himself in his room with tepid soap and water, in order to avoid 
the eczema, which otherwise easily follows the bath. He then 
takes a bath, is watched for a day or two, and discharged if no 
fresh erruptions occur. The process is cheap, certain, and 
tolerably short. The principal point consists in avoiding the 
eczema, which is not very difficult, according to Schinzinger, and 
was also managed formerly by Hebra. To me, the rolling up in 



44 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

the sheet seems too complicated^ and if the greatest care is not 
taken^ insecure. A sort of sack tied round the neck^ trousers or 
strait-jacket^ or wrapping the sheet up to the neck^ and putting 
on linen sleeves sewed up at the fingers^ appear to me to be more 
advisable. 

II. For ages, as at the present day, all sorts of acrid, caustic, 
and poisonous materials, out of the vegetable, mineral, and animal 
kingdoms (the urine of men, horses, &c.), have been prescribed 
with the View of killing the mites. We can hardly expect much 
from the latter, as the animals live a long time, even in concen- 
trated solutions of the soaps. Hence, also, washing with com- 
mon soaps (Schinzinger) can hardly do anything, even in slight 
cases. Ha I know from my own experience. Little is also to be 
expected from washing with sulphide of magnesium (Van den 
Corput). From my experiments, as also from those of previous 
authors, such as Albin Gras and Hertwig, the essential oils, such 
as oil of turpentine, anise, and rosemary, are to be preferred to 
everything, as rapidly destructive remedies against horse- and cat- 
mites. In the presence of Professors Kobett and Hecker, and of 
Prosector Maier, Schinzinger, confirmed my statements with 
regard to the oils of anise and rosemary upon the mites of the 
human subject. The mites die within sixteen minutes in oil of 
anise ; still earlier in oil of rosemary. At Berlin it has been urged 
against oil of anise that it excites too violent inflammation ; an 
objection which it certainly does not merit, as is proved by the 
observations made, shortly after the war in Schleswig-Holstein, at 
Travemunde, where the remedy became again quite a popular 
one, upon the recommendation of the bath-surgeon at that place. 
Dr. Liebholt, who advised it in consequence of my memoir, and was 
further confirmed by the observations made by Dr. Mittrich and 
myself at the same place, and by those of Dr. Schinzinger. If 
^he charge of extravagance has been made against the remedy 
(and an esteemed hospital surgeon let me know by a patient sent 
to him, that my itch-medicine might be good, but that it was 
enormously dear, as he had employed oil which cost, I think, 
several dollars in a single cure), that is not my fault. I have 
recommended essential oil at 6d. to lOrf. per drachm, a clear proof 
that I did not refer to a perfectly pure, expensive, essential oil. 
For the cure it is sufficient to add to olive oil or almond oil a few 
drops of the strongest essential oil, and to mix them with the 



ACAßUS SCABIEI. 45 

assistance of a gentle beat^ for the purpose of obtaining a better 
diffusion. In consequence of my statement regarding oil of anise^ 
J'abne^ of Berthelsdorl^ brought rosemary oil, which does not 
smell so strongly, into use. Its efficacy against the mites has 
been confirmed both by Schiuzinger and myself. I do not know 
how it is that Schinzinger finds fault with the remedy because 
it has an unpleasant odour, and acts injuriously upon the 
]ungs and chest. The former I have not found to be tlie case, 
and the latter may be avoided, by allowing the patient to move 
about for a little while in the open air or at an open window« 
But however this may be, both oil of anise and oil of rosemary 
are good destroyers of mites (not "Milbenkämme," as I have 
said, according to Oudden), and 1 am firmly convinced that they 
will gain friends. All that is necessary is to give a bath, and 
have the patient rubbed in the bath on the affected spots and 
over the whole body with the coarsest pumice-stone soap, in order 
to tear open the galleries and pustules, and then, after good and 
sufficient drying, to rub in the oil; or the skin may be rubbed 
with the pumice-stone soap without a preliminary bath, and after- 
wards with the oil. From my observations, also, no further dis- 
infection 6( the linen is necessary, as any mites which may exist 
in the clothes are also killed by the oil. As the eggs require 
eight days for their development, I advise, in order to avoid 
relapses, that during the first 8 — 14 days the oil should be 
rubbed in from time to time every five or eight days. (See Volz 
upon Upmann's method.) 

Very recently the oil of turpentine, which was also tested by 
me as a mite-killer, has been brought into use by Upmann, in 
the Military Hospital at Karlsruhe. He lets the itch patients 
bathe, and then for five days rubs oil of turpentine twice a day 
into the whole body (which is superfluous according to Volz, as a 
single rubbing is sufficient to kill the mites), bathes them again 
on the seventh and eighth days, and eight days afterwards makes 
them show themselves again in the hospital, and rubs them again 
with turpentine. The itching and irritation of the skin usually 
cease after the first two rubbings in ; the galleries are uninjured, 
their vicinity reddened, and the mites dead. As troublesome 
secondary cutaneous eruptions often follow, and the passages 
never go away entirely, but only dry up, we have no positive cer- 
tainty that a cure has been effected. At the same time tlie oil 
of turpentine cannot destroy the power of development in the 



46 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

eggs, but only suspends it^ and hence relapses occur after six, 
eight, or even twelve weeks. According to Volz, it would be 
rational to eflFect a rubbing on the first, tenth, and twentieth days, 
and to take baths in the intervals, as in this way any brood ex- 
cluded subsequently would be killed, and their development to 
maturity prevented. In general, this process is not adapted for a 
hospital treatment, but furnishes a good preliminary treatment. 

The oils here referred to are interesting in a physiological 
point of view, as they prove that the mites must possess a respi- 
ratory organ, through which their poisonous action upon the 
animals is communicated. 

Solutions of Delphinine have not proved to be Antisarcoptica 
with me. Nor do I expect anything from the Tinctura Staphis- 
agriae, nor from the powder of the seeds of the same remedy, 
notwithstanding Bourguignon^s recommendation, as the mites do 
not certainly die in them. 

With the action of the Tinctura Tabaci, and of the solution or ex- 
tract of the so-called insect-powder (see Lice), I am unacquainted. 

I now come to the method which is at present most widely 
and generally diffused, Hardy's rapid cure and its modifications, 
which I place here, because the principal agent in it is certainly, 
as Volz first stated, the carbonate of potash, or the alkaline 
sulphuret which may be formed, in which the mites soon (within 
a quarter of an hour) become pale and transparent, and die. 

The method introduced by Bazin and Hardy is only a repe- 
tition of that employed by Bourdin, as early as 1812, at the hos- 
pital of St. Louis, in which Helmerich's ointment, which still main- 
tained its ground at this hospital, plays a principal part. Bourdin 
first of all gave a purifying bath, and at the same time had soft 
soap rubbed into the whole body for half an hour; 2dly, on the next 
day he had the whole body rubbed three times with Helmerich's 
alkaline sulphur-ointment (8 parts of lard, 2 of sulphur, 4 of car- 
bonate of potash) j and 3dly, on the second day he gave a purifying 
bath of soap, after which the patient was discharged as cured. Hardy 
abridged this process essentially. After the rubbing in of soft 
soap for half an hour, the patient goes into the bath, where he 
is again rubbed for an hour with soft soap, and after the bath for 
half an hour with Ilelnierich's ointment. In this way, according 
to Volz, 3 — 4 ounces of ointment and a pound of soft soap are 
used to one patient. Unfortunately, this method affords no pro- 
tection against relapses, produces extensive eczema, and even 



ACAKUS SCABIEI. 47 

febrile eniptioos of vesicles and pustules. Hence the medical 
profession was divided into two great camps^ one of the opponents 
of this method (Hebra, for example), and the other of its sup- 
porters (Volz, &c.), who, recognising its great value, endeavoured 
to improve it by modifications. We must, at the same time, take 
into consideration that this method cannot be equally well 
carried out anywhere. It appears to be best adapted for strictly 
disciplined military hospitals. In the French regimental hospitals 
the patients are rubbed in the bath for three quarters of an hour 
with seventy grammes of soft soap, and after the bath for a quarter 
of an hour with Helmerich's ointment ; this is repeated in a few 
hours, and followed by a cleansing bath. 

Hardy's rapid cure experienced a modification from Fronmüller, 
of Fürth, who first introduced it into Germany. According to 
him, sulphur is the principal agent in Helmerich^s ointment; 
whilst Volz, supported by my experiments, considers the carbonate 
of potash as the principal agent. The former says that the com- 
mon English itch-ointment may also be employed in the rapid 
cure. The principal point is that the rubbings in should be 
effected with perseverance, energy, and with especial stress upon the 
favorite habitations of the mites, for which purpose the patient 
must be assisted by the nurse. Fronmüller allows the ointment 
to remain adhering to the skin for an hour, during which the 
patient may remain sitting in a woollen coverlet. Then follows 
the cleansing bath and the dismissal. Any patches of eczema 
heal of themselves within forty-eight hours. As, according to 
Fischer, of Cologne, Fronmüller's method does not furnish suflBi- 
ciently good results, he recommends the following method, which 
is also extolled by Keyl, and less celebrated by Schillingen (who 
once saw a relapse after it, and once agitation and fainting during 
the treatment). 1, a short soaping withjij of green soap; 2, a 
bath for an hour at 27^—28° R. (92°— 96"^ F.) ; 3, after careful 
drying, rubbing in with caustic potash (5/3 of potash is heated 
with Jiv — yj of water, and rubbed with a ball of tow into the 
whole body of the patient, with the exception of the face, and 
especially into the extremities, for i — | of an hour, by gloved 
nurses) ; 4, a short soaping in a tepid bath ; and, 5, general cold 
shower bath. Küchler, of Darmstadt, praises this process. 

Lastly, one of the warmest defenders of the quick cure is Volz, 
who saw no relapse in thirty-two cases. According to him, the 
action of the treatment upon the skin is as follows : — Most of 



48 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

the vesicles are deprived of their epidermis^ the folds of the skiu 
and galleries of the mites are filled with sulphur^ the cutaneous 
iuflammation here and in the vicinity^ however, is but small, and 
on the third day the vesicles, as well as the inflamed ps^sages, are 
dried up. Volz, however, only allows his patients to bathe on 
the fourth day, by which means the passages of the mites are 
completely thrown oflf, and are then got rid of. The first rubbing 
in only serves to cleanse the skin^ but does not kill the mites ; 
this is only effected by the alkaline sulphur ointment, in which 
the mite becomes quite transparent within a quarter of an hour, 
swells up, and dies. The crystalline sulphur destroys the passages^ 
the ointment causes them to be thrown off, by which means the 
dead mites with their eggs are got rid off; of the latter we do 
not know whether or not they lose their germinative faculty with 
the ointment. However, even Hardy did not employ his method 
in those cases in which the itch is complicated with inflammatory 
eruptions. In these cases Hardy and Gibert resort to the Tinct. 
Tabaci and Staphisagr, diluted to one half, and belonging, ac- 
cording to their views, to No. 2. 

The Belgian rapid cure, so-called by me, because it is intro- 
duced into the Belgian army, consists in a similar process. The 
patient is first rubbed for an hour with soft soap, then for another 
hour and a half in the bath, and after the bath with 60 — 90 
grammes of the cheap sulphide of calcium. The latter remedy 
is also recommended by Piorgey. I place this method in this 
position for the same reason as Hardy's. 

III. Methods combined from 1 and 2. — Here belongs the 
method of Hardy, just referred to, in part, and that described by 
Schinzinger in his ' Habilitationsschrift,' which is made use of at 
the Surgical Hospital in Freiburg. If there are galleries in the 
ordinary places, the patient^or the nurse is instructed to rub these 
places three times a day, for one or two days, with an ointment 
of green soap, pounded chalk and water, without observing any 
particular precautions with the sheet (Hebra) in lying down in 
bed. The chalk tears open the passages, knots, and vesicles, but 
the soap causes the passages to be thrown off by inflammation 
and formation of exudation. On the third day follows a bath. 
After this, the places where the mites lay are rubbed with 
^ — 1 drachm of oil of anise, and 3J of alcohol, which produces a 
fleeting pain for a few minutes. 



ACARUS SCABIEI. 49 

If the individuals be dirty, the skin callous, and the case old, 
a bath is given, in which the patient washes himself with soft 
soap, by which the skin becomes softer, and the galleries more 
visible. Then follows the treatment just described, with the 
precaution of telling the patient and the nurse the places which 
are particularly inhabited by the mites, and which, therefore, are 
to be specially rubbed. In all cases the penis must be rubbed 
in with soap, but the flexures of the arms and lower extremities 
should be left free, as here the soap readily produces eczema. 
After the completion of the treatment, a fresh examination is 
necessary in order to see whether all the passages, nodules, and 
lumps are destroyed. Should this not be the case, and should 
new passages with fresh excoriations be produced, the repetition 
of the treatment is necessary. 

If the patient comes under treatment with eczemata, sores, or 
excoriations, these often remain long after the extermination of 
the prurigo, which usually takes place within two or three days. 
They are to be treated with cold poultices, solutions of corrosive 
sublimate, &c. 

I think, however, that if we modified Hardy's rapid cure by 
adding about 5J of oil of anise to Helmerich's ointment, we 
should attain more certain results, and thus avoid relapses ; the 
latter especially, by giving the patient, on his dismissal, a portion 
of oil of anise or rosemary, to rub in every eight or ten days for 
about four weeks upon the places most affected, or where any 
itching may occur, or vesicles make their appearance. In order 
to avoid relapses, it is always advisable to disinfect the linen. 
The body-linen (shirts, drawers, and stockings) should be boiled, 
washed, and dried, during the three days' treatment in the hospi- 
tal. The other clothes (coats, trowsers, hats, and caps), and also 
the Portemonnaies or purses, with the money in it, and in the 
case of journeymen artisans, even the knapsack, should be dis- 
infected either with fumes of sulphurous acid (which, it is 
remarkable, is still the case in the French army, although the 
colours of the clothes, or even the clothes themselves, readily suf- 
fer injury by this means, and smell of sulphur long afterwards), 
or by a degree of heat which does not attack the clothes, but 
destroys the mites (according to Fischer, 90° C.=194° F.) For 
this purpose the louse-oven or any baker's oven is well adapted. 
The disinfection by heat is generally introduced into the Belgian 
army. Or the clothes may be boiled in steam. Some, as Volz, 

4 



50 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

think it is sufficient to beat the clothes heartily, to brush 
them in particular places (cuflFs, button-holes, and pocket-holes) 
with soap and water, and sprinkle them with turpentine, which 
immediately kills the mites. According to Volz the mite can 
only live one or two days out of the body ; according to others 
it may live three weeks. How long the eggs retain their power 
of development out of the body is unknown. 

Shall I say one word upon the retrocession of itch, and the 
diseases supposed to be produced thereby ? Shall I trace this 
unlucky theory of the otherwise so meritorious Autenrieth from 
its origin to the time when Hahnemann and his disciples pub- 
lished a caricature of these views in their psoradic theories ? 
The mainstay of this absurdity is now broken, and I pass it over. 
I may be allowed, however, to mention one case as an example of 
the mode in which this subject is sometimes treated. Joachim 
relates : '' A girl, eighteen years old, was rubbed with ointment 
for the itch, and confined in a hot oven for an hour and a half, 
upon which she became blind. By means of sulphur and deriva- 
tives applied to the skin, the itch returned again, and the power 
of sight in five weeks.^' In this case who would not seek the 
cause of the blindness rather in the heat of the oven than in the 
retrocession of the itch ? I would not advise Herr Joachim to 
make the experiment, whether he would not also become blind, 
after supporting the heat of an oven for an hour and a half, with 
a healthy body, whether anointed or not ! 

Mites accidentally transferred from Animals to Man. 

Although a short time ago Bourguignon left the transfer- 
ability of the mange-mites to man as undecided, we, in Ger- 
many, have long been convinced, by the thorough-going experi- 
ments of Hering, Hertwig, and others, that such transfer does 
take place — that passages are actually bored, and itch-like erup- 
tions produced, in the human skin by these animals. In general, 
however, these eruptions only last as long as the individual life 
of the mites transferred. Upon this point, nevertheless, the 
accounts of observers still vary, some extending the period of its 
visit to two or three weeks, and others to six weeks and more. 
It does not appear possible for these animals to pass through 
their whole development upon the human subject. And if this 
is the case, I believe it only takes place in those species of mites 



MITES OF LOWER ANIMALS. 51 

which resemble the true Sarcoptes Hominis in structure^ and 
only differ from it in size. In this case we must beware of 
errors which may easily be produced by our not noticing the 
constant fresh, perhaps daily, infection taking place during the 
long contact of mangy animals with the same human individual ; 
and supposing, from the long duration of the animal-mange upon 
the man, thus caused, that the specimens of the mite found have 
grown large upon the man, whilst they have probably, in gene- 
ral, only been transferred to him a short time before. What 
has been said of the possibility of a development of the mites 
of animals through their particular phases upon the human body, 
applies especially and perhaps solely to — 

1. The true Sarcoptes of the cats, which, however, may also 
be transferred to dogs, hyaenas, bears, sheep, apes, and Guinea- 
pigs, as well as to men. It is well known that the true Sarcoptes 
Catorum, the male of which I figured formerly in Günsburg^s 
' Zeitschrift,' is only about one half smaller than the Sarcoptes 
Hominis. I omit to reproduce the figure here. It is only 
necessary to look at the figure of Sarcoptes Hominis, and 
imagine the animal smaller and more delicate. The size of 
the female of this Sarcoptes is only 0*05 — 006"' in length, 
and 005''' in breadth, so that the body of the animal appears 
almost circular. It is only furnished with weak hairs; its feet 
are delicate, but distinctly jointed in the same way as those oi Sar- 
coptes Hominis ; the four anterior feet in both sexes are furnished 
with suckers ; in the female the two posterior pairs are each pro- 
vided with a long bristle, and without a sucker ; in the male the 
third pair with a hair, and the last with a sucking cup on each 
foot. Recently Bourguignon has described the transfer of the 
mite of the lion to man, and vice versa. This mite is said to be 
larger than the cat-mite, and exactly like that of the human 
subject. It now becomes a question whether the mites of the 
cat, lion, and human subject are not perfectly identical, and only 
attain a different size according to the animal which they inhabit. 

2. Sarcoptes Canis. — Even Sauvages (' Nosologia,' Amstelod., 
1763, ii, p. 464) and Viborg speak of a Scabies canina = 
dog's itch, in the human subject; and Hertwig saw two boys 
infected by a mangy dog. The dog's mite has a great similarity 
to the horse-mite, except that the former is smaller and has far 
stronger hairs, which even appear plumose, on the sides of its 
body. 



52 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

3 a. Sarcoptea Equi (figs. 1 and 2). — The males of this pretty 
large species, which is visible with the naked eye, are about ^'" 
in length and breadth, resembling a square, notched at its four 
angles ; arched on the back and belly, tolerably thick ; the body 
covered with alternate furrows and raised lines, running trans- 
versely on the back and on the abdomen in a semicircular form, 
or even longitudinally, by which the skin acquires the appearance 
of shagreened leather (like morocco leather). 




y 



a, the head ; b — b, the anterior feet ; e — c, the sucking disc or sucking lamina on tlie 
last joint ; e — e, the outer,/—/, the inner posterior feet. 

On the back we see some small tubercles, and towards the 
front a long, stiff hair. On each side of the body, at the com- 
mencement of its posterior third, there also stand a long and a 
short hair. According to Raspail and Hertwig there only ap- 
pears to be a chitinous framework for the two anterior pairs of 
feet, at least it is not referred to for the posterior feet. 

The head is conical or proboscidiform ; its length is one third 
of that of the body, and its thickness not very considerable. 
Above the proboscis, two nipper-like moveable spines lie horizon- 
tally and close together. Between the proboscis and the spines, 
a very thin, capillary organ sometimes projects. Close to the 
origin of the spines, there is on each side a fine, stiflT hair ; 
behind this a second ; and then a round point, with a dark out- 



MITES OF LOWER ANIMALS. 



53 



line, -which is regarded as the eye. Then follows the neck, with 
several red points on the ventral side. 

The anterior feet, which are as long as the breadth of the 
animal, diminish in size towards their free extremities. Each 
foot has four joints. Each of the first joints bears a pretty long 
hair, the third two shorter ones, and the fourth three jiairs, a 
sharp, curved, horny claw, and a sucking disc upon a tolerably 
long three-jointed stalk, for -which reason the feet have been 
referred to as composed of six joints. Of the posterior feet of 
the male the outer third pair is as long as its body, and as strong 
as one of the anterior feet with a sucking lamina. The hairs 
with which this pair of feet is beset are extraordinarily long and 
strong. The inner (fourth) pair is very short, and weaker than 
the third pair, without sucking discs, but furnished with a pair 
of long hairs. On the abdomen we find the anus between two 
verrucose tubercles, strongly clothed with hair. The male gene- 
rative organs also appear to lie in the vicinity of this. 

The females, which are far more abundant, only differ from 
the males in their size and in the structure of the two posterior 
pairs of feet. The female is about one third longer (J''') than the 
male. The two posterior pairs of feet are attached to the belly. 

Fig. 2. 




a—/» M in the last fignre ; g, the anus. 



close together, of equal length and strength, but shorter and 
weaker than in the male. The external (third) pair of feet has 
two long, terminal hairs, but no sucking disc; the internal 



54 ANIIVIAL PARASITES. 

(fourth) pair has the rudiments of a claw^ a sucking disc^ and a 
fine terminal hair at the base of the stalk of the sucking disc. 
The hairs and tubercles at the anus are smaller and more rare. 
The generative organs are not exactly known. 

The colour of the animal is whitbh ; the horny skeleton red- 
dish-brown, ferruginous. The eggs are very large, coated with a 
sticky mass, and are often carried about by the female between 
her legs. The eggs are deposited in small galleries under the 
epidermis. The young are very small, but grow very quickly 
during the first four days ; and, according to Hertwig, they have 
their eight feet at once, but only six according to Hering, so 
that they also undergo a change of skin. Their movements 
are efiected quickly, and by means of the feet provided with 
sucking discs. They may be kept alive for three weeks without 
nourishment. Wherever they penetrate into the skin, a small, knot- 
like elevation is produced, with a small passage, at the extremity 
of which the mite sits. The epidermis becomes soft, separates 
by exudation from the cutis, and dries, in animals, into scaly 
scurfs, which become detached. All these mites produce, in ani- 
mals, similar phenomena to those presented by the Norwegian 
prurigo in the human subject. 

The transference of the mite to man has been proved by 
many observers, as, for example, E. Viborg, Sick, Sydow, Osian- 
der, Greve, Groguier, and repeatedly by Hertwig, under whose 
inspection Schade made the experiment of inoculating himself 
with this mite, by placing the mites upon his arm and covering 
them with fine paper, the edges of which were fastened down 
with court plaister. In five minutes, itching was produced, which 
increased and diminished periodically for five days ; in thirty-two 
hours the skin exhibited several raised red points of the size of 
a pin's head, and near these small passages under the epidermis, 
which became gradually more distinctly marked up to the fifth 
day, and exhibited small vesicles with a clear fluid. On the 
twelfth day the itching had disappeared, and everything dried up 
into scabs, beneath which there was a healthy epidermis. Whe- 
ther Greve's observations of the residence of the same individual 
mites upon the human skin for three, six, and eight weeks before 
healing took place, be an error in the above-mentioned sense, I 
am unable to decide. Greve and Hertwig also saw the transfer 
of the disease from one man to another, notwithstanding that the 
mites do not propagate upon the human body. 



MITES OF LOWEK ANIMALS. 



55 



Besides the species of mite just described, a second species has 



Fig. 3. 




occurred^ according to Hering, in the 
gangrenous sores of the hoof of a 
horse, — ^namely, Sarcoptes hippopodus 
(fig. 3). Hering says of it, that its 
body is twice as long as broad, beset all 
over with small hairs, like satin ; head 
retractile ; proboscis consisting of two 
valves moving lateraUy; mouth di- 
rected rather downwards; close to it 
two small palpi; feet eight, five-jointed, 
the last joint as long as the four pre- 
ceding, with a small sucking disc at 
the end, and two small hairs on each 
joint. Two pairs of the feet originate 
near the head, and two posteriorly on 
the belly. On the abdomen a small 
prominence, and four long, straight, 
plumose bristles; their length 0*16, 
their breadth 008— 0-085"'. The 
three pairs of bristles on the back, and those at the abdomen, 
can be raised like the tail of a peacock. The large bristles are 
plumose ; the hairs on the joints of the feet diminish in length 
towards the extremity of the foot. Only the third joint of the 
first pair of feet has a longer hair. 

On the human subject this form has not yet been detected 
with certainty, but Hering thinks it has some similarity with the 
Acarus favorum of Hermann. A peculiar mite was also found in 
sores of the foot of a horse. 

4. That the Sarcoptes Bovis first observed by Gohicr upon 
Hungarian oxen in the last French war, also passes over to man 
has long been doubted, until Thudichum recently described such 
cases with certainty. 

A peasant believed he had transferred the mite to his upper 
lip from the cattle treated with ointment, by incautiously scratch- 
ing under his nose. On the upper lip were produced coalescent, 
dark-red scales, vesicles, knots, and pustules elevated above the 
skin, of various sizes, but of uniform hardness, which made their 
appearance suddenly in the vicinity, and at last occupied the 
whole lower part of the face, including the throat. The vesicles, 
which were filled with white serum, sat upon a hard, red base ; 



5Ö ANIMAL PARASITES. 

some of them had turbid^ purulent contents. The pustules were 
very small or larger, so that they covered themselves with thick 
scabs as large as a kreuzer. They also stood together in groups, 
upon a common hardened base and exhibited fistulous passages 
with pus, in which the Sarcopies Bovis were found. Syringing 
out the passages, evacuation of the matter, and mercurial oint- 
ment led to a cure. 

The mite itself presents the following peculiarities. It is twice 
as long as broad, pointed towards the head, rounded oflF at the 
hinder part. The proboscis consists of two jointed superior valves, 
directed straight forwards, of two central, spiniform, thin palpi, 
and two inferior valves, curved in the manner of a retort, of which 
the right one bears two long bristles. Hering has not seen this 
mite. 

The eight feet are five-jointed, arranged in two groups. The 
two anterior (pairs of) feet originate beneath and close to the 
head towards the margins of the body ; the posterior feet behind 
the middle of the belly. The first joint, attached to the belly, is 
short ; the other four are tolerably equal ; and the last is fur- 
nished with a sucking disc. Every foot bears two short hairs on 
each joint, but the third joint of the first pair of feet has a 
stronger and longer hair. The entire body exhibits a number of 
stronger, uniformly distributed, bristles, springing from separate 
warts or papillae ; on the abdomep there are twelve large ones, 
without reckoning the smaller ones. (See Rubner's Illustrirt. 
Zeitung, i, 5, 1852.) The figure of the cast skin of this mite 
here given is omitted by me. 

5. The Sarcopiis Ovis (figs. 4 and 5), first correctly described 
by Walz, is similar to the horse-mite, but smaller (01 6 — 0-22"' 
in length and 0*16 — 0"17"' in breadth), moderately hard; the 
male is roundish, the female more oval. Each of the external 
posterior feet has two long bristles ; the fourth pair of feet in the 
male is rudimentary. The homy framework of the feet is red- 
dish-brown. They bore passages beneath the epidermis, from 
which the little hexapod brood, which grows quickly and becomes 
octopod, issues in from about eleven to sixteen days. This mite 
has been seen but rarely upon man ; Hertwig's experiments in 
inoculation gave no results. 

Apparently very similar to the last-mentioned mite in struc- 
ture is the species of Acorus found by Willigk in Favus crusts, 
although it approaches the Dermanyssi in the want of bristles 



MITES OF LOWER ANIMALS. 



57 



at the extremities of the feet^ and in the clothing of all the 
feet with small hairs. The crusts in which the animal was 



Fig. 4. 







Sarcopies OvUy 
from above. 




Sareoptei Ovis, 
from beneath. 



founds had already lain for a long time, and consequently only 
dead animals, filled with fat or with Favus-fungi, were seen. 
The animal was oval, had a prominent conical head and a 
rounded hinder part; it was 0116 — 0252 milL = A — ^tV' in 
length, and at the lower extremity of the cephalothorax, 0084— 
0-132 mill, in breadth. The cephalothorax widens behind, and 
extends somewhat beyond the abdomen laterally, in the form of 
a pilgrim^s collar ; the brittle skin exhibits a regular undulatory 



58 



ANIMAL PARASITES. 



Fig. 6. 



markings which rather disappears as the parasite imbibes. 

Scattered hairs are to be seen springing from pores or little 

warts (fig. 6). 

The two posterior pairs of feet spring from the belly close to 

each other. Each foot is 0*089 — 
0097 mill, in lengthy and presents 
five joints, the shortest of which is 
the coxa ; the strongest piece, 
which is slightly bowed out late- 
rally, and 0*018 mill, in length, 
represents the femur, which is fol- 
lowed by tibi», 0015 in length, 
and a very long, conical terminal 
joint (tarsus) with a stem and 
sucking disc. 

The organ of manducation con- 
sists of two pairs of nipper«like 
chitinous structures, finely denti- 
culated anteriorly and interiorly, 
and united behind into a ring, so 




/ I' N 



that an articulation between the 
individual lamellse of the biting 
nippers could not be discovered. Near the biting nippers originates 
a three-jointed antenna, and close to and between the anterior feet 
some bristle-like hairs. The anus is situated on the abdomen, and 
on each side of it two strong hairs. Numerous roundish or oval 
eggs, 0-025 — 0*169 mill, in length, filled with brownish granules 
(yelk), and long, burst egg-shells were also found. These mites are 
certainly supplementary to the Favus. Moreover, Hermann has 
already described an Acarus favorum. " Mite ovale, convexe, 
pdle, couverie de soies^ 4 sur le derriire du dos, dressies en 
haut et itaUes,'^ Hering compares it with the species of 
Sarcoptes mentioned under 3 b. 

We have still to refer here to a similar occurrence, namely, 
that of the mites in a case of plica polonica. Hessling narrates 
(Rubner's ' Illustrirti Med. Zeitung,' i, p. 5, 1852), that, together 
with innumerable lice, he accidentally found some mites not pecu- 
liarly belonging to the disease. I pass over the first form entirely, 
because it is much too imperfectly described, as Hessling only 
found fragments of it, which appear to me to look very little like 
a mite. 



IXODIDA. 



59 



The form described by him as the second form has an oval 
bodjr, crooked when dead, terminating in a pointed head, without 
any neck. The nippers are hollowed out like shells, and strongly 
denticulated on both sides ; the feet six-jointed, with small, gently 
curved claws, and beset, like the body, with longer and shorter 
bristles, which towards the end of ihe body become elongated 
and sit upon small knobs (fig. 7). 



Fig. 7. 




Fig. 8. 




The form described as the third (fig. 8) exhibits a constant 
difibrence in the form of the body and bristles, which are slightly 
crooked and uniformly plumose on both sides. The first joint of 
the legs is very long. The animal appears to me closely to 
resemble the cheese-mite. Some kind of strayed mite is certainly 
referred to. 



Family of the Ticks = Ixodida. 

Acarida magna, plana, in dorso cephalothoracis testa cornea 
obtecta, abdomine, si vacuum est, plicato, si sanguine repktum est 
valde intumido. Testa respiratoria parvtda, orbicularis ; punctum 
respiratorium punctiforme, parvulum, rotundum. Pedes breves, 
pariter articulati, ad imaginem ''patris nostri " formati, in apice 
unguiculati et arolio, qui stylo caret, armati ; rosteUum maximum, 
prominens ; palpi vaginteform^s, ad rostellum applicati ; labium 
protractum, semicanellatum (like a half-canal) denticulatum ; 
mandibuUß breves, crassa, ex 3 articulis composite, in extreme 
articulo acuta et denticulat€e. Oculi parvuli. Habitant in silvis 
et in fructicetis aridis ad gramina, muscos, ^c, siccos, unde ad 



60 



ANIMAL PAEASITES. 



Martiny describes it 
Fig. 9. 



cutem hominum, aut animalium pratereuntium et adeo ad cuteni 
serpentum, testudinum, ^c, iranseunt. 

1. Ixodes Ricinus, the common Wood-Tick = the Dog's Tick, and 
also perhaps the Egyptian Tick (fig. 9.) 

as oval, yellowish blood-red, thorax 
darker, abdomen finely hairy, with 
the lateral walls bent upwards. The 
females, which are only V in length, 
become of the size of a hazel-nut by 
sucking. A good figure of the parts 
of the mouth of the Egyptian tick is 
given in Pöppig's ' Illustrirter Natur- 
geschichte,' iv, p. 58, fig. 2845. The 
common tick is here represented 
after Gurlt. The line at the side in- 
dicates the natural size. 




2. Ixodes marginaius = the Margined Tick. 

According to Martiny, longish, obovate, flat, brown, shining, 
with separate short hairs. Female 1"', becoming as large as a 
pea by suction. 



3. North and South American Ticks = Ixodes Americanus, 
I, humanus, I. crenatus. 

They occur in the woods of these countries, frequently in ex- 
traordinary quantities, and almost epidemically, and possess 
various local names, — for example, wood-louse = Pou de Bois in 
Pennsylvania, Niffua in Carthagena, Piqtie in Peru, and Carabatos 
in Brazil, in all parts of which, according to Martiny, they are a 
great plague to men and animals. The particular species are 
but imperfectly known and distinguished. 

All the species are particularly attached to dry, sunny woods, 
thickets, or hills, and avail themselves of every opportunity of 
getting upon animals. Imperceptibly they immerse their pro- 
boscis in the skin, often in very sensitive spots, and often remain 
for days hanging to the place where they have bitten in, held fast 
by the retroverted teeth of the surfaces and margins of the pro- 



IXODIDA. 61 

boscis^ during whicli, by unceasing sucking, their flat form 
becomes globular^ and ten to twenty times its original size. If 
they be torn away with violence, the head easily remains sticking, 
by which inflammation, pain, and suppuration, lasting even for 
months, are produced ; for this reason it is always advisable to 
compel them to loosen themselves. 

Therapeutics. — The only indication is to cause the voluntai^y 
detachment of the animal. For this purpose Oken advised the 
dropping of a drop of olive oil upon them. But they do not always^ 
let go their hold after this. Batzeburg recommends rubbing the 
animal constantly with the oiled finger, for which a quarter to 
half an hour is often required. In his 'Illustrated Natural 
History,' Pöppig recommends touching them with tobacco oil, oil 
of turpentine, or mercurial ointment. The last is superfluous. 
The oils just mentioned are certainly suflScient, or still better the 
essential oils, such as oil of anise or rosemary. I would, how- 
ever, not merely touch the back of the animal, but rather in 
preference rub its ventral surface with a feather dipped in the oil, 
so as to come as near as possible to the respiratory opening on the 
belly, and poison the animal as quickly as possible. 

The tick often mentioned as the Ar gas Persictts, or the poison - 
bug of Miana, may also be referred to here. As what has been 
narrated of it and its dangerous nature is mere fable, and the 
natives take it into their hands quietly and without danger, I 
shall only treat of it here en passant. Its bite, like that of all 
Ixodida, probably causes considerable pain, and if the head be torn 
oflF and left sticking in the wound, it may also produce malignant 
sores. But everything is fable. The bad consequences com- 
monly ascribed to it, agree with the symptoms of the putrid fevers 
which prevail in hot climates, often endemically in small districts, 
and carry off more especially foreigners who have not become 
acclimatised, whence it is probable the opinion has arisen that the 
mite only injures foreigners. 

The Argades are distinguished from Ixodes by their having a 
small head, seated on the under side of the fore part of the body, 
a very short proboscis, and three-jointed, conical palpi. The 
Argas Persicus, which only occurs in Persia, is characterised by 
the small, white points which extend over the whole back, and are 
the more striking upon its light blood-red colour, because it is 
usually larger than the wood-tick (namely 3'''), and has the 
anterior legs directed forwards as raptorial arms. 



62 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

Family of the Gamasida = Beetle-lice. 

Corpus oblongum, depressum, inter dum clypeiforme; pedes 
longiiudine varii, articulis inter se (equalibus, in apice libero 2 
unffuiculis et prcpterea arolio armati ; palpi liberi, filiformes, pariier 
articulaii ; organa manducatoria variantia, mandibuUe acres, ad 
terebrandum idonea, non uncinate (vide Ixoda). Animalia cceca, 
in avibus, insedis et reptilibus parasita, plerumque nocturna et inter 
diem prope ad stabula, receptacula et latebras animalium majorum 
viventia. In prima juventute sea:, in statu larvarum {Hypopus 
veterum) vero 8 pedibics, quoram posteriores minimi et aroliis armati 
sunt, instructa et mobilia. 



Sub'familia — Dermanyssus. 

Palporum articulus 5 minimus ; rostellum acutum ; mandibulce 
feminarum gladiformes, marium forficiformes, unguicula longis- 
sima ; corpus molle ; pedes anterioi'es longissimi ; coxa continu^e ; 
larva 6 pedibus instructs. 

Dermanyssus Avium (fig. 10). 

Oval, broader behind, flat, brownish red, by two lateral coeca ; 

thorax with a white V-shaped 
Fig. 10. , 

spot, and behind this two pale 
waves, a transverse spot and two 
points. Length about 0'30"". 

It lives especially in dove- 
cotes, fowl-houses, and on the 
perclies and canes of bird-cages 
and aviaries, where it also lays 
its eggs, and undergoes its 
changes of skin, only attacking 
the birds and sucking their blood 
at night. 

Alt saw these mites upon the 
neck and arms of an old cachectic woman. They are white, of 
the size of a grain of sand, extremely agile, and slipped out of 
little excavations (which even occupied a space of 1, square line), 
ran over the skin, and back again into their holes. 




DERMANYSSUS AVIUM. 63 

Kirby and Spence, and Alt, denominate the disease produced 
thereby acariasia, and think, as it sometimes occurs in general dys- 
crasic and adynamic tabes, it has to do with those cases of Phthi- 
riasis, in which the parasites lived not only upon, but in the skin. 

To the latter form probably Fuchs^ Cnesmus acariasis = 
Milben-Hautschabe, amongst the pathognomonic signs of which, 
besides derangements in the urinary system and itching in the 
skin, is the existence of the parasites in the skin (the so-called 
Phthiriasis interna). Fuchs saw mites like lice produced in the 
tissue of the uninjured skin, and form peculiar bursting tumours. 
The patient, who was consumptive, complained of itching of the 
skin and urinary disturbances, and suffered from ectropium senile 
of both eyes, as well as hypopyon of the left eye. Upon the 
skin of the neck and back she exhibited numerous, dingy red, 
very painful boils, on scratching which stiiall mites, like lice, 
crept forth from them in thousands, together with a clear, putres- 
cent fluid. We do not know, however, whether these animals 
came out of the cutis, or the subcutaneous cellular tissue, nor has 
this species of mite been hitherto exactly determined. According 
to all experience it cannot be transferred to healthy subjects; 
just as Bourguignon asserts, for instance, that the mites of 
animals usually attack only sickly individuals of the animals pre- 
ferred by them. According to Fuchs, a case of LavaVs and one 
of Kurtze^s may also belong to this form. The patient always 
died in the last stage of consumption. 

Bory's case must also probably be referred to this place. A 
little while before the death of a dropsical woman, it was observed 
that with an improvement, itching also constantly occurred, and 
this gradually became stronger, and finally insupportable. When- 
ever the woman scratched herself, thousands of little, brownish 
animals came forth and crept into the linen ; so that when it was 
very warm, she was obliged to change her linen from three to six 
times a day, on account of the immense number of animals which 
crept forth. 

To the section of Dermanyssus Avium Martiny also refers ErdPs 
mite in the pimples of the human skin, and regards it as the 
male of Alt's mite, from which it is only distinguished by a longer 
proboscis, even projecting beyond the palpi (fig. 11). Whether 
in Erdl's case we have to do with the true mite of our domestic 
birds is uncertain. Simon narrates a case in which the mite 
nestled upon the skin of a woman who was otherwise healthy. 



Gl 



ANIMAL PARASITES. 



Fig. 11. 




She was constantly infested 
with little louse-like animals, 
notwithstanding great cleanli- 
ness and many attempt! at the 
extermination of the mites, 
which were recognised by 
Erich son as Dermanyssus 
Avium, It was found at last 
that the woman went several 
times daily into the cellar, over 
which the hen-roost lay. As 
often as this was the case the 
fowls flew up into their roosting- 
place, and by this means the 
woTnan was sprinkled with mites. The removal of the hen- 
roost cured her of her supposed phthiriasis. It would perhaps 
be advisable to refer this species of mite to the Acarus nidulans, 
of which we find examples amongst sky-larks and small birds, or 
perhaps to arrange it with those species of mites which we cer- 
tainly sometimes meet with in the hair-follicles, and on the inner 
wall of the skins of mice in small nests, and which I have 
repeatedly found on the animals of my colony of mice. This mite 
has also been found on the skin of the horse (the ^Veterinarian,' 
Morton and Simonds, 1855, p. 4AS,) 

A mite has also been found by Busk in the matter of peculiar 
large sores on the sole of the foot of a negro} The somewhat 
mystical account of the case tells us that the negro had worn 
the shoes of another negro from Sierra Leone, and that, according 
to Stanger, similar animals occur in a river (it must have been a 
species of Hydrachna), and according to Murray a peculiar prurigo, 
which is difficult to cure, occurs in Sierra Leone, which is perhaps 
connected with this mite. As the whole story is suspicious, we 
can say but little upon this mite. According to some it is a 
Dermanyssus, On the other hand there are also species of 
Sarcoptes on animals (dogs and horses), which have a liking for 
pus, and if there be any truth in the story it might be a Sar^ 
coptes. Willan has also described a small parasite in prurigo 
senilis ; it was found in great numbers upon the skin and in 
the linen of a patient, and was regarded as a flea, and very 
indistinctly represented. At last it has been thought that these 

' Appendix A. 



ORIBATIDA. 



65 



parasites are to be regarded as body-lice (perhaps young indivi- 
daals). This animal also belongs to the doubtful ones. The 

Fig. 12. Fig. 13. Fig. 14. 




Cheese-mite, 
from beneath. 



Cheese-mite, 
from above. 



Fig. 15. 



Mite from 
dried plums. 



Fig. 16. 



cheese-mites also^ as well as 
those from dried fruits, 
raisins^ &c.^ may produce a 
transitory irritation upon the 
skin, but no disease (e. g., 
pustules, and other exanthe- 
mata; Raspail). Nyander^s 
intestinal itch {scabies in- 
testinorum epidemica) and his 
Acarus dyserUerue certainly 
belong to mites which already 
occurred in the night-chairs, 
&c., and which we meet with 
in old vessels and in decaying 
places (Martiny), or to the mites of raisins or dried fruits, such as 
Reinhardt, of Bautzen, found in the vomited mi^tter from a woman 
who suffered from cancer of the stomach and ulcus perforans 
ventriculi. 

Family of the Grass- and Plant-mites = Oribatida (Vogt) 
= Leptus (Latreille). 

Animalia durissima, quasi vitrea ; plerumque sulco iransverso 
quasi bipartita ; secundum par pedum anieriorum in corporis dimi- 




Raisin-mite. 



66 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

dium posterius retractum ; abdomen etiam tesid, in cujus 2 lacu- 
nis porus genitalis et porus am aperiuntur, obtectum. Pedes 
breves validi, unguiculati, pileati, injuventute 6; palpi breves ei 
fusiformes ; mandibuke 2 ; labia ad forficum modum instructa. 
Organa manducatoria omnino retracta et occulta. Habitant ; in 
nidulis inter muscos, quibus pro pabulo utuniur, nisi sanguinem 
animalium, tanquam pabulum hauriunt. 

Sub-family — Leptus = Grass-mites. 

Pedes 6 (?) ; corpus molle, intumidum ; palpi magni, liberi ; 
rostellum ex mandibulis et labiis compositum ; oculi 2. 

Leptus autumnalis. (Tab. IX, fig. 8.) 
Rostellum nee setosum, nee denticulatum ; abdomen setosum. 
Colore ruber, unde nomen Scabiei inde exort(P ''Rouget. Oculi 2, 
Habitat : tempore prcssertim auiumnali in frumentorum stipulis ac 
herbis, in arborum {ex, c. Ribes grossularue) foliis et baccis, unde 
transit ad manus et coipus non obtectum hominis {ex. c. messo- 
ris), quas perforat et per aliquot tempus incolit. Hieme inter 
muscos habitare videtur. 

Yon Siebold thinks that the hexapod mite is only the young 
state of one which becomes octopod after changing its skin^ and 
which is parasitic during its young state, the mature condition 
of which we do not exactly know. One of the first observers of 
its wandering upon man appears to have been Janson ; the best 
statement, in a practical point of view, has recently been given 
by Jahn, of Meningen, upon whose published and epistolary 
communications I depend here. In the autumn the mites in 
question keep in dry grass, in com which is ready to cut, and at 
the time of the ripening of the gooseberries, upon the gooseberry 
bushes. Thence they get upon the skin of men, who brush past 
their places of abode. Thus, for example, they settle in masses 
upon the stockings of women and children, when they have 
visited the gooseberry garden early in the morning, and bore 
into the human skin only with the head, in the same way as the 
Ixodes. They there form yellowish-red points in the skin, and 
may be easily detected by the practised eye, as Professor 
Emmerich observed in his own children. By their immigration 
they produce little swellings, papulae, impetiginous pustules, or 
flat and innocuous sores, upon and in which the yellowish-red 
parasite sits in the form of a small point of the size of a piu's 



LEPTUS AUTÜMNALIS. 67 

head. Emmerich never found passages^ and their position was 
generally at such a small depth, that with a little practice they 
could easily be removed with the finger-nail or a needle, and if 
then put upon paper ran about briskly. Sometimes, also, the 
animals are seen arranged in the form of a wreath or necklace, 
or in masses and troops. The time of their parasitic existence 
does not last long. This mite is usually found upon man only 
in July and the beginning of August ; subsequently it probably 
goes into the moss on the ground, to pass through its further 
development there in quiet. For this reason Jahn was unable 
to send me specimens of these parasites in September. But I 
am none the less grateful to him and Emmerich for the kindness 
with which they furnished me with information upon this para- 
site, which I have hitherto sought for in vain in this place. 

During harvest the mite bores, often in immense numbers, into 
the skin of the reapers, and, indeed, in the neighbourhood of the 
roots of the hairs, producing troublesome itching, inflammation, 
swelling, and even fever. On account of the red colour of the 
mite, the complaint has been denominated '' Bouget.^' 

According to Jahn and Emmerich, the mite which I have 
figured upon Plate IX, fig. 8, agrees with that observed by them ; 
except that the eyes are wanting, as the drawing, for which I 
am indebted to the kindness of Professor Leuckart, represents 
the mite from the ventral surface. However, there is a figure 
of the mite in Wiegmann. 

According to Jahn and Emmerich, the mite rarely lives very 
long as a parasite upon the human skin ; even a few days' resi- 
dence is a rarity. But when peculiarly unfavorable external 
circumstances are in action, and the patients are constantly pass- 
ing by those places where the mite is abundant, as, for instance, 
the gooseberry gardens, the disorder may last for several weeks 
and months, by the chain of consecutive relapses, but never over 
the time of harvest. 

Diagnosis, — The discovery of the mite upon the body is ren- 
dered easy by the colour of the animal. It can then be 
taken out of the centre of the swelling with the point of a 
needle. To collect them from the gooseberry bushes, it is 
only necessary to lay a sheet of white paper under the bushes 
upon which the animal is common, and then beat the bushes. 

Therapeutics. — The avoidance of the places infested by the mites 
is sufiEicient ; according to Jahn, washing with soap and water, 



68 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

or a solution of liver of sulphur, and I think washing with essen- 
tial oils, as well as the picking off of the individual red points, as 
the animals are not yet capable of propagation. 

A similar mite, called "jBÄe rouge ^^ in Martinique, ac- 
cording to Kirby, wounds the soldiers standing in the fields in 
that island, and produces such bad sores that even amputations 
of the limbs have been obliged to be undertaken j or, under the 
popular name of " doctor,^' pesters the woodcutters and colo- 
nists on the Mosquito Coast and in Honduras Bay.^ 

Fourth Class of the Abticulata. 

lNSECTA=The Insects. 

Articulata antennata, organia respiratoriis perclaris, corporis 
regionibus bene dtstinctis, abdomine sine appendicibus, pedibus 6, 
plerumque alata. 

The body consists of separate segments, some of which are some- 
times entirely or partially amalgamated. However, the head, thorax, 
and abdomen are generally clearly distinguishable. The thorax 
and abdomen are coalescent only in a few apterous parasites. 

I. The head bears the antennse and oral organs, as well as 
the eyes; the three thoracic segments bear the three pairs of 
feet on their lower surface, and the wings on their upper ; the 
very distinctly articulated abdomen never bears feet, but at the 
utmost accessory organs of motion, and always the sexual appa- 
ratus. The antenna, placed on the front of the head, on the 
forehead, or on the sides, have very different forms, which, how- 
ever, may be referred to the form of a bristle, or that of a ringed 
or jointed club or cone. The external surface of the uniform 
antennae is, with the exception of the basal joints, beset 
with small pits and pores, the bottom of which is closed with a 
delicate, downy skin. The unhomogeneous antennae have 
a separate stem or shaft, exactly resembling the skin of the 
body, and the above-mentioned pores and pits, which pro- 
bably have the function of feeling, and perhaps also that of 
smell, exist only upon the teeth, laminae, &c. The differences of 
the antennae serve for the definition of the groups and species. 
The sense of touch is also assisted by the eyes, which are very 
rarely wanting. The eyes are, partly simple ocelli (or stemmata) 
which usually stand in aggregations or groups upon peculiar 

* See Appendix A. 



INSECTS. 69 

elevations on the sides of the head^ and have a beaker-shaped 
retina, surrounded by dark pigment, a roundish lens^ and a con- 
vex prominent cornea; and partly compound reticulated eyes 
(octdi), that is to say, prominent (roundish, reniform, or deeply 
notched) projections on the two sides of the head, which in the 
males sometimes even meet upon the vertex, sometimes sit upon 
immoveable stalks, and possess an immense number (often many 
thousands) of facets of equal size, each of which forms, as it were, 
the cornea of a minute eye. We also find a pyramidal lens, with 
an obtuse apex directed towards the beaker-shaped vitreous body, 
an optic nerve dilated like a horn, and a dark pigment, as to the 
co-operation of which in the formation of an image we can form no 
idea. In some insects we find both simple and compound eyes. Then 
two or three ocelli are seated above upon the vertex, and so near 
to the cephalic ganglion that their optic nerves only form short 
warts. The function of the ocelli is unknown ; but they do not 
appear to be organs of distant sight, as some will have it, as their 
cornea and lens are always very convex. 

The oral organs follow a single fundamental type of structure, 
and are sometimes adapted for suction and sometimes for biting. 
The manducatory organs consist of — 1, a median upper lip {labrum 
= Oberlippe = Lefze) ; 2 of two lateral, generally hook-shaped, 
horny mandibles {mandibuhe = Oberkiefern = Kinnbacken) ; 3, of 
two other lateral jaws {maxilla = Unterkiefern = Kinnaladen) 
placed beneath these, usually furnished with jointed appendages, 
the so-called maxillary palpi (= palpi maxUlares) ; 4, of a lower lip 
{labium = Lippe) placed quite beneath, which is also provided 
with palpi, the so-called labial palpi {^ palpi labiales ss. Lippen- 
tastem), and like the labrum is capable of moving up and down. 
The upper Up, which is rarely immoveable, generally moveably 
articulated to the lower surface of the head, covers the mandi- 
bles from above. The mandibles consist of two hollow, homy 
pieces, which are attached by a hinge on each side of the head, 
and can only move in opposition to each other. The less solid 
nourishment the animal takes, the more insignificant do the 
mandibles become, and at last they are entirely wanting in the 
suctorial insects. The maxillae are very composite, weaker and 
less toothed than the mandibles j they approach very close to the 
labium, or are even coalescent with it, and consist of a shafl or 
stalk {stipes), which is composed of a transverse angle {cardo), 
and the true stalk {stipes), which is often hook-like, hard, and 



70 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

frequently beset with acute horny teeth, with the lobes {malte) 
on the inside, and maxillary palpi {palpi mawillares) on the out- 
side; the latter are rarely wanting, usually shorter than the 
antennse^ longer than the labial palpi^ and in the number of 
joints strictly fixed in every order of insects. 

The maxillae, which are usually clothed with hair internally, 
grasp the food firmly. In the sucking insects they are con- 
verted into piercing bristles, or into sheathing valves, or into 
spirally rolled semi-canals, which form a tube by their contact. 

The labium with its palpi usually sits upon the chin [mentum), 
that is to say, a separate plate on which there is a valvular arti- 
culation ; it is indented or notched in the middle, or even 
divided into two parts, hairy, rarely smooth ; it closes the oral 
aperture, and contains a soft membranous process, the tongue, 
sometimes with independent processes, the paraglosste. The 
labium and tongue sometimes form an open proboscidiform 
sheath, sometimes a beak or rostrum, sometimes a sucking pro- 
boscis, and sometimes a scooping proboscis. The retrogression 
of one of these parts in comparison to the others produces a 
great variety in their structure. 

2. The c?i€st = thorax, which is usually the largest of the 
three divisions of the body, bears three segments — the prothorax 
or fore-chest, the mesothoraw or middle-chest, and the meiatho- 
rax or hinder-chest — which are more or less mutually coalescent. 
Each of these segments consists of a sternum (or breast-bone), 
that is, the lower surface of the chest, and a dorsal surface. If 
the prothorax be much developed it is called the corselet {thorax 
= Halsschild) ; it never bears wings, but only the first pair of 
legs. The mesothorax is most developed where the anterior 
wings are the most important organs of flight, in other cases it 
is even reduced to a scutellum (or little shield) upon the upper 
surface. The metathorax is most developed where the posterior 
legs are adapted for leaping, or the posterior wings are the most 
essential. The winffs are deficient in most of the human para- 
sites, for which reason I pass over their structure. 

The leffs consist of — 1, a hip or coxa, which, with a cylindrical 
or elongated head and femoral appendage (=»= trochanter), moves 
in the manner of our humerus, by an imperfect ball and socket 
joint, or a sort of rolling, in the socket of the segment; 2, of the thiffh 
{= femur), articulated by an imperfect ball and socket joint into 
the coxa, and is cylindrical, spined, and very thick in the hind legs 



INSECTS. 71 

of leaping insects ; 3, of the thin, long tibia, united with the thigh 
by a hinge-joint ; and, 4, the foot = tarsus, which is rarely eight- 
jointed, usually composed of five joints, with the joints dilated, 
beset with balls, brushes, or warts on the lower surface, and 
with the last joint furnished with two, or rarely with one, 
curved, sharp, homy claw, which is very seldom deficient. The 
legs are adapted for digging, leaping, swimming, seizing prey, 
walking, or running. 

3. The abdomen exhibits a still more distinct annulation than 
the head and chest. The rings consist of an upper and lower 
arch, which are united at the sides and above and below, and 
between the scaly layers of the segments, by elastic skin. The 
normal number of abdominal segments appears to be nine ; but 
this is often unrecognisable by the sliding of the last segments 
into each other. They have no legs, but in some the immove- 
able bristles serve as leaping organs. 

The sMn is of various degrees of hardness, consists of chitine, 
which is so difficult to destroy chemically, and often perfectly 
homogeneous and structureless, but frequently deposited in strata, 
furnished with bristles, hairs, &;c., attached more or less firmly 
on the outside, and internally with processes for the attachment of 
the muscles. 

The muscles are transversely striated, like the voluntary muscles 
of the higher animals, but in the duration and efficacy of their 
action accomplish much more than could be expected from their 
mass. 

The nervous system consists of a series of ganglia, which is 
united by two longitudinal filaments, and always lies upon the 
lower integument. In the head there is a brain with the antennal 
and optic nerves, which gives off two filaments downwards to form 
an oesophageal ring; from this pass off longitudinal filaments, 
which are sometimes separated, sometimes more coalescent, in 
accordance with the structure of the segments themselves. Besides 
the ventral cord there is a separate intestinal nervous system (two 
nerves forming a pair and a median one) for the oesophagus and 
stomach. 

The sense of touch is abundantly provided for by the antennae, 
the palpi, the apex of the proboscis, the female ovipositors, and 
the tarsi. The organ of taste is unknown, as are also the organs 
of hearing, with the exception of the cars of the Orthoptera, 

The alimentary canal is always intestiniform, of very various 



72 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

lengths^ and composed of several coats; longer in herbivorous 
than in carnivorous species, without a peritoneum, and only held 
in its place by the ramifications of the air-passages. We find a 
mouth, a muscular oesophagus, on which is a pharynx which is 
usually folded and furnished with racemose or tubular salivary 
glands, then around gizzard with horny ridges, bristles, and teeth; 
and, in sucking insects, also a sucking stomach hanging by a stalk 
near the oesophagus. Upon the gizzard follows the very large 
lobate, folded chylific stomach, which is beset, to a greater or less 
extent, with short glandules (villi), and into the hinder end of 
which the kidneys open ; these are urinary vessels, either caeca), 
or passing into each other to form loops, and containing yellowish 
or reddish urine, which embrace the intestine. The intestine 
presents a narrow ileus, and a cloaciform large intestine, clothed 
internally with transparent ridges of glands, and sometimes with 
a caecum and a muscular rectum. The anus is situated in the 
last segment, sometimes with anal glands with stinking or poison 
contents, which also occur at the articulations of the legs {Mjloe), 
or on the lower surface of the chest (bugs). Connected with the 
alimentation are the fat-glands, which are retrograde in the mature 
insect. 

The circulatory system exhibits a tubular heart or dorsal vessel, 
composed of several — usually eight — chambers, furnished with 
(sixteen) lateral openings and valves, which acts as a syringe, and 
a main artery, passing through the thorax and head, and termi- 
nating freely in one or several openings, from which the colour- 
less blood, containing only a few colourless corpuscles, is distributed 
through wall-less canals in various directions through the body. 

The respiratory organ is a system of ramified trachete, or air- 
tubes, running in all directions through the body, even into the 
feet, &c., which communicate with the outer world by peculiar 
openings, spiracles or stigmata, placed in pairs on the sides of the 
body, often diflferently coloured, surrounded by peculiar horny 
rings, and capable of opening and closing by the agency of horny 
rings. They carry the air to the freely circulating blood. They 
form membranous, double-walled, multifariously branched tubes, 
which are kept open by a spiral horny filament laid between them, 
and which is only wanting in tlie smallest ramifications ; in flying 
insects they are often dilated into air-sacs (without spiral fila- 
ments). These tracheae either present two large wide stems on 
each side of the ventral cord, into which the stigmata open and 



INSECTS. 78 

from which the branches issue^ or the air-tubes pass at once from 
each stigma to the organs^ but even here also form lateral com- 
munications. 

Reproductive organ». — In all insects sexual reproduction takes 
place^ with the exception of the nurse-formation occurring in 
summer in the Aphides. The females^ the sexual organs of which 
are sometimes abortive (the so-called neuters), have two ovaries, 
short oviducts^ and a vagina with peculiar appendages, namely, 
the copulative pouch, which receives the seminal filaments from 
the penis of the male during copulation, the seminal receptacles, 
which often constitute two large spiral tubes, into which the se- 
minal filaments afterwards wander, and in which they remain for 
months, the cement-organ, that is to say, glands immediately in 
front of the sexual aperture, which furnish the external shell of 
the egg. 

The male» have two tubular or racemose testes, two seminal 
ducts^ often furnished with lateral seminal vesicles, and which 
coalesce to form one seminal duct, with the reception of two 
glandular tubes. The seminal filaments are usually capillary, 
sometimes inclosed in firm sacs (spermatophora). Copulation is 
often the principal purpose of these animals. The entrance of the 
vagina is frequently beset with homy bands, and other horny 
appendages which we denominate the ovipositor; when it is den- 
ticulated externally, and intended for boring, it is called the saw, 
in a simple and finely pointed form the terebra, and when it 
stands in connection with a poison-gland, the sting. 

The males are generally smaller, brighter in colour, and fur- 
nished with various excrescences, sucking discs. Sec. The care of 
the eggs is entirely left to the females, and sometimes extends so 
far, that the latter assist the brood in their pupation and ex- 
clusion. 

The eggs, which are of very various forms, but usually oval or 
cylindrical, often have different appendages, and are also cemented 
together ; a granular yelk, germinal vesicle, and germ-spot arc 
wanting in the mature eggs. The development in the egg takes 
place in accordance with the type described under the Arti- 
culata. 

1. The creature excluded firom the egg is but rarely similar to 
its parents in form, &c. ; it generally becomes like its parents only 
in consequence of several changes of skin, after the last of which 
only it propagates. The envelopes usually burst in the neigh- 



74 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

bourLood of the neck. These insects are called Ametabola, i. e., 
insects without a metamorphosis — for example^ the lice. 

2. In a second case^ we certainly find the external form pretty 
like that of the parents^ but the young animals are still destitute 
of some organs of the adult^ especially the wings. These semi- 
larvse^ as they are called^ only become similar to their parents by 
moulting. The state in which only immoveable wing-sheaths 
and no moveable wings are presented, has been sometimes called 
the pupa. It is essential that these semi-larv» as pupae always 
eat and move about. These are the Insecta ?iemimetabola, or those 
with an imperfect metamorphosis — for example, the bugs. 

3. In the third case the young, on their exclusion from the egg, 
are quite unlike their parents, and undergo a complete metamor- 
phosis through three diflFerent, well-defined conditions. 

a. Larva, which eat, grow, and usually change their skins 
several times. They have the form of jointed worms ; are foot- 
less, or furnished with six legs, and sometimes also with false feet ; 
are very soft, sometimes smooth, sometimes with hairs, spines, 
horns, or lateral appendages, which assist in walking, or as tufts 
of bristles in swimming. The head is sometimes soft, sometimes 
horny, and bears the oral organs, which are frequently much re- 
duced. Manducatory organs are always present, sucking organs 
only in the headless larvse of flies and some Hymenoptera, which 
are parasitic in the larva state. In herbivorous larvse the jaws 
are broad and toothed within ; in carnivorous larvse they are hook- 
shaped, and often perforated to their apex, so that the nourishment 
is taken up by this instead of the mouth, which is deficient ; the 
upper lip {labrum) is usually wanting ; the maxillae are usually 
present, but only conical and without lobes. The lower lip 
{labium) is greatly developed in those which spin themselves up, 
and bears the opening of the silk-glands. The antennae are retro- 
grade or entirely wanting ; the palpi usually small, conical, and 
two-jointed. The eyes are few and simple, never compound, and 
sometimes entirely deficient. 

The intestinal canal is always large and wide, especially in 
herbivorous species, filling the entire cavity of the body ; the chyle- 
stomach is especially large ; the ileus small. The species which 
spin a cocoon have two long tubes (silk-glands), with a sticky 
secretion which immediately hardens into threads in the air. 
Every cocoon consists only of a single thread. The dorsal vessel 
is greatly developed ; the individual ganglia of the ventral cord 



WINGLESS INSECTS. 75 

much separated. The sexual organs are quite rudimentary^ only 
the inner germigenous organs being recognisable. In aquatic 
larv«, we find breathing tubes in the abdomen or externally closed 
tracheal branchiae. Towards the end of its larval existence^ the 
insect prepares for its conversion into — 

b. The pupa ; it eats no more^ evacuates its intestines^ seeks a 
favorable place for pupation^ spins itself an envelope, digs itself a 
hole, or conceals itself in putrefying matters, remains still for a 
time in the larva skin, and causes this to harden ; or this integu- 
ment bursts, and the hard pupa comes forth. The form of the 
pupa, which often allows the future animal to glimmer through it, 
is very various ; for example, the cask-like pupae of the Diptera. 
Finally, the pupa-case is burst, and the animal comes to light 



c. The perfect insect (= imago) to take nourishment again, and 
propagate its species. These animals are called insects with a 
complete metamorphosis = Holometabola ; for example, the Pulu 
cida, or fleas, (Estrida, or gad-flies, and Calypterce^CreophiltB, or 
flesh-flies. 

The intellectual qualities of some insects stand so high, that 
we can hardly speak of them as instinct alone. The account of 
the development just given, like all the other general observations 
upon insects, from Vogt, furnishes the facts for their classifica- 
tion. 



First Sub'Class — Insects without a metamorphosis 
=- Ametabola. 

First and only Order — Aptera= Wingless Insects. 

Corpus rarissime iripartiium, plerumque ahdomine et thorace 
doalito. Caput liberum^ antennis brevibus, setosis. Siemmaia pluria 
ad utrumque capitis latus, oculi veri nulli ; organa manducatoria 
rudimentaria, suctoria aut manducatoria, maxillis acribus, mandi- 
bulis dentatis, scspissime sine palpis labialibus et maxillaribus ; 
pedes aut breves, validi et unguictdati (cursorial feet), aut graciles, 
longi, tenues, mobiles. Medulla abdominalis generis ; canalis intes- 
tinalis brevis, praterea generis ; vasa urinaria 4 ad 6. Trachearum 
2 trunci laterales. Genitalia feminarum : ovaria pluria, ex 4 
aut 5 tubis composita ; oviductus brevis ; sine locuHs copulatoriia 



76 ANTMAL PAEASITES. 

et apparatibus ovula pariendi peculiaribus. Mares 2 aut pluribus 
testicuhrum paribus ; pene simplice, 

Ovula rotunda, interdum in capsulas longas invaginata. Em- 
bryones parentibus similes. 

Of Vogt's four groups — 1, Pediculida; 2, Nirmida; 3, Podurida; 
and 4, Lepismida — only the first interests us, and if Tri- 
chodectes should be transferred to man, also the second. 



First Family — Lice = Pediculida. 

Corpus planum, pellucidum; cutis mollis, semipellucida, corio 
similis ; caput perclare distinctum, trianguläre, globuliforme, aut 
ovale ; antenna breves, filiformes, ex 5 articulis (equalibus com- 
posita, parum setosa ; stemmata mimina pone antennas ; rostellum 
plane retractile, in vagina molli, infra dilatata, in apice uncintdata, 
4 setas punctorias, pugionem formanies, continente inclusum. 
Thorax parvulus, non dare articulatus, foramine 1 respiratorio in 
utroque latere inter \, et 2, par pedum; pedibus 6, brevibtis, 
validis anterioribus 2 interdum minoribus, ex brevi, crassa coxa 
cum parvulo trochantere, ex magno, piano femore, ex parva tibia 
et ex tarso inarticulato cum ialo parvulo prominente et uncino 
magno compositis ; abdomen magnum a thorace bene distinctum, 
prcBter in Phthiriis ; articulorum segmentis in margine perclaris 7 
ad 9 ; superficie papillosa, aut acinulata {striis irregularibus in- 
sti^cta), setosa ; stigmatibus respiratoriis abdominalibus in utroque 
latere 6. Genera sejuncta. 

From the structure of the eggs Leuckart reckons the lice to 
the Hemiptera, which I will not omit to mention here. As, how- 
ever, I have commenced with Vogtes classification, I have referred 
them to the Aptera, 

The Common Louse = Pediculus capitis, (Tab. IX, figs. 9 — 12.) 

Synon. : Pediculus humanus, cervicalis. 

In this species the thorax is pretty distinct, elongate quadran- 
gular^ narrower than the abdomen ; the abdomen exhibits seven 
segments notched at the margins; the stigmata, which stand 
upon the six anterior segments, are circular, and furnished with 
a small opening in the middle. The stigma between the first 
and second pairs of feet is often indistinct and resembles a small 
papilla. The colour varies, livid or pale gray, and is said to 



PEDICÜLÜS CAPITIS. 11 

change according to the hair ; all the segments are blackish on 
the margins. In the human louse I have always found the same 
transverse ridges on the inner surface of the belly, which are seen 
in Trichodectes. All the feet are similar. The last tarsal joint 
bears a large claw on its outside, and on its inside two straight, 
thick, homy stumps, and a large bristle. The oesophagus is 
short ; the longish stomach has two csecal appendages. The 
small intestine is only slightly bent into the form of an S, receives 
four urinary vessels at its extremity and passes over into the 
pyriform large intestine. The most essential points as regards 
the sexual relations are as follows : 

The males are fewer in number than the females, their last 
abdominal segment is prominent and rounded off, furnished on 
its dorsal surface with a valvular opening beset with an abundance 
of asperities, which serves at the same time as an anal opening and 
porus genitalis. There are two pairs of testes and a simple wedge- 
shaped penis, which, placed with its base inwards and its apex 
outwards, opens upon the back. This organ is described by cer- 
tain authors, as a strong muscular member ; to me it appears to 
form a hollow chitinous canal, the lateral walls of which are stif- 
fened and coloured brown by a strong deposition of the chitine- 
mass, whilst the bottom of the channel is formed of thinner, whiter 
chitine. The seminal structures are as usual, for example such 
as are figured for the Trematoda, but I have never with certainty 
found active, isolated filaments in the testes, but more commonly 
the stellate bundles. 

The females, which are more numerous and larger, appear 
deeply notched at the apex of the last abdominal segment and, as 
it were, with two lobes, between which is the anal aperture, which 
is surrounded by numerous hairs. The two ovaries consist of 
five tubes each, collecting into two oviducts and a common vagina, 
into which two seminal receptacles open. The vaginal orifice is 
situated on the ventral surface, between the penultimate and last 
segments. Its lower surface forms a transverse ridge, which is 
extended in an arched form across the body, and is beset with 
small digitate asperities, arranged in four to six parallel rows, and 
their vicinity with small, homy, warty eminences. Hence copu- 
lation can only take place, by the female mounting upon the 
male. 

The eggs of the common head-louse, according to B. Leuckart, 
are pyriform and very large, about i"^ The posterior pole is pointed. 



78 ANIMAL PABASITES. 

the anterior truncate and furnished with a flat^ round operculum, 
which^ at the margin^ passes over into the side walls almost at a 
right angle, and is let into the rest of the chorion by a furrow 
which only cuts through its outer strata. The chorion, with 
which the delicate vitelline membrane appears to be firmly amal- 
gamated, is very firm and yizr''' in thickness, homogeneous and 
structureless, except the operculum, which presents an uneven, 
finely granular surface, Swammerdamm's little knobs without any 
particular form, to the number of 10 — 14. These little knobs are 
cells with delicate membranes, closely approximated, and which are 
displaced by the mere pressure of the covering glass and then 
form a folded mass ; they are about i^^' in diameter and have 
the margin of the operculum free. Even Swammerdamm was 
acquainted with a white point in the midst of these knobs, which 
he described as a small hole. This little hole is the micropyle, a 
perpendicular canal of t^''', which is somewhat dilated externally, 
and furnished at its margin with a circlet of projecting tubercles, 
by which the external aspect of the micropyle is rendered stellate. 
Further from this aperture we also perceive a distinct annular 
ridge of about ^" in diameter. The posterior pole of the egg is 
truncated, striated by longitudinal folds and ridge-like deposits, 
and appears to form an adhesive apparatus. . 

When the eggs are laid, they stick firmly to the human hair, 
and are called nits ; in six days they allow the young to escape, 
and these are ready to lay eggs again at the age of eighteen days. 
A female lays fifty eggs in all. 

The diagnosis is easy, because the lice creep about upon the 
head, and their eggs are large enough to betray themselves to 
the naked eye, especially in dark hair. 

The symptoms which they produce are a troublesome itching 
upon the skin of the head, which alone they inhabit. Wounding 
by lice betrays itself by an eruption, on the apex of which there 
is a blood-red crust, which is produced by scratching off the epi- 
dermis, which is loosened over a considerable space by reactive 
phenomena and by the subsequent emission and drjdng of a few 
drops of blood. 

Therapeutics. — When the hair is otherwise healthy and not 
too long and thick, careful combing is generally sufficient ; with 
care this will effect the object in about eight days, as the 
brood escapes in six days and only begins to lay eggs in eighteen 
days. But if the hair be very thick, and at the same time long or 



PEDICULTJS CAPITIS. 79 

much matted, as is the case especially in tedious illnesses with 
women who wear long hair, we shall attain our object but slowly, 
if we do not cut out the hairs beset with nits, or cut off all the 
hair, as the animals easily escape the comb. The rubbing in of 
mercurial ointment appears to me unadyisable, as we have milder 
remedies of more rapid action. The essential oils are worthy of 
recommendation^ as may be seen in the fact, that those who 
employ strongly scented pomatums to the hair are less exposed 
to lice and other vermin. But if the lice are present in great 
numbers, the cure with the ""essential oils is often slow. In 
this case it is most advisable, especially when the patients are 
lying in bed, to sprinkle the scalp with the Persian insect- 
powder {Pyrethrum caucaseum) which is now generally kept 
in the apothecaries' shops. In a few hours after this the 
itching ceases, because the lice are killed, and sleep, which 
was often sought in vain by opiates, returns to the unfortunate 
patient. I remember the case of a consumptive patient of good 
condition who was near death, and on whom I certainly had no 
idea of finding lice. They were developed in very great num- 
bers from the heat of the bed. There was a desire to regard 
them as Pediculi tabesceniium ; but it soon appeared, on closer 
examination, that the servant who was most engaged about the 
patient, and who was mujch infested by lice, was the cause of 
their production, and the Pediculi tabescentium (from which it 
appears that people in good circumstances would rather suffer 
than from the common Pediculus capitis) were ordinary head- 
lice. Oils employed for several days certainly diminished the 
number of the lice; but the insect-powder soon killed them. 

The common people formerly made use of the Capuchin powder 
and similar remedies against lice. The Capuchin powder consists 
of equal parts Semin. Siaphisagr,, Sem. Cocculi, Semin. Cataputii 
(whence, probably, the name). Since an attempt at poisoning 
was made with the internal administration of this powder it has 
been forbidden in Saxony, and as Capuchin powder is still 
constantly required, the apothecaries, instead of it, give any 
mixture which they consider to be a remedy for lice. In many 
of these the Pyrethr, caucas, has a part. Amongst us the species 
of Pyrethrum, even our indigenous species, are gradually becom- 
ing used for this purpose. 

Besides the head-lice here named, a particular species has been 
found, according to Pouchct, on African negroes. This I am 



80 



ANIMAL PAKASITES. 



unacquainted with; but, according to the figure given by 
Martiny, it is of a black colour. I have omitted it until we have 
more exact investigations of it. Lice are rare, according to 
Martins, amongst the Brazilian Ii^dians, and, according to Justin 
Goudot, amongst the Indians of Madalena, in Columbia; but, 
according to the reports of travellers, lice do occur amongst the 
Asiatic and American Indians, as well as amongst the New 
Hollanders. We shall probably find these animals often in 
great quantities amongst those people who wear long hair and do 
not anoint it with scented or stinking oils. In the nits of the 
hairs of New Zealanders of the present day, as also in those ]of 
the Peruvian mummies, I have found the dried brood of lice, 
which, after treatment with a solution of caustic potash, showed 
the six stigmata on each side of the abdomen quite distinctly. I am 
indebted for the materials for this investigation to Herr Stieglitz, 
who is at present traversing Germany with his cabinet of Peruvian 
mummies, which are pronounced to be genuine by connois- 
seurs. The New Zealand head which, in order to interest the less 
educated public, is exhibited as that of the murderer of Cook, is 
rich in nits, and so is the head of a Peruvian. For the purpose 
of comparison I give the following measurements of the claws of 
the different nits. 



Clttwa of the nitt qf 
European lice. 

Length 0-114mill.= 0050'"P. 

Breadth at base 0025 „ =0-011 ., 



Length of nit I ^ 
to operculum j 



860 



= 0-390 



Clawt of those 
qf New Zealand. 
0172 milL= 0075' 
0033 ,, =0014 



, Claws of those 

1 fhtm Peru. 

P. 0148milL=0065"'P. 
„0025 „ =0011 „ 



1012 



= 0-450 



1150 



= 0-510 



From this it appears that, with regard to the size of the eggs 
and claws, considerable diflFerences certainly exist, which, perhaps, 
may justify the admission of varieties. 

Phthiriasis. — Aristotle narrates that the poet Alcmanes and 
the Syrian Pherecydes died of phthiriasis; and later authors 
report the same of Herod, Sylla, even Plato, Philip II, and 
others. This phthiriasis, as we have seen, relates to an excessive 
multiplication of mites, Dermanyssi, Nirmida, and common or 
body-lice. For the present I join with those who suppose that a 
peculiar species, Pediculus tabescentium, does not exist. 



PEDICÜLUS VESTIMENTI. 81 

2. The Body-Louse = Pediculus vestimenti. (Tab. IX, fig. 13.) 

Synon.: Pediculus humani corporis, humanus, Kleiderlaus, Germ. 

Exactly like the preceding in its external form, but larger. 
Head exserted, elongated oval; second joint of the antennae 
elongated, the antennae therefore are longer than in 1 ; thorax 
distinctly divided into segments; legs longer, more slender, and 
with larger claws ; pn the inside of the last tarsal joint two horny 
stumps and a bristle, as in the common louse. Abdomen with 
seven segments, and with six stigmata on the first six segments. 
Penis as in 1, but considerably larger, and the asperities about 
the genital orifice more striking. Orifice of the vagina with 
rows of spines, as in the preceding species. Length j"" — 2"\ 
Colour dirty white, blacker on the mai^ns. The principal 
distinction between the body-louse and the head-louse lies in the 
size; for even the proboscis only has the hooks at its free 
extremity larger than in the head-louse. 

Symptoms, — According to Schinzinger this animal produces 
its mischief especially on those parts of the skin which correspond 
with the folds and seams of the clothing, about the throat, neck, 
and round the body where the petticoat or waist-band lie close. 
In these seams the animals lay their eggs, and consequently 
become most flourishing with those who cannot frequently change 
their linen. They only occur upon naked parts of the body, and 
day and night produce a constant biting and itching on the 
skin, which leads to continual rubbing and scratching. The 
external phenomena caused by them resemble those of the 
preceding species ; the skin becomes quite red, exhibits the scabs 
described, papulse, and even vesicular eruptions where the skin is 
very tender. 

The treatment is the same as with the preceding, but the cure 
is even still easier. A bath, and afterwards putting on new 
clothes from head to foot, or even old ones which have been dis- 
infected in an oven as described for the itch-mites, sufiSces for a 
cure. To purify the clothes, the common people bury them in 
hay for several weeks. As a boy, I have had the opportunity of 
observing this method in the country. The lice certainly did not 
return when the clothes remained for fourteen days in the hay; 
in this time even the embryos in the nits die or become abortive. 
Moreover, it is said that a journey towards the tropics expels 
these lice, and that they do not occur in hot countries. 

6 



82 ANIMAL PARASITES. 



Second Family — Ciab-Louse = Phthiriüs. 

Corporis reyiones ad unam fere massam globulosam coaliia, 
t Horace vix disiinguendo, brevi, lato ; abdomine lato et in marginum 
utroque latere cum 8 segment orum incisionibus ; antennis longioribus; 
pedibus inaqualibtis, anterioribus 2 sine talo et undno in talum 
mobili {pedes ambulatorii), posteHoribus 4 ut in pediculis, cum talo 
et uncino in talum mobili (scansorial feet). 

1. The common Crab-Louse = Phthirius pubis, 

Synon. : Pediculus pubis, inguinalis ; Morpion. 

It has a fiddle-shaped head, with a prominent^ rounded fore- 
head and a broader proboscidal aperture than the common louse^ 
and a somewhat projecting vertex with waved (buchtig) sides in 
the neighbourhood of the antennse ; a rather short, dilated, and 
rounded occiput ; very small, somewhat prominent eyes, imme- 
diately behind the filiform antennse, which are slightly hairy, five- 
jointed, and gradually diminish in size, with the fourth joint 
rather smaller than the third and fifth ; with a very broad and 
flat thorax, emarginate at the insertion of the head, with three 
pairs of feet and a stigma between each of the first and second 
pairs of feet ; and with a flat, cordate abdomen, amalgamated 
with the thorax. If we go according to the stigmata, we find 
first an apparently simple anterior segment which bears three 
stigmata ; we must, therefore, certainly suppose that this segment 
consists of three which have beconie fused together. It is 
separated from the following segments by the latend, verruciform 
lobe, which diminishes in a conical form towards its free extremity, 
where it is clothed with hair, and exhibits six bristles. This lobe, 
which has some similarity with a rudimentary foot, is followed by 
three similar ones, each of which bears a stigma and which 
becomes longer posteriorly. The second stump bears six bristles 
at its free extremity, the third six to eight, and the fourth 
always eight to ten. This last lobe is followed by the terminal 
segment, which is notched in the female in the same way as in 
the common louse. It bears five larger bristles on the hind- 
most free apices, and also towards the median line a pair of 
very short stumps, and also on the dorsal surface six longer 
bristles. Here are placed the vagina and the anus. In the male 
the hinder part is rounded. On her ventral surface the female 



PHTHIRIÜS PUBIS. 83 

bears tbict, brown, irregularly disposed stumps, and on ber dorsal 
surface smaller ones more sparingly distributed. The unequal, 
elongated legs are walking feet in front, gradually narrowing to 
the cylindrical, unemarginate tibiae, which have a small tooth, 
and on the tarsus attached to them a small, nearly straight claw. 
But behind they are thick, powerful scansorial feet, the tibiae of 
which are large, bell-shaped, indented at the extremity, and some- 
what in front upon the inside have a large tooth, furnished with 
a small, straight, chitinous stump and a bristle ; the tarsus is 
long, crooked, one-jointed, homy, and bears a large homy claw, 
which turns back upon the tooth of the tibia like a pair of nippers. 
This claw is always very massive, but rather blunt than acute 
anteriorly and towards the free extremity. It is seen distinctly 
that its inner margins are toothed and that it is hoUow interiorly. 
To the interior of its base there pass two short, strong muscles, 
which give the tarsal joint the appearance as if it bore a bell 
(without a clapper) in its interior. 

The reproductive organs are not quite clear to me, as I 
have only been able to examine females. Leuckart says of the 
eggs that they are considerably smaller than those of the common 
louse; but, in other respects, exactly similar to them, except 
that the annular ridge, which surrounds the infundibular entrance 
into the micropylar canal, is very much wider than in the 
common louse {^^'^ in diameter), and the operculum presents a 
wide lattice work, formed by radiating processes. 

The crab-louse lives on the hairy regions of the body, especially 
about the pubis, but when it increases excessively, also amongst 
the hairs of the chest, the eyebrows, the eyelashes,^ but never in 
the head. It bites deeply and firmly into the skin, producing 
violent itching, and lives on the human blood. It is transferred 
to other individuals by long contact, and by the agency of clothes, 
linen, and beds. It is most abundant in the south. 

Schultz, with certain classes of people, regard the lice as 
Beneficial to the animal economy ; carriers cherish them in order 
to put one under the prepuce of -their horses when they cannot 
make water. 

Therapeutics, — As the crab-lice are endemic in certain districts, 
.we must be particularly careful there. The treatment is the same 
as with the other lice. I have cured a patient who had long 

■ In Daliymple's ' Pathology of the Humaa Eye/ LondoD, 1852, is a drawing (Pl.YI, 
fig. 6) of an eyelid with groops of these lice upon it. 



84, ANIMAL PARASITES. 

been troubled with these guests, by two rubbings with a few drops 
of rosemary oil. According to Martiny rubbing with simple oil 
or fat is sufficient. The essential oils are certainly more sure in 
their action. The insect-powder is also used against them with 
advantage.^ 

Second Sub-Class — Insects with an incomplete metamorphosis 
= Hemimetabola. 

Order — Rhyngota = Hemiptera. 

Corporis tres regiones bene distinct^ ; caput parvum, latum, 
trianguläre, tenue ; labium (lower lip), transverse articulatum in 
rostri vaginam mutatum, qtue canalern cavam, et ad anteriorem 
partem apertam exhibet ; 4 set^B tenues (jmgionem formantes) in 
rostri vagina inclusce, musculis fusiformibvs mot€B, quarum 2 ex- 
teriores, validiores, in apice uncinatee mandibulas, quarum 2 in- 
teriores firmius inter se conjunct^ maxillas prabeni, Labrum (upper 
lip) in initio rostri vagime siium, operculum tenue est, ad lingiuB 
instar formatum. Palpi maxillares et labiales desunt. Antennce 
fiilifonnes, diversissinue. Stemmata parvula, rotunda, prominentia ; 
oculi adjutorii nulli. Alee varice, rarissime mullce, uti in Acanthia, 
lectularia (the bed-bug). Thorax perclaro scuto, interdum scutello. 

Pedes ambulatorii tribus tarsi articulis ; interdum pedibus an- 
terioribus ad raptum, pedibus posterioribus ad natandum idoneis. 

Ganglia thoracica 2, interdum in unum coalita, (Esophagus 
augustus, ventriculus chyli amplus, multifariam, tortus, cujus anterior 
pars glandulosa, media intestino similis et posterior torta est. In- 
testinum breve, pyriforme. Glandula salivates perclarös, sine dubio 
venenum parantes, tantum in Ophididis nulla. Canales urinarii 4. 
Trachea varia. 

Ovaria plerumque 4 — 8 tubi rudiformes ; loculus setninalis 
simplex, longus, pyriformis ; loculus copulatorius nullus ; vix organa 
ferrumen (cement- organ) parantia. 

Testiculi ex numero varii, culeiformes ; ductus deferentes Ion- 
gissimi ; penis simplex tubulosus. 

Ovula larvas, parentibus similes, usque non alatas tenerrime plu- 
mosas, vematione pluries exuta, alarum vaginis aut alis ornatas, 
parientia. 

Pro nutrimento succis et plantarum et animalium utunlur. Ani- 
malia plerumque socialia. 

1 The mercurial oiotmeot is a well-known and efficient remedy in this country. — Trans. 



ACANTHIA LECTULARIA. 85 



Family 5 — Geoceres. Land-Bugs. 

Corpus latum, planum, parvum ; antenna filiformes aut setosa, 
libera, cylindrice articulata ; capite longiores. Rostrum in capitis 
apice incipiens, geniculatum, usque ad finem thoracis profectum. 
Ala 4 varia ; pedes ambulatorii äquales, spinosi, Odore fmtido, 
coloribus sapissime perpulchris instructa. Sub-familia permulta. 

Sub-Family 3 — Acanthida = Soft Bugs. 

Rostrum three-jointed ; tarsi without arolia. 

Body soft ; head and body flat, horizontal, longish ; eyes small, 
without ocelli; rostrum short, concealed beneath the throat; 
antennae short, clavate, of half the length of the body (not 
reaching beyond the breast) ; wings membranous and veined, or 
wanting ; prothorax, abdomen, and wing-cases with membranous 
processes ; legs weak, thin ; the anterior sometimes raptorial. 

1. The common Bed-Bug {Acanthia lectularia). 

Body ferruginous brown, somewhat hairy; head distinctly 
separated ; thorax of one joint, with a tubercular pronotum, and 
one pair of feet ; on the back with two small tubercles (the rudi- 
mentary wings) ; number of ventral segments nine, which run out 
in a point behind. 

Upon the eggs, Leuckart speaks as follows : " They are elon- 
gated {^'"), cylindrical, and of nearly uniform breadth (^'''), 
rounded off at. the hinder extremity, &ent forwards in the direc- 
tion of the dorsal surface, and furnished with a flat operculum, 
which is surrounded at the margin with an annular screen, and is 
incorrectly ascribed by Meissner to the inferior pole of the egg. 
Chorion firm, structureless, and smooth ;^^ whilst De Geer and 
Dufour describe it as covered with points. Tubercles only make 
their appearance upon and round the margin of the operculum ; 
but these, as in the family of the Reduvina, stand on the inner 
surface of the egg-membrane. This inner surface is adapted for 
the reception of air, in the same way as in the Reduvina, by thin, 
perpendicular, separate canals. The surface of the operculum is 
covered by a delicate lattice-work, the ridges of which circum- 
scribe tolerably regular spaces (^ ')> ^^^ *^® most developed 



86 ANIMAL PAEASITES. 

towards the centre. The micropyles, 100 in number, and distant 
from each other ^'\ form extremely narrow canals {i^")y which 
pass inwards from the screen, open then, and exhibit a longitu- 
dinal ridge of ^" on the inner surface of the screen. Externally 
these micropylar openings form clefts, which occur upon the 
anterior clavate extremity. 

Even in the eleventh century, bugs were naturalised in Stras- 
burg, so that they did not come to us from America. Very 
plentiful in the north of Russia, they are not found in South 
America, New Holland, and Polynesia. They are so diflBcult to 
extirpate because they can bear hunger for years, and also a great 
degree of cold. They live on the blood of man, and attack him 
particularljr at night, after leaving the joints of the woodwork and 
walls, the crevices in the paper, and the grooves in the bedsteads, 
in which they lay their eggs everywhere ; they also harbour in 
clothes. 

The wounds produced by their bite are distinguished by the size 
of the resulting spots, and by their troublesome itching. In their 
centre, also, we may detect a pierced canal, by the aid of the lens. 
It is certainly possible that in doubtful cases the diagnosis may 
be rendered more certain by the smell, and by the examination 
of blood- spots in the bed-linen, from which we might probably 
be able to evolve the characteristic odour of bugs by solution in 
water and treating with acids, but we get at the bottom of the 
affair still better by the examination of the bedsteads, &c. 

TVeatment. — ^An immense number of tinctures and secret 
remedies are sold against bugs, of which, according to Pöppig, no 
single one will prove eflScaeious, although a combination of several 
may do so. In this case, also, I have seen very good results 
from the Persian insect-powder, the price of which is now greatly 
reduced. It is sprinkled in the joints of the woodwork and walls, 
the bedsteads, mattresses, &c. It is as well, however, in places 
where the bugs are very plentiful, to repeat the sprinkling of the 
powder from time to time, and at all events regularly at the 
beginning of spring and the approach of autumn, or shortly before 
the winter torpidity and at the time of waking therefrom, as in 
such places the larv» in the eggs may perhaps escape the action 
of the powder. Care should also be taken, that the brood should 
be sought out and destroyed wherever they can be got at in their 
hiding-places. 



DIPTERA. 87 



Third Sub-Class — Insects with a complete metamorphosis 

= HOLOMBTABOLA. 

Order — Diptera = Two-winged Flies. 

Corporis 3 regiones bene disiincite, rarissime fere cephahthorax 
(Pulicida). Cutis mollis y expansibilis. 

AntenifUB frontales, inter oculos posita, aut corpore breviores, 
trior ticulatiß, tertio articulo latiore, foveoso, et brevi, interdum 
articulato, stylo (= bristle), aut corpore longiores {ex sex et ultra 
articulis compositiß). Oculi magni, imprimis in maribus, quare in 
fronte coaüti, et inter singulas lentes setosi aut stemmata. Interdum 
stemmata auxiliatoria S, aut 2, rarissime nulla. 

Organa manducatoria suctoria. Labium mutatum in probosci- 
dem, trompe geniculatum, retractilem, in apice latiorem, rotundam, 
aut ovalem, sulcis transversis et setis instructam. Os in genu probos- 
cidis situm, palpis 2, ex 1 — 2 aut 4 — 5 articulis compositis et 
S4Bpe antennaformibus, MaxiUa ex 2 setis chiiinosis, cum palpis 
conjunctis, et mandibuke ex aliis 2 setis, ex maxillarum forma 
composite formant haustellum. Labrum in fundo proboscidis, 
trianguläre, antrorsum acutum, chitinosum aut membranaceum, in 
inferiore latere canellatum, linguam brevem, tenuissimam continens, 
et interdum in setam, uti maxilla et mandibuke, allongatum. Hypo- 
stoma (=lower face) est spatium inter proboscidem et oculos-, 
mystax (= moustache) sunt bucca setosa in hypostomate pro-' 
minentes. 

Thorax rarissime articulatus, unicam massam chitinosam 3 lineis 
out sulcis transversis omatam exhibens, 4 stigmatibus respiratoriis 
(2 anterioribus, 2 poster toribus). 

Ake aut 2 pellucida, membranacea, rarissime squamosa, 
magna^ longa, versicolores, aut, rarissime vero, minus evoluia aut 
omnino nuUa. Costa, quas dicunt, aut nervi alarum longitudinales 
5, transversa numero minores. 

Halteres (s balancers) sunt 2 corpuscula mobilia, stylosa, et 
capitulo omata in posteriore thoracis parte, vibrantia, squamarum 
membranacearum (alulets) 2 paribus obtecta. 

Pedes longi, tenues. Tarsus constat usque ex 5 articulis, quo- 
rum ultimus 2 ungues simplices aut deniatos et inter ungues arolia 
(foot-balls ss pelottes) 2 ad 3, foveosa aut callosa gerit, et fluidum 
glutinosa secemit. 



88 ANIMAL PAEASITES. 

Abdomen tenue, longum, interdum latum aut ovale, clarius 
sejunctum a thorace, aut nan ; ex 6 — 9 articulis compositum, in 
feminis acute finitum, denuo articulatum ei ex telescopii ratione pro- 
et retractile. 

Nervorum abdominnlium systema in Nemoceris 5 ad 6, in Bra- 
chyceris 1 ad 6, in Muscidis, Pupiparis et (Estridis nulla ganglia 
abdominalia ; nervorum thoracicorum systema 1 — 3 ganglia sim- 
plicibus fills inter se conjunct a exhibens. Organa digestiv a sim- 
plicia ; (esophagus cum ingluvie et ventriculo, cui ventriculus sucto- 
rius stylosus aut vesiculosus adharet, intestinum tenue et rectum, 
latum. Hepar et glandulie salivates simplices, tubulosa. Systema 
vasculosum tenuissimum ; trachearum 2 trunci cum stigmatibus co- 
harentes et 2 vesiculas direas in capite et abdomine prabentes. 

FemimB habent 2 ovaria, ex numerosis tubulis fojinata ; oviduc- 
tus breves ; loculos seminales plures, plerumgue S, vaginam sine 
appendice seminali ; interdum larmpara aut foetus usque ad tempus, 
ubi in nymphas sese transformarunt, gerentes. 

Mares prabent 2 testiculos, pyriformes, funiculos spermaticos 
parvos, penem brevem, a 2 valvulis Uiteralibus, vaginaformibus, 
incltisum. 

Larva sine pedibus ; capite aut membranaceo, aut comeo ; cute, 
qua in pvpa cystam mutatur. 

Sub-Order — Aphaniptera = Hopping Diptera. 

First and only Family — The Fleas = Pulicida. 

Caput perparvum, pronatum, stemmatibus lateralibus ; antennis2, 
brevibus, clavtformibus, cylindricis, ex 4, secundum Vogt ex tribus 
articulis compositis, plerumque in canellam pone oculos retractis ; 
proboscide, oris locum tenente, directo suA capite posita, et com» 
posita ex labro (i. e., vagina bivalvulare et articulata, cum palpis 
5 articulatis), ex lingua inter labra siia ei ex 2 maxillis lateralibus. 
Palpi 2 maxillares. Pedes longissimi ; femur crassum ; pedes 
posteriores saltatorii. Thorax triarticulatus. Pedes unguiculati ; 
abdomen articulatum, Ovula inter materias vegetabiles putridas 
deposita larvas vermiformes, sine pedibus, capite comeo armatas et 
inter saliendum ex annuli ratione sese curvantes pariunt, qua post 
12 dies capsulas sericatas (silken cocoons) nent, unde post novas 
12 dies imagines prodeunt. Stigmata respiratoria 4 (2 in Pro- 
thorace; 2 inter Meso* et Metathoracem). 



PULEX IRRITANS. 89 

1. The common Plea = Pulex hiritans sive vulgaris. 

The bead of this reddish-brown animal whicb is so widely 
diffused over the earth, but unknown in Australia^ is shorty 
shield-shaped^ formed of one piece^ not toothed on the margins ; 
the antennse are short, and concealed in a pit behind the eyes, 
and therefore often overlooked and mistaken. The oral organs 
consist of a bristle-like tongue, which is covered by two maxill» 
of the form of two sword-blades. These maxiUae are covered by 
two very narrow mandibles, which lie together to form a sheath, 
and are toothed on their convex upper surface, like files. On the 
sides of the proboscis, and somewhat covering the base of the four- 
jointed antenna, are two massive brown scales ; these are usually 
called labial palpi, and probably form a sort of cleft upper lip. The 
labium covers the proboscis from beneath, and like the upper lip 
appears to be cleft. It is hollow above, acute and hairy in front. 
The thorax, which is probably provided with two pairs of stig- 
mata, consists of three separate segments, each of which, espe- 
cially the third, bears a pair of long legs, well adapted for leaping. 
These consist of a strong coxa, with a small trochanter, a strong 
thigh and tibia, which are all but slightly hairy internally, and of 
five tarsal joints. The first and longest of these is strongly 
clothed with hairs internally, without hairs on the outside; the 
other smaller joints are strongly hairy on both sides, and the last 
bears two claws. The first pair of feet appears almost to stand 
on the head. 

The abdomen has ten laterally separated segments, laid over each 
other like the tiles of a roof, and fringed at the margins. On the 
penultimate, or ninth segment, called the pygidium, there are 
spinous hairs inserted in little pits (areoUe). Each of these areolae 
is about 0-012 mill, in breadth, and adorned round the base of the 
hair with a circle of ten round, bead-like globules. 

Besides its small size, the male is distinguished by the form 
of the extremity of his abdomen. The upper end of t\it pygidium, 
namely, projects as a sharp angle, and the last joint is attached 
scarcely perceptibly flat to this. By this the end of the abdomen 
of the male becomes as if cut off straight and broader. At the 
same time it appears to me that the pygidium is rather less hairy 
than in the female, and that the penis is double. At least we 
always see two brown spiral fibres in the middle of two more 
membranous, transparent structures, which are swollen up into 



90 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

the form of a club and clothed with radiating bristles towards the 
outside^ so that these ends have the appearance of an old German 
"morning star'^ {morffemiem). On the abdomen the male has 
also two roundish valves or clasping organs. 

The female is larger^ and has the last segment of its abdomen 
obtusely conical, and either pointed or rounded off; this is so 
amalgamated nfith the pygidium^ that we can scarcely find in it 
the projecting angle indicated. The hairs are more numerous^ 
and reach up to the dorsal surface. On the abdomen it has a 
verruciform, fringed lobe. 

The copulation takes place belly to belly. The oval white eggs 
are pretty large (J'''), barrel-shaped, broad, but slightly arched, 
and uniformly flattened at both poles. The vitelline membrane 
is as usual, the chorion strong, thick, uneven, scaly, and beset 
with innumerable, small, flat, approximated pits. 

Leuckart shows that the simple micropyle is wanting in these 
eggs, and they are consequently distinguished from the Diptera ; 
he states that the micropyles are found in a number of cribriform 
apertures, upon a round field of 3^'", at both poles of the egg. The 
upper apertures are larger than the lower ones, and somewhat 
more numerous (50 — 60 above, 40 — 45 below). In these the 
seminal filaments are found. In profile the micropyles appear as 
perpendicular canals, leading straight through the chorion and 
vitelline membrane, and dilated in form of a funnel externally. 
The eggs are deposited in sweepings, dust, and, in dirty people^ 
under the nails, especially the toe-nails ; in two days they allow 
the escape of apodal larvse, which bear small tufts of hair upon the 
segments, and two small hooks upon the last segment ; they move 
very briskly, afterwards become reddish, and have a head which is 
scaly above, with two short anteunse, but without eyes. The pupa 
is developed in a small shell.^- 

Vogt states that only the females bite and suck the blood of 
men. The anatomical structure of the head, and especially of the 
proboscis, does not justify this supposition^ which I, for my own 
part, cannot confirm. One day, on my return from my pa- 
tients, whilst writing, I felt a pretty sharp bite on the right thigh, 
and simultaneously another, but weaker one, on the upper arm. 
As I was desirous of making a couple of microscopic preparations 
of the oral organs of the flea, I undressed myself, and captured a 
female flea on the thigh and a male on the arm. I had felt pain 

1 The ' Veterinarian/ London, 1855, p. 335. 



PULEX PENETEÄNS. 91 

in both places, and looked after the fleas just at the corresponding 
spots. The female had an abundance of blood and blood*corpus» 
cles in her ; the male had a reddish fluid, as to the presence of 
blood-corpnsdes in which I was not quite certain. At any rate^ 
the males can extract a bloody serum from the body. 

Some species of fleas of our mammalia also occur temporarily 
upon man ; for example, that of the dog, &c. These I pass over, 
however, althougluthey constitute distinct species. 

2. The Sand-Flea = Pulex penetrans, 

Synon. : Dermatophilus, Sarcopsylla penetrans, Chique, Chigue, 
Pigue, Funga, Punque, Chigger, Oigger, Tschike, Tungua, Attun, 
Ton, Nigua, Tuuga, Xique, Bicko. 

It is smaller than the common flea, and has a proboscis* as long 
as the body, whilst in the common flea this is at the utmost one sixth 
or one fourth of this length. The valves at the extremity of the 
male, which only lives in the sand, and does not attack man, are 
much elongated ; the impregnated female swells up extraordinarily, 
after it has burrowed under the skin of men and animals. The head, 
thorax, and feet are only recognised as attached points. According 
to the statements of most authors, the animal only lives as far 
as 29^ of south latitude in the hot countries of South America, 
especially in Brazil ; whilst Goudot found it even in the cold 
regioD of New Oranada, as far as Bogota. According to the 
journals of Count Görtz, besides sand, this flea likes to dwell 
in the crevices and joints of pig-styes. Some people suppose that 
there are two species. Neither the male nor the unfecundated 
female has yet been seen in the skin of man or the domestic ani- 
mals. According to A. von Humboldt, it only attacks Euro* 
peans and not the aborigines ; Martius says that it is attracted by 
the sweat of the negroes* 

Martiny gives the following notes upon it from Dobritzhofer, 
This animal is so small that it can only be seen by sharp eyes, 
with a good light, for which reason the seeking for the flea after 
its immigration is generally left to children. It perforates the 
skin down to the flesh, and, concealed in its little canal, swells up 
into a white, globular vesicle, which in a few days may become 
as large as a pea, the pain constantly increasing ; this is the ab- 
domen of the female filled with eggs, or, more correctly, with 
larvse. Neglect of the disorder, or careless rupture of the vesicle. 



92 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

that is^ the abdomen^ by whicb the young are scattered in the 
wound^ where they then mine fresh passages, leads to bad sores, 
to inflammations of the glands of the groin, to mortification^ and, 
in consequence, to amputation or mutilation of the limbs, or even 
to death. The toes are especially attacked by the flea, although 
other parts of the body are also visited. 

Treatment. — Prophylaxis : Persons who are staying in places 
where the flea is endemic, must have their feet examined by 
children every two or three daysi I think it would be advisable 
for residents or travellers in those districts to pour a few drops 
of an essential oil (for example, oil of anise or rosemary) now and 
then into their stockings or shoes, in order to keep off the insects 
by this odour. 

Active treatment. — When the animal has once made an en- 
trance, the orifice of the canal, which is marked by a red point, 
may be sought, the passage widened with a needle, and the flea 
drawn out, but without tearing it. With fresh punctures it is 
best to wait a day, until the occurrence of the white vesicle, that 
is to say, the swelling of the abdomen with the brood, allows the 
animal to be more readily detected. Here also I should think 
that touching this vesicle with oil of anise would be beneficial and 
kill the flea (because the respiratory stigmata are situated upon 
the abdomen), or compel it to wander out. The cavity remaining 
after extraction is treated like a simple wound. In Brazil they 
fill it with oil, snuff, or ashes.^ 

Sub-Order — Brachycera = True Flies. 

Corpus latum, rarissime longum; caput hemispharicum out 
ovale, thorace latitudine par ; abdomen amplius ; proboscis aut 
brevis, crassa, carnosa, retractils, aut longa, prominens, coriacea. 
Antenna in canellam capitis retractiles ad ultimum ex 3 articulis, 
quorum H parvi et stylosi sunt, tertius vero crassus et globulosus 
stylum (bristle) aut palpum habet, composites. Ala rarissime de- 
sunt. 

Family of Bot-Flies = CEstridea. 

Corpus setosum ; proboscis nulla aut minima ; palpi haud dart ; 
antenna brevissima in sulco capitis recondita, tertio articulo globoso 

* See Appendix B. 



(ESTßlDEA. 93 

et in dorso setoso ; squam^ß halterum permagruß ; aUe in quieie ab 
abdomine distantes. 

In this division only the eggs and larvse are of interest to us^ 
and indeed at present only in as far as they belong to species 
which live upon the skin^ and there form boils. Nothing 
certain is known of the occurrence of the larvae of (Estri in the 
frontal cavities (cephenemyia ; cephalemyid), unless the worm of 
Fulvius Angelinus^ referred to under lAnguatula, was such a larva, 
which on closer examination always appears more and more impro- 
bable to me, even on account of the size of the larva (which 
is said to have been as long as the middle finger). I here com- 
mence with two cases which appear to me to be as yet the 
most certainly proved in Europe. 

In the ' Ephemer, natur. curios./ Dec. I, Ann. 2, p. 43, 
Schulze gives the following narration, under the title, " Vermium 
in vivorum corporibus generatio singularis in oculorum palpebris et 
aurium caviiatibtta/' — Caspar Wendlandt, in Poland, extracted a 
white worm from the eyelid of a peasant boy of two years old ; 
it was of the size of a caterpillar, with a hardish skin. Around 
the eye of the patient there was a considerable red swelling; 
the eyelids were closed, and the pain violent. But after the ex- 
traction of the worm, neither matter nor blood flowed out of the 
opening in which it made its appearance. (I pass over the ap- 
pended fable of the worm's eating almonds.) Dr. .Leonhardt, of 
Mühlhausen, also saw a worble in the urobilical region of a man. 
Unfortunately this case is not suflBciently proved. If I am not 
mistaken, a further case is reported incidentally in Iceland by 
Torstenson. Unfortunately I cannot find the quotation relating to it. 

In the south of America thfs parasite is by no means rare 
upon man. It occurs especially upon the arms, the back, the 
abdomen, and the scrotum. A. von Humboldt gave it the name 
of (Eestrus humanus. In Ouadaloupe and Cayenne the larva is 
named Ver macaqtie, in Trinidad Ver maringouin^ in Minas 
Oeraes Berne, in New Oranada Gusano del monte, and in Peru 
Flug lacura. 

As soon as these animals have become so far developed that 
they are about to change into pupae, they emigrate, let themselves 
drop upon the earth, and then pass through their next two stages. 

The surgeon will certainly seek in vain for fluctuation in the 

■ Father Gaby, ' Sopp. Act. Enid./ torn, i, p. 425, in his * Report on his Travels/ 
describes probably this insect. 



94 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

tumours produced by them^ but will find an orifice in the swelling 
from which a little moisture constantly oos^es, and through which 
the hinder part of the CEstrus is kept in communication with the 
air. The prognosis is favorable; immediate cure is only possible 
by incision and the removal of the (Estrus. 

It has not yet been settled to what species of (Estrus these 
larvse belongs and it has even been supposed^ as^ for instance^ 
Humboldt has done^ that there is an CEstrus htunanus. We are not 
at present justified in the latter course. The insect brought by 
Schomburgk as the parent of this larva^ was a Tabanus (a gad-fly), 
and can by no means be connected with the larva. The com- 
mon people also still make the mistake of confounding bot-flies 
and gad-flies. As the matter stands at present, we can only 
assert that in the last-mentioned cases the (Estrus Ovis cannot 
come in question, nor the species living in the frontal cavities of 
the stag. Neither can we have anything to do with the horse 
bot-fly {(Estrus egui). The species which come under considera- 
tion here are the (Estrus Bovis, Cervi Capreoli, and Cervi which 
live under the skin. 

We have here to observe, that the female (Estrus has a horny 
ovipositor, which slides out and in like a telescope, and bears five 
teeth at the end. On the one hand it has been asserted that 
this ovipositor is used as a boring apparatus in burying the eggs 
at the moment of laying ; on the other, that it has not sufficient 
strength for this purpose. Those who hold the latter opinion 
think that the eggs are stuck upon the hairs, and that only the 
larv» bore under the skin. 

The bot of the ox is black, reddish-yellow in front, clothed 
with black hairs behind, and becomes an inch long in two 
months. The bot of the stag is distinguished from the pre- 
ceding by a series of recurved black booklets, which, in conjunc- 
tion with the larger homy hooks at the mouth, enable the larva 
to hold fast in the tumour. Of the larva of (Estrus Cervi Capreoli, 
the last figure has recently been given by Hennig, of Dresden. 
Beichenbach, sen., names the (Estrus pictus as its parent» The 
larva itself is yellowish-white, ICX' long, and has nine s^ments, 
exclusive of the head and tail, like all larvae of (Estrus ; of these, 
the first seven are beset on the back with rows of very fine 
reddish-brown spines (in ten rows), which, however, only extend 
to the fourth segment on the ventral surface. The mouth has 
two very small^ blackish-brown, horny hooks ; the dorsal surface 



ANTHOMYCIDA. 95 

has a brown spot, consisting of nothing but points. On the flat- 
tened part of the tail^ we see two very smali^ broadly oval, 
oblique, dark reddish-brown opercula, much smaller than in 
(Estrus Ovis; these close the two main trachese from without. 
The surface of the opercula is veined and finely punctured. 
Beneath the opercula is the opening of the intestine, which, like 
the alimentary canal and stomach, is situated, as in the other 
(Estri, in the centre between the tracheie. The eggs of par- 
ticular species of (Estrus have opercula. 

Sheep, cattle, and horses are only infected in^ thickets and 
woods, where the female (Estri sit, and attack the passing animals. 
This is not to be overlooked in the etiology and prophylaxis. 



Family of the Flies «=* Muscida. 

From the enormous number of genera (200) we roust be con- 
tented with having the characters of the Brctchycera before us, and 
to state the distinctions of the particular genera. For us par- 
ticular interest attaches to tbe flower-flies =» Anthomycida, and 
the flesh-flies =Calypt€ra or Creophila. 



1. ^n/Aoiitycufo = Flower-Flies. 

Squamte sive ailerons (= alulets) halteribus mUlto minores. 
Antenna retro reposila tertio articulo oblongo. Octdi fere frontales, 
in maribus propinquiores. Corpus longum. Caput hemisph^ericum. 
Larvae 2 unguicules ad os armata, in vegetabilibus putrescentibus 
viventes, sine pedibus. 

We YnxyH, that larvse of Anthomyia scalaris and canicularis 
have been met with in the human intestine. They may be 
recognised by their maggot-like form, by the plumose lateral 
and dorsal spines^ and the two separated, stalked breathing tubes 
on the last segment of the body. The spinous bristles on the 
back and sides are said to produce a very unpleasant itching in 
the human rectum. I advise surgeons, in order to obtain speci- 
mens of this larva, so as to be able to know what they are about 
in case of need^ to look after the larvse injtbe intestines of dogs, 
where they occur by no means rarely in autumn and winter. 
Upon the literature of this subject consult Von Siebold^ article 



96 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

" Parasiten/' in Rudolf Wagner's ' Handwörterbuch der Physio- 
logie/ ii, p. 683, note 1, and 684, note 2. It appears only tobe 
possible for these animals to reach the human intestine indirectly, 
and indeed by the use of vegetables which have stood for some 
time, and to which the female Anthomyite could have access. 
As vegetables of this kind. Von Siebold particularly refers to 
cabbages ; I think any farinaceous food which has been kept and 
which is eaten cold is suflScient for the purpose. The eggs of 
Anthom. (Hyalemyia) canicularis measure Y", and are uniformly 
rounded at both poles. The dorsal surface is even covered with 
two parallel folds bent inwards, which suddenly cease at the end 
with an obtuse angle. The ventral surface with hexagonal facets 
and punctures. The inner surface of the dorsal folds and of the 
back exhibits broad, rafter-like elevations, by which the facets are 
rendered smaller ; it is also punctured. The micropyle is situated 
upon a large smooth space at the anterior pole without any dis- 
tinctive mark (mouth-piece, points, or the like). In the true 
AnthomyiiB the pores have become real pits, and the transverse 
ridges between the facets are tubercular. The micropyle is 
funnel-shaped. The larva probably escapes at the anterior pole, 
on which a blunt process is sometimes found. 



2. Creophila = Flesh-Flies. 

Corpus compactum, abdomen roiundum, thorax latus, caput 
transversum squamoi {= 9\\i\et%) halteribus majores. Nonnulüe 
vivipara, Injuventute {statu larvali) parasita. 

a. The great Bluebottle = Musca vomitoria = M. ei^ythrocephala 

(Aut. recent). 

Leuckart describes the eggs of this fly as follows : Eggs tole- 
rably compressed, V" long, uniformly truncated at both ends ; 
upon the very flat dorsal surface a white stripe (a peculiar apparatus 
of longitudinal ridges, a duplicature of the chorion) extending 
from one pole to the other, or even a little beyond the superior 
pole. The delicate, pale, limpid vitelline membrane, which 
folds readily, may be easily separated from the brittle chorion, 
which is beset with delicate, hexagonal facets, ^'" in diameter, 
with small, close points, which are rather pits or pores than ele- 
vations. The little points may be very distinctly recognised as pits 



CREOPHILA. 97 

at the posterior pole of the egg. The chorion and vitelline mem- 
brane adhere to each other quite firmly at particular places^ more 
especially about the true micropyle^ so that the openings pass 
through both membranes. The micropyle of the bluebottle flies 
gives us the clearest insight into the penetration of the seminal 
filaments into the egg^ and it is particularly to be recommended 
for the study of this process. It occurs at the superior pole of the 
egg^ which is rendered as uneven as the rest of the chorion by 
facets and pores^ and in its centre. The albuminous mass of the 
egg covers the micropyle and the superior pole. The eggs are 
usually laid in this state^ but sometimes the larva has already 
become completely developed in the egg, so that it i^ frequently 
excluded whilst being examined under the microscope^ whence 
arises the supposition that the eggs are hatched in two hours. 
The larva bears two blackish-brown points at the extremity of 
its abdomen^ and has a very complicated oral extremity ; its mar- 
gin is divided in a radiate form^ and it has six spiracles on the 
abdomen. In eight days it attains its normal size without 
changing its skin^ and becomes converted into a cask-shaped 
pupa by mere thickening of the skin ; from this the fly escapes 
in a few days. The fertility of this fly is so great, that 
Reaumur counted 20,000 maggots in an oviduct 2^'' long. The 
larvse of this fly cause the so-called " living wounds '' to which 
Pruoer, for example, refers. They especially prefer the orbits 
and ears, but also every part of the body where there is the 
least abrasion or discharge. To the naked eye such places 
appear as if beset with headless nails, which rise and fall with 
the extension and contraction of the animals whilst sucking. 
Prnner thinks that in such wounds we have to do with the larvse 
of Sarcaphaga camaria ; I have arranged them here on account of 
the black points on the abdomen. In ulceration, and when their 
position is superficial, we distinctly see the white body of the 
larva, which is 2'" in thickness ; the head sits, with its booklets, 
in the bottom of the wound, which usually secretes no pus, but 
only a bloody, watery fluid, and has a bluish, pale, and after the 
removal of the animals a favus-like, spongy appearance. The 
black hinder parts and the respiratory orifices are directed 
outwards. 

Treatment — The best is the careful removal of the animals 
with the forceps. Enticing them out with milk does not suc- 
ceed, according to Pruner ; touching them with a weak infusion 

7 



98 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

of tobacco is better. But if we are clumsy in seining the ani- 
mals with the forceps, they rapidly creep back. After their 
removal; the cavities which they have made and the excrescences 
in their neighbourhood soon heal. 



b. The common Flesh-fly = Sarcopkaga = Musca camaria. 

This also occurs sometimes in external wounds or ulcers 
in the human body, as it lays its eggs in which the larwe 
are usually ready formed, or its larvse, which sometimes leave 
the egg even within the body of the mother, on every animal 
structure or nutritive mat^ial derived from the animal kingdom 
subject to the laws of decomposition. In the latter case th^ 
young immediately begin to eat. In the heat of summer 
and in hot climates the larvse easily get into badly managed 
putrid, and open wounds ; nay, even the short time occupied in 
dressing is sufficient to enable the fly to deposit her brood 
in them, if particular care be not taken. Attracted by the 
smell, this fly, as well as the preceding, deposits its eggs and 
larvse in the vagina of little girls or women when they lie naked 
in hot summer days upon dirty clothes, or when they have a 
discharge from the vagina. In malignant inflammations of the 
eyes, the larvse of this and the preceding fly even nestle under 
the eyelids, and in Egypt, for example, produce a very serious 
addition to the effects of smallpox upon the cornea, as, accord- 
ing to Pruner, in such cases a perforation of the cornea usually 
takes place. 



c. The larv» of Musca domesiica and stabulans. 

These larvse sometimes occur in sorea, or in the vagina of 
girls. Thus, for instance, I have seen a nest of them in the 
vaginal orifice of a little girl in the summer, and removed them 
by injections of chamomile. The eggs of the common house- 
fly, according to Leuckart, are only a little smaller than those 
of the bluebottle, and very similar to them in form. They are, 
however, more pointed towards the anterior pole, and have a thicker 
chorion, which becomes as much as ^''' in thickness at the poles. 
The chorion has wide pits and facets. At the poles the pits 



NEMOCEEA. 99 

become regular, perpendicular canals, which terminate in blind 
ends towards the inner surface of the chorion. There are also 
two ridges, twice as far apart as in the bluebottles, but not much 
elevated. A deep furrow runs along upon the ridges^ and the 
arched portion by which thej are united below the anterior 
pole, and enters deeply into the chorion. The folds and 
ridges diminish and disappear towards the posterior pole; 
the micropyle forms a funnel-shaped pit, which is not distin- 
guished either by a clear space, or by mouth-piece-like appen- 
dages, and forms a distinct canal passing through the chorion, the 
inner opening of which is connected with the vitelline mem- 
brane. The albuminous layer of the mature ovarian egg is the 
same as that of the bluebottle with its anterior projection. 

It is also reported that the larvse of the three last- mentioned 
species have been found in the urinary passages, in the urethra, 
&c. A great part of these cases are undoubtedly to be regarded 
as illusions, and many larvse accidentally placed in the chamber- 
pot may have been regarded as having been passed from 
the urethra. Nevertheless it is quite possible that the larva 
of a fly may get into the urethra, especially in blennorrhoea or 
in sores on the penis ; or in cases of gonorrhoea uncleanliness, 
and abundant formation of smegma, especially in hot countries, 
these larvse may have been seated under the prepuce, and 
hence have passed into the ehamber-pot. 

The maggots of the flesh-eating flies occurring in the human 
stomach and intestines, certainly get into the alimentary canal 
by the use of decaying cheese, spoilt ham, and other cold meats, 
during the latter part of the summer and the autumn. 

Upon the larvse of the flies in general, consult Von Siebold, 
in E. Wagner^s ' Handwörterbuch,' L c, pp. 683 — 685. 



Sub^Order — Nsmocbba. 

Corpus ienue, hngum ; caput patvum ; ihoraw brevis, arcuaius ; 
proboscis varia ; palpi longi, saltern S-articulati ; stepissime 
cristati ; antennsB tenues, longa, filiformes, 6 : et ultra arttculaUe, 
horrida out pennatm ; pedes tenues, longi ; aUe longa et tenues. 

We should only have to do here with the true gnats (=7i/m- 
lida) and the Sand-flies (= Simulida = Mosquitos), of which the 
former have a shorty thick proboscis, with two distinct terminal 



100 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

lips, and two setiform maxillae in its interior, and thin five- 
jointed palpi either hanging down or bent; the latter are dis- 
tinguished by their prominent eleven-jointed antennae, becoming 
thinner at the apex, and have a projecting proboscis, broad wings, 
and no ocelli. As, however, they are in general too well known, and 
only attack men for a time in order to obtain their nourishment, 
we shall not pay further attention to them in detail, but here- 
with close our examination of the parasites occurring on the 
human subject.^ 



Amongst the parasites belonging to the class of Helmintha 
the reader will miss — 1, the Dactylitis aculeatus, and 2, the 
Spirapiera hominis from the urine. The former was placed by 
Von Siebold with the Naides, and by Henle with his new genus 
Enchytr<jms ; it is undoubtedly only an animal of the family of 
the Lumbricini which had got accidentally into the urine.* (See 
Von Siebold, 1. c.) The latter, according to Bremser, was a 
young Sirongylus gtgas. 3. The Diceras rude = Ditrachyceras 
rudis, recognised as the seed of the white mulberry. 4. Diacan- 
thus polycephaluSy as a raisin-stalk evacuated per anum. 5. Sagit- 
tula hominis, as a fragment of the hyoid bone of some bird 
passed with the faeces. 6. The Ascaris alata, found in the small 
intestine of a man, is probably only a young individual of one of 
the long-known Nematoda, if indeed it be a worm at all. 7. 
Bushnan^s worms, which were found in the blood an hour after 
bleeding, were the larvae of Tipula oleracea, according to Bhind, 
and accidentally introduced : red larvae of Chironomus, according 
to Von Siebold. 8. The Filaria hominis bronchialis of Treutler, 
as already observed, may be identical with the Strongylus longe- 
vaginatus of Jorsits (Diesing). 9. The Hexathyridium venarum 
of Treutler and Delle Chiaje was probably Pisciola geometra, or 
some other planarian inhabitant of the fresh water, which had 
got into the vessels with the water employed in bathing the feet, 
&c. 10. The Polystoma pinguicola, Zeder = Hexathyridium 
pinguicola, Treutler, an animal S^'' long, 2 — 3'" in thickness, 
oval, convex above, impressed beneath, furnished with six pores 

^ See Appendix A. 

» The liistory of these animals is given in Appendix C, vol. i.— Trans. 



FALSE PAEASITES. 101 

at the anterior extremity, and a larger abdominal aperture before 
the tail, found in an ovarian fat-sac, is in my opinion so doubt- 
ful, that I think I am justified in leaving it out, although 
Bremser figures it amongst the Helmintha. Treutler thinks 
that this animal resembled the LinguatuUe ; and although 
other views have been recently put forward^ I cannot help con- 
sidering the thing as impossible. Errors are very possible, 
especially with such low powers as Treutler appears to have 
employed. The animal in question cannot well have been a 
Polystomum, which has hitherto only been found in the air-pas- 
sages of fishes or the urinary bladder of the frog. It might, how- 
ever, be possible that the animal, if no lAnguatula, was a dead 
hexabothrious scolex of a Taenia, which had either lost its hooks, 
or had not yet come to their formation. Since we have learnt 
how to produce Cysiicerci artificially, it will be admitted that 
those forms of cystic worms have a very great similarity to 
LinguatuliB in their external form. 11. Brera's Cercosoma in the 
urine were nothing more than the larvse oiErisialis tenax, so com- 
mon in privies, and which had got accidentally into the chamber- 
pot. 12. The parasites given to Von Baer as having been passed 
with the faeces, which Von Baer recognised as larvae and beetles of 
Ptinus fur. It afterwards appeared that the night-chair of the 
patient in question had a torn cushion on its seat. In putting 
on the cover, these insects fell into the pan. 13. The hexapod 
larva of Clerus formicaritis was given to Von Siebold as a 
urinary parasite. Both as a larva and beetle this animal preys 
upon the bark- and wood-beetles, such as the Anobia^ which live 
in wooden furniture and in the rafters and deals of rooms and 
houses. It might, therefore, easily have got accidentally into 
a chamber-pot. The larvae of the churchyard-beetle {Blaps 
moriisaga) and the woodlice {OnisoAS murarius) have aläo made 
their appearance as parasites.^ 

* The mo8t ancient example of pteudo-parasites occurs in Plutarch's * Symposiacon/ 
Tiii, quiest. 9, cap. 3. After the quotation about the Filaria medineruU he tells of a 
person suffering from dysuria, from whom a jointed barley-stalk passed out of the 
urethra. Probably the individual had first {horribile dictü) put it into the urethra him- 
self. Plutarch then narrates : ** And of our guest-friend Ephebos at Athens we know, 
that simultaneously with much semen he evacuated a very hairy animal which ran along 
rapidly with many feet." Whether in this case a woodlouse, or if '* laav " should sig- 
nify " rough, hard," an earwig had penetrated into the urethra of Ephebos, and excited 
a pollution, we cannot say. Perhaps even the worm only came subsequently to the 



102 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

According to the plan developed by me in the definition of the 
idea of parasites^ I must^ of course^ also omit those articulated ani- 
mals which only wound men when they are irritated^ or do not live 
at all upon his juices. These are — 1. The scorpions (class Arach^ 
nida ; order Araneida ; series of the cancroid Arachnida^ family 
of the scorpions, of which we know the sub-families — Scorpio, 
ButhvLs, Androctonus, and Centrums). The common European 
scorpion {Scorpio flavicanduSj europcsus, germanicus, terminalis, 
which are only names for varieties of the same species) has six 
eyes, and can only produce local phenomena, which are said to 
disappear by treatment with oils or ammonia, and in which, 
perhaps, collodion would prove useful. It is supposed that 
the effects increase with the age of the animal, and with more 
southern climates. The eight-eyed Buthtts afer, which is espe- 
cially an Indian species, is said to be much more dangerous. 
Only local phenomena, can be laid to the charge of the 
twelve-eyed Androctonus in Algiers. (On the scorpions in 
Algiers and their poison, see Moritz Wagner, * Reise in 
Algier,' iii, p. 255.) 2. The true house-spiders (order 
Araneida ; section Araneida ; first sub-section Sedentaruß s=s 
weaving spiders; family Epeira [geometric spider], Tegenaria 
[house-spider], and the Italian Malmignatte [Latrodectus Mai- 
mignatus]). Their bite scarcely inflicts a worse wound than 
that of a flea. However, some of the larger, southern spiders 
may be more dangerous. Treatment with cold applications (cold 
earth or collodion) is sufficient. It may also be mentioned that 
ft hysterical patient of Lopez pushed spiders under her eyelids, 
in order that the surgeon might remove these parasites. 3. The 
hunting spiders {Lycosida, according to others Vagabundm), the 
third sub-section of the section Araneida, to which the cele- 
brated Lycosa tarantula belongs. In Walkenaer's ^Tableau 
des Arachnides,' p. 11, and in his ^Hist. nat. des Insectes 
Apteres,' i, p. 291, note, and ii, p. 499, we find the literature 
referring to Tarantulism. Ferrante is the first who referred to it. 
Many are inclined to regard the tarantula dance, which was said 
to occur after the bite, as a sort of chorea. It appears to me 

emission. This passage is, also, interesting from the narrative that Timon's nurse 
annnally fell into a somnambulic sleep for two months, and also from its letting us see 
that the ancients were already acquainted with delirium tremens. Kal fii^v Iv' yt rote 
MiftovdoiQ irrifteiov r/irarixov tt&Bovq AvaykypawTot, to to^s Karoueidiovs five in^if- 
Xwg irapct^vXaTTtiv rat ^nantiv 5 pvv oifda/iov yiv6iitvov bpärai. 



FALSE PARASITES. 103 

that in this case too little refereuce has been made to the follow- 
ing drcumstance. It may probably happen that in particular 
cases the bite of the tarantula may produce violent local irrita- 
tion, and that perhaps it was observed accidentally by the people 
that violent dancing and keeping up the perspiration in bed 
quickly healed these local symptoms. To excite a desire of 
dancing in those who were bitten, and thus to obtain a perspira- 
tion, it is well known that two melodies were played — the Taran- 
tola and the Pastorale. Subsequently this circumstance was 
confused or forgotten, and in course of years it came to pass that 
as soon as any one was bitten by a tarantula, they played to 
him and he was obliged to dance. Hence it might easily hap- 
pen that people were unable to imagine a tarantula-bite without 
its being followed by music, and in consequence by dancing. 
Thus the bite and the remedy came to be so mixed up together, 
that the people, and with them Ferrante, could no longer distin- 
guish between the two. The bite is a product of the animal, 
the dancing a product of the music, as we may see every day in 
ball-rooms. 4. The bees, and humble-bees, wasps, and hornets 
(order Hymenoptera ; series of the bees = Apida, families Apis 
and Bombiis; series of the wasps, family Vespida, sub-families 
Foliates [paper-wasp = Po/w/e* nididans\y Vespa {vulgaris ^ the 
common wasp, F. crabro = the hornet, and V. holsatica and 
britannica, of which the latter are probably identical]). 5. The 
ants (order Hymenoptera ; series of the ants, family Formicida ; 
sub-family Formica). 

Of course we need not speak here in detail of the caterpillars, 
toads, and snakes, which may accidentally wound and poison 
men with their bite ; nor of the lizards, if any of them are really 
venomous. They would not be mentioned here at all, if the 
popular belief had not regarded some of the last-mentioned ani- 
mals, as well as salamanders, frogs, and tadpoles, certain caterpillars, 
centipedes, beetles, &c., as actual parasites of man, and supposed 
that these animals, nay, even some species of fishes, such as the 
eels, could carry on a parasitic existence in the interior of the 
human intestine. Unfortunately the medical men have given 
their assistance to this nonsense ; and I myself have seen one 
allowing himself to be fooled by a patient with an eel, and another 
with a frog. With such follies there are only two ways of deal- 
ing — jest and scientific experiment. The former has been done, 
and many perhaps are acquainted with the satirical tale in which 



104 ANIMAL PAKASITES. 

a medical man in recent times has castigated a fool of this kind, 
who chattered about the presence of living frogs in the body of 
a patient, in the same style in which Dr. S. C. H. Windier 
(Schwindler) once derided the Iiifusorian theory of the process of 
fermentation. But such remedies are not thoroughgoing, and 
cannot effect a fundamental cure. For the cure of these follies 
we are indebted to Berthold, of Göttingen (see 'Nachrichten 
von der G. A. Universität und der Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissen- 
schaften zu Göttingen/ No. 13, 1849), and I here reproduce lite- 
rally his conclusions. 

1. All observations on living amphibia having remained long 
in the human body, and, acting as the cause of long illnesses in 
it, are false. 

2. Eggs of amphibia when swallowed very soon lose their 
power of development in the stomach. (Dr. Kretschmar, of 
Stolpen, informed me as an analogous case, that trout often devour 
fertilised trouts^ eggs at the spawning time, but that these eggs 
when again taken out of the stomachs of the trout and put unin- 
jured into fresh water, do not become developed.) 

3. It is, however, possible that amphibia may get into the 
human subject by intentional or accidental swallowing. 

4. Such animals may be again evacuated either in a living or 
asphyxied state, when vomiting takes place soon after they are 
swallowed. 

5. If this vomiting only takes place at a later period, the 
animals thrown up are dead ; if no vomiting take place, the 
animals are more or less digested, and we find either their epi- 
dermis or bones, or nothing at all of them, in the fseces. 

6. The only and true reason why the amphibia cannot perma- 
nently live in the human body is the moist heat of at least 
80° F. (29° R.) which no species of amphibia (frogs of all kinds 
and frogs' spawn, the tadpoles of frogs and toads, salamanders, 
tritons and their spawn, lizards, and slow- worms were employed 
in the experiments) can resist from two to four hours. 

The method of experiment was as follows : Berthold put the 
animals just mentioned in vessels with water and air, which were 
kept for two to four hours at the temperature of the stomach 
(29° R.) 

The ordinary caterpillars also belong here; they soon died 
even at a low temperature in water. They can get into the stomach 
with salad, or in as far as concerns the smooth sixteen-footed cater- 



FALSE PARASITES. 105 

fülsLV o{ Afflossa pinguinaliSj which lives in old fat or butter^ and is 
therefore frequently found in the kitchen and cellar with fat 
articles of food. (This caterpillar was found by Rolander and 
Linne in the faeces or vomitings^ and regarded by the latter as 
very dangerous in the human intestine. If they are soon 
thrown up^ they are either still alive^ or retain their form ; but if 
this take place later they must bear more or less distinct traces 
of digestion about them. In the fseces they can hardly be found 
again^ or only in cases of very imperfect digestion^ and with 
violent diarrhoea to drive them very rapidly through the intes- 
tines. The same applies to the Gorditis aqtuUicus, which^ how* 
ever^ from the hardness of its epidermis^ may perhaps long resist^ 
if not deaths at least digestion. It might probably reach the 
stomach by the use of worm-eaten fruit. We know nothing of 
species of Mermis accidentally getting into the stomach with 
water^ &c.) 

In southern countries leeches {Hamopis voraa) are readily 
swallowed with water^ and these are said to be able to live some 
time in the human body^ causing violent internal hsemorrhages. 
This is mentioned by Liurey, and it was also experienced at the 
siege of Mahon. 

Lastly it may be stated^ that hairs^ fibres^ and undigested 
fleshy passed with the fseces, have been described as parasites 
of man. The careful practitioner will be easily able to avoid mis- 
takes. 

The hair of the processionary caterpillar {Bombyx process 
stoned), which forms on oaks a bag-shaped cocoon often as large 
as a man's head^ is very dangerous to man. 

Nicolai's researches and observations ('Die Wandert oder 
Processions-Raupe/ Berlin, 1883) have proved that the caterpillar 
usually appears during the middle of May, at first to the num* 
ber of from ten to twelve, on the bark of the oak, from whence it 
wanders to the first buds and twigs of the oak. Each single 
caterpillar is from 8 — 4!" in length, and of the colour of the 
bark of the oak. They have long stiff black and white hairs or 
bristles, and a black stripe on the back. This little band of 
from ten to twelve caterpillars (probably relatives) keeps together 
on a twig, and eats during night and day. They grow rapidly, 
learn to move more quickly, upwards of 100 and more uniting 
and forming a wandering colony in order to attack larger 
branches. They wander thus from twig to twig, casting their 



106 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

•kin for the first time towards the end of May by robbing 
against the uneven bark of the oak. They are now of from one 
third to one fourth of an inch long^ of a grey colour, distinctly 
showing twelve segments, and on the top of each segment a 
black shield with very shorty velvet* like hair of a peculiar lustre. 
The large hairs are ranged in from two to three bunches on each 
segment, having lower down on their sides eight spiracles and 
eight pairs of legs« 

During the time of the casting off of the skin, the grey cater- 
pillar becomes yellowish-brown, lustreless, stronger^ but lazier. 
The caterpillars mostly gather where a branch withers, and 
attach themselves so firmly by spinning a cocoon, that cater- 
pillar and bark seem one. The cocoon is thin and transpa- 
rent, and attached to its inner part is the cast skin. These 
ciiterpillars have quite the appearance of the former^ and begin 
their wanderings afresh — a caterpillar leading each troop, having 
attached to its tail other caterpillars and so on. They grow now 
very large^ and collect together at the end of June or the begin- 
ning of July in increasing numbers. The caterpillars^ placing 
themselves side by side or one above the other^ cast their skin a 
second time and wander again, leaving threads behind on the 
path of their emigration. They are now excessively voracious, 
and deposit largely the matter which is so obnoxious to men and 
animals. Being now more than one inch in length, and very 
strong, they are seen to make long journeys, annexing all smaller 
troops which they meet on their way. They gather at last on 
the trunk of a tiiick tree, pladng themselves side by side to 
the extent of a man's hand, and then one above another in three 
or four rows, after which some of the larger caterpillars are seen 
to creep from underneath and spin all round the heap. The 
spinners are relieved by others at regular periods, and from six 
to dght caterpillars may be seen on the cocoon, which is usually 
fastened to the sunny side of the trees, rarely to the stormy and 
northern side, at a considerable height close to the twigs, and 
where a twig or branch is decaying. A hole is left in the 
cocoon for the passing in and out of the caterpillars, which is 
always guarded by several large caterpillars. These guards allow 
only larger caterpillars to pass, preventing all smaller ones which 
may happen to follow from entering, and appointing for their 
use a separate place close to the nest, from whence they are led 
by a larger caterpillar on new excursions to young leaves, the 



FALSE PARASITES. 107 

leader returning to its nest. The larger caterpillars deposit 
feces iu the nest^ which^ falling among the threads of the cocoon^ 
render the latter more opaque, and more capable of resisting 
external influences. This closing up happens usually i^ the end 
of July or beginning of August. Eadi caterpillar prepares for 
itself a separate case or cocoon inside the large cocoon, which is 
of a grey-yelloif colour and silk-like appearance. The single 
cocoons of the caterpillars resemble^ in the method of their spin* 
ning, that of Bombyx mori : they are, however, more oval, 
smfdler, and very rich in the yellow powdery substance, of which 
we shall have to speak. The cocoons are formed in one night. 
The butterfly escapes towards the end of August, by softening 
the threads of its cocoon with its saliva, (?) and thus dissolves 
them. It copulates, lays eggs, and dies. Many of the chrysa- 
lides in the cocoons were destroyed by white, worm-like, hairless 
parasites. 

The inhabitants of Westphalia are well acquainted with the 
important and dangerous diseases and sufierings which are caused 
by these caterpillars both in men and animals. It is very 
doubtful whether the noxious substance which acts like a poison, 
creating redness, itching, and burning of the external and in- 
flammation of the internal parts, and causing even death, con- 
sists of the long hairs of the caterpillar. According to some 
writers, the nest or cocoon is to be looked upon as the cause of 
these disorders; whilst others say that they are caused by an 
acrid noxious juice which the caterpillar is thought to secrete 
when it creeps over the surface of the skin. Nicolai convinced 
himself of the impossibility of the latter cause, for he observed 
itching pustules on his forearms which were covered with clothing, 
though the caterpillar had never come near them. On one 
occasion, when attempting to attach to a board a large caterpillar 
by means of pins, and for this purpose piercing its black back 
shield, he saw on the edge of the shield a reddish-yellow, fine, 
dust-like, saffron-coloured powder proceed from the shield, without 
the latter being altered in the least. The interior of this spot 
showed no especial organ nor opening. Later observations, 
however, are said to have discovered underneath these reddish 
spots two large warts which almost touch one another, and 
which are especially noticed when the caterpillar casts its skin 
and has become deprived of its hair. The same dust was found 
by Nicolai in the nests and cocoons in the parts which surround 



108 ANIMAL PARASITES. 

the chrysalis. The caterpillar also exuded this substance on 
being touched with a knife on the black shields. On coming 
into contact with the moist skin it caused^ after eight hours^ red 
itching pustules^ but produced no effect when brought in contact 
with the dry or oiled skin. The dust loses its peculiar power by 
being preserved in spirits of wine. Ratzeburg observed that 
feeding the caterpillars shut up in a glass^ and the necessary 
repeated opening of the glass^ were sufficient to cause inflam- 
mation. Lameil^ Physician to the Lunatic Asylum at Charenton^ 
observed, after the lapse of ten years even, on opening a glass 
which contained a piece of a cocoon, similar effects. The micro- 
scope shows the dust to consist of very fine, straight, spiry, 
minute hairs beset with barbs. They are exceedingly light, swim 
on water, and are sometimes carried away by the wind, flying 
about for some time in the forest. The dust is carried on to 
objects and into the air by the creeping of the caterpillar on a 
damp place, by touching it, by moving through the air, and by the 
falling of drops of rain on the bark. This dust seems, however, 
only to be formed after the second and last casting of the skin 
of the caterpillar. 

In places where the caterpillar is of frequent occurrence, the 
animals which come into the forests are attacked by various 
diseases. Sheep by inflammation of the eyes and violent coughing ; 
cows and goats by the same symptoms, with internal inflammations 
and ulcers all over the skin, the violent itching of which makes 
the animals restless and drives them almost to madness ; horses 
more especially suffer from it. The diseases of the eye caused 
by it are blenorrhoea of the conjunctiva, dimness of vision, and 
perforation of the eye. People become exposed to this poison by 
staying in a forest, by sleeping, working, or taking a ride, 
playing, cutting down wood even in winter-time, by gathering 
fruits, as strawberries which grow under the oak-trees, by collecting 
grass, litter, or the fallen leaves of forests. The diseases which 
follow are violent inflammation of the eye, erythema of the eyelids, 
blenorrhoea, coughing, inflammation of the throat and the lungs, 
violent itching and scalding eruptions of the skin (nettle-rash) 
and general fever ; children who wear no trousers incur inflam- 
mations of the genitals, phymoses, leucorrhoea, and swelling of 
the labise, and finally also angina membranacea. The question 
is whether the above-described dust which is found, according to 
Nicolai, more particularly on the edges of the black shields of 



FALSE PARASITES. 109 

each segment lining the shields with a brownish-red and delicate 
border, and which is velvet-like, very fine, lustrous, and soft, and 
which can be loosened and shaken away at the caterpillar^s 
pleasure, be merely a mechanical or also at the same time a 
chemical irritant; opinions differ somewhat. Müller and 
Babenhorst found a peculiar acid and a volatile oil on examining 
chemically the fir-weevil {Bomhyx Pint) which offers similar con- 
ditions, without, however, experiencing any noxious effects from 
the oil or the acid. Ratzeburg believes that a poisonous volatile 
principle exists (analogous, perhaps, to the poisonous principle, 
of sumach, and other poisonous plants) which is simultaneously 
developed with the dust. 

Treatment and Prophylaxis. — ^The destruction of the caterpillars 
by burning and singeing them by means of wisps of straw or by 
sweeping them off the trunks of the trees and crushing them on 
the ground, is always dangerous to the operator, since the dust 
is dispersed in the air. Obstacles to their migration, such as 
coal-tar, tarred paper, and digging trenches round the trees, are 
of no avail, as the caterpillar simply goes round them, and crosses 
even small brooks. I think it would be best to discover the 
nests and wrap them up with rags soaked in oil, and then to cut 
away the branch and to burn or bury it. It would be well, 
however, to destroy the insect in the chrysalis state towards the 
end of July or middle of August, before the butterfly creeps out, 
in order to restrict its propagation, or to hunt up and annihilate 
the latest brood which exists before the second casting of the 
skin without the dangerous dust. It would, therefore, be necessary 
to search from the beginning of May to the beginning of June 
for the wandering troops. The collector of nests and caterpillars 
will do well to use a blunt hoe, to wear gloves, and to oil the 
skin. There are generally only one or two nests in each tree. 
The caterpillar has but few enemies in the animal kingdom, of 
which I may mention the ichneumon. Birds seem to be afraid 
of it. Precautions ought to be taken to prevent persons entering 
infected forests by means of notices, by the digging of ditches, 
&c. The pasturing of animals in such forests and the gathering 
of fodder and litter should be forbidden. The gathering of fruits 
of any kind should be unconditionally interdicted, and, in case 
nests are discovered when oaks or pines are cut down, they should 
be carefully removed, as mentioned above, without hewing them 



110 ANIMAL PAKASITES. 

to pieces; and the woodcutter advised not to place himself towards 
the wind. 

Direct treatment, — When the dust has been deposited on an 
individual^ it is recommended by Batzeburg to employ cold douche 
baths. Nicolai recommends milk poultices in the case of inflam- 
mations of the eye and the erysipelatous inflammation of the eye- 
lid ; rubbing in of oil on the more sensitive reddened parts, or 
applying fomentations or lotions with milk; when the throat 
or tcmsils have become inflamed oily emulsions^ salad oil^ and 
milk are recommended ; but if the bronchi and lungs are inflamed, 
a more powerful antiphlogistic treatment is required. Remedies 
which allay and restrict the irritation, especially emetics, when 
there is a tendency to sickness, and on the whole a quick and 
energetic treatment. 

Popular superstition augurs a year of dearth from the appear- 
ance of this caterpillar and its migrations from west to south or 
from southern to northern countries. 

Trousseau and Pidoux^ have, as it is well known, endeavoured 
to make a therapeutical use of the hairs of this caterpillar, in 
order to bring quickly back on the skin exanthemata which had 
disappeared by employing them externally. I have already men- 
tioned that the caterpillar of Bombyx Pini causes similar disorders. 
The latter differs, however, firom the former, that the symptoms 
are generally a little milder. The hairs are not hooked but thread- 
like and in the shape of a lancet, at the same time smooth and 
eveuj though Müller (Ratseburg^s ^ Forst-Insekten,' ii, p. 57) 
has observed that they sometimes cause death. 

Wounds are said to become very malignant when the juice of 
the crushed caterpillar is pressed on them. I do not know 
wheäier the experiments which have hitherto been made be con- 
sidered sufficient. In order to prove this fact it would be first 
necessary to separate the little hairs from the juice and then 
employ the filtrate for the experiment. 

^ «Traits de Tb^. et de Mat. M^^' Paria, 1841, irol. i, p. 456. 



VEGETABLE PARASITES. 



VEGETABLE PARASITES. 



GENERAL PART. 



^^All vegetable parasites which are found on animal bodies 
belong to the class Cryptogamia, and to the orders Algte and 
Fungi exclusively/' 

The medical man attends more particularly to those forms 
which are met with in man^ and all the parasites treated of in the 
present work belong to the most simple plants, sometimes merely 
formed by the aggregation of a number of cells, and they can, 
therefore, scarcely be of a very complicated nature. Amongst 
them the Alga are distinguished from the Fungi by chloro- 
phyU, or some other colouring substance, which is observed at 
their generation or soon after, and before the time when they 
leave the parent-cell. If each cell is considered separately, the 
smallest appear to be colourless, but are seen to be distinctly 
coloured when they are aggregated into a mass. 

The investigation of the medium on which these parasites 
are found is of importance for therapeutical purposes, and we 
propose to view — 

1. The solid ground or soil which affords them nourishment. 

2. The gaseous medium which surrounds them. 

3. The influence of physical agents upon them. 

1 . No plant can thrive on a merely mineral soil, but requires, 
at the same time, organic substances ; if, therefore, parasitical 
plants are to thrive, the animal system on which they live must 
needs suffer from disturbance or want of nourishment, and a 
simultaneous retardation of the change of elements. In conse- 
quence of these changes, the renovation of the atomic elements 
of the tissues and of the fluids proceeds so slowly, that the spores 

8 



114 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

which spread themselves on the surface of certain organs have 
time to abstract them for their own use. This is the common 
requirement of all parasites, and, just as those which live on 
other plants are chiefly met with on the epidermis (of the leaves 
or bark), which is remarkable for its slow and weak assimilation, 
so we find those living on animals preferring those parts which are 
slowest in changing their elements — as scales, shields, wing- 
covers, shells of muscles, epithelium, epidermis, &c. ; or they occur 
in tedious diseases which are followed by weakness, or a retarded 
and slower reproduction when the molecules of the tissue appear 
to have been retained too long. On animal mucous membranes 
such formations which undergo a slow metamorphosis are pro- 
duced upon the epithelium in spurious membranes, or by a 
diseased, acrid mucus. Similar changes are observed when a 
retardation in the change of elements takes place, in consequence 
of the wearing out of the spinal marrow in the Batrachia, when 
Saprolegnia ferox begins to spread most luxuriantly. Deposits 
of food which stick to the teeth, or, in certain insects, to the 
folds of the mucous membrane of the peritoneum, and which 
undergo in these places a retarded metamorphosis, produce simi- 
lar effects. Here we have the analogue of the great theory of 
*' manuring y^ without which agriculture could not exist, nor could 
vegetable parasites thrive. This constitutes, also, the principal 
difference between the nourishment of animal and vegetable para- 
sites. The former live upon the fresh juices and supplies of their 
host, which they first decompose or assimilate ; the latter live on 
and take up their food from substances already in a state of 
decomposition. When the. spores of the vegetable parasites be- 
come once fixed, they take their food either externally from the 
medium which surrounds them — which rarely happens with the 
vegetable parasites found on man ; or their presence causes the 
soil (i. e., the tissues) to be saturated with a peculiar fluid which 
changes in the air or not, and which may lead even to suppura- 
tion. All this greatly favours the rapid growth of Fungi. We 
have a good illustration in muscardine, where the animal itself 
(the silk-worm) shows the first signs of disease, and as soon as 
the iiingus known under the name of Botrytis has fixed itself, the 
circumstances favorable to its development are increased by its 
very presence. Artificial vaccination of vegetable parasites is the 
more successful the more diseased the animals are which are 
employed (see the experiments of Hilling and Hannover on 



GENEKAL CONSIDERATIONS. 115 

vaccination with the spores of Saprolegniay &c.) The fitness 
of the soil is, moreover, increased by the humidity, which 
increases daily and steadily in consequence of the germination of 
the spores, and which is favorable to the growth of the plants. 
It is always a sign favorable to their growth if this moisture 
shows at first a slight acrid reaction; this is, however, not so 
very indispensable as has been commonly thought, since many 
Fungi grow on neutral or alkaline soil ; as, for instance, in the 
peritoneum of the Herbivora and on ulcers of the trachea. 

Fungi prosper the more the richer the soil is in organic nitroge- 
nous substances, especially in such as are in a state of decom- 
position. 

Here also we find exemplified the great law which must be 
obeyed wherever plants are to prosper : " The choice of the 
loccUity depends upon the peculiar properties of the soil sought for 
or avoided by the various species of plants" For certain species 
prefer certain parts of their animal host. 

2. The nature of the gaseous medium seems quite indifferent 
to the development of vegetable parasites, for they are found in 
atmospheric air when on the skin, in an air rich in carbonic 
acid when in the cavity of the mouth and lungs, in an air not 
overcharged with carbonic acid gas when in the peritoneum. 
Thus, for instance, the Algte of the process of fermentation 
thrive best in an atmosphere rich in carbonic acid, whilst the 
Fungi appear to absorb oxygen and give off carbonic acid. Hu^ 
midity of the surrounding gaseous media (humidity of the atmo- 
sphere, humidity in the cavities of the body which contain air) 
favours the development of these parasites, 

8. Most favorable for the development of vegetable para- 
sites is the temperature of the body of the mammalia, especially 
in their natural cavities. Their growth may be increased in 
cold-blooded animals by raising the temperature of the surround- 
ing air. 

A knowledge of the circumstances which favour their growth 
enables us to form a " general theory of the treatment of vegeta- 
ble parasites.'' We have chiefly to look to a change in the me- 
dium in which they grow, and to bring on a state in which they 
cannot thrive so well. Of late Bazin has done much towards 
advancing this department of science ; his method contemplates 
more particularly the locality of the parasite, which it endeavours 
to change, and makes direct war against the predisposing disease by 



116 VEGETABLE PAKASITES. 

employing parasiticidal means^ and strengtheniag and improving 
the system. 

Physiology of vegetable parasites. — They all show — 

1. Nutrition, — Assimilation may be recognised distinctly^ or 
only indistinctly or not at all. The products of secretion are 
none or very sparing. Sometimes a few drops of oil are found 
on the surface or underneath the spores^ and even these may be 
viewed as the product of the transformation of the amylaceous or 
nitrogenous matter in plants. 

2. Development, — This varies according to the species^ it is, 
however, generally speaking, very rapid everywhere with vegeta- 
ble parasites, in consequence of the predominant assimilation. 

3. Heproduction, — This function is likewise very intense and 
rapid. The spores spring up rapidly in masses, and are capable of a 
very easy dispersion either by currents of air carrying the spores, 
or by water in which they are frequently whirling about. 

Effect of the parasite on its host, — The spore of the parasite 
germinates as soon as it has settled down on some part of the 
body, or it penetrates first deeper into the body underneath the 
epidermis, or in the open cavities of the body. The spores pene- 
trate rarely deep at first, but almost all will do so as soon as the 
filaments of the mycelium are formed, which penetrate rapidly the 
surface of the membranes and tissues, disturbing the functions of 
these parts, and killing smaller animals sometimes in two or 
three days ; as, for instance, the eggs of reptiles and fish (as 
those who endeavour to rear fish artificially have to their cost 
experienced), or the Batrachia themselves, upon whose skin they 
frequently settle down. The penetrating of the filaments is 
sometimes merely mechanical into readily formed cavities of the 
body, as in the follicles of the hair; sometimes it is caused by the 
elevation of the epithelium. It is, however, soon followed by 
organic action, since the hard and specifically heavier spore 
presses upon the soft tissue underneath and causes resorption in 
such places. The same occurs when the action of the organ on 
the spot where it lies presses it in deeper, or when its constantly 
increasing size causes molecule after molecule to be subjected to 
resorption underneath its weight. It may at the same time be 
observed that the process of germination, which goes on everywhere 
in nature with an unmeasurable display of power — a process by 
which the hard husk of the vegetable seed (spores) is rent, and 
the young plant enabled to push aside the soil, to lift and to break 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 117 

up, and to drive it asunder likewise in a downward direction in 
order to prepare a bed for its roots; that the same display of 
strength takes place on the human body, and thus enables the 
spores, filaments, mycelia, &c., to penetrate its tissues. Mecha- 
nical causes determine, therefore, the spores in penetrating 
deeper into the under-lying tissue, and producing atrophy of the 
fibres of the skin in these places. The cells containing the fat 
disappear, as a section of the skin will show, and a cavity is 
formed which is thinner at the spot where the growing parasite 
has fixed itself. According to Robin, the eggs of the Helminthse 
perforate the kernels of melons, apples, and cherries, and the in- 
testines themselves, in accordance to the simple laws of mechanical 
pressure. Inflammation of the tissue does not necessarily take place 
in these places, although of little concern ; but a certain amount of 
swelling, with or without the formation of pus-globules, may be 
observed round the place of deposition (the cavity). A favus- 
crust is formed, when the exuded mass coagulates and becomes 
mixed with epithelium. This explains the migration of the 
mycelia into the interior of the tissues and into closed cavities 
just as easily as the migration of other foreign bodies from one 
place of the body to another. The latter frequently takes, 
instead of the molecule placed and resorbed before the foreign 
body, another molecule on the opposite side, that is behind the 
foreign body, and helps thus to push it forward. 

Prognosis. — The preceding characteristics enable us, more- 
over, to gain an insight into the kind of injury which the parasites 
are able to do. They produce scarcely any critical symptoms, 
at the utmost a slight disturbance of the bodily functions, whilst 
they are restricted to a very small space, and live on animals of 
considerable size. The quicker, however, they grow, the more 
bulky they become ; the more important the organ is which they 
choose, and the more diminutive the body of the chosen host is, 
the more obnoxious becomes their influence on the host, and his 
very life may even be endangered by them. 

Absorption and penetration must not be confounded. The 
vegetable parasite absorbs, by receiving liquid constituents into 
its system without any change of the organic masses ; and it 
penetrates, since it is a solid body which penetrates another 
body, the tissues of which vanish beneath it by resorption ; and 
this it does without changing its own condition. 

Parasitical plants as the causes of epidemic diseases, — Without 



118 VEGETABLE PAEÄSITES. 

being able to prove it with certainty (we need only tbink of the 
cholera-parasites, which proved to be quite chimerical), epidemic 
diseases have, from time to time, been accounted for as produced by 
certain microscopic vegetable parasites. Bobiu is quite right, when 
he says — " This whole hypothesis is merely an attempt of medical 
men to seek the external conditions of the existence of universal 
affections in the changes of the internal constitution of beings, 
their atoms and molecules. Should there really be such vege- 
table parasites discovered in epidemic diseases, they might rather 
pass for consequences of the epidemic disorder of the fluids which 
has set in, than for the causes of such epidemics.'^ It is, un- 
fortunately, not yet quite clear what disorder of the fluids is 
necessary to make a single parasite thrive well. The disputed 
question, when better decided than it is now, as to whether cer- 
tain vegetable parasites, when transferred to any organism (no 
matter whether healthy or diseased), can develop themselves 
well, or whether they thrive only on special organisms, will 
enable us to decide the first question with greater certainty. 
All observations are yet incomplete; and we entirely lack ele- 
mentary observations on the temperature and degree of humidity 
of the atmosphere, which are certainly of no little influence^ 
during some seasons or years, with regard to the more frequent, 
almost epidemic appearance of certain vegetable parasites. 

Literature. — Principal work, ' Histoire naturelle des v^getaux 
Parasites qui croissent sur I'homme et sur les animaux vivants/ 
par Charles Robin (avec un Atlas), Paris, 1853. 



119 



SPECIAL PART. 



A. Alojb. 



Planta aquatica acotyledonea guttatim submucosa, granulosa 
floccosa, gelatinosa, membranacea vel coriacea ; filamentosa vel 
tandem foliosa ; olivacea purpurea virides leucophoea, albicanies 
vel raro achromaiica ; ceUulares ; cellulis minutissimus isolatis, vel 
filamentose out floccose articulaiis, aut in fills cum muco aggregatis 
vel tubulosis et continuis vel ariiculatis-prosenchymaticis vel paren» 
chymaticis formata, Sporidia nulla in minimis unicellularibus, halo 
vel partim gonimicis, aut in pericaypiis inclusa aut superficei in- 
spersa. Qiadam dioica. 

1. Sporidia cellula unicaimmota vel ciliis moveniia {zoopora), 

2. Spermatozoidia numerosa ex cellula unica ^^ in antheridiis in- 
clusa dein libere moventiaj' Kiitzing. 

The vegetative system^ which^ in other plants^ consists of ^'phy^ 
coma/^ is the vegetative system in general ; " cauloma/' the stem, 
and *^ phylloma" the branch, is represented in the Algse by the 
" caloma/^ or tubus, and *' trichoma,'^ or fiiamentum. The para- 
sitic Algse found upon living animals consist of cylindrical or 
flattened filaments, single or branched, frequently with dissepi- 
ments, or apparently articulated at certain distances, and con* 
taining greenish or grayish molecular granulations in varying 
quantities. Each of these granular masses is called a '^ gonidium/' 
whilst the granulated cell-contents is called the " endochrome" 
The tribes of these Algae have no special apparatus for fixing 
them in the mucus of the affected animal, but they are held firm 
by the crossing of the fibres. 

The reproductive system consists of the sporangium aud the 
spores. 

The sporangium, conceptacle, or spore-case, is the organ in 
which the spores originate, are developed, and enclosed. It is 
formed from a variously shaped vesicle, which is universally of 
larger size than the cells of the vegetative system, and originates 



120 VEGETABLE PAEASITES. 

in the extreme cell of a tube whose contents serve for the pro- 
duction of the spores. 

The spores, sporules, corps, reproducieurs, sporidia, spora, 
sporulcB, corpora or cellula gonimica, spermaiia, &c., are round 
or oval bodies, containing universally in their interior finely granu- 
lated corpuscles. They vaiy in size, but are easily distinguished 
either by their appearance or their germination. 

Man, according to Robin, grows on his body ten species of 
Algae, distributed in five genera ; or if the five species of Lepio- 
mitus are to be regarded as one, then five species in five genera ; 
or if the genus Leptomitus is regarded as a depauperated fungus, 
which will not fructify because deprived of the air (Robin), then 
four species in four genera. They all belong to the class ho- 
carpecB, and the order Eremospermea, with the exception of 
Merismopcedia Ventriculi, which Meyen has placed in the tribe 
Palmellea, 



I. Cryptococcus Cerevisia. Tab. I, fig. 1. 

Class — Isocarpetß : " Fructtis vertts [cellula) in singularibus 
speciehus uniformis ; spermaiia vera maiura {cellula) semper olü 
vaceO'fusca, ex cellula hologonimica formata,'^ 

Sub-class II — Malacophycea : " Phycoma ex cellulis organicis 
{gelineis, anylideis, gelatineis, fucineis ve) compositum, interaneis, 
gonimicis, viridibus, raro rubris vel achromadcis," 

Tribe — Gymnospermen : " Spermatia ex cellulis vel superfi- 
cialibus, vel subcosiicalibus medullaribusque formata, nee spermangio 
communi inclusa," 

Order I — Eremospermea : ^' Spermatia in superficie phycomatis 
sparsa." 

Sub-order I — Mycophycea : " Alga mucedine plerumque achro- 
matica, raro luteolescentes vel rubra in corporibus organicis vel in 
solutionibus crescentes" 

Family — Cryptococcea : " Globuli gonimici minutissimi solidi' 
mucosi, in stratum indefinitum aggregati,'' 

Genus — Cryptococcus : " Globuli gonimici in stratum amorphum 
diffusum aggregati.^* 

Species — Cryptococcus cerevisia, 

Synon. : Toi^la CerevisuB (Turpin) ; Cryptococcus Fermentum. 

This plant must not be confounded, as has been done by 



CEYPTOCOCCTJS CEREVISIiE. 121 

Vogel, with Mycoderma Cerevisue, which grows on the surface of 
Crypiococcus Cerevisue, and is a species of Lepiomitus. 

Description. — '' Cryptococcus cellulis achromaticis, globosis out 
ovatisy corpusculo intemo (nucleus?) hyalino notatis ; diam. fie- 
rumque 0007 interdum 0005 — 0003 mm. 

Variety. — C. concatenata (Kiitzing). ^' Cellulis ellipticis vel ob- 
longis in trichomata abbreviata ramosa concatenatis, corpusculis 
intemis interdum binis,'' 

It is found in yeast, diabetic urine, in the mouth, stomach, 
oesophagus, &c. 

This parasitical plant is composed of round or oval cells, which 
often present in their interior one or two little corpuscles, which 
are more like globules of oil, or the nucleus of a cell, than a 
vesicle. They are propagated by small projecting bodies on the 
sides of the cells, which, when they attain the size of the parent- 
cells, give origin to new germs, and form a row of from three 
to five elongated cells, but never a cylindrical stem. In the air 
it immediately decomposes, on account of which it does not 
fructify in the air as the Fungi. The presence of one or two 
brilliant, strongly refractive globules in the interior of the cells, 
and which are often regarded as globules of oil, is very charac- 
teristic. Hannover and Vogel have not taken this circumstance 
into consideration; they have confounded the spores of various 
species of Fungi with the cells of this Alga, and have falsely 
supposed that all vegetable bodies with round or tubular forms 
constituted an especial variety. 

Locality. — This Cryptococcus is developed morbidly in the 
secretions of the oesophagus, the stomach, or the intestines, or 
is introduced into these situations by means of beer. Hannover 
found it in the black fur of the tongue of persons labouring under 
typhus ; Lebert, in the mouth of a woman who had long pre- 
viously suffered from disease of the womb ; Vogel, in faeces and 
vomited matter; Robin, in the bitter fluid vomited by a woman 
who, after fasting many weeks, ate some decomposing apples; 
Gruby, in a woman who had for eight years laboured under hys- 
teria, accompanied for four years with daily vomiting (the vomited 
matter consisted entirely of an agglomeration of Cryptococcus, 
with mucus, saliva, and the remains of the food — as the Crypto- 
coccus seems to have the power of developing itself on the inner 
coat of the stomach in the same way as the Champignon du 
Muguet in pharyngeal diphtherite) ; Bennett, in the vomited 



122 VEGETABLE PAEASITES. 

matter from a cholera patient (the so-called '' cholera fungi '^ of 
Swayne, Brittan^ and Budd^ which they found in the stools and 
vomited matter of cholera patients^ and which the latter found in the 
water and the air of the afiected place^ seems to be nothing more 
than the ferment-alga^ as has been pointed out by Baly and Gull, 
Griffith, Bennett, Robertson, Robin, and others^) ; Vogel, Ilmoni, 
and others, found this fungus in diabetic urine, and also in the 
urine of patients affected with scarlet fever. Thus showing that 
sugar was not necessary for the production of this fungus. Hera- 
path at)d Quain also found it in the urine of cholera patients. 

The development of this plant goes on very rapidly when it is 
in contact with decomposing substances, or liquid acids at a 
favorable temperature, as in the intestinal canal. But in all 



^ [Many other bodies besides the spores of Cryptoeocau were regarded as cholera 
fungi. The following observations were made at the time of the discussion of this sub- 
ject by Professor Busk, who was then president of the Microscopical Society of London, 
at one of the evening meetings of the Society. He stated that he should confine hit 
attention to the papers of Dr. William Budd, Dr. Brittan, and Dr. Swayne, each of 
whom had written papers and given drawings of bodies which they supposed to be fungL 
In the first place, he remarked that amongst the varied bodies figured by these gentle, 
men there was only one set that bore so strong a resemblance to each other as to claim 
anything like a common character. With regard to the figured bodies from air and 
water they were not definite enongh to yield any possibility of classing them with one 
body or another. With regard to the more definite bodies figured by Drs. Budd, 
Brittan, and Swayne, and found in their preparations, he had with one exception found 
these in the matter passed by cholera patients on board the Dreadnought. These 
bodies, which were described as fungi, were of three dififerent kinds. First, there existed 
a cellular body, which was more particularly figured by Dr. Swayne, and existed in two 
of his preparations, one in the possession of Dr. Lankester and the other in his own, 
which evidently exhibited the characters of the spore of a uredo, and on examination 
of some specimens of uredo from a loaf of bread bought at a baker's, it was found to 
correspond precisely with the spore of the cholera patient. As this species of fungus 
was very common in bread that had been kept and easily resisted the digestive action of 
the stomach, the presence of it in a few cases was well accounted for. The second class 
of bodies, and which under a high magnifying power, with a bad light, looked exceedingly 
like the last, consisted of small portions of the inner membrane of the grain of wheat. 
In the coarser kinds of flour this membrane was not separated, and he had no doubt 
that these bodies were introduced with the bread eaten as food. A third form of these 
more definite bodies was evidently due to the presence of undigested starch-granules. 
Drawings of all these bodies were exhibited, and their strong resemblance to the bodies 
figured by the Bristol observers was at once recognised. In conclusion, the author 
stated that he did not wish to pronounce an opinion that the existence of a vegetable 
organism as the cause of cholera was impossible, but from the observations he had now 
laid before the Society, he considered that such a cause in the production of cholera had 
certainly not yet been demonstrated. {Daily Newi, Oct. 19th, 1849.)] Trans. 



CRYPTOCOCCUS CEREVISI^. 123 

cases it will be found the fermentation has commenced previous 
to the development of the Cryptococcus. 

It is of great pathological importance^ as has been pointed out 
by Vogel^ to regard this plant only as an accompaniment^ and 
not as the cause of fermentation. It is an epiphenomenon — a 
result of the altered condition of the fluids — ^which have assisted 
its development ; but it is never the cause of the change in the 
fluids, or of the accompanying vomiting. Hence there is no 
other method of treatment than a constitutional one. 

In the loose stools of sucking children, according to Wedl, a 
rich formation of fungus is a common phenomenon. It is found, 
however, with diflSculty, and only in thin divided layers of the 
faecal mass, and after treatment with the carbonates of the 
alkalies. According to Frerichs, these fungi are more frequent 
in the large intestine than in the stomach, and are the forerunners 
and accompaniments of the spontaneous decomposition of the 
lower part of the intestinal canal. An oval or elongated cellular 
fungus, with free transparent globules in its interior, has also 
been found by Frerichs in the large intestine, and a similar form 
in the small intestines of the rabbit. (See Tab« I, fig. 1, vol. ii.) 

LUerature. — Vogel, ' Icones histol. * pathol.,' Lipsise, 1843, 
p. 93; Henle, 'Pathol. Untersuchungen,' 1840, pp. 87 — 65; 
Hannover, Ueber Entophyten auf den Schleimhauten des todten 
und lebenden Menschen, MüUer's 'Archiv fur Anat. u. Phys.,' 
1842, p. 281, tab. xv, figs. 1 — 4; Remak, 'Diagnostische und 
Pathogenetische Untersuchungen,' Berlin, 184-5, ix ; ' Pilze der 
Mundhöhle und des Darm Kanals,' pp. 221 — ^227 ; Boehm, ' Die 
Kranken Darmschleimhäute in der Cholera,' Berlin, 1828, p. 57 ; 
Vogel, ' AUgem. pathol. Anat.,' Leipzig, 1852, p. 895 ; Robin, 
'Des Fermentations,* Paris, 1847; Gruby, 'Compt. rend, des 
Seances de l'Acad. royale des Sciences de Paris,' 1814, xviii, 
p. 586; Ilmoni, ' Foerkandligar vidde Skandinaviske Natur- 
forskames tredje Moetei,' Stockholm, 18 — 19, 1842, p. 840; 
Bennett, ' Lectures on Clinical Medicine,' Edinburgh, 1851, 
p. 213, fig. 79, and p. 222, fig. 102; Robin, ' Histoire naturelle 
des v^^taux Parasites,' Paris, 1853, pp. 822 — 327; "'Atlas,' 
tab. ii, fig. 10, tab. iv, figs. 3 and 4, tab. vi, fig. 1. 



124 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 



II. Merismopcedia VeniricuH (Meven). Tab. 1, fig. 2. 

Class — IsocarpetB. 

Sub-class — MalacophycecB, 

Tribe — Palmellece, 

Celluke globoscB elHpticiB, aut raro polyedrica, libera ; plus vel 
minus discreta, vel in strata plerumque definito aggregata. 

Genus — Merismopcedia. 

Phycoma parvulum non affixum, quadratum, planum ; gonidiis 
[cellulis) quatematiis, solidis {aquatica). 

Species — M. ventriculi. 

Synon. — Genus : Sarcina, Species : S. ventriculi (Goodsir). 
Sarcina of authors. 

Phycoma coriaceum, pelluddum, quadratum prismaticum aut 
irreguläre ; 8, 16, 64 cellulis quadraiis quatematis, nucleatis, leviter 
aruginosis compositum ; diam. cellularum 0"008 mm. ; nucleorum 
0002-4 mm. ; strato longit. 0-030 — 0050 ; lat. 001 6 — 0*020 mm. 

This is a compound membranous, transparent plant, formed 
out of cubical, elongated, prismatic, or even irregular masses, 
which are ordinarily composed of eight, sixteen, or sixty-four 
cubical cells {gonidia). Each cell is divided on its surface, 
through slight furrows, into four prominences (frustula, Goodsir). 
The neighbouring cells touch, or barely touch each other, and are 
usually coloured of a faint red. The internal nucleus has the 
bright brewn colour of the entire mass. 

Habitat. — In veniriculo hominis sani et agroti aut Leporis 
cunicul, in facibus hominis et imprimis diarrhoicis, in urime 
crassiminibus et pene tabido et abscessum gangrtenosorum ex c. 
pulmonum. 

This plant, which for the host it inhabits appears so injurious, 
consists generally of cubical prismatic, roundish, or irregular 
masses of cells, which are square at one end and round at the 
other, and of which the largest are 0*055-30 mm. long, and 
0-020-16 mm. broad. These masses are very consistent, re- 
sembling the corium ; they are to a certain degree elastic, heavier 
than water (so that they fall to the bottom in liquids), colourless 
or slightly brown or reddish, transparent. According to Virchow, 
they are coloured yellow at first by iodine, and swell up, and are 



MERISMOPCEDIA VENTRICULI. 125 

rendered colourless by the addition of cold sulphuric acid. When 
sulphuric acid alone is added^ they become reddish or brownish 
from carbonization. According to Hasse^ they become brown 
when first treated with cold sulphuric acid, and afterwards with 
iodine. They contract somewhat in alcohol, and are not destroyed 
even by heat, nitric acid, or the caustic alkalies, but their cellular 
structure gives way. Wlien pressed between two pieces of glass, 
they give, according to Lebert, a sandy feeling. Towards 
reagents they behave as the Diatomacese, on account of which 
Lebert attributed to them a siliceous covering. But when treated 
with muriatic acid, and burned, they yield an ash in which the 
form of Sarciua can no longer be discovered. They are not 
destroyed by putrefaction coming on in the fluids in which they 
are contained. Their structure is very simple; they adhere 
together sometimes merely through contact, and sometimes 
through a mucilaginous interstitial mass, which swells up in 
solutions of the alkalies. The cells measure about 0008-10 mm., 
and exhibit under the lower powers of the microscope, cubical 
blunt edges, but under higher powers the edges are sinuous. 
With lower powers these edges again appear pointed, but with 
higher powers they are rounded at the comers. They have in 
the middle of the surface a slight depression. From this central 
depression there proceed four linear depressions or furrows, from 
which originate four roundish projections, which, although they 
are not to be compared with the corresponding formations in 
Diatomacece, have nevertheless been named "friistula '* by Goodsir. 
The cells lie generally four, eight, twelve, sixteen, twenty-four, 
&c., together. Through pressure, they break away, and form 
smaller masses, resembling the parent-cells, and should they pre- 
sent a kind of envelope, it arises from their coming in contact 
with the digesting food or mucus. 

Every cell, according to Robin, is either composed of an 
homogeneous mass, free from nuclei, or more frequently of the 
same mass with four or two or three nuclei. Both kinds of cells 
are to be seen near one another, according to the observations of 
Hasse, KöUiker, Müller, Simon, Robin, and Lebert. Robin 
thinks that those who have not seen these nuclei at all, must 
have accidentally missed them, or used magnifying powers under 
600 diameters. These nuclei, which are from 2 to 4000th, seldom 
the 6000th of a millimeter in diameter, are cubical, elongated 



126 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

prismatic, with rounded corners or even almost spherical, refract 
the light strongly, and contain nucleoli. Sometimes nothing is 
to be seen in the cells but these four nuclei. Virchow, who seems 
to have examined these bodies carefully, maintained that they 
were neither nuclei nor protuberances, but that they were depres- 
sions from which the furrows proceeded, or a point of crossing 
from which a new furrow took it» origin. 

Neither Virchow nor Lebert ever saw this fungus present at 
the same time with the ferment-fungus, but Lebert saw it at the 
same time with the Alffa filiformis ojHs. 

Medium. — The fluid in which these Algte flourish sometimes 
gives an acid reaction, as, for instance, in the vomited matters 
in which Wilson discovered acetic, muriatic, and lactic acids. It 
is less frequently alkaline, but has been found by Virchow in 
ammoniacal pus. 

Method of observation. — The matter containing the plant 
should be collected in the most convenient manner. Vomited 
matter should be allowed to rest, and the deposit collected. 
This should be submitted to the microscope, with a magnifying 
power of not less than 600 diameters. 

Nature and character of this formation, — John Goodsir dis- 
covered this organism in 1842, and indicated its vegetable nature, 
which is held by naturalists at the present day ; but Busk and Link 
regarded the Sarcina as an animal belonging to the genus Gonium, 
and Schlosberger maintained that it was nothing more than 
decomposed primitive muscular fibre. The views of the first two 
observers were refuted by the brothers Goodsir, Harry and John ; 
the last was opposed by Virchow, who showed that the cubical 
portions of Sarcina were much larger than any that could result 
from the decomposition of the bundles of muscular fibres. He 
also showed that the muscular fibre entirely disappeared in acetic 
acid, whilst the Sarcina was only distended, and that muscular 
fibre disappeared in water, whilst Sarcina remained. With re- 
spect to the view that it is a product »of the decomposition of 
the tissue of the animal body resembling fatty degeneration, 
Virchow remarks that it is insoluble in ether. Hence he arrives 
at the following results : 

1. The Sarcina is no product of decomposition. 

2. It stands in no relation to fermentation, or certain other 
morbid symptoms. 



MERISMOPCEDIA VENTRTCULI. 127 

3. But provided its cellular nature be clearly made out, it may 
be arranged with certain forms of lower plants. 

Some writera have regarded it as identical with the ferment- 
fungus; but as we have already seen, there is no proof of its 
identity, or of its connection with the process of fermentation. 

Lehmann regards it as identical with Merisniopoedia punctata ; 
Meyen with Gonium tranquill, Ehr., and Agmenellum quadru 
dupücatum, Br^bisson. But it is distinguished from these species 
by it« tabular-formed masses, by the nearly double size of its 
surfaces, and their lying more close to each other. 

Robin observes that in the representations of Bennett and 
O. Funke the nuclei are not given. 

Development, — According to Goodsir, this plant is increased 
singly through division. Frerichs, who observed specimens ob- 
tained from a fistula in the stomach of a dog, says that at first 
the plant appeared in the form of round isolated cells, seldom 
two together. They were without enlargements, and about 
0005-7 mm. large. At first they were transparent, and exhibited 
a furrow in the middle, which soon became crossed by another 
at right angles, each running to the periphery, and dividing the 
cell into four parts. Each individual was thus divided into four 
right-angled plates, which were divided from each other through 
the crossed lines. The most recent case of Sarcina is that re- 
ported by Neale, in the ^ Medical Times ' for July, 1852. In 
this case there was also found in the vomited matters, the spores 
of Penicillum fflaucum, and also through the use of reagents the 
formation of murexid (by the addition of nitric acid and ammonia), 
and of crystals similar to uric acid, and the ferment-fungus, 
which had not been previously observed in this position. Jenner's 
case ('Med.-Chir. Rev.,' Oct., 1853, p. 329) is less interesting. In 
this case, Sarcina was found in the fluid of the ventricle of the brain 
which had stood in an open glass ; but whether it was really in 
the body, or had got into the glass after the removal of the fluid 
from the body, there was no means of knowing. There had been 
no vomiting previous to death. Hassall (^ Lancet,' April, 1853, 
p. 338) found the Sarcina in vomited matters, together with 
starch-granules, the spores of Penicillum glaucum, and other dark 
brown and oval corpuscles, with free lactic and muriatic acids. 

Treatment, — This parasite, as already remarked, is mostly met 
with through vomiting, at least during life this is the only way 
in which it is discovered. The cause of the vomiting is, however. 



128 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

usually attributed to some other form of disease of the stomachy 
aud the treatment is directed accordingly. On physiological 
principles^ the treatment must be conducted to meet the two 
following indications : 

1. The removal of the spores through laxatives and emetics. 

2. The destruction of the cells, and thereby the prevention of 
their development. 

At present we have no means of carrying out this indication. 
The so-called Parasiiicida, copper and corrosive sublimate, which 
are eflFective as against the development of fungi generally, 
are not applicable here, as they can only be applied where the 
plant affects the surface of the body. The means hitherto pro- 
posed effect but little good. Hasse praises nitrate of potash; 
also silver, but according to Wunderlich, it has proved of no 
more value than creosote. In recent times, Neale and Hassall 
have commended the hyposulphite of soda (9j — 3ss), in an 
infusion of quassia (3ss), three times a day. With the first it 
produced no actual cure, and with the second only a suspension 
of the disease for five weeks. 

Literature. — John and Harry D. S. Goodsir, * Anatomical and 
Pathological Observations,' Edinburgh, 1841 — 1845 ; Heller, in 
Griesinger's ' Archiv für Phys. Heilk.,' 1S4S, part i, and in 
Heller's ' Archiv für physiol. und pathol. Chemie und Micro- 
scopic,' 1852, part i, p. 30; Busk, * Microscopical Journal,' 
1843 ; Virchow, Sarcina in his and Reinhardt's ^ Archiv für 
pathol. Anatomie Physiol, und Klinischen Medicin,' i, 1847, 
p. 264; Schlossberger, ' Würtemb. Correspoudenzbl.,' 1846, No. 
26, and in Vierordt's 'Arch.,' 1846, vi, pp. 747—768; Hasse, 
in 'Mitth. d. Zur. Naturf. Ges.,' 1847, p. 95; K. Müller, * Bot. 
Zeit.,' 1847, April, No. 26 ; G. W. Simon, ' De Sarcina ventric. 
Dissert, inaug.,' Halle, 1847 ; Naegeli, ' Gattungen einzelliger 
Algen,' &c., Zurich, 1849, p. 2, where the Sarcina is falsely 
regarded as a fungus ; Lehmann, ' Lehrbuch der physiolog. 
Chemie,' Leipzig, 1850, ii, p. 128 (translated for the Cavendish 
Society by Dr. G. E. Day, 1851) ; Bennett, ' Introduction to 
Clinical Medicine,' Edinburgh, 1853, p. 214, fig. 80; O. Funke, 
'Atlas der physiol. Chemie,' tab. vii, fig. 4; Robin, 'Histoire 
naturelle des v6getaux Parasites,' Paris, 1853, pp. 331 — 345 ; 
Atlas, tab. i, fig. 8, and tab. xii, fig. 1. 



LEPTOTHEIX BUCOALIS. 129 



III. Leptothrix buccalis. Tab. I, figs. 8 — 6. 

Class — Isocarpea. 

Sub-class — Malacophycete. 

Tribe — Gymnospermem. 

Order I — Eremospermea. 

Family — Leptothricea : '' THchomaia tranquilla ienuissima, con- 
tinua {vel obsolete articulata). CelluUe propagatorue propruB 
nulkB, FUamenta tubulosa, continua, sine articulatione et motu, 
endochromate confluente, indistincto plena. CdluUB propagatrices 
nulla aut ignot(e'' 

Genus — Leptothrix : FUamenta tenuissima eramosa nee con- 
creta, recta aut interdum curvaia. 

Species — Leptothrix buccalis: " Trichomatibus rigidulis, line» 
aribus reciis vel inflexis, non moniliformibus, achromaticis, extre^ 
mttatibus obtusis, basi in stromate amorpho granuloso, adharenti- 
bus: long. 0020—0100, /a/. 00005 mm.'' 

Habitat: " In superficie lingua, intervallis dentium, cavo den-' 
tium corruptorum, unde in succos stomachi aut intestinorum {si 
diarrhoea accedit) descendit." 

Wedl describes this plant as occurring upon the epithelium of 
the papiUse of the tongue in the form of a dark brownish-yellow 
granular mass. From these nlasses are developed very delicate 
fibrill» transversely divided, entirely structureless, and about 
0-0008 mm. broad. They are not affected by vinegar or weak 
alkaline solutions. They are of various lengths, and mostly 
assume a bent position. They commence with a few fibrillse, 
and gradually form projecting bundles which are evidently of a 
vegetable nature. They can be easily procured by scraping the 
middle of the tongue, and are seldom absent except in the case 
of clean red tongues, whilst they are most numerous on the upper 
part of the tongue. Wedl, Kölliker^ and Höfie regarded them 
as Fungi ; but Bobin describes them as Algse. He says that this 
parasite is found accompanied by epithelial cells^ and a number of 
a species of Vibrio. It consists of small semitransparent, finely 
granular yellowish masses of variable form, and a length of 0020 — 
0*040 mm., and consist of numerous round, straight filaments, free 
at one end, and with the other planted in the granular mass. 
Under the highest powers of the microscope small round granules 

9 



130 VEGETABLE PAEASITES. 

(spores) can be seen in the space between the filaments. The 
filaments depend sometimes from a kind of stem, but there is no 
branching or movement of the filaments, nor are there sporangia 
or clearly, spores present. The Vibriones are very small, but 
are always mixed with epithelial cells, mucus- and pus-globules, 
and molecular particles. Individual filsunents are found free in 
the saliva (Lebert). 

The soil on which these plants grow is the decomposing 
deposits of food which lie between the papillse of the tongue 
and their processes. 

These parasites may be found in great abundance and very 
fine on the soft masses of food which collect between the teeth, 
especially if they are allowed to accumulate for some days. 
Wedl found them in the molecular masses which collect between 
the tonsils in a dead body. In the stomach and small intestines 
they frequently accumulate, and Robin has observed them in 
the stools of typhus patients. 

Closely related to these are certain fibrillose and very numerous 
corpuscles without any transverse division or branching. They 
are thicker than the last, and about 0014 to 0024 mm. long. 
They have a great tendency to break up transversely. They are 
neither soluble in ether nor alcohol, nor are they changed by 
heat or the caustic alkalies and mineral acids. These are per- 
haps the filaments found free in the saliva by Lebert. According to 
Wedl their nature is unknown, and he suggests they may be 
Vibrios. Their envelopes, according to him, are composed of 
silicic acid, whilst Bühlmann maintains they contain fluoric 
acid. This resistance to reagents does not, however, appear to 
be opposed to their vegetable nature, as we know that many 
plants contain sufficient silica to resist the action of heat. 

These formations were known to Leeuwenhoek, who found 
them present in forty-seven out of forty-nine healthy persons, so 
that he regarded them as the result of uncleanliness. 

There is hardly any treatment to be described. The best 
thing that can be done is to prevent their growth, by rinsing out 
the mouth and using a tooth-brush after every meal. The tooth- 
brush should be used on the inside as well as the outside of the 
teeth. J. Outman, in a little work entitled ' The Tooth-brush,' 
has well observed that in the use of this instrument we should 
not be satisfied with brushing across the teeth, but should brush 
up and down from the gums to the crown of the teeth, whereby 



LEPTOMITÜS ÜEOPHILUS. 131 

the parasites get removed from secret corners in which they are 
lurking. The tongue should also be cleaned with the brush or 
the scraper. 

Literature. — Ant. Leeuwenhoek, 'Arcana naturse detecta,' 
Lugd. Batav., 1722, i, 40, fig. a; Mandl, 'Recherches micro- 
scopiques sur la composition du Tartre et des Eilduits muqueux,' 
* Compt. rend.,' xvii, p. 213 ; Bemak, ' Diagnostiche und patho- 
genische Untersuchungen,' Berlin, 1845; Bühlmann, Müller's 
'Archiv,' 1840, pp. 442 — 445, tab. xiii, figs. 1 — 6; Henle, 
'Allgemeine Anatomie,' ii; Bouditch, 'American Journal of 
the Med. Sciences,' April, 1850, p. 362 ; Robin, 1. c, pp. 345 — 
364 ; ' Atlas,' tab. i, figs. 1, 2 ; Wedl, ' Orundziige der patholog. 
Histologie,' (translated for Sydenham Society by Busk), pp. 
746—749. 

IV. Leptomitus urophilus. 

Family — Lepiomiiea : " Alga cey)ito84e, lubrica, vel adnatte vel 
libera, ex trichomatibus artictdatis, subtilibua achromaticis com- 
positte,^* 

Oenus — Leptomitus : " Trichoma articulatum in apicem attenua- 
turn, ramosum ; articuli caviy vagittati, Spermatia {Sporidia) later^ 
alia, raro interstitialia, epispermio pellucido cincta.'^ 

Species — L, urophilus: Filis cespitosis, hyalinis, ramosissimis, 
ramisque pateniibiis alteme subtemis articulaiis ; articulis diametro 
aquaÜbus vel sesquiduplo longioribus. 

Bobin : " Cespes hemispharicus, gelatinosus, altitudine 2 vel 8 
millim. metiens. Fila primaria e puncto cenirali quaquaversus 
irradiantia ; hyalina, a basi ramosissima, vix 0*0075 mm. crassa. 
Rami iterum atque iterum ramosi, ramis patentibus. Ramuli tertU 
ordinis temi quatemive, secundi, obtusi, 0*0030 mm. circiter 
tequantes, sensim minores evadunt prout apicem versus, ubi ex 
singula articulo quandoque constant, observantur. Articuli varies 
longitndinis ; gonidiis nullis fracti, at spatium orbiculare pellucidum 
{an guttulam oleosam ?) in centro exhibentes." 

The nature of this parasite is still doubtful, and Robin ex- 
presses his conviction that the genera Leptomitus and Hygrocrocis 
are degenerated forms of fungi which cannot fructify because 
they are withdrawn from the influence of the light. It seems, 
indeed, more probable that these parasites have some relation to 
cystic formations, than that they should develope in the urine, as 



182 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

the name urophilus seems to indicate. It also appears to me 
that the distinction between these formations and the changes 
which milk-hairs undergo by the morbid collection of air in their 
interior has not been sufficiently attended to. 

Habitat: In urina marbosa cum fills emissa (Bayer). 

Literature. — 'Compt. rendus' et 'M^moires de la Soci^t^ de 
Biologie/ 1849, i, p. 29; Robin, loc. cit., p. 361. 



V. Leptwnitus (?) Hannoverii, Tab. I, figs. 7 and 8. 

FUamenta recta, tenida, nunc pellucidaf nunc granulös conti' 
nentia, ramosissima ad unum aut ad utrumque latus; rami non 
multo tenuiores truncis ; extremitates interdum inflate. 

Habitat : Hannover invenit speciem in massa pulposa ulcerum 
cesophagiy et in typho, pneumonia, pleuresia, pkthisi, delirio tre^ 
mente, apoplexia, diabete, gastritide chronica. 

This formation presents itself upon the living body on the tongue 
and pharynx. It has been described so inaccurately by authors, 
that Hannover, Mayer, and also Robin, each one of them, takes 
a different view of this organism. Robin thinks that Hannover 
has entirely overlooked the spores. 

Literature. — Hannover, * Ueber Entophyten auf den Schleim- 
häuten des todten und lebenden menschlichen Körpers,' Müller's 
' Archiv,' 1842, p. 280, tab. xv, and Valentin's ^ Repertorium,' 
1848, p. 84 ; Robin, 1. c, pp. 362 — 364 ; ' Atlas,' ii, figs. 11, 12. 



VI. Leptomitus (?) Epidermidis. Tab. I, fig. 9. 

Gubler, who found this parasite, says that it occurred in a 
young man who received a wound with a bullet through the 
right hand. The wound was poulticed, and the skin became 
white, opaque and wrinkled, as though macerated. On the fifth 
day there appeared on the back of the hand and of the little 
finger, white vesicles (like eczema vesicles after poultices), which 
graduaUy increased in numbers and size, and produced a slight 
itching. When scratched they emitted a reddish fluid, but under the 
microscope they exhibited a number of byssoid filaments, such as 
occur in " muguet." These filaments were very long, frequently 
divided across, but were less clearly diaphanous and articulated 



LEPTOMITUS MUCI TJTERINI. 183 

than the filaments of ^'muguet/' Partition walls could be 
clearly seen^ especially towards the ends of the primitiye filaments^ 
and in the secondary branches. Gubler could not find spores in 
the inside of the filaments^ but only free in the sporidia which 
floated about in the water used for microscopical examination. 
The sporidia were eUiptical in form, straight or slightly bent, and 
divided into two cavities by a partition wall. Montagu regards 
this parasite as a Leptomiius, or a cryptogam standing nearly 
related to it. 

Literature. — ' Proces verbaux des Seances de la Soci^t^ Bio- 
logie/ Samedi, 24 Janv., 1852 ; Robin, 1. c, pp. 364 and 365 ; 
'Atlas/ X, fig. 1. 



VII. Leptomitiis Uteri. 

Lebert, in 1850, found an Alga in uterine mucus, which has 
since been more accurately described by Robin. It consists — 

1. Of naked tubes, which are more or less elongated and 
branched, and are without partition walls and granulations in 
their interior. 

2. Of tubes a little broader, articulated, and furnished with 
partition walls of varying length, and sometimes branched, and 
which are terminated by granulated masses or spores. 

3. Of spores which are sometimes formed of ovoid, elongated, 
granulated cells, with one or two dear drops in their interior, 
and sometimes of ovoid or spherical cells with prolongations. 
The last cell of the receptaculum which bears the spores is 
ordinarily more swollen than the others, and a little granulated. 

Lebert thinks that the spores of this Alga might be destroyed 
by injections into the neck of the uterus. 

Literature. — ^A communication from Lebert to Robin, pub- 
lished in the work of the latter on the ' History of Vegetable 
Parasites/ pp. 366 and 367; 'Atlas,' v, fig. 1. 

VIII. Leptomitus (?) Mud uterini. Tab. IIa, fig. 1. 

This alga was found by Wilkinson in a morbid puriform dis- 
charge from the uterus of a woman seventy-six years old. It 
consisted of primary and secondary filaments, the latter of which 
were from ^th to ^th of an inch in diameter. The edges wcr^ 



184 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

colourless« They were of various lengths^ and bent and undu- 
lated. They were rendered transparent by acetic acid, and were 
seen to be composed of elongated cells, laid end to end, as in 
many fresh-water Confervse. In some of the filaments the cel- 
lular structure disappeared, so that they appeared like simple 
fibres. 

The primary filaments were from two to six times larger than 
the secondary. The broadest were shortest, and terminated 
at one end bluntly, and at the other with a bundle of six or 
seven long secondary filaments. The blunt ends of the primary 
filaments seemed to be adapted to the formation of partition walls 
and spores. Besides these, Wilkinson observed ovoid or spherical 
corpuscles, which frequently presented, when treated with acetic 
acid, a nucleus. On account of the above-noticed bundles of 
small fibres, Wilkinson called this parasite Lorum (wool) uteri. 
This parasite is not injurious to its host. The drawing given by 
Wilkinson resembles the Spharia RobertHi, of which Eobin has 
given a figure in his tab. xiii, fig. 6. 

Literature. — Wilkinson, Some Bremarks upon the Develop- 
ment of Epiphytes, with the description of a new vegetable 
formation found in connection with the human Uterus, ' Lancet,' 
1849, p. 448, figs. 1 and 2 b (fig. 2 a' and a are out of the 
question, as they appear to be Cryptococcus cerevisice) ; Robin, 
L c. pp. 367 — 869. 

IX. Leptomitus (?) Octäi. 

Helmbrecht relates the case of a clergyman, forty-two years of 
age, who came under his care for an inflammation of both eyes, 
and which was attended with a sudden sanguineous enlargement 
in the left eye. Warm fomentations and a foot-bath removed 
the phenomenon, but epiphora and a flashing in the eye re- 
mained. By resting the eye this also disappeared, when he 
suddenly, without any obvious cause, saw figures of a constant 
form with the left eye, and musca volitantes in the right. The 
last got well, but there remained in the fiela of vision of the left 
eye a constant form, which moved itself in a definite manner in 
various directions. After this the patient had a fall from a 
carriage, when the movements of the figure became more free. 
Helmbrecht now made a puncture in the lower part of the cornea, 
to allow of the passage of the body supposed to be loosened by 



LEPTOMITUS OCÜLI. 135 

the fall. In the fluid which came away there was found under 
the microftcope, with a power of 280 diameters, a branched 
vegetable body, divided into four parts, which consisted of con- 
fervoid cylinders and rows of spores. After the operation the 
patient got quite well. 

It was a pity that the spores were thrown away without any 
attempt to make them germinate, so as to ascertain the nature 
of this parasite. 

Literature. — Helmbrecht, ' Fall einer confervenartigen After- 
production in der Augenkammer des linken Auges, welche nach der 
Paracentese glücklich beseitigt wurde, Casper's ' Wocheuschrift der 
Gesammte Heilkunde/ 1842, No. 37, pp. 593 — 600, and Neuber 
in the same. No. 53; Bobin, I.e., pp.369 — -371. 

Hannover, in his recent work on the eye (1852), has related a 
very similar case. A man who had a long time been troubled 
with figures as of a string of pearls before his eye, had the 
operation of paracentesis performed on his eye. In the fluid 
which escaped there was found a branched mass of small cylin- 
ders, which were partly filled with globules, and partly covered 
externally with minute processes, which were without cylindrical 
walls, and moniliform in shape« The fungus, which occupied the 
entire of the interior of the eye, was colourless, or of a slight 
gray colour, and exhibited two principal forms, one consisting of 
fine fibres, the other of coarse. The contour of the fine fibres 
was linear and simple, their contents clear and uniform. The 
broader fibres were crisped, but of a simpler contour, and with 
granular contents. Other fibres were moniliform, with an irre- 
gular contour, and clear uniform or granular contents, and were 
longer and more numerous than the fine fibres. The coarse 
fibres were sometimes linear and simple, with clear and glittering 
homogeneous contents, with small and short branches ; sometimes 
they had an undulating contour, as though they were composed 
of these compressed globules ; glittering fibres reflected the light 
like drops of oil. Lastly, there were present many free globules 
(sporidia), from two to three times as large as blood-globules. 
These bodies refracted the light very strongly, resembled the 
cells of the ferment-fungus of beer, and had uniform contents 
without a nucleus. Some of the cells were isolated, whilst others 
were heaped together. The coarse and fine fibres were found 
towards the periphery of the eye, whilst the pearl-necklace fibres 
were in the inside. The innermost masses oonsisted almost en^ 



186 VEGETABLE PABASITES. 

tirely of free sporidia^ and some fibres with the appearance of 
rows of globules. 

Hannover says that previous to the establishment of the 
disease or the destruction of the eye in this case, there must 
have been the introduction of a spore of the plant through some 
pervious point in the cornea. 

On account of the similarity of this plant to the ferment-alga 
or fungus^ I have introduced it here. Hannover and others 
believe that these observations are important in relation to the 
explanation of the very diverse and puzzling forms of scleromata. 

X. Oscillaria Intestini, 

Sub-order — Tiloblastea. " Alga trichomatica. Trichomata ex 
cellularum seriebus compositum aut in substantia commum inclusa, 
aut in substantia communi, ffelinea, matricaliy amorpha et continua 
nidulantia/* 

Family — Oscillarie^e : " THchomata motu proprio spirali pra^ 
dita. Propagatio ex cellulis vegetativis ; cellules spermaticm prO' 
pri<B ntUke.'^ 

Genus — Oscillaria. Trichomata articulata socialiter crescen- 
tia, muco communi, matricali, mollissimo vel subliquido, continuo et 
amorpho, vel in tubulos utrinque apertos, vaginiformes, liberos con' 
tractOy inclusa. 

Species — Oscillaria Intestini. 

This parasite is composed of a number of elongated filaments^ 
with partition walls which cross each other in all directions. 
Each of the cells is considerably elongated and contains a quan- 
tity of green matter. According to Farre the spores of this 
alga must have been taken into the intestinal canal by drinking 
water. He found it enveloped in membranous reddish masses^ 
brought away during an attack of colic in a dyspeptic woman. 

Literature, — ^Arthur Farre, On the minute structure of certain 
substances expelled from the human intestine, having the ordi- 
nary appearance of shreds of lymph, but consisting entirely of 
filaments of a confervoid type, probably belonging to the genus 
Oscillatoria, ' Trans. Microscopical Society/ vol. i, p. 92, pi. xi b; 
Bobin, 1. c, pp. 404, 406. 

I have not seen the plate of Farre's Coitferva, but the species 
described under the genus Leptomitus are only superficially 



FUNGI. 187 

described, and can hardly be received at present as actual para- 
sites. Although I do not regard them as so unsatisfactory as to 
set them aside altogether^ I must nevertheless express my doubts 
with others, as for instance Yirchow, of the genuine parasitic 
nature of these plants.^ 



B. Fungi. 

Planta terrestres, acotyledonea ; pulverulenite, flocculoste, fila- 
mentosay parenchymatöse, camoste vel coriacete, achromaticte, albts, 
nigrescentes, fiUva, olivacea, rulngniosm, vel rvbrm ; cellulares ; ex 
cellulis minutisHmis, isolatis, catenatis, vel tiAulosis continuo- 
ramulosis {mycelium), vel filamentoso-articulatis, vel prosenckyma- 
iids, vel parenchymaticis formatiß. Sporidia ex sinffulis cellulis 
canstituia, out ad extremitatem receptaculi concatenata, vel in 
superficie inspersa, aut sporangiis inclusa. 

The vegetative system is represented by filaments, which are 
simple at first, but branch out after some time ; each of which 
representing a single oval cell, rarely several cells ranged one 
close to the other ; and lastly there are partition walls in them 
{mycelium). The mycelium changes its appearance according to 
the position of the filaments which form it. The fungi found 
on living animals only show most frequently the nematoidal or 
filamental mycelium (loosely crossed filaments) and the mem- 
branous (closely united and mixed filaments which^form a kind 
of membrane more or less solid). According to the amount of 
moisture or dryness, or the light in which they are developed, 
the filaments of the mycelium exhibit a different appearance, so 
much so that the differences and varieties of form which are 
thus produced were often mistaken for different species, which 
easily led to confusion when the organs of reproduction were not 
examined at the same time. 

The rei^oductive system consists of — 

1. Spores {sporidia, sporules), which are generally very nume- 
rous in each individual, often quite innumerable. They fall off 
as fast as they are generated, and are probably reproduced simulta- 
neously in large numbers. The spores lie immediately on the 
receptaculum, either loose, or fastened on by means of '^ basides and 
clinodes,*' or inclosed in a spiral organ {theca, sporangium)^ which 

> See Appendix C. 



188 VEGETABLE PAEASITES. 

sometimes lies embedded in a conceptaetdumy borne by the recep- 
taculum, sometimes not. The spores are generally very small ' 
bodies, varying in size, according to the species, from 0*004-5 
or some hundredths of a millimetre. Their smalloess enables 
them to penetrate every natural cavity — ^the folds in the skin of 
animals, cracks in plants, in short everywhere where dust could 
get ,* and, like the latter, they are carried by the wiod on to slimy 
surfaces and deposited there. Their form is generally oval or 
spherical, sometimes triangular with normal rounded corners, or 
irregular, and ofken of a longish oval shape or spindle-like. 
Their consistency is very great, so much so that they can scarcely 
be crushed between plates of glass. This firmness facilitates 
their penetrating the skin. The consistency of spores which are 
yet between the sporangia is less; they are found to be fre^ 
quently elastic and pliant, if they are of a longish shape. Spores 
do not lose their capacity of germinating by drying, if in so 
doing the temperature is not raised beyond 70° C. (158® Fahr.) 
They are less dense than water and float on it. Wind and 
water may therefore spread and carry them far and wide. They 
vary in colour — gray, brown, yellowish, or, if the light is falling 
on them, almost colourless. In reflected light they look gray^ 
yellowish or of a white, more or less brilliant. If they reflect 
the light strongly, they show in the centre a brilliant, usually 
yellowish spot. As long as they lie in the sporangium, however, 
they are mostly colourless, and look polished, transparent, or 
greenish. When very numerous they give to the touch the feel- 
ing of fine sand, their surface has a brilliant appearance, and they 
sometimes possess a peculiar mouldy odour and taste, especially 
when they fructify and are free. They are apt to produce inju- 
rious effects on man when introduced into the body, by way of 
the food or during respiration. 

Chemical reagents act but little on them. Tincture of iodine, 
when employed alone, colours them of a dark yellowish-brown, 
like other purely nitrogenous substances. When their cellulose 
walls are not coloured blue by the action of the iodine, their 
nitrogenous contents become brown. On treating them with 
hydrochloric or nitric acid, or, better still, with hot sulphuric 
acid, before adding tincture of iodine, the nitrogenous part coagu- 
lates, contracts, and separates from the sides of the spores, and 
remains, forming irregular masses in the centre. On applying 
afterwards tincture of iodine to these parts they become brown. 



FUNGI. 139 

and the cellulose walls greenish — ^the complementary colour of 
the blue of the cellulose and the brown of the tincture of 
iodine. 

The structure of the spores is very simple : all present a cell 
without a nucleus. The cellulose walls are yery thin^ yet possess 
great resisting power. They are covered with a nitrogenous 
tUriculM, which encloses a fluid in which granules are suspended, 
possessing sometimes a whirling motion (Brown's molecular 
movement). The utriculus may be recognised by the above* 
mentioned reactions^ during which it is torn into rags. 

The simplest fungi, like the Torulacese, represent isolated cells, 
or rows of two, three, four, &c., cells, which are very analogous 
to the spores of many species of fungi. Each cell is the mother 
of a new similar one, whilst the spores of the higher fungi 
generate a longish cell which forms the filament of the myce- 
lium. 

. 2. The Receptacle (receptaculum, chapeau, capiiulum, ch^piteau) 
is the oj^n upon which, directly or indirectly, the spores which 
have been set free rest. They are held fast by means of '^ ba^ 
sides/' whose " spicula '* or '^ sterifftnata '' bear a spore, or by 
means of " cUnodesJ' When the spores are not free, they are 
contained in the receptacle or in the sporangia. A great many 
species form their receptacle of a longish cell scarcely difiering 
from the filaments (for instance, the Oidium albicans), or of a 
row of cells, when the last cell displays the presence of spores on 
its surface by a slight swelling, and represents the receptacle, 
whilst the preceding, which are for the most part broader than 
the filaments, represent the stem {pediculus, caulis, pedmunibts, 
truncus, peiiolus, stipes), that is, the more or less capacious 
bearer of the receptacle. 

When the receptacle is dry, membranous, and filled with the 
spores, it is called peridium ; when it is horny and surrounds the 
spores, either in their free state or contained in iheca, perithe- 
dum or peritheque. When the receptacle is of a globular or 
disc-like shape, the conceptacle, a peculiar, globular or oval, 
horny or fleshy, hollow organ which encloses the sporangia of the 
ihec4B, and which opens by means of bursting its sides or 
through a pore at the end, is observed. The theca = sporangium 
is a distinct, globular, oval, or longish vesicle, capable of isola- 
tion, filled with spores, and which is sometimes placed on the 
surface of the receptacle, and sometimes in a conceptacle. 



140 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

The Basides are small prominences on the surface of the recep- 
tacle^ consisting mostly of a round, oval, or longish cell, with 
one or more small cells at its point in the shape of a conical 
point {spicula, sterigmatä), at the end of which a single free 
and uncovered spore is found. 

The Clinode is an accessory body composed of very small, 
longish cells, either simple or branching off, with a free spore at 
its end. It forms uninterrupted filaments of various lengthy or 
is provided with partition walls which originate in the cells, 
which represent the parenchyma of the receptacle. 

Cystides and Paraphyses. — ^There is frequently to be seen on 
the receptacle or between or along the sides of the sporangia, 
basides and clinodes, prominent globular or oval cells, some- 
times in the shape of a thread, simple or branched pointed, 
blunt or swollen at their free end. These cells in the Pezizse and 
SphffiriaB are called ^' paraphyses/' and those in the Agarice» and 
Boletse ^' cystides.** They are sometimes, though wrongly, 
called antheridia, since they have never been found to contain 
spermatozooids like the antheridia of the Alga. They are of 
little importance, and little is known about them. They may be 
considered as accessory vegetative organs connected with the 
reproductive system. Perhaps they are connected with the simple 
or branched filaments formed by articulated cells, which are 
found along the sides of the terminal sporangium in species 
which are still more simple than the Spfuerue, 

Up to the present time thirteen species, or, if the nail-fungus 
is to be considered as a separate species, fourteen species of fungi 
are known to attack the human body. They may be divided 
into three groups. 

Trichophytä. 
I. Trichophyton tonsurans. Tab. II, figs. 1, 2. 

Division I — Arthrosporei. 

Receptacula filamentosa, simplicia aut ramosay clausa^ fere 
nulla aut nulla. Sport in ordine dispositi ; terminales persistentes 
aut caduci. 

Tribe — Torulacei: Recept. nullum, aut fere nullum, vel floccosum^ 
Sporidia continiM. 

Genus — Trichophytum (Malmsten). 



TEICHOPHYTON TONSURANS. 141 

Vegetabile utdce ex sports formaium. Spori rotundi aut ovales, 
pellucidi, sine colore et in superficie laves ; diameter 0-003 — 6 — 
8 mm. 

Habitat : //* interna parte radicis capillorum, tibi sport firmant 
acervum rotundum. Ex sports exeunt filamenta articulata, 
qtuB sunt spori, in filamefäis moniliformibus positi, et, dum sese 
evoltnmt, substantiam capilli penetrantes, eumque per totam longi- 
ttulinem peragrantes. 

Species — Trichophyton tonsurans. 

Synon. : Trichomyces tonsurans ; = Epiphytes = Mycoderma == 
TVichomaphytes plica polonue ; = ChampigDon des cheveux dans 
THerpes tonsurans; = Champ, voisin de celui de la teigne, by 
Lebert ; =r Champ, de la teigne fondante, du Porrigo scutulata 
ou Herpes tonsurans ; = Achorion Lebertii ; = Cryptogame de la 
teigne tondante ou de la Bhizo-phyto-alop^cie. Porrigo circin^ 
nata and Porrigo tonsoria are synonyms for the disease accom- 
panying this fungus. 

Habitat : Unice in interna parte radicis capillorum humanorum, 
sed non in coram superficie. Post capillorum rupturam invenitur 
in crustis epidermidis et sebaceis capitis pileati. 

The filaments placed in rows in which the spores originate 
have undulated edges^ and show in their interior^ at small 
intervals^ the round spores^ rarely so long as to imitate the 
filaments^ and peculiar to the Cryptogamia. These spores are 
rounds transparent, half as large as blood-corpuscles^ O'OOS — 7 — 
0*0010 mm. long and 0*003—4 broad. Many have in their 
interior a distinct spot or vaguely defined nucleus ; many, when 
they are long in shape^ appear to have a constriction in the 
middle. There are no partition walls, although it appears as if 
they existed, when the spores are very close together. 

The medium in which this fungus is found is not, as it might 
appear^ the space between the cells of the epidermis, where they 
are never met with, but in the substance of the root of the hair 
itself, though it remains yet very doubtful whether this fungus 
thrives only in diseased or also in healthy hair, after its spores 
have once penetrated the substance of the hair. The spores 
form at first a round heap, which spreads more or less upwards 
in a straight line with the longitudinal axis of the hair^mass^ 
which is thus enlarged till it brings on a state of disease known 
under the name of tinea or herpes tonsurans. The fungus goes 
on growing with the hair, and when it has grown 2 or 3 mm. 



142 VEGETABLE PAEASITES. 

above the edge of the skin together with' the hair, the latter 
breaks off. 

The cylinder of the hair is quite filled with spores> and its 
substance is entirely indiscernible. The growth of the plant 
goes on quickly; but it is inside the substance of the hair. 
In the scales which cover the head itself the fungus is never 
found. 

Effects of the parasite. — Small rugged elevations on round spots 
are observed, chiefly on the part of the head which is covered 
with hair, and which give to it the appearance of the seal-skin. 
The hairs are broken off at 1 — 2''' above the edge of the 
epidermis in a regular manner, and baldness is the inevitable 
result. The skin is dry in such patches, firmer and more con- 
tracted than on the surrounding parts. Small rough inequalities, 
similar to those on the skin of a goose, may be observed and 
felt. The colour of the skin is a little bluish. On scratching, 
the skin becomes covered with a white dust resembling fine bran. 
The disease shows itself at first in a very small spot in the middle 
of the circle which it afterwards forms, and grows from thence 
eccentrically. The same takes place when the patches are at 
last uniting into one. Sometimes this disease spreads over the 
whole hair of the body, and attacks even the nails. 

The nature of the disease is well illustrated by the case observed 
and communicated by Malmsten : 

A mother observed, in November, 1843, when she was combing 
the hair of her boy, three years old, a little to the right of the 
large fontanel, a small hairless spot covered with white scales, 
which became larger, in spite of carefully combing off the scales. 
In February, 1844, this spot was 1^ inch in diameter, and was 
covered with grayish-white little scales, from which issued and 
grew up a number of small smooth hairs, 2''' in length, and 
quite lustreless. The spot was dry, rough, and grayish. On 
scratching off the scales the skin was found to be not in the least 
injured, and looked healthy all around. At a short distance a 
similar bald spot was seen, 2'^' in length, from which the whole 
of the hair had not yet fallen off, although some of it looked as if 
cracked off. When the hair had been allowed to grow for some 
time,* some became bristling, whilst the rest remained lying 
smoothly on the head and was easily pulled out. Every hair, 
however, was bent, at the height of 2''' above the skin, into an 
angle. On the 1st of July the spot had increased to 2", 



TEICHOPHYTON TONSURANS. 148 

the second was i'' in diameter ; the many small scaly spots had 
likewise grown larger. When the remainder of the hair, 1 — 2''' 
in length and covering the scales, was plucked out and examined 
under the microscope, these fragments of hair were seen, when 
enlarged only 300 times, to be filled with spores between the hair- 
fibres. The root of the hair presented a mouldy appearance. 
The spores lie sometimes in the form of a necklace; sometimes 
they represent articulated branches. When the hair is torn out, 
fresh hair grows after some days, showing, however, the same 
tendency to mould. Fragments of hair are seen in the scales 
on the bald patches, bent and twisted in all directions, and the 
spaces between the fibres charged, as if with spores. It is 
probable that the lead-gray colour of these fragments of hair is 
derived from their being mingled with scales. 

On considering the properties of the diseased hair more 
closely, it is found that the root of the hair is at first, when it is 
the exclusive seat of the disease, opaque, dwindling away, and 
almost always bent, whilst the rest of the hair is quite healthy. 
In proportion as the fungus developes itself in the substance of 
the hair, the latter becomes thicker and coarser, grayish, and 
opaque, loses its elasticity, becomes soft, and breaks, showing an 
uneven filamentous fracture. The fractured pieces are full of 
fungi, and remain covered with scales. If the hair breaks off 
underneath the skin, the end of the capillary canal becomes 
stopped up with scales and fat, which harden, and are at last 
raised by the hair; this has sometimes been erroneously mis- 
taken for an abscess. With the decrease in the development of 
the parasite, the hair becomes less gray, firmer, thinner, and 
finally normal. If the head is kept clean, only a slight redness 
of the skin, or small pustules or crusts are observed, which, how- 
ever, rarely degenerate into impetigo. 

Want of cleanliness of the head makes the skin look like the 
fiesh of a hen or a shark. If no complication occurs at first, 
only an increased formation of scales takes place, together with 
the presence of fragments of hair, as in pityriasis, unaccompanied 
by a falling off of the hair ; on the contrary, the latter generally 
grows faster. The disease frequently attacks children who are in 
good health. Sometimes the growth of the hair is seen to be less 
strong before the breaking out of the disease ; the hair is dry, and 
from this it may be inferred that a certain amount of disease of 
the hair is necessary to the growth of the fungus. 



144 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

Unfortunately, we know little or nothing of the state of the 
fluids, whether in all, or only in some who are scrofulous and the 
like, they are favorable to the development of the parasites. T^nea 
tonsurans is sometimes primary, and sometimes follows herpes 
circinatus, and seizes at once one or several parts of the head 
covered with hair, usually the back of the head first, but also 
other parts of it. If the disease succeeds herpes, it manifests 
itself at first in the centre of the herpetic rings, where a small 
tuft of hair becomes paler, reddish, and lighter than the neigh- 
bouring hair, and the skin below it a little embossed and covered 
with epidermic scales, from whence the disease spreads rapidly 
over the adjoining hair, and forms patches of 1 — 2 centimetres 
in diameter. Here and there may be seen among the broken 
hair of these spots some uninjured hairs. The diseased places 
are, moreover, covered with spots of white scales, which have a 
velvet-like appearance, and form sheaths round the broken hairs. 
Gradually these isolated patches, which represent irregular or 
circular plains, deprived of their hair, run together into one. 
If the broken hairs of such a patch are seized with a pair of 
pincers, they break off with great facility quite close to their 
point of insertion. Generally this tinea is less frequently fol- 
lowed by lasting alopecia than the favus. 

Bazin thinks he has found this fungus also on animals. He 
mentions a gens-d^arme who had herpetic patches on the 
palmary surface of the right fore-part of the arm, one of which 
had lost its hairs, and for which the man could only account by 
having been infected with tetters, together with five or six 
comrades, whilst cleaning horses which were infected with the 
disease ; which statement Bazin found to be true on examining 
the horses. He found, indeed, that the hair was broken o^ff in 
these places; and, moreover, as in herpes tonsurans, a whitish, 
squamose, scaly secretion perforated with hair. Deffis and Bazin 
found under the microscope a formation analogous to the above- 
mentioned fungus, with the exception that the spores and tubes 
were mucl^ smaller. 

These microscopic discoveries explain not only the perti- 
nacity of the disease, since it is well known that the lowest 
plants develop themselves most intensely and rapidly in a 
favorable medium, but also its contagious character which 
is no longer doubtful. The fungus itself is the sole cause of 
these changes of the hair and of the secondary irritation and con* 



TRICHOPHYTON TONSURANS. 145 

gestion of the skin which cause exudation^ an accelerated forma- 
tion of the epidermis^ scaling off and production of crusts^ because 
the swollen hair exerts pressure on the skin. 

Treatment. — The brothers Mahon cured, in from eight to ten 
months, the disease, with the remedies employed in favus, and 
which will therefore be mentioned hereafter. 

Cazenave warns us against the nse of very powerful local 
means, recommending washing with solution of borax, and 
anointing with tar and citron, tannin, liver of sulphur, &c. j and 
he states that he cured the disease in six, eight, and twelye 
months, and restored the hair in every case. 

Neither the brothers Mahon nor Cazenave begin their treat- 
ment with epilation, and the disease may be cured, as Baziu 
assures us, solely by the above remedies, but only very slowly. 

According to Bazin, epilation ought to succeed most wonder- 
fully with successive parasiticidal washings; but, unfortunately, the 
hair will break off at the slightest touch for the purpose of epila^i 
tion, and only a few retain their roots. It is easy at the very 
outset to arrest the progress of the disease by depriving every 
little patch of its hair, and washing with a solution of. corrosive 
sublimate (two grammes are dissolved in alcohol, and 500 
grammes of distilled water added). Acetate of copper and other 
strong local remedies irritate the skin too much, and accelerate 
the growth of the fungus enormously. The cure is rapid. If, 
however, circular, scaly patches, with broken hair in white 
sheaths, slate-coloured skin, and bristly follicles exist, then the 
cure becomes tedious, because the hair can only be removed par* 
tially and very imperfectly. The eccentric spreading of the 
disease may be very much restricted by freeing the patches from 
scales and broken hair, and tearing out, all around, every hair of 
suspicious look and colour, and applying the above-mentioned 
lotion. The lotion must, however, be continued for several days, 
and the patches, together with the hair, treated with an ointment 
of from thirty to fifty centigrammes of iodide of sulphur to thirty 
grammes of lard. As soon as the hair grows again over the 
diseased places they must be removed afresh. The lotion with 
corrosive sublimate is to be continued as long as the partp 
covered with hair are no longer swollen, or until they have lost 
their slate colour, and the root comes out on endeavouring to 
draw out the hair. This method requires from three to four 
months, rarely more. 

10 



146 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

The principal problem which the treatment has to solve is, the 
securing good means of epilation. If such were once found, sub- 
limate or tar would remove the disease in a few weeks. 

We pass over Malmsten's treatment, since he does not men- 
tion rational epilation, and thought he could succeed by merely 
lotions and combing. Celsus mentions that some writers 
recommend the removal of the diseased places, and others the 
burning them out. I think that this treatment is, ä priori, 
more rational than the various ointments which have been pro* 
posed^ although modern medicine would repudiate them as being 
too cruel. 

History, — Malmsten was the first to describe this fungus, and 
to communicate his observations to Oruby, who seems to have 
discovered it almost at the same time. At all events, Robin is 
in error when he speaks of Gruby's discoveries as having been lately 
confirmed by Malmsten. The latter had, in his first edition^ 
described a peculiar vegetable, quite distinct from THchophyton ; 
he has, however, abandoned this view since. Lebert recognised 
this fungus likewise. Malherbe, as well as Cazenave and Leten- 
neur, who had himself been affected with this disease, still deny 
the existence of the fungus. 

Bazin, who knows the fungus very well, though he mistakes 
spores for molecular granules, has introduced a nomenclature 
which might easily mislead the student, because the word 
*' decalvans " appears twice in it. He divides the disease into 
Tinea favosa, tonsurans, sycosa (Mentagrum, autorum), achromatosa 
{Porriffo decalvans, sen Vitiligo of the skin covered with hair), 
and decalvans = Alopecia idiopathica. 

I can confirm Malmsten's statements. Professor H. E. 
Richter was kind enough to let me have three hairs which he 
had collected in Cazenave's ' Clinic ^ from a man who suffered 
from '* Herpes tonsurans.^' The 'microscopic examination com- 
pletely agrees with Malmsten's description. Robin says, more- 
over, that the fungus in question and Giinsburg^s fungus in 
Plica polonica are identical. I am, however, inclined to believe 
that they must be separated^ and I shall therefore treat separately 
of this fungus. 



TRICHOPHYTON PLICiB POLONTC^. 147 



IIa. — Species — THchapkyton = Trychomaphytes = Mycoderma 
(Günsburg) PUccb polonica. (Tab. II, B, figs. 3—6.) 

After Günsburg had, in 1843, found a plant in the medullary 
channel of the hair of a person suffering from the plica polonica 
Johann Müller, and afterwards Munter, Baum, Simon, Hessling, 
Skoda, and Fr. Müller, who could not again find the fungus^ 
were of opinion that the discovery had been accidental. 

Hebra saw, in one case, as Wedl tells us, on and between 
the hair of a queue, an immense number of these parasites ; but 
he also, like most modern writers, thinks that the fungus is no 
pathognomonic sign of this disease, but a mere accidental com^ 
pagnon of it ; and he places the discovered fungus accordingly 
with those of Walther, which will be described hereafter. 

Günsburg seems to entertain still the same view with regard 
to this fungus. He says in a letter that the fungi are found 
between the root and the hair, in the marrow of the hair, and 
underneath the epithelial covering of the hair, which causes them 
to swell and to split. 

It is clear from a comparison of Malmsten's parasites and 
those of Günsburg, that the nature of their growth, and, more- 
over, the effect on the hair itself, is quite different in the two 
species, and we can therefore see no reason why they should- 
be made one. 

The parasite itself forms (according to Günsburg) articulated 
filaments, though rarely occurring, and showing no inter-cellular 
spaces in its interior. The spores are very numerous, round or 
oval, with a smooth surface sometimes articulated by umbilical 
spots. The cells are for the most part isolated, sometimes 
grouped together, and sometimes fastened to a very fine fibrous 
hypothallus. Iodine dissolves its structure completely, vinegar: 
and caustic potash (kali causticum) do not alter it. The spores 
measure 0*002 — 6 mm., and contain point-like molecular gra- 
nules, and rarely distinct nuclei. 

The changes in the hair produced by this parasite consist,, 
according to Günsburg, in the thickening of the root of the hair,' 
a spindle-like enlargement of the longitudinal cylinder of the; 
channel of the hair, through the constant piling up of n^w 
masseB of fungi in it, in the splitting and parting of jingle hair^ 



148 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

fibres, wliich gives at last to the hair the appearance of a brush 
or of a hedgebog^s skin in the opening of the hair in some 
places, through which the spores pass, in the condensation of the 
hair epithelium, the disappearance of many of the cylinders of 
hair, and the adhesion of tufts of hair by means of new forma- 
tions. 

The peculiar adhesive mass consists of a great many large 
epithelial cells, with many small granular bodies resembling the 
exudation corpuscles of inflammation, of thinned hair whose 
sheath is covered with spores, in some places of a few epithelial 
cells, often of the '' GlanduUe sebacetB,^* and of the parasite which 
rarely rises above this sheath. The mass is brownish, adhesive, 
soft, and binds the hair together in bundles, sometimes it dries 
up in some places, and becomes then of various shapes and sizes. 
Hebra and Wedl have made similar observations, though they 
never found spores in the interior of the hair-canals, but masses 
of parasitical plants on and between the plicated hair. Every- 
where on the adherent mass there could be discerned round spores, 
with a distinct nucleus measuring 0003— 7 mil. in diameter. 
They formed groups on the periphery of the hair, and nestled in 
the spindle-like split-up cells of the hair. Very rarely the 
thallus-fllaments are found in the shape of square cells placed in 
a line. The hair itself was brittle and split up. 

Von Walther's experiments on inoculation of the plica polonica 
were unsuccessful ; Beschorner, however, thinks he succeeded. 



IIA. — Species — Trichophyton sporuloides. 

Von Walther, of Kiew, Russia, stated in 1844 that he had 
found, in a case of plica polonica, by means of the microscope, 
a hoar-frost-like covering on all the hairs, which seemed partly to 
scale off, as well as dirt, insects, epidermal scales, feathers, espe- 
cially linen threads from the plicated spots, together with small 
shriveled-up globules on the hair, and other accidental impurities. 
Skoda also saw many lice in it, and Von Hessling three mites 
which were not yet known, which, however, he does not think 
are peculiar to plica polonica (see Acari in Animal Parasites). 

When the quite fresh soft mass from the plica polonica was 
examined in which healthy hairs were left, it was found to be no 



TRICHOPHYTON SPORULOIDES. 149 

longer liquid^ but pultaceous, especially at the points of the 
plicated tufts. Water turned it milky. 

When magnified 400 times, this mass consists of innumerable 
round or regularly oval little bodies, which refract light strongly; 
they are 0-013''' long, and the smallest even shows a dot or spot 
in its body, containing two little vesicles, one placed inside the 
other. The one lies in the enclosure of the other, and rises out 
of the latter a little. The more developed forms lie close to the 
skin of the head. The form of the exterior vesicle is a depressed 
round or oval. Both vesicles are transparent, like a drop of 
dear water. On adding water a molecular motion is observed, 
which is at once destroyed by corrosive sublimate, which causes 
the vesicles to shrink. By drying, the vesicles may be obtained 
in groups of small heaps around the hair, hanging together 
without adhering directly together. They grow distinctly, and 
the ventral vesicle is perhaps only the germ to a new molecule. 
Many vesicles contain 2 — 3 smaller vesicles. If there are 3, 
they are found to lie on the longitudinal axis ; if only 2, at the 
two poles of the ellipse. The larger ones show no molecular 
motion. They never range themselves side by side, nor do they 
aprout out cells like the ferment-fungus, from which they also 
difi^er in size and their relation to light. These granules form 
with the hair the principal part of these masses, and are even 
found in dry ones, though they are shrivelled up. According to 
Walther they are independent vegetable formations. The hair- 
bulbs and follicles were always healthy. The fungus could not 
be transferred by inocnlation. It is not met with in the inner 
part of the hair. It is to be regretted that Von Walther does 
not illustrate his views by drawings. 

Appendix, — I may be permitted to add here a few words 
more concerning the plica polonica which do not directly bear on 
-the subject, and yet may be found worthy of the attention of the 
medical man. Yon Studzieniski, in a work of which I shall have 
more to say further on, has with a certain patriotic indignation 
Jibout the insinuation of the little amount of cleanliness com- 
jnonly attributed to his countrymen, tested the views on the 
Jiature of the plica polonica, luen plicosa, or lues trichomatica, and 
asserts, that he has come to the final result, that the disease is 
^constitutional, standing in close connection with the normal 
process of cornification of the body, and representing merely an 
'Exaggerated activity of this process. He carries out this theory. 



150 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

irhich had before been proposed by others (Von Walther), with 
much energy^ and compares the mass which exudes during 
the adhesive process and the changes in the hair itself^ to the 
processes which we observe going on in the feathers of birds 
during their falling off and restoration in consequence of 
moulting. I am sorry to say that the results he has arrived at 
are little calculated to carry conviction fit to bribe the rational 
practitioner, however much Herr von Studzieniski may appeal to 
the feelings of practical men in the words of his preface, and con- 
cluding phrase: "This book/^ he says, "belongs to the practitioner." 
Medical men are not made expert by mere theories, however 
plausible, but by results borne out by experiment, and made pro- 
bable by exact chemical or microscopic researches, and they must 
always look with suspicion upon a theory where the variations in 
the action of nervous polarity play a principal part. No ex- 
periments are to be found in the book, though it must be 
admitted that it contains much to interest and to invite to future 
rational researches. When )lerr von Studzieniski mentions 
further the following diseases as related to plica polonica, viz.. 
Pellagra (in which the formation of scales predominates), the 
Asturian Kose {Lepra asturiensis, in which the formation of 
«cales prevails), both seated in the horny tissues where hair is 
found ; and next Ichthyosis, which, according to Rosenbaum, is 
the exudation of the blastema of the hair in a shapeless state on 
the surface of the head, and which spares the hairless palm of the 
hand and sole of the foot ; and further, the Cornua cutanea, or 
cutaneous horns^ which are, according to Rosenbaum, hyper- 
trophied hair and hair germs, and lastly the Scarlievo : we can 
but call the author^s theory to some extent ingenious. It is true 
that the latter epithet could scarcely be applied to the opinion, 
'^ that even scirrhus is a disease of the moulting process.'^ It 
is, however^ incomprehensible, that in such a work the para- 
sitical nature of the plica is passed over without the slightest 
notice being taken of it, or any investigation of this view. . Herr 
von Studzieniski goes even so far as not to mention at all 
Gilnzburg's name either in his text or in his literary appendix. 
Historical interest is attached to the evidence, that the plica 
polonica was brought to Pakutia, fifty years earlier than to 
Poland, by the people who fled before the Mongolian Tartars^ 
and were called Koltiin, a name said to be a nickname in these 
countries to the present day. The disease did not at first appear 



TRICHOPHYTON SPOEÜLOIDES. 151 

along the Vistula, nor did it follow its watercourse, but is 
reported to have followed the rivers Pruth, Dnieper, and Niemen ; 
and, as a general rule, to have shown itself more along the 
mountain ridges than along the course of rivers. The disease is 
further stated to have been known to the ancients, and the heads 
of the Gorgons and of Medusa are said to have been mere 
piythical representations of this form of disease. The Cimbrians 
were described by Roman writers as a people with similar medusa 
heads (that is, infected with plica polonica), and it is generally 
thought that, at an early period, the degenerated plica polonica 
"Sellentost" was found on the shores of the Elbe.. Plica 
polonica is recorded also to have prevailed in the Alps and on the 
Weser long before it showed itself in Poland ; and was found, 
moreover, in Moravia, Hungary, Carhiola, Ceylon, Paris, France, 
England, and American India, and it appears therefore iia- 
proper to give to this disease the name plica polonica. 

The plica polonica was always believed to exist only on men 
and animals covered with hair ; Yon Studzieniski describes, how- 
ever, an interesting case of this disease on a pair of turtledoves. 
Von Walther noticed that the blood of persons infected with 
plica polonica when heated to 30^ (?) gives ofif sometimes a pecu- 
liar odour of plica, and that the plicons exudation, not merely 
on the skin of the head, but on the whole body, issues through 
the skin, so that the perspiration of such sick persons, who are 
treated according to Priessnitz's method, is said to be milky and 
smells like plica. Von Walther observes, moreover, that the 
matter of plica not only blights the living hair, but also the 
periwigs and other tufts of hair placed on the body at the period 
of the eruption of the exudation. 

Literature ad I. — ^Malmsten, translated in MüUer's ' Archiv,' 
by Creplin, 1848, p. 1, table I, figs. 1 — 3 ; Gruby, ' Comptes 
rendues de Paris,' 1844, xviii, p. 583 ; Cazenave, * Annales des 
Maladies de la Peau et de la Syphilis,' 1848 ; Malherbe, * Etudes 
cliniques sur FHerpes tonsurans,' Nantes, 1852, p. 10, with notes of 
L^tenneur ; L^nnenr, ' Reflexions sur I'Herpet tonsnr.,' Nantes, 
1852, p. 17; Bazin, * Recherches sur la nature et traitement des 
Teignes,' Paris, 1853, p. 68, tab. II, figs. 2 and 4 ; Robin, 10, 
pp. 406 — 424, tab. II, figs. 7 — 9. 

lAteratwre ad II«. — Giinsburg, Miillcr's 'Archiv,' 1848, 
1844, and ' Comptes rendus des Stances de 1' Academic Royal des 
Sciences de Paris/ 1843, t. xvii, p. 250; Vogel, 'Allgem- 



152 VEGETABLE PAEASITES. 

pathol. Anatomie/ Munter, Mulleins 'Archiv/ 1845, p. 42, 
note; Baum, in a note to HönerkopPs Dissertation 'De aphtha- 
rum vegetabili natura ac diagnosi/ 1847; Wedl's 'Elements of 
pathol. Histology/ 1854, p. 744; Felix r. Studzieniski, on 
' Cornification and lues cornificatoria = plica polonica,' 1854, where 
the richest literature on this subject is found. 

Literature ad IIA. — ^Von Walcher, in Miiller's ' Archiv/ 1844, 
pp. 411 — 4.19. 

Robin added to the Trychophytse the fungus which Lebert 
found in the scabs of an atonic ulcer of the leg. He describes 
it thus : 



. III. Species — Trichophyton (?) ulcerum = Champignon des 
ulcör^. Tab. II, B, fig. 7. 

The scabs showed here and there dry yellow spots, of about 
1 — 2 mm. in circumference, and looked like mould. The 
fungus consisted of round or slightly elliptical spores, 0005 — 
0010 mm« large, with nuclei of 0*002 mm. In some a double 
enveloping membrane could be recognised. There were also 
other spores, from 0*010 — 0*015 mm. long, and full of small 
globules. The former joined, and formed threads like strings of 
pearls, some of which were branched. Every transition from the 
simple globules to the threads and branches could be made out. 
I cannot see why this fungus is placed here, but am not inclined 
to find it another place. 

Literature. — Lebert, 'Physiologie pathologique,' Paris, 18i8, 
ii^ 484 — 85, and Atlas XXII, fig. 7. Robin, I, c. 425 — 4.26. 



MlCROSPORiB. 

Genus — Microsporon (Gruby). 
FUamenta undulata, directionem capillorum secuta; transpa^ 
rentia, 0*002-3 mm. lata, sine granulationibus, interdum bifur* 
cata sub angulo 80 — 40^. Ftlamenta et rami internum stratum, 
spori externum formantes. Spori propinquissimi, plerumque rotundi, 
interdum ovales; omnes transparentes, sine granulationibus. 
FUamenta (= trichomata) totius ordinis sunt ramosa, sine articula* 
tionibus et granulationibus, sporos tamen parantia. 



MICROSPORON AUDOUmi. 153 



IV. Microsporon Audouini. 

Species — Atuiouini (Gruby) — Champignon de la Teigne achro- 
mateuse, decalvante^ da Porrigo decdivans; Trichophyton aut 
Trichomycea decalvans, 

Signa generis. Spori rotundi 0*001-5 mm,; ovales 0*002-8 iww., 
aqud iniumescentes, filamenta et rami breves. 

The distinctive character of Trichophyton tonsurans consists in 
its numerous curved undulated branches, having generally smaller 
spores^ in the constant absence of granules in the interior^ in the 
spores adhering to the filaments and branches^ and in its seat; 
for whilst Trichophyton tonsurans is developed in the root of the 
hair, Microsporon Audouini forms a tube around each hair^ of the 
thickness of 0*015 mm.^ and surrounds the hair outside of the 
follicle. 

Habitat. — In superficie capillorum hominis, qui folliculum rcli- 
guerunt, et usque ad altitudinem triam Millimetrorum supra cutis 
superfidem ascendit. 

The filaments run parallel with the stripes on the hair ; the 
branches have the same diameter as the filaments; the former 
bear the spores. It is not yet known whether the germation of 
the Microsporon requires at first a sort of exudation, or whether 
the spores are able to develop themselves everywhere merely 
under the influence of the epithelia and scales, and at the common 
temperature of the human body. Its reproduction is owing to a 
segmentation of the points of the filaments ; its growth is extra- 
ordinarily rapid, for, in a few days, the parasites are found to 
cover a space of 3 — 4 centimetres. Its development begins at 
the outside of the hair, 1 — 2 mm. distant from the epidermis. 
The hair becomes less transparent, is 0030-40 mm. thick, and 
very finely granulated, till it breaks at last. If the hair has 
become gray from its root, it breaks off about a week after at 
the spot where the sheath of the plant begins, and is 
followed by baldness. The hair-epithelium likewise falls off. The 
thickest hair resists longest. Around the follicles masses of the 
fungus heap up, from J — \ mm. in diameter, which have falsely 
been taken for pustules, or secretion of the '^ Glandulae seba- 
ce«.*' They are, however, una companied by inflammation^ 
hypertrophy of the skin, pimples, or pustules. This fungus is 



154 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

the cause of "Porrigo decalvans;^' no matter whether the hair 
breaks ofif at last in consequence of the interrupted nourishment^ 
or because the elements necessary for the development of the 
hair are absorbed bj the fungus. The light gray crusts which 
cover the places which have been deprived of their hair consist 
of the parasite mixed with a certain quantity of epithelial cells. 
Its contagions nature is explained by these facts^ and the con- 
tagion of '^ Porrigo decalvans/' is nothing more nor less than 
the spores of Microsporon Audotäni. 

Gruby discovered this fungus in 1843 ; Bobin found it on a 
child; Cazenave denies it^ and regards it as the result of an 
optical deception. Bazin found the disease everywhere on bodies 
covered with hair, and recommends epilation and washing with 
corrosive sublimate, acetate of copper, or the preparations of tar. 
If epilation is resorted to, it is necessary to seize the hair below 
the diseased spot^ as far as possible, at the edge of the skin. 

Droste lately noticed in the 'Deutschen Klinik,' 1854, No. 
39, a case of porrigo, described in English journals, of a general 
absence of every hair of the body, with the exception of some 
hair on the back part of the ear. If the cure of this case was 
successful, it was, no doubt, nature's work, and not procured by 
the above-mentioned remedies. The disease disappeared when 
all the parts subject to this disease had disappeared, that is, when 
every hair had fallen off. This general and rapid epilation, 
caused naturally, remains, however, very remarkable. It is much 
to be regretted, and must be repeated over again, that similar 
cases are lost^for exact science, as long as the microscope is not 
more frequently employed in the examination of skin-diseases. 
It is here more especially, where its practical use would become 
most evident, and where the labour employed on it would soon 
find its ample reward. I am, therefore, unable to decide whether 
the case of which Droste speaks exhibited this class of fungi. 

Literature. — Gruby, 'Compt. rend.,' &c., 1843, xvii, p. 301, 
and 1844, p. 585; Cazenave, 'Traits des Maladies du Cuir chevelu,' 
1850, p. 197; Bazin, 1 c, 1853, p. 40; Malmsten, Miiller's 
'Archiv,' 1848, p. 7; Robin, 1. c, p. 426 — 427. 



MICBOSPORON MENTAQEOPHYTES. 155 



V. Species — Microsporon mentagrophytes. Tab. Ill, figs. 1, 2, 3 
s= Cryptogames de la meutagre^ MentagrophTte = Cham- 
pignons de la mentagre. 

The spores, which are in countless numbers, hang with one 
part on the inner surface of the sheath of the hair^ and the other 
on the hair itself; they are round and very small. The filaments 
or stalks are granulated inside, and divide themselves at an 
angle of 40 to 80^, in the shape of a fork. The branches are 
annulated. 

Habitat. — In the follicle of the hair of the beard, more especially 
of the chin^ the upper -lip, and cheek, and, according to Bazin, 
also in the tufts of hair of the skin in general. 

This fungus is distinguished from the Microsporon Audouini by 
larger filaments, branches, and spores, and by its seat. It also 
penetrates into the follicle of the hair to its very root, between 
the latter and the wall of the follicles. It settles neither in the 
substance of the hair which lies in the follicle, like Trichophyton 
tonsurans, nor around the part which is exposed to the air close 
to the skin, like Microsporon Audouini. Thus M. mentagrophytes 
forms, accordiug to Gruby, a kind of vegetable sheath surrounding 
and protecting that part of the hair which is imbedded in the 
skin, and whose spores are never produced above the surface of 
the skin. All the diseased parts of the hair are covered with 
white, gray, and yellowish scales, from 2 — 6 mm. in breadth and 
3—8 mm. in length; they are a little convex in the middle, 
forming angles a little depressed at the edge, and penetrated in 
all places with hair. They are attached only slightly to the skin 
underneath but firmly to the hair, and composed merely of 
epidermis. The parasite begins to grow between the epithelium 
of the follicle of the hair and rises along the hair till the latter 
becomes exposed to the air. The epithelial cells themselves 
change neither their transparency nor their shape, but only their 
connection with one another which becomes loosened. The 
parasite is found either primarily or secondarily on the simple 
mentagra eczema or impetigo of the lips and nostrils. There 
exists always, according to Bazin, at first a primary change in the 
physical quality of the hair which is too often overlooked. The 
eruption at first is either scattered or confluent; some isolated 



156 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

pustules are most frequently seen here and there on the moustache 
or whiskers, which grow and suppurate a little, and the evil seems 
to have subsided for a time. At last these pustules get closer 
together and form groups, though each single hair is attacked 
individually. The eruption is preceded by a burning sensation, 
pain, and stiffness of the skin, which becomes red and swells. 
Near the insertion of the hair small pointed, whitish, or slightly 
yellowish pustules arise, which increase after the lapse of a few 
days. In some the pustules are scratched open with the nails, 
whilst in others the matter recedes and dries up in the interior 
of the pustule. Small yellowish crusts, most frequently isolated, 
cover then the prominences of the follicle, or a single firm adherent 
crust is formed which turns brownish or blackish in the course 
of time. If the inflammation of the follicle does not go on to 
suppuration, small, hardened, reddish, or brownish crusts, rather 
papulous than pustulous, and covered with epidermidal scales, 
are found. The inflammation spreads sometimes to other parts 
of the skin, as, for instance, to the sebaceous follicles, and swellings 
as large as a cherry (tubercles) are seen, especially on the lips 
and chin. The fungus spreads soon and very rapidly from the 
upper lip ; sometimes it remains restricted to the line parting the 
moustache. The action of emollients and resolvents helps to 
reduce the inflammation, and the eruption ceases for a time, but 
only in order to break out with more virulence and to spread 
further. The disease may thus last for years with alternating 
changes for better or worse. When it has once become chronic 
a fungous state of the follicles, which bleed at the slightest touchy 
comes on, and a badly-smelling, sanious matter is discharged, 
a thorough change of the hair takes place, which becomes 
yellowish, ash-gray, whitish, and atrophied, and falls off spon- 
taneously. It may even lead to a permanent alopsecia. There 
is no doubt that the mentagrum of Martial (Epigramm., lib. xi, 
98) and the pudendagrum of Pliny, with its formation of little 
knots and tubercles, was nothing more than the consequence of 
the Microsporon mentagrophytes, which Roman *' libertines'' called 
Cunnilingi and Basiatores, and which was carried from the chin 
to the genitals, and from the genitals again to the chin of a third 
person. 

Treatment, — Bazin considers that mentagra renders an imme- 
diate removal of the hair necessary, without any further prepara- 
tion, by means of a pair of pincers ; this may be done in partial 



MICROSPORON MENTAGROPHYTES. 157 

mentagra during one sittings but when it has spread very much 
several sittings are required ; it can be done by the diseased 
person himself. The operation is for the most part easy and 
painless j in old meutagra^ when the hair has become loosened^ 
and the capsule somewhat separated from the papilla and the sac 
of the follicle^ the hair falls out by itself^ and it is only in fresh 
mentagra that the operation becomes painful. Epilation is some- 
times accompanied by a slight effusion of blood caused by a 
fungous state of the infested parts. 

After the epilation it is well to drop, by means of a pair of 
pincers^ a sponge, or a fine brush, a solution of sublimate (5 parts 
to 100 parts of water) on the injured spots. This treatment 
causes sometimes an eruption of pustules on the lips and head, 
which must be opened with a needle on the following day. In 
order to prevent salivation, 1 — 2 parts of sublimate or 1 part of 
acetate of copper to 500 parts of water should be used. 

Epilation produces an immediate improvement. The itching, 
pain, and tension of the lips cease ; the hardened pai*ts become 
more pliant; and the eruption of pustules retires. A single 
washing after epilation is sufficient; no internal treatment, no 
lotions or ointment are required. The patient need not go to 
a hospital, or only in the case of old mentagra which has spread 
over the whole face and the part of the skin which is covered 
with hair, and even then he may be dismissed in from 8 to 12 days. 
In slight cases, and when the parasite is absent, simple epilation 
without washing will be found sufficient; it is, however, better to 
employ both. The hair grows again soon, and often more beau- 
tifully than before. Cases of relapse are met with in some places 
which the patient is, however, quite able to treat himself. 
Pudendagra is similarly treated. 

M. Santlus, of Hadamar, speaks favorably of epilation, and is 
confirmed by Didot of Brussels. He orders afterwards bandages 
wetted with *' Aq. Phag. Pharm. Würtemb.*' The simultaneous 
internal use of graphite with guaiacum seems, according to 
Santlus, to be superfluous. 

Literature. — Gruby, 1. c, 1844, xviii, p. 585; Bazin, 1. c, 
1855, p. 41 — 43; Robin, 1. c, p. 430 — 436; Gudden, Vierordt's 
'Archiv/ xiii, 3, p. 504 — 606 (1853), Appendix. 



158 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 



VI. Microsporon furfur = Fungus seu Epiphytes Pityriasis 
versicoloris. (Tab. Ill, figs. 1 — 4a,) 

Trichomata {fila) in squamis epitheliaKbus sua, nunquam etiam 
earum marginem excedentia, multipliciter torta et inter se nexa, tU 
raro finis fili cujusdam certo cognosci queat ; simplicibus, parallelis 
lineis terminatay nunquam atU articulata out in margine vincta, nee 
contenti quid in eo apparet ; passim in ramulos divisa. Sporidia 
rotunda Innis adumbrantur lineis concentricis, quarum interior 
spatium lucidum circumdat ; in acervulis agminata. 

Habitat. — In cute hominis tegroti. 

Ab aUis speciebus generis differt longitudine trichomatorum ac 
ramulorum et forma sporidiorum semper rotunda. 

The parasite consists partly of elongated and branched cella 
(fila, filamenta, trichomata), partly of spores which are piled up in 
groups or in heaps, some of these being 100 mm, in diameter. 
They refract the light strongly, and appear, like all bodies which 
do the same, to be limited by two concentric lines, which are 
again bounded by a fine, bright space, which is, however, darker 
than the brilliant centre of the spore. Caustic ammonia added 
to the crusts or scales of the diseased skin renders the parasite 
more distinctly visible. Its seat is more particularly the skin of 
the breast and stomach, sometimes also that of the extremities, 
never that of parts which are exposed to the air. It grows 
rapidly, though the nature of the growth of the spores is yet 
unknown. 

The appearance of this fungus is ushered in by the formation 
of more or less yellowish or yellow-brownish spots, which are con- 
stantly scaling off and itching, never rising above the level of the 
skin, and which are of various sizes and pulverulent on the 
surface. The whole forms the ^* Pityriasis versicolor.'^ These 
small spots are at first of the size of a. pea, they increase, how- 
ever, gradually and rise together, spreading to the breadth of twa 
hands and uninterruptedly from the thorax to the body. The 
itching is increased by hard work and spirituous liquors. 

Sluyter and Eichstädt have clearly proved that lying in a bed 
which was formerly occupied by any one suffering from *^ Pityriasis 
versicolor " will communicate it, and they doubt not that this 
disease is caused by the parasite. The evil is purely local ; it 



MICEOSPOEON FUEPDB. 159 

has Dcver been found to occur previous to puberty, but always 
after the individual had reached from the fourteenth to the six- 
teenth year, and it seems more especially to attack such persons 
as are suffering from tuberculosis. 

Eichstädt discovered the fungus in 1846, and after him, in 1847, 
much attention was paid to it by Sluyter; Robin himself did not 
find it j H. £. Richter describes it as Mycoderma Eichstädtii. 

Gudden has occupied himself much with this disease lately 
without determining the nature of the fungus. The fungus 
establishes itself on the skin of both the healthy and the sick, 
especially amongst the poorer people. It is found, however, also 
on the most luxuriously clean and rich ; more rarely on women 
than on men, never on children. It spreads mostly over the back 
and even the whole of the chest. It ascends often along the 
neck and attacks the extremities. Its horror of such parts of 
the body as are kept constantly bare is so great that Gudden saw 
a young man who went with his chest uncovered, and who was 
attacked all around by the fungus whilst the open space was left 
quite free and uninjured. These brown spots, called chloasmata, 
rise rarely abov6 the level of the skin, and the finger experiences 
a rough sensation when passed over them. The surface, which 
is at first smooth, peels off after a little while. The disease con- 
centrates itself, at first around small spots, which are seen, with a 
few exceptions, pierced by a little hair. 

Means of discovering thefungtis. — A vdsicator should be placed 
on the diseased spot, and the vesicle removed as soon as possible and 
spread upon a glass plate suspended over a dark surface, and the 
soft serum removed from its lower surface by means of a fine pair 
of pincers, which is easily done with a little care. Nothing re* 
mains but the upper, thin, transparent, and firm layer, and its 
continuation on the sheath of the hair, so that the fungus is very 
well seen through it, as well as an innumerable quantity of small 
dots which appear to be whitish under reflected light, and darker 
by transmitted light. They are the openings of the perspiriferous 
glands, consisting of epidermal cells closely and flatly pressed 
one against the other, and which stand erect, are well developed, 
and contain a yellow pigment. These glands are very constant, 
and remain intact in the midst of the fungi. They are sur- 
rounded by spores, and present then darker, yellow-brownish, 
and funnel-shaped cavities. The fungus does not penetrate into 
the cavities of the pares themselves. The cells of the epidermis are 



160 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

all normal, even to the lowest hard and homy layer. The cutis 
is sometimes a little redder, corresponding to the seat and extent 
of the spots. The masses of fungi may also be wholly or par- 
tially removed from the uninjured skin, leaving only a moist 
surface behind, by means of a myrtle leaf. H. E. Richter 
scratches off the scales, puts them under an object-glass, and 
moistens them with acetic ether. The fungus is well shown by 
this method. 

Anatomy. — If a patch of fungi is cut ont of the skin, toge- 
ther with the nearest surrounding parts, and placed under the 
microscope, and viewed from below and above, it is found that the 
fungus-patch lies in the uppermost horny layer. The patch im- 
bedded between two layers, the lower and larger of which is 
formed by the filaments, the upper and smaller by the spores of 
the fungus. The vertical diameter of the patch is greatest in 
the direction of the hair-funnel, where the spores thrive best, 
thinner at the circumference — a proof that the fungi lie in cor- 
responding layers. If such a patch is left in the water for 
twenty-four to forty-eight hours at the common temperature, the 
fungus, which has been soaked and loosened, may be removed by 
means of the curved couching-needle, without losing its cou-* 
sistency. 

The threads are ^^" broad, round, serpentine, knotty, branch- 
ing off in all directions, and entangled; they are transparent, 
slightly yellowish coloured, with moderately sharp outlines, and 
become smaller and paler by age, as well as in vinegar. The 
spores sprout at the end of a fibre, sometimes also at the side, 
and form very dense bunches of ^''^ longitudinal diameter. If 
the bunches consist only of a few spores, the latter may often 
be seen on a little branch of the divided filament. Even spores 
torn off are branched or united in small chains. The spores are 
round, with a sharpish contour, and on an average -^^^ in dia- 
meter. Many of them have one or two little bodies in their 
interior which refract the light more strongly, and which are 
rarely missing. Gudden does not regard them as nuclei. The 
fungus is, moreover, covered with a thin connected layer of 
epidermis, which is best seen where a fold in the skin is formed. 
Between the fibres and cells of the fungus there are fragments 
of the epidermis and molecular detritus. Almost every little 
patch is pierced by a hair, and the spores heap themselves up, 
^specially in the funnel of the hair, descending deep into the 



MICROSPORON FURFUR. 161 

prolongations of the sheath of the hair^ which they sometimes dye 
yellow by means of their mass. The spores may also be taken 
out of the sheath of the hair after maceration. They undergo 
no change except that they sometimes become thinner from 
below. 

The patches increase gradually, and peel off superficially after 
breaking through the layer of the epidermis, in little whitish 
scales (i. €,, the cells of the epidermis and dried-up fungi). On 
the epidermis the fungi are found sometimes to run along the 
minute furrows. If the fungus withers, the yellow spot pro- 
duced by the peeling off disappears and leaves behind for a 
longer period of time a smooth and less coloured spot. Oudden 
relates that a medical student had been infected by his brother, 
and thinks that the disease is contagious externally ; his 
experiments on this subject were unsuccessful, because he 
scratched off the epidermis at the place of vaccination. The 
fungus is found on healthy and sick people ; one kind of illness, 
however, being more favorable to its growth than another. It 
never penetrates into the deeper and softer, but only into the 
upper and homy layer of the epidermis, whence children escape 
unscathed, and the chemical reactions of the cutis are looked for 
in vain. The fungus of the favus (Achorion Schoenlemii) prefers 
the lower layers of the epidermis, and is therefore more especially 
the disease of children. Should it be confirmed that women are 
fireeer from Microsporon Jnr/ur, it would find its explanation 
likewise in the nature of their skin. Oudden does not think 
that contact with the air by itself prevents the attacks of this 
fungus, but that it seeks and prefers the covered parts, on account 
of their greater warmth. 

Treatment, — According to Sluyter, the applications of lotions 
containing a solution of liver of sulphur or corrosive sublimate 
are sufficient. According to more modem writers, Tinctura 
Veratri albi (in which, however, the alcohol appears to be the effi- 
cient agent) may be employed with success — a fact which I am able 
to confirm. Oudden, at an earlier period, when he was but imper- 
fectly acquainted with the nature of this disease, and had but 
little experience, rubbed the back all over with soap, and, after the 
lapse of half an hour, directed the patches of fangi to be bathed 
with a lukewarm lotion and then with cloths steeped in solution 
of corrosive sublimate, until he saw the first signs of intoxication. 
But the evil returned aftier some months again and again. Yoa 

11 



162 VEGETABLE PABASITES. 

Bärensprung (^Deutsche Klinik/ No. 6^ 1855) thinks be haa 
succeeded in curing the disease by using a lotion^ with one grain 
of corrosive sublimate to an ounce of water. It appears to me 
Terj improbable that this remedy should prevent relapses without 
epilation^ since the principal indication consists in removing or 
killing all fungi^ even those found in the sheath of the hair. 
Blisters remove the skin and the fungus superficiallyi but after 
three or four weeks they spring up again. 

Gudden adds nothing to this^ and yet the treatment does not 
seem to be so difficult after the above indications. Let the outer 
skin be destroyed or lifted off^ which may be done by vesication 
as well as by means of Heimerich^s ointment (see Itch-mite)^ and 
let every hair be taken out immediately before or after. No 
doubt, it may even then not be possible to remove^ at the same 
time, the sheath of the hair, and it will become necessary to 
apply, after epilation has been proceeded with, those anti-parasitic 
lotions which have been recommended in other places. The skin 
which is taken off is to be burned, and the clothes and linen dis- 
infected by heat and steam. 

Literature. — Sluyter, ' Dissertatio de vegetabilibus organismi 
animalis parasitis ac de novo Epiphyto in pityriasi versicolori,' 
Berol., 27th of November, 1847, p. 25, figs. 2 and 3; Gudden, 
Vierordt's 'Archiv,' xii, 3, pp. 496 — 504, with illustrations; 
Robin, L c, pp. 436 — 439; Wedl, 1. c, p. 735; H. E. Richter, 
' Grundriss der Innern Klinik,' 2d ed., p. 1087. 

It is interesting to compare with this the fungus mentioned by 
Fuchs in his work on the * Diseases of the Skin,' ii, p. 538, as 
occurring iu Alphis (white spots on the skin). B. Langenbeck 
made a drawing of it, which was not published at the time, and 
has probably been lost since. 

VII. Achorion Schoenleinii. 
Tab. Ill, figs. 5—11, and Tab. IV, fig. 12. 

Tribe— Oirfiei, L^veill^. 

Receptacula aimplicia, ramosa, floccosa. Sporidia terminalia, 
ramulis adfuerentia aut verticillata. 

Genus — Achorion (Link and Bemak) : Orbiculare flavum, 
coriaceum, cuii hununuß, pnesertim capitis insidens. Mycelium == 
rbizopodium moUe, peUucidum, floccomm, floccia tenuissimis, non 



ACHORION SCHOENLEINII. 163 

ariiculatis, ramosüsimis, in siromate grantUoso plerumque affixis, 
anastomoticia, Receptaculum floods crassioribus e cellulis elon* 
gatis formatum, subramosis, distincte articulatis, articulis inaquali-^ 
bus, irregularibus, in sporidio abeuntibus. Sporidia rotunda, ovalia, 
vel irregularia, in una vel pluribus lateribus gemiinantia. Species 
Oidio affinis. (Remak.) 

Kemak described the mycelium as articulated^ which Robin 
considers to be erroneous. Remak called also the tubes formed 
by the spores mycelium^ and supposed the tubes of the mycelium 
anastomosed among themselves, whilst this takes place only with the 
articulated filaments of the spores^ according to Robin. Oidium 
differs from Achorion in the tubular filaments which lie exposed^ 
and are not inclosed by an external thick and smooth layer. 
Species — Achorion Schoenleinii, 

Synonyms : Oidii species, Oidium Schoenleinii, Mycoderme de la 
teigne, Cryptogame de la teigne faveuse, Champignon de la teigne 
scrophuleuse, faveuse^ Fungus Porriginis, 
Signa generis. 

Habitat : In cute capitis humani, etiam in aliis corporis regioni- 
bits, et in foUiculis papillorum inque depressionibus superficiei cutis ; 
porro in unguibus digitorum manus et pedis. 

It had been overlooked^ until Robin and Bazin pointed it out^ 
that this parasite attaches itself to the bottom of the hair-follicle 
in the direction of the hair^ more commonly, however^ to the 
simple layer of the cells of the epidermis. Here spores only, or 
closely articulated filaments^ are met with. These spores adhere 
for the most part to the hair^ and create on its surface circular 
enveloping masses^ which spread out more or less, and form a kind 
of sheath for it. Sometimes the spores occur close together, 
sometimes forming single, double, or treble rows, which are con- 
nected by means of smaller rows, and form a kind of network, 
which adheres firmly to the hair, and often appears discoloured on 
account of the copious layer of spores. Sometimes the spores 
penetrate into the root of the hair, which becomes then disfigured, 
dried up, and fibrous, even in the interspaces between the fibrillae. 
Spores are likewise found at that part of the hair which lies free, 
outside the follicle, on the angles formed by the hair in its folds, 
&c. The hair-follicle is changed, moreover, as well as the bulb 
of the hair, and it becomes atrophied and thin. The penetrating 
of the spores into the follicle explains the pertinacity of favus. 
If the parasite be found accumulated in the depressions of the 



164 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

surface of the skin, formiDg what is called a cup ss " godet = 
favus/^ in the proper sense^ we meet not only with spores, but 
every anatomical part of the plant mycelium, receptacle, aud 
spores. These lie at first underneath the epidermis; they pene- 
trate gradually^ still covered by the epidermis^ into the follicle^ 
and unite with those of the neighbouring hair, whilst the skin 
becomes thinner. When the favus is very large, it frequently 
throws off the dried epidermis, and the parasite becomes exposed 
to the air. The skin around the hair becomes depressed, thinned, 
resorbed, and the opening of the follicle changed. When the para-r 
sites of several infected hairs run together, large crusts of favi are 
found, underneath which the skin is changed to a large extent ; 
and between the inclosed diseased follicles we find also some 
healthy follicles. The glands of the hair become narrower and 
smaller, they contain, as they do in. a healthy state, only a few 
drops of oil, but a large quantity of a granular substance, and 
their channel of excretion is thread-like, and probably obliterated. 
A considerable number of such fungi unite to form little peculiar 
hemispherical masses, from 1 — 15 mm. in diameter, and from 
1 — 4 or 5 mm. in thickness, and are on their free side even or 
concave, on their attached side convex. Their colour is pale 
brimstone-yellow, sometin^s a little browned by foreign bodies. 
Their whole convex portion is inserted into the skin, whence the 
latter is depressed, smooth, and sometimes slightly embossed, 
exhibiting oftentimes small branch-like elongations or very short 
and blunt little warts (L6bert). The free side is ait the same 
time the broadest of the favus, often covered with suppurated 
epidermal layers, called dry ciusts, to which they bear not 
the least resemblance. Whilst the favus is not fully grown 
it possesses a cup-like cavity in the centre, which fills up as it 
grows. A very large favus shows alternately salient and depressed 
lines, in various numbers, all around the centre of the favus; 
they are arranged in irregular circles, and ordinarily pierced by 
one or more hairs. The edges of the free side often adhere to 
the epidermis of the skin, and are covered with a dried-up 
substance, forming small, transparent, brownish or grayish crusts, 
which do not belong to the parasite, and which must be taken 
away if the favus is to be removed. One or more hairs always 
pierce the fiävus in an oUique direction at those places which are 
provided with hair. When it is removed it is found that the 
hair penetrates t)ie skin, and that the folUote lies still deeper» It 



ACHORION SCHOENLEINII. 163 

has been wrongly stated that these formations have their seat in 
the principal part of the follicle of the hair, or of the glandulae 
sebaceae. At the spot which has been freed from the favus there 
remains a smooth impression — ^red from irritation, which, how- 
ever, soon disappears, often in the course of an hour, in con- 
sequence of the elasticity of the skin when freed from pressure. 

Structure of the favi, — In order to study carefully the structure 
and construction of the fungus, it is well to examine, first, the 
normal structure of the shaft of the hair, which is thus described 
by Gudden. The shaft of the hair and the inner sheath of the root 
consist of a modified epidermis composed of bright transparent cells^ 
which are round below, becoming flat towards the upper part, and 
stretching out to a considerable length, parallel to the shaft, 
perhaps even losing their nucleus, whilst the layer of epidermis 
of the skin consists of smaller round or elongated cells. This 
may be seen best by drawing out the shaft of the hair, together 
with its inner sheath, and separating it from the epidermal layer 
of the skin. Since this does not always succeed, the layer of 
epidermis of the skin may be torn off by means of a curved 
and not too sharp couching-needle, and split longitudinally, 
when the single cells are usually brought out very distinctly at 
the edge. 

The favus is hard, dry, brittle i its fracture is shining ; its in* 
terior whitish-yellow, and paler than the outer surface. When 
examined with a lens, it is seen to be spongy, or even a little 
hollow in the centre (Lebert) ; when seen under stronger powers, 
its contents appear to be the tougher the nearer they approach 
the surface, forming a thin, dense layer, which acts as a kind of 
cover. 

The exterior layer = " stroma" ts '^ gangue amorphe,'' is one 
sixth of a millimetre in thickness, forming a finely granulated 
amorphous mass, representing a membrane which cannot be 
isolated, belonging, nevertheless, to the favus, ahd is not the 
result of the drying up of the amorphous^ albuminous, exuded 
mass, nor of an accelerated formation of the epidermis, nor of the 
drying up of thö pus or the mixing of any one of these substances 
with the other. It forms the amorphous, homogeneous^ very finely 
granulated stroma, consisting of organic substances or the gangue 
amorphe common to all fungi. 

The inner surface of this outer layer passes gradually into the 
central part ; it is spongy, easily rubbed to a yellowish-white dust^ 



166 YEGETABLE PAEASITES. 

representing, under the microscope, a mixture of mycelium, recep- 
tacles, and spores, which show clearly the various steps of transi- 
tion among themselves. 

1. The mycelium is formed of curved, bent, and simple cylindrical 
tubeft, forked or branched in all directions, with partition walls, which 
are smooth and oblique, standing at unequal distances one from 
the other. The tubes are strangulated and articulated, and have 
an equal diameter of 0*003''' all along, and are bordered by a 
smooth and pale edge. These tubes communicate most frequently 
with those of the branches, sometimes they do not^ and they are 
then separated by a wall. The edges of the tubes are simple, 
smooth, of dark colour, and their transparent surface without 
granulation in the interior. Sometimes one end of the cavity is 
seen free and floating, and the other adhering and communicating 
with the granular stroma. A finely granulated mass is found 
between the joints, and the sporidia are interspersed between the 
thallus-threads. Robin denies the presence of joints and par- 
tition walls in the latter. 

2. Receptacles or sporophora (the spore-tubes of some writers) 
are tubes analogous to those of the mycelium, with short joints, 
slightly contracted externally, cylindrical, usually less flexible and 
brittle, so that they break up easily into single parts, empty in 
one part, and provided in the other with small globules of 
0-001 — 2 mm., or with a single isolated corpuscle. Other 
tubes, neither flexible nor branched, but straight or slightly 
curved, contain similar, yet larger granules, of 0*004 — 5 mm., 
which are, however, in closer proximity one to another, especially 
towards the ends of the tubes, without ever touching entirely. 
The last and broadest tubes^ with occasionally occurring partition 
walls, are denser (0*005 mm.) and longer and contain spores, which 
are closely connected with one another. The tubes are 05 — 20 
mm. long. There are also spores of 0*005 — 7 mm. in breadth, 
and 0*007 — 11 mm. in length, provided with joints at certain 
distances, and contracted at those places of juncture in which the 
common envelope is no longer recognised. Sometimes, by a 
division of the sporules, these rows are divided into two or three 
smaller rows. It is uncertain whether these spore-tubes generate 
in due time new ones, either at their origin or free end, as in other 
cryptogams. 

3. The spores are generally round, spherical, oval, or irregular, 
consistent, sometimes joined together and provided with smooth. 



ACHORION SCHOENLEINII. 167 

very marked edges^ 0-008 — 6 mm. broad^ and 0*007 — 10 mm. long, 
not changed in water or vinegar ; homogeneous in their interior, 
transparent^ and refracting the light strongly, and are found, 
on closer examination, to be filled in their centre with a very 
fine powder of molecular granules^ and exhibiting, on the addition 
of water, a molecular motion of the spores (Lebert, Bemak). 
Some of the largest round spores show a small granulation of 
O'OOl — 2 mm., and the longest the same at each end. There 
are, likewise, ovoid, almost four-sided spores, triangular and 
rounded off at the corners, which are swollen at the ends and 
contracted in the middle, spherical and longish, and grouped 
together^ forming a simple or sometimes a fork-like divided row 
of from four to twelve spores. Sometimes only spores of the 
same size are grouped together, sometimes of different sizes, and 
sometimes the ramified tubes are found to communicate amongst 
themselves. This fungus should be examined with a power of 
from 500 to 600 diameters. 

Seat of the favi. — They are principally found on the head, 
covered with hair, but also on all other parts of the body ; on the 
face, the shoulder-blades, the external ear, on the front of the 
thighs, the penis, and the testicles, and not merely on those parts 
of the skin covered with hair. At first a reddened spot on the 
skin^ with a yellow dot in the centre, is perceived. If this spot 
is opened, a drop of matter is sometimes seen to exude, some- 
times not ; and below lies the readily formed mass of fungi as a 
yellow knot. The favi are imbedded in the skin^ which is de- 
pressed and thinned by them ; their surface is firmly attached, by 
immediate contact, to the depressed part, which is deeper in the 
skin of the remaining part of the body than on the head. As 
soon as the mass of fungi becomes exposed to the air, after 
the loosening of the epidermis, a scab is deposited, sometimes 
with and sometimes without pus, and the external edges still 
covered with epidermis, which must be cut off if the scab is to 
be detached. When the scab is quite dry, this operation rarely 
succeeds completely. Broad crusts of V diameter and more 
are formed by continued exudation. The opening of the canal 
of the hair is, therefore, no necessary seat of the favi, but 
becomes so in the course of its spreading; in small favi, 
from 3—4 mm. diameter, they are seen to be pierced by 
four or five hairs. The adipose, tissue has been erroneously 
thought to be their seat, and they were even regarded as hyper- 



168 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

trophied sebaceous follicles. It is most probable^ according 
to Baziu^ since the favus-matter is constantly found at the 
lower portion of the epidermal part of the channel of the hair, 
below the opening of the follicle in the skin (Bazin's '* termi- 
naison de la membrane capsulaire interne,'^) that the parasite 
originates here, and is sending its branches forth into the interior 
of the hair, and outwardly underneath the epidermis. The 
epidermal canal is firmly attached to the hair, preventing the free 
exit of the fungus, and forming the centre of the cup-like cavity 
(godet). On growing, the fungus moves more towards the skin 
between the two layers of the epidermal envelope. 

The fungus shows itself simultaneously in several capsules of 
the same follicle, when the favi occur in groups {Porrigo scutu 
formis). The little cups of the favus press one upon the other, 
become deformed, and burst the skin which covers them. This 
is proved by the fact, that the Porrigo saUiformis becomes, after 
the first epilation and washing with the favus-remedy, a Porrigo 
disseminata, which after several weeks runs again together from 
the remaining milk -hairs. On other parts of the body,, where 
the hair is destroyed, and the bulbs not deeply seated in the 
skin, only the disseminated favus is found. Gudden has even 
more accurately determined its seat. He considers the normal 
epidermis, or the epidermal tissue in general, and the little 
funnels of the hair in particular, to be the original places of ger- 
mination of the Achorion, from whence it spreads into crevices 
and wounds. Its spreading is very much assisted by a delicate, 
moist skin. The fungus penetrates from the hair-funnels either 
into the hair itself or into the surrounding epidermis, forcing its 
filaments inside the sheath between the scaly rings, which they 
drive away from the shaft of the hair, or, penetrating deeper and 
undermining the whole, cover it in all directions. They arrive 
thus sometimes, but rarely, between the longitudinal fibres, and 
then run parallel to the longitudinal axis of the hair. Wedl 
gives a similar illustration of it, and this is no doubt the reason 
why Hebra declares Herpes tonsurans and Favus to be iden- 
tical. If, however, the immense bulk of the hair occasioned 
by the spores in Herpes tonsurans is compared herewith, and 
if, moreover, the observations of so acute an observer as Oudden 
are repeatedly confirmed, that the spores never penetrate very 
far and very deep into the tuft of hair, nor very far into the epi- 
dermis of the skin below the hair, t. e., into the outer sheathj 



ACHORION SCHOENLEINII. 169 

it will become clear that the fungi of Herpes tonsurans and 
Favus are very different, and have, therefore, been treated 
separately here. H. E. Bichter is of the same opinion, based, 
moreover, on the variation in the size of the parts of the fungi« 
According to Gudden, favus-fungi are never found in the canals of 
the sudorific glands or of the sebaceous follicles. 

Growth of the Achorion. 

a. Cremdnatum. — Remak could not succeed in germinating 
spores, in pus, muscles, cerebral substance, serum, or on 
solutions of sugar, but he succeeded very well on an apple, and 
on his arm. (See author's Appendix for further information 
about these experiments.) Gudden states, with regard to the 
possibility of conveying the disease by means of the spores to 
other individuals, which was proved by Remak and Bennett, that 
the transference to uninjured bodies fails, whilst it succeeds very 
well after removing the outer skin, which may be done either by 
a vesicator or by scratching. It becomes then merely neces- 
sary to allow the favus to be tied on such places for 86 — 120 
hours. Hebra was unable to notice any propagation of fungi of 
the favus by means of inoculation, but only redness and the 
formation of vesicles. 

b. Development. — According to Lebert, Remak, and Gudden, 
there is seen, near old crusts, a small, round epidermal elevation 
in the midst of them, together with a small yellow body (the 
favus). If the epidermal layer which covers this body is raised, 
a drop of pus is sometimes seen to exude, underneath which the 
little favus lives and thrives, possessing a smooth surface and 
deeply imbedded in the skin. The pus is often wanting, and 
the fungus forms a small, firm, yellow spot. If the epidermal 
layer is removed, and the fungus exposed to the air, it grows and 
clothes the neighbouring hair, without producing pus. It adheres 
firmly to the skin, its surface is dry, well defined, and slightly 
covered with epidermis. On removing the favi new ones spring up. 
Ignorance of these processes gave rise to the erroneous descrip- 
tions of the favus by some pathologists, as, for instance, Cazenave, 

The favus passes, according to Bazin, during its development, 
in three periods, through three different stages, which occur 
sometimes simultaneously on the same head, and which have 
been described by authors as separate species — Favus urceoUxris, 
F. scuttfarmis, and F. squarrosus. 



170 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

During the first period the hair becomes altered, not so the 
skin at the place of its germination ; gastric disorders are seldom 
or never found. 

During the second period the change in the hair becomes 
more perceptible; the fungus appears outwardly as a yellowish 
concretion, with or without being preceded by congestion of the 
skin, and exhibits all its regular stages of development. 

During the third period the alteration of the hair has reached 
a high degree, the hair falls off by itself, and leaves merely scars 
behind. The few diseased places are covered with lichenous 
debris, or crusts resembling pulverized alum or gypsum. 

The species of the favus are nothing more than variations in 
form according to the different states of reaction of the cutis in 
relation to the fungus. Thus the following forms may be traced: 

1 . Favus disseminatus, F. isolaius, F. independens, F. urceolaris, 
Porrigo favosa, Tinea lupinosa, F. alveolaris, &c. — It is found on all 
parts of the body covered with hair, but more especially on the back 
of the head, spreading sometimes over the whole surface of the 
body {FavtM generalis), now alone, now associated with other skin 
diseases, and particularly with Herpes circinnatus. It has likewise 
three periods. During the first, which is of various duration, 
there exists sometimes a disordered digestion, sometimes not. 
The hairs are frequently altered, without lustre, feeble, and 
strikingly differing from the colour of the healthy hair; finally 
they become quite colourless. On endeavouring to pull out the 
hair it offers little resistance, and the microscope shows its texture 
to be very much altered. The parts which constitute the shaft 
are wholly or partially destroyed. The colour is a dirty, grayish 
or brownish-like rust or blight. Distinct traces of the fungus 
are observed at the bulb and at the continuation of the root of 
the hair. 

Gastric disorders become frequent during the second period. 
If the fungus is examined at its origin with the naked eye, it 
appears mostly as a yellow, scarcely perceptible point, with a 
ventral impression, pierced by a hair. The first trace of the 
development of the fungus may be discovered by means of a 
pocket-lens ; sometimes a slight rising of the skin is observed on 
the spot where the hair penetrates it, sometimes a small point 
aside and underneath the skin, or also two or three small, yellow, 
isolated concretions parting at the basis of the hair, which form 
on the following day a single, conically excavated concretion 



FAVUS. 171 

pierced with a hair in its centre. The yellow crust grows very 
rapidly: its vertical diameter increasing J — 1"' during twenty- 
four hours ; the ventral depression becomes daily more character- 
istic, and may be compared to the alveoli of the honeycomb, or to 
the depressions on beans, or to the small cups of the yellow lichens 
on the branches of trees. Sometimes the inner surface of this de- 
pression is quite smooth and even, such as is seen in the cups of the 
oak ; at other times uneven, and exhibiting a series of concentric 
circular elfevations, the number of which indicates to some extent 
the age of the cup of the favus, and which resemble, from their 
position, the circular prominences of the nests of swallows. The 
younger these layers are the more saffron-coloured are they ; the 
older, the whiter. The last layer raises sometimes the epidermis 
several millimetres above the level of the surrounding skin. 
The cup of the favus may even reach more than two centimetres 
in breadth ; the fungus makes, however, its exit before it reaches 
these dimensions by breaking through the epidermal covering 
almost always some millimetres above the point where the crust is 
pierced by the hair; it makes a hernia through this opening, and 
shows no longer any regular form during its growth. 

Complications. — The cups of favi run together and open a free 
passage for the favus at another place. The patient often 
scratches off the epidermal covering of the favi, causing a few 
drops of blood to flow, which dry on the crust. This increases 
the irritation of the scalp, produced by the presence of the foreign 
body, and leads to the formation of real impetiginous pustules and 
crusts. If the alveolar crusts of the favus are removed, by the 
nails of the patient, by poultices, or by the physician himself by 
means of the spatula, the surfaces which lie underneath are found 
to be depressed, red, bleeding, and covered with a thin epidermal 
layer, above which are often seen the vessels and fibres of the 
skin. If the crusts are carefully removed without injuring the 
skin which lies underneath, a transparent lymph without blood 
exudes. 

After removing the fungus, the depressed part dries and reaches 
in a few days again the level of the surrounding skin. The 
eruption of the favus daily covers more and more of the scalp ; 
its progress is sometimes rapid, sometimes slow, according to the 
cleanliness of the diseased persons attacked, and other conditions. 

After various intervals the patient arrives at the third period, 
that of baldness. 



172 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

In spite of the application of emollients and lotions the head 
of the patient exhibits a certain inflammable redness, disorders of 
digestion come on, and a painful feeling of oppression ; a sign 
that a foreign body has its seat in the follicles of the hair, which 
sustains the irritation. This redness only disappears on bald 
places and on the scars which succeed the falling off of the hair. 
The hair becomes altered more and more^ loses its colour, 
becomes atrophied^ varying in its diameter in different places, it 
becomes mouse-gray or ash-coloured, woolly, and falls out. The 
hairs may be drawn out with their bulb by means of a pair of 
pincers^« or they separate from their root by breaking off at the 
level of the skin. The bare spots form complete scars, in which 
the bulb of the hair and the whole pigment are destroyed by the 
fungus. Sometimes remains of the hair are seen entangled in the 
epidermis. Baldness commences, as in most diseases of the 
scalp, in the back and lateral parts of the head ; the back of the 
head resists longest. The mass of favi may be compared to dried 
birds' dung, and is possessed of a most repulsive smell, similar to 
putrefying animal matter. During this latter period the favus is 
apt to spread to other parts of the body, and this spreading is 
accelerated by the simultaneous Heiyes circinnatus, or by the 
scratching of the patient. The Favm alveolaris is found in every 
region. 

2. Favus scuiifarmis, F. nummularis, Porriffo scutulata, Favus in 
rings, circles, groups, &c. — It is primary, or follows chronic 
eczema, impetigo^ or lichen, and exists only in the scalp, and in 
conjunction with a strong growth of the hair. The alteration of 
the hair is, during the first period, less perceptible than in the 
last form. During the second period this species appears at first 
as a more or less extensive round spot, from half an inch in 
diameter to that of a five- franc piece. The pericranium appears 
elevated, swollen, reddish, and painful ; the surrounding regions 
depressed. Sometimes the hair which covers the spot is sur- 
rounded at its base with a small epidermal capsule, whitish or 
yellowish-white, forming a kind of covering to the hair. This 
excessive formation of epidermis continues a lung time, and 
the favus might then easily be mistaken for pityriasis of the 
scalp. The form of the affection, the adherence of the scales, 
the gum-like aspect of the epidermal covering of the hair, the 
colour of the branny scales, form the distinctive characters of 
this disease. The cells of the epidermis become smaller and 



FAVUS SQUAKROSUS. L73 

more rhomboidal^ the tubes of the mycelium and the spores are 
seen, by the aid of a pocket-glass, before the yellow mass of favus 
can be recognised, which is the result of the accumulation of 
these cryptogamic elements. This hyper-secretion of the epi- 
dermis may last six weeks before the yellow concretion of farus 
manifests itself. The alteration of the hair progresses daily, but 
the falling off of the hair takes place only after some years. 
There is rarely but one spot of favus ; in most cases there are 
several, sometimes only two, three, or four, distributed over 
various regions of the head ; they spring up simultaneously, or 
one after the other, in the same parts; they unite and form a 
large crust, which occupies one third, two thirds, or even the 
whole scalp. A small strip of hair remains frequently untouched 
on the forehead, as well as the lower part of the occipital region 
and of the nape of the neck. Half-circles are often foimd 
around the diseased parts, which remind us of the first develop- 
ment of the circular spc^s. The diseased spots are covered with 
favi, more or less irregular, fragmentary crusts, often elevated 
at the edges, pierced by hairs, and impregnated with dry blood, 
possessing a faint, often stinking smell, and sometimes concealing 
lice ; although these guests are more frequently found in /m- 
petigo granulata. The Tinea scutulata makes at this period its 
appearance also in other parts of the body, called then Porrigo 
favosa; sometimes even at the same time with the first 
species. The cure is, in this case, often accompanied by a 
considerable contraction; the hair grows, however, again very 
easily. 

3. Favus squarrosus = Porrigo squarrosa. — ^This species is oftai 
mistaken for the preceding. They differ, however: the outer 
development of the fungus does not proceed as regularly; it 
takes place on more or less prolonged, uneven, irregular surfaces, 
which are liadted, but very inaccurately. The mass of favi 
spreads over the hair and forms sheaths for it, which adhere very 
closely, producing thus distinct elevations on the surface of the 
head, and small, prickly warts, with fragmentary, powdery crusts, 
separated by deep furrows. 

Detailed description of the scabs of favi, according to Gudden and 
Bemak. — ^The scabs form round or oval discs, measuring from 
1 — ^'" in diameter, and depressed towards the middle. They are 
of a dirty yellow on the surface, changing to a dirty white towards 
the centre^ and raised a little above the level of the skim. These 



174 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

discs are frequeutly pierced by a hair in the centre. There are 
concentric furrows all around^ dividing the scabs into a number 
of rings, from ][^' in breadth, gradually spreadiog on the outside. 
The epidermis grows thicker on the edges, peels oflF, or remains 
in the middle of the scabs. By carefully piercing the epidermis 
on one side, the scabs may be lifted off easily, and without 
injury, from the cavity of the cutis, together with the adherent 
neighbouring parts of the epidermis. The lower surface is con- 
vex, yellow, smooth, and moist, from whence they can be stripped 
off in the form of a rapidly drying layer of numerous, young, 
round, and slightly granulated epidermal cells, which are rapidly 
converted, on the edge of the scabs, into the great flat and irre- 
gular epidermal cells of which the scab consists. Simon denies 
the existence of a cellular layer between the cutis and scab. 
Gudden always noticed such a layer breaking up into a mole- 
cular mass in the neighbourhood of the fungus. The next 
following layer of the favus becomes thinner towards the 
centre, and ceases entirely in the middle of the cavity. It is of 
a brimstone colour, -^ — ^J''' in thickness all over the scab. 
This is commonly called Gruby's capsule. It is best seen by 
slightly pressing upon a thin vertical cut in the scab till the 
layer separates from the inner darker mass, and by soaking it 
with water, when it may be unravelled by means of a needle 
parallel with its perpendicular diameter, when the entangled 
tlireads — now and then exhibiting little vesicles of chlorophyll — 
are seen to advantage, and between them a molecular detritus. 
The fungus spreads but little towards its lower end, whilst it 
branches out variously towards its upper part, and makes rapid 
transitions, at the inner border of the capsule, to the variously 
intertwined rows of cells, which rarely exhibit a single thread. 
These cellular rows and the detritus form the central, grayish- 
white, and easily crumbled part of the scab, which are easily 
crushed in water. A great number of little bubbles of air or 
carbonic acid are seen at the place of transition to the filamentous 
layer. The smallest scabs, which are scarcely seen with the 
naked eye, form a flat crust, consisting only of filamentous favi, 
and, imbedded in the upper layer of the epidermis, covered by 
flat epidermal cells. It may be prepared by loosening the epi- 
dermis, and is often quite inclosed by the latter; and the wind- 
ings of the excretory duct of the perspiratory glands may even be 
recognised at the lower part of this cellular layer, which, however, 



FAVUS SQUARROSUS. 175 

is spared by the favus^ as well as the sebaceous follicles^ which 
are very strongly developed during a powerful reaction of the 
skin. The renewed growth of the hair of persons who suffer 
much from favi and the falling off of the hair at the period of 
puberty^ shows that it is seated in the epidermis. The abo?e- 
mentioned little capsule gradually increases and moves downwards 
until it reaches the lowest layer of the cutis^ where it spreads 
more luxuriantly in all directions. Its higher edge encounters 
a still more resistent epidermal layer, projects against it^ and 
forms a yellowish, pretty-looking little nest, harbouring in its 
cavity, cells and air-bubbles. The capsule is formed when the 
edges are gradually bent inwards, often leaving only a small 
opening in the centre. When the scab has once settled in the 
lower layers of the epidermis, uew layers of favi are continually 
seen to make their way to the light; whilst the lower layers 
remain unchanged. Their development ceases on drying the 
filaments, but recommences when they are put into water and 
soaked. The concentric rings, described by Simon, in scabs, 
are merely caused by the turning up of the layers of the scab. 
Sometimes a small opening is seen in the middle of the disc 
(Gruby), from which the favus grows, and which was forming simul* 
taneously with the latter, and is only covered by epidermal cells. 
The scabs also run together {Porrigo favosa, Favus conspersus). 
When the formation proceeds rapidly, and when a crust is 
formed about every hair, the crusts press on each other, the 
scabs increase and rise on account of their humidity, between 
the hairs. Most instructive microscopic preparations may be 
obtained by detaching the freshly formed scabs, after cleansing 
the scalp according to Gudden's method (see below). Sections 
of the older scabs exhibit two layers, sepavuted mostly by a line 
of demarcation. The thinner, whitish, and crumbling inner layer 
contains the thallus-threads ; the free and thicker yellowish layer 
the sporidia and spores. (Remak.) 

Diseased phenomena produced by the favus. — Remak experienced 
no change of general health during the time the artificially created 
favus was active ; nor is there any change perceptible in strong 
children, should the disease even last for years. It is, however, 
very doubtful whether an extensive suppurating favus acts in the 
same way as other diseases of the head, like the impetigines, 
which act vicariously, by replacing chronic inflammations and 
mucous ilischarges of the conjunctiva, the cornea, and the auditory 



176 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

passages^ and by taking the place of swelling and suppuration of 
the cervical glands, swellings or atrophies of the mesenteric 
glands, perhaps also of tubercles of the lungs, the bones, and 
the intestinad canal. The development of the fungus is some- 
times accompanied by a peculiar odour, like the odour of the 
urine of a cat, by painful excoriations, and by a swelling of the 
neighbouring lymphatic glands. A large development leaves behind 
scars in the skin ; the latter loses its pliancy and imperviousness, 
and the hair does not grow again, probably on account of the 
atrophy of the bulb caused by pressure. Oftentimes it is ac- 
companied by an inconvenient and violent itching, and sickly 
feeling. The favi spring up again and again, cause the hair of 
children to fall out in various places, and produce great pain, 
sickness, and, to some extent, imbecility, thus imparting con- 
siderable importance to this disease. It is also followed by 
Pityriasis, Eczema squamosum, and Impetigo, when it lasts long. 
Ulcers were never observed by Gudden; they may, however, 
happen, even very deep ulcers, like those which accompany the 
itch. These may be caused by a secondary action. A very 
serious addition has to be contended with in the numbers of 
lice which aggregate on the diseased parts. 

Differential diagnosis. — ^The branny dust in pityriasis consists 
of epithelial scales, in dried-up layers or lamellse. The eczema- 
scales or crusts, which often cover the lavus, may easily be 
distinguished from the latter at a glance. The favus, when it 
is detached, often depends from its base in the form of a 
small yellow tubercle. The colourless thin crusts consist only of 
epithelial scales, lying one above another, and held together by 
a serous plasma. The yellow crusts are saturated with blood 
and pus, produced by scratching ; the brown, or earth-gray, crusts 
consist of decomposed particles of blood. They can be easily 
recognised by treating them with water and vinegar. 

Pustules of Impetigo are easily distinguished ; they are promi- 
nent and convex, with a yellow centre, the skin being inflamed 
all around. Pressure causes them to disdiarge pus. Their scabs 
contain no trace of favi, but of dried-up pus-corpuscles and epi- 
dermal scales. 

Older writers often confounded Achores with Favus. The 
achores are small yellow pustules and ulcers, which become 
perceptible when the hair is cut off; they surround the root of 
the hair, and appear d^ressed in the centre. They soon dry upi 



ACHORION SCHOENLEINII. 177 

and form crusts, consisting of epidermis and pus, and cannot be 
enucleated. (Lebert.) 

Special changes of the hair. — The hair is restored from time 
to time, but always in an altered condition, and has more of a 
milk-hair-like appearance ; it splits also longitudinally into ßbrillse, 
which sometimes are entangled, sometimes ravelled out, and is 
dotted all over with molecular granulations, epithelial cells, and 
numerous spores. The hair is never entirely lost, except on the 
oldest diseased parts. According to Bazin, the shaft is sometimes 
the only diseased part, sometimes the favus-matter is found on 
it here and there, when the hair looks dead, lustreless, and the 
external layer and medullary substance are usually mixed together, 
and the longitudinal fibres are broader and thicker than in the 
normal state. Other hairs exhibit a change of the inter-foUicular 
substance; spores and mycelium- tubes are found on the mem- 
branes, or sometimes favus«matter in large quantity between the 
prolongation, in root- shaped prolongations, and the tunica interna 
of the follicle of the hair, as a kind of conus, the point of which lies 
between the radicles of the hair and the inner part of the capsule, 
and the rugged basis corresponds to the upper end of the inner 
tunic of the follicle, and has in front the epidermal channel of 
the hair. Other hairs show also no follicle, or merely a few 
broken pieces. The bulb of the hair, the root, and the root- 
shaped prolongation of the hair are interspersed with spores and 
tubular filaments. Sometimes globules of pigment are seen at 
the nearer end of the longitudinal fibres, sometimes they are with- 
out pigment. Spores and tubes of the favus are met with even 
in the centre of the shaft. The highest degree of degeneration 
of the hair is marked by atrophy and discoloration, when it exr 
hibits on the edges tubular filaments, proceeding from the centre 
of the hair, similar to the changes which the latter undergoes in 
Herpes tonsurans. 

Bazin recapitulates thus the changes of the hair : 
The change of the hair does not proceed from the pressure of 
the favus on the hair. 

1. The constituent parts of the bulb themselves are altered, 
producing a disturbance of their inner texture, and not merely 
atrophy. 

2. The follicles of the hair are likewise under the influence of 
the disease. 

3. The favus and its intra-epidermidal part is most frequently 

12 



178 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

found between the upper extremity of the tunica interna of the 
follicle and the epidermal sheathing of the hair; and the bulb 
even disappears during the last period of the development of the 
favus. 

According to Gudden^ the imbedding of the favus in the hair 
renders the latter white^ rigid, brittle^ and unravelled at the 
point. The hair is opaque when examined immediately after 
the addition of * water, because the air which exists between the 
longitudinal fibres and circular scales, or which is formed into 
small vesicles, gives to the whole the appearance of a row of cells, 
till it passes finally out by way of the circular scales on the side 
collecting on the surface, and forming larger vesicles, which, 
however, recede into these spaces as soon as the hair becomes 
dried up. The hair becomes more transparent as soon as the 
air has escaped, the greater portion of which is atmospheric ; the 
smaller, perhaps, consisting of carbonic acid ; for some vesicles 
are rapidly absorbed by the water, and little drops of oil are seen 
floating about. 

Etiology of Favus, — It is found in every age, mostly in 
children. All modern writers agree that a scrofulous con- 
stitution does not alone produce it, but that various diseases, 
misery, privation, and unhealthy habitations, likewise foster it. 
The sole cause of the favus is the transfer of the spores to the 
skin, which may be effected in various ways. Few persons who 
have daily to treat favus become themselves infected, and it may 
therefore be well to presume, with Robin, that a predisposition 
to it exists in the individuals attacked by this disease. It would 
be more correct to say that contagion takes place only in the 
case of open wounds, broken skin, &c., by which the spores of 
the favus are attracted and developed. It is very doubtful 
whether it is hereditary. It has not yet been thought worth 
while to ascertain whether the children of parents who were 
infected with favus had not come into contact with other favous 
persons, and thus incurred the disease. Fa vi have only been seen 
on the human skin. It is not known what kind of skin is most 
advantageous to their growth. There is no reason why the favus 
ought not to be considered as the primary cause, and not merely 
as the bearer of a peculiar hypothetical favus-contagion. 

Reactions relating to the diagnosis of the favi and the epi* 
dermal crusts, according to Bazin. — Distilled water at the common 
temperature, or boiling, rectified spirit, ether, and chloroform, do 



DIAGNOSIS OF FAVUS. 179 

not dissolve the pure mass of favi ; they are left unaltered, whilst 
fatty matters are easily dissolved. The epithelial masses become 
thin by this treatment. Ammonia renders the favus-mass a 
little paler^ but does not dissolve it^ whilst it dissolves pus 
and impetiginous crusts, forming a milky gelatinous mass. An 
alcoholic solution of potassa, especially on being heated^ dis- 
solves impetigo-crusts, pus, skin, hair^ fatty matter, and sebum^ 
but not the favi. Nitric acid is coloured yellowish-brown by 
crusts of the impetigo, whicb^ after a few hours, become of 
a turmeric yellow ; masses of favi impart to it a golden-yellow 
colour, turning to straw-yellow, especially after the lapse of 
a day. Sulphuric acid attacks favous and impetiginous masses, 
and is turned reddish; the crusts of favi, however, become 
porous, pumice-stone-like; the impetiginous crusts gelatinous. 
Chlorine gas discolours favous and impetiginous masses, hair, &c. 
Mouldy formations show the same reactions as the masses of favi. 
Hebra is of opinion, as already remarked, that favus and Herpes 
tonsurans are identical ; to which he seems to have been chiefly led 
by the circumstance that the spores of the favus and of Herpes 
tonsurans penetrate into the interior of the hair itself; that the 
favus-fungus, occurring on the body and back and forming scabs, 
cures itself, like Herpes tonsurans. His opinion that the favus is 
merely a further stage of development oi Herpes tonsurans seems 
to be principally based upon two cases described in his periodical, 
one of which having quite the appearance of Herpes tonsurans, 
exhibiting the favus-fungi, when it was examined under the micro- 
scope ; the other, however, showing the favus-fungus exactly as it 
was observed on the head, and in scabs on the top of the nose. On 
looking closer to the latter case, I am uncertain whether Hebra 
really imderstood, by Herpes tonsurans, what we have understood 
by it; for he does not speak of fiingi in the hair, but only of epi- 
dermal accumulation of scales, the latter being but accidental to 
Herpes tonsurans. 

The fatty substances of sebum and cerumen exhibit vesicular 
granules, rhombic crystals, and epithelial cells ; the sero-purulent 
and purulent masses show granulated globules and globules of pus, 
but are not, however, to be confounded with favi. 

The favus-fungus may be distinguished by the above-described 
thallus from the ferment-alga, which resembles only the sporidia 
of the former. 



180 



VEGETABLE PARASITES. 



Fnstules and fayi may be thus distinguished : 



Fart. 

Colour of brimstone, with a 
very distinct alveolar depression; 
rarely discharging a drop of pus 
when pricked ; easily detached 
from the skin ; the epidermal 
layer which covers them is more 
resistent and has underneath a 
second thin layer^ thus placing 
the fungus between two epi- 
dermal layers ; the development 
of the favus-contents is very 
rapid and regular, and may be 
continued infinitely. 



Pustules, 

Colour whitish or slightly 
yellowish; surface even, or 
slightly convex, with a scarcely 
perceptible depression at the 
basis of the hair; discharging 
matter on application of a 
slight pressure or on pricking 
with a needle, which spreads 
also into the areoli of the 
corpus mucosum'oi the skin; 
covered with an extremely thin 
epidermal layer ; the bottom of 
the pustules is formed by the 
papillary bodies of the skin. The 
change of the pustulous con- 
tents is less rapid and regular, 
and, as is the case with all dis- 
eased products, it becomes hard, 
forms crusts, and does not grow 
any more. 

A transition of the favus into pustules, either by continuity or 
contiguity, has, moreover, never been established. Cases where 
the centre is formed by a fungus are most liable to be 
confounded when this centre is surrounded by a purulent ring, 
without its ever mixing up with the former, a case which may 
best be studied in Porrigo scutulata. 

It is further of importance in diagnosis, that the three species 
of glands occurring on these parts of the skin should be con- 
sidered. 

1. Perspiratory glands, or follicles with a spiral tube, opening 
on the surface of the skin. 

2. The sebaceous follicles, which do not branch, but end in a 
sack ; simple grape-like glands, which have wrongly been called 
folliculi sebacei, and which secrete the sebum. They open on 
the surface of the skin, often in conjunction with the opening of 
a hair-follicle, which fact was denied by Bazin without giving any 
reason. 



TREATMENT OF FAVUS. 181 

3. The hair-glands {glandul^B pilosa), which are small glands^ 
rarely consisting of one, but mostly of two, three, or more blind 
sacs, lined with epithelium, filled with drops of oil, and 
containing one or two passages which open into the hair- follicle, 
where the skin is pierced by the latter. They are more particu- 
larly attached to the hair-follicle. The number of blind sacs 
rarely exceeds one, two, or three with man, whilst they are found 
to be more numerous with other animals. 

Treatment of favus. — Once developed, it is difficult to cure, 
though cases are known where nature has cured it, because, ac« 
cording to Bemak, the accessory suppuration lifts off the whole 
scab, and with it the fungus. It will, however, be easily per- 
ceived that this is only possible when the scab which becomes 
loosened is removed at the same time with the hair and its roots 
or sheaths — a very rare occurrence, no doubt. Most of the 
older remedies which have been proposed have proved inefficient, 
for as soon and as often as the favus is removed it grows again. 

Indications. — Of primary importance are extreme cleanliness, 
and treatment of the cachectic state of the patient ; then the 
cutting of the hair, and removing the epidermal crusts by means 
of poultices and washing ; next the removing of the favi, which 
bear millions of spores ; preventing at the same time the repro- 
duction of these spores by parasiticidal remedies (such as solu- 
tions or ointments of metallic salts, as of acetate or sulphate of 
copper or iron, acetateoflead, calomel, corrosive sublimate, iodide 
of sulphur, liver of sulphur, black oxide of manganese, charcoal, 
&c.), and by wearing a wax cap; and finally removing the conva- 
lescent from the neighbourhood of persons who are yet infected 
with favi, otherwise frequent relapses occur. Especial care 
requires to be taken in order to prevent the head-dress of favous 
people from being worn by convalescents or healthy persons 
without its having been cleansed previously. 

Bazin specifies the treatment as follows : 

Internal remedies. — Purgatives and specifics have been gene- 
rally abandoned, and strengthening remedies, such as improve 
the constitution, are now almost exclusively adopted. 

Local treatment. 

Epilation. — The only really successful remedy. 1. The oldest 
method of epilation is that of the Jew's nightcap. In this case 



182 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

the removal of the hair is eflfected by means of sticking plasters^ 
a method which has justly fallen into discredit^ on account of its 
barbarism^ and, after all, the uncertainty of success. 

2. Epilation by means of a pair of pincers, according to the 
plan of Samuel Plumbe. 

3. Epilation by means of combs and fingers, according to the 
brothers Mahon, after having rubbed the hairy parts with certain 
ointments (studiously held secret), with the ball of the thumb. 
The hair was torn out with the fingers, as the feathers of geese 
are when stripped. On the whole this is a method little to be 
recommended. 

4. Epilation produced by the disease itself, which is the best 
means, according to Bazin. 

The ordinary epilatory means act only mechanically on the 
hair-bulbs, not chemically; they act the better, and excite 
the more, the coarser the remedies are powdered. Mahon's 
ointments are therefore not more efficient than those made of 
powdered charcoal, chalk, or fullers' earth. Liver of sulphur 
exerts the most powerful chemical action on the hair; as even 
dead bodies, exposed to the air, lose their hair after being treated 
for twelve hours with it, whilst, however, the inter-cutaneous part 
of the hair remains unaltered. 

If the favus be fresh, and if the hairs resist the attempts to 
remove them by means of a pair of pincers, they require to be 
rubbed for several days with an alkaline ointment (according to 
Bazin, with *' chaux vive, sonde du commerce, au 2 grammes ; 
axonge, 60 grammes''), or also with a small addition of auripig- 
mentum, or the oil of the acajou-nut (^ — 1 gramme to 30 
grammes of fat), or, what I consider to be better, with " huile 
de cade." The latter keeps alive the sensibility of the parts of 
the head covered with hair, and acts more especially on the bulbs 
of the hair. Epilation effected by such means removes the hairs 
and their capsules, but there still remain spores of the parasite 
in the follicles. Epilation alone would therefore give but very 
uncertain results, and not be sufficient, or, perhaps, produce a 
merely momentary relief, whilst it does not prevent relapses. 
Even the method of the brothers Mahon did not prevent them, 
or they were only successful after treatment for six, twelve, or 
eighteen months. The brothers Mahon have chiefly been blamed 
for having purposely confounded favi with eczema, lichen, or 
psoriasis, and, more particularly, Porrigo scutulata with Porrigo 



TREATMENT OF FAVUS. 183 

favosa, and for having announced that^ on a general estimate^ 
Porrigo scutulata was more easily cured, which latter statement 
Bazin's experience does not bear out. . 

The treatment, according to various writers, is as follows : 
The head is first to be cleansed ; the crusts are removed by 
cutting off the hair quite close, and by immersing the head several 
times in tepid water, and softening the crusts by washing, or by 
means of poultices (which, according to Lebert, are best made 
with the aid of a spatula), because the spores are less liable to 
spread over the whole head covered with hair, than in the case 
where baths and lotions are employed (a course to be recom- 
mended only in the case of restricted favus, and when a second 
epilation, after the appearance of scabs of favi, has become neces- 
sary, which course, however, is objectionable on account of the 
increased pain when the favus has once spread very much). The 
hair is then freed from lice (if there should be any) by means of 
mercurial ointment. Gudden, whose chief indication of a suc- 
cessful treatment consists likewise in the removal of the parasites, 
chooses remedies which destroy vegetable life without irritating 
the cutis to a great degree, when rubbed into the capillary de- 
pressions, and which cause no further inconvenience on being re- 
sorbed. Gudden, however, knows, as it appears, of no such 
remedy, for he was even unsuccessful with oil of turpentine. 
Gudden considers epilation, or, more correctly, the tearing out of 
the sheath of the root of the hair, as the principal requirement, 
and prepares consequently for it in the following manner : The 
hair is cut off, leaving it only a few lines in length, and the scabs 
removed, during one or two sittings, by the repeated application 
of warm soap-baths, and by using a soft brush, together with a 
round writing-quill, if necessary, whilst at the same time the sof- 
tening of the parts, by applying the oily unctions recommended 
by Von Hebra, is to be avoided during the following treatment 
with water. As soon as the skin which has thus been cleansed has, 
to some extent, become covered again with a new epidermis, it is 
rubbed with equal parts of croton and olive oil before going to 
bed, and the parts which have been spared by the fungus secured 
from its ravages by strips of sticking plaster. The places are 
carefully examined on the following njorning, and rubbed again 
with a little oil in case the very rapidly produced but also very 
painful inflammation should be too feeble, and the patient is to wear 
a double cap of linen, filled with a warm poultice made of oil and 



184 VEGETABLE PAHASITES. 

tye-flour. The epideroiis becomes softened in two days, the for- 
mation of cells in the outer sheath of the root of the hair is ac- 
celerated, and epilation and separation of the hair may be pro- 
ceeded with by means of a broad pair of pincers — an operation 
■which requires frequently a whole day when the favi are plentiful, 
and is very tiresome and harassing to the operator, who is often 
haunted by the disgusting sight for some days, in consequence of 
the strain on the eyes. The result is favorable. The fungus 
luxuriates at first among the purulent mass, which, however, dries 
up rapidly, and after the lapse of twenty-four to forty-eight hours 
lamellae of suffocated fungi may be taken off, the epidermis is 
rendered healthy in a few days, and peels off only very slightly. 
The fine atrophied milk-hairs require to be looked to for a fort- 
night longer, and it is well to treat the skin with rectified spirit 
or ether, since these penetrate easily to the vegetable spores, 
and decompose them. Complications alone require some care. 
A rapid cure need not be feared, since there cannot be a re- 
lapse, in the proper sense of the word, similar to itch. Bazin 
also is unable to cure without the indication of epilation; he 
says — ^^ The fear of permanently destroying the growth of the 
hair after epilation is unfounded, and it is not necessary to tear 
out the hair merely on the places which appear red and swollen, 
and covered with crusts, for the hair thrives always again on the 
diseased or healthy parts, even after applying these remedies.'' 
The hair is therefore removed not only from the diseased parts, 
but also from the healthy surrounding part, and even from the 
whole head in case porrigo has spread sporadically all over the 
head. No tuft of hair is to be left over the forehead or on the 
scalp of the head. It is sufi^cient after the first epilation to 
wash the head for three or four days, night and morning, with a 
solution of corrosive sublimate, to rub it with lard on the next 
day, or still better, with an ointment of acetate of copper (1 part 
to 500 parts of lard). If an eruption of pustules should occur, 
it is simply necessary to pierce the pustule, and to empty it of its 
contents. Careful treatment will cure the disease in six to eight 
weeks. The three forms of the favus — urceolaris, scutiformis, 
and squarrosns — agree in their origin, and require, according to 
Bazin, only one treatment. The urceolaris, thought to be the 
most intractable, is the easiest to be cured ; and it must be con- 
sidered as the first sign of a successful treatment of confluent 
favi, when the favus is isolated by becoming Favtts urceolaris. 



TREATMENT OF FAVUS. 18^ 

Sometimes there is seen an epidermal secretion on the places 
occupied by favi, such as is the case with pityriasis^ which, how- 
ever, need not cause any anxiety, and which disappears easily 
after washing with water and applying lard. 

Treatment by Hebra. — He thinks Herpes tonsurans and Favtts 
to be identical, and believes that the disease may get well spon- 
taneously, and, with more reason, that no cure is possible without 
epilation. To produce the latter by means of the Jew's nightcap 
is, unfortunately, too painful, though the result might well justify 
such barbarism. 

It appears to me that the principal task in an efficient treat- 
ment consists in finding out the mildest method of epilation. 
The arrangement which Hebra made in his clinical hospital (and 
which exists still, I believe), that diseased children should tear 
out one another's hair, is, no doubt, very recommendable, and 
saves time to the physician — a sacrifice which Gudden was not 
afraid of making. Some believe that the disease may be cured 
by drenching the head underneath a spout of rain-water. Cures 
without epilation are tedious, insufficient, and little reliable. 
This method would, I believe, deserve more consideration if it 
were preceded by epilation ; and the nature of the disease might 
render the following treatment very useful. The hairs are to be 
torn out on the favous parts, and a lukewarm '^ douche '' allowed 
to fall, for ten to fifteen minutes, on the child in a warm bath. 
In case of relapses, epilation is resorted to, followed by the 
douche. In private dwellings, where it is inconvenient to make 
space for a douche-apparatus, a watering-pot, or simple syringe 
of large size, may be used instead, provided with the fine sieve 
of a watering-pot, fitting well, such as is used in watering hot- 
house plants. If the operator has merely to do with very small 
spots of favi, he may conveniently use syringes with a round 
beak, such as are employed in diseases of the eye, and which 
may be bought from Jerak, at Prague, and at other places. 

TVeatment of Boeck, of Christiania (Giinsburg's ' Zeitschrift,' v, 
], p. 50). — ^Boeck also acknowledges that the Jew's nightcap 
answers its purpose, but he considers the action thereof too 
violent, for it often happens that the forcible removal of a large 
pitdi-plaster removes far more than the mere hair — a process 
which is therefore as dangerous as it is painful. This may, 
however, be modified by covering the head with eight to ten 
cuneiform pieces of a very efficient sticking-plaster, the 



186 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

points of which meet towards the top of the head. Baume^s am- 
moniacal plaster has been found most advantageous for this purpose. 
It is prepared by mixing in a porcelain basin, one part of gum 
ammoniacum and three parts of white-wine vinegar, and which is 
heated to boiling, then filtered, and two more parts of vinegar 
added to the solid residue ; the mass is again boiled and filtered, 
and the filtrate added to the first portion, and allowed to stand for 
some time, in order to allow foreign bodies to separate and preci- 
pitate ; the liquid is skimmed off and evaporated at a low tempera- 
ture, to a syrupy consistence. The strips are covered with this mass, 
and put on the clean head by means of poultices, of Linimentum 
Calcis. After two or three days these strips are removed, either 
all at once, or on alternate days, when the patient is irritable. 
Many hairs are thus torn out, the skin of the head becomes 
inflamed, and a great number of pustules usually break out 
during the following two days, when the head has to be kept 
uncovered. These pustules are not identical with the favus. 
When the head is quite bald the ammoniacal plaster is less efiec- 
tive, since, probably, in consequence of a secretion of the skin of 
the head, the plaster is prevented from sticking so well. Re- 
course must be had to a plaster of Pw? burgundica, Acetum vini^ 
and Amylon, or to the following mixture : B Colophon, ^v, Olei 
5J, Cerae albae 58s; or R Resina flavae 5J* Amylon 588^ Acet. vini 
3vj, Ol. oliv. 5iv, Terebinth. 58s. This process of sticking on 
and tearing off the plaster must be repeated for several months, 
at short intervals. The microscope alone can tell when the cure 
is effected, that is, when all the spores of the fungus have disap- 
peared, or else there will be new crusts of favi, sometimes after 
a few weeks only. 

Von Bärensprung {' Deutsche Klinik,' No. 6, 1855) employs 
likewise this modified pitch-cap, and orders precipitate-ointment 
to be rubbed in, in order to prevent the reappearance of the 
fungus. 

Boeck tells us that it is one of the injunctions of the founder 
of the Hospital of St. Gallicano, at Rome, to treat the favus by 
scarifying the skin of the head ; which was therefore done exten- 
sively every day, till the whole head had become scarified in the 
course of a week. The hair is not sacrificed in this process, and 
one may even succeed in splitting the follicle of the hair, amount- 
ing, in reality, to the extraction of the hair (epilation). This 
treatment is, however, admitted by the physicians of the hospital 



GROWTH OF FAVUS. 187 

to be slow (eight to twelve months) ; and Boeck did not observe any 
improvement after several months during which he made use of 
this method — hence his working out a new method. The results 
would, perhaps, be different if scarification were resorted to 
simultaneously with and after bathing with parasiticidal remedies. 
I believe that the deed of foundation, which requires that the 
donations of the hospital should pass over to other institutions 
if curing by scarification wfere deviated from, might be eluded 
by adding douche-baths to scarification. 

Didot recommended quite lately preparations of tannin. So- 
lutions of taniJin should, at all events, be employed after epilation, 
without which it would be useless. 

Appendix. 

Ejcperimenis made on the growth and contagiousness of the favi 
by Remak and others. 

The spores of fresh and dried scabs were found to germinate 
on slices of an apple. After twenty-four hours the sporidia 
exhibited short, pale, homogeneous, cylindrical outgrowths, which 
grew longer and more transparent during the following days, and 
became limited by pale outlines, whilst they themselves remained 
dark at those places which did not present any outgrowth. Small 
oval cavitiea were observed on the third and fourth days in the 
outgrowths, not separated by partition walls, which increased in 
size during the following days. On the sixth day observation 
became suspended by the luxuriant growth of the Penicillium 
glaucutn, or some other species of mould, which covered entirely 
the favus-fungus, and, perhaps, their development was altogether 
stopped by the decomposition of the masses of fungi in consequence 
of the chemical alteration of the soil. The sporidia of the favus* 
fungus differ essentially from the simultaneously occurring spores of 
Penicillium and other fungi, in that they represent a many (three 
or four) sided germination. The spores of the favus-fungus germi- 
nate also in solution of sugar, but produce only thallus-threads, and 
no sporidia-filaments. The latter are formed when the sporidia 
are exposed to the action of the atmosphere. The mass of scabs 
crumbles in spring and distilled water without germinating. The 
spores do not germinate in blood-serum, solution of the white of 
an egg, muscle, brain, on severed pieces of the skin of man and 
animals, or on animal fats. They germinated speedily, however. 



) 



188 VEGETABLE PAKASITES. , 

when solation of sugar was added or poured over them, when mil- 
dew rapidly grew over the Achorion, just as other mould-spores ger- 
minate speedily on apples and in sugar. When muscle or brain 
were immersed in water putrefaction was seen to set in, and infu- 
soria were forming, but the action was stopped on addition of solu- 
tion of sugar, and conferva and mildew were then observed to grow. 

No infection resulted from the scabs of favi in case of fresh 
wounds, or small pimples scratched o^en ; the scabs crumbled to 
pieces. Fuchs asserted that favus was more easily transferred 
on the uninjured skin. Remak attached, in May, 1842, small scabs 
of favi on the skin of his arm by means of sticking plaster ; the 
scabs dried up and shrank, and fell off after a few days without 
leaving a trace of their existence. He washed his arm, and 
took a bath ; but after the lapse of a fortnight he felt itching at 
the place of inoculation. He noticed a dark-red spot, covered 
with epidermal scales, the skin being thick and hardened. From 
the centre of the red spot there grew a pustule, and the remain- 
ing scab frequently secreted purulent matter. After three M^eeks 
from the first appearance of the spot, Remak removed the puru- 
lent scab, together with the pus, and found below a whitish 
body sunk cup-like into the corium, and consisting of nothing 
but favus-fungi, which formed a real favus-scab after a week. In 
another week a drop of pus began to make its way from under- 
neath it, then ceased again, in order to drop again at times, and 
after four weeks the dry favus-scab fell off, measuring 4"' in 
diameter, and the skin became covered with epidermis. 

Contribution to the history of the favus. — Schoenlein was the 
first to discover the vegetable nature of the favi, and to make a 
drawing of the filaments of the mycelium and the granulated 
stroma. Remak had noticed mouldy filaments in 1837, but did 
not pay any farther attention to them. He made the first 
attempts towards inoculation, believing the fungus was only 
able to live on a cachectic soil, and opposing the view of 
Henle, who thought that the fungus was accidental. Fuchs, 
Jahn, and Langenbeck discovered the fungus, but viewed it as 
an attribute of scrofulous rashes, more especially of exanthemata 
and serpiginous crusts. Gruby first described accurately the fila- 
ments and spores, as well as their penetrating the bulbs of the 
hairs : he inoculated the fungus successfully even on wood, and 
all his statements have been confirmed by Bennett, the latter 
believing, however, a scrofulous state to be indispensable. Hannover 



LITERATUBE OP FAVUS. 189 

confounded the spores of this fungus with Cryptococcus Cere- 
vUia ;^' Müller, Betzius, Bemak, Link, and Lebert, to whom we 
are chiefly indebted for a more correct knowledge of this fungus, 
classified it with Oidium ; Yogel described it superficially ; Bayer 
and Montague knew it well, whilst Leveill^ could not discover 
it; Mahon considered the disease to be a hypertrophy of the 
follicle of the hair, and thought that the hair was piercing the 
sebaceous follicles; Cazenave and Didot view the favus as an 
inflammatory disease of the follicle, and deny, on that account, 
the fungus and the parasitical nature of the disease, because 
Srett thought he had noticed the favus to occur after great 
mental excitement, owing to moral influences. Bazin must be 
looked upon as the most complete observer of this fungus among 
modem writers, though his illustrations are faulty, since they 
confound the sebaceous follicles with the fat-glands, not allowing 
that the latter opened into the follicle, and, moreover, thought 
they were sudorific glands. 

Literature, — Schoenlein, 'Zur Pathologie der Impetigines;' 
Müller's ' Archiv,' 1838, p. 82, tab. iii, fig. 5 ; Bemak, in ' Me- 
dicin. Zeitung,' herausgegeben vom Vereine fur Heilkunde in 
Preussen, Berlin, 1840, No. 16, pp. 73, 74; Valentin's 'Be- 
pertorium,' 1841, vi, p. 58 ; * Medicinische Vereinszeitung,' 1842, 
und 'Beiträge zur gesammten Natur- und Heilkunde,' Prag, 
1842, p. 893 ; in ' Diagnost. und pathol. Untersuchungen,' 1845 ; 
' Muscardine und Favus,' pp. 193 — 215 ; ' Pilze der Mundhöhle 
und des Darmkanals,' pp. 221 — 227 ; Fuchs arfd Langenbeck, 
Holscher's ' Hannoversche Annalen,' 1840, in the Beport upon 
the Oöttingen Poliklinik; Fuchs, 'Die krankhaften Verände- 
rungen der Haut,' Göttingen, 1842 ; Klencke, in ' Neue physiolog. 
Abhandlungen,' 1842, p. 60; B. Langenbeck, ' Bericht über die 
18 Versammlung der Gesellschaft deutscher Naturforscher und 
Aerzte zu Erlangen,' Sept., 1840, von Leopoldt aud Stromeyer, 
Erlangen, 1841, pp. 166, 167 ; Jahn, ' Naturgesch. der Schön- 
lein'echen Binnen-Ausschläge oder Exantheme,' 1840, p. 155; 
Gruby, ' Compt. rend.,' 1841, xiii, pp. 72, 809, and 388 ; also 
Müller's ' Archiv,' 1842, p. 22 ; Textor, ' Compt. rend.,' 1841, 
tab. xiii, p. 220; Meynier, iWrf., 1841, xiii, p. 309, note; Han- 
nover, Müller's ' Archiv,' 1842, pp. 281 — 295, tab. xv, figs. 7, 8, 
9 ; Bennett, On the vegetable nature of Tinea favosa, in ' Monthly 
Journal of Med. Science,' 1842, and 'Transact, of the Boyal 
Soc, of Edinburgh,' 1842, vol. xv, 2d part, pp. 277 — 294; Müller 



190 VEGETABLE PAKASITES. 

and Betzius^ in Mulleins 'Archiv/ 1842, p. 192, tabs, viii, ix; 
Cazenave, ' Dictionnaire de Medec.,' 1844, 2d edition, vol. xxix, 
article Teigne, p. 338, and ' Traite des Maladies du Cuir chevelu,' 
Paris, 1850, p. 210 sq. 220; Lebert, ' Physiologie pathologique/ 
ii, ' Memoire sur la Teigne,' Paris, 1845, pp. 477, 478, and 486 ; 
Vogel, 'AUg. pathol. Anatomie,' p. 383; LeveiUe, 'Diet. univ. 
d'hist. natur.,' Paris, 1847, viii, p. 461 ; Caustatt's ' Handbuch 
der medicin. Klinik,' 4 Band ; Rayer, ' Traite des Maladies de 
la Peau,' Paris, 1835, i, p. 697 ; Bazin, ' Recherches sur la nature 
et le traitement des Teignes,' Paris, 1853, with 8 plates, and 
Considerations g^n^rales sur les Teignes et leur traitement, ' Jöurn. 
des conn, m^d.,' Fevr. et Mars, 1853, pp. 241 — 305, und 'Gaz. 
hop.,' No. 92, 1853, Des Teignes achromateuses ; Didot, 'Bullet, 
de TAc. de M^d. de Bel.,' 1853, pp. 227 — ^255, Discussion über 
Philippart de Tournay's Note in ' Bezug auf Behandlung des 
Favus;* Gudden, in Vierordt's 'Archiv,' xii, s. 244 sq. 1853; 
Hebra, * Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft der Wiener Aerzte,' x, 7, 
p. 88, Juli, 1854. 

VIII. Oidium albicans. Tab. IV, figs. 8—8. ^ 

Synon,: Schwämmchen; fungus = Champignon = Cryptogam 
of Aphthae, Soor, Muguet, Thrush. Species, Sporotrichi affinis ; 
Apthapbyte = Kuhn or Kahn. We shall find in the historical part 
how great a number of misinterpretations this disease has under- 
gone, which represents the effects of this fungus. We will only 
remark that what is called Aphth» and Muguet is nothing more 
than the effect of this fungus, and that these two names mark 
merely different stages of its development. 

The Aphthae = Alcola = Muguet, Millet, or Blauchet = 
i funghi or Afte =: Asorro (lining, because the disease looks 
like white linings) = Sore = Sprouw = Soor, Kuhn, Schwämm- 
chen z= Trödske = Torsk, in English Thrush, is a disease of the 
mucous membrane, manifesting itself sometimes in the form of small 
points, rings, conical and semi-spherical elevations; sometimes, 
however, in the shape of large spots, and able to form even a 
compound membranous envelope. This envelope is originally of a 
milk- or pearl-white colour, passing into gray or yellowish when 
the disease is left to itself, or occurs in weaned children, but 
rarely assuming a darker colour in children, which happens 
only when a foreign colouring substance acts on it. The external 



OIDIUM ALBICANS. 191 

portion possesses a more or less soft cheese-like consistency^ is 
more or less thick, from the density of the finest paper to half a 
line and more ; it adheres firmer at first than after a little while, 
and finally peels off by itself, without injuring the continuity of 
the mucous membrane. It is found alone or simultaneously on 
the inner edge of the lips, where the mucous membrane begins, 
on the inner side of the cheek, on the gums and the palate, on 
the upper and lower surface of the tongue, in the throat, and in 
the oesophagus, down as far as the cardia. Its microscopic con- 
stituents and its cause are a peculiar fungus. (Berg.) 

Genus — Oidium (Link) : Fila simplicia ramosa, minutissima, 
pellucida^ in floccis aggregata, leviier intexta, articulata. Sporidia 
tx ariicfdis secedeniilms orta, simplicia, peliucida. 

Species — 47, Oidium albicans : Flla in cespitibus loans, primo 
villosis, humidis, albis, dein sordide fulvis, vel fiiscis, vel fusco* 
fulvis intertexta, intus leviter granulosa, 0-004 lata, 0-050 — 
0*600 mm, longa. Sporidia plerumque rotunda, aut vix ovalia, ex 
articulis secedentibus orta, raro ovalia. 

Habitat : In memhrana mucosa oriSy faucium, cesophagi, narium, 
in lacuminibus pharyngis senum, inter massas mtxosas et epitheliosas 
ad ligamenta aryepiglottid. ; in mucosa laryngis, in cicatricibus 
bronchiorum, rarissime ad anum, labra, pudenda et mammas lac- 
tanlium. Prtesertim in pueris, in adultis cacJiecticis, inprimis 
senilibus ad extremum vita tempus. 

The white external layer consists, according to Berg, of the 
condensed epithelium, in consequence of an enlargement of the 
epithelial cells, of the elements of the fungus, and of molecular 
protein- detritus. Beubold, however, states, that fibrinous cells, 
the proper elements of pseudo- membranes, are wanting, and 
that it contains only amorphous fibrin, exudation-cells, and, at 
times, also globules of pus. The parasitical vegetation and the 
epithelial enlargement extend at first only to the points of the 
small papillae (at the tip of the tongue), and small white and 
isolated patches are perceived (Muguet discret.), which often 
escape observation. If, however, fewer papillae are found on the 
seat of the disease, and if the whole surface is smoother, as is 
the case with the mucous membrane of the mouth, with the 
exception of the upper part of the tongue, the external covering 
appears in the shape of rings of ribands, which are intertwined, 
and of hemispherical elevations produced by the fungus. The 
more numerous these points and rings become, the more luxuriant 



192 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

the epithelium and the fungus continue to grow, the more they 
will run together and form a continuous layer, which covers the 
whole mucous membrane and its cavities (Muguet confluent), 
formed partly through the natural combination of the epithelial 
cells, partly through the entanglement of. the filaments of the 
fungus amongst themselves and with the epithelial cells. Epi- 
thelial cells are met with mixed with cross filaments, sometimes 
covered with adhering spores, sometimes not, exhibiting, more- 
over, a more or less thick mucus, together with molecular granu- 
lations. Some filaments are seen broken up. A little practice 
will enable the operator to recognise the fungus without the 
microscope, provided it exists in considerable quantity. The 
mucous membrane underneath is seen to glimmer through if the 
epithelium possesses its natural density and transparency. The 
surface becomes less transparent and white when the epithelium 
thickens, and is macerated by heterogeneous liquids (milk- or 
pearl-white colouring of the infected spots). This milky colour 
passes into a yellowish or green tint when the growth of the 
fungus and the plentiful formation of spores takes its uninter- 
rupted course. A similar observation has been made with regard 
to the spores of other fungi. The other colours of the soor- 
layer will be entered into more especially when we are speaking 
of the colour of the thrush itself, and it will suffice to remark 
here that the white colour is more particularly attributable to the 
granulations in children in private families whose mouths are 
kept carefully clean. 

The layers of the fungus have the following position : Upon the 
mucous membrane is found a dense layer of epithelium; the 
fungus covers entirely the edges of the epithelial cells on their 
free side; the aphthous layers (soor-plaques) thus formed are 
soft ; they grow to a larger extent, and the more rapidly, the 
more lacerated the tongue is, and the more numerous and larger 
the papillse of the tongue are. The firmer the epithelium is 
seated on the tongue, the deeper they penetrate into the cells, 
which usually contain the roots of the fungus, whilst the filaments 
and branches make their way to the open air, the firmer will be 
their original footing. But if the epithelial layer becomes loose, 
after a little time, the fungus, together with the normally 
loosened epithelium, separates in smaller or larger membranous 
patches. This separation seems to proceed quicker when the re- 
newed growth and separation of the epithelium itself is unna- 



OIDIÜM ALBICANS. 193 

turally hastened on. Tlie fungus can easily be removed artifi- 
cially, without this normal separation« by scratching it oflF, or by 
applying linen compresses ; less easily, however, by means of a 
pair of pincers. The mucous membrane is found to be inflamed, 
but not very red, when the membrane has been removed to some 
extent. It is the redder, the thinner the layer of epithelium is 
which covers it. A layer of epithelium would always cover the 
places from which the membrane is removed, if suppuration and 
ulceration were not brought on by delay ; hence no blood ap- 
pears when the membrane is taken off. This separation leaves 
always behind a few sporidia and filaments, which foster the re- 
newed growth of the fungus as long as the soil is found to be 
favorable to its regeneration ; hence the pertinacity of the 
disease. The opinion has now been generally accepted, that 
alkalinity, as well as the formation of lactic acid, are in its 
favour; but large quantities of either will prevent its growth. The 
mucous membrane of the mouth and the upper portion of the 
intestinal tube are its seat. Berg thinks it possible that the 
real fungi might thrive even on the mucous membrane of the 
genitals. No doubt, hsemorrhagic erosion in the stomach, or 
follicular affections and ulceration in the child^s intestine, may 
have sometimes been called aphthae. Some observers even doubt 
its occurrence on the nipples of nurses. The description of 
the fungus itself we shall give according to Berg, Robin, and 
Beubold. 

The parasite consists of tubular filaments bearing spores, and 
of spherical or at first oval spores, which are the same every- 
where. 

I. The tubular filaments {radices, trunci, fibrilli,) of writers are 
cylindrical, elongated, straight or curved in different directions, 
0'003 — 5 mm. broad and 0*05 — 6 long, rarely longer or broader. 
Their edges are dark, accurately defined, and mostly parallel. The 
interior of the tube is transparent, and of an amber colour. The 
filaments are formed of long cells, with occasionally articulated cells 
which are 0002 mm. long ; they decrease in length towards the 
free end, which bears spores, and are, when washed out, seen to be 
once or more times ramified, and the branches composed of cells. 
The latter are often as long or longer than the branches ; some* 
times only one short and round, or two or three elongated cells, are 
perceived in them. Partition walls are met with from time to time 
on the bn^nchcs and filaments, and diminutions or depressions on 

13 



194 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

a level with them^ on or below which the branches occur, which 
never communicate with the cellular cavity. Robin supposes 
the partition walls to have been produced by the gradual ap- 
proach of the roundish ends of two celk. The cellular cavities, 
closed by the partition walls, contain usually some molecular 
bodies, from 0001 — 2 mm. in extent, which are of dark colour, and 
which move about ; or, instead of these, little bodies of from two to 
four oval cells, with pale-yellowish cellules, which are more brilliant 
and less dark than the filaments, closely approaching with their 
ends, or becoming a little depressed, and possessing homogeneous 
transparent contents. The end by which they are attached is 
usually hidden in the centre of a heap of isolated spores, which are 
sometimes mingled with epithelial cells. By isolating these 
formations the first cell is found to be a prolongation of the 
spore, and a free communication exists between its cavities, 
whether the spore be formed by many cells bearing already 
branches, or merely be represented by one or two cellular cavities. 
This spore incloses usually two or three spherical, dark granules, 
0*001 mm. large, with sharp edges, and a distinct motion in the 
interior. Other spores are often attached very firmly to the ger- 
minating spores. The free end of the filaments or of their 
branches, as well as the end which bears spores, are round, without 
enlargement, or it is formed by a spherical or ovoid cell, which 
is larger than the preceding, and separated by a distinct process 
of contraction into one or two smaller cells. The last cell is 
0-005 — 7 mm. large; the paler cells are probably only just formed; 
the riper, however, are probably spores ready to separate. When 
the cells are ovoid or short, the filament acquires a various or 
twisted appearance which precedes the final swelling. 

2. The spores are spherical, or a little longish, with distinct 
dark edges, and a somewhat more transparent amber-coloured 
cavity, which refracts the light strongly, and contains a fine mole- 
cular dust, or one or two globules 0-0006 — 0*0005 m.in diameter. 
They are seldom placed in rows of from two to four. A part freely 
floats, but the greater part are attached to the surface of the epithe- 
lial cells of the mucous membrane of the mouth, in the form of a 
dense heap. Only when they are met with in separate masses is it 
sometimes possible to recognise their edges, and the spores are 
often seen heaped up in round groups. They are easily distin- 
guished from the globules of milk, the granules of starch, the 
cells of mucus and epithelium, in connection with which they are 



OIDIUM ALBICANS. 195 

apt to appear^ by their peculiar mode of occurrence, for the most 
part, in groups of two. Both spores and filaments resist even 
concentrated sulphuric and nitric acid. The fresh fungi are 
shorter, not ramified, the partition walls are closer together, 
the contractions rarer, the filaments more regularly cylindrical, 
and the contents of the terminal cells of the filaments paler. The 
same may be observed in algse which have been kept in water for 
several days. Reubold observes that, on the whole, little is to be 
added to this description as given by Robin. He also speaks of 
the spores and of the partition walls and the contractions, rarely 
found on any fungus of the skin, as well as of the oval violet- 
coloured cavities, as highly characteristic of this fungus, 
although they are sometimes small in number. Beubold 
deviates from Robin merely in assuming the existence of two 
kinds of germination in the spores. 

Threads of various thickness, with partition walls and 
contractions whence the branches arise, spring from the ends or 
sides of the spores, whilst in their interior granules and mole- 
cules are found. The filaments betoken their origin, according 
to the position of the spores, sometimes as shining points, some- 
times as projections. Very thin threads frequently originate 
during the germination, which are often of considerable length, 
and without any partition walls or contractions, exhibiting only 
numerous dense cavities, which, however, finally expand. Robin 
does not seem to be aware of this kind of development, whilst he 
knew well the second kind, where the fungus is developed by 
mere prolongation of the spore, and direct transformation into 
threads. The spore becomes longer during this process; the 
cavity remains the same^ whilst the prolongation may give rise to 
a new cavity, or frequently to two, three, or four, side by side, 
beginning as small points* These spaces enlai^e as the cell en- 
larges and elongates ; they touch one another, and finally leave 
only small partition walls between them, so as to transform these 
partitions not into new formations, as Robin states, but into the' 
remains of a previous solidity. The same formation of expanding 
hollow spaces occurs during germination ; the two kinds of de* 
velopmeut are sometimes met with during the same germination. 
The ramifications, which have the same diameter as the principal 
trunks, are for the most part only perceptible in the first order ; 
ramifications of the second, third, and fourth order are, however, 
often found. Very neat dendritical figures occasionally occurs 



196 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

The branches incline at various but always rather sharp angles, 
so as to impart to the whole the appearance of a tree with its 
branches — a good criterion for our fungus. Regularity in the 
number, the position, and the alternation of the branches does 
not exist. Special organs for proliferation were not noticed 
(Reubold) ; it is, however, probable that the swellings and cells 
at the ends of the filaments and branches are transformed into 
spores. Objects are often seen which must be viewed as 
transitions from simple enlargements to distinct separate cells, 
which sit sometimes looser, sometimes firmer. Robin noticed 
the same on other fungi. It is not to be doubted that the organs 
for forming spores are less distinct here than is the case with 
other lower fungi. 

Colour of the Thrush. — It is mostly white, like coagulated milk 
{laciucimen)y sometimes dirty, yellowish, brownish, and even 
blackish ; the aphthae are never of a pure white; The white 
colour of the thrush results partly from the fungus, partly from 
epithelial accumulations; at all events all epithelial sloughs in the 
case of hypertrophies of glands and on other places, in the case 
of measles, stomatitis, &c., are of the same colour, even if there 
be only single layers. In private families where children are 
fed well and acquire habits of cleanliness, this whitish colour 
remains usually the prevailing colour, and it turns more yellow 
only when the fungus is allowed to expand into large membranous 
masses. Whence the dirty and brown colour comes from it is 
difficult to say. Reubold thinks that it is only met with in the 
membranous form, and agrees with Berg, Yalleix, and Robin, 
that it lies in the fungus itself, and in the colouring of its spores 
which occur in such large quantities, and that it is not caused by 
any extraneous colouring substances. The great formation of 
spores, or the dismemberment of the epithelium, which turns yellow, 
may either perhaps cause this colour ; perhaps, also, the age of 
the spores. One is reminded of the white colour of the boletus 
in its early stage of growth, and of its brown colour when old. 
The thrush-fungus lastly turns brown on drying. The still darker, 
blackish-brown and black colour is the result of coloured sub- 
stances used as medicines, blood, pus, or of the complication with 
the ulcers of the mucous membrane (Berg). 

Seat of Thrush according to Reubold. — The thrush-membrane is 
siad to lie sometimes under the epithelium, sometimes leaving 
the glands quite free, or proceeding from them, or sometimes 



OIDIUM ALBICANS. 197 

only luxuriating in the mucus of the mucous membrane. L€Iut 
even states that it occupies at different periods of its development 
different positions ; at firat being underneath the epithelium^ and 
after a little while laid bare. The soor is seen with the naked 
eye, at least, for a short time, below the level of the surrounding 
epithelium, but never directly on the mucous membrane, but 
always on epithelial layers ; nor does it exclusively proceed from 
the glands, since the free glandless edge of the lips, and the 
upper surface of the nearer glandless part of the tongue, are 
most frequently attacked. The fungus is alwjiys seen to be 
intimately mixed with the epithelium ; the former is found be- 
tween the epithelial cells, penetrating all their layers, and mixed 
up with them. It cannot be said with certainty where the 
epithelium allows the fungus to penetrate its outer layers ; this 
seems, however, to be the case in several places, and especially 
where inequalities in the thickness of the layers and in the 
separation of the epithelium occur. 

The fungus, in growing amongst the epithelial layers, attacks 
first the uppermost layers, growing gradually also among the 
lower, whilst the uppermost are worn out and thrown off by the 
rapid growth from below. The fungus attaches itself with its 
filaments partly to the epithelium, partly in the furrows of the 
surface of the tongue, and all around the papillae, which sit like 
a red centre in the thrush-ring. It occurs very rarely, according 
to Bednar and Robin, on the mucous membrane, with ciliated 
and cylindrical epithelium, but especially on that which contains 
pavement epithelium, perhaps on account of their stratification, 
and the possibility of an increased development of cells. It 
likewise occurs only where there is pavement epithelium in the 
respiratory passages. Reubold observed such a case in the nose 
of a child two months old, and repeatedly in children on the aryteno- 
epiglottic folds, and in the larynx, and on the vocal ligaments. 
It is slightly distributed over the bronchi and the larynx. It 
may, however, spread when cicatrized ulcers are found on those 
parts of the body which are usually accompanied by pavement 
epithelium. The epithelial appendages which the glands of the 
mouth offer at their openings are likewise a favorable place. 
The fungus is often attached at first to the openings of the 
glands, and penetrates laterally underneath the epithelium. The 
secretion-layer of the mucous membrane is not very favorable 
to its development, on account of its growth and its distance 



198 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

from the proper mucous membrane. Robin is of opinion that 
the fungus grows in the layers of the mucus which are attached 
to the epithelium^ and on the surface of the latter ; an opinion 
which was refuted by Reubold. The mucous membrane is rarely 
altered by the fungus^ although it penetrates down below the 
first epithelial layer, sometimes even into it, which leads to its 
softening and ulceration, occurring especially on the alveolar edge 
of the skin, when the fungous layers have been forcibly torn off. 
It is as yet undecided, it seems, whether the fungi cannot livö 
on those places, or whether they thrive but sparingly, where there 
is ciliated epithelium, although there seems to be no further 
doubt that those tissues greatly favour the growth of the 
fungus, which are covered with pavement epithelium. Berg 
states, that this fungus does not occur around the rectum 
and nates, and on the nipple, but thinks that it may occur on 
the mucous membrane of the genitals. Berg was chiefly led to this 
statement by his theoretical speculations, and the former is there- 
fore not yet decided. Further and final practical observations will 
be required, which demand great care on account of this disease 
being easily confounded with hsemorrhagic erosions of the stomach, 
follicular affections, and ulceration of the intestinal tube in 
children, or with undigested coagulated milk. 

Circumstances favorable to the development of the thrush-fungus, 
according to Reubold. — ^This fungus is found at every age, 
the earliest as well as the oldest in preference, the reason of 
which may, perhaps, be sought in the long sleep of very young 
and of aged persons, leaving to the spores time for growth 
without disturbance. Reubold observed it on persons from the 
age of two days to seventy years, more especially, however, up to 
the first nine months, frequently in connection with catarrh of 
the bpwels, from whatever cause produced. The conditions under 
which the fungus thrives are little known. Secretory changes 
of the mucous membrane (production of an acid secretion, parti- 
cularly of lactic acid), induced and fed by the fungus, (Robin) ; 
next to this a changed vegetation of the epithelium play still a 
considerable part in the theory of the genesis of the fungus. Such 
opinions are not fully proved yet. It is true that the thrush- 
fungus, like the other fungi, is found to follow a decomposition 
which provides for its wants, increasing it even by the eagerness 
with which it abstracts nourishment. Decomposition of organic, 
especially nitrogenous, substances, such as takes place in the 



OlDlUM ALBICANS. 199 

mouth, acts, no doubt, favorably (Robin), but a decidedly acid 
decomposition and formation of lactic acid is not necessarily 
required, for thrush-fungi are found without any acid re- 
action. Among the causal circumstances, the peculiar properties 
of the mucous membrane are especially not to be passed over 
silently; such as its loose state, its unevenness on the surface, 
and its readiness to cast off its epithelial cells, — conditions which, 
like the separation of the membrane of the tongue, are of tran- 
sient, but frequent, occurrence in the mouth. Add to that the 
repose of the mucous membrane in question, which is the more 
conducive to implantation the greater it is; next the lessened 
moisture and occasional drying up of the mucous membrane, as 
often happens in the upper parts of the intestinal tube, and 
the stratification of the epithelium, which prepares the way for 
the fungus the better the more abundant it is. Thrush is therefore 
met with most frequently and remains longest on those places 
of the mucous membrane of the mouth which possess the 
thickest epithelium — on the hard palate, accordingly, behind and 
on the inner part of the lips and cheeks. The papillary bodies 
of the mucous membrane appear likewise to stand in a certain 
relation to the thrush-fungus, for the latter seems to have a 
liking for the places where the papillae are thickest, such as on 
the hard palate, on the cheeks, the lips, on the back of the tongue, 
and on the oesophagus, though the fungus occurs sometimes in 
the larynx, where these papillae, are not found. 

The properties of the epithelium seem mostly to deserve our at- 
tention. Several questions must, at present, be left unanswered, 
as to whether the coherence* of the epithelial cells be at first 
increased and afterwards decreased ; whether the thrush-membrane 
falls off at a later period ; whether the earlier irregularity in the 
epithelium, which facilitated the growth of the fungus, be equalised; 
whether the later epithelial crop thrives more rapidly than the 
fungus itself, or whether the secretion, which is at first viscous, 
loses aflerwards its viscosity. 

Catarrh is, of all diseases of the mucous membrane, that 
which offers the above-mentioned undoubted causes of aphthae 
most abundantly, presenting them all, whether they be of a 
mere mechanical, local, or constitutional origin, acute or chronic. 
It causes, at all events, changes in the arrangement of the epi- 
thelium and in its secretions, if only because it is likely to lay 
bare the secerning mucous membrane. Those changes whicu 



200 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

the epithelium undergoes by a catarrh are unfortunately little 
known as yet, and just as little do we know correctly the nature 
of the secessions of secretion. One would naturally expect that 
the eruption of the thrush-fungus should always be preceded by 
distinct indications of catarrh^ as was stated by Biilard^ Lelut, 
Valleix, Empis^ and Gubler, who supposed the mucous membrane 
to be more or less inflamed^ and yet these symptoms of inflam- 
mation are so few and so indefinite^ as was already stated by 
Robin^ that they can scarcely be recognised. There are, how- 
ever, indications of such a state of irritation, although very local, 
such as a local stomatitis, and the formation of a more abundant 
epithelium on such places (Berg, Bednar, Reubold Stomatitis 
morbillosä). We may, moreover, mention those symptoms which 
point to a catarrhal state of remote portions of the bowels, or to 
general diseases of the blood (typhis, phthisis, phlebitides, lymphan^ 
ffitideSj §-c.) ; such as, diarrhoea, vomiting with pain, fever, cry- 
thema podicis, though Bednar thinks that this is merely a 
complication with thrush. It must not be overlooked that the 
thrush sometimes disappears rapidly, sometimes remains stationary 
for a long time, and sometimes reappears; and it is well to 
observe in future, whether this change can be brought into 
accordance with changes observed in the catarrh. Let us 
not forget that the most favorable age is that of childhood. 
This age offers most facility on account of its irritable mucous 
membrane, so rich in blood, and which seems to react on the 
slightest indigestion, by producing diarrhoea, inflammation of the 
mucous membrane of the mouth, attended by dryness or pain, 
when children are seen lying with open mouth, their tongue 
scarcely moving; or by causing a general catarrh (ictertis). 
Reubold noticed on himself the thrush-fungus, caused by a 
rheumatic inflammation of the neck, to which were added a 
catarrhal and a local irritation of the mucous membrane of the 
mouth, from taking rancid cod-liver oil, and saw it disappear 
again with the catarrh. 

The occurrence of thrush around the nipples of mothers is 
explained by Robin, with Bouchut, Rayer, and Empis, according 
to his theory of acidification, as being caused by the retention 
and acidification on these places of the milk and the mucus of 
the child^s mouth ; and Rayer, Charco, Depaul, and Verneil, say 
they have noticed it on. ulcers of the extremities, in consequence 
of protracted lying, in the case of severe phlebitis, a fact which 



OIDIUM ALBICANS. 201 

was, however, never observed by any mpdem writer, although it 
seems to me that the possibility of their occurrence is not to be 
excluded on physiological grounds. The horny tissues are closely 
related to the epithelial tissues, and only separated in their wider 
life the one from another. In a diseased state, nature is anxious 
to restore the epidermis which was just removed, and the forma- 
tion of epithelial cells must therefore take place, which the fungus 
jpight occupy as its seat. Thus the growth of the thrush on 
the above places of the skin becomes intelligible. (See section XII, 
and what is stated there of the nail-fungus.) It has already 
been remarked that the thrush occurs occasionally on ulcerated 
surfaces and diphtheritic membranes; according to Robin, the 
elements of the fungus are, however, found on these places only 
in the purulent mucus of the diphtheritical ulcers, which fact he 
explains by the accumulation of the epithelial masses, especially 
of pavement epithelium in such exudations. 

Berg thinks that the thrush-fungus grows also externally on 
the body, especially at a temperature of 80 — 35° C. (98° Fahr., 
blood-heat), and in albuminous liquids forming an acid; and is 
of opinion that its development outside of the body is divided 
into two. dififerent forms, now in the form of sporidia, giving rise 
to a mouldy membrane on the surface of the liquid, and then in 
a stalked form, exhibiting radiating and entangled fibres. Im- 
mediately afterwards, it is, however, stated by Berg, that he 
obtained a thrush-like mouldy membrane, in a liquid which con- 
tained a solution of milk-sugar and a piece of the stomach of a 
new-born child ; likewise in a liquid of mucus and cane-sugar, 
although he could not discover any thrush-fungi, either in the 
stomach or in the mucus. The same occurred after some 
weeks in closed vessels in solutions of milk-sugar, made of human 
and cow^s milk. Vegetations like the thrush-fungus became 
rapidly manifest in the serum of the blood, diluted a little with 
water and acid, more rapidly still when a little cane-sugar was 
added. Solution of caustic potash, which dissolves easily the 
protein-compounds, clearly proved the vegetable nature of the 
above formations. A similar process is noticed in milk, which 
seems to be accelerated by a mutual action between protein- 
compounds and certain acids. The thrush-fungus seems to be 
nothing more, according to these considerations, than a kind of 
fungus occurring as an ordinary mould on animal textures and 
animal liquids which are left uncovered, and the fungus nothing 



202 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

more tliaa a mould-fungts ejected from the living human body, 
but still adhering to the living filaments, and occurring on parts 
of the organism ^epithelium) ; its elements never penetrating the 
real life-texture. 

Berg very justly remarks that, properly speaking, there are no 
good or malignant fungi, but only a lesser or higher degree of 
the causal process of disease, in the course of which they become 
manifest, and that the symptoms which precede the outbreak of 
the fungi belong to diseases which cause a general disturbance 
of health, %nd facilitate at the same time the sowing of the 
fungi. These fungi may, therefore, be accessory to a great 
many different and serious diseases of children and grown-up 
people. 

Effects of the Parasite on Man {Retibold), — The fungus being 
merely a symptom of a disease of the mucous membrane, as stated, 
does not deserve, according to Robin and Reubold, to be placed 
among the formations noxious to man, and deserves mention only 
on account of the increased difficulty experienced in swallowing 
and sucking by its accumulation, preventing, by means of obtura- 

. tion of the oesophagus, the passage of the food, and generating 
a considerable amount of acid by facilitating decomposition. 
Oiher symptoms which accompany it, such as diarrhoea, more 

* rarely vomiting, erythema of the skin, and the saturated fever- 
urine, are not attributable to the thrush but to the catarrh. The 
fungus is, however, not quite so despicable as to be estimated in 
its effect merely as a furred tongue (Bednar), proof of which is 
found in the enormous masses of fungi which almost stop up the 
oesophagus. Its occurrence on the ligaments of the glottis may 
render it very dangerous, by stopping up the glottis and pro- 
ducing spasm or inflammation, and oedema of that organ. Reu- 
bold thinks that the ulcerations and erosions underneath the 
thrush-fungus ought to be accounted for by catarrh more than 
by the fungus, although the latter is able to change erosions 
into ulcerations, if it be correctly stated that it penetrates the 
mucous membrane. The frequent occurrence of thrush in dys- 
pepsia is explained by Reubold and Rinecker by the fact that the 
fungus acts like a ferment on the mucous membrane of the 
stomach, thus causing, in a very short time, its softening, 
and even death may occur. Berg mentions, among its effects, 
the following : sometimes as precursors of an eruption of 
thrush : inflammation, pain, and heat of the raucous membrpne 



OIDIUM ALBICANS. 203 

of the mouthy symptoms which frequently, in new-born babes, 
are of a mere physiological character, as well as external redness 
of skin, and which are often met with without being followed by 
an eruption of thrush-fungi ; sometimes, however, a slight con- 
densation and whitish colouring and swelling of the epithelium 
are noticed on the free edge of the lips, as if in consequence of 
a kind of maceration. A disturbed taste, in consequence of a 
luxuriant development of fungi, is occasionally observed, and 
may be considered often rather as the effect of a general catarrh, 
besides an interruption of the free movements of the affected 
parts. The renewal of the epithelium succeeds more rapidly 
than usual, no doubt with the aid of the fungus, although the 
gastric primary disease by itself favours this renewal. Berg 
seems to be justly of opinion that the fungus produces the 
hoarseness, which often accompanies thrush; and even the 
already existing vomiting might, to some degree, be increased by 
it, although the fungi do not necessarily cause it. The slight 
idiopathic form, affecting healthy children, is said by Berg to 
have precursors, yet the symptoms he mentions seem to be merely 
symptoms of a slight intestinal catarrh. The torpor and drowsi- 
ness accompanying such cases, as well as the fear of removing 
the diseased parts, are very likely the means of increasing the 
luxuriant growth of the fungus, for even sucking must necessarily 
disturb the attachments of the fungous parts. * Night may, there- 
fore, be in favour of eruptions, as well as the long sleep of the 
new-born child, according to the view of Berg and other 
writers. 

I am inclined to attach little importance to the disturbing in- 
fluence exercised by the confluent fungi on the secretion of 
saliva, which they almost prevent during the period of the earliest 
childhood, whilst it seems of more importance with well fed 
children, who require much saliva for the insalivation of their 
food. Berg observed, at the Foundling Hospital, in 1845, during 
the prevalence of aphthae, that the faeces of 29 out of 139 
children were yellow ; of other 29 children, after the fungus had 
made its appearance, green; and of 57 the motions, sooner or 
later after the eruption, became of the same colour. Berg seems 
to conclude from these observations, that the thrush-fungus colours 
the faeces green ; we are, however, unable to follow him in his 
deductions, and believe that the first 29 cases, with constant 
yellow motions, are quite sufficient to prove the view of Rcubold 



20^ VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

and others, aud that the cause and the varying accident were 
confounded. The cause of the green feculent matter must be 
sought for in the catarrh of the intestines^ the cavity of which 
likewise favours the growth of the fungus^ and not vice versa 
in the luxuriant growth of the fungus. I have arrived at this 
conviction in spite of Berg's observations (1. c, p. 41 et seq., of 
which I intend speaking more fully in the Appendix)^ which seem^ 
on superficial examination^ to favour his view. We arrive proba- 
bly nearest the truth by making the allowance that the aphtha- 
fungus occurred at a later period than the catarrh of the intestine, 
and became the cause of sustaining the latter by its very 
presence, favouring to some extent the decomposition of certain 
aliments into lactic acid. Berg states that he never observed 
death as the immediate cause of the thrush-fungus ; all he saw 
was contraction of the epithelium on the places above the 
cardia where the fungi adhered very strongly, and he assures 
us repeatedly that he never noticed underneath the cardia, or 
in the lungs, fungi which adhered closely, but only loose ele- 
ments of a fungous nature. Berg thinks that the fungi were, 
no doubt, the cause of the earlier diseased symptoms, for the 
latter disappear and health is restored with the disappearance of 
the fungi. This phenomenon finds^ however, its natural explana- 
tion by inverting the causes, and by saying : As soon as the dis- 
ease which favoured the development of fungi is over, the latter 
will disappear, and it naturally follows that we have to ascribe 
more influence to the generation of the acid products of digestion 
than to the fungi, I shall return more fully to Berg's 
experiments, in order to enable everyone to judge for himself; I, 
for my part, think that the question is neither decided in favour 
of Berg, nor do I believe that Reubold and Bobin (the latter 
seems not to have been aware of the existence of Berg's work) 
paid any such special attention to these experiments in treating 
of the question referred to, as they undoubtedly deserve, in spite 
of his defective and one-sided investigation of the subject. 
Although I cannot share Berg's view, I agree with him that it is 
not very improbable that the thrush-fungi, occurring in large 
masses, are able to create a tendency towards an increased acid 
digestion, if it were only because they pertinaciously retain the 
acid which is found to be present. The frequent occurrence of 
such a tendency may, however, be doubted, since the greater 
number of the cases where this fungus occurs are accompanied by 



OIDIUM ALBICANS. 205 

a great want of appetite and impaired digestion. It is lastly not 
to be overlooked that^ although spores are present^ they cannot 
thrive in an uncongenial medium, and that much depends upon 
the medium, and even the disease itself, as to whether it be able 
to create a favorable medium for itself or not. It is, however, 
possible, according to Berg's experiments (much as they require 
to be repeated), that the fungus itself is able to help to transform 
(if only to a slight degree) the soil upon which it grows into one 
more favorable for its growth. It is well known that the age of 
childhood is the period of diarrhoea, and since the latter occurs 
more frequently in summer, the summer diarrhoeas of children 
are greatly in favour of this disease. Age, by itself, does not 
protect from it, neither does the climate. The growth of the 
fuugus is, moreover, assisted when the spores of fungi fly about 
in large numbers in a place which is with difiBlculty ventilated, 
thus causing always fresh infection. Suckling does not afford 
unconditional protection, although, on the whole, fewer children 
nursed by their mothers or by nurses are subject to it than other- 
wise — a fact attributable more to external causes (such as the con- 
tagiousness of the disease), and to disturbances of the digestion, 
caused by the unnatural way in which they are reared, than to 
the quality of the food itself. Temper and sex of the child are 
of no influence at all. The principal circumstances, favorable 
or unfavorable, are supplied by the healthy or unhealthy state of 
the child. We know also that grown-up healthy people, as well 
as children, are liable to thrush. 

It follows thus that the aphtha or thrush is owing to a fungus, and 
that it consequently is an entophite, and not an exanthem, and that 
this eruption is not of a critical nature. The latter may especially be 
said of the thrush around the anus of children, or of the thrush- 
crisis, as it is called. These phenomena are by no means real fungi, 
for nothing is seen of the fungus, but they are simply produced 
by the mechanical action of the acrid faeces of children. In the 
case of real thrush, the Oidium albicans becomes perceptible from 
the very beginning of the disease, and in the smallest spots and 
points (Berg, Reubold). Should it, however, happen that it 
cannot be discovered at once, as happened to Remak, it is 
merely necessary to treat the object with kali causticum. The 
fungus is accordingly no mere consequence or accident of 
a disease of the mucous membrane, but the cause of the disease 
itself. 



206 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

No further argument is then required to prove that the thrush 
is a contagious disease^ the spreading of which depends upon 
tlie transfer of the spores of a fungus, and we may easily 
understand the outbreak of it in large foundUng hospitals. 
Oue means of its spreading is the suckling several children at 
the same breast; sucking-bottles, sugar-titties, and vessels in 
general which are used in feeding children in community; the 
very hands of the child, or the fingers of the nurse, especially 
when the latter has to attend several sick children, and 
presents them to the healthy children to suck at; the chewing 
of the food by mothers or nurses suffering from thrush; the 
toys of sick children which are sucked by healthy ones; un- 
clean articles of dress, bedding, &c. Berg. mentions also that 
artificial food, and especially the keeping of such close to 
mouldering liquids, is likely to become a means of transfer. The 
reasons for Berg's view will be found in the experiments men- 
tioned at the end of this volume ; these render it very likely 
that the thrush is a kind of mouldy fungus usually occurring on 
old protein compounds exposed to the action of the air. It ap- 
pears to me that a chief cause of the contagious nature of thrush 
in large foundling hospitals and lying-in hospitals, must be »ought 
in the bath, and the vessels and things employed, such as sponges 
and linen for cleansing the mouths of children, and in the water 
itself used for bathing, in which the spores float about, and in 
which vessels are washed which may be used for water employed 
for cleansing the mouths of other children. In private practice 
the thrush is likely to be transferred by the objectionable custom 
of nurses, who have the charge of several children, bathing 
them at one time and place. These women are in the 
habit of cleansing the mouth of the child with their finger, 
either uncovered or wrapped in a rag of linen. If we consider, 
moreover, how chapped and rough the fingers of such women 
usually are, it will no longer remain doubtful that they may be 
the cause of spreading the spores of fungi in private practice. 
Berg proved the contagiousness of this disease by transferring the 
fungous layer on to the healthy mucous membrane of healthy 
children living in various localities, by the following experiment. 
He took some crusts of aphthae from the mouth of a usually 
healthy child, which had suffered for four days from thrush, anil 
placed them on the intact mucous membrane of four children 
brought to the foundling hospital the day before without a trace 



OIDIUM ALBICANS. 207 

of fungi, between the cheeks and the back part of the alveoli, 
because they would remain there longest. 

1. One child whose parents were unknown, but which was 
suckled, exhibited, after sixty-five hours, distinct thrush on the 
tongue, which had formed on the eighth day a large confluent 
mass. Green stools were observed from the fourth to the eighth 
days, followed, on the eighth day, by vomiting, by a watery 
stool, and an increased difficulty in sucking. Careful local treat- 
ment removed the vomiting and diarrhoea ; the thrush decreased, 
and disappeared enttirely on the eleventh day. The child was 
again suckled, but the mucous membrane of the mouth was red- 
dened and the papillae swollen. For three weeks there were 
new eruptions. 

2. Another child exhibited quite the same phenomena; the 
thrush-layer was already slightly developed on the fifth day. It 
persisted pertinaciously up to the eleventh or twelfth day, when 
it disappeared. In this case, also, diarrhoea was noticed on the 
fourth day. 

3. A third child, suckled by its mother, exhibited on the 
fourth day slight traces of discreet thrush without disturbance of 
the health in general, and which soon disappeared by means of 
local treatment. Another child, suckled by the same mother, 
likewise exhibited thrush without being inoculated. 

4. A fourth child, suckled by its mother, exhibited thrush on 
the fifth or sixth day; it remained white, discreet, and produced 
no special gastric symptoms. 

These experiments prove, on the one hand, the contagiousness 
of the disease, and, on the other, that the fungi pass off quite 
mildly without any other gastric disturbances than those already 
existing, whilst they vegetate most luxuriautly in such cases. I 
am of opinion that the diarrhoea in the first and second cases is 
not to be placed to the account of the thrush-fungus, but to that 
of the change of the mother, and because the children had first 
to become accustomed to the milk of the new mother. It is 
thus clearly seen, that the cessation of sucking accelerates the 
spreading of the thrush ; perhaps on account of the fact that the 
fungi are transported, during the progress of sucking, from the 
mouth to the intestine, which is less favorable to their deve- 
lopment. 

This shows clearly the injustice of finding fault with the 
nurses for a want of watchfulness, or with the sucking-bottle. 



208 VEGETABLE PABASITES. 

when an epidemic of thrush occurs, as has been done at the 
Leipsic Lying-^in Hospital, on the part of the director of that 
institution. It is not the rude cleansing of the mouth on 
washing the children, nor the irritation caused by it, or even the 
exposure of the mucous membrane of the mouth, nor the irrita- 
tion caused by sucking at a sucking- bottle, which are the causes 
of the thrush, since we know from Berges experiments that the 
fungus thrives even when it is transferred to an intact mucous 
membrane, and also that it sends its roots only into the epithe- 
lium, and not below. Would it not be sufficient to employ 
great care and cleanliness in using the various vessels, especially 
the baths and their apparatus, when fungi have once declared 
themselves in the hospital, applying the usual reproofs when 
open neglect is discovered? Such a course, I think, would 
be more adapted to an institution which perhaps was the first 
in Germany where the vegetable nature of the Aphthae was 
studied. 

Prognosis. — There exists no prognosis of thrush, according to 
Reubold, this disease being in general of little importance, and 
only capable of producing independent symptoms which endanger 
life in the exceptional cases already referred to, either by their 
masses or by their seat. Berg is of opinion that they are quite 
indifferent in healthy persons, disappearing spontaneously, or 
being at least easily curable ; and he says that he never witnessed 
a case where death ensued. The simple idiopathic, as well as 
the discreet forms which attack healthy children, are the least 
injurious, whilst the confluent, which occur in diseased conditions 
of the system, generally demand the prognosis of the original 
disease. In special cases, however, when the disease makes its 
appearance during severe illnesses, or when the exhausted bodily 
system would otherwise rapidly recover, they are certainly not to 
be slightly treated. They retard the return of the appe- 
tite by destroying the sense of taste, and render the appeas- 
ing the appetite less agreeable by increasing the difficulties of 
deglutition, and by thus rendering hunger endurable for a time 
by dint of self-control, when it would be extremely desirable 
that the exhausted body should recover rapidly by means of 
good food. They also retard convalescence, and are capable of 
reducing a weakened body to the uttermost. The colour is of 
no prognostic value at all, unless we consider the dark brown or 
black forms as more dangerous on account of their indicating an 



OIDIXJM ALBICANS. 209 

original disease that depends upon a disordered condition of the 
blood (scorbutus, morbus maculosus WerlhoflSi, &c.), or a more 
copious ulceration. The cure of thrush will remain an impossi- 
bility as long as the remedial agents do not succeed in removing 
the original disease and in changing the soil on which the fungi 
thrive. 

After having thus studied this disease in all its forms, we now 
proceed to speak of the differential diagnosis» Following the 
very able historical and physical description by Berg, and viewing 
thrush and aphtha as synonymous, I give the diflferential diag- 
nosis, with some modifications, according to Reubold : 

1. Stomatitis vesicularis. — Distinct little vesicles, often arranged 
in regular groups, are perceived on the surface, at the top and 
on the edges of the tongue, especially in older infants, which 
sometimes heal rapidly, and sometimes pass into pustules or ulcera- 
tions. These vesicles, when they are still small and filled with a 
whitish-gray matter without reddening the surrounding mucous 
membrane, are not easily made out without the aid of the micro- 
scope. They are, however, easily distinguished when the vesicles 
are a little larger and surrounded by an inflamed ring, and filled 
with a larger mass of a clear transparent liquid, when they spring 
up discretely, or burst after a little while, presenting an ulcerated 
mass, covered with a dirty yellowish secretion. "When the thrush 
lasts very long it becomes accompanied by ulcers, although the 
fungus is found to grow secondarily even in the colon and on 
diphtheritical exudations, which resemble it to some extent in 
colour. The thrush resembles at first crummy, gritty bits of 
cheese, or patches of coagulated milk, which look like the slough 
of ulcers ; the fungus itself supplies, however, the distinctive diag- 
nosis. 

2. Certain affections of the qnthelium of the mucous membrane, 
especially epithelial accumulations, — They are very much like the 
patches of thrush. The chief distinction is found in a thicker 
and a shining layer of epithelium, and in their remaining sta- 
tionary and unaltered for from four to six weeks, until they dis- 
appear at last. They are often met with, but always in an 
isolated state, and on the middle line of the hard palate, towards 
the front of the alveolar processes. They are likely to occur 
sometimes to a larger extent and in a higher degree, and I 
believe that the Stomatitis morbillosa of Reubold and the Pityriasis 

14 



210 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

oris are nothing more than such an epithelial productiveness on a 
larger scale. 

3. Stomatitis follicularis occurs most frequently about the time 
of the first teething and in old age. Large, white, discrete, 
half-spherical or flat yesicles are formed especially on the lips, 
on the inner side of the cheek, and on the gums. These vesicles 
are depressed in the middle, often provided with a point ; they 
burst soon, forming superficial ulcers with a red ring, and healing 
sometimes with and sometimes without cicatrization. Weak 
children are most subject to these ulcers, and in them they pene- 
trate deeper, spread out more, possess a lardaceous base, and 
cause greater destruction. These vesicles are nothing more than 
the inflamed and enlarged mucous follicles. 

4. It is not very likely that the thrush should be confounded , 
with the fatty degeneration of the villi of the mucous membrane, 
especially near the cardia, observed by Beubold, which I stated 
often to occur normally in the intestinal canal of dogs, and which 
I regard as a sign of old age. 

5. The gastric far of the tongue^ especially the spotted, and the 
white masses around the teeth and gums, as well as the white coating 
which often detaches itself irregularly on the fourth or fifth day 
from the .tongue of children taken HI with scarlatina, are easily 
distinguished with the aid of the microscope and by the absence 
of the fungus. I was unable to discover the thrush-fungus in 
the latter, although I applied caustic potash. 

6. Remains of food and especially coagulated milk are easily 
confounded without the microscope. Many of the cases men- 
tioned by writers of thrush in the intestines and stomach, of 
thrush-layers passing off with the excrement, were probably 
nothing more than particles of such undigested coagulated milk. 
The microscope alone can throw light on this subject. 

7. Ricord states that a certain syphilitic disease of the tongue, 
accompanied by granulated papillae, resembles thrush very much. 

Therapeutics, — Berg paid great attention to this point, and 
recommends finally the nitrate of silver (from x grs. to 3j of water, 
or more, according to Trousseau), which is to be painted over the 
sore by means of a fine brush. He prefers the various sodium- 
salts to the potassium-salts, and gives solutions of borax and nitrate 
of soda in decoctions of sage. He recommends also cleanliness and 
ointments against the erythema on the rectum and the genitals.^ 

I Appendix C. 



TREATMENT OF THRUSH. 211 

Reubold, whose therapeutical views seem to me the most ra- 
tional^ states — " The causal treatment of the disease belongs to 
the therapeutics of the intestinal tube; parasiticidal remedies 
alone ought to find a place in the treatment of the thrush. 
Cleanliness and removing the fungus are no doubt urgently 
required in many cases, as, for instance, when the fungus is 
seated on the isthmus faucium ; but surely these are not the only 
means, as Bednar thinks. (I believe that the absolute con- 
demnation of the process of wiping off the fungus, and the in- 
veighing against this custom so often met with in nurseries, is 
frequently the effect of ignorance, and shows a thorough want of 
knowledge of the nature of the disease.) Uninjurious parasiti« 
cidal remedies applicable to the mucous membrane of the mouth 
are not known. Borax is harmless (Oesterlen and Jörg) ; other 
metallic astringent salts act against the catarrh itself, when they 
act favorably. Alkalies which remove acidity have been aban- 
doned for a long time; and Berg's theory of acidification loses 
more and more ground every day. Five grains of sulphate of 
copper in half an ounce of water is likewise ineffective, according 
to Reubold. Nitrate of silver was found most effective against 
diarrhoea in the Würzburg Clinic, and a little wine should the 
child's weakness increase.'' 

I would urge the use of small doses of iron, as, for instance^ lac- 
tate of iron, together with carbonate and phosphate of lime, or the 
creosote- water united with the salts of lime, which I have frequently 
found effective in cases of diarrhoea accompanied by fungi in 
infants. Solutions of an iron-salt, especially when followed by a 
small dose of cod-liver oil (10 — 20—30 gtt. per day in the case 
of children upwards of one year), were found most effective in 
removing atrophy and its consequences, and in accelerating con- 
valescence. 

History, — In order to be able to survey the history of this 
disease it becomes necessary to sum up all that has been said of 
aphthse, muguet, and thrush, and, above all, to abandon the 
French mode of dividing it into separate diseases, which are in fact 
merely gradations of one disease. Robin did not even proceed 
thus. If we proceed from this point of view and master the 
entire literature which was collected with great pains by Berg, we 
may take the following historical view : 

1*/ period, — Period of Hippocrates, who knew and described 



212 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

the actual thrush of childreu under the name of aphthss (^ Aphor/ 
Sect, iii, No. 24). 

2d period, — Corruption of this idea by the Roman medical 
ivriters, who wrongly translated this word by ulcera. This cor- 
ruption has been retained from the time of Celsus to the present 
time, and comprises hoth Stomatitis vesicularis Kni S, follicularis, 
Celsus confounded the real aphthae with all kinds of ulcerous, 
exudative, diphtheritic, and gangrenous disorders of the mouth 
and throat, with Stomacace, Noma, &c. Galen confounds the 
thrush especially with Stomatitis follicularis and vesicularis with 
their ulcers and others. Aphthae were treated like ulcers by 
Aretäus, Oribasius, Aetius, Paulus iEgineta, Primerose (1508) ; 
Amatus Lusitanus (1551), who describes a case of thrush on a 
grown-up person taken ill with intermittent fever; Femelius 
(1569) ; Ambrosius Par^ (1575), who recommends with Ruff the 
simultaneous treatment of nurses and infants; Mercurialis (1583); 
Forestus (1591); Herlicius (1597); Sennertus (1646, ulcuscula 
sen tubercula oris) mentions as remedium fcetidum the frequent 
sucking at a living frog, which he thought would remove the 
malignant secretions; Joel (1665, exigua ulcuscula sen pustulae) ; 
Riverius (1646, the different distinctions of colour are supposed 
to be produced by bile, mucus, atra bills, and putrefaction) ; 
Mauriceau, Riedlein (1698); Loew (1699) {Prunella infantu- 
torwT» = thrush) ; Becher (1700); Slevogt (1706) speaks of two 
species — Ulcuscula and Papula, which form vesicles; Boerhave 
(1709), who was acquainted with the piecemeal loosening, falling 
off and reappearance of the sloughs, till larger ulcers were formed ; 
Juncker (1718), observed that they might be wiped off; Diouis 
(1718); Astruc (1746) ; Cooke (1770) ; Nicolas (1722) ; Plenk 
(1776, ulcera cutanea) ; Seile (1802) ; Heberden (1804) ; Henke 
(1810-21); Swedians(1812, ulcers, vesicles, pustules; they belong 
to his Pyrexiae, order Phlegmasiae). 

Sd period, — Return to the name given by Hippocraies. — It is 
scarcely necessary to speak of this as a distinct period, as it only 
included a few isolated writers who endeavoured to return to the 
most ancient name, but whose voice, however, was disregarded. 
I may mention Pollux (^ Onomastic,' 1. iv, c. 24, sect. 200) ; Gir- 
tanner (1794), who calls them vesicles or spots on the lips; 
Brassard (1837). 

^ih period. — Period marked by the endeavours to describe 



HISTOEY OP THRUSH. 213 

more exactly the aphthae, and to distinguish them from other 
diseases at other ages ; a general abandonment of the view of the 
ulcerous nature of aphthae, and a prevalence of the view that they 
were exanthematous. (The German-Dutch school of the Middle 
Ages to the present time.) 

Riiff (1554 and 1580), and his Swedish translator Benedict. 
Olai (1578), call them leaflets (Blätterlein); HoUerius (1579), 
vicarious eruption (beneficium naturae), their arrest creating 
atrophy of children; Scipio de Mercuriis, and his translator 
Welsch (1653), white vesicles, with a red base; Ketelaer (1652), 
complication of the Dutch marsh-fever; he was the first who 
described well the aphthae of adults ; no ulcers but tubercula ; 
empyreuma, which was to be separated by way of the newly 
discovered lymphatic vessels, opposed to the theory of the cause 
of the colour of the aphthae ; extension of the same to the whole 
intestinal canal ; creating an epoch. Ettmiiller (1675, tubercula) 
did the same for the aphthae of children as Ketelaer did for those 
of grown-up people, and created likewise an epoch; Pechlin 
(1691), aphthae-blossoms, rising from the stomach to the mouth, 
analogous to a process of sublimation; Cregutus (1696), like 
Ketelaer; Lentilius (1709), pustulae miliaris albae; Voeltern 
(1722), " Blätterlein,'' which render the mouth as rough as a 
grater; F. Hofmann, " Blätterchen," the seat of which are the 
glands of the mucous membrane (1741) ; Pelargus-Storch (1750), 
*' Blätterchen '* and ulcers, of the matter of which, whether it be 
acid salt or acid, we are ignorant ; Börner, " Blätterchen '' and 
vesicles (1752); Van Swieten (1754), pustulae, which are gene- 
rated by the obstruction of the natural ways of exit to the 
hardened mucus of the tongue and the mouth; Sauvages (1755), 
phlyctaenes, papulae subrotundae, semilineares; Linn^ (1765), 
morbi exanthemat. sporadic!, escharae albidae; Bosenstein (1764^ 
translated by Murray, 1798), scurfs ; Armstrong (1765), spots and 
vesicles; Cullen (1769), exanthemata, escharae; Unzer (1770), 
patches, forming a scab ; Sagar (1771), exanthem. contagiosum; 
Mellin (1781), " Blätterchen,'' Soor = Kurvoss, because it is a 
curable disease — aflPecting the nipples, " Fasch," in which case the 
breast is best protected by oil; Starke (1784), vesicles caused by 
the stopping up of the efferent channels of the glands — although 
they are not dangerous it is well not to disturb their eruption ; 
the German translator of Cullen (1785), ulcers of the size of 
millet, never any primary ulcers; Underwood (1784), white layers 



214 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

springing from spots; J. P. Frank (1792), exanthemata scabra, 
— he confounded them with stomatitis ; Hufeland (1792), critical 
phenomenon; Fleisch (1808), vesicles, stomatitis vesicularis; 
Jahn (1803), local disease, dots, fissures, vesicles ; Gardin (1 807), 
critical exanthem of white tubercles, moreover identical at all 
ages; Capuron (1821), translated by Puchelt, a critical exanthem ; 
A. Gr. Richter, pustulous exanthem; Good (1822), granulated 
vesicles; Wendt (1823), white spots and vesicles; Josephus 
Frank (1830) ; Eisenmann exanthem ; Schoepff (1841), idem. 

hth period, — The period in which Muguet meets with a special 
description, and is separated from aphthae, by the French school. 

Knellie, an Eoglishman, is the first who describes the Muguet^ 
although he does not give it that name. The French school 
begins with the year 1738, when the attention of the government 
was called to the excessive mortality at the Paris Hospital for 
Children, with the work of Martinet, 1740, who calls the disease 
Blanchet, or Muguet, and who ascribes to it a contagious cha- 
racter. Colombier (1779), de petits boutons blancs et durs; 
Doublet (1783) describes accurately the course of their develop- 
ment. Amongst the competitors for the prize given at Paris, in 
1786, who were successful, were Sarponts, who distinguishes 
'* aphthae in puncto albicantes et pustulse miliares,'' and recom- 
mends inoculation as a protection ; Auvity, who separated aphthae 
and muguet, and mentioned the glands of the mucous membrane 
as their seat ; Van de Vieupersse, who classifies them with the 
exanthemata, as being more related to miliaria, and therefore 
critical, and knew that the vesicles discharge no liquid ; Coop- 
mans, who says, the word aphtha was used for *' stomacace " and 
" noma '' by ancient writers, whilst they are tubercles or pus- 
tules around the rectum — aphthae are the same in the North 
as miliaria are in the South ; Amemann, who says, aphthae are 
neither ulcers nor pustules, but white tumours, consisting of three 
species — the commonest are those of foundling-hospitals, and 
those of grown-up people, which latter alone are critical; and 
Lentin, who calls them a non-critical formation of papillae. 
Wedekind knows them to exist in an isolated state {Stomatitis 
follicularis), and aphthae in heaps (true aphthae and diphtheritis) ; 
Hecker (1815), in his otherwise good description, is, however, 
defective, — he divides Aphtha neonatorum, the same as " soor'' and 
Schwammchen (thrush) ; Bertin (1810) ; Geoffroy (in the ' Dic- 
tionnaire des Sciences medic.,' 1812) ; Dievilliers (1819, ibidem, 



HTSTOEY OF THRUSH. 215 

article " Muguet''), the name mttguet is derived from the resem- 
blance in colour and form to the flowers of *' Convallaria maialis /* 
Heyfelder (1828) ; Gaersant and Blache {ibidem, 2d edition, 
carrying out further Wedekind's views); Lelut (1827); Billard 
(1827), " Stomatitis follicularis " = aphthae and stomatite avec 
alteration de secretion =: muguet ; Duges (1829) only increases 
the confusion ; Pieper (1831) — like Billard, he does not, however, 
perceive the resemblance to mould, and describes the Stomatitis 
follicularis, the latter being entirely confounded with thrush by 
Rau (1831) ; Eisenmann {Stomatopyra Soor and Stomatopyra 
aphtha, which are exanthems) ; Gordinet (aphthae, a disorder of 
the mucous glands ; muguet, an exudation) ; Naumann (aphthae == 
a formation of phlyctenae ; soor = Stomatitis exsudativa, or in the 
2d edition. Angina aphthosa) ; Bouillaud, de la Berge, and 
Monneret, who caused great confusion; Schnitzer and Wolflf; 
Bouchut calls aphthae what is, in fact. Stomatitis follicularis, and 
applies muguet to the real fungus. All the renowned medical 
authorities of France and Germany, down to Cannstatt, when he 
wrote his first edition, share the faults spoken off, and it appears 
to me superfluous to enumerate them all. The exceptions will 
be mentioned in the last period. 

6/Ä period. — Period of the proof that aphtha and muguet are 
identical, — Double (1803), it is no inflammation, but a disease 
which occurs on red spots, forming white pustules ; O. L. Bang ; 
Heyfelder thinks that aphthae and muguet are synonymous — he 
confounds, however, aphthae and Stomatitis follicularis. Bark- 
hausen thinks that Peyer's and Brunner's glands were often mis- 
taken for aphthae. Frankel (1838), muguet, a variety of aphthae. 



Period of the knowledge of the true fungous nature of aphtha. 

Jahn first observed, in Hufeland^s ' Journal,' 1826, that the 
people had rightly conceived a similarity to exist between this 
disease and mould, and compared the physical development of 
both. But as he did not believe the lowest moulds to consist of 
really organized plants, he also viewed these fungi merely as 
physico-chemical products. He is of opinion that a peculiar 
fungous mass exists, and that the fungi are sometimes produced 
by other species of mould, as, for instance, Merulius destruens. 



216 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

Although J. Frank ridicules this idea, Jörg likewise speaks, as 
early as the year 1826, of fibres of fungi. 

Langenbeck first described a fungus (in Froriep's 'Notizen,^ 
No. 252, 1839) which occurs on the aphthous layer in the 
oesophagus of a person who died of typhus, and gives more details 
(1840), without knowing, however, whether this fungus was of 
constant occurrence. 

Berg accidentally saw, in the winter of 1840-41, the mould 
which grows on old milk, and was surprised to find such a great 
resemblance between mould-fibres and those which he found in 
the aphthous discharge. He communicated his observation to 
Gruby, who considered the fungus to be analogous to the favus, 
and reported it as such to the Swedish Association (September 
and November, 1841) ; Joh. Müller published some remarks in 
his ' Archiv/ 1842. Berg discussed the subject further in the 
' Hygiea/ 1842. Eschricht, Vogel (as resembling the favus- 
fungus), and Büchner described the fungus in 1841. The latter 
continues the comparison of fungi which Jahn began, and men- 
tions as analogous to the noxious effects of spores of the fungi^ 
three cases of poisoning caused by the sporidia of jEthalium 
septicumj as well as his own stupor after swallowing the spores of 
Boletus. Hannover's Leptomitus (1842) and Bennett's expec- 
toration-fungus are^ according to Berg, nothing but aphthae. 
Oesterlen knows the fungus (1842), but considers it to be merely 
accidental. Gruby, who, with Berg, was the first to discover the 
vegetable nature of the aphthse, described the fungus as Spo- 
rotrichum (1842), and called it Aphthaphyte, and assumed as its 
cause severe epithelial disease. Bayer and Montague, Andral 
and Gavarret, were likewise acquainted with this fungus. The 
latter saw it also generated when albuminous substances were 
left standing together with vinegar. Eisenmann (1845) attributes 
the fungus to a ''generatio aequivoca.'' Bouchut knew the 
fungus which occurs on real thrush, and calls it muguet, whilst 
his aphthse are Stomatitis follicularis, Bemak states that the 
fungus occurs only secondarily after the loosening and ulceration, 
but does not know its pathogenetical significance (1845). Hoerner- 
kopf and Baum adhere to Berg's views. Empis, next to Berg, 
has the merit of enlarging our knowledge of this fungus. Gubler 
thinks that the fungus originates in the interior of the salivary 
glands j Bazin, in the follicles which generate the slime. Bedn&r 
is well acquainted with the fungus, but confounds the name soor 



EXPERIMENTS. 217 

(thnisb) with aphth» aud stomatitis. He speaks of two forms of 
thrush. The first kind, which he only observed during an epidemic 
of measles, is said to be remarkable for its excessive luxuriance, 
formation, and detachment of the epithelium of the mouth 
(pavement-epithelium), together with mucous corpuscles and oil- 
globules without fungi ; the second form of soor consists of real 
thrush. Reubold saw the first form only once during an epidemic 
of measles, and he describes it quite correctly as *' Stomatitis mor- 
billosa,^* This stomatitis formed on the lips and the parts of the 
gums which correspond to them, more rarely on the tip of the 
tongue, a thin layer of white, small gritty discharge, accompanied 
by pain, inflammation, and swelling of these parts. The dis- 
charge fell off without causing ulceration, and exhibited cor- 
puscles of mucus and pus, without a trace of pseudo-membranes 
or fungi, besides a plentiful epithelium, and they never occurred 
on toothless children. It was only after this disease had had its 
course that thrush-fungus was once observed to break out, 
Reubold, who recently gave a more correct description of 
aphthae, and who deserves great merit, always saw the fungus at 
the very beginning of aphthae. He adopted, however, the French 
theory, and views aphthae and thrush as two distinct forms of 
disease. 



Experimental Appendix. 

Experiments made by Berg in order to ascertain the most favorable 
medium for the development of the fungus. 

Berg took scabs of aphthae, weighing two or three grammes, 
from a living child, and poured distilled water over them, and 
allowed them to stand at a temperature of 12 — 15° C. (53 — 59® 
Fahr.) He found after the lapse of five days numerous sporidia 
in the liquid, which were larger and more developed aud more 
copious than at the time when the scabs were detached. He 
also observed that there was a connection between two or three 
of them, and that their stalks were twice as thick, whilst other 
fungus-formations were wanting. A similar result was obtained 
by the experiments for preserving the scabs in a liquid mixed 
with arrow-root powder at the same temperature. Luxuriant 
fungous formations were also seen shooting up from the scabs 



218 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

that lie on the bottom in a solution of sugar. Berg thinks that 
they also belong to the thrush-fungus. No particular formation 
of aphthae was observed in the case of scabs which were preserved 
in pure water at a temperature of 30 — 35° C. (86 — 95° Fahr.), 
but they were very numerous when the scabs were preserved in 
the mixture of arrow-root. A small cloud was perceived after 
forty-eight hours, consisting of the fungus, but possessing only 
few and short stalks. The process proceeded most luxuriantly at 
the same temperature in a solution of sugar, the result being the 
formation of a white mouldy membrane or layer on the surface of 
the liquid, which is said to have been produced by small patches 
of the aphthse^fungus which floated in the liquid, whilst at the 
same time a gas was emitted from the liquid employed. The same 
phenomena were observed in a solution of cane-sugar mixed with 
albumen, in which fungi grew for ten days. Solutions of milk- 
sugar likewise exhibited a mouldy membrane, with similar spo- 
ridia to those of the aphthse-fungus. 

Berg next examined the stems and spores of isolated fresh 
thrush-fungi, after having carefully removed all organic portions 
of the epithelium, &c. He did not succeed in tracing the growth 
of these fungi in distilled water at a temperature of 30 — 35° C. 
(86 — 95° Fahr.), but he noticed a slow growth of the fungous 
elements in a hermetically sealed-up solution of sugar at 15° C. 
(59° Fahr.), and a more rapid one in solutions of sugar con- 
taining albumen, the growth being, however, slower in the latter 
case at a temperature of 15° C. (59° Fahr.) 

Experiments on ifie thrush by Berg. 

Berg took scabs of aphth», and mixed concentrated solutions 
of borax, soda, alum, and corrosive sublimate (about one twentieth 
part) with a solution of cane-sugar containing the scabs. All 
these compounds seemed to impede their growth. The solutions 
to which borax or soda had been added exhibited gradually a less 
alkaline reaction, and on exposing the scabs perhaps longer than 
for a period of six days, another result might probably be 
obtained. The same took place when eight grains of nitrate of 
silver were mixed with one ounce of water and nineteen twen- 
tieths of cane-sugar and scabs of aphthae. I cannot see the use 
of these experiments, as the aphthae-fungi exist here under diflerent 
circumstances to what they do naturally. If therapeutics are to be 



EXPERIMENTS. 219 

benefited, it can only be done by submitting the fungi, which 
form a mouldy layer on albuminous substances, to the remedies 
employed in the experiment, and by placing fungous elements 
for some time in the solutions of such remedies, watching 
whether they continue to grow when brought together with fresh 
albumen. 

Experiments on the qtiestion whether the scabs of aphtha have 
the power of converting milk-sttgar into lactic acid, and thus 
acting a^ a kind of ferment, and simultaneously producing an 
evolution of carbonic acid and the generation of acetic add : 

1. A glass tube was filled with cane-sugar dissolved in eight 
parts of water. Reaction neutral; after seven days, still clear 
and neutral. 

2. A glass tube was filled with milk-sugar. Reaction neutral ; 
after seven days, like No. 1. 

3. Ditto, with a thin mucilage of arrow-root starch. Reaction 
neutral; after seven days, still neutral; a deposit of starch- 
envelopes. 

4. A tube was filled with human milk. Reaction slightly 
alkaline ; after twelve hours it was sour, and coagulated slightly 
after twenty-four hours. 

5. Ditto, with cow's milk. Reaction slightly acid ; after ten 
hours, found to have almost completely coagulated. 

6. Ditto, cane-sugar, with two grains of scabs of aphth». 
Reaction neutral ; after twelve hours, acid reaction ; after thirty- 
six hours, acid, and a cloud of fresh spores of aphthae. 

7. Ditto, with two grains of yeast-fungi. Reaction neutral ; 
after one hour, fermentation and acid reaction. 

8. Ditto, with two grains of acid stomach of a child. Reaction 
neutral ; after nine hours, acid ; after thirty -six hours, strongly 
acid, the stomach breaking up on shaking; three or four days 
later, the liquid opalized, and exhibited some sporidia resembling 
the aphth»- fungi, some fine fibres like the tooth -alga. 

9. A tube contained milk-sugar with two grains of scabs of 
aphthse. Reaction neutral ; after nine hours, acid ; after twelve 
hours, slight fermentation ; in four or five days, a mouldy mem- 
brane, with sporidia of the aphthse-fungus without stalks. 

10. Ditto, with two grains of yeast-fungus. Reaction neutral ; 
evolution of gas in the course of an hour ; acid without fermenta- 



220 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

tion after twenty hours ; in forty-five days, a yellowish-gray cover 
of mould, unlike the aphthae-sporidise. 

11. Ditto, with two grains of acid stomach of a child. Reac- 
tion neutral ; after thirty-six hours, as in No. 8 ; in three or four 
days, opalization of the liquid and a mouldy scum, with sporidia 
and fibres resembling those of aphthse-fungi, as in No. 8. 

12. A tube with a paste of arrow-root starch and two grains of 
scabs of aphthae. Reaction neutral; acid after twelve hours; 
after forty-eight hours, still more acid ; cloud of fresh aphthae- 
fungi. 

13. Ditto, with two grains of yeast-fungus. Reaction neutral; 
after six hours, a slight evolution of gas; acid after thirty hours. 

14. Ditto, with two grains of acid stomach. Reaction neutral ; 
after twelve hours, acid ; after thirty-six hours, as in No. 8 ; in 
three or four days, infusoria and fibres, as in No. 8, without 
sporidia of the aphthae-fungus. 

15. A tube with human milk and two grains of scabs of 
aphthae. Reaction neutral ; after three hours, acid ; afler twelve 
hours, coagulated ; in three or four days, pretty copious genera- 
tion of fresh sporules of the aphthae-fungus. 

16. Ditto, with two grains of yeast-fungus. Reaction neutral ; 
after six hours, no change ; after twelve hours, acid with fermenta- 
tion, without coagulation. 

17. Ditto, with two grains of stomach. Reaction neutral; 
after three hours, partial coagulation ; after six hours, acid ; after 
tiiirty-six hours, very acid ; stomach dissolved ; in three or four 
days, as in No. 14. 

18. A tube was filled with cow's milk and two grains of scabs 
of aphthae. Reaction slightly acid ; after two hours, acid reaction : 
after four hours, also coagulation ; after six hours, general coagula- 
tion ; after twelve hours, still more distinct. 

19. Ditto, with two grains of yeast-fungus. Reaction slightly 
acid; after two hours, acid reaction; after four hours, ditto; 
after fourteen hours, slight coagulation, without fermentation. 

Experiments on the qtiestion as to whether the completely pure 
aphtha-fungi possess the power of exercising a modifying influence^ 
especially the promotion of acidification, on a solution of sugar : 

1. A few drops of the albumen of an egg were mixed with 
water. Reaction neutral; temperature, 12 — 15^ C. (53 — 59° 



EXPERIMENTS. 221 

Fahr.) ; after a short time^ flakes of albumen ; no fermentation 
up to the eighteenth day ; still neutral after six days. 

II. Ditto, with addition of cane-sugar, at 30 — 35° C. (86 — 95° 
Fahr.) ; quite as in I ; acid in forty-eight hours, no fermentation. 

III. A solution of sugar with clean aphthse-fungi ; neutral at 
12 — 15° C. (53 — 59° Fahr.); after thirty-six hours, acid; no 
fermentation ; no addition of aphthse-fungi. 

IV and v.— Ditto, but at 30—35° C. (86—95° Fahr.) ; during 
the first few hours, slight evolution of gas around the parts of the 
fungi; in twenty hours, distinctly acid; no fermentation; no 
addition of aphthse-fungi. 

VI. A minimum of clean aphthse-fungi with water and 
albumen. Neutral ; at 16° C. (60° Fahr.) ; in sixty-five hours, 
acid ; no fermentation. 

VII. Ditto, with addition of cane-sugar. Neutral at 30 — 35° 
C. (86—95° Fahr.) 

VIII — XII. Ditto, only with variation of the quantities of 
albumen. After some minutes, a fine flocculent deposit (albumen) 
round the parts of the fungi, which was soluble in potassa; 
a slight evolution of gas for several hours ; gradually a heavier 
precipitate rising to the surface; on the tenth day, slight fer- 
mentation; after from eight to twelve hours, distinctly acid; 
increase of fungous sporidia as long as gas continued to be 
evolved. 

Experiments by Berg on the power of the aphthm-fungtis to form 
acids, and on its increased growth by forming acids in pre- 
sence of a nitrogenous body. 
Two grains of the scabs of aphthse were put into a solution of 
sugar at a temperature of 30—35° C. (86—95° Fahr.) After 
twelve hours, evolution of gas, acid reaction; after thirty-six 
hours, small fungous flakes ; after sixty hours, a mouldy mem- 
brane on the surface. The whole mass was then shaken and left 
to itself; the precipitate was washed until it no longer gave an 
acid reaction. The deposit was again mixed with albumen and 
solution of cane-sugar at 80 — 35° C, (86 — 95° Fahr.) ; after 
twelve hours a slight, and after twenty hours strongly acid reac- 
tion was observed, and evolution of gas, which caused the spores 
to rise to the surface ; after forty-eight hours many fre^h aphthse- 
fungi appeared. The whole mass was shaken up after four days. 
One half was put into a glass tube, and potassa added until it. 



222 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

was strongly alkaline. This reaction lasted for three days, the 
liquid remained clear and without gas» On the fourth day, the 
liquid was slightly acid, which went on increasing as well as the 
evolution of gas; ou the sixth and seventh days, fresh sporidia 
appeared. To the other half more sugar was added, gas was 
evolved, and the fungi continued to increase ; on the fourth day, 
however, the whole action ceased. The gas which was evolved 
was found to be carbonic acid gas by passing it through lime- 
water. The acid which formed after the evolution of carbonic 
acid gas had ceased appeared to be acetic and lactic acids.^ 

I may, in conclusion, mention the questions which Reubold 
puts at the end of his article, and which are to be decided experi- 
mentally. 

1. Does the fungus pertain only to man ? 

2. Is it a separate distinct species or only modified by its 
local seat ? 

3. Are mucous membranes the only favorable soil ? 

4. What are the conditions of its growth and the results of 
the decomposition which accompanies it ? Is it an acid ? 

5. Do different kinds of fungi occur in thrush, or are the 
various distinctions caused by external influences ? 

6. Can other fungi produce a similar disease of the mucous 
membrane ? 

7. Does a particular kind of gas (marsh-gas) favour its de- 
velopment ? or a particular season of the year ? (Reubold thinks 
that the fungus is of more frequent occurrence in summer, as is 
also the case with summer-diarrhoea.) 

8. Are warm, wet summers in favour of the fungus ? 

Literature. — The principal work is that of Berg of Stockholm, 
' Ueber die Schwammchen von Kindern,^ translated by van dem 
Busch, 1848 ; Berg, in Müller's ' Archiv,' 1842, p. 291 ; ' Hygea,* 
1842, 12 Hft.; Gruby, ^Compt. rend.,' 1842, xiv, p. 634, and 18M, 
xviii, p. 585 ; ' Clinique des höpitaux des enfans,' 1842 ; ' Anna!, 
d' Anatomie et de physiol. pathol.,' 1846, p. 286; Vogel, ' Allg. 
Zeitung für Chirurgie, innere Heilkunde, &c.,' 1842 ; * Gaz. m6A. 
de Paris,' 1842, p. 234 ; ' AUg. pathol. Anatomie und ihre Ueber- 
setzung durch Jourdan;' 'Icon. path, hist.' 1843, tab. xxi, 
1 — 3; Eschricht, Froriep's 'Notizen,' 1841, No. 134; Hannover, 
Mailer's 'Archiv,' 1842, p. 290; Hoernerkopf, 'Dissert, de aph- 

1 Appendix C. 



APPENDIX- 223 

tliarum veget. natur./ 1847, pp. 28, 29, and Baum, ibidem, p. 38 ; 
Sluyter, ' De veget. org. animal./ Berlin, 1847, p. 18 ; Baynal, ^ De 
contag. anira.,' Berolini, 1842, pp. 9 — 24 ; Weigel, ' De aphtharum 
natura ac diagnosi,' Marburg, 1842; Oesterlen, in Boser and 
Wunderliches 'Med. Vierteljahrsschrift/ 1842, p. 470; Gubler, 
Note sur le Muguet, ' Gaz. med. de Paris,' 1852, p. 412, and 
' Comptes rendus ' and ' Memoir de la Soci^t€ de Biologie,' 1852 ; 
Bazin, ' Recherches sur la nature et le traitement des teignes,' 
Paris, 1853, p. 12, pi. iii, fig. 2; Empis, Etude de la dipthe- 
rite, ' Arch, g^n^r. de m€d.,' 1850, xxii, pp. 281 — 289 ; BednÄr, 
' Kinderkrankheiten,' Wien, '1850; Reubold, in Virchow's ' Ar- 
chiv,' 1854, vii, 1, p. 7ß. The last is deserving especial notice. 

Parasites resembling the thrush- fungus. 

Similar parasites as in thrush are sometimes seen in the oeso- 
phagus and in vomited matters. Wedl describes the following 
case by Herzfelder. (Tab. V, fig. 1 a — g.) 

Round spores of 0*005 — 9 mm. in diameter were discovered in 
the vomited mass, with a partly voluminous, bright, eccentric 
nucleus and group-like accumulations. The thallus-threads had 
a transverse diameter of 0*003 — 014 mm. The cells of the 
thicker threads exhibited a very large, bright nucleus, and be- 
came smaller towards the two points of meeting. Two round 
nuclei were frequently seen on the outermost cells. These cells 
were sometimes of an elongated shape, with a nucleolus towards 
the uniting parts. Even the thinnest threads still exhibited little 
granules. In the original cells of the thallus-threads were seen 
several granules (nuclei?) in a separate state or in little heaps. 
They were most copious on the lower part of the oesophagus near 
the cardia of the stomach. 

The mother-soil consisted of a molecular mass, together with 
decayed granules (remains of epithelial cells) and slightly granu- 
lated globules in striped mucous masses. 

Appendix. 

Berg found a fungus in the mouth and on small intestinal 
ulcers which he does not further describe. 

Bennett found a fungus between the teeth and the gums of a 
person attacked by typhus. It was 0-003-^6"' broad ; its free extre- 
mities not very numerous, and fringed by a row of spores. Little 



224 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

globules were seen ia the cavities of the filaments, of 0001 — 2"' 
in size, and longish spores in others. Bennett has since found 
other indistinct vegetable formations, in a yellowish -green stooi, 
consisting of confervoid, entangled, elongated, articulated tubes, 
with spores, and exhibiting a great inclination to break across. 
(Bennett, On the presence of Confervse, &c., ' Monthly 
Journal of Medical Sciences,* 1846, and ' Lectures on Clinical 
Medicine,' Edinburgh, 1851, p. 215, figs. 83, 84.) 

Langenbeck describes similar formations in the pharynx down 
to the cardia, in a case of typhus. 

Robin is of opinion that the latter fungus is Oidium albicans. 
(^ Repertorium für Anatomie und Physiologie,' von Valentin, 
1840, V, p. 45. 

Remak (1845) found several kinds of fungi on aphthae. He 
thinks that the generation of fungi is always preceded by soften- 
ing and loosening of the mucous membrane. He also believes 
that he has discovered ramified thallus-threads on the pseudo- 
membrane of a croupous patient. (Remak, ' Diagnost. und 
pathogen. Untersuchungen.') 

It is to be regretted that these latter observations have all been 
recorded too incorrectly to enable us to classify them. 

Reference has already been made to Wedl, Henle, Virchow, 
Meissner, &c., as speaking of filamentous fungi which occur in 
the mouth. I need not repeat what has already been said when 
speaking of the Algae, according to Robin, and of Leplothrix 
buccalis, 

IX. Fungus of the Lungs (Bennett) = Champignon du poumon. 

Tab. V, fig. 2. 

The mycelium of this fungus is composed of long tubes, 
provided with partition walls and unequal articulated intervals, 
bearing several branches, which sometimes consist of one cell, 
set into the stem at the end of the last cell, and parted in the 
shape of a fork ; sometimes simply separated into two or three elon- 
gations at their point of articulation. These branches are 0005 — 
O'OIO"' in diameter. The spores are numerous, and are 0*010 
— 0014''' in diameter. Bennett saw these spores become longer 
and form tubes. He found the fungus in the expectoration, in 
the caverns, and in their tuberculous matter, in a case of pneumo- 
thorax. 



ASPERGILLI SPECIES. 225 

Rayer likewise cites byssoidal formations on the pleura in a 
tuberculous case^ and in the intestines in a case of pneumothorax, 
without^ however, describing them any further. {' Journal 
rinstitut/ 1842, No. 492.) 

Remak speaks likewise of dichotomous, divided mycelium- 
fibres in the expectoration of tuberculous patients, and, more 
generally, in diseases of the windpipe where the epithelium of the 
pharynx is frequently renewed. 

Gairdner describes likewise, though extremely superficially, a 
fungus which had its seat on the pleura, in a case of pneumo- 
thorax. (Confervae on the Pleura, * Monthly Journ. of Med. Sc.,' 
1858, p. 472.) 



X. Aspergilli species. 

Tribe. — Aspergillei : Recept. floccosum, simplex vel ramosum. 
Sporidia vesicuke spluerictB vel ovato^terminali inharentia. 

Genus — Aspergillus: Flocci iubulosi, septati, btformes ; fer* 
tiles erecti, apice clavato incrassati. Sporidia simplicia, globosa, 
seriatim conglutinata, in capittUum rotundatum circa apices clavatos 
arete congesta. 

Aspergilli (?) species. Fungus Meatus AuditorU ewtemi (Mayer). 

Tab. V, fig. 3. 

The stem is long, transparent, showing in its interior little 
globules, and terminating with a small, swollen, round, and 
greenish little head, which sits like the cap of the fungus on a 
small inflation of the stalk (Robin, Atlas, iii, 1). It is covered 
with a layer of simple or double Nuclei or spores on its free edge. 
Between the stalks are other filaments, which are deprived of 
mycelium, and spread here and there, isolated or in bundles. 
Amongst them are found filaments in all stages of develop- 
ment. 

It was observed in a case of scrofulous otorrhoea, in a girl eight 
years old, consisting of round oval cysts, of the size of a cherry, 
the walls of which were fibrous, white on the outer part, hollow 
in the interior, greenish, and granulous. These granulations 
were found to be organized productions, by a magnifying power 
of 800 diameters. Vogel thinks that it is closely related to the 

16 



226 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

fungus of tbe root of the hair ; Robin classified it with Mucedo 
in his first edition ; it belongs^ however^ to Aspergillus, the species 
of which are known to thrive on masses of fatty matter in a state 
of decomposition.^ 

Literature. — Beobachtungen von Cysten mit Fadenpilzen 
aus dem äussern Oehörgange^ Müller's ' Archiv/ 1844^ p. 401^ 
tab. X, figs. 1 — 4. 

XI. Aspergilli species. 

Affinis Aspergilli eapitati eapittUo aureo, sendfdbus rotundis. 
Muffa dorata, gambata {cum Aspergillo capitato, capituh glauco 
seminibus rotundis, Micheli). 

Here we find — 

1. Filaments or tubes of the mycelitan. — It is composed of 
several very rigid^ transparent^ and branched tubes^ separated 
by partition walls, and consisting of several elongated cells, with 
a few very small granulations, which are not, however, spores, 
as Pacini thought. The single cells were 0009 — 0*200 mm. 
long, the diameter of the tubes was 0*010, the thickness of their 
walls 0*001 mm. They were not very numerous in the ear, but 
could not be preserved by Pacini underneath glass plates, and 
mixed with gum and arsenic. 

2. Receptacular filaments, of pretty nearly the same diameter, 
0009 — 0013, with a capitulum of 0*060 — 0142 mm. ; they varied 
in length according to the degree of development, being about 0*770 
mm. Their form was very regular, of a rose colour, transparent, 
and possessing a strong power of resistance. They exhibited a 
clear cavity without granules, with two lines on each side. The 
stalk was thin at the base, with two or three small angular pro- 
jections. Pacini mistook them for little roots. The stalk be- 
comes then of a somewhat more uniform and larger diameter, and 
narrows once more shortly before the receptaculnm, forming a 
kind of sheath analogous to the calyx of flowers. It bears a 
spherical inflation on its further end, the receptaculum = placenta 
(Micheli), which is thicker in young persons than in old. Its 
contents are a little granulated, according to Pacini ; it lies in the 
centre of the capitulum, which is perfectly spherical, 0*060 — 0*100 
mm. in diameter. The colour varied with the age and diameter^ 
that of younger individuals being dark yellowish-red, and from 

^ Appendix C. 



NAIL FUNGUS. 227 

blnish to intensely black with older persons. The structure 
of the capitulum was distinctly discernible only in young persons. 

8. Sporei. — They were spherical^ 0*003 mm. broad^ showing 
in their free state a feeble movement (Brown's molecular motion), 
and forming radiated rows with the receptaculum for their centre. 
Each row contained from eight to fifteen spores. Some rows were 
occasionally found isolated, but only on ripe forms (Micheli). 
Each receptaculum bore, according to Pacini, 19,000 spores. 

Dr. Bargellini discovered this fungus on Nardi, who had been 
ill fourteen years. Nardi had resorted to sea-bathing, and he 
stated that the water had often remained in his ears, causing 
him at first pain, together with itching ; lastly, however, almost 
complete deafness. Bargellini found, in the outer auditory duct, 
small transparent vesicles, like millet-seed, with rather thick 
walls, and having a serous secretion, which prevented him from 
looking deeper into the auditory duct. A fortnight afterwards 
the latter was found to be blocked up with a whitish mem- 
brane, which could be removed by means of lukewarm water, 
but only made place for fresh layers. After another fortnight 
a blackish substance made its appearance, plugging up the audi- 
. tory duct, and adhering to a whitish membrane when the syringe 
was applied. This happened repeatedly after cleaning the ear, 
and Pacini, who examined this substance under the microscope, 
found the above-mentioned rows of spores amidst the fat and epi- 
thelial cells, partly dyed with blood, and viewed them as algse- 
spores. Injections of acetate of lead (15 centigrammes to .30 
grammes of water) easily removed this merely accessory para- 
site, which perhaps owed its chief prosperity to the oil used 
for injection having become rancid. Pacini's theory of the 
origin of this fungus has not been confirmed by more recent 
researches, as observed by B.obin. 

Literature. — Pacini, ' Supra una muffa parasita (Mucedo) nel 
condotto auditive externo,' Firenze, 1851, p. 7. 



XII. Meissner' 8 and Virchou/s Nail Fungus Aspergilli (?) species. 

Tab. V, fig. 4. 

1. Meissner found at Baum's Clinic a copious plexus of variously 
entwined filamental fungi on the nails of an octogenarian, which 
were thick and broad, with thick edges, strongly convex, re- 



228 VEOETABLE PARASITES. 

sembling claws, striped with ar yellowish-white, or browüish colour, 
opaque*, and which moved in their sockets, having a soft and 
brittle but not lacerated appearance, and being fissile like wood. 
These fungi became perceptible on displaying the ordinary cells 
of the nail by means of caustic soda, in which they spread freely, 
often extending beyond the edges of the section. Their mycelium 
consisted of long, ramified, articulated filaments, with joints of 
1^ — "ly i^ breadth, and twice to four times as long; being usually 
arranged in consecutive layers, and refracting the light of a 
greenish colour. There were, moreover, sporangia, with broad, 
short threads or tubes, which were not ramified, indistinctly arti- 
culated and enlarged, composed of short roundish or square 
divisions, which contained the spores in the shape of a rosary, 
with edges of double '' contours,^^ and which contained an im- 
mense number of free spores in the filamental spaces, being 
TOjg — ^'" in extent, roundish, and greenish in colour. The 
largest among them exhibited double contours, and a spot (nu- 
cleus ?) in the interior. 

The whole nail-substance of all the fingers, with the exception 
of the healthy fore-finger of the right hand, was permeated by 
this fungus, which extended in parallel rays and stripes from 
the root towards the surface, pushing aside the cells of the nail, 
and discolouring the latter. The fungus did not, however, occur 
on other parts of the body. The man stated as the cause of his 
disfigured nails, that the latter had been crushed some thirty 
years ago by a heavy load, that they had fallen ofi", but grown 
again, and become very thick, but he did not know whether the 
fore-finger also had been injured. Meissner thinks that the 
fungus was the cause of the abnormal growth of the man's nails. 
The fungus is very much like that of Porrigo lupinosa, and is 
distinguished from the fungus of Pityriasis versicolor {Micro^ 
sßoron furfotr) by its articulated mycelium, by larger filaments, and 
spores. 

2. Virchow mentions (1. c.) three more cases of the formation 
of fungi on the nails of the toes, under the head " Onychomy- 
cosis.'' Virchow adopts Meissner's description only generally, 
and does not know whether all the forms observed by the latter 
belong to one and the same fungus. Virchow found — 

a. A very dense, copious mycelium occurring between the 
fissures of the texture of the nail and within the circumference 
of the large masses, which consisted of very fine, entirely colour- 



NAIL FUNGUS. 229 

less filaments^ composed of longish joints^ with double contours^ 
frequently exhibiting very fine clear drops at certain distances^ 
together with numerous ramifications, anastomoses, shoots of the 
root, and sometimes roundish projections. 

b. Very fine, small, simply bordered, numerous spore-grains, 
with clear contents. Their development was indistinct, on 
account of the adhering air-vesicles; large quantities of fine 
spores were frequently observed lying in heaps at the end of a 
filament, as on a receptaculum, very much like forms of Asper- 
gillus. Virchow also found germinating spores, that is, spores 
with fine cylindrical processes near to the larger filaments. 

c. Coarser, broader, dark yellowish-brown, articulated, and 
ramified filaments, with oval terminal enlargements, but only 
once in a few examples. 

d. Uncoloured, shortly articulated filaments, with larger 
spores arranged in rows at their extremities, frequently of a 
round shape and pretty large size, or with oval and smaller 
spores, which often extend in one direction, being connected with 
the next spore by means of a short flatly-ending neck, where 
they retained their arrangement in rows. They appear almost 
homogeneous in water or alkalies ; iodine imparts to their in- 
terior a stronger brownish-yellow colour, lighter on the edges ; 
and on addition of sulphuric acid they exhibit a distinct, dense, 
colourless, occasionally transient greenish or brownish roem^ 
brane, with brown, granular contents. On treating it with more 
acid, the outer sac always opened on the spot where the neck 
was (micropyle ?), allowing the brown contents to flow out. 
In alcohol they exhibited likewise very distinctly the bottle- 
shaped neck, which was only adhering to the outer envelope of 
the spores, whilst their interior showed a contracted granule. 
Virchow further states that he once found the fungus in the 
gryphotic toe-nails of a woman who died of purulent empyema ; 
on another occasion in the very thick and short nails of a tuber- 
culous individual ; and on a third occasion on an old woman, in 
a case of nail-splitting, when he observed a yellowish-gray, 
powdery mass, which could be sent flying about in the air by 
bending back the nail, and allowing it afterwards to return to 
its former position. Th6 fissures of the nail harboured in all 
these various cases either spores or mycelium, the part underneath 
the nails . was always very thick, and consisted of loose horny 
scales, between which the yellow fungous mass, resembling in 



280 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

colour the favuä- or tinea-mass, was interpolated. The fuogons 
mnss^ which sometimes appeared of a reddish-gray hue, invariably 
occurred far back, between the foliated masses, near the edge of 
the lunula, in large lenticular heaps. Yirchow believes that 
the fungus is equally important to the disease of the nails just 
described as to Porrigo and Pityriasis versicolor ; but not so to 
the Gryphosis of the nails by itself, for many more intense diseases 
are frequently unaccompanied by fungi. 

I am only following Yirchow in classifying this fungus in the 
mean time with AsperffiUus, reserving for myself, however, in case 
I should be able to collect further information, the right to give 
it another place. Meissner's illustration of it would most likely 
classify it with Achorion Schoenleinii; and Yirchow likewise 
points out that it forms a mass resembling very much the favus- 
mass. But Achorion is without articulation, which Meissner and 
Yirchow state they have distinctly seen. Next to Achorion 
Meissner's illustration resembles the Oidium albicans. The en- 
tanglement of the filaments forms a kind of network, and their 
articulation is likewise in favour of this theory, the only objection 
being its different seat. According to what has been said at the 
end of the division, *' On the circumstances favorable for the deve^ 
lopment of the fungus/^ when speaking of Oidium albicans, it might 
be thought possible that it should also occur in the deeper layers 
of the nail-bed, t. e., on the numberless young nail-cells analogous 
to the epithelium. I, for my part, am not disinclined to think 
that this nail-fungus is related to Achorion or Oidium, and to. 
leave the proof of this doubtful point to some one more expe- 
rienced. The nail-fungus found a place here because I should 
not like to contradict recognised authorities, resting on a mere 
" opinor/^ and I may be permitted to quote what Gudden has 
said of Achorion : " Similar favorable conditions as the little 
hair-funnel offers to the reception of fungous particles would be 
offered by the furrow leading to the bed of the nail, if the fre- 
quent washing of the hands did not counteract it.'' Also the 
quotation of Gudden, from Canstatt's ^Hand-book of Med. 
Clinics,' 2d edit., p. 1092 : " The horny mass of the nails suffers 
likewise when the extremities are attacked by porrigo. The nails 
become disfigured, they crack, and fall off.'' 

Literature. — ^Meissner, in Yierordt's 'Archiv,' 1853, xii, 
p. 193, with tab. i; Yirchow, in ' Yerhandlungen der physikal 
med. Öesellschaft zu Würzburg/ v, 1, 1854, p. 102. 



MUCOR MUCEDO. 231 



Division II. Trichosporei (L^veill^. 

There are no species of fungi found on man belonging to this 
division. 



Division III. Cryptosporei (L^veill^). 

Receptacula floccosa, septata, simplicia aut ramosa, Sporidia 
continua^ in sporangio terminali, membranaceo, columella centrali 
munita vel non inclusa. 

Tribe— Columellati : Sporangium vesiculosum, subtus irregu- 
lariter aut in orbem dekiscens. 

XIII. Mucor mucedo. Tab. V, fig. 5. 

Genus — Mucor (Micheli) : Fhcd tubulosi, subseptati, /er tiles, 
erecti, apice äquales, terminati peridio (sporangio) membranaceo, 
dehiscente {raro diffluente), includente sporidia discreia. 

Species — Mucor mucedo, L. ( = Mucedo ; Mucor vulgaris, Mucor 
spluerocephalus, Mucor tenuis) : Byssinus floods fertilibus sim- 
plidbus, perieliolis (sporangiis) sporidiisque globosis, demum m- 
grescentibus. 

Baum, Litzmann, and Eichstädt found this parasite in a 
cavity, in a case of inflammation of the lungs. It formed 
a black mass of filaments, interspersed with round globules, 
adhering to the walls of the cavern. Eacb filament had a 
process on the outer surface of the mass, terminating in an 
enlargement, surrounded by a row of oval cells. Sluyter views 
these formations as Mucor mucedo, adhering to Schoener's theory. 
The very imperfect illustrations would rather show it to be an 
Aspergillus, as Robin observed. 

Robin leaves undecided whether the parasites found by Degner 
and Horn, in a case of gangrana senilis, and which the latter 
believes he has discovered likewise on certain purulent spots and 
blistered surfaces exposed to the air, belong to this division or not. 

On looking at the illustrations, I am unable to find sufficient 
distinction from the species of Aspergillus described under X. 

Literature. — Sluyter, * Dissertatio,^ pp. 14 — 29^ fig. 1. , 



232 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

XIV. Puccinia Favi. Tab. V, fig. 6. 
Division IV. Clinosporei (L^veille). 

Recepiac. variabili formd, clinodio obtectum aut clinodtum m 
receptaculo inclusum. 

Tribe — Coniopsidei: Receptac. camos., coriaceum, tremeU 
loideum pulvinat., gibbum aut linguiforme ; primiius celatum, dein 
exoriens. Sporid, decidua, simplicia vel septaia, sessiUa aut pedu 
culata. 

Section — Phragmidiei : Receptac. camos., coriac, vel tremell, 
Sporid. pedicellata et septata. 

Genus — Puccinia : Sporidia uni», rarius biseptata, appendiculo 
filiformi pedicellata et matrici adnata, in tuberculum concreacentia. 

XI. Species 74 — Puccinia Favi (Ardsten). 

The colour is constantly of a very distinct brownish-red, 
whether viewed by day or candlelight^ which latter usually causes 
slightly coloured objects to appear colourless. It is of an elon- 
gated form, at one extremity more or less longish, and occa- 
sionally, but not very frequently, a little angular (t. e., its 
body) ; the other contracting into a stalk. Both exhibit some- 
times a slight contraction at the joints. The body always divides 
into two cells, by contraction of which the one nearest the 
stalk is the thinner. The broadest part of these cells is the one 
nearest to the point of contraction, whence both decrease in 
breadth. They vary to some extent in shape. The upper cell, 
situated towards the body, is roundish and elongated, having its 
greatest diameter either running parallel to the axis of the plant 
or perpendicular to it; the lower, being situated nearer the 
stalk, is longer and more angular, sometimes forming a regular 
triangle with rounded angles. A cell-wall (= tissu cellulaire) and 
contents (nucleus, Ardsten) are to be distinguished in both cells. 
The contents appear sometimes homogeneous, sometimes granular, 
sometimes spongy, full of holes or pores, which is probably caused 
by different illumination. The cell-wall is quite homogeneous 
and clear — brighter or darker than the contents, according to the 
amount of light. Both cells are surrounded by a very smooth 
membrane, which is best seen where an empty space occurs 
between the cell-wall and the surrounding membrane, viz., at the 
upper extremity of the plant ; sometimes also at the place of con- 



PüCCmiA FA VI. 233 

traction^ whea the latter does not run exactly in a vertical 
direction. The stalk varies most in size (from 000015 — 0*00030 
mm.) and in diameter (from 0*00032 — 000160 mm.) ; it always 
appears quite flat^ sometimes round at the end, sometimes broad 
and blunt ; and, in that case, generally very short, often twisted, 
or ending towards its lower end in two hooks. It is sometimes 
found without a stalk, which was probably torn oflf. Robin 
observed four abnormal articulations in Puccinia. The latter is 
always .very soft, especially its stalk, which rolls itself up from 
one side to another when it is long. 

This parasite is more likely to be met with in the small fine 
white scales at the commencing formation of the crust below, 
than on the large yellow favus-scales. This is, however, not 
always the case. The , place which the Puccinia occupies is not 
always easily determined, and it is doubtful whether it thrives 
best on the outer or inner surface of the scale, or — what 
appears to be most probable — in its midst. The whole plant is 
0*00200 — 348 mm. long, the body alone 000415 — 188 mm., 
and the stalk 000032 — 000160 mm., whilst the body alone is 
0*00056 — 70 mm. broad, and the stalk 0*00015 — 30 mm., the 
cellular tissue being 0*00008 — 10 thick. It cannot be denied 
that this parasite belongs to Corda's Puccinia, according to the 
above description. Among the fifty species separated by almost 
imperceptible distinctions, it stands nearest to Puccinia Alliorum, 
P, Virga-aurea, P. Polygonorum, especially to the last mentioned, 
differing from it only in a few points, on account of which 
Ardsten places our fungus in a separate species, which he calls 
Puccinia Favi, because it is principally met with on crusts of favi, 
although not exclusively, since it also occurs in other diseases of the 
skin, for example on the fine scales in pityriasis. The Puccinia, 
which was first pointed out to Ardsten by Boeck, of Christiania, 
occurs very frequently, if not always, in cases of favi. It is often 
very difficult to discover, and a single scale may often be examined 
for hours and no Puccinia discovered. Cazenave, who has not 
yet been brought to acknowledge the vegetable nature of the 
favus, regards Puccinia as merely an abnormal product of secre- 
tion. Robin thoroughly refuted Cazenave^s view, and we cannot 
do better than quote his final sentences : 

1. Achorion Schoenleinii deteriorates the skin, and causes 
disease by its incessant accumulation and increase. 

2. Puccinia is merely an accessory epiphenomenon, often 



234 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

wanting, and when it occurs is found on Achorion, or more fre^ 
quently on epidermal scales« 

Literature. — Ardsten^ in * Gazette des li6pitanx/ Paris, 1851, 
October 14th, pp. 477, 478; and ^Annales des maladies de la 
peau et de syphilis,' Paris, Aoüt, 1851, 2d series, vol. iii, p. 281^ 



Pseüdo-Pabasites 
Belonging to the class of Alga and Fungi. 

1. The cholera-fungi or alg« of Swayne, Britten, and Bndd 
are best known among the pseudo^parasites, being, to a great 
extent, remains of food or medicines, and occurring also in many 
other diseases. One portion of these bodies is in reality nothing 
more than the alga of fermentation {Tortda = Cryptococcus cere^ 
visuB) and is likewise found in the urine of cholera patients. 
Another part consists of carbonates or chalky concretions with 
cellular tissues. Many resemble even certain eggs of the HeU 
minthi, which is easily perceived on comparing the illustrated 
representations of this cholera-fungus which have appeared in 
the * Illustrated Leipsic News.' 

2. Bodies analogous to bezoar-stones, toldch have passed off 
from the bowels or during vomiting, have likewise been believed to 
be vegetable parasites, 

Denis describes such a body thrown up by vomiting, which 
Braconnot recognised to be ligneous (ligneux), in the case of a 
man thirty-six years old, and another in the stool of a man 
eighty years old. Laugier thinks that a part of them which 
exhibit distinct woody fibres may be traced to the remains of 
chewed wood, especially to liquorice. They are the so-called 
Egagropiles of authors, found on men and animals, on horses, and 
are traceable to the husks of oats, as they are also found in men 
feeding on oatmeal.^ I "would add, that they are probably also 
produced where bread baked of coarsely ground flour forms an 
article of consumption. Others may perhaps be traced to 
undigested shells (of almonds, plums, fruit, and potatoes, or 
of coriaceous fungi). There is no characteristic sign whatever 
of a cryptogam discernible. The case of obstruction of the 
ductus Bartholin,, mentioned by Strahl, in Vierordt's 'Archiv,' 
1847, pp. 481, 482, seems to be of the same kind. A mass of 

* Appendix C. 



PSEUDO-PARASITES. 235 

elongated, slightly entangled filaments, which exhibited a wall, a 
channel, and contents, not being acted upon by vinegar, hydro- 
chloric acid, and caustic potash, the latter of which destroyed the 
link existing between them, stopped up the channel, and caused 
great pain, which ceased with its removal. Strahl thinks that 
he probably tore oflF the roots of the plant which were seated in 
the ductus; in which case, however, the fungus ought to have 
grown again. Strahl afterwards thought that they were merely 
the remains of vegetable food ; or, what I think more likely, 
cotton-threads, which the person used against toothache, imbued 
with various remedies. 

3. Robin mentions that Yon Siebold at one time viewed the 
dust of the blossoms of Orchidacese, which had fallen on certain 
Hymenopterse and Lepidopterse, as cryptogamic parasites, which 
was, however, contradicted by Schlechtendahl, and Von Siebold 
retracted his view at a later period. I would warn all observers 
against similar misconceptions of the fungi on man, and may be 
allowed to relate the following case. A robust child, of one and 
a half year, had a moist skin disease on the left upper-arm 
I examined for spores of vegetable parasites, but was unable to 
find any j but I frequently discovered in the crust which had 
been lifted off a body resembling a receptaculum filled with 
spores, and which was not changed by treating it with caustic 
potash. After searching for several days, I discovered at last 
that the mother of the child had used the seeds of club-moss 
(Lycopodiaceae) as dusting-powder, without my knowing it, and 
I recognised at once these bodies as the spore of a Lycopodium. 
It is, therefore, necessary that medical practitioners should pay 
particular care and attention to the dusting-powders, such as 
starch-powder, &c., used by the people, or they may run the 
chance of discovering new parasites where there are none. Other 
seeds and spores of similar minuteness, or the pollen of flowers, 
are likely to be mistaken for parasites, when persons who move 
about in forests and in the open fields come in contact with the 
blossoming or fructifying plants, and when they are attacked by 
moist eruptions, forming scales or scabs on the parts of the body 
which are left uncovered. 

Vegetable Parasite from the Vagina. 

A case of diphtheritic inflammation of the intestine was observed 
at the Lying-in Hospital at Dresden by Professor Dr. Grenser. 



236 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

A similar process occurred afterwards in the vagina^ forming a 
membranous layer on the mucous membrane of the vagina, which 
was thrown off in single pieces. A slight improvement was 
noticed. Prosector Dr. F. A. Zenker recognised in these masses 
scanty pavement-epithelium, and entangled fungous filaments 
and spores, which were entirely surrounded by mucus-corpuscles. 
Dr. Zenker was kind enough to send me some of these broken 
pieces, and I obtained on addition of strong vinegar the partly arti* 
culated filaments of which I have given an illustration on Tab. V, 
in fig. 8« In order better to recognise the shape and articulations 
of the very diaphanous filaments, I added Syrupus RiM Idm, which 
fully answered its purpose^ and which I would recommend for 
the purpose of examining vegetable parasites by means of acetic 
acid. I use, however, a red ink when I employ potassa, since 
the Syrvptis Rubi Idm would change its colour in alkalies. 

The above parasites remind us of those which Hannover found 
on the ulcerated mucous membrane of the oesophagus, and in 
cases of typhus. They very much resemble Leptomitus Hannoveri 
(Tab. I, fig. 8), and ought accordingly to be classified with the 
algae of Robin. 

This parasite resembles slightly the fungus given in Tab. V, 
fig. 2, which Bennett found in the lungs. It appears to me, 
however, that we have in fact to deal with a Leptomitus. 

Experiments 

Made in order to test the parasiticidal effect of the most urgently 
recommended remedies. 

I could not succeed in generating a continuous growth of 
mucedinous fungi in mixtures of albumen and blood and water, 
even after adding sugar, nor on Ascarides lumbricoides which 
had been left to putrefy, and I resorted therefore to the mould 
of very black bread, which I succeeded in keeping in a good 
thriving state for weeks. 

Chance pointed out to me a pretty large piece of the so-called 
pumper-nickel-bread, which I had bought warm at Cologne, and 
which had been very much squeezed on the journey, so as to 
render it highly humid and sticky, promising, ä priori, on account 
of the slight porosity of its interior, to keep for some time in 
that moist state, and which is so favorable to the growth of 
fungi. After this bread had become covered with dense mouldy 



PARASITICIDAL REMEDIES. 237 

masses all over, I divided it into several square pieces« of the 
size of an inch, and virrapped them up in paper, putting them 
back to the same place where they had been getting mouldy, 
some after having been previously treated with the above re- 
agents. 

The following experiments were made : 

June 8th, 1855. 

1. A piece of bread, luxuriantly covered with mould and heaps 
of spores, was brushed over with Tinct. Veratri albi on one side, 
whilst the other was left untouched. As soon as the tincture 
touched the mouldy threads they shrivelled up, whilst the heaps 
of spores soaked up the tincture with great avidity, so as to make 
the wetted spot look as if it had been treated with oil. 

2. Another piece of equal size was wetted with a solution of 
Cuprum aceticum (1 part to 100 parts of water). The mouldy 
filaments, as well as the heaps of spores, allowed the solution to 
run oflF, and retained only a few drops similar to the drops on the 
plumage of water-fowls after bathing. The water carried, how- 
ever, mechanically away a greater or lesser quantity of spores, or 
else the latter were brushed off by the drops of the solution, and 
sent flying about in small clouds of dust, and not the least ab- 
sorption or retention of the solution on the fungus was dis- 
cernible. 

3. A similar piece was treated with a solution of corrosive 
sublimate (1 part to 500 parts of water). The same phenomena 
presented themselves as in No. 2. 

4. Another piece was brushed over with Aqua phagad. phar- 
macop. Wärtemberg, 

6. Ditto, with a concentrated watery solution of tannin. 

6. Ditto, with a concentrated watery solution of borax. 

7. Ditto, with Aqv^ Creosoti ; and 

8. Ditto, with Aqv4i Picis, with precisely the same result as in 
No. 2. 

9. A similar piece was brushed over on two sides with Un- 
guentum Fids. The filaments of mould shrivelled up at once, 
and the heaps of spores could be smeared with the ointment 
without causing clouds of dust to rise. 

10. Other pieces were preserved. 

June 9th. 
1. The filaments of mould were found to be jshrivelled up on 



238 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

the places brushed over with Tinct. Veratri, the heaps of spores 
likewise^ and no trace of dust from the spores was perceptible on 
shaking these parts. Fresh mould had been generated on the 
adjoining side which had been left unbrushed. The latter was 
then likewise brushed over^ as well as the former, with Tinct. 
Veratri. 

2. Numerous fresh mouldy fungi were discovered on the parts 
which had been brushed over with Cuprum aceticum : the spores 
raised a dust as before on brushing them over afresh. Quite the 
same phenomena were observed. 

3. On the piece treated with Mercurius corrosivus, 

4. „ Aqua phagad.^ 

5. „ Solution of tannin, 

6. „ Solution of borax, 

7. „ Aqv^ Creosoti, 

8. „ Aqua Picis. 

Nowhere did a decrease of fungi become perceptible; the 
spores raised a dust, the mould-filaments stood upright, and con- 
tinued to fructify just like the unbrushed pieces of No. 10. 

9. On the piece treated with Ungv^entum Picis, every formation 
of fungi and fungous spores had ceased, whilst the already 
existing fungi continued to grow. Nos. 8 to 9 were freshly 
brushed over on that day on the old and new parts. 

June 12th. 

1. Nowhere any fresh formation of fungi. The spores formed 
a shapeless, sticky mass. No further treatment in this case. 

2^8. The several pieces exhibited as luxuriant a formation 
of fungi as the unbrushed pieces in No. 10. The same changes 
were, moreover, observed as were mentioned to have been noticed 
on the 9th of June. 

Accordingly a fresh process of brushing over was resorted to 
on the 12th. A regular bathing of the pieces of bread in ques- 
tion in the remedies mentioned under Nos. 2 to 8 took place, so 
as to saturate with the solutions even the pieces of paper in which 
the bread was wrapped up. 

No. 9 showed no trace of fungi on all the parts which had 
been rubbed over with the solution. The ointment was therefore 
once more applied to fresh parts, and, by preference, on fissures 
and furrows. 

A part of No. 10 bread was also taken and treated, as No. 11, 



PARASITICIJ>AL EEMEDIES. 239 

with a liquid of 1 part alcohol and 3 parts of water. Even this 
liquid was found to adhere pretty much without running over 
the fungous masses: A mixture of equal parts of alcohol and 
water^ marked as No. 12^ adhered to the spores of the fungi even 
better, 

June 15th. 

No. 1. None of the fungi exhibited the least trace of growth 
on the brushed parts^ but were found to be entirely dried up. 

Nos. 2 — 8, as well as No. 10, exhibited a luxuriant growth of 
fungi. 

No. 9. No trace of fungi on the parts brushed over. 

Nos. 11 and 12 exhibited a slight formation of fiingi only on 
the corners left untouched by the ointment, and none at all ou 
the parts which had been rubbed over. 

The following alterations were then made : 

No. 1 was once more steeped in TV. Veratri, 

Nos. 3 and 5 were treated with a solution of equal parts of the 
hitherto employed mixtures and alcohol of 80° (?). 

Nos. 11 and 12 were once more brushed over with alcohol, as 
on the 12th of June ; and a fresh piece was brushed over, as 
No. 13, on three different sides, with Tinct. Veratri, alcohol at 
80°, and diluted alcohol. 

Nos. 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8 were not treated. 

June 19th. 

No. 1. Every trace of the formation of fungi had disappeared. 

Nos. 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 exhibited, as did No. 10, fine fungous 
formations. 

Nos. 3, 5, 11, 12, 13, no fresh fungi — the old ones had 
shrivelled up. 

No. 9 still preserving its former protective power. 

The practical result which we may draw from these experiments 
is the following : 

The tar-ointment approved and used from remote times in 
various diseases of the skin is evidently an excellent parasiticide, 
and we have only to regret that it . acts no further than on the 
parts which have come into direct contact with it, and which 
have been rubbed over with it. It is therefore improbable that 
it reaches the spores seated in the fissures of the skin, or destroys 
those which are located in the follicles of the hair. 



240 VEGETABLE PARASITES. 

Solutions of the principal remedies recommended against 
vegetable parasites are all of them objectionable^ as the adipose 
tissue of the skin renders the surrounding of the parasitical 
elements still more difficult by their use. Their chief value 
consists in removing mechanically the spores, and thus restricting 
the spread of the parasites — a result nvhich may be attained still 
easier and less dangerously by treating the parasite on the ex- 
ternal skin with fresh water alone. The benefit of corrosive 
sublimate, acetate of copper, and tannin, as proved by experience, 
can only be indirect, by producing in the liquids of the animal 
soil a change (perhaps a coagulation of the albumen, and an 
envelopment of the fungous elements, which prevents their spread- 
ing further, or other influence hitherto unknown) in consequence 
of which the parasites finally retire. 

It seems to be desirable to repeat the experiments with alcohol 
and alcoholic solutions. T\nct. Veratri albi has been used success- 
fully for a long time against Microsporon furfur , i. e., the fungus 
of Pityriasis versicolor ; and was successfully employed by myself 
in a very delicate case. I believe that alcohol and water alone 
would be efficient, as is shown by the above experiments. It all 
depends, in praxi, upon the greater or lesser dilution of the 
alcohol, so as to avoid irritation and pain ; and, further, on the 
degree of dilution, so as not to destroy the parasiticidal effect of 
the remedy. Spirits a&d spirituous preparations being able to 
penetrate into the crevices, furrows, and fissures of the skin over 
the fungous elements, and, especially after proper cleansing and 
removing of the oily matter of the skin by means of soap, pro- 
mise to supply us with the means of searching out the spores of 
the fungus even in its remotest corners, and of annihilating 
them. Practice must decide whether they will be able to set 
aside the very painful process of epilation, or, at least, to moderate 
it essentially. I am unable to say how much is owing to the 
cold produced by the evaporation of the alcohol in alcoholic pre- 
parations ; but I would draw the attention, finally, to two points. 
First ; nobody repeating the above experiments, confirming them, 
or who believes them on my authority, will ever doubt the effi- 
ciency of alcohol in these cases, or will prescribe for them anything 
but pure alcohol mixed with water. Secondly ; I would ascribe 
a double effect to the wine given to children attacked by fungi : 
first, a direct, parasiticidal effect on already existing parasites ; and 
next, an indirect effect by cTestroying the matrix favorable to the 



CONCLUSION. 241 

formation of parasites^ by generally improving and strengthening 
the constitution. 

I should feel rejoiced if the officers of hospitals and private 
institutions devoted to skin diseases would test the results which 
I have mentioned here, since my own practice does not offer me 
sufficient material and cases enough bearing upon diseases of the 
skin. 



I have abandoned the plan of writing a complete literary index. 
A rich literature is found in Diesing's work. In order to satisfy^ 
however^ the practitioner^ I intend to give^ if possible, in a short 
time, a literary index merely relating to the human parasites, and 
which will be sold for a few pence. Here it is only my duty 
to remind the reader that I have always mentioned the authors 
when speaking of their labours> in order to avoid the appearance of 
passing off for my own observations those which in reality are the 
property of others. None have been passed over intentionally: if 
it should, however, have happened accidentally^ I beg to express 
here my sincere regret. 

Vogtes ' Zoological Letters/ Weber's ' Illustrated Natural His- 
tory,' and Martini's ' Hand-book of the Animals of Importance 
in Medicine ' have chiefly been followed in the la9t part of the first 
division of this work. I beg also to thank Dr. Wagner, of Leipsic, 
and Drs. and Professors Virchow, Luschka, and Lettckart for the 
many valuable suggestions I have received from them. 

And, now, may this book meet the judgment of the critic — may 
it be severe but just ; perhaps the author may claim some con- 
sideration from having been obliged, far from any metropolis of 
science, to spend much time and to undergo much trouble in pro- 
curing the sources of his information, and has not in many cases 
been able to succeed. The book has no doubt many defects^ and 
if one thing more than another could cause his regret on parting 
with it, it is the conviction that it will easily be seen on closer exa- 
mination that the book is the work of an autodidactician. May 
the learning youth of my country fare better with regard to 
the science treated of in these pages than I did during my earliest 
studies. 



16 



APPENDIX BY TRANSLATOR. 



Appendix A^ relating to the Acarina. 
I. 

The case referred to in the text (p. 64), in which a species of 
Acarus was found beneath the cuticle surrounding a sore in the 
sole of the foot of a negro, is related in the ' Microscopical 
Journal/ vol. ii, p. 65, pi. iy, fig. 7, 1842. 

The man was admitted into the Seaman's Hospital with large 
sores on the sole of the feet, of a very peculiar character. The 
appearance of the sores conveyed the impression that more or 
less circular portions of the enormously thick cuticle had been 
gnawed or cut out, leaving the surface of the corion exposed and 
covered with prominent papillae, and afibrding a sanious dischai^. 
The border of cuticle surrounding these excavations was under- 
mined, as it were, by irregular galleries, which penetrated to 
some distance between the cuticle and corion, or rather in the 
soft deep layer of the cuticle. On examining the secretion of 
one of these sores, Mr. Busk noticed the Acarus in question, 
which was dead, and apparently partially crushed, as represented 
in the figure. It was supposed that the disease, for which no 
other obvious cause existed, and which was undoubtedly of a 
peculiar character, might have been caused by the burrowing of 
these creatures beneath the thick cuticle, which thus became 
irregularly detached, being, as it were, undermined by galleries 
branching in all directions. The disease was attributed by the 
man himself to the wearing of a pair of shoes which he had lent 
to another negro, whose feet had been similarly affected for 
nearly a year, and who wore the shoes thus lent for a day or 
two. The negro, whose feet were affected in the way described. 



TAMPAN OF AFKICA. 243 

was a native of the West Indies, but the man to whom he had 
lent the shoes came from Sierra Leone ; and this circumstance 
was considered very remarkable in conjunction with the fact^ 
that in some water brought by Dr. Stanger from the river Sinae> 




On the coast of Africa, one very nearly perfect specimen, and 
fragments of others, very similar to, if not identical with^ the 
one noticed in the negro's foot, were found. Whence it was 
supposed that the disease was contracted from some external source. 
In this account of the case, though necessarily imperfect, 
there does not appear to be anything very '' mystical,'* and still 
less does it seem to deserve the term '^ nerdachtig,'* so need- 
lessly applied to it by Dr. Küchenmeister. 

IL 

Whilst ]*emaining at the village of Ambaca, on the east coast 
of Africa, Dr. Livingstone, in his ' Missionary Travels in South 
Africa,' gives the following account of the attacks of an insect 
belonging to the group of Acarida t 

'' When sleeping in the house of the Commandant, an insecit well kno^u 
in the southern country by the name of Tampan, bit my foot. It is a 
kind of tick, and chooses, by preference, the parts between the fingers or 
toes, for inflicting its bite. It is seen from the size of a pin's head to 
that of a pea, and is common in all the native huts in this country, it 
sucks the blood until quite full, and is then of a dark-blue colour, and its 
skin so tough and yielding that it is impossible to burst it by any amount 
of squeezing with the fingers, t had felt the eflects of its bite in former 
years, and eschewed all native huts ever after ; but as I was here again 
assailed in a European house, I shidl detail the eflksts of the bite. These 
are, a tingling sensation of mingled pain and itching, which commences 
ascending the Hmb until the poison imbibed reaches the abdomen, where 
it soon causes violent vomiting and purging. When these e£Pects do not 
follow, as we found afterwards at Tete, fever sets in ; and I was assured 



244 



APPENDIX. 



by intelligeut Portuguese there that death has sometimes been the result 
of this fever. The anxiety my friends at Tete manifested to keep mj 
men out of the reach of the tampans of the village, made it evident that 
they had seen cause to dread this insignificant insect. The only incon- 
venience I afterwards suffered from this bite was the continuance of the 
tingling sensation in the point bitten for about a week." — Pp. 382-3. 



III. 
Note on the Acarus Scabiei. 

The figures of this insect given in the text do not represent the 
two pairs of mandibles possessed by this creature so accurately as 
they ought. I have therefore reproduced a drawing by Mr. 
Hepworth, of Crofts Bank^ near Manchester^ published in the 
fourth volume of the ' Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science/ 
Fig. 1 represents a magnified view of the entire creature, mag- 
nified 65 diameters. 

Fig. 1. 




Fig. 2 is one of the mandibles of this creature, magnified 

Kg. 2. 




65 diameters. The mandibles of the whole family of AcaridiB 



BBACHYCEBA. 



245 



appear to alSbrd good characteristic distinctions of the species. 
Figs. 3 and 4 are the mandibles of the male and female of 
Acorus Sacchari, magnified 390 diameters. 



Fig. 3. 




Fig. 4. 




Male. 



Appendix B, relating to the Insecta« 

I. 

The following note by the Author occurs in the second edition 
of the German work^ and was omitted under the head of the 
Brachycera, to which it refers : 

" I may also mention here a few facts derived from comparative ana- 
tomy ana pathology. The most common therapeutics in cases of CEstrus 
Ovis in the front^ sinus are incision or trepanning of the frontal sinus, 
and removal of the larvsd by means of injections, or by means of a pair of 
pincers. I, for my part, consider such proceedings only justified after 
having found sternutatories (e,Q,, the so-called Schneeberger snuff, or a 
kind of snuff prepared from Marum verum, mixed with finely powdered 
insect-powder) of no avail, and in case the larv» of the (Estrus remained 
unremoved. It is of common occurrence that the larv» of (Estrus are found 
sneezed out on the pasture land in spring time. We ought t<f imitate 
this process of nature, based upon the natural history of the (Estridw. 
The above sternutatory, mixed with iflsect-powder, as the means for 
killing larvsB, has proved very effective during the last year. The ob- 
servations which BruckmüUer made on a young vertiginous wit are very 



346 APPENDIX. 

remarkable. He found two larvaa of insects, 12"' in length and ^" m 
tbickpess, in the left hemisphere in front of the pon9 varolii, and higher 
up in the medullary substance of the brain. The rings of the larvae were 
impressed upon the brain. (Vienna, * Quarterly Journal for Veterinary 
Science,' 1855, vi, p. 48.) 

Mention is made in Grävell's * Notes,* viii, 1856, pp. 443 — 445, of 
the occurrence of the larvae of ChrysomeKnes, Stratyomides, Dermettes 
lariariuSy CartHea Scolopendrotiy in the frontal sinus, to which I would 
draw attention, because the phenomena resemble those which manifest 
themselves after CE^trus Ovis in sheep, I therefore give a place to 
Grävell's note. 

'* Delasiauve describes a case, observed by Dimie^nil and Legrand* 
DesauUe, of hysterO'Cpilepsv, in consequence or larvse in the sinus frontales, 
which is worthy of special notice on account of the accessoiy circimi- 
stances. A girl, nine years old, of a lively disposition of mind and in 
excellent health, was, one day in the month of October, 1850, suddenly 
seized by a violent pain in the region of the forehead, which was most 
severe over the sinus. Photophobia, vertigo, titillation on the nasal 
mucous skin and repeated sneezing, soon appeared. This state lasted 
for six weeks without remission. The child, who had always been 
of a sweet temper and obedient, became irritable and passionate, insult- 
ing her parents in a rude manner, breaking everything that came under 
her fingers, beating her playmates, &c. Her irritability, however, 
$Qon gavQ way, and the sick child became more quiet, complaining of a 
peculiar heat between the eyebrows, and asserting that she had passed 
small grains and animals on sneezing. These bodies passed off from the 
patient for nearly two months without creating uneasiness in her mind 
or that of her mother. Professor BruUe, at Dijon, examined the insects, 
and di8COvere4 larvae of flve different kinds, viz., Chrysomelines, Stratyo- 
mides, Dermestes lardarius, Castries, Scolopendron. The attacks be- 
came worse in spite of the means employed. The sick child suddenly 
lost its consciousness on the 25th of March, 1851 ; and scarcely had she 
recovered it when she fell into convulsions, which lasted for several hours. 
Twelve leeches were put on in the i^moon, and although the attacks 
did not repeat themselves, the patient was brought on the 28th of April 
to the lunatic asylum of the department of the C6te d'Or. The secretion 
of the nose contained no larvae for the next four days. On the 29th, at 
ten o'clock in the morning, just when the patient was going to carry a 
spoonful of soup to her lips, she uttered a faint cry, fell from the chair, 
and was seized by convulsions. The face became of a violet colour ; the 
jaws were plosed, the bulbi turned inwardly, the contracted muscles were 
quivering ; her pulse beating rapidly yet feebly ; her respiration became 
asthmatical, and her throat distinctly contracted. Seven similar attacks 
followed one another at short intervds, and each left the child exhausted, 
pale, and her eye lustreless. It was in vain to apply sinapisms, cold com- 

i)res8cs, and varying do^es of chloroform. Forty-five attacks were counted, 
astlng 4rom oi^e to three minutes, when the patient became at last 
more quiet and fell asleep. After her awakening on the evening and 
duripg the night fqllowing she again became subjected to disconnected move- 
ments. A warm bath of 26° C. (78° Fah.), together with cold douches, were 
ineffective. May 1st, Another bat)h of three hours* duration ; ten drops of 



THE TSETSE. 247 

Tlnet. Oantharidum in a mixture. May 2d. In the secreted nasal mucus 
were found several larvsd, which repeatedly showed themselves during the 
fortnight following. The nervous affection was now Qlearly attributable to 
insects which had developed themselves in the sinus frontales. Dumesnil 
was of opinion that unsized paper dipped into a solution of two grammes of 
arseniate of soda in thirty grammes of distilled water, and rolled into 
cigarettes, should be given the girl to smoke, advising her at the same 
time to draw in the smoke through the nostrils. These fumigations 
rather excited the patient, and intoxicated her momentarily ; they were, 
nevertheless, repeated every morning and evening. The baths and mix- 
ture of cantharides were likewise continued. Up to the 23d of May no 
new attack occurred. On that day Legrand witnessed thirty-three attacks, 
which were accompanied, like the first, by mental aberration. The treat- 
ment was now suspended for two days. May 30th. Several withered 
larvsB made their appearance, June 10th. Numerous larv». June 15th. ' 
Two convulsive attacks, but without mental aberration. July 14th. 
Svmptoms satisfactory ; slight sensation of heat between the eyebrows. 
The patient smoked four cigars. The tincture of cantharides was 
suspended on account of dysury. July 15th. After a thunderstorm and 
a walk in the town, five slight attacks. From that time up to her leaving 
the asylum, November 8th, her health remained undisturbed. No 
return took place for three years and a half. Each cigarette contained 
about 0050 milligramme of the arseniate. (' Gkiz. Hebdom.,' Sept. 28th« 
— Austrian periodical for Kinderheilkunde, i, 2.)" 



II. 

The account given h^ Dr. Livingstone^ in his ^ Missionary 
Researches in South Africa/ of the Tsetse, a dipterous insect 
producing ravages amongst cattle^ is of sufficieqt interest to be 
repeated here : 

"A few remarks on the tsetse, or Glosaiva marsitaiM, may here be 
appropriate. It is not much larger than the common housefly, and is 
nearly of the same brown colour as the common honey-bee ; the after part 
of the body has three or four yellow bars across it ; the win^s project 
beyond this part considerably, and it is remarkably alert, avoiding most 
dexterously all attempts to capture it with the hand, at common tempe- 
ratures ; in the cool of the mornings and evenings it is Ichs agile. Its 
peculiar buzz when once heard can never be forgotten by the traveller 
whose means of locomotion are domestic animals ; for it is well known that 
the bite of this poisonous insect is certain death to the ox, horse, and dog. 
In this journey, though we were not aware of any great niunber having 
at any time lighted on our cattle, we lost forty-three fine oxen by its bite. 
We watched the animals carefully, and believe that not a score of flies were 
ever upon them. 

" A most remarkable feature in the bite of the ' tsetse' is its perfect 
harmlessness in man and wild animals, and even calves as long as they 
continue to suck the cows. 



248 , APPENDIX. 

"We never experienced the slightest injurj from them oureelvea, 
personally, although we lived two months in their ^ hahitat,' which was 
VOL this case as sharply defined as in many others, for the south bank of the 
Chobe was infested by them, and the northern bank, where our cattle were 
placed, only fifty yards distant, contained not a single specimen. This was 
the more remarkable, as we often saw natives carrying over raw meat to 
the opposite bank, with many tsetse settled upon it. 

'^ The poison does not seem to be injected by a sting, or by ova placed 
beneath the skin, for, when one is allowed to feed freely on the hand, it is 
seen to insert the middle prong of three portions, into which the proboscis 
divides, somewhat deeply into the true skin : it then draws it out a litUe 
way, and it assumes a crimson colour as the mandibles come into brisk 
operation. The previously shrunken belly swells out ; and, if left undis- 
turbed, the fly quietly departs when it is full. A slight aching irritation 
follows, but not more than the bite of a mosquito. In the ox this same 
bite produces no more immediate effects than in man, it does not startle 
him as the ' gadfly' does ; but a few days afterwards the following 
symptoms supervene : the eye and nose begin to run, the coat stares as if 
the animal were cold ; a swelling appears under the jaw, and sometimes at 
the navel ; and, though the animal continues to graze, emaciation com- 
mences, accompanied by flaccidity of the muscles, and this proceeds 
unchecked until, perhaps months s^rwards, purging comes on, and the 
animal, no longer able to graze, perishes in a state of extreme exhaustion. 
Those which are in good condition often perish soon after the bite is 
inflicted ; with blindness and staggering, as if the bndn were affected by 
it. Sudden changes of temperature produced by falls of rain seem to 
hasten the progress of the complaint, but in general the emaciation goes 
on uninterruptedly for months, and, do what we wiU, the poor animals 
perish miserably. 

" When opened, the cellular tissue on the surface of the body beneath 
the skin is seen to be injected with air, as if a quantity of soap bub- 
bles were scattered over it, or a dishonest awkward butcher had been 
trying to make it look fat. The &t is of a greenish-yellow colour, and of 
an oily consistence. All the muscles are flabby, and the heart often so 
soft that the fingers may be made to meet through it. The lungs and 
liver partake of the disease. The stomach and bowds are pale and empty, 
i^nd the gaUibladder is distended with bile. 

" These symptoms seem to indicate, what is probably the case, a poison 
in the blood, the germ of which enters when the proboscis is inserted to 
draw blood. 

" The poison-germ, contained in a bulb at the root of the proboscis, 
seems capable, although very minute in quantity, of reproducing itself, for 
the blood after death by tsetse is very small in quantity, and scarcely stains 
the hands in dissection. 

" I shall have, by and by, to n^ention another insect, which by the same 
operation produces in the human subject both vomiting and purging. 

" The mule, ass, and goat enjoy the same immunity from the tsetse 
as man and the game. Many large tribes on the Zambesi can keep no 
domestic animals except the goat, in consequence of the scourge existing 
in their country. 

" Our children were frequently bitten, yet suffered no harm ; and we saw 



DR GREEN'S CASE. 249 

around us numben of zebras, buffaloes, pigs, pallahs and other antelopes, 
feeding quietly in the very habitat of the Isietse, yet as undisturbed by its 
bite as oxen are when they first receive the fatal person. There is not so 
much difference in the natures of the horse and zebra, the buffalo and ox, 
the sheep and antelope, as to afford any satisfactory explanation of this 
phenomenon. Is a man not as much a domestic ammal as a dog P The 
curious feature in the case, that dogs perish though fed on milk, whereas 
the calves escape so long as thev continue sucking, made us imagine that 
the mischief might be produced by some plant in the locality, and not 
by ' tsetse ;' but Major Yardon, of the Madras army, settled that point 
by riding a horse up a small lull infested by the insect without allowing 
him to graze ; and though he only remained long enough to take a view of 
the country, and catch some specimens of tsetse on the animal, in ten days 
afterwards the horse was dead. The well-known disgust which the tsetse 
shows to animal excreta, as exhibited when a village is placed in its habitat, 
has been observed and turned to account by some of the doctors. They 
mix droppinffs of animals with human milk and some medicines together, 
and smear the animals that are about to pass through a tsetse district ; 
but this, though it proves a preventive at the time, is not permanent. 
There is no cure yet known for the disease. A careless herdsman, allowing 
a large number of cattle to stray into a tsetse district, loses all but the 
calves ; and Sebituani once lost nearly the entire cattle of his tribe— very 
many thousands — ^by its influence. Inoculation does not ensure immunity, 
as animals which have been slightly bitten in one year may perish by a 
greater number of bites in the next; but it is probable, that with the 
increase of guns, the game will perish, as has happened in the south, and 
the tsetse, deprived of food, may become extinct simultaneously with the 
larger animals." 



III. 

The following case from ' The Lancet ' is given by the author 
as an appendix to the Nemocera. 

" On Filamentous (Entozoon) Worms in the Living Human Body. 
By Jonathan Green, M.D. 

" In the months of May and June, 1843, were published in * The 
Lancet' two papers of mine on ^ Entozoon Worms inhabiting the Living 
Body.' These papers, I believe, occasioned doubts in the minds of some 
professional gentlemen, amounting more or less to a want of credence in 
the facts stated therein. This I in some degree anticipated, as such 
cases are extremely rare in this country, so much so that most prac« 
titioners pass through professional life without ever having seen a case 
of entozoon worms inhabiting the tissues of the human body, and it is the 
only case of the kind that I ever saw. In one of those papers I promised 
that if I was ever enabled to throw more light on this condition of 
disease, I should, through your pages, avail myself of the opportunity of 
doing so. 



250 APPENDIX. 

" Such an opportunity has oocorred through the kindness <^ Professor 
Grant, of the London University College, himself a high authority in 
these matters. Dr. Grant has lately put into my hands the work of 
Professor Biagio Ghustaldi, of Turin, in which the suhject of entozoa and 
other worms is emhraced and discussed hy a master mind. In thus re- 
deeming my promise, I would refer those of the profession curious in this 
suhiecb, for full elucidation, to the pages of the ahle and practised 
authority of Dr. Gastaldi ; and as some may not have the leisure to torn 
hack to the before*named two papers, I will here briefly recapitulate the 
essentials of the rare case — entozoon worms inhabiting the living body — 
as detailed in ' The Lancet' of May and June, 1843.. 

" The lady who was the subject of the infliction I never knew anything of; 
she came to my establishment, as it were, determined not to be recognised, 
wrapped up in a shawl, veil, &o., and merely asked for a sulphur fumi- 
gating bath. She never said who she was, nor did she name any medical 
gentlemen that had recommended her to take the fumigations. She 
merely told the female attendant that she had been under the treatment 
of the first medical authorities of the west end of London ; that they had 
done her no good, and that she was determined of her own accord to try 
the sulphur fomigations, and did not say what was the nature of her 
malady. On the evening of the day that she took her first fumigating 
bath, the attendant (a more than usually clever, experienced woman} 
came to me, saying she had that day had a very curious and not pleasant 
case — ^that the patient was all over worms, and that she saw them creep- 
ing from the patient's forehead and foce whilst she was in the bath. I 
answered abruptly, by telling her not to talk such nonsense ; she, how- 
ever, seemed to maintain that she was right. 

'' On the patient repeating the bath, the attendant came to me with 
the same tale, and was again reproved by me ; on which she said she was 
correct in her statement, and added, that she did not like to attend such 
a patient, as she herself might catch the disease ; however, being a reason- 
able woman, her objection was overruled. The lady had her second bath, 
and the former report was repeated, with some enlargement. 

'' On taking the third bath, the attendant told &e lady that she had 
named the case to me, and that I had twice scolded her for talking such 
nonsense, on which the patient said, ' that was like all the doctors ; they 
won't believe it.' 

'* On coming out of the fourth fumigation, there was such a very, very 
numerous escape of worms, that the attendant again became uneasy, and I 
suppose some discussion took place between her and the patient. The result 
was, that the latter sent me word 'that, as I would not believe, I might come 
down and judge for myself.' I did so, and never was more surprised ; there 
stood the patient en chemUe. I was cautioned as I entered the room not 
to tread on the worms, and at once saw a round ring of pinkish-white on 
the floor ; these were worms which had fallen from under the chemise, 
and had not been swept up, in order that I might see them. The lady's 
head, face, and chest, were covered with the shawl and veil ; she seemed 
afraid of being recognised. On removing part of the veil from the fore- 
head, then wreaking with perspiration, I saw little red points sticking out 
from the skin at right angles, and whilst looking at them some seemed 
to retract themselves, others evidently were getting longer, and became a 



DR. GREEN'S CASE. 251 

quarter of an inch and more in length, and then fell on the chest and to 
the floor as others had done. I then held aside more of the veil from the 
face, ear, and neck ; there was the same appearance of little pink thread- 
like worms, as thick as they could cluster, elongating themselves to get 
out of the skin, and then falling, as from the forehead, on the floor. Many 
of them seemed to give a sort of jump or jerk before they could escape 
and fall from the person. The lady became more emboldened, and I was 
allowed to remove the shawl from the neck and chest, and afterwards 
from the arms, legs, &c, ; but from all parts of the person these worms 
were sticking out, stretching themselves, and then with a positive jump 
escaping frx)m the skin to the distance of six or eight inches, occasioning 
me to stand at a distance, in order that they miffht not fall or spring on 
to myself. With the comer of a napkin I caremlly wiped various parts 
of the skin where I saw the worms sticking out, but I could not wipe 
them away, though gently, without breaking off the heads ; and of those 
that had become more elongated and protruding frx)m the skin, they 
would break short off, the ^KÜes being very tender ; whilst the gentle 
pressure of the napkin seemed to greatly facilitate and aid the escape of 
others, and very many were full an inch in length, yet for the most part 
they were from a quarter to three quarters of an inch in length, and 
some more, looking like pink thin threads. They were annular and trans- 
parent, with red heads, and the tail part was larger than the head part. 
They lived only a few minutes after escaping from the skin, wriggling 
themselves as worms do, and almost invariably curled themselves into a 
crescent or horseshoe form, then, taking a spring to many inches' distance, 
fell quite straight and dead, and the red heads in that short time would 
become dark brown, approaching black in colour. The napkin with which 
I had wiped the parts of the person I placed on a table, and having occa- 
sion to take it up again frx)m its folds, the table under it was covered 
with these worms. I gathered about two or three table-spoonfuls of them, 
which were afterwards subjected to investigation, as detailed in 'The 
Lancet* of June, 1843. 

"The case being so unique I delayed publishing it, imtil a corre- 
spondent of ' The Lancet' made an inquiry * whether there was a disease 
of the skin, where living animals or insects were turned out.' This mainly 
determined the recordation of the case. 

" Such cases, though so rare, I find are common enough in wanner 
climates, although I myself never saw a similar case of entozoa in those 
climes ; but they must be well known to physiologists. 

'' It is satisfactory to know, at least as far as this case goes to establish 
the fact, that in the sulphur fumigating baths, and perhaps other mineral 
fumigating baths, we have a positive and direct remedy for such ailments, 
and which I think may be thus easily explained : The moisture and heat 
of these baths softening and laxing the skin, the worms more easily get 
to the surface, whilst the sulphur (or perhaps other minerals) that are 
used in the baths would make their position there untenable, and they are 
readily enabled to escape from the skin. 

" The lady whose case is iust related was very desirous of getting well 
of her odious complaint, as she called it ; it was a sad source of annoyance 
to her husband, as the worms were constantly escaping on to the pillow» 
and sheets and had been so doing for more than two years. She attnbuted, 



252 APPENDIX. 

as the cause of the complaint, her having fallen asleep in the air near some 
stagnant water, and on waking found her mouth and nose full, as she 
said, of joun^ gnats. I suppose she got well, for after a few more baths 
I never heard anything more of her, which I judge I should have done 
had she not got well, for certain it is, she found a direct and powerful 
remedy in the use of the fumigations for dislodging these worms, not in 
hundreds, but I may safely say in thousands. 



IV. 

On the Minute Anatomy of the Larva of Anthomyia canicularis^ 
Meiffen. By Arthur Parre, M.D., P.R.S. 

(Read before the Microscopical Society, April 28th, 1841.) 

'* The subject of the present memoir has come under my notice as a 
parasite of the human body, of which, however, it appears to be a rare 
mhabitant, as I have met with but a single instance of the kind, and I 
believe there are only two or three similar c&ses on record. 

*' The mere circumstance, however, of this insect in its larva state being 
found in the human intestine, it is not now so much my object to record^ 
as it is to bring before the Society a brief description of the minute 
anatomy of this singular parasite, with a view of showing the peculiar 
adaptation of its organs, particularly those of the digestive system, to the 
circumstances in which it is thus occasionally placed. 

'^ The insect considered as a parasite appears to have its parallel in the 
(Estrua or hot of the horse and sheep, and may perhaps be considered as 
constituting the hot of the human subject, though it does not appear to be 
altogether limited to man, but has beea also observed to occur in the Boa 
comtrictor} 

" The case which afforded me the opportunity of making the following 
observations was that of a rather sickly child, a girl five years of age, who 
was brought as an out-patient to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, in the 
month of June, 1837, having the ordinary symptoms of irritation produced 
by worms, for which a brisk purgative was prescribed. This had the 
effect of bringing away a vast quantity of the parasites, which were stated 
to be alivQ at the time they were passed, and were described by the parent 
of the child as coming away by handfuls at a time, and which con- 
tinued to be passed at intervals for three weeks, when the case was lost 
sight of. 

" A similar case occurred to Dr. Haviland of Cambridge, in the year 
1836, in the person of a clergyman seventy years of age, who, after suffering 
disagreeable sensations about the epigastrium, which he described as a 
tremulous motion, accompanied by loss of appetite and general weakness, 
passed in the summer and autumn of the same year very large quantities 
of the larv», and, according to his own statement, the chamber- vessel was 
sometimes half fiill, and he thinks that altogether he must have passed 



' Sec 'Lancet/ ?ol. ii, 1839-40, p. 638. 



ANTHOMYIA CANICULARIS. 258 

several quarts : they were aliye, and contintied to be passed for several 
months. This case is recorded by the Bev. Leonard Jenjns, in the 
* Transactions of the Entomological Society/ vol. ii, part 3, and is accom- 
panied by a very accurate figure of the insect. A rather rude drawing 
of evidently the same insect also accompanies a paper by Dr. Bateman in 
the seventh volume of the * Edinburgh Medicid and Surgical Journal/ 
p. 48, on the subject of larvse found in the human body ; while a much 
older, though more accurate one, will be found in Swammerdam's * Bibl. 
Nat.,' tab. 38, figs. 3 and 4. Aiid, lastly, may be mentioned a case pub- 
lished in the second volume of the ' Memoirs of the Medical Society of 
London,' which appears to be of a similar kind. These are the only cases 
that I find recorded of the occurrence of the larva in the human subject, 
but it has also been observed in the Boa constrictor, as appears from an 
instance recorded by Mr. llifiP, to which I have just alluded, and where the 
larv8B were passed along with the masses of urate of ammonia, which 
constitute the excrement of that animal. 

" There appears to be little doubt that in all these cases the insect is 
the same, and that it is the larva of the Anthomyia canicularis of Meigen, 
or Musca canicularis of Linnseus. 

*' Its minute anatomy does not appear to have been investigated, and it 
is this deficiency which I sha^ attempt to supply from my notes of the 
dissection of the specimens obtained from the first case to which I 
alluded.^ 

'* The larva is five lines in length by one and a half in breadth. It is of 
a dull-brown or blackish-brown colour, sofb and flexible, but having a tough 
integument, which, however, is sufficiently transparent to allow of the ali- 
mentary canal being seen through it. The body consists of eleven segments, 
but the last is apparentlv formed of three blended into one. Each s^ment 
carries a pair of feathery branchial appendages, which project at right angles 
from the body, constituting a double row on either side. There is also a 
double row of small eminences extending down the dorsal surface, but the 
abdominal surface is nearly smooth. The lateral appendages, of which the 
upper series is much larger than the lower, are pinnate. The central shafb 
of these, which is long and pointed, is hollow, and communicates appa« 
rently with the trachesd. The lateral pinns are again pinnated on their 
outer margin. The int^ument, which appears smooth to the naked 
eye, is found, when examined under the nucroscope, to be granulated 
all over with minute dentiform or pointed processes, which appear to 
be of a harder nature than the rest of the tegument, and resemble on 
a small scale the spinous prominences in the tegument of certain carti- 
laginous fishes, as the sturgeon; and it appears to be only an extra^ 
oiSinary development of these latter processes which constitutes the 
long feathery lateral appendages already described. 

^* The mouth of this larva is perhaps the most interesting part of 
its anatomy. The head is furnished with two broad fleshy hps, which 
together constitute a broad disc, having in its centre a minute aperture 
leading to the oesophagus, and flanked on either side by the hook-shaped 
mandibles, the sharp points of which are directed downwards and some- 
what outwards, and are nearly retracted each within a separate sheath, the 

^ For a specimen of this larva consult the Musenm of the Royal College of Surgeons« 
London ; * Cat. Nat. Hist. Series/ part It, No. 609, D. 



254 APPENDIX. 

aperture in the eitremity of which just allows their points to protrude. Each 
of these broad fleshy lips is crossed by transverse parallel plaits or folds of 
membrane, about twenty-five in number, which in their free margin exhibit 
a delicately notched appearance, and in fact in every particular resemble a 
similar structure which is seen on a larger scale in the sucking disc situated 
upon the dorsum of the head of the Menwra, by which that fish is enabled to 
attach itself firmly to various objects. In the present instance, however, 
the structure, though precisely similar, is exceedingly delicate, and so 
minute as to be invisible to the naked eye, though there can be no doubt 
that it is intended to answer the same purpose in both. For by the aid 
of this sucker the larva is enabled to fix the head, so as the more readily 
to insert its sharp hook'-shaped mandibles into the sofb mucous membrane 
of the intestine which it inhabits, and draw therefrom its nutrient juices, 
which would thus readily flow into the little aperture of the mouth, 
situated in the centre between the mandibles, assisted also by the partial 
vacuum which would thus be produced during the act of adhesion. 

" The mandibles are sunk so deep between the two fleshy lips, having 
only the points projecting firom the aperture of their investing sheaths, 
that it is necessary to disconnect them entirely from the sofb parts before 
they can be accurately examined. They are placed parallel to each other, 
with their hooked points directed downwards, so as the more readily to be 
inserted. The mandibular apparatus on each side consists of three portions. 
The first portion is hooked and sharp pointed, and is only the Ath of an 
inch in lengths It is nevertheless furnished at its base with a delicately 
shaped ball, adapted accurately to a socket in the second joint, and has 
projecting from either side of its base a sharp spine or trochanter, for the 
insertion of the tendons of the abductor and adductor muscles by which its 
movements are effected. The second joint bears the socket to which the 
ball of the first is adapted, and at its opposite extremity is united to the 
third and principal portion of the jaws, which consists of a broad expanded 
corneous plate, of less density than the preceding, and resembling in form 
and office a similar structure well known as occupying the centre of the 
large claw of the lobster, being for the attachment of the muscles by 
which the mandibular hooks are moved to and fro. The whole man- 
dibular apparatus measures about V&th of an inch in length, and, being 
very firm and solid, presents a remarkable contrast in texture to the 
surroimding soft parts with which it is connected, and from which it 
is easily detached. 

" If the body of the insect be laid open the alimentary canal is seen 
to be of considerable length, and much convoluted. It commences by an 
exceedingly delicate hair-like oesophagus, so narrow that it would appear 
to be specially destined to transmit fluid nourishment, and nothing else. 
This terminates about the third segment of the body in a minute globular 
cavity or proventriculus, which is of the same diameter as the rest of the 
alimentary canal, and immediately below which four very short salivary 
vessels enter. From this point commences the large intestiniform sto- 
mach, which after contracting in its first third to the finest thread, 
again dilates and proceeds of uniform diameter to the point where 
the four slender biliary vessels enter, where it again contracts and 
forms a short intestine. The whole alimentary canal is about six times 
the length of the body, and of this length the stomach forms about Hyq 



ANTHOMYIA CANICULARIS. 255 

sixths. Its greatest diameter does not exceed one third of a line, and its 
least is that of a mere thread. The whole structure appears to be that of 
an animal adapted to live on fluid nourishment. 

" The principal external openings to the tracheae appear to be two aper- 
tures situated on the dorsum of the last segment of the body, and which 
constitute the last pair of the series of dorsal eminences formerly noticed. 
These apertures correspond with the very remarkable and conspicuous pair 
of organs occupying a similar situation in the last segment of the oestrus 
of the sheep, and which are also the external openings of the respiratory 
apparatus in that insect. 

'* None of the insects were alive wheti they came into my possession, 
and they were placed in spirit of wine for the purpose of preserving them 
previously to their being dissected. Several days after my attention had 
thus been directed to the subject, I happened to observe at the bottom of 
» jug of New River water a small living object, which appeared very much 
to resemble the larv» which I had recently been examining ; and upon 
placing this under the microscope I found the resemblance to be complete, 
except that the animal was only about two thirds the size of the former. 
It was deficient also in the pinn» upon the lateral spines, which were 
simple, but the mandibular apparatus was perfectly formed. On making 
further search two other individuals of the same species were found in 
different stages of growth ; the smallest, however, not exceeding one third 
of a line in length, though still possessing some of the characters of the 
larger ones. One of these specimens was very lively, moving freely at the 
bottom of the water, and frequently protruding and retracting its pro- 
boscis, by which it dragged itself along. 

'' This fact is a matter of some interest, as furnishing a clue to the 
source of these parasites, since it is evident that the larv» can pass along 
the water-pipes which supply the metropolis, and may thus be swallowed 
in the water used for food : and in the present case the larv», or the ova, 
must have traversed a distance of at least a mile. At the same time it is 
evident that this cannot always afford an explanation of their mode of 
entrance into the body, because in the case of the clergyman at Cambridge, 
it is expressly stated that ' he never drank water immixed, but genera&y 
beer, tea,' and the like ; at the same time the water used for these bever- 
ages was entirely supplied from a pond on a stiff clay. If, therefore, the 
ova found entrance with the fluid aliments, they must have withstood the 
action of heat, as in making the beer, tea, &e, ; while, on the other hand, 
it is difiicult to suppose that they passed in with the solid food, because 
the larv» are evidently aquatic. Perhaps the most inexplicable part of 
the case is, the fact of their occurrence in such immense numbers. In the 
Cambridge case several quarts were passed in a few months, and in the 
instance which I have just recorded they were described as coming away 
by handfuls. It is extremely difficult to account for this fact, because a 
number of larv», or their ova, must have been swallowed equal to those 
which were evacuated, since they could not multiply by generation in the 
alimentary canal, they being in the larva state, and having, as the dis- 
section showed, and as is well known in the case of larvsB, the generative 
organs undeveloped ; indeed, no trace of generative organs was visible : 
while it is diflicult to suppose that the parent animal could have been 
accidently swallowed, and its ova, previously impregnated, have become 



256 APPENDIX. 

developed in the bowels ; though this is perhaps the least objeetionable 
supposition. At any rate the parent animal could not live in the ali- 
mentarj canal, since the larva has been recognised by several entomologists 
as being that of a well-known fly (the Anihamyia canicularis). The 
latter supposition, however, which I have advanced, namely, that tiie fly, 
having its eggs previously impregnated, may have been swallowed, and 
thus, perishing in the digestive canal, have left the ova unencumbered, 
and in a possible situation for development, derives some countenance 
from the circumstance of the extreme rarity of the occurrence of these 
larv» as parasites, there being, as I have mentioned, very few cases on 
record ; which would give to the circumstance the air of an accidental 
occurrence, of which, however, it is again immediately robbed when we 
contemplate the singular and very obvious adaptation of its organization 
to the peculiar circumstances in which it is thus placed. The anatomy 
being clearly that of an animal destined, or at least adapted, to live bj 
adhesion and suction on fluid nourishment, though it is clear from the 
fact of some being found nearly two thirds grown in simple river water, 
that the larva is also capable of life and growth in other elements than 
the contents of the alimentary canal, and in other capacities apparently 
than that of a parasite. 

'^ Much, it appears, may be advanced on either side, and indeed the 
whole subject appears to me to be calculated to afford interesting points 
for discussion ; and it is chiefly with this view that I have brought it 
before the notice of the Society." 



Appendix C, relating to Yeobtablb Parasites. 

I. 
Appendix and Supplement to the Parasitic Plants, by the Author. 

Page 121. — Kolliker and Scanzoni also found spare, thin, and 
short ferment-fungi in the secretions of thfe Cervix uteri. 

Paffel27. — Treatment of Merismopcedia {Sarcina) VentricuU. — 
Hasse also, in his most recent 'Clinical Reports,^ commends most 
of all nitrate of silver against this parasite, while he saw no 
benefit from the hyposulphite of soda. Would not strong 
spirituous drinks in moderate doses, as a spoonful of undiluted 
rum, once or twice daily, quickly swallowed, particularly when 
nothing else is drunk, be worth a trial ? 

Paffe 129. — First Donn6 ('Cours de Microsc.,' pp. 157 — 
161, fig. 33), and after him Kolliker and Scanzoni (1. c, p. 13 
and fig. 6), found in vaginal mucus fine, stiff threads, 004— 



PARASITIC PLANTS. 257 

O'Oe'" in length, exactly resembling Leptothrix buccalis, from 
which they are only distinguished in that they are always 
isolated, are not bound together by a fine gi*anular material, and 
are never situated on epithelial cells. Although often very 
numerous, they are still not so abundant as Ttichomonas vagu 
nalis, and are never met with like these without the coexisting 
presence of mucus-corpuscles. 

Page 132. — In his 'Clinical Reports' during 1853-4, pp. 
69 — 71, Fuchs mentions having found a fungus, in Bronchitis 
maUgna, in the sputa and bronchi. After written communications 
he considered it to be the fungus treated of before as Leptomittis 
Hannoveri. 

Page 162. — Correction and appendix to the notice given of the 
parasitic fitngus mentioned by Fuchs. — ^Through an oversight on 
my part it is said that Alphi are '* white spots on the skiuv'^ I 
should have written white pustules in or on the skin. I shall 
seek to make this error good, because I speak more at detail now 
of Fuchses fungus. The Alphus sparsus = scattered meal- scab = 
Pttstula screfulosüs =: Ecthyma scrofulosum appears especially on 
the trunk and superior extremities, seldom on the face ; solitary, 
discrete, light gray pustules, never met with on hairy parts ; which 
raise themselves on isolated, round areolse of the size of peas or 
beans ; which are hard, firm, nearly half spherical, and buried in 
the pale livid oedematous halo ; they are filled with a yellowish 
fluid, and from a pin-prick slowly flows out a fluid which resembles 
a mixture of cheJk powder and water. Tliey dry up without 
breaking into isolated round crusts, increasing to the size of a 
groschen-piece, which raise themselves over the skin and become 
easily torn off by the clothes, on which a circular scrofulous ulcer 
remains behind. 

According to Fuchs this form of eruption is confined to 
scrofulous persons, and is contagious like favus, although the 
attempts at its inoculation by Fuchs failed. Through conditional 
modifications of the constitution, simple Eczema, Impetigo, 
Psydracia flavescens, Ecthyma, Acne, fee., may become very 
like Alphas externally. 

That the deeper layers of the skin are involved is probable 
according to Fuchs, but has not been proved. The crust 
consists of fungus threads which in some measure resemble those 
of favus ; they appear sometimes to be increased by epidermic 
scales, and occasionally assume a pale greenish colour. 

This disease becomes chronic, has an indeterminate dura- 

17 



268 APPENDIX. 

tion, but is not so protracted as favus. RecoTery takes place of 
itself after the cicatrization of the ulcers and the falling off of 
the crusts; still relapses take place. It never has a bad 
termination. 

Treatment. — According to Fuchs this should be antisorof ulcus ; 
still local means in addition are beneficial. Recent cases can be 
destroyed by caustic, treating the skin after the destruction of 
the crusts ; with alkalies, sulphur, preparations of iodine, and, I 
believe, with spirit or spirit containing veratria ; still one should 
not close up the ulcers too quickly. Fuchs believes the fungus 
is allied to favus. Possibly this form is the Favi disseminati of 
other authors. 

Page 181. — TVeatmeni of Achorion Schoenleinii {Fatms fungus). 
— Shortly after the completion of the experiments mentioned 
at page 236, I sent them, with other communications 
which gave the same results, to Professor Hebra, with the 
request that he would, in his numerous experiments with 
spirituous remedies (with Tinct. Veratri or with pure spirit), carry 
them into effect against favus, and try whether the theoretical 
results gained by me were practically applicable. The distin- 
guished skin*pathologist had the kindness immediately to make 
the trial on two of his patients in the following manner : After 
the way and mode of epilation given at page 185, Hebra treated 
the diseased parts with the following mixture from the 23d of 
June — ^B Spirit. Vini rctss. (80®) lb. j, containing Veratrini, gr. v. 
He soaked with this solution pieces of lint, and ordered the parts 
to be well rubbed with these twice a day, and then a dossil 
wetted with the tincture to be laid over them. In the middle of 
August the patients were dismissed; and, up to the end of 
October, had shown no relapse. The results appeared so satis-^ 
factory to Hebra, that he carried on this treatment directly 
with three new patients, and, in future, will adopt this treatment 
of favus, and with plain spirit. May his further experiments 
turn out an successful as the first ! Whether this will succeed in 
entirely sparing the epilation is an object which I have sought to 
determine by the strict but always impartial and scientific 
criticism of the celebrated clinical observer of Vienna. But 
should the later experiments not succeed, still the experiments 
of Hebra should invite inquiry. The patients appear to 
be remarkably pleased with this treatment ; at least those two 
patients mentioned hero came only lately to Hebra to thank 
-him specially for their recovery. 



THE EAR-FUNGUS. 259 

Only lately we find the confession made by Küchler 
(Official Report of the Hospital at Darmstadt in No« 38 of the 
' Oerman Klinik' for 1855) that^ in spite of the pitch-plaster^ he 
has experienced two relapses. That this extremely energetic 
physician did not, perhaps^ proceed mildly in the application 
of the pitch-plaster, the following will show. I give this 
account because it indicates particularly the preparation and 
application of the pitch-plaster. One takes ordinary, not 
thin, liquid cobblers' wax, and places it not too thickly on 
strong, not too fine, nor too new, nor too smooth, nor 
very heavy linen> with the addition of a few drops of oil of 
turpentine. After the most thorough removal of the hair possible, 
as far as it goes, and after removal of the crust which becomes 
softened by oil, the pitch-plaster is placed on the diseased 
part, over all the space implicated. The plaster for two or 
three finger-breadths near its anterior border should be kept 
free from pitch and turned over, by which it can be better 
taken hold of and pulled off. Incisions also should be made 
round the edges of the plaster, by which it fits closer, but not 
too deep by which it is not pulled off afterwards. The 
pitch remains on eight days, and is then removed. The 
patient is seated on a stool without a back or crosswise, and 
his head and neck made fast sideways under the plaster by the 
grasp of a strong assistant. A second assistant at the head 
stands behind the patient, with his eight fingers on the fore part 
of the slightly loosened plaster, places his knee on the neck of 
the patient, and draws off, if possible, the whole plaster with 
a haul. This proceeding has sometimes to be gone over 
again. The stench on the removal is often horrible. The 
part never remains bare. Küchler saw relapses twice ; still he 
has not specified altogether the number of cases. On the removal 
once all the pitch remained on the diseased part^ because the 
assistant had taken very strong linen. Küchler ordered a 
smoothing iron to be heated, and better linen to be ironed on. 
With such faults, and such heroic corrigerUia, who would not 
admire the pitch-cap treatment ! 

Page 202. — On the question ofReubold. Is the thrush fungus 
peculiar to man? — In October of this year, (1856), which 
distinguished itself by its mildness, and at a time when aphthae 
frequently associate themselves on sloughing sores, I pro^ 
cured, from a boy twelve years of age, affected with inflam- 
mation of the neck (probably scarlatinous), from the country, 



260 APPENDIX. 

some pieces of aphthous Tnembrane^ in nirhich I found numerous 
elements of the fungus. Of these pieces I placed a great number 
between the jaw-bones and cheeks of three still blind sucking 
puppies^ where the fungus would support itself longer without be- 
coming swallowed. I hoped in this case the sooner to resuscitate 
the fungus^ because the puppies only a few hours before the inocu- 
lation had their ears and tails cut off, and the animals were brought 
down a little and were anaemic. But, although for fourteen days 
I examined the dogs every other day, still I could discover none 
of the aphthie on any part of the mouth. Professor Haubner has 
informed me that he never saw aphthae on young dogs. Should 
the external appearances after similar experiments be found 
in the mouths of sucking calves, Haubner, ought to state that 
he had produced aphthae from fungi. 

Page 225. — To the kindness of Professor Luschka I am 
indebted for my knowledge of the original labours of Pacini. 
Although Pacini certainly was incorrect if he meant that he 
had found two peculiar plants in the ear, and if he considered 
the figures k to n to be an alga resembling Oidium albicans 
and figures a to j a fungus. Robin is perfectly correct if he 
understood the figures k to n as the mycelium of a, so I am 
still, after comparison of the original and the version of Robin, 
necessitated to make these remarks, I mention only by the way 
that Robin allowed Dr. Bargellini's patients to go back to the sea« 
baths of Florence instead of those at Livorno. 

The white fatty-looking masses in the ear — ^which entirely 
covered the tympanum, which only became visible when injections 
or other attempts to remove the fungus accidentally shifted a 
portion of the fungus on one side, and allowed a piece of 
the tympanum to come into view — consisted of granulations, 
mostly epidermic cells filled with fine granules, which were very 
transparent and uniform, and had a diameter from 0*016 — 0*018 
mm., and of the elements of the fungus. 

The capitulum of the fructifying elements was completely 
spherical, that of Mayer's ear fungus pear-shaped. The colour 
changed according to the size of the capitulum and according to 
its state of maturity ; with advancing age and ripeness the head 
became darker, less transparent, and more indistinct in its 
structure. The placenta or the centre of the capitulum =s the 
proper receptaculum, was of very varied dimensions; in 
figure A it measured 0'142 mm. 0037 mm. in diameter, in 
smaller specimens it was of less size. This structure consists of 



THE EAR-FUNGUS. 



261 



small spores (f)^ ivhich in the stage of development (b) have a 
diameter of 00042 mm.^ if not so mature they are smaller. 




in A 0*003 mm. The mature, perfectly spherical spores have a 
very thick contour, and are only a little more transparent in the 
centre. They range themselves in rows joined to one another, 
and radiate from the placenta. From this arrangement, 
Micheli conceived the name Aspergillus {Aspersorio = holy-water 
sprinkling.) Pacini wondered that neither Mayer nor Robin had 
represented this arrangement, but the spores are dispersed and 
the placenta is sown over with them, and believes that if it does 
arise not from inaccuracy of delineation, that certainly different 
species are treated of by Mayer and himself. But if perfect 
maturity has occurred the spores disunite themselves spontane- 
ously, which, in example a amount to about 19,000, is 
deceiving. 

The cavies = the filaments, which form the stalk, present the 
appearance and size of a large elementary nerve-fibre of the frog 



362 APPENDIX. 

with a double coutour. Moreover, externally they are single in 
their course and of the same size, the caules sometimes being 
covered at their terminations with small, thorny-looking ex- 
crescences, which Pacini incorrectly supposed to be radicles. 
Near the capitulum (at the point j) the stalk is surrounded by a 
species of sheath (analogous to a perianth), and the individual 
spores are separated from one another. Besides the diameter of 
the caulis varies with the size of the specimen, in a the diameter 
is 0013 mm. So it is with the cavity of the stalk, which in a 
is 0008 mm. In general the length of the stalk depends on its 
development ; in a and b it was about 0*770 mm. long. Pacini 
has drawn the stalk shortened one half, but I have given the 
stalk and capitulum of the natural proportion. The mycelium 
consists of that structure which Pacini again gave at k, and in- 
correctly described as an alga, but Robin rightly interpreted it. 
The ramifications of the mycelium one sees at m and l. There- 
fore these rows are formed on elongated and reunited cells, and 
exhibit internodea. Those containing in them small dark cells, 
but which are not spores, as Pacini would have it, have a diameter 
of 00015 mm. Sometimes the tubes bend themselves angularly, 
and return back towards the epithelial cells, caules, and spores. 
After two months* preservation in solution of gum arabic with 
a little ar^enious acid, Pacini found . nothing more of the 
substance here described as mycelium, while all the other parts of 
the fungus had been very well preserved. Has Pacini here 
committed an error in observation, or has he overlooked 
altogether the mycelium ? 

The treatment consists not in dropping in acetate of lead, as 
Robin repeats, but in vigorously injecting water. The acetate of 
lead should be employed secondarily against the Otorrhosa which 
remains behind, 

In regard to the position of Facini^s fungus in the system, I 
should not after my observations of Pacini's drawings have 
placed it with Aspergillus , as Rubin did> but associated it with 
Sluyter's Mucor mucedo, so long as we in general allow, that 
every observer accurately observes, and has given drawings true 
to nature. The differences between Aspergillus and Mucor 
mucedo consist for the present in the dissimilar form of the so- 
called placenta and the filamentary radiated or homogeneous 
light simple ring forming the periphery of the capitulum, and 
these are possibly only differences in the age and maturity of the 
individual specimens. (See page 271). 



THE EAB-FUNGÜS. 



263 



What has been said concerning Pacini's fungns is also to be said 
concerning the fungus here mentioned^ for the representation and 
description of which I am indebted to Professor R. Leuckart. The 
fungus was found in 1848 at Göttingen in the stomach of a dead 





jjn 



woman. The numerous ramifications of the threads had produced 
such a matting together^ that a well- formed ^nembrane was found on 
the mucous coat. The sporangia were i^'\ the shaft or stalk ^'\ 
the individual spores ^" in diameter. The individual spores re- 
sembled yeast-cells. On the grounds mentioned above^ for the 
present I shall give this fungus the name of Aspergillus Leuckartii. 
Page 231. — Mucor mucedo, — Herr Hofrath Hasse in Heidel- 
berg, had the kindness to send me, through 
Dr. Wagner Of Leipzig, a fungus found in 
the interior of a gangrenous abscess of the 
lung. Dr. Welcker determined the 
following principal facts, which 1 can only 
corroborate by the microscopical prepara- 
tion kindly sent me. It occurs in the 
form of thallus-threads about 0*308 mm. 
in length, by a breadth of from 00026 
to 0*008 mm. The shaft always in- 
creases more in breadth towards the top 
=5 sporangium^ till it attains in the round 
sporangium to a breadth of 0*025. mm. 
The stalk is hollow in the interior, so that 
if it is broken across, one can see within 
through its transparency, or if it becomes 
dried up in part, air finds its way into 
it, which is sometimes met with in the 
sporangium in the form of a small round 
bubble. The spores are 00036 to 40 
mm. in length, and have in breadth a diameter of from 0*0015 




264 APPENDIX. 

to 17 mm. Sometimes placed on the side of the stalk is another 
smaller sporangium with only a short stalk. 

From the external appearance it can only be considered an 
Aspergillus, similar to Mayer^s ear-fungus or a Mucor mucedo. I 
believe the last is most probable, because the sporangia have 
that fringed, fan-like appearance which is given at Plate V, 
fig, 5, as characteristic of Mucor mucedo. Also the seat agrees 
on the whole, and we refer this fungus for that reason to Mucor 
mucedo, although we are deprived, on account of the deficiency 
in important particulars concerning the fungus, by Sluyter, of 
accurate means of determination. 

Page 282. — Professor Leuckart had the kindness to send 
me a drawing of a parasite found on the pustules of Acne 
and granular contents. Its size varied between ^ — ^'^\ Leuckart 
represents the parasite with more than two articulations, always 
according to its size. I find once five, once seven, cross-partitions. 
However, the whole has a great resemblance to Ardtsten's 
Puccinia. 



II. 

^' On the minute structure of certain substances expelled from 
the human intestine, having the ordinary appearance of 
shreds of Lymph, but consisting entirely of filaments of a 
Confervoid type, probably belonging to the genus Oscillatoria. 
By Arthue Fabre, M.D., F.R.S. 

(Read before the Microscopical Spdety, ^tine 22d, 1842.) 

*' On a former occasion I laid before the Society the results of my ob- 
servations upon a remarkable and exceedingly rare parasite of the human 
body, the larva of the Anthomyia caniculariSy which was expelled in vast 
numbers from the intestine. The subiect of the present communicj^tion 
must also, I presume, be classed under the head of parasites, but occurring 
under such a remarkable form, as to render the determination of its pre- 
cise nature a matter of not very easy accomplishment. 

" The individual from whom the substances which I shall describe were 
obtained, is a married female, aged thirty-five, residing at No. 28, Crown 
Street, Soho, who is now attending as an out-patient under my care, at 
King's College Hospital. She is a moderately stout and healthy-looking 
person, but has been slightly ailing for the last twelve months, and for six 
weeks past has been sul^ect to menorrhagia, by which she has been some- 
what debilitated ; she has also suffered Ifitely from slight dyspepsia. Six 



PABRE'S OSCILLATORIA. - 265 

dajs ago, after suffering considerable griping pains in the bowels, which 
continued for twelve hours, she passed per anum a number of shreds, 
which being discharged with some difficulty, and causing an obstruction of 
the bowel, her attention was thereby more particularly attracted, and 
some of the shreds were pulled away by herself, so that there can be no 
question as to the source whence they were derived. 

'* The substances thus passed were placed in water, and brought by the 
patient for my inspection. They had so much the appearance and ordi- 
nary characters of shreds of lymph, or false membrane, that I had not at 
that time the slightest suspicion of their being anything else, and merely 
reserved them for a more particular examination at some future period, 
but without any expectation that they would present appearances different 
from the ordinary microscopic characters of ftdse membrane. I was there- 
fore much surprised, on placing a small portion of the substance under 
the microscope, to find that it presented the appearance of a mass of 
Conferva^ and that, in fact, the entire substance was made up of nothing 
else but tangled filaments of a confervoid type. However, before de- 
scribing the microscopic characters of this singular substance, it will be 
necessary to give some idea of the appearance of the mass, as examined 
without the ^d of the microscope. I have already compared the sub- 
stances to shreds of lymph or fdse membrane ; such shreds or flakes of 
sofb yellow matter, assuming a membranous form, are familiar to every one 
accustomed to patholc^ical researches. It is well known that they are 
often the result of inflammation attacking membranous surfaces, and that 
they are most frequently met with on the serous membranes, as the 
pleura, pericardimn, and peritoneum, but that they are also occasionally, 
though more rarely, produced from mucous surfaces, as those which line 
the air-passages and alimentary canal. Of the same nature as these have 
been also generally considered those fibrinous flakes which are occasionally 
passed from the intestines in chronic affections of the mucous membrane 
of those parts, and which sometimes assume the form of tubular casts 
evidently moulded upon the surface of the gut ; and lastly, I may allude 
to a more common Section of another mucous surface, the lining mem- 
brane of the uterus, on which membranous substances are occasionally 
formed and discharged, constituting a complete cast of the organ, and 
familiar to every practitioner as occurring occasionally in cases of dys- 
menorrhoea. 

'^ I allude to these examples (familiar enough to medical men) for the 
purpose of showing to those who have not directed their attention to such 
subjects, that membranous or fibrinous substances are occasionally dis- 
charged from the various mucous surfaces of the body, which are gene- 
rally considered to be the product of inflammation, either acute or chronic, 
and are closely allied in composition and ordinary characters to the fibri- 
nous part of the blood, from which fluid they are apparently separated by 
the inflammatory process. With such knowledge therefore we should, 
I think, be but little prepared to find that flakes or shreds of a membranous 
substance — having so much of the ordinary appearance of the substances 
which I have just described, that several medical friends to whom I have 
shown them, have at once supposed them to be the ordinary flakes of 
false membrane discharged from the bowels — should, when microscopically 
examined, present all the characters of those confervoid masses which are 



266 APPENDIX. 

to be found in almost every water, but the appearance of whieb to tbe 
naked eye is so totally dissimilar to that of the substances under con- 
sideration, that no one could for a moment suppose, without the aid of the 
microscope, that they were, in the slightest degree, allied to each other. 

" The several portions of this substance in my possession differ from 
each other in some respects in reference to their external characters, 
though in their composition all are alike. Some of the portions are in the 
form of riband-shap^ masses, of which the largest is six inches in length, 
varying from half to three quarters of an inch in breadth, and is about a 
line in thickness : there are five or six portions of similar breadth and 
thickness, and varying from one to two inches in length. These portions 
are highly elastic, and may be stretched to a considerable length, returning 
again to their former shape with considerable resiliency. This elasticiiy, 
however, is chiefly observed when the pieces are stretched in the longitu- 
dinal direction, as they are capable of very little extension transversely. 
The margin of some of these portions is irregular and flocculent, being 
formed evidently of minute filaments, and resembling the villous surface of 
a mucous membrane, and in the largest piece the whole surface has this 
velvety appearance. Others of these portions present more distinct evi- 
dences of a fibrous arrangement, snd distinct traces of fibres, or, as they 
will be presently shown to be, bundles of filaments, may be observed ex- 
tending through the mass, both longitudinally and transversely, but the 
surface or the margins still preserving a flocculent appearance. One or 
two of these pieces, of which the border is nearly smooth, present veiy 
much an appearance of having been cast in a flattened or contracted 
portion of the small intestines ; one of these especially, which is only four 
lines in width, looks like a portion of the intestine of some small animal, 
with its mucous membrane turned externally and flattened, but, like the 
other portions, it is not hollow, but riband-shaped. The remaining portions 
differ from these only in presenting no trace of the flocculent surface or 
margins, and in beuig more completely membranous. They might, in 
fact, be easily mistaken for portions of animal membrane, and being of a 
closer texture have much less elasticity than the former portions. The 
thinnest of these portions, which at its edge is nearly diaphanous, is very 
smooth and shining, having almost a tendinous lustre. To the naked eye 
it appears to be made up of fibres, both longitudinal and transverse, but 
the longitudinal prevail, and the mass more readily splits in that direction, 
the splitting takmg place with a clean margin, as if cut with a sharp in- 
strument. This fragment bears no distant resemblance to a piece of dura 
mater, covered by the arachnoid membrane ; both surfaces are equally 
smooth, and no appearance is presented of any surface for attachment. 
The remaining portions are thicker, measuring nearly a line in thickness, 
and present a more distinct appearance of fibres crossing at right angles. 
They may, in fact, be readily split into masses of fibres, which very closely 
resemble, both in colour and texture, the middle or fibrous coat of the 
arteries, but being softer and more elastic. The whole of these portions 
are of a buff colour, and are here described as they appear when examined 
under water. 

" When a small fragment of any of these masses is placed under the 
microscope, with an amplifying power of from 50 to 100 linear, it is seen 
to be made up of very delicate filaments, the yj^ of an inch in diameter. 



FAERE'S OSCILLATORIA. 267, 

which are differently arranged in different specimens. In those portions 
which have a flocculent surface and loose texture, the filaments are seen 
to be coiled up and interwoven in a tangled mass, which presents no ap- 
pearance of any definite arrangement : at the edges of such portions the 
filaments are seen distinct and separate from each other, and shooting free 
into the surrounding fiuid ; but the examination of the centre presents a 
confused appearance where the fibres cross each other in all directions, 
and intermingled with them are seen some irregular granules of the same 
colour as the mass. When those portions however are examined which 
have a membranous character, a very distinct and definite arrangement of 
the fibres is perceived, which here cross each other nearly at right angles, 
and are so interwoven as to form a layer of greater or less strength and 
thickness ; and it is apparently entirely owing to this variety in the mode 
of arrangement of the fibres, that the different appearances in the several 
masses already described are produced : the tangled and confused aggre- 
gation of fibres producing the villous masses, the loose ends of the 
filaments constituting in fact the villosity, and the regular crossing of the 
fibres giving rise to the smooth, shining membranous expansion. 

" To examine however the minute structure of these filaments, which 
make up, in fact, the whole mass of these singular substances, with the 
exception of the granules just noticed, and which are few in number, it is 
necessary to use a magnifying power of 500 or 600 linear. 

"The filaments which have been just described, are so exceedingly 
minute, and require such high powers for their examination, that it must 
be a matter of some difficulty to determine their exact nature. The eoiu 
fervoid type however is, I think, so very strikingly and obviously ex- 
hibited, as to leave little room to doubt the class of products to which 
this substance is to be referred. That it is no animal membrane or pro- 
duct of inflammation, a^it would at first sight appear to be, before it had 
been submitted to the test of the microscope, will, I think, be readily ad- 
mitted by all who have ever had the opportunity of examining these sub- 
stances. The texture to which perhaps it approaches most nearly is the 
muscular, and that in the invertebrate plasses only, in many of which the 
filaments composing that textu]:e are disconnected, and not bound up in 
bundles and enveloped in sheaths, as in the Vertebrata, to which, there- 
fore, the arrangement here described can bear no resemblance ; but the 
resemblance to muscular texture at once vanishes when we apply the 
higher power, and discover the intimate structure already described. 

" If, as I presume will be the case, the product be admitted to belong to 
that group of Cryptogamic products which have been generally classed 
together under the title of (hnferva, it then remains to determine whether 
this specimen belongs to any known genus or species, or is as yet unde- 
scribed. I am inclined to refer it to the genus Oscillatoria, but am not 
acquainted with any species mth which it is identical. Its resemblance 
to Oscillatoria is seen m the extreme delicacy of its filaments, in its simple 
transverse markings, and the separation of the green matter at intervals 
within the sheath by which those markings are produced. In colour it 
resembles Oscillatoria ochracea, but that species is extremely brittle, and 
can scarcely be handled without breaking up into fragments, while this is 
very tough and elastic. I am inclined to consider it a new species, if not 
a new genus. 



269 APPENDIX. 

" Further opportunities of examining this product, supposing it to he 
allied to or to belong to Oscülatoria, may probably throw some light on 
the disputed question of the animal or vegetable nature of that genus, 
which appears to be now one of the many bones of contention between the 
botanist and the zoolc^t. Perhaps the chemical analysis of this sub- 
stance, which I have not yet had an opportunity of instituting, may 
throw some light upon the question. I have already alluded to the re- 
semblance in colour and other particulars of this substance to animal 
matter ; it appears also to be disposed to a similar putrefaction, for on 
opening the phial this morning, in which the substance was contained in 
a weak solution of salt and water, I perceived a very distinct odour, 
similar to that of decomposing animal matter, and I find that these spe- 
cimens are not now so perfect as when I first examined them. 

" With regard to the source from which these bodies could be derived : 
since similar organisms are abundant in every water there can be no 
difficulty in supposing that a portion of the substance itself^ or some of its 
reproductive germs or sporules, may have been swallowed by this indi- 
vidual in the water which she drinks. I have made particular inquiiy as 
to her diet, and find that it is of the ordinary description, both animal 
and vegetable ; and that her drink is limited to tea and water, but of the 
latter she takes very little. The water is supplied by the ordinary 
service-pipes of the metropolis, and not from any particular well or 
pump. 

''At this point of the inquiry the same difficulty occurs as in the 
question of the origin of the ordinary internal parasites of animals, the 
Entozoa, Whence are they derived, and how is their existence in the 
body to be explained by reference to an external origin, since they are not 
found in any other situation ? It would be almost impossible to conceive 
that the substance which I have described could be found out of an or- 
ganized body, for example in a stream of water ; but I would suggest, 
that having derived its supplies of nourishment from an organized body 
(in this case, as may be presumed^ from the surface of the intestine), its 
characters may have been so far modified, consisting in fact, as it does, of 
animal matter, as to render the object no longer recognisable as an already 
existing species. 

'' I believe the fact which I have just announced is new to science ; 
I have not myself met with any similar instance, but it belongs to a class 
of facts which modem microscopic investigation is rapidly rendering 
famihar to all who value that species of observation. In the journals of 
the day may be found numerous examples of parasitic growth from various 
parts of the bodies of animals, and even of man. From the surface of the 
body, as in the confervoid growths attached to the fins and gills of fishes, 
and cryptogamic vegetation constituting the essential part of certain 
morbid products, as in the porrigo of the human subject. Other ex- 
amples are recorded of internal vegetations, Entophtfta as well as Entozoa, 
as from tha lungs in birds, and even of the human subject, as recorded by 
Dr. J. H. Bennett, in a case where such organisms were expectorated by 
an individual imder pulmonary consumption. Mr. Goodsir has related a 
case in which thousands of animals, allied to the genus Gonium, were 
vomited fi*om the human stomach ; and to the mass of evidence which is 
thus rapidly accumulating, of parasitic growths, both animal and vegetable, 



INTESTINAL CONCRETIONS. 269 

infeating the bodies of man and animals, I bee to add the details of the 
analogous formation which I have just had the honour of describinar to the 
Society." 



III. 

'^ The Microscope as a means of Diagnosis. — Singular case of In- 
testinal Concretions. By H. Munroe, M.D., Hull. 

('Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science/ No. 18.) 

" The value of the microscope as a means of diagnosis is now universally 
acknowledged by every medical man. Many are the instances I could 
enumerate, in which, without its assistance, no dear or definite opinion 
could be arrived at. Among the many cases which have come under my 
observation, the following one may not be uninteresting, as I know of no 
other similar case, save one mentioned by our esteemed friend, Mr. Quekett, 
in his first volume on ' Histology.' I give you the history of the case as 
deiailed to me by Dr. Wilkinson, of Manchester, imder whose care 
the patient was placed, and to whose kindness I am indebted for the 
accoimt. 

" B. L — , 8Bt. 62 years, a power-loom weaver, has never been the subject 
of any ailment until four years ago ; in fact, he does not remember ever 
having had a day's illness. At that time he suffered slightly from indi- 
gestion, felt some imeasiness at the pit of the stomach, with at times, 
though rarely, actual pain. The food taken frequently return^ at inter- 
vals, varying from ten minutes to two or even four hours after ingestion. 
The vomit, if retained for some hours, presented the appearance of butter- 
milk and treacle. He never vomited except when the stomach contained 
food ; but he was subject to frequent eructations of a small quantity of clear 
fluid, intensely acid; sufficiently so to set the teeth on edge, and to produce 
even a shudder at the recollection. About this time he perceived a hard 
body directly below the ensiform cartilage, but somewhat to the right side, 
lying as it were between the depending point of the cartilage and the right 
costal cartilages. He judged that the lump he felt was a hard substance 
about the size of a hen's e^. He felt this lump pass down along the 
course of the duodenum and intestines, until it arrived in the left hypo- 
chondriac region. A short time after this it was passed by stool, l)eing 
several weeks after he had first noticed it. The whole of the time he had 
severe and continued pain ; and after it had passed, per rectum, he suffered 
for thirteen hours severely. Sixteen days afterwards another concretion 
was passed ; and at the end of sixteen days more one still larger. There 
were no other concretions passed for two years, and then another of a 
smaller size. 

'* He then felt a hard tumour in the abdomen on the right of the 
umbilicus, which has since gradually increased ; continuing hard, moveable, 
and somewhat changes its position, but does not seem to move along the 
canal. 

*' The concretions which have been passed have not varied greatly in 



270 APPENDIX. 

appearance, being irreguliirly oval. The one be presents is hexagonal, 
apparently presenting articular facets of a lightish brown colour. 

*' He states that he has lived since childhood principally on oatmeal 
porridge with treacle, has taken little animal food ; and, during the four 
years he has been unwell, has taken magnesia as a piirgative. He, how- 
ever, says that he took no magnesia before the first concretion was 
passed. 

" Such is the case as sent me by my friend with a portion of the concre- 
tion for microscopic analysis. Chemistry and all other means had failed 
to unravel the mystery of the composition of this concretion. I macerated 
a portion of it for some time in distilled water, expecting to detect the 
starch granules of the oat by the polarizing apparatus of the microscope, 
but in this I failed. I continued the maceration, separating the parts a 
little with very fine needles, and at last was able to detect very beautifiilly 
masses of the hairs of the palea of the oat, of which, and the husks of the 
oat, the concretion seemed to be entirely made up." 



IV. 

" On a Fungus parasitic in the Human Ear, By John Grove, 
Esq., M.R.C.S., &c. Communicated by Henry Deanb, Esq. 

(Read before the Microscopical Society, April 15th, 1857.) 

"Having taken a lively interest for some years in the subject of 
parasitic growths of all kinds, whether occurring on animals or plants, I 
have lost no opportunity of seeking for them when occasions have presented 
offering any probability of success to my research. 

" In the month of September last (1856) I met with a beautiful speci- 
men of a fungoid growth which was removed from the ear of a gentleman 
who had been suffering from inflammation of the left external meatus 
auditorius. 

" Tne ailment commenced with uneasiness and irritation of the ear, 
diminution of the sense of hearing, and some slight discharge. In a few 
days there was pain and greater urgency of the other symptoms. As the 
patient was in the prime of life, of unimpaired constitution, and apparently 
in vigorous health, I ordered simply poppy fomentations by means of 
spongio-piline, the ear to be carefully syringed with warm water, and 
a drop of glycerine to be applied night and morning — ^the syringing be- 
cause there appeared to be some flocculent-looking matter deep in the 
meatus. After a day or two some of this flocculent matter came away in 
little masses, which was preserved according to order for my inspection. 

" The fungi to be presently described being detected, it occurred to me 
that the best method of preventing their further development would be to 
use some injection which was likely to be inimical to their existence. 
Alum was selected, and it seemed to answer perfectly. But soon the 
other ear began to take on the same symptoms as its fellow, and now the 
alum injection succeeded in checking altogether the progress of the affec- 
tion, and the patient was speedily out of my hands. 



EAR-FUNGÜS. 271 

" The only instance of a growth of this kind in a like situation, that 
I am acquainted with, is in Kobin's work; he quotes, however, from 
a paper by Mayer, in Muller's * Archives.' He speaks of a fungoid vege- 
tation which was found in some cysts removed from the ear of a child 
eight years old, who was suffering with a scrofulous discharge from the 
external meatus, and had been treated both locally and generally with a 
variety of medicaments. 

''The differences between the description given by Eobiu and that 
which I have to offer ajre such as to lead to the belief that the objects are 
not similar. 

*' 1st. I detected no cysts, but flocculent membranous«looking masses. 

" 2d. He describes the stipe as long, and containing withm it small 
granules (or having a granular interior). Now although the accompany- 
ing has a rather long stipe, it does not contain spherules or granules. 

'' 3d. The pileus is said by Kobin to be small and of a greenish colour, 
whereas that here shown is comparatively large and of a reddish-brown 
colour. 

** 4th. The position and character of the spores are distinctly different. 
Eobin speaks of them as granules, single or double, spread over the sur- 
face of the upper swollen extremity of the stipe ; but those here exhibited 
are closely packed oval spores, completely enveloping the upper extremity 
of the stipe, forming a compact pileus. 

'' Further, there is a difference in the cases furnishing the growth, the 
contrast between a scrofulous child, eight years of age, and a healthy man 
in the prime of life, is as great as could be, and tends to show that the 
scrofulous habit has no special influence in favouring the growth of the 
parasite." 



INDEX OF VOLUMES I AND II. 



Actnthia lectularU, ii, 85 

Acanthida, ii, 85 

Acanthotheca, ii, 6 

Acari, instrumeDta for extracting, ii, 18 

Acariasis, ii, 63 

Acarids, ii, 19, 243 

Acarina, ii, 5, 242 

Acarus dysenteric, ii, 65 

fayonim, ii, 55 

folliculoruro, ii, 7, 15 

habitation of, ii, 23 

nidulans, ii, 64 

taechaij, ii. 244 

Scabiei, ii, 19, 244 
Acephalocysts, i, 228 
Achfethelmintlia elastica, i^ 409 
Achores confounded with favus, ii, 17^ 
Acborion, growth of, ii, 169 

SchoenleiDÜ,ii, 161, 162, 230,233, 258 
Acne, ii, 17 

iEthalium septicnm, ii, 216 
Agatharchide$, i, 390, 394 
Aglossa pinguinalis, ii, 105 
Agmenellam qnadridnplicatam, ii, 127 
Albert on tape- worm, i, 168 
Albin Gras, ii, 44 
Albrecht, case by, i, 378 
Albuoasis, i, 396 
Albuminogene, i, 294 
Aldrovandi, ii, 21 
Alg», ii, 113 

Alga fiUiformis Oris, ii, 126 
Alg», parasitic, ii, 119 
Alibert's method of ezpelUng tape-worm, 

i, 164 
Alimentary apparatus of Diitoma hepa. 

ticaro, i, 250 
Alopecia idiopathica, ii, 146 
Alphas, ii, 162, 259 
Alston's method of expeDing tape-worm, 

i, 157 
Alt's mite, ii, 63 
Amaebse, i, 8 
Ametabola, ii, 75 
Ammonia in fa?iis, ü, 179 



Amphibia, eggs of, in stomach, ii, 104 
living in the hunun body, ii, 104 

Arophistoma, i, 244 

Anchylostoma, i, 383 

Ancyiostomum duodenale, i, 207, 384 
found in corpves in Egjpt, i, 384 
symptoms of, i, 387 
treatment for, i^ 388 

Androchtonus, ii, 102 
twelve-eyed, ii, 102 

Angelica, i, 240 

Anobia, ii, lOl 

Anthomyia canicularis, ii, 95, 2bi 

Anthomycida, ii, 95 

Anthomyia scalaris, ii, 95 

Antisarcoptica, ii, 41 

Anta, ii, 103 

Anthelmintics, time when they should b« 
administered, i, 374 

Aphaniptera, ii, 88 

Aphthae, ii, 190 

neonatorum, ii, 214 
and muguet identical, ii, 215 
true fungous nature of, ii, 215 
experiments on, ii, 219 

Aphthaphyte, ii, 216 

Apida, ii, 103 

Apples not a cause of tape-worm, i, 194 

Aptera, ii, 75 

Araneida, ii, 102 

Arachnida, ii, 3 

Archduke Ernest of Austria, case of, 
1,378 

Ardsten, ii, 233 

Argaa Persicus, ii, 61 

Argades, ii, 61 

Ark, i, 395 

Artificial beverages of Iceland, i, 239 

Articiüata, ii, 2 

Arthrosporei, ii, 140 

Ascaris alata, ii, 100 

development of eggs, i, 293 
experiments on vermifuges for, i, 420 
Inmbricoides, i, 293, 311, 366, 410 
lumbricoides, production of, i, 317 



276 



INDEX OP VOLUMES I AND II. 



Ascaris lumbricoides, Dr. Küchenmeister's 
own case of, i, 318 

marginata, i, 310 

vermicularis, i, 356 
Ascarides, i, 293, 409 

lumbricoidet, ii, 236 

Saoria as a remedy, i, 155 

sjrmptoms of, i, 413 
Aspergillus, ii, 230 
Aspergilli, ii, ^25 
Aspidium atharoanticum, i, 16d 

as a remedy for tape-worm, i, 162 
Autenrieth's method of expelling tape- 
worm with tin, i, 157 
Avenzoar, ii, 20 



Bagge on the äggs of nematode worms, 

i,291 
Baillie's case of Filaria, i, 401 
Baldness, ii, 171 
Band-worm, i, 108 
Bang's method of expelling tape- worm, 

i, 166 
Bauhin on Distoma hepaticum, i,261 
Bärensprung, Yon, ii, 186 
Bargellini, Dr., ii, 227 
Bartholin's commentary on the Mosaic 

account of the fiery serpents, 

i, 394 
Basiatores, ii, 156 
Basides of fungi, ii, 140 
Bateman, ii, 25 
Batrachia, ii, 114 
Bazin, ii, 144 
Bazin's discoveries on vegetable parasites, 

ii, 115 
Bazin on favus, ii, 178 
Beck's method of expelling tape- worm, 

i, 165 
Bed-bugs, ii, 85 
Becker, method of expelling tape-worm, 

i, 157 
Bees, ii, 103 
Beetle-Uce, ii, 62 
Belgian rapid cure for itch, ii, 48 
Behrens, Dr., on tape-worm, i, 180 
Belladonna ointment as a remedy for 

Filaria medinensis, i, 404 
Bennett, ii, 122, 224 

on thrush fungus, ii, 223 
Bera's Cercosoma, ii, 101 
Berberis vulgaris, i, 172 
Berg on aphths, ii, 202 
Berg's discoveries on aphthae, ii, 216 

experiments on the development of 

aphthae, ii, 217 
Beschorner, ii, 148 
Besenna anthelmintica, i, 156 
B6te rouge, ii, 68 
Beverages, artificial, of Iceland, i, 239 



Bianchi, assertions respecting Oxyuris, 

i.372 
Bicking's method of expelling tape-worm, 

i, 164 
Biddloo on Distoma hepaticum, i, 261 
Bilberries, i, 239 
Bilbarz, i, 141 

discovery of Distoma heterophyes, 
i,276 

discovery of Distomum in blood, 
i.278 

examination of, for worms, i, S84 
Bischoff on eggs of Nematoda, i, 297 

on Tricluna, i, 345 
Bladder, alterations by the presence of 

Distoma haematobium, i, 282 
Blanchet, ii, 190, 214 
Blaps mortisaga, ii, 101 
Blasius, case of, i, 378 
Blossfield's method o^ expelling tape-> 

worm, i, 165 
Bluebottle flies, ii, 96 
Boa constrictor, ii, 253 
Bobe Moreau, i, 379 
Body-louse, ii, 81 
Boeck, ii, 30 

Boeck's treatment of fiivus, ii, 185 
Borobus, ii, 103 
Bombyx processionea, ii, 105 
Bonanni, ii, 15 
Bonomo, ii, 23 
Bory's case, ii, 63 
Bot-flies, ii, 92 
Bothriocephali, i, 38, 95 
Bothriocephalus, eggs of, i, 38 

latus, i, 96 

latus, treatment for, i, 105 

mature state of, i, 96 

ova and embryos, i, 100 

physiology of, i, 104 

sexual organs of, i, 99 

vascular system of, i, 98 
Botrytis, ii, 114 
Bourdin, ii, 46 
Bourguignon, ii, 23, 37» 50 
Brachycera, ii, 92, 245 
Brayera, i, 160 

Brain, human, Cysticerd in, i, 131 
Bread, experiments on fungi in, ii, 237 
Bremser on Oxyuris, i, 356 

on Strongylus, i, 376 
Bremser 8 remedy for Ascarides, i, 422 
Brera on Distoma hepaticum, i, 261 
Brera, assertions respecting Oxyuris, i, 372 
Brittan, ii, 122 
Büchner, ii, 32 

Bucholz, case of Distoma, i, 263 
Budd, ii, 122 

Dr., case of fluke in liver, i, 433 
Budd's case of Lascar, i, 437 
Bugs, bed-, ii, 85 



INDEX OF VOLUMES I AND II. 



277 



Bugs, treatment for their bites, ii, 86 
Bühlmann, ii, 130 
Butbus, ii, 102 

afer, eigbt^yed, ii, 102 
Bashnan's worms, ii, 100 
Busk, ii, 64, 122 

on Distoma hepaticum, i, 434 
Busk's case of fluke in liver of Lascar, 

i, 437 ; of Acanis, ii, 242 
Buxus sempervirens, i, 172 

Calomel as a remedy for Distoma, i, 388 
Calyptera, ii, 95 
Capparis spinosa, i, 172 
Capuchin powder, ii, 79 
Caspar Wendlandt, case of, ii, 93 
Cataracta viridis lenticularis, i, 408 
Catarrh a cause of thrush, ii, 199 
Catarrhus intestinaliSi i, 386 
Caterpillars, ii, 103 

in human stomach, ii, 104 

of ermine moth, worms infesting, 

1,313 
Caterpillar, processionary, ii, 108 
Cazenave, ii, 145, 189, 233 
Celsus on Trichophyton tonsurans, ii, 146 
Cenedella, opinions on pomegranate bark, 

i, 172 
Centrums, ii, 102 
Cercaria, i, 270 

echinifera, conversion into Distoma 

echinifera, i, 270 
Cerebral ganglia of Oxyuris, i, 361 
Cervi capreoU, ii, 94 
Cephalothorax, ii, 2 
Cestoidea, i, 3, 12, 240 
Cestodea, stages of development, i, 53 
Cestoni, ii, 23 

Chabert on Distoma hepaticum, i, 261 
Champignon du Morguet, ii, 121 
Chapotain, case of, i, 378 
Cheese-mites, ii, 65 
Childhood, thread-worms not confined to, 

i, 372 
Chironomus, ii, 100 
Chlorine gas in favus, ii, 179 
Cholera fungi, ii, 122 
Churchyard -beetle, larvae of, ii, 101 
Clerus formicarius, ii, 101 
Clinode of fungi, ii, 140 
Clinosporei, ii, 232 
Clossius's method of expelling tape-worm, 

i, 153 
Cnesmus acariasis, ii, 63 
Coenuri, i, 233 
Cold-water clysters as a remedy for worms, 

i, 374 
Colour, phenomena of, santonine, i, 425 
Concretions, intestinal, ii, 269 
Copeland on turpentine as a remedy for 

tape-worm, i, 159 



Comua cutanea, ii, 150 

Crab-louse, ii, 82 

Cregutus, ii, 213 

Creophila, ii, 96 

Creplin on Bothriocephali, i, 103 

on Cysticercus, i, 232 
Crow, the Trichinse of the, i, 353 
Crustacea, ii, 3, 4 

like Arachnida, ii, 5 
Cryptococcc«, ii, 120 
Cryptococcus, ii, 120 

Cerevisie, ii, 120, 189, 234 

concatenata, ii, 121 

fermentum, ii, 120 
Cryptosporei, ii, 231 
Cucullanus, i, 244 
Cunnilingi, ii, 156 
Cuprum aceticum, ii, 240 
Curling's case of Dactylius, i, 438 
Cysticercus cellulosae, i, 113, 177 

cellulosae, habitations of, i, 117 

cellulosae, treatment of, i, 132 

cellulosae, Rainey's researches on, 
i,428 

£uciolaris, i, 17 

tenuicollis, i, 177 

Vesicae Hominis, i, 232 

visceralis, i, 177 
Cysticerci, development of, i, 31 

infection with, i, 45 
Cystic worms, i, 13 

tape-worm, growth of body, i, 21 

worms known to the Ancients, 
i. 14 
Cystides, ii, 140 



Dactylius aculeatus, i, 438 ; ii, 100 
Dancing productive of itch, ii, 40 
Debothrium latum, i, 96 
Decerfs case of worms passing with urine, 

i,377 
De Geer, ii, 23 
De la Valette's experiments with Distoma 

hepaticum, i, 269 
Delphiniue, ii, 46 
Denticola hominis, i, 8 
Dermatophilus, ii, 91 
Dermanyssi, ii, 56 
Dermanyssus, ii, 62 

avium, ii, 62, 64 
Desault's method of expelling tape-worm, 

i, 153 
Deslandes, i, 172 
Diabetic urine, ii, 121 
Diacanthus polycephalus, ii, 100 
Diceras rude, ii, 100 
Didot, ii, 189 
Diesing, ii, 6 

on Strongylus gigas, i, 379 
Diet for tape- worm, i, 151 



278 



INDEX OF VOLUMES I AND II. 



Digitalis as a remedy for Filaria medinen- 

si», i, 404 
Diptera, ii, 87 
Distonia, i, 244 

Buskii, i, 437 

hsmatobium, i, 277 

hematobium, action on man, i, 282 

haematobium, action upon the intes- 
tinal mi^cous membrane, i, 285 

haematobium, aption in the utenis, i, 
284 

hsematobiam, description of, i, 279 

haematobium, its effect on the bladder, 
i, 283 

haematobium, action upon the liter, i, 
285 

haematobium, treatment of, i, 286 

hepaticum, i, 247 

hepaticum, alimentary apparatus of, 
1,250 

hepaticum, diagnosis of, i, 265 

hepaticum, excretory organ of^ i, 
251 

hepaticum, habitation of, i, 268 

hepaticum, Mehlis's case, i, 261 

hepaticum, nervous system of, i, 250 

hepaticum, production of, i, 271 

hepaticum, treatment of, i, 266 

heterophyes, treatment of, i, 277 

in human body, i, 433 

lanceolatum, i, 273 

lanceolatum, generative organs of, i, 
275 

malady, progress of, i, 266 

ophthalroobium, i, 246 

parenchyma of, i, 249 

Yon Ammon's, i, 245 
Distomea, i, 246 
Distomum hepaticum, i, 247 

heterophyes, i, 276 

opbthalmobium, i, 287 
Ditrachyceras rudis, ii, 100 
Dobritzhofer, ii, 91 
Doctor, ii, 68 
Dogs, Acari on, ii, 17 

Cysticercus in, i, 178 

experiments on, i, 181 

experiments with Trichina, i, 349 

experiments with Trichinae, i, 353 

in Iceland, i, 237 
Dolichos pruriens, i, 148, 422 
Dracontiasis, i, 397 
DracunculuB, i, 401 

Persarum, i, 397 
Drake's case of worms, i, 439 
Drastic purgatives and mercurials as a 

remedy for tape-worm, i, 150 
Droste, ii, 154 
Drummond's case of Filaria medinensis, i, 

402 
Dubini,.worm found by, i, 383 



Dubois*s method of expelling tape-worm, i, 

165 
Duchateaii, case of, i, 378 
Di^ardin, i, 23 

on Monostomum ochreatum, i, 245 
DumeriVs case of worms passing with 

urine, i, 377 
Dupin*s method of expelling tape-worm, 

i,157 
Duval on Distoma hepaticum, i, 262 

Ear.fungns, ii, 260^ 270 
Echinococci, i, 55^ 189 
Echinococcus altridpariens, i, 205, 234 

diagnosis of, i, 224 

duration of life, i, 228 

generation of, i, 190 

Hominis, i, 189 

Hominis Autorum, i, 205 

Infusorium, i, 192 

in the lungs, i, 208 

of kidneys, i, 223 

of the liver, i, 220 

polymorphus, i, 192 

scolicipariens, i, 234 

soolidpariens, development of, i, 69 

therapeutics in case of, i, 228 

tumours, i, 234 

Veterinorum, i, 181, 189 

Virchow on, i, 216 
Eczema squamosum, ii, 176 
Eggs» formation of, in nematode worms, i, 

291 
Egypt, Ascarides in, i, 317 
Egyptian chlorosis, i, 386 
Eichstädt, ii, 23, 25, 158 
Electricity, its effect on Tasnia, i, 148 
Emmerich, ii, 66 
Enchytraeus, ii, 100- 
Entozoa, i, 2 
Epeira, ii, 102 
Epilation in favus, ii, 182 
Epithelial accumulations, ii, 209 
Epsom salts as a method of expelling tape- 
worm, i, 165 
Erdl's mite, ii, 15 
Eremospermeae, ii, 120 
Eristalis tenax, ii, 101 
Ermine moth, worms infesting, i, 312 
Erythenu Podicis, ii, 200 
Eschricht, i, 196 
Ettmüller, U, 213 

EttmiiUer's method of expelling tape- 
worm, i, 152 
Extraneous matters in human faeces, ii, 105 
Excretory organ of Distoma hepaticum, i, 

231 
Eye, Distoma opbthalmobium in the, i, 287 

human scolex of Taeniasolium in, i, 125 

Pabricius, ii, 23 



INDEX OF VOLUMES I AND H. 



279 



Fanre't Confenrt, ii, 136, 258» 265 

Fkvi and pustules, distinctions between, ii, 

180 
Favus, Ü, 164 

advantages of douche in, ii, 185 

alveolaris, ii, 172 

oonspersus, ii, 175 

disseminatus, ii, 170 

etiology of, ii, 178 

generalis, ii, 170 

independens, ii, 170 

indications of, ii, 181 

isolatus, ii, 170 * 

nummularis, ii, 1 7T 

producing spedal changes in the hair, 
Ü. 177 

iCutiformU, ii, 169, 172 

squarrosus, ii, 169, 173 

treatment of, ii, 181 

urceolaris, ii, 169 
Fasdola, i, 244 
Farre,Dr. Arthur, i, 442 ; ii, 136 

on Trichina, 1, 345 
F^t.glands, ii, 189 

Feet and hands remaining oovered a pre- 
servative from Filaria medinensis, 
i,400 
Festucaria, i, 244 
Ficinus, Dr., on tape-worm, 1, 240 
Fiery serpents supposed to be the Medina 

worm, i, 393 
Filaria, hominis bronchialis, ii, 100 

lachrymalis, i, 408 

lentis, i, 407 
. medinensis, i, 313, 316, 389, 397 

medinensis, diagnosis for, i, 402 

medinensis, different modes of treat- 
ment for, i, 404 

medinensis in the eye, i, 407 

medinensis, mode of extraction, i, 403 

medinensis, mode of production in the 
human body, i, 400 

medinensis, serious effects of breaking 
the worm, i, 405 

immature species found in the human 
lens, i, 407 

Oculi hununi, i, 407 

obtusa of the swallow, i, 408 
Filariae, i, 389 

of insects, i, 312 
Fillz mas in tape-worm, i, 165 

powder as a remedy for worms, i, 973 
Flat worms, i, 1 1 

isolated, i, 244 
Fleas, ii, 88 
Flea-sand, ii, 91 
Flesh-flies, ii, 96 
Flesh-fly, common, ii, 98 
Flies, bot, description of, ii, 92 

true, description of, ii, 92 

two-winged, ü, 87 



Flour and bread productive of Asearides, 

i,317 
Plower.flies, ii, 95 
Folliculi sebaoei, ii, 180 
Forbes on Dracunculus, i, 401 
Formica, ii, 103 
Formicida, ii, 103 
Fox's case of Distoma, !, 434 
Frerichs, ii, 123 
Friedrich on tape-worm, i, 168 
Frog, Trichinae of, i, 353 
Fronmiiller, ii, 47 
Fructus Saoriae as a remedy for tape-worm, 

i,154 
Frustula,ii, 125 
Fuchs, ii, 188 
Fulvius Angelianus, ii, 8 
Fungi, ii, 113, 115, 121, 137 

receptacle of, ii, 139 

spores, ii, 137 
Fungus of the longs, ii, 224 

nail, ii, 227 
Funk on tape-worm, 1, 168 
Fur on the tongue, ii, 210 

Gad-fly, ii, 94 
Gairdner, ii, 225 

on Trichina, i, 339 
Galen, i, 397 
Gal^, ii^23 
Gall-ducts, effects of Distoma hepatieam 

on, i, 264 
Garoasida, ii, 62 
Gangrvna senilis, H, 231 
Garlic as a worm<rezpellent, i, 374 
Gastric disorders, ii, 170 
Gastro-enteritis a symptom of worms, i, 386 
Gastropacha Neustria, i, 313 
Geese, red worms in air-passages of, i, 888 
Geoceres, ii, 85 
Geoffrey, ii, 23 
Geometric spider, ii, 102 
Germ-stock of Nematoda, i, 292 
Germany, Asearides in, i, 317 
Glaucban, i, 317 
Glandulae pilosae, ii, 181 
Gnato, ii, 99 

Goeze, views on worms, i, 19 
Gohier, ii, 55 
Goninm tranquil!, U, 127 
Gomez, i, 172 
Goodsir, ii, 126 

Gordii, distinction from Filarias, i, 889 
Gordiacd, Meissner on, i, 292 
Gordius, i, 312 

aquaticus, ii, 105 

medinensis, i, 397 
Graefe,Yon, on Cysticercus in the eye, i,127 
Grass-mites, ii, 66 

and plant-mites, ii, 65 
Greve, ii, 54 



280 



INDEX OP VOLUMES I AND II. 



Giesker, Dr., case of Distomum hepftttcuin 

in the foot, i, 272 
Glossiva moreitans, ii, 247 
Green, Dr., case of worms, ü, 249 
Griesinger's observations on 'Ancylosto- 
mum, i, 386 

method of treating Ancylostomum 
duodenale, i, 388 

on Distoma haematobium, i, 281 
Groguier, ii, 54 
Grotias, Hugo, case of, i, 378 
Gruby, ii, 175 

cases of Acari, ii, 17 
Oruner's account of the Medina worm, i, 

396 
Gryphosis, ii, 230 
Gubler, ii, 132 
Gudden, ii, 23, 24, 39, 149, 177 

experiments on itch, ii, 26 
Guinea dragon, i, 398 

hair-wonUf i> 398 

thread-worm, i, 398 

worm described as the larva of an in- 
sect, i, 398 
Gunsburg, ii, 146, 147 
Gurlt, M., case related by, i, 379 
Gymnospermeae, ii, 120 

Hsemopis voraz, ii, 105 
Hafenrefftr, ii, 22 
Hair-glands, ii, 181 

special changes of, ii, 177 
Hähne, case of, i, 378 
Hamularia subcompressa, i, 382 
Hannover, ii, 114, 121, 135 
Hardy's cure for itch, ii, 49 

rapid cure for itch, ii, 46 
Harris's letter on case of Distoma, i, 435 
Harvest-mites, ii, 67 
Haubner*s experiments, i, 70 

experiment on a pig, i, 43 

experiments on Echinococcus, i, 202 
Hauptmann, ii, 22 

Hautesiark, R. de, method of expelling tape- 
worm, i, 156 
Hawk, Trichinae of, i, 353 
Heat favorable to Filariamedinen8is,i,400 
Hebra, ii, 23, 25, 33, 39, 147 
Hebra's method of curing itch, ii, 43 

treatment of favus, ii, 185 

watch-key method of extracting Acari, 
Ü, 18 
Hecker, ii, 44 
Helmbrecht, ii, 134 
Helmerich*s ointment, ii, 47 
Helmintha, i, 2, 11 
Helminthae, U, 1 1 7 

Helminthochordon in tape- worm, i, 165 
Hemimetabola, ii, 84 
Hemiptera, ii, 84 
Henle, ii, 15 



Herbst on Trichina^ i, 353 

Hermann, ii, 58 

Herpes drcinatus, ii, 144, 170 
tonsurans, ii, 141, 177, 179 
tonsurans and favus not identical, 
U, 185 

Herrenschandt's method of expelling tape- 
worm, i, 166 

Hertwig, ii, 44 

Hessling, ii, 58 

Hexathyridinm pinguicola, ii, 100 
venarum, ii, 100 

Hille's, Dr., account of the Medina worm, 
i, 396 

Hiller on tape-worm, i, 168 

HUUng,ü, 114 

Hippocrates' notions of thrush, ii, 212 

Höfle, ii, 129 

Holoroetabola, ii, 87 

Hooklets, development of, i, 432 

Hopping Diptera, ii, 88 

Hornets, ii, 103 

Horn's method of curing itch, 43 

House-spiders, ii, 102 

Hufeland's method of es^pelling tape-worm» 
i, 152 
remedy for Ascaris, i, 423 

Humble bees, ii, 103 

Hunting spiders, ii, 102 

Huxley, i, 190 

Hydatid disease, i, 233 

Hydatigena granulosa, i, 192 

Hydatis erratica, i, 192 

Hyalemyia, ii, 96 

Hydrachna, ii, 61 

Hydatid trembling, i, 225 

Hymenoptera, ii, 103 



Jacobson, opinions on Guinea worm, i, 398 

Jalap as a remedy for worms, i, 373 

Jahn, ii, 66 

Janson, ii, 66 

Iceland, cases of tape-worm in, i, 206 

dogs in, i, 236 

hydatid disease in, ii, 233 

waters of, i, 238 
Icelandic sheep, i, 233 
Icthyosis, ii, 150 
Jenner, ii, 127 
Jenni, ii, 43 
Impetigo granulata, ii, 173 

pustules of, ii, 176 
Infection by drink with Taenia, i, 238 
Infusoria, i, 5 
Insects, ii, 3 
Insects, ii, 68 
Introitus faucium, i, 411 
Intestinal canal, i, 3 
Joachim's case, ii, 50 
Johannisapotheke, i, 173 



INDEX OP VOLUMES I AND II. 



281 



Inchatt, i, 897 

Isocarpeae, ii, 120 

Israelites, plague of serpents among the, 

i,392 
Itch, Belgian core for, ii, 48 

cure of, ii, 41 

diagnosis of, ii, 41 

inoculation of, ii, 26 

known to the Ancients, ii, 20 

mites, ii, 19, 33 

mite combs, ii, 41 

mites, discovery of, ii, 25 

mites, moulting of, ii, 38 

mode of infection, ii, 39 

remedies of, ii, 44 
Jongken's case of Filaria, i, 408 
Jungken, Professor, i, 245 
Ixodida, ii, 59 
Ixodes Americanns, ii, 60 

crenatus, ii, 60 

humanus, ii, 60 

marginatns, ii, 60 

ridnos, ii, 60 

Karsten's'method of expelling tape-worm, 

1,167 
Kali cansticom in thmsh, ii, 205 
Kämpfer on Filaria medinensis, i, 401 
Karmsen, Herr, sheep, i, 32 
Kidneys, Echinococcus of, i, 223 

cases of worms in, i, 378 
Kieser on tape-worm, i, 168 
Kircher, ii, 22 
Kletzinsky, i, 425 
Knellie, ii, 214 
Kobelt, U, 44 
KoUiker, i, 291 ; ü, 125, 129 

on the eggs of nematode worms, i, 291 
Kousso, i, 177 

as a remedy for tape-worm, i, 160 

its effect on Tnnia, i, 148 
Kramer, ii, 23 

Laborde's supposition respecting scorpions 
in the Mosaic writings, i, 391 

Lagine's method of expelling tape-worm, 
i,152 

Lamarck, ii, 23 

Lameil's obsenrations on the processionaiy 
caterpillar, ii, 108 

Land-bugs, ii, 85 

Langenbeck, ii, 216 

Lanzoni, ii, 22 

Languetin, ii, 23 

Lankester, Dr., ii, 122 

Latrodectus Malmignatus, ii, 102 

Laurence, case of worms, i, 377 

Lavements daily as a remedy for thread- 
worms, i, 374 

Lebert, i, 191; ii, 121 

Leeches, ii, 105 



Leeuwenhoek, ii, 130 
Leonhardt, Dr., case of worble, ii, 93 
Lepra asturiensis, ii, 150 
Leptomitus, ii, 120, 136, 216 

Epidermidis, ii, 132 

HannoTerii, ii, 132, 236, 257 

Muci uterini, ii, 133 

Oculi, ii, 134 

urophilns, ii, 131 

Uteri, ii, 133 
Leptothrix buccalis, H, 129, 224, 257 ^ 
Leptus, ii, 65 
Leuckart on Cystieerci, i, 46, 61 

experiments on Trichina, i, 349 
Liebholt, Dr., ii, 44 
Lice, ii, 76 

among the Asiatic and American In» 
dians, ii, 80 

peculiar to negroes, ii, 79 
Lieutaud's method of expelling tape- worm, 

i, 152 
Limax agrestis, i, 6 
LinguatolsB, ii, 5, 6, 7, 101 
Linguatula constricta, ii, 8 

denticulata, ii, 8, 11 

emarginata, ii, 11 

ferox, ii, 8 

serrata, ii, 11 

taenioides, ii, 8, 11 
Linn^, ii, 22 

Linimentum Calcis, ü, 186 
Liparis chrysorrhoea, i, 313 
Liver, case of fluke in, i, 433 
Liver, Echinococcus of, symptoms, i, 222 
Liringstone, Dr., ii, 243 
Localities of Filaria medinensis, i, 400 
Lorum, il, 134 
Louse, body, ii, 81 
Louse, common, ii, 76 
Louse, head, eggs of, ii, 77 
Lungs, fungus of the, ii, 224 
Luschka, experiment on a goat, i, 54 

experiments on a goat with Cysticer- 
cus, i, 185 

experiments on Trichina spiralis, i, 
343 

on Trichina spiralis, i, 333 
Lues plicosa, ii, 149 

trichomatica, ii, 149 
Lungs, worms in the, consequences of, i, 

382 
Lycopodium seeds mistaken for parasites, 

U,235 
Lycosa tarantula, ii, 102 
Lycosida, ii, 102 

Magendie on tape- worm, i, 168 
Maggots of flesh-flies, ii, 99 
Mahon, ii, 189 

Mahon's cure for Trichophyton tonsurans, 
ii, 145 



282 



INDEX OF VOLUMES I AND II. 



Malacophyce», ii, 120 

Male fern as a remedy for tape- worm, i, 162 

Malgtigne's case of Filaria medinensis, i, 

398 
Malherbe, ii, 146 
Malmignatte, ii, 5, 102 
Malmsten's parasites, ii, 147 

treatment of Trichophyton tonsurans, 
ii, 146 
Malpighi on Distoma hepaticnm, i, 261 
Margined tick, ii, 60 
Martiny, ii, 23 

account of the sand-ilea, ii, 91 
Martius, i, 172 
Martius, Professor, on Eoussoas a remedy 

for tape- worm, i, 161 
Matthien's method of expelling tape-worm 

with tin, i, 157 
Mayer's method of expelling tape-worm, i, 
167 
method of expelling tape-worm with 
tin, i, 157 
Mayor's method of expelling tape-worm, i, 

166 
Measled pork, i, 428 
Measurement of hooks, i, 242 
Medina worm, i, 393 
Mehlis on a case of Distoma hepaticum, i, 

261 
Meissner, i, 292 

fungus nail, ii, 227 
on Ascarides, i, 302 
on the eggs of nematode worms, i, 

290 
on eggs of Nematoda, i, 298 
Mercurials as a remedy for Filaria medi- 

nensis, i, 405 
Mercurius corrosivus, ii, 238 
Merismopiedia punctata, ii, 127 

Ventriculi, ii, 120, 124, 256 
Mermides, i* 306 
Mermis, i, 295, 312 
albicans, i, 313 
in stomach, ii, 105 
Mermites, i, 292 
Meyer Ahrens, i, 148 
M'Gregor's table of cases of Filaria medi- 

nensis, i, 401 
Mice, experiments on, by administering en« 

cysted Trichine, i, 354 
Michael, M., investigation on the Medina 

worm, i, 393 
Microsporon, ii, 152 
Audouini, ii, 153 
furfur, ii. 158, 161, 228, 240 
mentagrophytes, ii, 155 
Miescher, ii, 15 
Migration of embryo, i, 4 
MUben Hautschabe, ii, 63 
Milk, coagulated, mistaken for thrush, ii, 
210 



MUlet, ii, 190 
Mites, ii, 5 

Mites accidentally transferred from man to 
animals, ii, 50 

from cheese, ii, 65 

from plums, ii, 65 

grass and plant species, ii, 65 
Moller*s case of Echinococcus, i, 200 
Mole, Trichinae of the, i, 353 
Molimina haemonrhoidalia, itching caused 

by, i, 373 
Monceaa, case of, i, 378 
Mongin's case of Filaria in the eye, i, 407 
Monocotylea, i, 244, 246 
Monostoma, i, 244 
Monostomum, i, 244 
Moon, influence of, on Oxyurides, i, 375 
Morgagni, i, 323 ; ii, 23 
Morpion, ii, 82 
Mosing on tape-worm, i, 168 
Mosquitos, ii, 99 
Moublet, case of, i, 378 
Moufet, ii, 21 
Mould on bread, ii, 237 
Movements, amaeboid, i, 8 
Mucenna, i, 156 
Mocor mucedo, ii, 231, 263 
Mucus, ii, 114 
Muguet, ii, 190, 214 

confluent, ii, 192 
Müller, ii, 189 
Munroe, Dr., 269 
Musca camaria, ii, 98 

canicularis, ii, 253 

domestica, larva of, ii, 98 

erytbrocephala, ii, 96 

Stabalans, ii, 98 

Yomitoria, ii, 96 
MuiCSB volitantes, ii, 134 
Muscida, ii, 95 
Mustela, worms in the lungs of a spedea of, 

i,381 
Mycoderma Cerevisiae, ii, 121 
Mycoderma Eichstaedtii, ii, 159 
MycophycesD, ii, 120 
Myelrointha, i, 244 
Myriapoda, ii, 3 

Naides, ii, 100' 
Nail Fungus, ii, 228 
Natron santonicum, i, 421, 426 
santonicum as a clyster for 
374 
Naramboo, i, 397 
Nardi, ii, 227 
Navicula, ii, 13 
Nechaschim Seraphim, i, 392 
Negro case. Busk's, ii, 64 
Nelson on eggs of Nematoda, i, 297 
Nematelmta, i, 11,289 
Nematoid larva, migrations of, i» 913 



INDEX OP VOLUMES I AND H. 



283 



Nematoida, i, 3 

fecundation of, i, 305 

generative organs of, i, 297 

migration of, i, 291 
Nematode worms in human bodies, i, 289 
Nemocera, ii, 99, 249 
Nervous system of Distoma hepaticnm, i, 
250 

system of Oxynrides, i, 361 
Newport, i, 290 
New Zealand lice, ii, 80 
Nicolai, ii, 107 

on tape-worm, i, 107 
Nipples, occurrence of thrush on the, ii, 200 
Nitszch, ii, 23 
Nitric acid in favus, ii, 179 
Nitrate of silver a remedy for thrush, ii, 210 
Nordmann's case of Filaria, i, 408 
Nordmann, Monostoma lentis of, i, 245 

worm possessed by, i, 245 
Noss on tape-worm» i, 1, 68 
Norway, itch in, ii, 32 
NucleoU, ii, 126 
Nuffer's method of expelling tape-worm, i, 

164 
Nyander, ii, 23, 25 

inttotinal itch, ii, 65 

(Estridea, ii, 92, 245 
(Estrus, ii, 8, 94 

Bovis, ii, 94, 246 

Ovis, ii, 94 
Oidium, ii, 163, 189 

albicans, ii, 139, 190, 224, 230 
Oil of turpentine for Ascarides, i, 415 
Oleum animale as a remedy for worms, 1, 
374 

Chaberti, i, 422 

Chaberti.as a remedy for worms, i, 374 

filicis maris in tape-worm, i, 166 
Olive oil, clysters of , as a remedy for 

worms, i, 374 
Oniscos murarius, ii, 101 
Oribatida, ii, 65 
Oscillaria Intestini, ii, 136, 265 
Oschatz, ii, 17 
Osiander, ii, 54 

Oviduct of Distoma hepaticum, i, 254 
Owen, on Entozoa, i, 442 

on Trichina spiralis, i, 333 

correspondence on case oi Distoma, 
i, 435 
Owl, Trichinae of the, i, 353 
Oxyurides, i, 3, 314 

nervous system of, i, 359 

Saoria as a remedy, i, 155 

sexual relations of, i, 368 

skin of, i, 362 
Oxyuris, i, 355 

muscular system of, i, 363 

ornata, i, 363, 366 



Oxyuris vermicularis, i, 297» 356, 363, 420 
vermicnlaris, alimentary apparatus of, 

i, 366 
vermicularis, locality of, i, 372 

Pacini, ii, 226 

Pallas on Distoma hepaticum, i, 261 

views on Cysticercus, i, 18 
Palmellese, ii, 120 
Panna, i, 427 
Paper-wasps, ii, 103 
Parasites, animal, i, 2 

general remarks on, i, 1 

human, i, 1 

the cause of epidemic disease, ii, 117 

vegetable, ii, 113 

vegetable^ development of , ii, 116 

vegetable, eflRect of, ii, 116 

vegetable, from vagina, ii, 235 

vegetable, nutrition of, ii, 1 16 

vegetable, reproduction of, ii, 116 

whose muscles exhibit no transverse 
striatiou, i, 2 
Parasiticida, ii, 128 
Parenchyma of Distoma, i, 249 
Partridge, Mr., case of fluke in human 

liver, i, 433 
PauUin on worms, 1, 377 
Pechlin, U, 213 
Pediculida, ii, 76 
Pediculus Capitis, ii, 76 

Human! Corporis, ii, 81 

Vestimenti, ii,8l 
Pediculi tabescentium, H, 79 
Penicillium glaucum, ii, 127, 187 
Pentastoma, ii, 6 
Pentastomum, ii, 7 

constrictum, ii, 8 
Peridium of fungi, H, 139 
Persian insect-powder, ii, 79 
Perspiratory glands, ii, 180 
Peschier's prescription of tape-worm, 1, 107 
Petromyzon marinus, i, 6 
Phenomenology and diagnosis of all the 
mature Cestoidea in the human in- 
testine, i, 142 
Phycoma, ii, 124 
Pharaoh's worm, i, 398 
Phthiriasis, ii, 80, 82 

interna, ii, 63 
Phthirius Pubis, ii, 82 
Pigeons, experiments with Trichine, i, 353 
Pigs, experiments on, for Tenia solium, i, 

121 
Pimple-mite, ii, 15 
Pisdola geometra, ii. 100 
Pitch-cap, ii, 259 
Pityriasis, ii, 176, 228 

versicolor, ii, 158 

Oris, ii, 210 
Platyelmia, i, 11, 12 



284 



INDEX OF VOLUMES I AND TI. 



Platyelmia isolatt, i, 244 

Plaitter, ammoniical, for favus, ii, 186 

Plica polonica, ii, 58, 147 

polonica, examination of, ii, 148 

polonica on dotes, ii, 151 

polonica, origin of, ii, 50 

polonica, Taccination of, ii, 148 
Pockel's, Dr., case uf Echinococcus, i, 224 

on tape-worm, i, 240 

remedy for worms, i, 373 
Polistes, ii, 103 
Polycephalns grannlosus, i, 192 

Hominis, i, 192 
Polystoma pinguicola, ii, 100 
Pomegranate bark in tape- worm, i, 171 

method of administering, i, 173 
Pontia Crataegi, i, 313 
Pork a means of communicating Tenia 

solium, i, 114 
Porrigo favosa, ii, 170, 175 

decalvans, ii, 146 

disseminata, ii, 168 

lupinosa, ii, 228 

scutulata, ii, 172, 180 

Bcutiformis, ii, 168 

squarrosa, ii, 173 
Pouchet, ii, 79 

Processionaiy caterpillar, hair of, ii, 105 
Proglottis, i, 37 
Pn>glottides, passage of, i, 137 
Pruner, ii, 8 

case of Filaria behind the liver, i, 401 

on the parts of the mouth of Ancy- 
lostomum, i, 385 
Prurigo senilis, ii, 64 

sine papulis, ii, 30 
Pseudo-parasites, ii, 234 
Ptinus fur, ii, 101 
Puccinia AUiorum, ii, 233 

Favi, ii, 232, 233, 264 

Polygonorum, ii, 233 

Virgaurea, ii, 233 
Pudendagra, ii, 157 
Pulex irritans, ii, 89 

penetrans, ii, 91 
Pulicida, ii, 88 
Punica granatum, i, 171 
Pustules and favus, distinctions between, 

ii, 180 
Pyrethrum, i, 187 

caucaseum, ii, 79 



Rabbits, Cysticerci of, i, 28 

Raimann, Von, Professor, on Kousso as a 

remedy for tape- worm, i, 161 
Raisin, case of, i, 378 
Rainey's researches on Cysticercus, i, 428 
Rapp's method of expelling tape-worm, i, 

165 
Raspail, ii, 23 



Ratzeburg's observations on the proeea- 

sionary caterpillar, ii, 108 
Raw food, i, 239 

Raw meat productive of tape-worm, i, 317 
Raw meat to be avoided, as productive of, 

Trichocephalus, i, 354 
Rayer, ii, 189, 225 

on tape-worm, i, 168 
Receptacle of fungi, ii, 139 
Red Sea, worms of the, i, 390 
Reinlein, i, 114 
Remak, ii, 15, 163, 225 

on growth and oontagiousneu of 
favus, 187 

remarks on favus, ii, 188 
Reproductive organs of Distoma beptti« 

cum, i, 253 
Retzius, ii, 189 
Reubold,ii,202, 211 

questions vrith regard toaphthas, ii, 21 9 
Rhodius, case, i, 378 
Rhyngota, ii, 84 
Richter, i, 290 ; ü, 146 

experiments on Ascaris, i, 311 
Ricord, ii, 210 
Rigler, ii, 32 
Rete Malpighi, ii, 30 
Ritscher's method of expelling tape- worm, 

1,152 
Robin,ii, 117, 125, 195 
Rokitansky's experience of Distoma he- 
paticum, i, 263 
Roman medical writers on thrush, ii, 212 
Rose, Dr. on Tenia, i, 140 
Rosenbaum, ii, 150 
Rouget, ii, 67 
Round worms, i, 11 
Rudolphi, ii, 6 
Ruysch, case of, i, 378 
Rumex acetosa, i, 239 

SabadiUa as a remedy for tape- worm, i, 

149 
Sagittula Hominis, ü, 100 
Sand-flea, ii, 91 
Sand-flies, ii, 99 
Santonine, i, 424 
Santlus, ii, 157 
Saprolegnia ferox, ii, 114 
Sarcina, ii, 126 
Sarcophaga, ii, 98 
Sarcopsylla penetrans, 11, 91 
Sarcoptes Bovis, ii, 55 ' 

Canis, ii, 51 

Catorum, ii, 51 

of cats, ii, 51 

Eqiii, ii, 52 

Hominis, ii, 42,51 

Ovis, ii, 56 
Sausages a means of communicating Tenia, 
1,117 



INDEX OF VOLUMES I AND. II. 



285 



SeabsofÜTi, 11,173 

Scbebdi as a remedy for tape- worm, i, 154 

Schenten, Dr., case of Strong^li» related 

by, i, 379 
Scbinanger, ii, 40, 44, 81 
SchmidtmüUer, i, 172 
Schoenemann on tape-worm, i, 167 
Schrant on Bchinococcua, i, 213 
Schultz, ii, 83 

Sderostomum quadridentatum, i, 384 
Scolex, passing into activity, i, 80 

resting on nnrse, i, 93 
Schombnrgk, ii, 94 
Scorpio, ii, 102 

flavicandus, ü, 102 
Scorpions, ii, 102 
Sebaceous follicles, ii, 180 
SedentarisB, ii, 102 
Selle's worm-electuary, i, 423 
Semina Cinae, i, 422 
Seraphim, i, 392 

Serpent, brazen, signification of, i, 394 
Serpents, fiery, supposed to be FiUria me- 

dinensis, i, 391 
Sharptail, i, 355 
Sheep, Cystioerci in, i, 184 

Tertigo in, i, 233 
Sick, ii, 54 
Siebold, Von, ü, 10 

on the lan/ie of flies, ii, 99 
Simon, ii, 63 
Simon Gustav, ii, 15 
Simonida, ii, 14 
Simulida, ii, 99 
Six-hooked brood of Taenia, i, 40 

when free, destiny of, i, 48 
Skin of Trematoda, i, 248 

of Oxyurides, i, 362 
Skin-worm, i, 398 
Sluyter, ii, 158 

treatment of Mycoderma, ii, 161 
Snakes, ii, 103 
Soft bags, ii, 85 

Soft soap as a remedy for itch, ii, 42 
Sömmering, discovery of males of Oxyuris 
in evacuations, i, 368 

remedy for worms, i, 374 
Sorrel water, i, 239 
Spiders, ii, 102 
Spider-like Arachnida, ii, 5 
Sphseria Robertsii, ii, 134 
Spigelia anthelmintica as a remedy for 

tape-worm, i, 149 
Spiroptera Hominis, i, 438, 442 

from urine, ii, 100 
Sporangium, ii, 119 
Spores of fungi, ii, 137 
Sporotrichum, ii, 216 
Stanger, Dr., ü, 64, 243 
Stannum raspatum, i, 421 
Steenstmp, altematioo of generations, i, 22 



Sterna Cantiana, i, 268 

St. Gallicana, hospital of, ii, 186 

Stieglitz, ii, 80 

Stincns marinns, i, 207 

Stomatitis follicularis, ü, 210, 216 

morbillosa, ii, 200, 209, 217 

vesicularis, ii, 209, 212 
Storck's remedy for Ascaris, i, 423 
Stratton, case of, i, 379 
Strawberries, i, 239 
Strobila, i, 108 

the so-called tape-worm colony, i, 84^ 
Strohl, Dr., experiments with Saoria, 

i, 155 
Strongyli, veri, i, 375 
Strongylus, i, 317 

auriculatos, i, 386 

gigas, i, 376 

gigas, specimen in the College of 
Surgeons, i, 379 

horridus, i, 442 

longivaginatus, i, 381 ; ii, 100 

tetracanthus, i, 384 
Strizolobium Mucuma, i, 148 
Sulphur remedies for itch, ii, 42 
Sulphuric add as a remedy for tape-worm, 
1,150 

in £svus, ii, 179 
Swammerdamm, ii, 78 
Swayne, Ii, 122 
Sydow, ii, 54 
Syphilitic disease of tongue, ii, 210 



Tabanus, ii, 94 
Taenia, ii, 6 

crateriformis, i, 193 

Ccenurus, i, 185 

Coenurus, experiments on sheep with, 

i,71 
crassicollis, ii, 12 
dispar, i, 3 ; ii, 12 
epidermis of, i, 113 
egg» of, i, 41, 73 
eggs of, caution needful regarding 

them, i, 204 
grand-nurses or embryos, i, 93 
granulosa, i, 192 
matura, i, 108, 192 
mediocanellata, i, 133, 169 
nana, i, 141 

sexual organs of, i, 89, 111 
solium andCysticercus cellulosae, proof 

ofidentity of, i, 118 
solium, description, 107 
solium, eggs contained in, converted 

Into Cysticercus, 120 
solium, soolex in the human brain, 

1,131 
solium, soolex in the human body, 

i, 124 



286 



INDEX OF VOLUMES I AND II. 



Tsnit solium, scolei present io the humtii 
eye, i, 128 

solium, treatment for, i, 147 

symptoms produced by, i, 142 

the head of, i, 108 

the order, description of, i, 106 

uterus of, i 113 

which occur in man, i, 107 

variety from the Cape of Good Hope, 
1,139 

TisÖeralis, i, 192 
TsenisB, i, 19 

deformity in, i, 76 

immature, i, 177 

position of hooks in, i, 87 
Tampan, ii, 243 
Tannin, ii, 240 

as a remedy in favus, ii, 187 
Tape-worm, i, 12, 108 

method of expelling, Desault's me- 
thod, i, 153 

methods of expelling, Hofsland's 
method, i, 152 

remedies for, i, 149 

treatment for, i, 147 
Tarantula, ii, 5 
Tarantulism, ii, 102 
Tar ointment, ii, 239 
Tegenaria, ii, 102 

Testicles of Distoma hepaticum, i, 255 
Tetrarhynchi, i, 24 
Theca of fungi, ii, 139 
Thompson on Ascaris mystax, i, 290, 298 
Thorstensohn, case of Echinococcus, 
i, 182 

case of worms by, i, 207 
Thrush, ii, 190 

cases of, ii, 198, 208 

colour off ii, 196 

contagious disease, ii, 206 

fungus, ii, 259 

fungus, parasites resemblipg, ii, 223 

Hippocrates' notion of, ii, 212 

in adults, ii, 20 ö 

in dyspepsia, ii, 202 

on the nipples, ii, 195 

remedies for, ii, 210 

seat of, ii, 196 
Thread-worms, i, 288, 314 

emigrttions of, U 314 
Thudichum, ii, 55 
Ticks, ii, 59 
Tick, dog, ii, 60 

Ticks of North and South Ameriea, ii, 60 
Tilly of Courtvmi, rtmedy for iteb, U, 43 
TiluMis on Echinoooocus, i, 213 
Tinctura Staphisagri», ii, 46 

Tabad« ii, 46 
Tinea, ii, 141 

alveolaris, ii, 170 

favosa, ii, 146 



Tinea hipinosa, ii, 170 

scrutulata, 11,173 

sycosa, ii, 146 

tonsurans, ii, 146 
Tin, methods of expelling tape-worm with, 

i, 156 
Tipula oleraoea, ii, 100 
Tipulidse, ii, 99 
Toads, ii, 103 ' 
Tooth-brush, ii, 130 
Torula, ii, 234 

Cerevisie, ii, 120 
Torulaceae, ii, 139 
Tott on tape-worm, i, 167 
Transverse muscular fibres, i, 113 
Trembling hydatids, i, 227 
Trematoda, i, 3, 244 

skin of the, i, 248 
Treutler, ii, 100 

case of StrongyluB longevaginatns, 
i, 381 
Trichocephalus affinis, ii, 354 

diipar, sexual apparatus of, i, 315, 
321, 329 
Trichocephali,modes of infection with,i,315 
Trichomonas vaginalis, i, 6 
Trichophyton, ii, 147 

tonsurans, ii, 140 

ulcerum, ii, 152 
Trichosporei, ii,231 

destination of, i, 348 

of the hawk, i, 353 
Trichina affinis, i, 315 

affinis in the flesh of the pig, i, 333 

spiralis, as the brood of Trichocephalus 
dispar, engaged in migration, i, 322, 
333 

spiralis, i, 315 

spiralis, modes of infection with, i, 316 

spiralis, skin of, i, 350 
Tricuspidaria nodosa, i, 23 
Tropical chlorosis caused by intestinal 

worms, if 389 
Trychophjrton spomloides, ii, 148 
Tsetse, ii, 247 
Tuba of Nematoida, i, 295 
Tubercula, ii« 213 

Turpentine, oil of, as a remedy for Dis- 
toma, i, 388 

oil of, as a remedy for tape«worm, i, 
358 
Taschek's reports on the Persian worm, i, 
397 

Upmann, ii, 45 

Uredo, ii, 122 

Urine, cases of worms passing with, i, 377 

Uterus of Distoma hepaticum, i, 254 

Vagina of Distoma hepaticum, i, 255 
vegetable parasites from, ii, 235 



INDEX OP VOLUMES I AND II. 



287 



Valerian clysters as a reinedy for worms,!, 

374 
Van Beneden, i, 25 
Van den Corput, ii, 44 
Vegetobles in Iceland, i, 239 
Vegetable parasites, ii, 113 
Vertigo in sheep, i, 233 
Vesicaria granulosa, i, 192 
Vespa crabro, ii, 103 
Vespa holsatica, ii, 103 
Vespida, ii, 103 
Verloren, i, 290 

experiments on Ascaris^ i, 310 
Vermes, i, 11 

cucurbitini, i, 35 

cystici, i, 13 
Viborg, ii, 54 
Vibrio, ii, 129 
Vibriones, i, 5; ii, 130 
Vincentias Alsarius, ii, 8 
Virchow, ii, 126, 228 

fungus nail, ii, 227 

on Echinococcus, i, 213 
Vitelligene, i, 293 

Vitelligenes of Distoma hepaticnro, i, 253 
Vogel, Ü, 121 
Vogt, ii, 2 

Carl, on Bothriocephali, i, 103 
Vok, ii, 47 

Von Ammon's case of Echinococcus, i, 198 
Von Haselberg on tape-worm, i, 167 
Von Siebold, ii, 66 

on Linguatula, ii, 10 
Von Studzieniski, ii, 149 
Von Walther, ii, 148 
Von Wittig, Professor, i, 371 



Walter, George, on Oxyuris, i, 361 
Wawruch's method of curing tape-worm, 

i, 162 
Wasps, ii, 103 



Water, bad, a means of producing Filaria 
medinensis, i, 400 

Waters of Iceland, i, 238 

Wax-mites, ii, 22 

Weasels, experiments on forTrichiu8e,i,353 

Wedl, Ü, 123, 129 . 

Wedl on Oxyuris, i, 366 

Weisshaar's method of expelling tape-worm, 
i,163 

Wepfer on Distoma hepaticum, i, 261 

Whip-worm, i, 326, 355 

Wichmann, ii, 25 

Wilkinson, ii, 133 

Willan,ii, 64 

Willigk, ii, 56 

Wilson, ii, 126 

Wolff heim's method of expelling tape- 
worm, i, 165 

Woodlice, ii, 101 

Woodlouse, ii, 61 

Woodpecker, Trichinie of the, i, 353 

Worms, flat, i, 11 
round, i, 11 
tape, i, 12 

Wormwood as a worm-expellent, i, 374 

Wulf, assertions respecting Oxyuris, i, 372 

Wunderlich, H, 128 

Wurtemberg method of expelling tape- 
worm, i, 163 

Yeast, ii, 121 

Tponomeuta evonymella, i, 312 

Zeder's case of Cysticercus, i, 182 

Zeller's case of Echinococcus in the liTcr, 

i, 211 
Zenker, Dr., discoveries of Oxyuris, i, 369 
on Linguatula, ii, 11 
description of Linguatula ferox, ii, 1 1 
experiments on tape-worm, i, 206 
experiments on Trichina, i, 349 
measurement of hooks, ii, 14. 



i. B. ADLARD, PRINTSR, BARTHOLOMBW CLOSE. 



ON 



TAPE AND CYSTIC WOMS, 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION 



ORIGIN OF INTESTINAL WORMS. 



BT 

CARL THEODOR VON SIEBOLD, 

PK0FK88OB IN TBI VKITBRSITT OV MCHICH. 



TRAK8LATED BY 

T. II. HUXLEY, F.R.S., 

WITH THIRTY. SIX WOODCUTS. 



LONDON: 
PRINTED FOR THE SYDENHAM SOCIETY. 

MDCCCLVII. 



PRINTED BY J. K, ADLARD, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE. 



VON SIEBOLD 



TAPE AND CYSTIC WORMS. 



CONTENTS. 



PAOB 

Author's Preface . . . . . «1 

Introdaciion . . . . 3 



CHAPTER I. 
Origin of Intestinal Worms . 



CHAPTER II. 

On the Tape-worm . . 31 

Encysted Cestoidea . • .33 

The Scolex state . . 35 

Development of Scoliccs . • • .37 

Proglottides . . . • • . . 41 



CHAPTER III. 
Cystic Entozoa . . • • .47 



CHAPTER IV. 

On the origin of the Cestoid and Cystic Entozoa 

1. Experiments on feeding with CysHeereu» pitifbrmis 

2. Experiments on feeding with Cystietreu» tewuieoUU 

3. Experiments on feeding with Cyttieercut ceUulosa 

4. Experiments on feeding with Ccmurtu cerebralit 

5. Experiments on feeding with Echinoeocctu Veterinorum . 

6. On diseases prodnced by Cystic worms and their prevention 
Cysticerci in sausages .... 
Cestoid epidemic of Iceland 



57 
59 
62 
66 
69 
73 
77 
85 
87 



AUTHOE'S PUEFACE, 



Invbstioations into the natural history of the entosoa, con* 
tinned for many years^ have tanght me that it is impossible to 
obtain a complete view of the different stages of existence through 
which these parasites pass^ if one's observations are restricted to 
bat a few of the localities in which they are found. At an early 
period of my researches, it became evident that the same entosoon^ 
in its young state^ may have a very different habitation £rom that 
in which it is found in its adult condition; for these animals 
undergo the most remarkable metamorphoses, and their habits 
varying with their changes in form and age, they are necessitated 
repeatedly to change their residence. 

These peculiarities in the natural history of the entozoa, often 
most difficult of investigation, have rendered the task of the 
helminthologist, in seeking to obtain a just conception of their 
genera and species, a very difficult one. It has only too frequently 
happened that the different stages of development of the same 
species of entozoa, have been described as so many distinct species 
or genera ; and thus the systematic arrangement of the group has 
been built upon a faulty foimdation. Hence, again, a difficulty 
has arisen in the way of attaining correct ideas with regard to the 
modes of propagation of the intestinal worms, and this obstacle 
could only be removed by determining, in defiance of the authority 
of the older helminthologists, to give up many genera and species 
established upon what they supposed to be independent forms. 

1 



2 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

The investigation of the natural history of the intestinal worms, 
at the same time, opened up a channel through which their mode of 
origin could be traced ; and indicated a way in which the attacks 
of those parasites which are dangerous or troublesome to man 
and animals, could be prevented; an object, in certain cases, of 
the highest importance, since the morbid changes induced by 
many entozoa in the organs which they infest, are not always 
removable. 

For a long period, I have been at much pains to inquire into 
the origin of the entozoa foimd in man and the domestic animals ; 
and in the present essay I lay before physicians, veterinarians, 
and breeders, a summary of the results of the observations 
and experiments which I have made upon the production and 
development of these creatures. My chief attention has been 
directed to the destructive cystic-worms, and I believe that the 
conclusions at which I have arrived are not merely a gain for 
science, but promise to be of useful practical application. 

Munich ; March ZOth, 1854. 



INTRODUCTION. 

CHAPTER I. 

UPON THB ORIGIN OF INTESTINAL WORMS. 

Having been occupied for many years with inquiries into the 
natural history of the intestinal worms^ a subject involved in 
much obscurity, I have gradually arrived at the decided conclusion 
that these parasites do not originate, as has been commonly 
believed, by ^^ equivocal generation,^^ j&x)m substances of a dis- 
similar nature. With the usual exaggeration and misuse of 
language, the doctrine of equivocal generation has been applied 
both to the infusoria and to the intestinal worms. It was diffi- 
cult, at first sight, to account for the origin and reproduction of 
these animals, and, even upon closer investigation, they presented 
many phenomena which could not be recognised in the organiza- 
tion and vital manifestations of other, especially of the higher 
animals ; but instead of seeking for the cause of these exceptional 
peculiarities, people, accommodating themselves to the usually 
accepted view as to the natural history of these lower creatures, set 
the matter straight in their minds, by supposing that the omusual 
phenomena occurred somehow or other in that way ; thus allowing 
the imagination to indulge in fancies of the wildest description, and 
even in opposition to the most important laws of nature. It was 
in this manner that physicians and naturalists thought themselves 
justified in assuming, that the parasitic worms in the intestines 
of men and ftniTnAl« owed their origin to ill-digested nutriment, 
or that they were developed in the most widely different oi^ans 
from corrupt juices. They took it for granted, that certain 



4 INTBODUCTION. 

morbid processes in any organ were competent to give rise to para- 
sites, assuming that the elementary constituents of an organ affected 
by disease, mechanically separated themselves from their natural 
connection, and not perishing, but transforming themselves into 
independent organisms, became parasites. Clothed in fine phrases, 
this idea was everywhere received with favour, and took such deep 
hold of the public mind, that it is now a matter of no small 
trouble to eradicate what has, with many, become an article of 
faith, and to substitute the laws of nature, drawn from experience, 
for the creation of their fancy. It was certainly more convenient 
and enticing to give fi^e scope to one^s thoughts, and to fill up 
the frequent gaps left in our knowledge of the origin and multipli- 
cation of the lower animals, with pure hypotheses, than as now, 
renouncing this faulty method of inquiry into nature, to attain, 
by troublesome researches and careful experiments, a secure insight 
into her hidden workings. 

It was by the latter method that a remarkable and hitherto 
unanticipated development of the sexual apparatus was discovered 
in many parasites, such as round-worms, thread-worms, tape- 
worms, and flukes,^ in which such an immense mass of eggs 
and young can be generated, that it seems unnecessary to look 
further in order to account for their origin. But the precise 
mode in which the countless brood of these parasites make their 
way into the interior oi the animals they are destined to inhabit, 
was long but dimly understood, until by degrees attention was 
directed to certain peculiarities in the mode of life of these 
creatures, which threw great light upon the subject. 

It has been ascertained, in fact, that at particular periods of their 
existence, the intestinal worms undertake emigrations, and these 
often very extensive ones, in order to reach that animal whose 
oi^ans are by nature fitted for their habitation. We now know 
that the young of the tape- worm, (which inhabits the intestine of 
the higher animals only,) leave the place whare they were brought 

> With respect to the tape-worms, it is well known that a single iRCÜTtdaal is often com- 
posed of many hundred joints. Each joint is capable of laying many hundred OTa, so 
that the number of the progeny of a single tape-worm is enonnous. Professor Eschricht 
of Copenhagen (see his work ' Das Physische Leben in populären Vorträgen, Berlin, 
1852, p. 115) posesses a tape-worm, expelled by a patient of his, which consists of 
1000 joints, and some of the joints contain more than 1000 ova. The same writer 
(ibid., p. 112) having carefully examined the reproductive organs of a female Jteari» 
bmbrieoidei, estimates the number of eggs in a single thread-worm at many millions. 



ORIGIN OF INTESTINAL WOBMS. 6 

forth^ or laid as ^gs (that is to say^ they emerge firom the intes- 
tine of their parent's host)^ and seek an opportunity to enter into 
the intestine of some other creature. It is easy to convince 
oneself of this emigration of the young of the tape-worm, by 
examining the excrement of animals infested by them, at those 
times of the year at which they attain their sexual maturity. 
We then observe, that sometimes single joints, or connected 
series of joints, full of ova ; sometimes immense masses of the 
ova, are passed with the feces. The same thing holds good 
with r^ard to the ova of the Distomata that infest the livers of 
our ruminating animals ; their eggs, after they have been trans- 
ferred from the liver to the gall-ducts, being washed out with the 
bile into the intestine, and evacuated with the dung. 

These emigrations of the young of the intestinal worms benefit 
not only the creatures they infest, but themselves. There are many 
kinds of intestinal worms, in whose eggs the embryo is never hatched 
if they remain in the place where they have been laid. They 
must wander to some other place in order to develop their young, 
or to allow of the escape of the young already developed in them.^ 
These young must then either wait for, or seek, an animal to 
lodge in, having entered into which, they are capable of attaining 
sexual maturity. By such emigrations the infested animals are at 
the same time fireed firom guests, whose increase would be both 
troublesome and prejudicial. For example, what would happen 
if the millions of eggs that a single round-worm or tape-worm 
can produce, were to develop and generate their young in the 
same intestine in which they were laid ? Would not the intes- 
tine, after the young had attained their full growth, and brought 
forth others in their turn, become at last so choked up as to 
disable this part of the digestive apparatus, so that the whole 
oi^anism of the tmhappy animal must perish, together with his 
parasites ? In any case, the emigration and immigration of the 
yoimg of the intestinal worms, is a very important though long 
unr^arded part of the history of their propagation ; and since 

> Hence a tape-worm which bat found its way into the intestine of an appropriate 
animal will attoin its sexual maturity, but will not, properly speaking, multiply its kind 
there. For this reason, the tape- worm {Tania ioUum) infesting the human subject, 
which is common in Germany, Prance, [and England,] is commonly called the 
solitary worm, (Einsiedler-wurm, ver solitaire,) although the name is not a very fit one, 
as it depends entirely on accident ivhether only a single individual or a whole society of 
these worms shall enter the human intestine in the course of their wanderings. 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

physicians and naturalists have devoted the requisite attention to 
the subject of these wanderings (to which I directed attention 
some years back^), a number of facts have been discovered, show- 
ing more and more that the origin of the intestinal worms in the 
viscera of animals can be readily accounted for according to 
natural laws; whereas formerly, hardly anything being really 
known of the natural history of these parasites, their mode of 
origin and propagation, already difficult enough of comprehension, 
was rendered more and more mysterious by an hypothesis of 
" equivocal generation'^ entirely devoid of any direct support. 

An important circumstance, very favorable to the progeny 
of the intestinal worms during their wanderings, is the solidity 
of the egg-shell in which they are commonly contained. By 
its hardness and resistance, the egg-shell of many kinds of 
intestinal worms efficiently protects the enclosed germ and 
yelk, or the already developed embryo, against injury from 
without, and maintains within the ovmn the d^ree of moisture 
requisite for the further development of the young. In this 
way the ova preserve their vitality for months together, not- 
vtdthstanding the many vicissitudes to which they are exposed 
after leaving the dwelling of their parents. They pass into 
dust-heaps, privies, drains, &c., where, surroimded sometimes by 
a greater, sometimes by a lesser degree of moisture, they are 
subjected to various degrees of temperature, imtil, deposited 
in the dung-heaps into which corrupt and mouldering organic 
substances are usually converted, they are, as manure, spread 
upon the fields and meadows, where, under favorable in- 
fluences of the weather, particularly if supplied vrith adequate 
moisture, they become further developed. It will be obvious that 
the young of the intestinal worms have not far to seek for an 
opportunity of re-entering other animals, when we consider that 
they are scattered through the manured soil amongst the seeds 
that have been sown there; that these produce plants which 
generally serve for the support of men and animals, and that the 
young worms adhering to them may thus be easily swallowed. 
Again, it may well happen that showers of rain occasionally 
wash out the ova of the intestinal worms from the dung-heaps 
or manured soil, carrying them off into streams and brooks, and 

» See my article " Parasiten" in R. Wagner's * Handwörterbuch der Physiologe/ 
Bd. ii, 1844, p. 645. 



OEiaiN OP INTESTINAL WORMS. 7 

80 affording another mode of entrance into men and animals^ 
by the water which the latter drink. 

Many of the young intestinal worms, more or less developed, 
but still enclosed in the egg-shell, remain quite inactive in their 
wanderings, and for these passive emigrants it is, of course, a 
mere matter of chance whether they reach their goal or not. 
The young of others, having previously left their egg-shell, may 
take an active share in the process, creeping up out of their holes 
and comers in wet weather, or in the damp mornings, upon the 
slippery plants, and so entering the animals fitted for their habita- 
tion, when they come to seek for food. 

According to an old-standing custom which careful shepherds 
strictly keep up, sheep are never allowed to be driven out in the 
morning till all the dew is off the grass, nor yet to graze in damp 
swampy pastures. By this precaution the shepherds imwittingly 
protect their charges from the attacks of Strongyli and Distomata. 
It is on like groomds that seasons of wet weather are so firequently 
fatal to flocks, it being then easier for the young intestinal worms 
to enter the sheep and give rise to entozoic pestilence ; whilst 
in continuously dry and hot seasons a great number of these 
young worms must be dried up and destroyed, and thus the sheep 
are delivered from their attack and all its evil consequences. 

But in thus expressing my opposition to the various hypotheses 
of the origin and multiplication of the parasitic worms, it might 
appear as if I had fallen into the very error I condemn, and the 
objection might be raised that the explanation I have just given 
of the singularities observed in the mode of occurrence of the 
intestinal worms is, like former hypotheses, merely imaginary, 
and that I am unable to support it by demonstrative experimental 
evidence. 

This I must beg leave to deny. It is true that what I have 
said respecting the origin of the Strongylus filaria and of the 
fluke {Disiomum hepaticum) in sheep, is as yet only an assumption, 
and not to be regarded as directly proven. Nevertheless, my 
assumption rests upon the analc^ of reliable facts, which I have 
established by observation in other intestinal worms. The 
recognition of definite, though at first isolated truths, has often 
done much for science, since by careful application of the laws 
of analogy they have furnished the key to phenomena long hidden 
in obscurity. 

In order to show that emigration and immigration are regular 



8 INTEODÜCTION 

phaflCB in the life of rnasj intestinal i^orms, I will here recall 
certain observations of my own on the natural history of the 
following parasites. 

For a long time the origin of the thread-worm^ known as 
Filaria Inseciorum, that lives in the cavity of the bodies of adult 
and larval insects could not be accounted for. Shut up within 
the abdominal cavity of caterpillars^ grasshoppers^ beetles, and 
other insects, these parasites were supposed to originate by 
equivocal generation, under the influence of wet weather or firom 
decayed food. Helminthologists were obliged to content them- 
selves with this explanation, since they were unable to find a 
better. Those who dissected these thread- worms and submitted 
them to a careful inspection, could not deny the probability of the 
view that they arose by equivocal generation, since it was 
dear that they contained no trace of sexual organs. But on 
directing my attention to these entozoa, I became aware of the 
fact that they were not true FUarue at all, but belonged to a 
peculiar family of thread-worms, embracing the genera Gordius 
and MemUi. Furthermore, I convinced myself that these parasites 
wander away when fhll grown, boring their way firom within 
through any soft place in the body of their host, and creeping out 
through the opening. How many a butterfly-collector, keep- 
ing caterpillars for the breeding of fine specimens of butter- 
flies, must have seen one or more yellowish white thread-worms 
winding their way out of them ! These parasites do not emigrate 
because they are uneasy, or because the caterpillar is sickly, but 
from that same internal necessity which constrains the horse-fly 
to leave the stomach and intestine of the horse where he has been 
reared, or which moves the larva of the gad-fly to work its way 
out of the boils on the skin of oxen. The larvse of both these 
insects creep forth in order to become chrysalises and thence to 
proceed to their higher and sexual condition. This desire to 
emigrate is implanted in very many parasitic insect larvee, and has 
long been a weU-known fact in entomology. Now I have demon- 
strated, that the perfect, full-grown, but sexless thread- worms of 
insects are, in like manner, moved by this desire to wander out of 
their previous homes in order to enter upon a new period in their 
lives which ends in the development of their sexual organs. It is 
true that in the boxes and other receptacles, in which one 
is generally accustomed to keep caterpiUars, these creatures 
perish ; they roll themselves together, and from the absence of 



OBIGIN OF INTESTINAL WORMS. 9 

the necessary moisture^ they in a short time dry up. Bnt their 
fate is very different when the infested insects remain under 
natural conditions ; the thread-worms^ as they leave the bodies of 
their hosts^ then fall to the ground^ and crawl away into the deeper 
and moister parts of the soU. Thread-worms found in the damp 
earthy in dicing up garden-beds and cutting ditches in the fields^ 
have often been brought to me, which presented no external 
distinctions firom the thread- worms of insects externally. This 
sn^ested to me that the wandering thread-worms of insects 
might be instinctively necessitated to bury themselves in damp 
ground^ and I therefore instituted a series of experiments with 
such entozoa (which I procured in numbers from the caterpillars 
of a moth^ Yponomeuta evanymella), by placing the newly emigrated 
worms in flower-pots filled with damp earth.^ To my delight^ I 
soon perceived that these worms' b^an to bore with their heads 
into the earthy and by degrees drew themselves entirely in. For 
many months (through the whole winter) I kept the earth in the 
flower-pots moderately moist^ and on examining the worms firom 
time to time I founds to my great astonishment^ that the sexual 
apparatus became gradually developed in them^ and that^ after a 
time^ eggs were formed and were eventually deposited by hundreds 
in the earth. Towards the conclusion of winter I could succeed 
in detecting the commencing development of the embryo in these 
eggB. By the end of spring they were fully formed^ and many of 
them^ having by this time left their shells^ were to be seen creeping 
about the earth in the flower-pots^ which I still carefully kept 
damp. I now conjectured that these young worms would be 
impelled by their instincts to pursue a parasitic existence and to 
seek out an animal to inhabit and grow to maturity in^ and it 
seemed not improbable that the brood I had reared would, like 
their parents, thrive best in the caterpillar. In order, therefore, 
to induce my young brood to immigrate, I procured a number of 
very small caterpillars of Yponomeuta, of half a line in length, 
which the first spring sunshine had just called into life. For 
the purpose of my experiment I filled a watch-glass with damp 
earth, taking it from amongst the flower-pots where the thread- 
worms had wintered, and of course satisfying myself that it con- 

I These experimentB and their results have been already published in the ' Entomo- 
logische Zeitung/ 1848, p. 290. 

' I have named this species of thread-worm Mermis albicans. 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

tained a number of lively young of the Mermis albicans. Upon 
this I placed several of the young caterpillars of the Yponomeuta in 
order that the worms might gratify their immigrative propensities. 
I must explicitly remark, that before experimenting with the 
caterpillars^ I carefiilly examined each with the microscope, in order 
to ascertain whether it was not already inhabited by young thread- 
worms. From their softness and transparency, I could ascertain 
this point with certainty, without in the least injuring them. 
The event proved that this inspection was necessary, for out of 
twenty-five individuals which I at first selected, three contained a 
thread-worm embryo, which was excessively like those in the 
flower-pots. I published the results of these experiments a year 
or two back, in an essay upon the thread- worms of insects^, from 
which I quote the following : 

" From amongst those caterpillars which microscopic inspection 
clearly demonstrated to be free from thread-worms, thirteen were 
placed in a watch-glass filled with damp earth containing many 
lively -Mermw-embryos. After eighteen hours I was able to 
discover 3fermi«-embryos in five of the caterpillars. On a second 
occasion, three-and-thirty of the caterpillars of Yponomeuta 
cognatella, likewise carefcdly examined and foimd free from 
parasites, were in the same way placed in a watch-glass filled 
with damp earth containing 3fermw-embryo8. After four-and- 
twenty hours, fourteen contained Afcrmw-embryos. Six of these 
little caterpillars each contained two small worms, whilst in two 
others there were as many as three worms. I also employed 
other caterpillars (of three lines in length) of Poniia Crataeffi, 
Liparis chrysorrhcea, and Gastropacha Neusiria, which I took out 
of coccoons where they had passed the winter. They were, in 
like manner, placed in a watch-glass upon moist earth containing 
iJf ermw-embryos. On the next day, among fourteen caterpillars 
thus treated, I found ten infested with -Mermw-embryos ; five of 
these contained two worms each, and into one even three worms 
had wandered.^' It was clear that these young thread-worms 
had bored their way through the soft skin into the interior of the 
young caterpillars. 

From the results of the experiments I have just recorded, 
one must conclude that it is not necessary to turn to the 
mystical doctrine of equivocal generation for an explanation 

* See * Entomologischc Zeitung/ 1850, p. 239. 



\ 



ORIGIN OP INTESTINAL WORMS. 11 

of the presence of worms in insects^ since here the origin of 
the parasites is sufficiently obvious. Those who cannot make np 
their minds to renounce the easy and convenient doctrine of 
equivocal generation^ may perhaps object, that the history I 
have given of the propagation of the Mermis albicans stands 
alone, and only makes an exception firom the rule. To this I 
answer, in the words of Goethe : " Nature goes her way, and that 
which appears to us as the exception, is the rule." That this is 
really the case in the present instance, is proved by recent 
investigations into the natural history of the intestinal worms. 
Since attention has been directed to their wanderings, more and 
more facts have been daily brought to light, all tending to 
show that the emigration and immigration of these parasites is a 
much commoner and more widely extended occurrence than was 
at first imagined. Habits, very similar to those which I have 
just described in Mermis albicans, are also to be observed in 
another thread-worm, the well-known Gordius aquaticus, which 
has also been shown to live parasiticaUy in the cavities of the 
bodies of various insects, viz. : grasshoppers, terrestrial and 
aquatic beetles, and in their larvae ; and to grow from a most 
diminutive worm to one of several inches in length, which then 
makes its way out, to attain to sexual maturity elsewhere, often 
in the water. These facts were formerly wholly unknown, though 
it must have long appeared surprising that this thread-worm, 
which, on account of its form and colour has been compared 
to a horse-hair, is, whenever met with in the water, of its fall 
size. But now that we know that the Gordius aquaticus, like 
the Mermis albicans, enters in the embryo state into insects, 
growing with them, and only quitting them when it has done 
growing, the striking phenomenon I have mentioned is easily 
accounted for. 

Just as, for the reasons already named, some kinds of para- 
sites that have emigrated are never met with below a certain 
size ; so, some kinds of parasites that have already made 
their way into the interior of animals are not to be foimd 
under a certain size, however often and careftdly they may be 
sought for, a circumstance which must certainly have been 
noticed by many physicians and naturalists, without their having 
paid further attention to it. It is now known that many para- 
sites do not enter into the animals in which they are to pass 
through their further stages of growth until they have attained a 



la INTRODUCTION. 

certain degree of development dsewliere. This is particularly 
the case with such intestinal worms as remain parasitic in the 
last stage of their existence^ yiz. — ^that of sexual maturity^ whilst 
the Gordiaaei {Gordius and Mermis), as soon as they are full- 
grown^ quit their parasitical life^ in order to become sexually 
mature^ away from the animal they have infested. During these 
early wanderings^ the worms in question commonly undergo a 
change of form — «a sort of metamorphosis^ often accompani^ by 
other phenomena of so highly remarkable and abnormal a 
character^ that naturalists could not at first imderstand the varied 
character and import of these phases of existence^ nor comprehend 
their relation with hitherto known facts.^ For a long time it 
was supposed that these discoveries were isolated iactB, and they 
were r^arded as a sort of curiosity ; but here again the saying 
was verified^ that that which at first appeared to be the exception^ 
eventually proves to be the rule. By degrees^ a mass of obser- 
vations upon certain remarkable metamorphoses of the intestinal 
worms accumulated^ and constituted a complete chaos of seem- 
ingly irregular phenomena^ which broke down every barrier 
hitherto set by the acknowledged laws of animal existence 
and propagation^ until the penetration of the Danish naturalist, 
Steenstrup,* succeeded in evolving a certain order out of this 
confusion, by the discovery therein of a hidden, underlying law 
of nature, by which all the phenomena that had seemed so devoid 
of plan could be reduced to order. Steenstrup named the newly 
discovered law, the " Alternation of Generations,'' a phrase which 
describes this phenomenon. " That an animal bears young which 



1 I may refer to the " king's-yellow" worms discovered by Bojanos in water-snails, 
and now become famous. (See Oken's ' Isis/ 1818, p. 729, plate 9, figs, a, v.) Of this 
discovery Oken says " Observations of this kind make one diszy." No less attention 
was excited by Von Bar's description of the Bucephalus polymorpkm» of the fresh-water 
mussel. (See * Verhandlungen der Kaiserl. Akad. d. Naturforscher/ B. xiii, 1826, 
p. 570, pi. 30) ; and by the Leucochloridum paradoxum^ first discovered by Ahrens, and 
afterwards described anew by Cams. (See * Magazin der Natorforschenden Freunde zn 
Berlin, 1810, p. 292, pi. 10, figs. 12—19, and the ' Verhandlungen der Kaiserlichen 
Akademie,' Bd. zvii, 1855, p. 87, pL 7.) * 

* See his important essay on the ' Alternation of Generations,' Copenhagen, 1842. 
[This essay has been translated by Mr. Busk, and forms one of the publications of the 
Ray Society. It must not be forgotten that the first conception of the doctrine of the 
*' Alternation of Generations," and the first use of the term, are due to Chamisso. See bia 
* De Animalibus quibusdam e classe vermium Linneana,' 1819, and * Reiae urn die 
Erde.'— Ed.] 



ORIGIN OP INTESTINAL WORMS. 18 

ar^ and remain^ diflaimilar to their parent^ bnt bring forth a new 
generation^ whose members either themselyes^ or in their descend- 
ants^ return to the original form of the parent animal/^ 

Any one who has not familiarized himself with the fun- 
damental idea of this doctrine of the alternation of generations, 
may easily imagine it to be nothing but a modification of the 
long well-known metamorphosis, exemplified by the tadpoles of 
frc^ and toads, or by the lanr» and chrysalises of most insects. 
This is, however, by no means the case. Those reptiles and 
insects that are subject to metamorphosis, no doubt bring forth 
young that difier from the parent, but there are two respects in 
which the act of simple metamorphosis widely differs firom the 
highly complex alternation of generations. 

Although Steenstrup has already particularly noticed these 
two grounds of diff<rarence in his definition of the alternation of 
generations, I deem it not altogether superfluous on my part 
once more to draw especial attention to these important diver- 
gences, if only for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with 
the phenomena. The first point of difference between the 
alternation of generations, and metamorphosis, is, that the young 
of those animals whose mode of development comes under the 
former head, are not only unlike their parent at first, but remain 
so : the second distinction rests on the important £Eu;t that this 
young generation, so dissimilar to the parent animal, brings 
forth new creatures, which either themselves, or in their descend- 
ants, revert to the original form of the first parent. Whereas, 
on the other hand, in simple metamorphosis, the dissimilar 
young pass by gradual changes into the likeness of the parent 
animal, and imtil this metamorphosis is complete, are incapable of 
generation. Steenstrup has given the name of " nurse^' to those 
young, which, whilst departing firom the parent type, remain, and 
propagate under their own form. 

It thus happens that in the alternation of generations (to use 
the words of Steenstrup), the parent animal produces " nurses,^' 
whose descendants only, take her form. A most important 
circumstance which characterises these nurses or '' Agamosooids^'^ 

1 I have rendered the word ** keim-körper" by ** sporula," meaning thereby a free 
germ which it capable of development without fecundation, just as is the spore of a 
cryptogamous plant. When the sporule are dereloped in a special organ I term this 
organ (the ** keimstock" of Von Siebold) the '* sporularium.*' Any independent form 
firom which spoml« or their equivalents alone are developed (the « ammen" or " nurses" 
of VoA Siebdid, Steenstrup, &c) I term ** agamoiooids." See condudinf note. — [Bd.] 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

physiologically, is, that they bring forth young, without themselvea 
possessing any real sexual apparatus. These Agamozooids, in 
fact, multiply by division, by external or internal gemmation ; 
they develop within their bodies germs which become fresh 
creatures. But these germs do not deserve the title of '' eggs;" 
nor is the place where they are developed to be called an 
'^ ovarium,'' since the germs, which I shall for the future 
distinguish by the name of '^ sporulae,'' are not only devoid 
of the ordinary constituents of an ovum, as vitelline mem- 
brane, yolk, germinal vesicle, and so called germinal spot, 
but the further development of the germ-body is not pre- 
ceded by those conditions, (I mean that '^impregnation" by 
means of a special seminal matter produced in a testis,) which 
is essential to the development of true ova developed within 
an ovarium. The organ in which, in certain Agamozooids the 
^^ gemmae" are formed, cannot therefore be properly termed an 
" ovarium," and I shall distinguish it by the name of '' sporula- 
rium." No '^ nurses" present any sexual distinctions, and hence 
their method of multiplication and propagation, which takes place 
by means of sporulae formed within sporularia, or by ordinary 
budding, or by division, must be arranged amidst the modes of 
asexual reproduction. 

Very many cases of the alternation of generations occur 
among the Trematoda. The relations that the various changing 
forms of these animals have to one another, remained long un- 
suspected, since it was not an easy matter to discover among the 
various successively alternating generations of a single fluke- 
worm, the due to their origin from one and the same parent. 
The recognition of the connection of these forms, was ren- 
dered more difficult of discovery by the fact, that these alternating 
generations of animals not only changed their appearance, but 
also their dwellings, whereby their parentage was still further 
concealed. These multitudinous difficulties in the way of the 
observers of the alternation of generations, render it impossible 
for me to give a complete account of all the complex series of 
changes undergone by any single Trematode in the course of its 
development. Up to this time only longer or shorter fragments 
of the circle of vital phenomena, broken as they are into many 
phases by the alternation of generations, have been made out in a 
few Trematoda. 

However, these fragments do not relate to one and the same 
period in the life of these parasites, nor to the same generations 



OBIGIN OP INTESTINAL WORMS. 



15 



of Agamozooids^ but to the most widely various periods and stages 
of their development. We can, therefore, by careful selection and 
judicious arrangement of these observations, build up a general 
view of the complicated process of the alternation of generations 
in the Trematoda in general. 

The so-called Cercarue oflfer the best exemplification of the 
alternation of generations as it occurs in the Trematoda. These 
Cercarue, which swim about with great activity by means 
of a cylindrical tau, have long been known; but until the 
discovery of their real origin and signification, were taken, on 
account of their diminutiveness, for Infusoria. When, at a 
recent period, their parasitic nature was recognised, it became a 
matter of much astonishment that the Cercarue were not 
derived from parents resembling themselves, but that they 
originated in peculiar animated, worm-shaped sacs, which were 
found buried amidst the sexual and digestive organs, in various 
kinds of fresh-water snails and 
mussels. The form of the sacs 
that produce the Cercarue is, not- 
withstanding the simplicity of their 
organization, very various; in ac- 
cordance with the form and kind 
of Cercaria to be developed within 
them. Some kinds of Cercana-sacs 
have an oral aperture, and a simple 
blind intestine, but in others this di- 
gestive apparatus is entirely want- 
ing. One series of Cercaria-BHCs possesses contractile walls, 
whUst others again are stiff and inflexible. In one. parti« 
cular group, the Cercaria-sBcs are simple shut receptacles; in 
another, the sacs ramify and anastomose to a great extent. The 
whole of these multifariously-shaped Cercarta-sacs enclose within 
the walls of their bodies a cavity which, besides the intestinal 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 




Fig. 1. A cercaria-sac (two lines long) proTided with an elongated alimentary canal 
— the agamozooid of Cercaria ephemera, a. Oral cavity, b. Alimentary canal, c. A 
developed Cercaria ephemera, d. Sporuls not yet developed into Cercaria. These 
sacs are found in Planorbit cometu. Fig. 2. A cercaria-sac — the agamozooid of Cercaria 
armata — provided with a very short alimentary canal and remarkable for the two short 
lateral abdominal processes, found in Lymrueue etagnaUt. Fig. 3. A perfectly simple 
cylindrical cercaria-sac, having no digestive canal. I found it as the agamozooid of 
Cercaria 9agitt\fera in HeUx pomatia. 



16 



INTBODUCTION. 



csecom^ (where 
young Cercarue. 



such a structure exists,) contains nothing but 
These young are developed^ not from ova, but 



from gemmse, which differ essentially from ova. They are 
solid, round, and somewhat flattened discs, which, growing and 
developing, become little caudate worms, resembling in form and 
oiganization certain Trematoda {Distomum, Monostomum, Diplo- 
discus, GastroBtomum)} 



Fig. 4. 



Fig. 5. 



Fig. 6. 



Fig. 7. 



Fig. 9. 




Figs. 4 — 10. The Tarions stages of development of Cerearia tpKemera, from the 
Agamoioöid, fig. 1. Fig. 4. Sponila. Fig. 5. Sporula thinned at the hinder end. 
Fig. 6. Sponila with this taper posterior extremity elongated into a tail. Fig. 7. The 
spomla in this stage has assumed the form of a Cerearia. The tail is already defined. 
Two hlack pigment-spots appear on the fore part of the dorsal surface. Fig. 8. A still 
further developed Cerearia. a. The oral aperture, e, d. The urinary organ, e. The 
TaiL /. Two pigment-spots. Fig. 9. A fully formed C. ephemera (one millimetre long), 
a. Oral cavity, b. Alimentary canal, c, d. Urinary organ filled with granular urine. 
€. TaiL /. Three black spots on the anterior part of the dorsal surface. The median 
pigment only begins to be developed in the last stage of development. The whole figure 
of the body of Cerearia ephemera corresponds with that of Monaetomum. Fig. 10. 
Four cercaris, after Filippi, from Planorbit niiidutf whose posterior sucking apparatus 
(composed of two suckers, one enclosed within the other) is seen in different stages of 
contraction and expansion. When the tail is cast ofif these Cercarue are altogether 
similar to Diplodieeui, 

* The Cerearia and the sacs have been so often referred to of late that I pay leave 



ORIÖIN OF INTESTINAL WORMS. 17 

It was a long while after the origin of the Cercaria was 
known^ before any explanation offered itself as to how the 
parasitic Cercaria-Bacs in water-snails and mussels arose^ and 
as to what became of the Cercaria, which, when fully formed, 
always seemed to desire to leave the bodies of the dissimilar 
parents in which they had been developed ; penetrating the walls 
of their sacs, and boring through the substance of the bodies of 
the snails and mussels into the water, where they at first creep, 
and at length paddle swiftly about by the help of their tails. 

With regard to the origin of the Cercaria-sacs, it cannot be 
supposed that they proceed from Cercarue, since, in these last, no 
organs of propagation are perceptible. In this perplexity the 
doctrine of equivocal generation was again invoked, and it was 
assumed that certain glandular caeca of the digestive or sexual 
apparatus, in the snails and mussels in which Cercaria-sacs are 
found, were converted into such sacs, and produced Cercarite by 
equivocal generation. This was, of course, a mere assumption 
based upon no direct observation. 

Now I was so fortunate as to make, a discovery by which 
much light has been thrown upon the obscure history of these 
Cercaria and Cercana-sacs. 

It was in the year 1883, whilst ^'«' i^- ^»K- ^2. 

fulfilling my duties as district 
medical officer (kreisphysicus) at 
Heilsberg, in East Prussia^ that 
I had occasion to examine a large 
number of specimens of those 
TVematoda known to Helmintho- 
logists by the name of Monos^ 
tomum mutabile, which were very 
commonly found in the geese of 
that locality, in the cavities which 

lie underneath the eyeballs. I convinced myself that these para- 
Fig. 11. An infusoroid embryo of Monostomum muiabile which has just left the 
egg. (See my etsay on this subject in Wiegmann's ' Archi?./ 1835, i, p. 69.) a. Sucker. 
b. Double pigment-spot. c. Sporule-cyst. — Fig. 12. a. The sporule cyst left free by the 
death of the infusoroid embryo, b. The same viewed laterally. This body closely 
resembles the sporule cysts of Cercaria armata, 

their manifold forms undescribed in this place, merely referring to the descriptions and 
figures which Von Bär, in his masterly ' Beiträge zur Keuntniss der niederen Thiere' 
(* Nova Acta/ voL ziii, pars 2a, 1826,) and Steenstrup, in his * Alternation of Genera- 
tions,' have given. 

2 




18 INTRODUCTION. 

sites, belonging to the order Trematoda, bring forth living 
young, which assume the form of Infusoria, and swim about in 
the water by means of the cilia which cover the whole surface 
of their bodies. After some time, I observed that these embryos 
apparently died, their bodies seeming to break up and gradually 
disappearing, but always leaving behind a sharply defined, mobile, 
cylindrical body, provided with two short, lateral processes. In 
all the embryos, without exception, this body was visible through 
their parietes while they still lived. To my great astonish- 
ment, upon further observation of these contractile remains of 
the Monostomum embryos, I discovered that they agreed precisely 
in form, structure, and movement with certain young Cercaria- 
sacs. Hence I ventured to conclude that the Cercariö-sacs pro- 
ceed from Trematoda. At the same time, these observations 
seemed to indicate how it was possible for the inert, helpless 
dercana-sacs to make their way into snails and mussels. The 
Monostomum mutabile is known to reside in such cavities of the 
body of wading and swimming birds, as possess natural external 
apertures ; when, therefore, the embryos of a Monostomum muta- 
bile are born, they will issue without much diflSculty from the 
animal infested by their parents, each carrying its Cercaria-sac 
within its body : and the habits of the infested animals are 
usually such that the embryos will at once pass into water, 
in which they can, by means of their cilia, swim swiftly about. 

In this element, the infusory Monostomum embryos will, in- 
stinctively and immediately, seek out those animals that are fit to 
serve as a nidus for the further development of the Cercaria^ 
sacs enclosed within them. After the Cercaria-sacs have thus 
passively entered, by the natural apertures, into their appropriate 
animals, their carriers, the ciliated embryos which have hitherto 
enclosed them, die ofl^. As a sort of animated covering to the 
Cercaria-sacs, they have performed their oflSce ; and it is now left 
to the yoimg that have just been released, to work themselves 
deeper into their new habitation by their own efforts, and to 
seek out those places which will afford them the necessary 
nourishment for further growth, and for the development of their 
brood of CercaruB, 

I have not yet been able absolutely to witness this process of 
immigration of Monostomum embryos containing Cercaria-sacs, 
and as I have filled up the gaps in observation with my own 
ideas on the subject, what really occurs may be somewhat 



OKIGIN OF INTESTINAL WORMS. 19 

different; still, the immigration of the Monostomum embryo, 
which is the principal point, must take place, since the singular 
relations of the infusorial Monostomum embryos and the young 
Cercaria-ssLCs they contain, point distinctly to this conclusion. 

Every one will understand, that the knowledge of even such a 
small fragment of the history of the development of the 
Monostomum mutabile as this, was of the utmost value, since it 
afforded the key to the long inexplicable mode of origin of the 
Cercarta-sacs. There now only remained the question as to 
what became of the CercarUe, and in what relation they stood to 
the Trematoda. It was an old idea that there was great similarity 
between the bodies of the Cercaria and certain TVematoda, viz., 
Monostomata and Disiomata, and the force of the comparison was 
strengthened by the fact that the Cercarice cast off their tails 
after leaving the sacs, and thus become still less different from 
these Trematoda. Many Distomata whose bodies are encircled 
with spines at their anterior extremity, for example, Distomum 
trigonocephalum, echinatum, uncinatum, and militare, are so like 
certain Cercaria, that when the latter have thrown off their tails, 
any unprejudiced person would take them for the young of these 
Distomata. In fact, in their whole organization, the CercaruB 
are really no other than young Trematoda, The circumstance 
that one never finds sexual oi^ans in the Cercaria is strongly 
corroborative of the notion that they are young Trematoda not 
yet sexually developed. Here again we have to do with parasites 
destined to emigrate and immigrate, that in some other situation 
they may arrive at sexual maturity. The course which the 
Cercari(B take in their wanderings is, however, a much longer 
and more complicated one, than that followed by the sexless 
Gordiacei. These need only leave the insects they have hitherto 
infested and withdraw into damp ground, where fully grown as 
they are, and provided with the necessary store of fat in their 
bodies, they can quietly await the development of their sexual 
organs. On the other hand, the emigrating Cercaria are destined 
to enter vertebrate animals, since it is only in the intestinal canal 
of certain mammals, birds, reptiles, or fishes, that they can grow 
and mature their sexual organs. 

Many of my readers may be unable to conceive how it 
is possible for Cercarue living in water, to enter into the 
intestines of such mammals and birds as live far away from 
water, or, at any rate, never come into proximity with the 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

waters in which the Cercaria live. I can, however, offer a 
solution of this apparent mystery, having surprised many Cercarue 
in the act of migrating. Before I say anything more about 
this, I must mention a peculiarity which is to be noticed 
in most of the Cercarue after they have left their sacs. This is 
their habit of encysting themselves, a process which is effected in 
the following manner. After a Cercaria has been for some time 
in the water, first creeping and then swimming about with mani- 
fest restlessness, it gathers itself up into a ball, and emits from 
its whole surface a mucous secretion which soon hardens, and since 
inside of this mucous mass the worm, coiled up into a little ball, 
tiims round without stopping, invests it as it were in an egg-shell. 
During this process of encysting the Cercaria invariably casts off 
its tail, so that the capsule eventually encloses the body merely. 
(fig. 13). For a long time I vainly wondered what could be 
the object of this process, and, never understood what its 
signification in Cercarian life was, until, in dissecting some 

insects, I met with a fact which 
Fig. 13. Fig. 14. suggested how I might gain the 

knowledge I sought for. In the 
larvse of a great number of various 
kinds of aquatic insects, of lAbeU 
lulida, EphemerieUe, Perlida, Phry- 
ffani€Uß, I foimd encysted Cercaritp, 
which I again discovered in the 
same animals, after they had left 
the water, and had been trans- 
formed into winged insects. Not one of these encysted Cer- 
carta lodged in an insect, was either ftdl-grown or possessed 
sexual organs. I only observed one other slight step towards 
their further development ; the sexual apparatus, viz., the testis, 
the germarium, and the copulatory organs, were already faintly 
indicated. As, however, perfectly full-grown and sexually 
developed Trematoda are never met with in insects, I decided, 
after the discovery of the encysted Cercarue in them, that they 
merely sought out the insects as a temporary resting place. 

Fig. 13. Encysted Cercaria ephemera, a. Sucker, c, d. Urinary organ.— Fig. 14. 
Abdominal extremity of a Cercaria ephemera^ in which, by the casting of the tail the 
urinary organ has been opened externally, a. Inferior expanded end of the urinary 
organ, g. Aperture out of which the granular urine is excreted. Before I pointed 
out the true import of this urinary organ these granules were regarded as eggs» and 
when the urine was excreted they were thought to be laid. 




ORIGIN OF INTESTINAL WORMS. 



21 



Most of the sexually developed Trematoda are parasitic upon the 
higher Vertebrata, the Cercaria being, in fact, nothing else than 
young sexless Trematoda, whose instinct it is, to pass out from 
the inferior animals where they are produced, into the higher 
forms in which they attain the power of sexual reproduction. 
Should those Cercarue which are generated in aquatic molluscs, 
be able to attain their sexual matiurity in the intestines of 
insectivorous birds or mammals alone, they can only reach the 
latter locality by entering the larrse of aquatic insects, and then 
becoming encysted in the manner already described. In this 
condition they remain, untU the new animal in which they have 
established themselves, having undergone its metamorphosis, leaves 
the water and is swallowed by some insectivorous vertebrate. 

In the act of digestion the body of the insect is destroyed, together 
with the capsule of the imprisoned Cercaria, which in this manner 
finds itself transplanted into those new circumstances which are 
alone fitted to permit of its further change into a sexual Trematode. 

That this instinctive impulse of the Cercarue to encyst them- 
selves after emigration, is accompanied by a desire to pass into 
insect larv», I assured myself by ocular demonstration. I had 
procured a lai^e number of specimens 
of Cercaria artnata which had emigrated 
from the common Lymrueus stagnalisy 
and put them into a watch-glass filled 
with water, in company with several live 
Neuropterous larvee (of the families of 
the EphemeridcB and Perlida). I soon 
observed, with the microscope, that the 
Cercarue, which at first, flapping their 
tails, moved freely about in the water, at 
last betook themselves to the insect larv«, 
and crept restlessly about them. It was 
easy to see from their movements that 

the little worms had some object in view. The Cercaria artnata, 
as is well known, is provided with a spine-like weapon, pointing 



Rg. 15. 




Fig. 15. J, k Cercaria armaia viewed from the abdominal lurface. a. Oral sucker 
with the frontal spine showing through it. b. Ventral sucker, c. Digestive apparatos. 
d. Urinary organ, h. Tail whose root plugs up a pit in the hinder end of thehody,in 
which the urinary organ opens.— B. The same Cercaria viewed laterally a, 6, d, have the 
same signification.— ^. The frontal spine. The alimentary canal is left out in this 
view.— C. The fronUl spine of thisCgrcoria very much magnified, and viewed from above. 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

forward from the centre of the animal's head. (Fig. 15 5.) I 
could readily perceive, that these Cercarue which I was observing, 
frequently paused in their inspection of the insects, and inserted 
this weapon into their bodies as they crept over them. This 
probing experiment, for it was clearly nothing else, was repeated 
again and again, until the larva had discovered one of the soft 
places between the segments of the insect^s body; this being 
reached, it never moved from the spot, but worked incessantly 
with its spine, until a way was bored through the soft place it had 
fastened on. Scarcely was the point of the spine fairly through, 
ere the supple worm inserted his thin anterior extremity into the 
wound, widened the opening a little, and by degrees drew in his 
whole body, which became wonderfully slender under the opera- 
tion. The tail of the Cercaria was not drawn inside the insect, 
but remained hanging outside the pimcture, being doubtlessly 
seized and nipped off, by the sudden closing of the wound when 
the body of the Cercaria had slipped through. Having selected 
very young and delicate Neuropterous larvse for my inquiry, the 
transparency of their bodies enabled me to continue to observe 
the tail-less Cercaria after their entrance; they forthwith lay 
still, drew themselves up into balls, and surrounded themselves 
with a cyst. During the process of encysting, the frontal spine 
fell off from the body of the Cercaria, and lay apart by its side, 
but enclosed within the cyst.^ This weapon. 
Fig. 16. therefore, undergoes the same fate as the tail of 

these animals, each apparatus being cast aside 
after fulfilling its intended end. 

The impulse to immigrate and become en- 
cysted is so strong in all the Cercarue, that 
their efforts appear to be occasionally over hasty, 
and perhaps lead them altogether astray. 
I have found in Aselli and Gammari, encysted Cercaria, which 
in every way resembled those which had passed into insects. 

Fig. 16. An encysted Cercaria armaia, a. Oral sucker. b. Ventral sucker, 
e. Digestive canal which is connected with the oral sucker, d. Urinary organ 
filled with granular urine, e. Cast off frontal spine which now lies free in the cavity of 
the cyst. /. Aperture of the urinary organ, which becomes visible after the tail is cast 
off. g. Cyst in wliich the tailless Cercaria remains encysted as an asexual Distomum. 

1 The observation above detailed (which I have already published in Wagner's 
' Handwörterbuch/ Bd. ii, p. 669») can be easily repeated, since the sacs of Cercaria 
armata are excessively common in our fresh-water snails. 




ORIOm OF INTESTINAL WOEMS. 23 

Now, if these Cercarite can only attain their sexual maturity 
in the warm-blooded vertebrate animals, which devour in- 
sects, and therefore seek their food in the air or on land alone, 
the Cercarue, that had established themselves in the Aselli and 
Gammari, would wait in vain for the time to arrive when they 
should be transported into the air, since the animals in which 
they were domiciled would never quit the water. Again, many 
Cercaria, in their haste, become encysted incautiously at so early 
a period, that the purpose of the process is defeated. 

I have already shown that the emigrated Cercaria ephemera 
attaches itself to water-plants, or any other objects in the water, 
by means of the cyst which it elaborates ; other Cercaria even be- 
come encysted before they quit the body of the aquatic snail in which 
they were generated j whilst some, again, have even been found 
encysted within the Cercarta-sacs.^ Steenstrup takes this to be 
a normal phenomenon ; I should only consider it such, provided 
that the encysted Cercarue in the snails are intended to attain 
their sexual maturity, in the intestines of fishes or of Mater-birds 
feeding on snails. 

Although the various facts I have commimicated can only be 
regarded as fragments of the natural history of certain JVematoda, 
they are yet capable of being connected into a whole, if the 
theory of the Alternation of Generations be extended to them. 
For instance, from the foregoing statements, we perceive that certain 
sexually matured Trematoda {Monostomum, Disiomum) generate 
young within their sexual organs, which are not developed into 
sexual individuals similar to their parents in form and structure ; 
but that, on the contrary, each embryo is converted into an 
animal of remarkably diflferent form, viz., into a Cercaria-ssjc, 
which has the import of a sexless nurse, since without possessing 
sexual organs, it nevertheless generates young Cercarue. These 
Cercaria again differ from their parents, but gradually become 
sexually perfect, and in form and structure take the likeness of 
their grandparents. The several embryos of these Trematoda, 
therefore, do not pass into an equal number of new and separate 
sexual TVemaioda, but each embryo produces a nurse, which, by 
asexual generation, brings forth a greater or less number of 
sexual Trematoda. 

^ Steenstrup (1* c» P* B5, pi. iii [English translation]), has more particularly described 
and figured such Crrcorta-sacs containing encysted Cercarue, 



24 INTEODUCTION. 

If we foUow those Trematoda whicli are subject to the 
Alternation of Generations, in their wanderings, we shall see 
that they are likely to meet with many obstacles to the 
completion of their developmental course, which is the entering 
into the viscera of an animal in which they can become sexually 
developed. It may happen that the various emigrations and 
immigrations of the infusorial embryo, or of the tailed CerccaruB^ 
may miscarry ; or it may be, that the exact time for the Cercaria 
to become encysted may be missed ; or that after the due occur- 
rence of the encysting process, the insect selected for its penulti- 
mate habitation may die at an inappropriate time or place, and 
so prevent the encysted Cercaria from reaching the last animal, 
or that one fitted for its final residence. This destruction of the 
various forms of Trematoda by untoward circumstances is com- 
pensated by the fact, that they are furnished by the Alternation 
of Generations with the means of greatly multiplying the various 
developmental stages of their descendants. By these means the 
propagation of these animals is secured, since, notwithstanding the 
mishaps by which many are ajrested or destroyed, a sufficient 
number of individuals always remains out of the numerous young 
of the nurses and larv», who, in spite of all obstacles, achieve the 
end in view — the propagation of their species. 

The history of the Cercarus enables us to comprehend many 
phenomena which were necessarily quite erroneously interpreted 
by the older helminthologists, who were ignorant of these wan- 
derings and unacquainted with the occurrence of the Alternation 
of Generations. It is a common thing to find capsules or cysts, 
in the midst of the tissues of the most widely different organs of 
men and animals, containing asexual and only partially developed 
intestinal worms. It was difficult to understand how such living 
Entozoa could have originated in the viscera of animals (sometimes 
in those which are deeply seated and cut off from all external 
commimication) and could here propagate their kind. Hence it 
was taken for granted that they had been produced by equivocal 
generation from the surrounding parts, and the mode of origin 
thus assumed, conversely furnished the reason why these Entozoa 
were unprovided with sexual organs. Frequently too, free, 
young, or imperfectly developed intestinal worms were met with 
in the substance of organs, and their occurrence was in the same 
way attributed to equivocal generation, though in reality these 
Entozoa were either in the act of emigrating or of immigrating. 



ORIGIN OP INTESTINAL WORMS. 25 

or else^ having found a resting place in some oi^an^ were tarrying 
till the creature they infested should be swallowed by some other 
animal^ when the passive immigration for which they waited 
would take place. 

Many wandering parasites are unresistingly suffered to bore 
their way into and remain in^ the oi^ns of animals^ whilst 
on the other hand^ certain kinds are arrested and finally stopped, 
by becoming enclosed in a coagulable lymph thrown out by the 
organs which they traverse. Hereafter we shall have to dis- 
tinguish two kinds of encysted intestinal worms. In the one 
kind the cyst is thrown out by the parasite itself, as I have 
ahready explained in the case of the Cercaria ; in the other, the 
oi^n in which the encysted parasite lies imbedded, furnishes the 
walls of the cyst. These last " extrinsic'* cysts are easily recognised 
in the passively encysted parasites of vertebrate animals, being 
immediately and intimately connected with the neighbouring 
tissues and traversed by blood-vessels. 

In such capsules or cysts are found the most diverse kinds 
of intestinal worms, whose further course may be very 
various. 

Many of the encysted young of the intestinal worms experience 
no further change, but only remain for a longer or a shorter period 
until such time as they may, together with their host, pass into the 
intestine of some animal of prey suitable for their future develop- 
ment. To this kind belong the Cercarue I have already mentioned 
(page 20). There is also a small, imperfectly developed, round 
worm, hitherto always erroneously described as a perfect intesti- 
nal worm, under the name of Trichina spiralis, which remains a 
long time in its cyst without either growing or developing sexual 
organs. This minute TricMna spiralis is not only met with in 
the substance of the muscles of man, but also in the pleura and 
peritoneum of the most widely different kinds of vertebrate 
animals, enclosed in oval capsules about a quarter of a line in 
length. Most probably a certain time of imprisonment is allotted 
to the little worm, and after this period has elapsed, should its 
deliverance not be effected by passive emigration, it dies, and its 
body, which has not in the least increased in size, is, without 
changing its outward form, transformed into a brittle glassy mass 
composed of carbonate of lime. This process of calcareous de- 
generation also takes place in other encysted and dead intestinal 
worms, in which, however, the form does not always remain 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

perfect, but is either more or less altered, or else entirely 
destroyed. 

Other encysted intestinal worms succeed in obtaining nourish- 
ment through the walls of their prison, and thus go on growing. 
Those, however, amongst the encysted entozoa, which are in- 
tended by nature to attain their sexual maturity only in the 
digestive organs of certain animals, cannot arrive at this condition 
in their cysts, and must^ in spite of their further growth, fail in 
the attainment of the power of sexual propagation, until the 
animal they inhabit is devoured by the predacious creature, 
whose intestine is alone fitted to allow of the passage of these 
asexual intestinal worms into the last stage of their development. 
I may cite here, as examples, various Nematoidea and Cestaidea. 
In many marine fishes the liver is covered with capsules, which 
often contain a well-grown nematoid worm more than an inch 
long. Naturalists have arranged this parasite among the in- 
testinal worms as Ascaris capsularis, Filaria pisdum, Filaria 
cystica, I have never met with one of these round worms con- 
taining developed sexual organs. As in their further organization 
no less than in their whole form, these ascarids most strikingly 
resemble certain sexuaUy-mature nematoid worms, namely, 
Ascaris osculata, spiculigera, angulata, aucta, and others, which 
infest the alimentary canal of seals, cormorants, divers, gulls, and 

predacious fishes, the idea presents 
Fig. 17. itself that these encysted, not yet 

fully developed Nematoidea belong to 
either one species or another of the 
last-named AscaricUe. More par- 
^v^^ 1«#* ju^^a^ ticular inquiries into the subject will 
a^^l^T^ fß^^Pm instruct us what species of these 

round worms, which are now con- 
sidered to be distinct species, wiU 
hereafter have to be united into a 
single group, as younger or older individuals of one and the 
same species. The sexless Ascaris incisa, represented in fig. 17, 

Rg. 17. A coDToluted piece of the intestine of the mole (nat. size), with many flat- 
tened, pedunculated cysts, each enclosing a little thread-worm, attached to its peritoneal 
investment. * * Such cysts viewed edgewise, b. A single capsule much magnified, 
so as to render the enclosed thread-worm more clearly visible. This parasite belongs to 
that group of the JicaritUB whose intestine is provided anteriorly with a caecum directed 
upwards. 




ORIGIN OF INTESTINAL WORMS. 27 

nrhicli occurs encysted in the peritoneum of the Mole, must also 
be awaiting its transference to the intestine of some other anial, 
where it attains its sexual maturity. 

From what has been stated we gather, that those young intestinal 
worms which are developed at a distance from the nidus of their 
parents, succeed, in the end, in reaching those situations where 
they may repeat the part of their progenitors, and reproduce their 
kind. Impelled by instinct, the embryo parasites, that have only 
just left the egg, disperse in all directions, so that they may 
immigrate into other animals, whenever an opportunity offers. 
Many thousands of these embryos of necessity never attain their 
object, on account of the numerous casualties that beset them in 
their wanderings. The point of most importance is, that these 
embryos should select, as their temporary residence, such crea- 
tures as will be consumed by those animals, whose intestine served 
their parents, as a habitation and birth-plac^ for their young. 
But many of these young, immigrated, intestinal worms will 
have undertaken their journey in vain, and will die without reach- 
ing the last stage of their development, in consequence of their 
host and involuntary carrier, escaping from his natural enemies. 
Again, many embryos will be led astray by the migratory im- 
pulse, and pass into animals which never become the prey of those 
whose digestive canal is their goal. This I conclude from the 
frequent occurrence of one and the same kind of encysted para- 
site amongst the most various kinds of animals. And I shall 
r^ard those embryos which have failed in their object, in the 
way I have mentioned, as parasites which have strayed in their 
wanderings. 

I know that there may be some difSculty in accepting this 
theory of strayed parasites ; it will be urged that these, like all 
animals, have a sort of instinct implanted in them which never 
allows them to enter upon any fruitless undertaking, and which, 
without their knowing it, impels them to strike out the right 
path in their wanderings. If this were really the case, every 
tsenioid embryo must some day become a tape- worm, and we 
should be so overrun with nematoid worms that, judging from 
the enormous quantity of their eggs, the animals they infest 
would perish by wholesale from their countless numbers. Those 
who have occupied themselves with the collection of intestinal 
worms, must only too frequently have remarked, however, that these 
parasites are by no means so numerous as the immense numbers 



28 INTRODUCTION. 

of their e^s uronld lead one to suppose. This inclines Que 
more readily to the belief that nature^ seeing how full of diffi- 
culties is the way of these panusites to sexual development, has 
endowed them with the power of generating millions and 
billions of eggs, when once they have overcome these obstacles 
and developed the necessary sexual oi^ans. Through the un- 
ceasing spread of cultivation, the decrease and extirpation of 
certain animals, on the one hand, and the taming and increase of 
domestic animals on the other, the conditions of life of many of 
the intestinal worms have become so changed, and so widely 
different from their original state, that, with their inherent 
tendency to wander, many of these parasites must often go 
astray. 

The Trichina spiralis, which is found in human beings, and 
which, as I have already shown, must be regarded as an encysted 
sexless nematoid worm, can hardly have found its way into the 
muscular substance of man, except by having gone astray ; so also 
the Cysticercus ceUulosa, which not unfrequently appears in the 
muscles and other oi^ans of man, and which, as I shall hereafter 
show, is an asexual tsenioid agamozooid. The Cysticercus celhäoste 
changes to a sexual tape- worm in the intestinal canal of certain 
mammals ; the THcMna spiralis , after transportation to another 
and more favorable situation, will also become sexually de- 
veloped. That these two parasites should have been originally 
intended to pass into and establish themselves in, human beings« 
waiting for the opportunity to emigrate, which could only occur 
when the person who harboured the sexless parasite should be 
devoured by some appointed beast of prey, is an idea insufferable 
to the dignity of man,^ which every reader of these lines must of 
necessity reject ; and admit, instead, that the appearance of these 
parasites in the interior of man can only be accounted for by 
the fact of their having gone astray. 

Many of the young of the intestinal worms which only attain 
the last stage of their development in the digestive canal of the 
Vertebrata, chance, in the course of their wanderings, to pass 
into the wrong organs ; for instance, into the muscular substance, 
the liver, or the peritoneum; here they remain undeveloped, 

' To appetl to the ** dignity of man" in a zoological argument appears a little out of 
place. Nature seems to haye had small respect for our *' dignity'' when she created the 
(leas, lice, and hogs which annoy us ; the Atcwrit, which reduces us below the level of 
the beast ; the Sirm^hu, and the Eekinoeoeeu$, which destroy us outright. — [£o.] 



ORIGIN OP INTESTINAL WORMS. 29 

whilst other individuals of the same brood, which have fotmd 
their way into the intestine of the same animals, arrive at 
maturity. Drianophorus nodulosus, infesting fishes, offers an 
example of this, developing into a long, sexually-mature tape- 
worm, in the intestines of pikes and perch, whilst at the same 
time these fishes often harbour other tape-worms, which are, 
however, always sexless, in cysts in their liver. These last must 
certainly be also regarded as strayed parasites. 

In these wanderings through the bodies of vertebrate animals, 
the very small embryos of the intestinal worms, boring their way 
through the walls of the blood-vessels, not unfirequently fall into 
the current of the circulaticm, and so become distributed with the 
blood. In fact, embryos of intestinal worms, to which the name 
of Hcematozoa has been given, have often been discovered in the 
blood of birds, reptiles, and fishes.^ These Htematozoa neither be- 
come further developed in the blood, nor increase in sirc ; but many 
of them,whilstcirculating in thevascularsystem, stick in the narrow 
blood-vessels of certain organs which afford a more congenial soil 
for their further growth ; such at least is the most natural way 
of accounting for the appearance of intestinal worms in the 
brain, in the spinal marrow, and in the eyeball of man and 
animals. These organs are so completely enclosed, partly by 
bones, and partly by dense fibrous membranes, that before the 
existence of animals in the blood was known, it was supposed 
quite impossible for parasites to penetrate into such well pro- 
tected organs; but that they must have originated then and 
there through equivocal generation« The Cysticercus celbäosa, 
the Ccmurus cerebraUs, and the Echinococcus hominis and Veterv- 
norum, have long been known as occasional denizens of the brain 
and of the spinal marrow in men and animals, and have, up 
to the very latest times, served as a stronghold for the sup- 
porters of the doctrine of equivocal generation. Having sub- 
jected these very cystic worms to particularly close inves- 
tigation, in order to confute this fabulous hypothesis as to 

^ I haTe collected together the different obterrations on haematozoa in the article 
•• Parasiten" in Wagner's * Hand-wörterbuch' already referred to (p. 648) ; subsequently, 
new facU of the same kind haye been published by Ecker (Mailer's 'Archly./ 1845, 
p. 501), Wedl (in his < Beiträge zu Lehre Ton den Hämatozoen,' Wien, 1849), and 
Leydig (in MäUer's < Archiy.,' 1851, p. 227). 

[See also the remarkable obsenrations of Bilharz, ' lieber das Distoma hcematobium,' 
' Zeitschrift Air Wh», Zoloogie/ 1852. This dioecious hsematode is found in the portal 
blood of man.] — [Bo.] 



80 INTRODUCTION. 

their mode of origin, I will give an account of the results 
below. 

With the migrations and alternation of generations amongst 
the intestinal worms, two other phenomena are connected, which 
were formerly quite imnoticed, but which now, since attention 
has been directed to them, have been very generally observed. In 
the neighbourhood of those sexuaUy perfect intestinal worms 
which, in their wanderings, are subject to the alternation of 
generations, only eggs, or recently hatched embryos are met with ; 
but the further stages of development are always wanting, 
since they first make their appearance after the emigration of 
the young to other places. Further, many of these intestinal 
worms, taken whilst in the act of migrating, are never found 
below a certain size, since they do not commence their wanderings, 
either as nurses or larvee, until they have already reached a certain 
stage of their development. 

In this chapter I have expressed myself somewhat at lai^e 
upon the wanderings and alternation of generations of the intesti- 
nal worms, in order that I may be fully understood in the 
ensuing ones, when I have occasion to refer to this generation 
by agamozooids. The history of the propagation of certain para- 
sites, in the foregoing pages, may seem new and astonishing 
to many readers, and yet the alternation of generations is not 
more wonderful than metamorphosis. We have been so long 
acquainted with the way in which metamorphosis takes place in 
the higher and lower members of the animal kingdom, that we 
no longer wonder at the various transformations of the frog, nor 
gaze with surprise when a caterpiUar becomes a chrysalis, and 
after a certain time flies off in the shape of a butterfly. The 
many to whom the metamorphosis of frogs and insects is a 
common appearance, forget that there was once a time when it 
was imknown, and when the multiplication of grubs and larvae 
was ascribed to equivocal generation, their true origin being 
imsuspected. It is to be hoped that a time will also arrive 
when the complicated alternation of generations will not be 
known to naturalists alone. 



CHAPTER II. 



ON THE TAPE-WORM. 



The tape- worms (Cesioidea) constitute a peculiar group of 
entozoa which only attain their perfect development and sexual 
maturity in the intestinal canal of vertebrate animals. Those 
that are often met with in other internal organs than the 
intestinal canal^ in fishes^ reptiles^ birds, or mammals, or in the 
interior of inferior animals, are always sexually undeveloped. 
In this sexless state the tape- worms wait for an opportunity to 
pass out, which occurs when the creature they lodge in is swal- 
lowed by some vertebrate carnivore. It is only when such sexless 
tape-worms have thus passively effected their entrance into the in- 
testinal canal of the appropriate Vert€braia,thB,t their sexual matu- 
rity takes place, and they become capable of laying eggs for further 
propagation. In this wandering the remarkable circumstance 
occurs, that whilst these undeveloped tape- worms pass into the 
stomach of the predacious animal in a more or less uninjured 
condition, and establish themselves in its intestine, the soft parts 
of their former host yield to the digestive juices. Numerous 
examples attest the truth of this assertion, but of these I will 
only select the following. 

In certain neighbourhoods the sticklebacks are infested by a 
kind of tsenioid parasite which lies free in the cavity of the 
abdomen, and often distends the body to an unusual size. This 
parasite has been before described under the name of Boihrio- 
cephalus solidtis. In the stickleback its joints and sexual appa- 
ratus are undeveloped and always remain so. 

In the intestine of many of the water fowl which prey upon 
these sticklebacks, a sexually matured tape-worm, known to 
naturalists by the name of Bothriocephalus nodosus, has been 
found. This is no other than the Bothriocephalus solidus in a 
further stage of development ; after its former host, the stickle- 
back, has been digested in the bird's stomach, it is relea8ed> 



82 THE TAPE-WOBM. 

and entering uninjured into the intestine of its new owner, 
arrives at sexual maturity. The extent of development in each 
individual will be found to be in proportion to the time it has 
passed in the bird's alimentary canal after its passive emigration. 
Since the connection between Bothriocephalus solidus and nodosus 
has been known, helminthologists have ceased to r^ard these 
two tsnioid worms as different species, but in accordance with 
the suggestion of Dr. Creplin, who first drew attention to the 
relationship between them, they have been considered to be 
different stages of the same species, Schisiocephalus dimorphus. 
A similar instance occurs in the case of the lAgtda simplicissima, 
infesting the abdominal cavity of various species of carp, whose 
sexual organs are, and remain, undeveloped, as long as the worm 
remains within the fish, whilst when the latter is eaten by, and the 
entozoon thereby conveyed into the intestines of, ducks, divers, 
waders, and other water-fowl, it attains perfect sexual develop- 
ment. In the older helminthologieal systems the sexually ma- 
tured Liffula simplicissima is described imder various specific 
names, sometimes as LigtUa sparsa, mdserialis, sometimes as 
Ligula aliemans, or interrupta. 

Many Cesioidea, during their youth, lodge in the liver and 
peritoneum of fishes. In these organs they excite a morbid 
exudation whereby a membranous substance is produced, which 
forms a kind of capsule round the worm, and thus, as it were, 
excludes it from the organism. This act, by which the organs 
seek to free themselves from such unwelcome guests, I shall 
designate by the name of '' extrinsic''^ encysting process already 
given in page 25. 

The encysted Cestoidea increase in size, but do not become 
sexually mature, from the absence of the conditions necessary 
to the attainment of this state; and should their hosts perish 
without having been devoured by an animal of prey, the sexless 
Cestoidea will die with them, without leaving any progeny. 
Various examples illustrate the truth of this statement. 

Mention has already been made (at page 29) of the THaeno- 
phoruM nodulosus which infests the intestine of the pike and 
Üie perch, where alone it is to be met with sexuaUy mature. 
Helminthol(^;ists, however, give other localities of this worm, as 

1 I haye added the word *' extrinsic*' here to dittingaith this from the self-encysting 
proce«s by exudation from the entozoon itselt — [^i>*] 



ENCYSTED CESTOIDEA. 83 

certain species of salmon^ for instance ; but in these it is met 
with encysted in the liver and peritoneum, and is invariably 
sexless. The examination of the livers of a great number of 
the Salmo salvelinus caught in the Königs-see, near Berchtesgaden, 
recently convinced me that this worm can only attain to sexual 
maturity in the alimentary canal of perch and pike. These livers 
were covered with various sized cysts containing lai^er or smaller 
individuals of Ttnmiophorus nodulosus, which were every one 
sexless. The Cestoidea were obviously awaiting their sexual de- 
velopment, which could only take place when they should have 
passed into the intestine of a pike or perch, a migration which 
may easily occur, since the lake is ftdl of such predacious fish, 
who are always ready to seize upon the salmon. When the 
Trianophorv^ nodulosus has come to sexual maturity and has 
deposited its eggs in the intestine of the pike and perch, these 
eggs will be passively extruded, since the cestoid embryos are 
never hatched in the spot where they have been laid ; that is to 
say, they will be expelled with the fseces through the anus of the 
fish. With regard to the ultimate fate of the young of the 
THcenophorus nodulosus, I can state nothing from actual know- 
ledge, but from what has been observed in regard to other intes- 
tinal parasites, I think one may infer that the young of the 
former will be impelled by the same instinct, to wander, and to 
seek that situation which can alone develop their powers of repro- 
duction. Although I am unacquainted with the form in which 
the embryos of the TVuenophorus nodulosus commence their 
wanderings, yet, having found tolerably large individuals of this 
species encysted in the livers of various fishes (of salmon, 
sticklebacks, millers' thumbs, burbot, bleimies, and others), I 
conclude that the young TruBnophori have merely made these a 
temporary resting-place, and are waiting till their host becomes 
the prey of the above-nam^d fishes. Whether the young of the 
Tricenophorus always avail themselves of an intermediate host by 
whom they may be conveyed into the intestine of their final en- 
tertainer, the pike or perch — I cannot say. It is possible that 
they may pass, at once, into the pike or perch whenever an 
opportunity offers ; but under these circmnstances it would be by 
no means immaterial into which organ of the fish they first 
entered. Since the intestinal canal is the only proper place for 
their sexual development, they will, by passing into the liver or 

3 



84 THE TAPE- WORM. 

peritoneum, most assuredly meet with the same fate as if they 
had entered the other fishes; they will become encysted, and 
may grow within the cysts, but will not become sexually mature 
unless their owner be swallowed by a larger creature of his own 
kind. 

Similar migrations and strayings from the right path are 
exhibited by the Tania longicoUis and ocellata, which are met 
with, not only in the intestine, but also encysted in the livers, of 
salmonoid and percoid fishes, in a jointed but sexless state. I 
must call attention to the fact that the TVianophorus nodulosuSy 
in its sexless condition, is not uncommonly found in the liver and 
peritoneum of the sticklebacks ; and as this fish, on account of its 
spines, is generally avoided by the pike and perch, the immi- 
grated young of the TYuenophorus in the stickleback must be 
certainly regarded as having gone astray. 

The various species of the cestoid genus, Teirarhynckus, enu- 
merated by systematic helminthologists, are nothing more than 
imperfectly developed, sexless forms of Cestoidea, which, in their 
fully developed and sexually mature condition, have been r^arded 
as belonging to an entirely distinct genus. Following Budolphi, 
later helminthologists termed this latter genus, Rhynchobothrium. 
The genus Tetrarhynchtia must now, however, be set aside, 
since the forms of animals hitherto included in it must be 
considered as younger stages of development of true Rkyncho- 
bothria. The head end of many kinds of Tetrarhynckus, with 
its four protractile proboscides, armed with numerous sharp 
grappling hooks and provided with four moveable suckers, in 
form and organization resembles so exactly the fore part of the 
Rhynchobothria, that there is no doubt as to the origin of the 
former. 

The Rhynchobothria in their full grown and sexually matured 
state, are only foimd in the digestive canal of plagiostome fishes. 
In order to secure their migration into other individuals of this 
order, the young of the Rhynchobothria make use of such 
marine creatures as serve the former for pr^. As the ravenous 
shark or ray is not over nice in the choice of its fiDod, it is 
not necessary for the yoimg Rhynchobothria to select any par- 
ticular marine animal as its temporary host, in order to introduce 
itself into their intestine. Indeed one meets with Tetrarhynchi, 
(that is to say young Rhynchobothria), in soles^ flounders, mullets. 



THE SCOLEX-STATE. 85 

in cod-fish^ gurnards^ congers, and even in cuttlefishes. From 
the encysted condition in which the parasites are found in these 
animals, it is easy to see that they have only made them their 
temporary abode. That they are by no means at home in these 
intermediate hosts seems evinced by their lively and restless 
proceedings; their four protractile feelers, with their coimtless 
hooks, being employed most cleverly, to bore through the flesh, 
the walls of the stomach, and the tunics of the various organs. 

The head end of the young Ceetoidea takes, at a very early 
period, the form of that of their sexually matured parents, whence 
it is easy to distinguish to which species of cestoid worm they 
belong. According to Van Beneden's suggestion, helminthologists 
have designated such undeveloped sexless Cesioidea whose heads 
have already assumed the parental form, as '' scolices.^^ From 
their physiological signification these cestoid scolices have been 
compared with the larv« of insects ; the comparison, however, is 
not tenable, since every insect larva leaves the egg in its larva- 
form, and is gradually changed into an individual insect capable 
of propagation, whilst the scolices of the Cesioidea do not come 
forth from the egg in the condition of scolices, nor are converted 
into a reproductive tape-worm individual, but by sexless genera- 
tion give birth to a great number of sexual individuals. Here, 
therefore, we have to do, not with metamorphosis, but with an 
alternation of generations in which the scolex-forms play the 
part of agamozooids. 

In studying the history of the Cestoidea, it must be jstrictly 
borne in mind that all scolices, whatever be their form, are only 
different stages of cestcäd worms ; and, on the other hand, that 
the cestoid embryos leave the egg in a form widely different from 
a scolex. The embryos of the genera Tdsnia and ' Bothriocephalus 
are precisely similar, widely different as are the forms of the 
so-called '' heads '* of these worms subsequently. The whole or- 
ganization of these embryos seems specially adapted for the purpose 
of digging and boring, a circumstance most favorable to them in 
their wanderings. They possess, in fact, a very small rounded 
body, (fig. 18 a), at one end of which six little hooks or claws 
project, two in the middle and two on each side. Each pair of 
these hooks is differently shaped from the others (fig. 18 6, c, d), 
and they are so arranged, that one of each form is placed on each 
side of the embryo, so that the two innermost, the two middle. 




86 THE TAPE-WOBM. 

and the two outermost hooks are alike.^ If one of these embryos 
is set free (which can be effected by care- 
J^' ' fully crushing the eggshell between two 

plates of glass)^ without destroying the 
living tape^worm embryo, its various 
movements may be examined under the 
microscope. It draws its round body 
together^ and enlarges and contracts its 
transverse diameter, and by this operation protrudes, first in 
front and then at the sides, the six little hooks from that end 
of its body which, from these hooks being situated there, I shall 
call the fore part. The observer can readily understand how, by 
such movements, the excessively minute cestoid embryo succeeds 
in boring its way into the moist and tender soft parts of other 
animals and in traversing their interior in all directions. 

When the cestoid embryos have, by immigration and subse- 
quent encysting, lodged themselves in an animal by whose 
means they will eventually become introduced into the alimentary 
canal of one of the Vertebrata, and so reach the last stage 
of their development, a remarkable metamorphosis takes place 
by which they pass from the condition of embryos into that of 
scolices. In the interior of the embryo an organ is developed 
which gradually assumes the characters of the head of a cestoid 
w(H*m, and always resembles that of the particular species irom 
which the embryo has been produced. When once the head of 
the cestoid is fully formed it may become extruded fix)m the 
interior of the body, and the entire worm then constitutes a scolex. 
The whole of this process of scolex-development may be justly 
compared to an internal budding. 

According to the view of the earlier helminthologists, the 
scolices consist of the head end of a cestoid worm, out of whose 
posterior extremity the proper body is subsequently developed. 
In regard to the organization of the scolices, it must be par- 
ticularly noted that they possess no oral aperture, and are only 
nourished by the absorption of fluids through the surface of their 

Fig. 18. The embiyo of Ttenia eraterffbrmU. The six hookleti are fonned upon 
three different types ; b, e, J, represent the three kinds more highly magnified. b. One 
of the two uppermost, e, one of the two median, and J, one of the two outermost 
booklets. 

> See my description of these hooks in Burdach*s * Physiologie/ Bd. ü, 1837, p. 204. 



DEVELOPMENT OF SCOLICES. 



87 



integument. In the substance of their bodies^ spherical or 
discoidal bodies of a glassy appearance are often seen: these 

Fig. 19. 




have frequently been mistaken for e^s, whereby the nature of 
these creatures has been wholly misconceived. The particles are, 
in fact, nothing more than organized deposits of carbonate of 
lime. Integumentary concretions of the same kind are found in 
many other of the lower animals. The scolices have also been 
described as young cestoid worms : we shall, however, more 
readily comprehend the various stages through which the Ces- 

Fig. 19. Series of deTelopmenUl stages of a Tetrarhynehutt or rather of a scolei of 
RhyncAoboihrhtm, represented diagrammatically, and partly after Van Beneden. The 
cestoid embryo becomes a recepiaculum tcoUcit by the development of a scolex in its 
interior. With the progressive development of the scolex the body of the embryo 
{recepiaculum ecoUcie) and the cyst containing it, increase in dimensions. 1. The 
encysted embryo. 2. The encysted embryo developes a bud internally, and so becomes 
the receptacle of a scolex. 3. The internal bud out of which a scolex is being developed 
has increased in size. 4. In the interior of the bud the head of the future Tetrarhynchue 
appears, and the suckers become perceptible. 5. The head of the Tetrarhynchut 
becomes more clearly defined ; and, 6, acquires a neck. 7. The neck elongates, the four 
hooked proboscides make their appearance. 8. The more elongated neck is forced to 
become curved in order to accommodate itself to the narrow space in which the scolex 
is undergoing its development. 9. The adult scolex out of its cyst, and beginning to be 
extruded from its receptacle. 10. The extruded scolex; which, in II, has separated 
itself from its receptaculum. In this condition, the scolices of the Rhynchobothria 
have hitherto been described as species of Tetrarhynckue. ♦ Scolex. »* Receptaculum 
scolids. *** Cyst. For the farther development of the Tetrarkynehue into a Rhyncho* 
boihriumj see fig. 23. 



88 THE TAPE-WORM. 

toidea pass, and be better able to bring them into unison with 
the phenomena presented by the other entozoa, if, as has been 
suggested above, we regard the scolices as agamozooids. 

In taking this view of the nature of the scolices of the 
Cesioidea, we assume that they are in that condition in which 
they may, by asexual reproduction, bring forth a series of 
sexual individuals. This in reality takes place, but only in the 
intestinal canal of vertebrate animals. Before entering more 
fully into the description of this process, however, it is advisable 
that I shoidd refer to certain facts, known to helminthologists, 
which prove that the scolices really originate in the cestoid 
embryos furnished with six booklets. In this matter I avail 
myself of the evidence of Stein of Tharand, who made the fol- 
lowing important observations. 

Stein discovered,^ on the exterior of the stomach of the meal- 
worm (the larva of the coleopterous Tenebrio molitor), small cysts 
about the size of a pin's head, containing a cestoid embryo in whose 
body a more or less fully developed scolex was included. In 
those that were fully developed Stein recognised a perfect T(Bnia 
head. Stein distinctly convinced himself that the Tania embryo did 
not become a scolex by simple growth, but that the latter was 
produced by budding in the body of the embryo, having, amongst 
the numerous cysts that he examined, the most various transi- 
tional forms, from the simple unaltered embryos to those con- 
taining a fully developed scolex. During this development of 
a scoliciform agamozooid the embryo changes its form, growing 
rather longer on the one side than the other, in consequence of 
which its six hooks become irregularly scattered over the upper 
surface of the body and lose their import (fig. 26); a clear 
proof that they do not enter into the formation of the circlet of 
hooks of the tsenioid scolex. It is clear that these taenioid 
embryos arrive by immigration into the abdominal cavity of the 
meal-worms, and in fact, as Stein suspected, through the walls 
of the stomach; for this observer more than once found tsenioid 
embryos in the stomach of meal-worms, which, judging from their 
form, could only just have been hatched. Most likely these 
minute embryos had been taken in with their food by the meal- 

1 See his ' Beiträge zur Entwickelongsgeschichte der Eingeweidewürmer/ in the 
• Zeitschrift fur Wiwenschaftliche Zoologie,' edited by Kolliker and myself. Bd. iv» 
1853, p. 207. 



DEVELOPMENT OF SCOLICES. 89 

worms, and so conveyed into the stomach. By the help of their 
six hooklets they pierce its walls and pass into the perivisceral 
cavity. Having got thus far, the immigrated tsenioid embryos 
find in the meal-worms a fitting intermediate residence, and the 
scoliciform agamozooid begins to be developed in them. The 
embryos having thus completed their wanderings, and arrived at 
their appointed end, throw ofi" their boring apparatus, and play a 
more subordinate part, the scoliciform agamozooid developed 
within them, henceforward taking the chief place. The scolex is 
itself sexless, but by asexual generation will bring forth sexual 
individuals ; this, however, can only take place in the intestine of 
some vertebrate animal, and it is now the turn of the scolices to 
wander, in order that they may pass firom their intermediate host 
into their final one. 

In doing this the nurse is entirely passive, waiting until 
its intermediate host shall be devoured by that particular verte- 
brate animal which is fitted to serve as the nidus for its sexual 
stage. What vertebrate animal this is, is at present unknown, 
so that I can only speak conjecturally, and indicate that these meal- 
worms are the favorite food of various small mammals, such as 
rats and mice, and of numerous birds, the red-start^ for instance ; 
and that the Tenebrio moUtar, which flies about, and is produced 
from the chrysalis of the meal-worm, is often caught and eaten 
by bats, swallows and other insectivorous animals. .A minute 
comparison of the scolices of the meal-worms with the heads 
of tape-worms from the intestines of the animals I have named, 
may perhaps assist in filling up the gaps in these observations. 

Another observation made long ago by myself, and which has 
since been more ftdly worked out by Dr. Meissner, serves to 
confirm the observations of Stein. In the substance of the pul- 
monary sac of Avion empiricarum, (a slug), I discovered many 
encysted scolices,^ from the shape of whose heads I judged that 
they formed part of the developmental series of a Tania. The form 
of these scolices, is, however, very different from that of those 
which are found in the meal-worms. Their head end is always 
involuted in the short, and only partially developed, hinder 
part of the body (fig. 20, 21). 

One sees in the whole arrangement of the various parts of the 

^ See my essay * Ueber den Generationswechsel der Cestoden/ in the * Zeitschrift ftir 
Wissenschaftliche Zoologie/ 1850, p. 202. 



40 



THE TAPE-WORM. 



Fig. 20. 



Fig. 21. 




encysted scolex with the retracted head^ that the latter is pro- 
duced in exactly the same manner as that of the meal-worm 

scolex described by Stein, viz., by in- 
ternal budding, although I have never 
chanced to meet with such earlier stages 
of development of the scolex in the slug. 
However, that they do directly emanate 
from Ttpnia embryos, is evidenced by the 
three pair of hooks or claws, which are 
firmly fixed in the substance of the sur- 
face of the posterior extremity of the 
body of these retracted scolices. We are 
indebted to Dr. Meissner for the discovery that these six claws are 
the remains of the embryonic condition of these cestoid agamozooids.^ 
The encysted scolices in the slug, therefore, are perfectly analo- 
gous in form and signification to the cestoid agamozooids in the 
meal-worm, with this difference, that the first are not elongated 
into a tail at the posterior extremity. The encysted cestoid 
agamozooids in the slug are evidently the result of the immigra- 
tion of cestoid embryos, and yet in spite of the fact that 
these parasites are very frequently met with in slugs,* I have 
not been able to determine which species of Tania-emhryo passes 
into this form of scolex, nor into the intestine of what particular 
vertebrate animal the scolex of the slug must emigrate, to give 
rise to sexual individuals. 

The sexually matured individuals of the Cestoidea are no other 
than their full-grown joints; in which are developed the male 
and female genitalia, by whose co-operation eggs capable of re- 
production are generated, and the continuation of the species is 
secured. Such a sexually-mature, hermaphrodite joint of a 
cestoid worm, which, in certain genera of Cestoidea, when fully 
formed, separates from the body of the scolex with great 
readiness, is denominated a Proglottis, The formation of these 



Fig. 20. A scolex of Tcmia firom Arion empiricorum included within its receptacle. 
Fig. 21. The same extruded. . a. Head of the scolex. b. Receptaculum scolicis. c. The 
remains of the six embrvonic booklets. 



1 See the * Zeitschrift fur Wiss. Zool./ B. v, 1854, p. 383. 

' I have found, not only in Breisgau, but also in Schleswig, and here in Bavaria, the 
lung of the red slug {Arion empiricorum) very frequently infested by the encysted 
scolices referred to above ; and I learn from Dr. Meissner that the same is the case with 
the slugs found in the neighbourhood of Hanover. 



FREE JOINTS, OR PROGLOTTIDES. 41 

Proglottides takes place at the posterior end of the scolex by 
asexual reproduction; viz., by a simple process of growth and 
division. If we compare this process with the phenomena of 
the Alternation of Generations, we shall discover in it all the 
essential characters of the latter. The matured joints, or the 
sexual individuals, of the Cestoidea in their proglottis form, pro- 
duce a brood of embryos armed with six booklets, which are 
quite dissimilar in shape from their parents, the Proglottides^ and 
remain so, since at a later period they assume the scolex form, 
and take on the functions of an agamozooid. From the posterior 
end of the body of such a scoliciform agamozooid a series of joints 
are developed ; that is to say, a generation of sexual individuals, 
which again present the original proglottis form. In their 
organization, the Proglottides, apart from their sexual apparatus, 
so far resemble the scolices, from which they have been pro- 
duced, that they possess no oral aperture, and moreover are 
subject to a deposit under their integument, of those glassy cal- 
careous particles which I have already mentioned. 

It seems, at first, paradoxical to say that the joints of a tape- 
worm, which have hitherto been believed to be mere parts of one 
animal, should be considered as individuals; but whoever will 
observe, with an unprejudiced eye, a fully developed Tasnia with 
its sexually matured joints, must be convinced that it is no 
simple animal, but one composed of many individuals. The 
joints of a TcBnia, when quite mature, become detached from one 
another with the greatest ease ; the separated joints for a long 
while preserve their form and remain quite fresh and lively, 
being even capable of locomotion, and always seeking to dis- 
burden themselves of their eggs before dying. Even the older 
naturalists had regarded the single, separate joints of a T(Bnia as 
separate individuals, whilst others again, described the joints of 
the common tape- worm of Man, (Ttsnia solium), as " Vermes 
cucurbitini,^^ Later helminthologists, however, rejected the idea 
that a Taenia was composed oV Vermes cucurbiiini," and especially 
objected^ to the view of Vallisnieri and Coulet,* who maintained 
that the Tanite were produced by the mutual adherence of a 
number of the eucurbitine worms into a complex, jointed whole. 

> See his * ConsiderazioDi ed Esperienze intorno alia Generazione de' Yermi del Corpo 
umano.* Padooa, 1710, p. 63. 

* * Tractatus de Ascaridibus et Lumbrico lato.' Lugduni Batavorum, 1729, pp. 37, 
56, &c. 



42 THE TAPE- WORM. 

Blumenbach stood almost alone among the lat^ naturalists^ 
when, to the astonishment of his contemporaries, he defended 
the incorrect views of Vallisnieri.^ The older inquirers were 
quite right in regarding the various isolated T^ma-joints as sepa- 
rate individuals, though they certainly fell into a gross error in 
imagining that the long, many-jointed TcBnia was composed of 
coalesced Vermes cucurbitini ; in point of fact it is exactly the 
reverse, the Vermes cucurbitini owing their origin, to the break- 
ing up of the Tißnia into separate joints. That the first impres- 
sion of these old naturalists was a just one is evident, from the 
circumstance that even modem helminthologists, meeting now 
and then with solitary T<enia']omt&, with whose origin they were 
unacquainted, have regarded them as peculiar individual worms, 
and described them accordingly. A remarkable intestinal worm 
described many years ago by Diesing, under the name of Thy- 
sanosoma actinoides, which was found in the intestine of a species 
of deer from Brazil, created much sensation amongst helmin- 
thologists, until Diesing himself, not long ago, acknowledged 
it to be an isolated joint or Proglottis of T^snia fimbriata} 
Dujardin described the isolated joints of various Cestoidea as 
forms of a peculiar genus of worms, to which he gave the name 
of Proglottis.^ Although he believed them to be originally 
derived from Tienice, he was, notwithstanding, so firmly convinced 
of their independent existence, that he made them into a sepa- 
rate genus in his systematic arrangement of the Cestoidea.* 
However, since more has been known of the alternation of gene- 
rations, whereby the origin of one animal from another of quite 
dissimilar form, and their mutual relations to each other have 
been explained and familiarized, helminthol(^ists generally admit 
that a cestoid worm is really a colony of animals. How dif- 
ficult naturalists formerly found it, to accede to a view that 
since the time of Blumenbach had been a subject of ridicule, 

1 * Gottingischen Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen/ 1774, No. 154. Blumenbach 
regards the anterior, smallest, joints of a tape-worm as the oldest, and he accounts for 
their being smaller than the posterior joints by supposing that they have to give up the 
nutriment which they take in, to their successors which have fastened on to them behind. 
He compares these worms to the mass of authors, the more modem of whero merelj 
suck out of their immediate predecessors, that which these had extracted in the same 
way from still older writers. 

• See his * Systema Helminthum,' i, 1850, p. 501. 

^ * Annales des Sciences Naturelles,' t. xx, 1843, p. 341. 

* * Histoire Naturelle des Helminthes,' 1845, p. 630, pi. 10, figs, a, b, c. 



FREE JOINTS, OR PROGLOTTIDES. 



4S 




is shown by P. S. Leuckart^ who, rightly appreciating the 
true meaning of these jointed Cestodea, and yet apparently 
not liking to oppose his contemporaries too strongly, merely 
expressed himself thus upon the matter.^ " I was almost inclined 
to consider the jointed tape-worms as organisms, in which each 
joint is a separate animal, and the whole a compound animal, as 
has been before supposed by many distinguished zoologists/' 
Steenstrup returned to the idea (loc. cit., p. 108) that the tape- 
worms are compound animals, and subsequently, Van Beneden* 
in his admirable monograph, has pointed out and illustrated with 
excellent figures many striking and conclusive examples of the 
truth of the same view. In 
looking at Coulet's (1. c, figs. ^'«- ^^' 

2 — 16,) illustrations of the 
separate joints [Proglottides) 
of a Tania solium in their 
various states of contraction 
and expansion, (fig. 22,) it is 
impossible not to admit the 
conception that these animal 
bodies are independent exist- 
ences. The separate joints (that is, the Proglottides,) of the 
other species of Teenia are perfectly similar to these; and the 
Proglottides described by Van Beneden in the cestoid genera 
Echeneibothrium, Phyllobothrium,Anthobotkrium, Acanthobothrium, 
Onchobothrium, Calliobothrium, and Tetrarhynchus, (all charac- 
terised by clearly marked articulations), closely resemble them. 

Since we must henceforward regard these Cestoidea as com- 
pound animals, we may compare the many-jointed tape-worm 
with a polypidom, although we must not foi^et that there are 
some points of diflerence between the two. In the compound 
polypes, the individuals bud out in various directions and relative 
positions from their parent stock, whereby the polypidom, accord- 
Fig. 22. Siogle and separated sexually mature joints of Tania tolium (of the natural 
size) with lateral sexual apertures, {*) and in different states of expansion and contrac- 
tion (after Coulet). Each of these separate joints must be regarded as a sexual indi- 
vidual of the Tania toUunij and is the proglottis of this Cestoid worm. 

^ * Versuch einer naturgemassen Eintheilung der Helminthen/ 1827, p. 21. 

* ' Les Vers Cestoides/ 1850. It is to he regretted that Van Beneden has confined his 
investigations to the scolices and proglottides, and has not examined the development of 
the embrvos. 



44 THE TAPE-WORM. 

ing to its genus and species, receives a specific, ramified, folia- 
ceous, or encrusting form, whilst in the compound tape- worms, 
the individuals only grow out of the common stock in one 
direction, and in a single series. 

In the Cestoidea the stock is the posterior end of the scoliciform 
agamozooid. In the alternation of generations amongst the 
Cestoidea, there is this peculiarity, that the agamozooid preserves 
its efficacy and independence, whilst the agamozooids of other 
animals which undergo alternation either die after producing 
their brood or pass ihto it.^ 

We must consider the head of every cestoid worm as the 
agamozooid still remaining and capable of reproduction, and its 
neck as the equivalent of the posterior extremity of the soolex. 
In all cestoids we see that fresh joints are continually being 
developed at the posterior part of the neck, which lengthens 
and becomes covered with transverse folds. These folds are at 
first very dose together, but as the process of growth throws 
them backwards, further and further from their place of origin, 
they gradually change from indistinct wrinkles into sharp trans- 
verse lines of demarcation, between which the substance of the 
body dilates into a joint (individual), and assumes its specific 
shape. At a later period, the rudiments of the hermaphrodite 
sexual apparatus make their appearance in the interior of the 
joints : and in proportion as the latter move backwards irom their 
parent stock (the neck), so much the nearer do they approach 
to maturity, through progressive development of their sexual ap- 
paratus ; and finaUy they separate themselves from their younger 
fellows as independent individuals. I must not leave the fact 
immentioned that the formation of marked proglottidiform joints 
does not take place in all Cestoidea, In the genera Tlema, 
Tetrarhynchus and several others fiu*nished with cephalic hooks 
and suckers, the development and individualising of the pro- 
glottides occurs in perfection. In the genus Bothriocephabis, 
although the joints exhibit a distinct demarcation, they show 
little inclination to become separate. In TVuBnophoms the 
articulation is still less marked; whilst in Ligula it is obso- 

^ The correctness of this statement appears to be doubtful. The stock of the 
<* Hydra tuba'* remains after giving rise to a brood of Medium, and neither dies nor 
can be said to pass into the brood. The like is true of those Sertularida, Diphyda^ and 
Physophorida which give rise to medusiform Zooids ; nor does it seem to be otherwise in 
the remarkable Trematode Oyrodactylut described by Von Siebold himself.— [Ed.] 



ORIGIN OP THE PROGLOTTIDES. 



45 



lescent, being only denoted by imperfect transverse folds on the 
sides of the body. Here, in fact, many groups of hermaphrodite 



Kg. 23. 




sexual apparatus become developed close together, in the ribbon- 
like body of the full-grown agamozooid, but the parts which 
surround them do not break up into joints. In this respect 
we may compare a Liffula, as a compound animal, with certain 
polypidoms in which the individuals become, in a similar manner, 
less distinctly separate from the parent stock. 

For how long a time the head end of the cestoid worm can 
play the part of an agamozooid, and how many sexual individuals 
such a tape-worm can produce, has not yet been certainly proved. 
The number of proglottides which a single scolex can bring forth. 



Fig. 23. Represents, diagrammatically the metamorphosis of a Tetrarhynchu$ into t 
Rhynchobothrium (after Van Beneden, see also supri^, fig. 19). ▲. A Tetrarhynehui 
scolex, whose posterior extremity is growing and elongating, b. The elongated hinder 
extremity exhibits transverse wrinkles which indicate the bonndaries of the future 
joints, c. The posterior end of the same scolex appears clearly jointed, t. e. provided 
with proglottides. The Tetrarhynchut has thus become a Rhynchobothrium, a. One of 
the fom: sucking disks, b. Protruded part of the four proboscides provided with 
recurved hooks, c. Middle portion of the four proboscidean tubes, e, Unarticulated 
portion of the body, e* Transversely wrinkled portion of the body. €** Articulated 
part of the body giving rise to proglottides. 



46 THE TAPE-WORM. 

must^ in many species^ be enormous, since many hundred articu- 
lations may still be counted, in cestoid worms which have, for 
months, been giving off numerous joints every day. Whether a 
cestoid worm, after giving off a series of sexless individuals as 
joints, can, after a certain interval of rest, repeat this process, 
would be a düBBicult fact to determine either in man or in animals, 
since it is impossible to be sure if the renewed production of 
joints springs from one and the same agamozooid, or whether it 
may not be the product of a more lately immigrated one. 



THE CYSTIC ENTOZOA. 47 



CHAPTER III. 

ON THE CYSTIC ENTOZOA. 

Zoologists have hitherto founded the genera and species of 
Cestoidea on the characters presented by the head and by the 
folly developed joints only ; and even these characters have been 
but superficially and imperfectly employed, so that a close 
revision of this order of Entozoa has long been necessary. This 
task has been recently undertaken by Diesing and by Van 
Beneden, but the labours of these two helminthologists have led 
them to very different results. The great point in revising the 
old genera and species of the Cestoidea is, to discover what forms 
of proglottis belong to certain scolices which are commonly found 
without proglottides (and which, therefore, have long been 
regarded as distinct genera of Cestoidea), and to imite these 
together. Diesing has not attempted to do this, having appa- 
rently no conception of the bearing of the alternation of gene- 
rations upon the systematic arrangement of the lower animals. 

On the other hand, Van Beneden, guided by the light of the 
alternation theory, has justly recognised and given due promi- 
nence to, the aflBnities of certain Cestoidea, To this end the 
different kinds of scolex require to be more carefully defined 
than they have hitherto been, and the use of the microscope 
becomes indispensable. The forms of the apparatus of attachment 
must be determined and compared with the utmost care, and 
those hooks and protractile proboscides, armed with more or less 
moveable booklets, which are attached to the head of the scolices, 
are especially adapted, from their varjring and well marked figure 
and disposition, to afford good generic and specific characters. 
If the form and arrangement of that apparatus of attachment of 
the T(ßniad€B which is known as the circlet of hooks, of the 
proboscis which carries it, and of the sac which conceals it, had 
been carefully observed, the identity of many so-called species of 
Tisniada would long since have been recognised, and the dose 



48 THE CYSTIC ENTOZOA. 

relation of the Cystica with the Cestoidea would not have been a 
recent discovery. It must not be forgotten, however, that in 
very many T(sniad€e, the scolices lose their circlet of hooks with 
advancing age, and that in many Cestoidea, the suckers of the 
scolices imdergo great changes of form when the development 
of proglottides commences ; in consequence of which it is often 
very difficult to demonstrate the connection of the older and 
younger individuals of one and the same species of cestoid. 
The proglottides of the Cestoidea, again, considered as individuals 
wholly separate from the parental organism, present distinct 
specific characters, though they are not, perhaps, very obvious 
at first sight. In these it is the sexual apparatus more par- 
ticularly which, forming as it does the principal mass of the 
proglottis, presents excellent specific characters, in the form, 
dimensions, number, and arrangement of its parts. Van Beneden 
has the merit of having paid particular attention to these par- 
ticulars in distinguishing the difierent species of proglottis. 

As I have already hinted, the cystic worms, which were made 
by Rudolphi into a distinct order of Entozoa, are so closely 
allied to the Cestoidea that they have no claim whatever to be 
regarded as an independent group. Since, in addition, various 
kinds of scolices have been regarded as distinct genera of 
Cestoidea, it is high time that zoologists should resolve to erase 
from their systematic arrangements all these groups, which are 
in reality, based only on our ignorance of the natural history of 
the Entozoa, How great a number of these improper genera 
have been introduced may be judged by the fact that out of the 
order Entozoa cephalocotylea, alone, established by Diesing,^ and 
containing thirty-two genera, ten genera must be eliminated, 
namely, Echinococcus, Cosnurus, Cysticercus, Piestocysiis, Antho- 
cephalus, Acanthorhynchus, Pterobothrium, Teirabothriprhynchus, 
Stenobothrium, Scolew, Many of the Entozoa arranged imder 
these genera are merely the scoliciform agamozooids of other 
Cestoidea; a fact which is demonstrated not merely by their 
undeveloped and sexless body, but by their habitation, since they 
are almost all found, not in the alimentary canal of a vertebrate 
animal, but in its other viscera. Another portion of these genera 
consists of the cystic worms, which are also nothing but the 
scolices of certain Cestoidea, with this diflerence, however, that a 
portion of their body is enlarged into a vesicle. 

1 Diesing, * Systema Helminthum/ i, p. 478. 



THE CYSTIC ENTOZOA. 49 

To prove that the cystic Entozoa are the sexless and va- 
riously degenerated nurses of the Cesioidea, I must once again 
return to the already mentioned (page 36) development of the 
cestoid agamozooids. When the cestoid embryo has immigrated 
and established itself in any organ of an animal^ it begins to 
develop a scolex by internal buddings which takes the form of a 
Tcpma-head or of a Teirarhynchtts-head, &c., according to the 
origin of the embryo. The embryo then increases and becomes 
enlarged by the growth of the scolex^ which it holds enclosed 
within the distended walls of its body. These walls pass inter- 
nally into the neck of the scolex^ directly over the spot whence 
the scolex sprung. On the external surface a funnel-shaped but 
narrow depression is developed opposite the scolex, from which 
a canal stretches through the neck of the scolex to its head. 
This canal, after the full development of the scolex, permits its 
evolution, by which means the hinder end of the scolex passes 
immediately into the body of the embryo. The fully developed 
scolex in the interior of the embryo appears as if it had drawn 
itself inwards by a process of involution ; but observation teaches 
us that the scolex is originally developed in this involuted con- 
dition, instead of becoming retracted when it has attained its full 
development. The material required for the development of 
the scolex and of the embryo which invests it, is taken up by 
the latter by absorption through its integument. This absorptive 
power of the integument may vary in amount, and produce 
different results, which are, of course, dependent upon the 
quantity and quality of the fluids, and upon the special pecu- 
liarities of the organs of the animal in which the embryo has 
taken up its residence. Under particular circumstances it may 
easily happen that an embryo should absorb, through the surface 
of its integuments, more nutritive fluid than is necessary for the 
growth and development of the scolex. The surplus nourish- 
ment then gives rise to exuberance of growth and to d^enera- 
tion of the body of the embryo. The immediate consequence of 
the accumulation of absorbed and unemployed nourishing juices 
will be a vesicular enlargement of the embryonic body ; and the 
cestoid embryo in this condition has received the name of a 
cystic worm. The development of the scolices in such cystic 
entozoa is sometimes more, sometimes less, advanced. 

I have already shown that the cestoid embryos, after leaving 
their eggs, must wander, in order to establish themselves in 

4 



50 HYDROPIC DEGENERATION. 

fitting animals and become developed into agamozooids. If any- 
thing is to come of these wanderings, however — that is to say, if 
the cestoid embryos are to propagate, two main conditions must 
be fulfilled. In the first place, the localities chosen for lodge- 
ment must afford suitable nourishment; in the second place, 
the animal selected by the embryo as its home must afford an 
opportunity to the scolex developed within it, to reach the 
appointed intestinal canal of a vertebrate animal, either by active 
or passive emigration, in order to accomplish its sexual development 
and propagation. That the cestoid embryos should ofken go far 
astray in their wanderings, whereby these conditions are left unM- 
filled, is easily conceivable ; however, these strayed cestoid embryos 
do not perish, but notwithstanding the degeneration which they un- 
dergo retain sufficient tenacity of life to be capable of further 
development and propagation. Objections have been raised by 
some to the opinion I have just expressed, that strayed cestoid 
agamozooids may uudei^o dropsical degeneration ; and it is urged, 
on the contrary, that the vesicles of these hydropic scolices are a 
necessary organ, a sort of reservoir of nutriment. In answer to 
this, I can only repeat what I have already said in another plaoe,^ 
in vindication of my views, viz., that I cannot see why one should 
deny the possibility of a degeneration in form among worms, 
since- it is observed in the higher animals, where the modifi- 
cations produced by climatic influences and change of food are at 
once admitted as " Races.^^ If, in many of these races, an extra- 
ordinarily luxuriant growth of hair shoots out over the whole 
body, or on various parts of it ; if the horns of certain races of 
ruminants have the property of lengthening, or even of doubling ; 
if the ears of certain kinds of our domesticated animals become 
disproportionately long and drooping; if, in some races, local 
-fatty degeneration takes place in the shape of a fatty tail or 
hump, why should not an accumulation of serous fluid in certain 
parts of the body, giving rise to a local dropsy, take place 
amongst the lower orders of animals, when these are exposed to 
the influences of an imusual mode of life f 

The processes of degeneration to which the cestoid embryos 
are liable in their wanderings are of two diff(»:«nt kinds ; either 
the body of an embryo lengthens posteriorly into a scdid caudal 
appendage, or else it becomes distended into a watery vesicle by 

I ' Zeitschrift for Wiat. Zoologie^' Bd. ir, 1853, p. 407. 



THE CYSTIC ENTOZOA. 51 

the accumulation of serous fluid. It may even happen that both 
these forms of degeneration attack the same embryo. For the 
better comprehension of these occurrences of excessive growth 
and of degeneration in the course of the development of the 
cestoid embryo, I will distinguish the part of the body of the 
embryo which becomes distended by the formation of the scolex, 
by the name of the recepta^ulum $colicis. Strictly speaking, this 
receptacle is no other than the embryo itself (see page 37, fig. 19**). 

Whilst the scolex is becoming developed within the receptacle 
of a cestoid embryo, many and various changes of form may 
be going on in the embryo itself, pari passu with the vesicular 
change, and these have given occasion to the erection of the 
various genera of cystic Entozoa, 

Those Tsenioid embryos whose receptacle has become dis- 
tended to sometimes a larger, sometimes a smaller vesicle, have 
been hitherto included in the cystic genus Cysticercus. K such 
a T(Bnia scolex extrudes itself from its vesicular receptacle, it is 
obvious that the posterior part of the scolex parses immediately 
into the vesicle, and the presence of such a caudal vesicle in the 
scolex of a Ttßnia has been raised into the generic character of 
the Cysticerci (figs. 24, 25). Exposed to certain external in- 
fluences, the receptacle of a Tiema 

scolex becomes distended into a very FSg- 24. Fig. 25. 

lai^e and spacious vesicle, from the 
inner surÜEU^ of which, a number of ^^P^^ 
Tarda scolices develop by budding; ^K^V 
this form of cystic worm has been J^^^^s 
elevated into a genus, Ccemirtis, An- 
other kind of Tsenioid embryo becomes 
metamorphosed into a vesicle of lai^er 

or smaller dimensions, from whose inner sur&ce countless scolices 
pullulate ; these, however, become detached, and lie freely within 
the cavity of the closed parental vesicle. Upon this form the 
genus Echinococcus has been founded. 

Fig. 24. Cy9iieereui eelhüo§a from the hnman bnun, of iti natural size, and with 
a retracted anterior extremity. Fig. 25. The same Cytticercut extruded, a. The caudal 
vesicle of the Cysticercus, which is nothing but the receptaeuktm teoHti» (or hinder end 
of a Tenioid embryo), distended into a vesicle by the accumulation of water, b. The 
retracted anterior end of the body of the Cysticercus contains the tsenioid scolex deve- 
loped by budding within the embryo, c. The transversely wrinkled anterior »tremity 
of the Cysticercus, d, Ito head and neck, which conjointly form the Tmioid aoolez. 




52 



CAUDAL APPENDAGES. 



Rg. 26. 



The changes of those cestoid embryos in which the receptacle 
grows out behind into a long^ solid^ caudal appendage^ are very 
remarkable. The receptacle of the Taenia scolex which Stein 
observed in the meal-worms, developes such an appendage (page 
88). I must remark here, that Stein considers the scolex recep^ 
tacle as a cyst, and the caudal appendage as a part of it, which 
is certainly not correct, for if the tail does not appertain to the 
embryo, how could the six hooks have come to lie upon the 
upper surface of the tail, where, according to Stein's express 
assertion, he invariably saw them f 

The Piestoq/stis crispa, which attains a length 
of from one to three inches, is nothing more than 
a T€Bnia scolex evolved from its receptacle, with a 
very long, ribbon-like, solid, caudal appendage.^ In 
certain Tetrarhynchi the receptacle also becomes dis- 
tended into a vesicle, and such forms of Tetrarhynchi 
were united by the older helmintholc^ists into the 
genus Anthocephalus, From this genus Diesing 
separated, under the names of Acanihorhynchus and 
Pterobothium, those Tetrarhynchus scolices, the pos- 
terior end of whose receptacle is produced into a 
very long, unjointed, caudal appendage. As in 
these degenerations, the form and size of the vesi- 
cular dilatations of the receptacle, as well as the 
shape and length of its caudal appendage, are often 
dependent upon accidental external influences, the 
dissimilarity which the parts present in different individuals of 
one and the same species of scolex become readily intelligible. 
For this reason, such diagnostic characters of genera and species 
as are derived from the conformation of the vesicular enlarge- 
ments and of the caudal appendages of the receptacle must be dis- 
carded on account of their uncertainty. Only on the form of 
the scolex (the so-called head of the semally matured cestoids) is 
it possible to base constant generic and specific characters. A 

F!g. 26. A TVetita scolex from the meal-worm retracted within its receptacle; 
partly after Stein, a. Head of the scolex. b, Receptaculum scolids. c. Caudal 
appendage of this receptacle, on which lie scattered the six embryonic hooks. 




* This animal was formerly described by Rudolphi as CysHcerew cruptu, I have 
demonstrated, however, in the * Zeitschrift für WissenchafUiche Zoologie/ (Bd. ii, 1850, 
p 223)» that this worm possesses no caudal Tedde. 



THE CYSTIC ENTOZOA. 58 

striking proof of this is offered by the Cysticercus cellulostB, of 
which the diagnosis invariably states^ that it possesses a " vesica 
caudalis, elliptica^ transversa/' This form of caudal vesicle is, 

however, only found in such Cys» 
Kg. 27. Fig. 28. ticerci as are imbedded in the mus- 

^^^^ ^ des of men and pigs ; in individuals 

^H^P ^flj^ of the same species residing within 

^|P^^ ^^^IW^ft ^^^ human brain, the caudal vesicle 
^W ^^^^W^^ assumes the most various and irre- 

gular forms (figs. 24, 27, 28). Even 
in the 7<pnta-scolex observed by Stein,^ the caudal appendage 
of the receptacle assumed the greatest variety of shapes. 

If attention had been earlier directed to these circumstances^ 
the cystic Bntozoa would not have been made into a separate 
order fipom the Cesioidea. The older naturalists and helmin- 
thologists took a far more just and unprejudiced view of the 
matter, when, from the similarity of the degenerated cystic 
scolices with the heads of certain Cestoidea, they divined the 
dose connection of the two orders, and described the Cystica as 
TiBnia vesicularis, Tcsnia hydatiyena, Ttenia cellulosm. Even the 
dropsical condition of these cystic worms did not escape the eyes 
of the older naturalists, since already, in 1691, Tyson' described 
the Cysticercus tenuicollis as Lumbricus kydropicus. 

But after Linnaeus had animated naturalists with his spirit of 
arrangement, they worked with such good will and so exclusivdy, 
at the perfection and completion of his system, that for a long 
time it seemed to be thought enough if generic and spedfic 
names were given to newly discovered animals, and their due 
systematic place assigned. The inquiry into the natural history 
of these animals hence became quite a secondary consideration, 
and with such a one-sided study of animal forms, it could hardly 
fail to happen that not merely varieties, but also young states, 
larvae, and even fragments of animals already known, should be 
described and systematically arranged as peculiar animals.^ 

Pigs. 27, 28. Two Cysticerci rendered quite irregular by constriction of their 
▼eridei ; from the human brain, natural size. b. The retracted anterior edge of the 
scolex. In fig. 28 the constricted parts are produced into tubes. 

* See ♦ Zeitschrift fur Wiss. Zoologie/ Bd. iv, 1853, p. 207, and pi. x, figs. 12—14. 

* ' Philosophical Transactions,' 1691, No. 193, p. 506, figs. 1—4. 

* Ehrenberg's and Diesing's systematic works on Itifiuoria and Bntozoa, testify that 
this faulty and one-sided method finds followers even now. 



54 CYSTICERCUS FASCIOLAEIS. 

It is to the peculiarity in the form of the Cysticercus fascio* 
laris that we owe the recent recognition of the connection 
between the cystic and the cestoid worms. The similarity of the 
head of this Cysticercus with that of the Taenia crassicollis is so 
great and striking^ that I can scarcely claim much merit for 
having been the first to entertain the idea which I thus ex- 
pressed:^ the Cysticercus fasciolaris is nothing more than a 
strayed or degenerated Tania, which may, however, attain the 
normal form of a tape-worm if transported to the intestinal 
canal of a suitable animal. Both forms are so intimately related 
to each other in form and organization, that I am not surprised 
at Allen Thomson, of Glasgow, having recognised the agreement 
of the Cysticercus fasciolaris with the Tijenia crassicollis without, 
as it seems, being aware of my researches and publications upon 
the subject.* The mutual affinities and relations of these two 
Entozoa are the more perceptible, because during the growth of 
the Cysticercus fasciolaris the joints of the future tape- worm are 
developed between the caudal vesicle and the head. These joints 
certainly remain narrow, and develop no sexual apparatus, but 
they give to the scolex, which in this stage of development 
always has the head extruded, such a characteristic appearance, 
that its identity with the Tmnia crassicollis can only be denied by 
those who regard the caudal vesicle as the sole test of sys- 
tematic position. If we examine the Cysticercus fasciolaris or 
altered Tcenia crassicolüs, more narrowly, we shall perceive in this 
tape- worm the same peculiarity which occurs in the various oth» 
cestoids, for instance, in Truenophorus nodulosus, Ttenia longicoUis 
and oceUata, viz., that the body of the tape-worm grows from 
the back part of the head and neck of the scolex, even before 
this has reached the intestine of the vertebrate animal adapted to 
its sexual development (see page 32). There is, however, an 
additional departure from the ordinary course in the Tisnia eras- 
sicollis, that during the development of its scolex its receptacle 
undergoes a dropsical degeneration. 

As the Cysticercus fasciolaris, which is found always encysted, 
in the livers of various rodents — most commonly those of rats 
and mice — is often met with several inches long, the caudal 
vesicle terminating the elongated body of such individuals, which 

^ Compare my article <* Parasiten/' 1. c, pp. 650, 676. 
* < Zeitschrift für Wiss. Zoologie/ Bd. üi, 1851, p. 97. 



THE CYSTIC ENTOZOA. 55 

never grows in the same proportion^ is very minute^ which seems 
to render probable the notion that the caudal vesicle of these 
cestoids has not originally been a scolex receptacle, but is rather 
the hinder end of the tape-worm in a diseased and dropsical 
state. Such dropsical enlargements are undoubtedly foimd occa-r 
sionally in single joints of the Cestoidea ; but if attention is paid 
to the gradual development of the tsenioid Cysticercus fasciolaris 
it will be seen that its caudal vesicle is at an early period a true 
receptaculum scolicis. I have before me many examples of the 
Cysticercus f(isciolaris which present the most varipus stages of 
development, the oldest being from five to seven inches long, 
whilst the yoimgest were no more than from one to four lines. 
Amongst the older individuals the long body is distinctly jointed ; 
in the younger the short body merely presents very dose trans- 
verse wrinldes as indications of the future joints. At all these 
different ages, the caudal vesicle appears to have about the same 
size, and indeed in the older individuals is even somewhat smaller. 
The youngest individuals, of one and one and a half lines long, 
have no body at all ; in these the head and neck of the scolex 
only project, in the slightest degree, from the vesicular recep- 
tacle, whilst these parts, in the smallest individuals, which possess 
a perfectly rounded vesicle, are still, as I have most distinctly 
convinced myself, concealed in the receptacle. If one were care- 
fully to inspect the livers of many different species of murine 
rodents, one would certainly come upon still younger forms of 
development of the scolex of Tcenia crassicollis ; one might even 
be so fortunate as to discover the embryo hooks on the external 
surface of the receptacle of the developing scolex, although the 
discovery of these six hooks of the cestoid embryo, on account of 
their excessively small size, is a very difficult task. In the Cys^ 
ticercus pisiformis, which, always encysted, infests the livers of 
hares and rabbits, I have succeeded in meeting with the scolex 
receptacle, in a very early period of development, with a diameter 
of half a line. The internal gemmation had just begun, the four 
suckers of the future scolex were scarcely sketched out, and the 
stiU soft apices of the circlet of hooks were only just in process 
of formation (see fig. 33, d, e), but I sought in vain for the six 
embryo-hooks on the external surface of the receptacle. In 
pursuing these inquiries, however, a very interesting phenomenon 
was presented by the livers of some wild rabbits of this neighbour- 



56 CYSTICERCUS PISIFORMIS. 

hood. Besides containing many very small scolices of Cystu 
cercus pisiformis just developing, there were a number of short, 
pale-yellow lines crossing each other in all directions, which, upon 
microscopical inspection, did not seem to be sharply defined, and 
appeared to consist of a granular substance. I suspect that this 
substance was the product of an exudative process, occasioned 
by the creeping about of the immigrated Tiema-embryos in the 
substance of the liver ; probably it would be gradually reabsorbed 
when, in course of their development and metamorphosis, these 
embryos had become converted into the dropsical receptacles of 
Cysticercus pis^(rrmis. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ON THV ORIGIN OP THE CESTOID AND CYSTIC BNTOZOA« 

The extraordmary likeness of the Cysticercus fasciolaris of 
rats and mice witli the T€enia crassicollis of cats, and the fact 
that the above rodents are the principal food of cats, and that, 
moreover, the joints of the Cysticercus fasciolaris enclosed in the 
cysts in the livers of rats and mice are never sexually developed, 
inclined me to believe that this sexless Cysticercus fasciolaris 
would be changed into a sexually matured Taenia crassicollis, as 
soon as the animal it lodged in should be devoured by a cat. 
For, under these circumstances, the liver of the devoured rodent 
would be digested in the cat's stomach, and the cystic worm, 
freed from its cyst, would be transplanted to a place where, after 
casting off its caudal vesicle, it might, as a Tania crassicollis, 
attain to sexual maturity in the intestine of the cat. Fully as I 
was persuaded of the possibility of such a transformation of the 
Cysticercus fasciolaris into Tienia crassicollis, yet I could hardly 
conceive that the other species of Cysticercus, in which no jointed 
body was developed between the head and caudal vesicle of the 
scolex, could become TtenUe; and this appeared the more un* 
likely, as I had often found cysts that had perished, in which the 
Cysticerci they contained were dead, and lay shrunk and buried 
amidst inoi^anic calcareous deposits. Such a calcareous de- 
generation of the cysts^ must assuredly render-the cestoid scolices 
incapable of propagation ; still all do not meet with this fate, for 
under favorable circumstances they can, even in spite of their 
dropsical receptacle, subserve the miiltiplication of sexual cestoids ; 
that is to say, when they are transported into the intestinal canal 
of f^TiinriftlR fitted for the development of Proglottides. 

That the cystic Entozoa can thus become changed into sexual 

^ I hive more particularly described this process in the ' Zdtscrift für Wissentchaft- 
Uche Zoologie,' Bd. ii, 1850, p. 225. 



58 FEEDING EXPERIMENTS. 

cestoids^ has been proved by Küchenmeister, of Zittau, by experi- 
ments first made by him, and published in various medical and 
natural history periodicals.^ It was a very happy thought of his 
to institute experiments of feeding animals with Cysticerci. I 
have repeated and extended these feeding experiments, and can 
substantiate what Küchenmeister was the first to make known, 
viz., that certain cystic Entozoa become Tanue in the intestinal 
canal of dogs. 

The chief condition for the success of these experim^its is, that 
the cystic worms should be lively, or at least capable of being 
revived when administered 5 to which end they must be m^e use 
of directly, or at the most a &w hours after, the death of those 
animals which yield them. As long as the organ3 of the mam^ 
mals in which these parasites abound remain wa^m, one may be 
sure that the worms are still living ; with the cooling of the 
infested organism, they become gradually languid, and at last 
seem quite dead, but from this state they can be restored to 
life, even after the lapse of several hours, by the application of 
warmth. When I was not certain whether the cystic worms 
I was using for my feeding experiments were still living or not, 
I threw them into luke-warm water, and then only made use of 
those individuals which had by this means been re-animated. 

To produce tsenioid worms out of cystic worms, I caused the 
latter to migrate passively into the intestinal canal of puppies by 
feeding these with them. Puppies of about a week ox two old 
were most suitable. They lapped up the milk in which the 
cystic w(»rms were mixed very readily ; those which exhibited no 
particular appetite at the moment had their jaws hdd open and 
the milk poured down thdr throats, so that the swallowing of the 
worms was secured. At first I m^e use of cats, rabbits, and 
Ouinea-pigs, also, for these experiments ; but they a£E6rded me no 
satiBfactory results.^ B^t the dog, as I shall presently show, is 
by his mode of life naturally obnoxious to those cystic worms 
with whidi I experimented, and hence the experiments with 
puppies necessarily succeeded. 



' The first notice is given in Günsburg's * Zeitschrift für Klinische Vorträge/ 1851, 
p. 240. 

* All the feeding experiments cited in the following pages were carried on in the year 
1852. 



ORIGIN OF CYSTICA AND CESTOIDEA. 59 



1. EXPERIMENTS OP PEEDINO WITH CYSTICERCUS PISIFORMIS. 

The cystic entozoon^ known by the name of Cysticercus 
pisiformis, is a very common inhabitant of the liver and peritoneum 
of hares and rabbits. Cysts as large as a hazel-nut are frequently 
disseminated completely through the substwioe of the liver of 
hares, and these cysts are not unfrequently found hanging down 
like bunches of grapes from the external surface of the liver ; in 
rabbits the great omentum and the mesentery are generally full 
of these cysts. Commonly such a cyst only contains a single 
Cysticercus pisiformis ; but two are also sometimes enclosed in a 
common cyst. In Breslau, the rabbits which were sold in the 
markets in the spring months of 1852 were almost invariably 
infested by this Cysticercus, whence I made use of them at the 
Physiological Institution in that place for my feeding experiments. 
The results of these experiments were published in the inaugural 
dissertation^ of my pupil. Dr. Lewald, who took a very active share 
in them ; subsequently I gave some account of them myself in the 
' Zeitschift für Wissenschaftliche Zoologie,' Bd. iv, 1853. The 
number cS Oysticerci which I administered at once in these experi- 
ments was various, seven, twenty, forty, and sixty. In all cases, 
the Cysticerci were left enclosed within their cysts, and in these 
expmments, as in all subsequent ones, I wrote down in my 
journal, the precise time of feeding, the number of the cystic 
worms made use of> and the dogs fed with them, subjecting these 
last, after feeding, to strict watching and careftd attention. 

Of experiments tried with Cysticercus pisiformis upon tea 
dogs, the following are the results, which I repeat from the report 
I made in my essay in the Zeitschift cited above. When the 
encysted Cysticerci are devoured, it is the cysts which are first 
attacked by the gastric juice in the dog's stomach, and then the 
caudal vesicle is consumed ; but not, however, the remaining part 
of the Cysticercus, so that of the whole Cysticercus pisiformis 
nothing more is left than the whitish round body which was 
enclosed in the caudal vesicle, and which consists of the head and 
neck of the animal involuted within its body, or, in other words, 

* This diMertatioii appeared at Beiiin in 1852, under the title * Pe Cystioeroomm in 
ToHiias metainorphosi paacendi ezperimeotis in instituto pbyaiologico VratiBlavensi 
adminiftratis Uliutrata.' 



60 FEEDING WITH CYSTICERCUS PISIFORMIS. 

is the scolex. Even before the caudal vesicle is digested^ it fre- 
quently shrinks and collapses^ its thin contents being discharged^ 
probably by exosmosis^ into the thicker fluid of the stomach. 
Accompanying the latter^ the remaining portions of the Cysticerci, 
viz.^ the tailless bodies with their involuted neck and head^ pass 
into the duodenum through the pylorus. Having reached the 
duodenum, the heads and necks of the Cysiicerci are extruded, 
in order that they may find places of attachment by means of 
their suckers and hooks, between the villi of the intestine, where 
they may await the growth and further development of the 
other parts of their body. 

During the first hours of their sojourn in the small intestine, 
these outstretched tailless Cysticerci (scolices) often present a 
bloated oedematous appearance ; but by degrees the body becomes 
thinner, probably parting by exosmosis with its superabundance 
of fluid, and in this manner establishing an equilibrium with 
the more or less viscous chyle. In all these Cysticerci the 
posterior end is clearly the place where, at an earlier period, 
the caudal vesicle was attached, as is evinced by a sort of scar, 
like a notch or incision, from which at first very delicate 
flakes of membrane depend, the remains of the digested caudal 
vesicle. Already, after a day or two, the worms b^;in to exhibit 
a growth, in which only the body takes part, the neck and head 
being already ftiUy developed, whilst the worms were still within the 
peritoneum of the rabbits. Whilst the bodies of the worms, as yet 
unjointed, and only provided with very dose transverse wrinkles, 
increase in length, the transverse wrinkles also multiply ; and if 
the growth of the body goes on uninterruptedly, the transverse 
wrinkles, after a day or two, change by degrees into distinctly 
marked articulations ; the joints, which are at first very short, 
lengthen, and there appears either on the one lateral border or on 
the other a kind of papillose elevation, which afterwards becomes the 
aperture of the sexual organs. In this condition the ingested 
worms have exactly the appearance of a Tarda, and only betray 
their origin by that scar on the terminal joint of their body, of 
which I have already spoken. After remaining twenty-five days 
in the dog^s intestine they have become Ttentie, of from ten to 
twelve inches long. The growth of these T<eni€e goes on without 
intermission, the posterior joints increasing in size, and the re- 
productive organs in the interior developing more and more, 
whilst at the hinder limit of the neck fr^h joints are continually 



ORIGIN OP CYSTICA AND CESTOIDEA. 61 

produced from the transversely wrinkled anterior part of the body. 
In three months these Ttenia attain the length of from twenty 
to thirty inches and more.^ In such Tani€B the posterior joints 
seem to have reached their frdl sexual derelopment. In some of 
these tape- worms the last joints become cast off^ a proof of their 
having attained their sexual maturity. The eggs contained in 
the fiiUy formed joints are perfectly developed^ and contain an 
embryo, famished, in the usual manner, with six moveable hooks. 

After having thus obtained sexually developed T(Bm€B, that is 
to say scolices with sexually matured proglottides, from the 
Cysticercus pistformis, I was enabled to decide to which species 
of tape- worm these scolices, as the head end, and the proglottides, 
as joints, belonged, and I recognised in them the Tisnia serrata, 
which had long been known to infest the intestine of dogs. The 
form of the head, the number, shape, and arrangement of the 
hooks encircling the head, the construction of the joints, and of 
the sexual organs within them, the form of the developed eggs, 
all persuaded me that I had educed the Ttenia serrata out of the 
Cysticercus pisiformis. 

Perhaps some of my readers may doubt the conclusion I drew 
from the above-mentioned experiments, and may object — How 
could I be sure that the dogs which I fed with the Cysticerci 
might not have come by the tape-worms known as Tania serrata 
in some other manner ? This objection occurred to myself, and 
all the more strongly since in searching the intestinal canal 
of dogs fed with Cysticercus pisiformis I often met with 
thread-worms and tape-worms of another kind {TiBtda cucume^ 
rind), among individuals of Ttenia serrata. So that the question 
naturally arose whether, in the same way as individuals of the 
dog's thread-worm {AscatHs m^arginaia), and the ordinary dog's 
tape-worm {Taenia cticumerina), had found their way into the 
intestine of the dogs experimented upon, so these individuals 
of the other rarer tape-worm {Tama serrata) might not also have 
arrived there without any assistance of mine. I can, however, 
bring forward the following demonstrative evidence to substantiate 
my assertion, that the individuals of T€ema serrata which I dis- 
covered in the course of these experiments were really produced 
from Cysticercus pisiformis, I have repeatedly searched the 

* With regard to these different stages of de?elopmeiit, see the figures in Lewild's 
* Dissertation/ cited above. 



62 FEEDING WITH CYSTICERCUS TENUICOLLIS. 

intestines of puppies of the same litter as those I had used in 
. my other experiments, and have never found Tüsnia serrata in 
them ; but, on the other hand, I have very commonly met with 
Ascaris marginata and Taenia cucumerina. I must here remark 
that I only made use of parlour and house dogs for my purpose, 
and it is in these that both the above-named parasites ordinarily 
appear, the Tcenia serrata more commonly infesting himting dogs. 
Still further confirmation of my view is afforded by the impor- 
tant circumstance that after feeding the dogs with Cysticercus 
pisiformis, the number of tape-worms of the species Tama 
serrata, which were found more or less developed in their digestive 
canal, agreed exactly with the number of Cysticerci 1 had given. 
Another circumstance worthy of observation, and strongly con- 
firmatory of my view, is, that the size and the condition of 
development of the Taenia serrata in the intestine of the dogs 
that had been fed with Cysticerci, exactly corresponded with the 
time that had elapsed since the period of feeding. 

2. EXPEKIMENTS OF FEEDING WITH CYSTICEKCUS TENUICOLLIS. 

The slender-necked Cysticercus is very commonly met with in 
the viscera of our fat cattle ; as regards its caudal vesicle it is the 
largest of all the Cysticerci, for this often attains to the size of a 
fist, whilst its head never exceeds that of an ordinary Cysticercus 
in circumference. As these Cysticerci were generally brought 
to me enclosed in their cysts, and as the walls of the cysts were 
penetrated by a great deal of fat, I always disengaged the tape- 
worms from their investments before I fed the dogs with them. 

First experiment. — In the beginning of May, 1852, 1 made my 
first preliminary experimentof feeding with theCysticercus tenuicolUs 
upon a young hound ten weeks old, to whom I gave six Cysticerci 
within four days. A few days afterwards I found, in this dog's 
intestine, only the head ends of the ingested worms. They were 
from one to one and a quarter line in length, and consisted of 
the head and solid neck of the former cystic worm, of which the 
scolex had alone escaped digestion. In order to ensure the 
greater success of my experiments, I each time cut off before- 
hand the voluminous caudal vesicle of the selected ti^-worms, 
and only fed the dog with those which had the neck and head 
involuted in the cylindrical and hollow body. 

Second experiment. — On the 11th May, a second young hound 



ORIGIN OF CYSTICA AND CESTOIDEA. 63 

was fed with twenty-one cystic worms. On the 12th May, he 
had five, and on the I4th, three more, so that this dog altogether 
swallowed twenty-nine Cysticerci without their caudal yesicles. 
On examining the dog on the 17th May, seventeen scolices were 
found in his small intestine, of which the smallest was from three 
quarters to one line in length, and the largest two lines. 

TTiird eäpperiment. — ^A young poodle swallowed, on the 18th 
June, twelve Cysticerci, of which, on the 23d of Jime, eleven 
were found as scolices, from one to two and a half lines in length, 
in the small intestine of the dead animal. 

It was then the body of the Cysticercus that had perished by 
digestion, for the short thick body of these scolices was no other 
than the neck of the Cysticercus. It showed no trace of trans- 
verse wrinkles, and at its posterior end appeared to be cut off 
transversely or obliquely, with a sort of hollow scar in the 
middle, denoting the place where the hollow cylindrical body of 
the Cysticercus had been detached in the dog's stomach. 

In uninjured individuals of Cysticercus ienrncolUs one can ' 
easily recognise that portion of the body which, in the small 
intestine of the dog, becomes the soolex, by putting the uninjured 
worms into lukewarm water. The worms seem to like the 
warmth, which corresponds with that of the mammals they infest, 
moving about in the most lively manner, and stretching out their 
tubular body (previously contracted into a short, transversely 
wrinkled, milk-white knot), with the head seated at its extremity 
on a short, slender, and solid neck, for a long distance. This thin 
neck appears to be sharply s^>arated from the body of the worm, 
and easily permits the line of demarcation to be seen, where, at 
a later period, the head and neck become detached as the scolex.^ 

Fourth experiment, — ^A young mongrel pug-dog received, at 
various intervals, two-and-twenty cystic worms; namely, on the 
11th July, six; on the 14th July, fourteen; and on the 17th, 
two. The examination of this dog when killed, on the 5th 
August, proved that out of these two-and-twenty worms nineteen 
individuals had passed as scolices out of the stomach into the 
small intestine, and that their seventeen to three-and-twenty 
days' sojourn had caused a remarkable growth in their abdominal 

^ Amongst the vtriout figures of the Cytiicercut ienmeoUUf that given by Pallas, 
(see his 'Miscellanea Zoologica/ 1766, p. 167, Tab. zii, fig. 10; or * Stralsundisches 
Magazin/ Bd. i, 1767, p. 69, Taf. ii, fig. 10), exhibits the head and nedc marked ofif 
from the body of the worm as the futoi» soolex» very distinctly. 



64 FEEDING WITH CYSTICERCUS TENÜICOLLIS. 

end which gave them the appearance of tape- worms. The length 
of these tape-worms varied with the difference of age from four 
lines to an inch and three quarters. The shortest individuals 
evidently proceeded from those scolices which had been only 
seventeen days in the small intestine of the dog. 

In the individuals of four lines long one could trace very dose 
transverse wrinkles gradually appearing behind the neck, always 
more closely defined towards the posterior part, and denoting, 
where they became wider apart, the future joints of this portion 
of the body. The individuals of eight lines long, already, 
possessed a clearly jointed hinder end, the joints increasing 
in number with the length of the individual. In all the indi- 
viduals the scar I have mentioned was to be seen on the hinder 
extremity of the body, or on its last joint. This last joint with 
the scar, moreover, always appeared smaller and more slender 
than the preceding ones, from which it follows that it is in that 
part of the scolex which is situated between the posterior end 
and the neck that the growth and articulation of the tape-worm 
takes place. The sexual apparatus was not perceptible either in 
the interior or on the exterior of the joints of these tape-worms 
of from seventeen to twenty-three days old. 

Fifih experiment. — On the 19th July, eight Cysticerci were 
given to a sporting dog, and on the following day six-and-twenty, 
to which were added four more on the 22d ; so that within four 
days this dog had devoured altogether eight-and-thirty Cysticerci 
tenuicolles. The small intestine of this dog, which was inspected 
on the 20th August, afibrded thirty-two Täwiä in very different 
stages of development. In regard to their length, a great differ- 
ence already prevailed ; in the smallest individuals the diameter 
varied from four lines and a half to one inch and a half, whilst 
the longest extended fr^m five to ten and a half inches. The 
consequence of this was that although from nine-and-twenty to 
two-and-thirty days had elapsed since the Cysticerci had been 
administered, their scolices had most unequally developed, some 
of them being greatly behindhand in point of growth. I ob- 
served the same thing in several other experiments. The reason 
of this unequal development of the tape-worms may lie partly 
in the different individuality of the Cysticerci, partly in that 
of the dogs fed with them. In the longest individuals that I 
obtained from this experiment the development of the joints was, 
moreover, most advanced; although these joints were always 



OEIGIN OP CYSTICA AND CESTOIDEA. 65 

wider than ttey were long^ still the development of the sexual 
apparatus^ manifested externally by the presence of irregularly 
alternating sexual apertures on one side or the other, had already 
commenced within them. In a few of the most developed pos- 
terior joints of one individual, I could perceive roundish hard- 
shelled eggs, which contained the characteristic embryo with six 
hooks, and in regard to shape, size, number, and arrangement 
of the investments ef the egg, exactly resembled the eggs of 
the Tania »errata. I must also remark, that in the larger indi- 
viduals the developed joints were marked, on the upper surface, 
with transverse wrinkles, which gave their lateral edges a wavy 
appearance, and that the slightly prominent posterior edge of many 
of these joints seemed to be faintly and irregularly puckered. 
Some of the largest individuals had already cast off their hinder- 
most joints ; in others, the last '' scarred^* joint was peculiarly 
altered ; it was much enlai^ed, but had at the same time taken 
quite an irregular shape, with blunt projecting angles at the sides ; 
the sexual aperture at the side, and the small scar on the 
posterior edge, alone betokening its true nature. 

Sixth experiment, — A mongrel of poodle and spaniel, which 
had devoured five Cysiicerci on the 7th Jime, and twelve on the 
29th June, was killed on the 25th July, that is eight-and-forty 
days after the first meal, and six-and-twenty after the second. 
Out of the seventeen Cysiicerci administered, fifteen were again 
discovered as sexually matured tape- worms ; the smallest were 
fipom four to nine inches long, the largest from fourteen to twenty- 
six inches. In these last the posterior joints appeared already to 
be longer than they were broad. In other individuals the less 
elongated posterior joints had a squarish or transversely elongated 
shape, and upon their exterior surface showed the above-mentioned 
transverse wrinkles. The hindmost joints were cast off in 
some of the lai^er indiriduals, whilst the rest still possessed 
the original posterior joint, which was remarkably grown, not 
being in the least degree inferior in size to the other posterior 
joints, from which, however, it was essentially distinguished by 
the small scar on its posterior roimded edge. 

Seventh experiment, — From the 21st May to the 5th June, an 
interval of sixteen days, thirty-one thin-necked Cysticerci were 
administered to a young fox. On the 13th June he was killed 
and examined ; but there was not a trace in his intestines of the 
Cysticerci he had eaten, either in the shape of sccdices or ci tape- 

5 



66 FEEDING WITH CYSTICERCUS CELLULOSiK. 

worms, from which we may venture to concliide that the stomach 
of the fox had perfectly digested the Cyaticerci with which he 
was fed. 

I now took much pains to determine the species of these tape- 
worms obtained ttom Cysticercus tenuicollis, and was astonished 
to discover that they had all the characteristic features of 
Tienia serrata. The form of the eggs of the tape- worms obtained 
from Cysticercus tenuicollis had first drawn my attention to the 
Tania serrata, whose eggs, in form aud in the number of their 
investments, completely coincided with the eggs of the tape-worms 
I had obtained. Comparing the head end of the latter with that 
of the Tania serrata, I could neither in the outline, nor in the 
suckers, nor in the hooks of the double circlet, perceive any 
difierence between these Ttenue ; even the fully developed, as well 
as the less developed joints of these tape- worms, with their trans- 
verse wrinkles, reminding one of Tijmia serrata. 

In respect to the negative result of the seventh experiment, I 
must leave the question open, whether it is not possible that the 
intestine of the fox is imfit to afford a favorable nidus for the 
development of the scolex of the Cysticercus tenuicollis. 

3. EXPERIMENTS OF FEEDING WITH CYSTICERCUS CELLULOaS. 

The Cysticercus cellulose occurs, as is well known, in such 
numbers in the flesh of our domestic pigs, that from a single 
muscle of one of these animals hundreds of these cystic worms 
may sometimes be collected ; and even in the flesh and intestines 
of man, its occurrence is not an unusual phenomenon. For the 
last reason I was exceedingly anxious to try the result of feeding 
with Cysticercus cellulosa, in order that I might discover from 
which kind of tape- worm these Cysticerci are produced. 

First experiment. — A young dog was fed, on the 22d May, with 
forty.four Cysticerci ; on the 24th May, fourteen more were given 
him, and on the following day, five-and-thirty. Before the worms 
were given, they were taken out of their cysts. The dog was 
kiUed on the 3d July, which was thirty-nine days after the last 
feeding, and forty-two days after the first. Only four tape- worms 
of two inches in length were found in this dog's small intestine. 
Prom their appearance, they were evidently the product of the 
Cysticerci which the dog had swallowed. 

Second experiment. — Having procured two Cysticerci from a 



OKIGIN OF CYSTICA AND CESTOIDEA. 67 

human brain^ which, when put into luke-warm water thirty-six 
hours after the death of the subject, still moved, I would not, few 
as they were, allow the opportimity to pass of making an experi- 
ment of feeding with them ; nevertheless the young dog to whom 
I administered them on the 22d May, and who was killed on the 
1 4th June, that is twenty-three days after receiving them, showed 
not the slightest trace of a tape- worm or scolex. 

Third experiment. — On the 18th June, a yoimg poodle 
swallowed two-and-forty Cysticerci from the pig, deprived of their 
cysts. The examination of this dog, on the 4th August, fifty-one 
days after feeding, showed eight tape-worms of different lengths. 
The smallest individual measured one inch and a quarter, a few 
others measured five and a half to seventeen and a quarter inches, 
a larger individual was twenty-five and a quarter inches long, 
whilst the three largest individuals had attained the length of 
fifty-one inches. Notwithstanding the length which the worms 
had attained, and the great number of their joints, I could 
discover no perfectly developed eggs in any of the latter. 

Fourth experiment, — To a young pug-dog two and thirty 
Cysterci, without cysts, were administered on the 11th July, and 
five-and-forty on the 17th. On the 21st July the dog was killed. 
On inspecting the small intestine forty-six scolices were found, of 
which the shortest measured one line, the longest six. All bore 
the characteristic scar on their posterior extremities. The smallest 
individuals consisted of nothing else than the head and neck of 
the Cysticercus cellulose. The remaining and somewhat longer 
individuals had a transversely wrinkled body, which as yet bore 
no traces of joints. 

Fifth experiment. — On the 8th August, a young setter was fed 
with five-and-forty Cysticerci, which were stUl in their cysts and 
enclosed in flesh. On the 2 Ist August, this dog was likewise 
killed. In his small intestine only a few tape-worms in 
course of development, of three fourths of an inch in length, 
were found. 

I must here remark that the dogs I made use of for the second, 
fourth, and fifth experiments were troubled with the distemper, a 
thing of common occurrence amongst young dogs, and that the 
disease had probably had an injurious effect upon the development 
of the tape-worms. Notwithstanding that these experiments of 
feeding the dogs with Cysticercus cellulosa afforded no such com- 
pletely favorable results as the foregoing series, they nevertheless 



68 FEEDENfG WITH CYSTICEKCUS CELLULOSiE. 

went far enough to prove that the Cysticercus celhUosa may also, in 
the intestine of the dog, become developed into a Taenia, 

The few Taenia which were obtained fix)m these Cysticerci 
were, moreover, a source of great perplexity to me, for when I 
attempted to define the species to which they belonged, I was 
doubtful whether to consider them as appertaining to the Taenia 
»errata or to the Taenia solium. The head and perfectly developed 
joints accorded with either species, only the neck was longer and 
more slender than that of Taenia serrata, so that I was inclined 
to regard them as Taenia solium. Owing to the resemblance of 
these tape- worms. Taenia serrata and solium^ to one another, I 
was induced to submit the specimens of Taenia solium in my 
collection to a more searching examination, and to compare them 
with the examples of the Taenia serrata taken out of the dogs. 
To my no small astonishment I found individuals amongst Taeniae 
which had been taken from the human subject that were not to be 
distinguished from Taenia serrata. They had the short broad 
joints with transversely wrinkled integument and undulating 
posterior edge, just like Taenia serrata ; the head, too, was formed 
exactly like that of the latter, though the neck was more elon- 
gated. Besides these, there were a few feeble individiials 
amongst them, which frdly corresponded with some of the tape- 
worms produced from Cysticercus pisiformis ; and the eggs of the 
Taenia solium were not distinguishable from those of the Taenia 
serrata, so that I was forced to conclude that Taenia solium and 
Taenia serrata were identical. In order to obtain a still clearer 
insight into the matter, I further compared the heads with their 
apparatus of hooks of Cysticercus pisiformis, longicollis, and 
cellulosae with one another, and in these also I could find no 
difierence. 

With regard to the length of the neck, and the circumference 
and contour of the joints, though there are, as I have already 
partly shown, discoverable diflferences, they are not sufficiently 
marked to rank as distinctive characters of two species of tape- 
worms, and I must therefore maintain that Taenia solium and 
Taenia serrata belong to one and the same species ; that they are 
the extreme forms of a single species, connected by a series of 
transitional forms. 



OJftiam OF CYSTICA AND CESTOIDEA. 



69 



4. EXFEEIMENT8 ON FEEDING WITH CCENUEUS CEEEBRALIS. 

In order to make as sure as possible with these experiments, I 
took dogs, which I had selected for feeding, into the country 
with me, to the very place 



Fig. 29. 



Fig. 30. 



where there were sheep affected 

by the staggers, and let them 

swallow the cystic worms 

fresh from the sheep affected 

with the disease, that had just 

been killed. If the parental 

vesicle were small, and only 

covered by a few clusters of 

scolices, they were left in connection with it ; but if the parental 

vesicle had attained a considerable size, it was divided and given 

in portions to several dogs. (Fig. 29.) 




Fig. 31. 



Fig. 32. 



Fig. 33. 





Fig. 29. A portion of the parental vesicle with an attached colony of intolated »colices 
of Ccmurus cerebrale from the brain of a calf, seen from the external surface, of the 
natural size. Each of the separate rounded corpuscles corresponds with a scolex 
developing or developed by internal budding: fl, a complete involuted scolex; b, a still 
imperfect involuted scolex ; c, many scolices commencing their development. 

Fig. 30. A bit of the parental vesicle with a colony of everted scolices of Qmatrui 
eerebraUs from the brain of a calf, seen from the external surface, and of the natural size. 

Fig. 31. An everted scolex detached from its parental vesicle (fig. 30), and mag- 
nified to the same extent as the succeeding figures, a. The protruded double circlet of 
hooks on the cephalic extremity, b. One of the four cephalic suckers, c. Fragment of 
the detached parental vesicle. 

Fig. 32. The head of a similar scolex seen from above; the double circlet of hooks 
surrounded by the four suckers is seen in the middle. 

Fig. 33. Various hooks from the double circlet of the scoUccs ol Ccmurui cerebraiU. 
a. A long hook of the inferior circlet seen from below, b. The same from the side, 
c. A short hook of the lower circlet also viewed laterally, d, e. Two not yet fully 
developed and soft hooks from the young buds, fig. 29 e. 



70 



FEEDING WITH CCENURUS CEREBRALIS. 



First experiment. — On the 29th of May, a young dog was made 
to swallow a cyst with nearly a hundred scolices. He was killed 
on the 3d of June, that is, five days afterwards, and sixty-five 
free and everted scolices were found in the small intestines. 
Their length was from half a line to one and three quarters ; 
they showed no trace of joints or transverse folds, and each 
exhibited on the posterior end of the body a small kind of 
cicatrix-like indentation, which plainly denoted the spot where the 
scolex had separated from the parental vesicle. (Fig. 34, A, B.) 
Second experiment. — On the 6th of June, a young dog 
swallowed a large Coenurus-yesicie, which was covered with 

several clusters of scolices. When, 
on the 26th July, the dog's small 
intestine was examined, it afibrded 
an enormous number of tape- 
worms j I counted six hundred and 
forty individuals in the most vari- 
ous stages of development and 
growth. The longest, with its 
many joints, measured twenty-three 
inches ; the shortest, having a length 
of two lines, were still unjointed, 
and yet perfectly resembled scolices. 
In all, the scar on the last joint, 
or on the imjointed posterior end 
of the body was not to be mistaken. 
(Fig. 34 and 35».) 
Third experiment. — On the 28th July a yoimg terrier was 
fed with part of a large Ccenurus, and was killed on the 5th 
August, after a lapse of thirty-eight days. In his intestine 
there were seventy-one tape-worms variously developed. Three 
of the least developed individuals were from one and a half to 
two lines long, and appeared to resemble a scolex most com- 
pletely, their smooth posterior end being devoid of joints; 




Fig. 34. DifTerent imxnm deyeloped in the intestine of the dog, from the scolices of 
Ccenurtu etrebraUt, A, A scolex one inch and three quarters long, with smooth and 
protruded body, Tiewed from the edge. B. The same scolex seen from the surface. 

C. A scolex three lines long; the articulation is beginning at the lower extremity. 

D. A still longer and more developed scolex, at whose hinder extremity the formation of 
proglottides has taken place to a great extent * Scar, or place by which these tmmm 
were fixed as scolices to the parental yesicle. 



ORiaiN OF CYSTICA AND CESTOIDEA. 



71 



seven others were from four to six lines long, and showed a 
commencing articulation. A few worms of six lines in length 
appeared already distinctly jointed. Amongst the remaining 
specimens that had become fully developed into Ttemtß, several 
had attained the length of from sixteen to twenty-six inches. 
(Fig. 35). In the longest individuals the development of the 



Fig. 35. 




eggs was completed, in several shorter ones the characteristic 
scar on the last joint was wanting, and irom the posterior edge 
of the last transversely truncated joint one could plainly per- 
ceive that these Ttenuß had already cast oflF matured joints {pro- 
glottides), and indeed it so happened that the dog had passed 
tape- worm joints with his faeces several days before his death. 
Fourth experiment. — On the same day with the last mentioned 

Fig. 35. A Teenia »errata, produced from a scolex of Comurtu eerebraUs in a dog's 
intestine, in thirty-eight days ; natural size. The hindermost joints are fully formed 
proglottides. At the posterior extremity of the last joint the scar (♦) clearly indicates 
that no proglottis has yet detached itself from this tape-worm. 



72 FEEDING WITH CCENURUS CEREBEALIS. 

dog, a young honnd devoured a similar allowance of Ccßnurus, 
He was killed on the 6tli August, a day later than the other one. 
On searching his small intestines eighty.six worms were dis- 
covered, of which the majority had grown into jointed T^erdm of 
three to ten inches in length, whilst several individuals of from 
four to five lines long only showed faint signs of the transverse 
wrinkling, and a few of from one to two lines long were still in 
the scolex condition without any folds. 

Fifth experiment, — Another young hound was, in the same 
manner, fed, on the 28th July, with the same number of Ccmuri. 
There might have been about a hundred scolices attached to the 
coat of the parental vesicle. On the 10th August, the dog was 
killed after having passed tape-worms an ell long for several days 
previous to his death. On dissecting the dog no trace of tape- 
worms could be found. 

Siwth experiment. — On the 1st August, a young setter swal- 
lowed a piece of Cosnurtis with about a hundred scolices on it. 
The dog was opened on the 23d August, and showed seventy- 
three worms, of which only a few individuals of one to two lines 
long, • resembled everted scolices, whilst the remaining ones of 
one to four inches long had already all the distinguishing cha- 
racters of T{Bnue. The characteristic scar was not to be seen in 
any, whether with or without joints. 

Seventh experiment. — On the 1st August, at the same time 
with the subjects of the forgoing experiments, a similar portion 
of Ccenurus was given to a mongrel- dog, (a cross between the 
setter and wolf-dog) . This dog subsequently suflFered fit)m the dis- 
temper for a considerable time, and was killed on the 25th August. 
His intestines contained many ftdl-grown thread-worms, {Ascaris 
marginata), and a few scolices of Ttßnia cucumerina, but no trace 
of worms that should have resulted from the feeding with Ctenurua 
cerebraHs. The distemper had probably occasioned the failure of 
this experiment. 

For the rest, the determination of the T(eni€B which I had 
obtained from these experiments of feeding with Ccenurus cerebralis 
was not difficult, the characters of the Tisnia serrata being, in all 
of them, clearly and sharply marked. 

It must have been remarked that in the third and fourth 
experiments (in which the scolices were retained in the dogs' 
intestines an exactly similar period of time), the Tania in the 
one dog were twenty-two inches long, whilst those in the other 



OKiaiN OF CYSTICA AND CESTOIDEA. 73 

dog. were only ten inches. This unequal development of the 
Ttenue within the same period of time is probably to be ac- 
counted for by some special peculiarities of the circumstances 
into which, in these cases, the scolices of the Ccenurus cerebralis 
had been conveyed. 

There is yet another remarkable phenomenon which was 
brought to light by the experiments on feeding with Ccetmrus 
cerebralis. It is that in each separate case, worms, of a very 
dissimilar stage of growth were produced, although every indi- 
vidual dog had been fed only once with scolices of Ccsnurus 
cerebralis. This diversity in the growth of the scolices conveyed 
at the same period of time into the same intestine, may, perhaps, 
originate in the various stages of development of the scolices 
at the time of their introduction. It is known that the parental 
vesicles of the Ccenurus go on growing without intermission, 
and that fresh scolices are, by the process of budding, continually 
springing forth on their inner surface. Through these peculiar 
conditions of the Ccenums cerebralis, older scolices long since 
perfected, and only awaiting the opportimity of fiirther develop- 
ment, were conveyed into the dogs' stomachs, together with 
yoimger ones, some of them only just formed, some, again, not yet 
fully developed. Prom this point the older scolices proceeded 
rapidly to their further development, and to the generation of 
progloitideSy whilst the younger scolices grew more slowly, and 
the youngest forms, whose gemmation was not yet quite com- 
pleted, were, probably, incompetent to pass from the stomach 
into the small intestines of the dog, but yielded to the digestive 
powers of the former. 

Experiments on feeding with Echinococcus teterinorum. 

The Echinococcus veterinorum, which is of such common 
occurrence in the liver and lungs of our domestic cattle, does 
not, probably, diflFer specifically from the Echinococcus hominis, 
whose parent vesicle often attains such an enormous size in 
the most widely diflFerent viscera of man, and by its growth 
so obliterates the substance of the organs roimd about it, as 
to bring about the death of its host. The experiments of feeding 
with these worms which I made on twelve young dogs and a 
young fox, I have already fully described.^ For each experiment 

^ See ibe ' Zeittchrift fur Wiss. Zoologie/ Bd. it, 1853, p. 409, Ttf. zvi, a, fig. 1—9. 



74 FEEDma WITH ECHINOCOCCUS VETERINORUM. 

the contents of a firuitfiil Echinococctis^veside were employed. 
That is to say, free scolices developed by gemmation were taken 
out of the EchinococcuS'Vesicle, mixed with luke-warm milk, 
and poured down the dogs' throats; the latter, after having 
in this manner been made to swallow a considerable quantity 
of the young of the Echinococcus, had some pure luke-warm milk 
given to them, which they licked up with avidity, so that 
these continued acts of deglutition made sure of the small Echu 
nococcuB'lMYZd or scolices being washed into the dogs' stomachs. 

The examination of these dogs after death proved, that the 
scolices of the Echinococcus veterinorum, when conveyed into 
the dog's digestive canal, do not perish, but, under certain 
favorable circumstances, develop into proper sexually matured 
tape-worms, possessing only a couple of joints. After the 
feeding, they passed without obstruction from the stomach into 
the small intestine of the dogs, where, in proportion to the 
number of scolices administered, they were found in immense 
numbers ftJly extruded from their receptacle, whilst, when in 
the interior of the parent vesicle, they are almost always to be 
foimd retracted within it. After remaining frx>m fifteen to 
twenty days in the dogs' intestinal canal, these scolices, which 
when administered were without joints, exhibited a two-jginted 
body. After twenty-two days, the body was divided into three 
joints, and frx>m this time forward these little tape-worms ceased 
to increase in length, or to become further divided, whilst 
the sexual organs began to appear in the two posterior of the 
three articulations. The development of the eggs in the sexual 
organs of these little worms was to be seen twenty-six days 
after the feeding, and the embryo appeared on the twenty-seventh 
day. 

With the maturity of their sexual oi^ans, and the division 
of their body 'into three joints (and hence with the pro- 
duction of only two Proglottides), 1 concluded these worms 
had attained their perfect state) from the circumstance that 
amongst the three-jointed little tape-worms in the dogs' small 
intestine, I discovered several individuals which had already, 
twenty-seven days after the feeding, thrown off the circlet of 
hooks. The loss of this apparatus amongst T(eni€e furnished 
with it, is a proof of mature age. When I endeavoured to 
determine the systematic position of the tape-worms which 
had been developed frx>m the scolices of the Echinococcus vete- 



OEIGIN OP CYSTICA AND CESTOIDEA. 75 

rinorum and which did not exceed one^ or one and a half lines in 
lengthy there was not a single species of T€Bnue among the many 
admitted by helminthologists^ with which they agreed. I was 
soon convinced that this small species of tape>worm had been 
hitherto overlooked by helminthologists ; for it cannot but be 
admitted that this transformation of the young of the Echino- 
coccus into sexually-matured T(enue may take place independently 
of artificial feeding. In our slaughter-houses, similar scolices 
must certainly often find an opportunity of entering into the 
intestinal canal of dogs, the Echinococcus^vesicle, cut out of 
the viscera of the slaughtered animals and thrown away, being 
no doubt frequently devoured by the former. It was such a 
brood of Tanue developed from the young of the Echinococcus that 
Budolphi probably saw, when he believed that he had discovered 
in the intestine of a dog, yoimg tape- worms, which were assumed 
to have been developed by equivocal generation from the villi of 
the mucous membrane.^ The little three-jointed tape-worms 
which Roll twice found in dogs, and which were not long ago 
described by him as young individuals of Taenia serrata, must 
also of a certainty have owed their origin to scolices of the 
Echinococcus veterinorum.* 

The specific form of the hooks of the circlet of the scolices of 
the Echinococci veterinorum, as well as the very small number 
of Proglottides generated by them, justiiy me in considering the 
Tani4ß developed from these scolices as a distinct species, which I 
have denominated Ttenia echinococcus. (See the ^Zeitschrift 
für Wiss. ZooV B. IV, 1853, p. 428). 

If we sum up the results of these experiments on feeding 
with Echinococcus veterinorum, they may be shortly stated as 
follows : 

1. Sexually-developed Ttenia have been produced out of all 
those kinds of scolices known as cystic worms which have been 
employed for feeding experiments. 

2. From the scolices of the Cysticercus pisiformis, tenuicollis, 
ceüulosa, and Ccenurus cerebralis, TmnuB of an ell long have 
been produced, which perfectly agree with both the Tania 
serrata, and with the Ttenia solium, 

' See his ' Entozoonim siye Termium intestinalmm historia naturalis/ Yol. i, 1808, 
p. 411. 

* See Roll's ' Beitrag car Bntwickelnngsgeschichte der Tenien,' in theVerhandlongen 
der Physika! Medizinischen Gesellschaft in Wörzbarg/ Bd. iii, 1852, p. 55. 



76 SPECIES OF CYSTICA AND CESTOIDEA. 

8. The scolices of the Echinococcus veterinorum developed 
themselves into very small tape-worms^ of from one^ to one and a 
half^ lines long^ which have been shown to be a distinct species^ 
and named Ttenia echinococcus. 

It may seem questionable to many helminthologists and 
zoologists^ that four different kinds of cystic worms^ which have 
hitherto been looked upon as so many distinct species^ should 
only produce one and the same species of T€BnÜB. But I 
would ask, are the cystic worms which have been termed Cysti- 
cercus pisiformis, tenuicollis, cellulos€B, and Coenums cerebralis, 
really distinct kinds ? After the present inquiries, this question 
must be negatived. All these cystic worms are only the 
degenerated embryos and scolices of a single species of T€Bnia. 
If they who have always regarded these cystic worms as belong- 
ing to different species will make the experiment for themselves 
of detaching the several heads of the four above-named cysticerci, 
and mixing them together, they will find it utterly impossible to 
make out any specific difference between them. Further than 
this, I not only question if the Ttenia serrata fit)m the intes- 
tine of the dog, and the Taenia solium from the human intes- 
tine are distinct and sharply defined species, (see p. 68), but I 
also doubt the specific distinctness of the Taenia marginata from 
the intestine of the wolf, of the Taenia crassiceps from that of the 
fox, and of the Taenia intermedia from the intestine of martens 
and polecats. All these five Taenue certainly belong to but a 
single species of tape- worm, and only present varieties of race 
dependent on the influence of the varying circumstances to which 
the young Taenue are exposed in the course of their further deve- 
lopment, according as they have entered the digestive canal of a 
man, a dog, a wolf, or any musteline carnivore. If we consider 
the diagnoses of these five kinds of TaenuB given by helmintho- 
logists, we shall be convinced that there is not a single specific 
mark of distinction to be found between them, and that the form 
and arrangement of the circlet of hooks of these tapeworms are 
entirely disr^arded. If the heads of the five above-mentioned, 
so-called species of tapeworm, with their circlet of hooks were 
submitted to the inspection of the most experienced helmintho- 
logist, without betraying their origin to him, I feel persuaded that 
he would be perplexed in distinguishing those five species of Tcenue, 
which only differ according to their various habitations. In the 
genera lAffula, Schistocephalus, Tetrarhynckus, and Ec/dnorhynchus, 



DISEASES PRODUCED BY CYSTICA. 77 

helminthologists have long ago observed that certain species 
inhabit and attain sexual maturity in the most different kinds of 
birds and fishes. The conditions of life of the five races of 
degenerated T(em4e serrat€B (with their various oedematous forms of 
scolex^ which are also to be considered as varieties of race), were 
certainly originally more simply and sharply defined, and must 
have gradually beco.me impressed with their present complex and 
indefinite character from the domestication of the animals they 
infest. 

At the same time, the results of these feeding experiments, 
which I have just cited, contradict the belief that the cysts of 
these worms have a physiological,^ and not a pathological signifi- 
cation, for all the Cystica mentioned are produced from a single 
species of tape-worm, namely, the T€Bnia serrata, and it only 
depends upon the nature of the spot to which these embryos 
have been transplanted after having completed their immigration, 
whether they degenerate into Ccenurus cerebralUy or Cysticercus 
pisiformis, or tenuicolliSj &c. When subject to the same external 
influences, these degenerations will always present the same form ; 
whence it seems justifiable to compare these continuaUy recurring 
and sharply-marked modes of degeneration of certain intestinal 
worms with the phenomena of race. 



5. ON THE DISEASES PRODUCED BY CYSTIC WORMS, AND THEIR 

PREVENTION. 

After having pointed out, in the introduction, that all the 
intestinal worms reach the interior of their hosts by immigration, 
and after having shown by the feeding-experiments, that certain 
cystic worms are transformed in the digestive canal of dogs into 
a particular kind of tape-worm, I may be allowed to draw the 
conclusion that, reversing the circumstances, the young of these 
tape-worms may, by the help of the alternation of generations 
which I have already described, be developed into cystic worms, 
the species of the animals and also the nature of the organs, into 
which the immigration takes place, exercising a specific influence 

* Kfichenmeister has taken much pains of late to defend this tiew, in opposition to 
mine, and has been led away hj his zeal, to depart from that calmness of tone which 
becomes scientific controversy. 



78 THE STAGGERS. 

on the development and form of the cystic worms, and giving 
rise to many kinds of distinct degenerations (races). 

By keeping in view these highly interesting vital conditions of 
certain intestinal parasites, we shall be enabled to take more 
efficient means against the spread of cestoid and cystic worms, in 
those cases in which their presence is prejudicial to the animals 
they inhabit, than could be the case so long as no one was 
aware in what way these parasites, whose entrance it was so 
desirable to prevent, made their way into the creatures they 
infested. 

What purposeless and useless remedies have been proposed for 
this same worm-disease, we gather, amongst other things, firom 
the numerous treatises which the disease of the " staggers" in sheep 
has called forth. On account of not having a correct acquaint- 
ance with the natural history of the Cystica, there necessarily 
arose the most contradictory and unreasonable opinions, and 
upon these a series of prophylactic and curative measures have 
been founded, which, resulting in no success, have been one after 
another discarded again. Amidst such irrational proceedings, we 
cannot blame the sheep owners if they entirely gave up using 
means for the eradication or prevention of the staggers, and 
unwillingly submitted to a loss that, amongst rich flocks, was 
by no means to be lightly estimated, amounting in many sheep- 
farms to more than ten per cent. 

Were I to bring forward all the various causes to which the 
origin of the Ccsnurus has been referred, I should far exceed the 
limits that I have assigned myself in these pages. That the 
doctrine of equivocal generation played a conspicuous part therein 
will surprise no one, since there yet exist veterinary surgeons 
who adhere to that doctrine in all points. 

The only mode of insuring the destruction and removal of the 
worm, and hence the only effectual cure for the disease of the 
staggers, is trepanning. Unfortimately this process is not appli- 
cable in all cases — since it depends upon the situation of the 
worm, whether it can or cannot be reached by trepanning. The 
operation is of course admissible only when the Coenums cere- 
oralis is imbedded in the anterior and upper portion of the 
ruminant's brain, whilst if, on the other hand, it be deeply 
seated in the base of the brain, or in the spinal marrow, it cannot 
be reached by trepanning. For this reason the testimonies as to 



DISEASES PRODUCED BY CYSTICA. 79 

the result of this operation vary so widely. Operators who have 
accidentally fallen in with cases where the Ccenuri were super- 
ficially situated^ have been successful^ and so have gained credit^ 
whilst other cases have completely baffled them. Not only the 
deep-seated position of the Ccenurus cerebralis occasions the 
ill success of the operation, but even postponing it so long 
that their size is already so great as to have produced much dis- 
turbance in the efficiency of the brain, may render the removal 
of the worms useless. Further, trepanning may also have come 
into discredit as an inefficient means of cure for the staggers, 
from having been applied on the appearance of dizziness which 
had been produced by other causes than the existence of a 
Ccenurus cerebi^alis. 

Here I cannot refrain from remarking, that in the south of 
Germany, namely, in the Suabian part of the kingdom of 
Bavaria, the Ccenurus cerebralis not unfrequently appears in 
oxen ; whilst in the north of Germany this disease is scarcely 
known in cattle. The common occurrence of the staggers 
amongst these domestic animals is probably the reason why 
trepanning has been recently tried as a cure for calves affected 
with the staggers. I have to thank Dr. Gierer, the provincial 
veterinary surgeon at Türkheim, who has performed the ope- 
ration with success on several oxen, for his very interesting 
communications on this subject, amongst which the following 
points appear particidarly worthy of notice. 

M. Gierer is persuaded that the disease of the staggers amongst 
oxen is by no means of very unfrequent occurrence, but as 
'hitherto no certain means of cure has been found for this evil, 
all the calves affected with the disease have been sold betimes to 
the butchers. Even M. Gierer, before he succeeded in curing by 
the trepan, had heard remarkably little in his own circle of the 
appearance of this disease amongst oxen; now, however, after 
having thoroughly cured eight and twenty oxen out of thirty 
which he trepanned, he is able to form some idea of the frequency 
of the complaint amongst the animals, being consulted oftener 
than ever about the cure of this disease. 

I have compared several examples of Ccenurus cerebralis which 
Gierer obtained by trepanning fix)m yoimg oxen, mostly of from 
about two to three years old, with the Ccenurus cerebralis of 
sheep, and have found no specific difference between the two ; so 
that I conclude that the Coenwrus of the ox also originates in the 



80 TREPANNING FOE CCENURUS. 

T(Bnia serrata. Beyond this, the cysts of these Ccenun were of 
extraordinary dimensions, since they would have exceeded the 
size of hens^ eggs if, when in a fresh condition, they had been 
filled with water. They, moreover, contained a remarkable 
number of scolex gemmae, which covered the interior surface of 
the cyst in masses thickly pressed together. Very many of the 
already developed scolices were everted, so as to project con- 
siderably on the exterior surface of the parent cyst, a pheno- 
menon which I have seldom observed in those of sheep. 

Although the fact has been proved, that the disease of the 
staggers, arising from the presence of Ccenurus cerebralis, can 
be cured by trepanning, still sheep-owners must not always 
reckon upon the absolute success of the operation, since, as has 
been already stated, the result must depend upon the situation 
of the parasite ; and as it is impossible to know if two, or even 
several cysts, may not have established themselves at the same 
time in the nervous centres of the affected animal, of which one 
alone could be removed by trepanning, and that the cyst which 
lay nearest to the surface. Furthermore, even though the 
animals can be cured by the removal of these parasites, the 
question arises, if such animals, the vital powers of whose brain 
have been disturbed by the presence of this cyst, can be said to 
be cured in the full meaning of the word? Do the diseased 
changes which a considerable- sized Ccenurus-cjst engenders, 
through displacement, pressure, and wasting away of the sub- 
stance of the brain, become so entirely removed after the extrac- 
tion of the worm, that the vital powers of the brain can be again 
restored in their full integrity? Will there not still remain 
traces of changes engendered by the disease in such a brain, 
which although causing no striking interruption of the animal's 
nervous energies, may yet more or less affect its strength, dura- 
tion of life, and fruitfulness, and render it inferior to a thoroughly 
healthy individual of the same race. 

From what has been stated, it follows that the cure of the 
staggers, when it has once broken out, is always a difficult, and 
very often an impossible task; hence it would be much more 
worth while to take precautions for preventing it. The only 
rational prophylactic treatment must consist in employing such 
means as may prevent the immigration of the young of that tape- 
worm fix)m which the Ccenuri are developed. As, according to my 
experiments, the Coenwrua cerebralis changes, in the digestive canal 



DISEASES PRODUCED BY CYSTFCA. 81 

of dogs, into the Taenia aerraia, I venture to assume that the 
young of this tape-worm^ after its immigration into ruminants^ 
becomes developed in their nervous centres into the Ccemtrus 
cerebraliSy which, according to the situation it occupies, produces 
either vertigo by pressure upon the brain, or the phenomena 
characteristic of pressure upon the spinal marrow. 

The only prophylactic measure against the morbid conditions 
induced by the Coenurus cerebralis must therefore be — lo guard 
against the immigration of the young of the Tcenia seiirata. 

It will possibly be objected that, even if the generation of 
the Tcenia serrata out of the scolices of the Comurus cerebralis 
had been proved, the production of the Coenurus cerebralis from 
the young of the Ttenia serrata must first be demonstrated, 
in order that, from the facts before us, we may have the right 
to consider immigrated young Tani€B as the cause of the 
staggers proceeding from Coenurus cerebralis. The laws of pro- 
pagation of these animals long since suggested the view I have 
just put forth, but recently I have been put in possession of facts 
which directly support it. Dr. Haubner, professor at the vete- 
rinary school in Dresden, has in fact had the goodness to com- 
municate to me that in that establishment, on the 7th of January 
of this year, several lambs were fed with perfect joints of the 
tape-worm of dogs, containing ova, and that on the 20th of 
January the first appearances of the staggers manifested them- 
selves at the same time in all, whilst the remaining animals of 
the flock to which those lambs belonged continued healthy. The 
diseased lambs were killed and examined in succession at intervals 
of eight days, by which proceeding Professor Haubner obtained 
the following results :^ 

^^At the commencement of the disease various symptoms 
of irritation and inflammation of the brain appeared, which 
perfectly accorded with those which Dr. Haubner had already 
become fully acquainted with in cases of the so-called spontaneous 
development of this disease. In this stage the sheep might 
either die, or else the irritation of the brain might pass away, 
and the Coenurus-cysts proceed to farther development. Upon 
dissection after three or four days, reckoning frt)m the first 
appearance of the disease. Dr. Haubner found many cysts in the 

1 A short commanication upon this subject has just been made by Professor Haubner 
to ' Hamms Agronomische Zeitung/ 1856, No. 10, p. 157. 

6 



83 PEOPHYLAOTIC MEASUKES. 

brain, about the size of a pin's head. They lay partly free on 
the vessels in the convolutions of the brain, partly imbedded in 
superficial canals formed of exuded matter, the substance of the 
brain representing the bottom, and the exuded matter the cover- 
ing of the canals. The whole animal (heart, lungs, muscles, 
&c.) was at the same time permeated by the encysted young of 
the tape-worm. Later dissections showed fewer but larger cysts 
in the brain. Mr. Haubner conjectures, and rightly so, that 
the rest were abortive and died away. After fourteen days, 
always reckoning from the first morbid symptoms, the same 
observer discovered several dark spots in a few of the cysts, 
which were probably the projected heads. After four weeks all 
the cysts had separate heads with distinct suckers ; and, as it 
appeared, with the circlet of hooks in course of development." 

After having thus proved by facts that the immigrated yoimg 
of the Tania serrata in ruminants can develope into Coermrua 
cerebralis^ I feel justified in advising, as the most important 
preservative against the CoBrmrus, that the immigration of the 
young of the Ttenia serrata into ruminants should be prevented. 
The utility of this advice will certainly be admitted by every one 
who has made himself acquainted with the history of the intestinal 
worms in the forgoing pages of this pamphlet; but beyond 
this, persons will be also desirous of knowing how it can be 
practically carried out. When I consider the many hidden paths 
by which most of the intestinal worms make their way during 
their existence, I must confess once more that it will be a most 
difficult task for those engaged in the breeding of cattle to 
prevent the excessively small young of the tape-worm from pass- 
ing into their oxen and sheep. 

It may be safely assumed that the young of the tape-worm 
pass with the food into the digestive passages of the ruminants 
whilst they are eating and drinking. How easily the fresh as 
well as the dry fodder of ruminants may become oontaminated 
with the ordure of dogs containing eggs of the Tania serrata ; 
especially when we remember that these eggs possess great 
tenacity of Ufe, and are able to withstand for a considerable time 
external injurious influences, such as cold, heat, drought, &c. 

1 Through the kind communication, by letter, of Professor Leuckart, of Giessen, I 
have just heard that he has succeeded in generating the Cysticercutfaaciolarit in the 
livers of white mice, after having given them sexually developed joints of the tape-vrorm 
of the cat (TVmta crasHcoUis) to eat. 



MSEASES PRODUCED BY OTSTICA. 83 

If we fix our attention upon sheep, which are unfortunately 
too often exposed to the dangerous attacks of the Ccmuraa 
cerebralia, we shall find that very irequently when a flock of 
sheep is attacked by the Cosnwrus cerebralis, it is the sheep-dog 
who has guarded th^n year after year who is answerable for 
the mischief; in this case the shepherd's dog is infested by the 
Tania serrata, whose young, after being passed by the dog in the 
neighbourhood of the flock, are easily caught up and swallowed 
by one sheep or another without being observed. The surest 
means, then, of keeping off the Ccemarut cerebralis from a flock 
of sheep would be to do away with the sheep-dog. To this, 
however, the she^breeders would hardly agree, dnce the ser« 
vices of a first-rate sheep-dog are not to be easily replaced by 
any other kind of help. But that the sheep-dog is really con- 
cerned in the devastations which the Ccenwus cerebralis makes 
in a flock is borne out by the fact that those sheep-flocks which, 
in the true sense of tl^ word, are stall-fed, and consequently 
imattended by a dog, are never, or ai least very rarely, troubled 
with the Cosnurus cerebralis. Those sheep-breeders who are 
disinclined to give up keeping dogs to guard their flocks, could 
urge as an objection that their dismissal would afford no sure 
guarantee for keeping off the parasite, inasmuch as the pastures 
where the sheep feed might become contaminated by the young 
of the TiBnia serrata through other dogs, such as hounds and 
mastiffs ; perhaps, indeed, even by wolves, foxes, or martens, and 
other animals of prey (see page 76). 

Since, also, I have pointed out the identity of the Ttenia 
solium of the human subject with the Tania serrata of the dog 
(see page 68), there appear to be so many possible ways open 
for the dispersion of the cestoid embryos and their development 
into the Ccenurtis cerebralis, that it needs the utmost care to 
discover means of always cutting off the approaches by which 
these dangerous parasites effect an immigration into the sheep. 

If, after these objections, which I have myself raised, I am 
the less inclined to think that the doing away with ihe sheep-d<pg 
would be an absolute preventive against the Cmwus cerebralis, 
yet, I at least believe that, «a a rule, and as a wise pi:e- 
caution, it might be reoommeaided to those sbeep-ownerp 
who employ dogs in the care of their flocks, to exercise a 
watch over them. If the dog be troubled with the Tama 
serrata, the worm should be expelled before the animal comes in 



84 



PROPHYLACTIC MEASURES. 



contact either with the flock or their food. This supervision of 
the dog will be continually necessary, since although, according 
to my experience, the period of the parasite^s existence is confined 
to only a few weeks, the opportunity for its immigration into the 
dog may frequently occur again. For the rest, I have pleasure 
in thinking that I have pointed out the true cause of the origin 
of the Ccmurus cerebralis, and hinted to the sheep-breeders in 
what way the worm creeps into their flocks ; and I now leave it 
to intelligent proprietors to employ those means which are best 
fitted for the purpose of arresting the enemy, according to the 
locality, the style of farming, or to the condition of the animals. 
Having furnished a statement of the natural history of the 
Ccenutms cerebralis, I must leave it to experience to show if there 
are really means of preserving a flock of sheep from this cestoid 
parasite, and if so, what kind of means. 

The Ttenia serrala of the dog, whose presence in the sheep-dog 
is most particularly to be guarded against, is easily distinguish- 
able from the other, harmless, tape-worm of the same animal. 



Fig. 3G, 




the T(Bnia ciummerina ; the first having its developed joints always 
white, and of a quadrangular or oblong shape, with only a single 
irregular marginal sexual aperture, varying in its position on each, 
whilst the developed joints of the Tania cucumerina are elliptical 



Fig. 36. Ttefua cucumerina, from the intestines of & dog, with perfectly developed 
joints, natural size. 



CYSTICERCI IN SAUSAGES. 85 

in form, are commonly of a pale-red colour, and have on every 
joint two marginal apertures opposite to each other. 

The evidence that I have given in the foregoing chapter of 
certain cestoids becoming changed in the digestive canal of dogs 
into sexually developed tape-worms, suggests the idea that, most 
probably, the greater number of the human tape-worms enter as 
scolices into the intestine of man. That the opportunity for 
such an immigration may readily occur is plain, if we reflect how 
easily a Cysticercus may get upon the lips of a butcher or a cook 
in handling pork containing these parasites. In fact, it appears 
from the medical reports that persons engaged in slaughter-houses 
and kitchens very commonly suffer from tape-worms,^ which 
indicates that, although the use of ^' measly'' meat for the most 
part never produces dangerous results, yet that especial care 
should be taken regarding it. In any case, encysted pork, when 
boiled or roasted, can afford no opportunity for the production of 
a Tania solium in the human digestive canal, since the Cysticerci 
will be completely destroyed by the degree of heat necessary 
for the preparation of the meat; but it is quite a different 
case with smoked sausages, in the manufacture of which 
many butchers make use of measly meat.^ With the present 
clever and expeditious method of smoking them, how easily 
may a sausage stuffed with this meat be eaten so soon and in 
such a fresh condition, that one or another scolex may have pre- 
served its vitality, and awakening from its trance in the human 
digestive canal, proceed to its development as a tape-worm. 
From what I have stated in the earlier chapters with regard to 
the internal relation of the scolices to the tape- worms, it is now 
explained how that in no country are men more tormented by 
these parasites than in Abyssinia, it being well known that the 
Abyssinians eat a great deal of raw meat. Dr. Bilharz, formerly 
a pupil of mine, some time ago wrote to me from Cairo, that in 
Abyssinia the tape-worm was so common that a native would 
regard it as an abnormal condition if he were to expel no tape- 
worm joints ; and that no slave was purchased there without at the 

1 Compare Wawnich, 'Praktische Monographie der Bandwurmkrankheit/ Vienna, 
1844, p. 197. 

* The shrunk Cysticerci in such sausages are Tery easily to he found ; they form 
milk-white bodies of the size of a needle's head, ^rhich, when pressed between glass 
plates and seen through the microscope, show the circlet of hooks and the four suckers 
of the scolex very distinctly. 



86 PROPHYLACTIC MEASURES. 

same time receiving a packet of eusso to remore his tape-worm. 
That the flesh of our cattle affords the principal opportunity for 
the immigration of the TtBtda solium into man^ is borne out by 
the experience of Reinlein/ a physician of Vienna ; who for ten 
successive years professionally attended the Carthusian monks^ 
who never partake of either meat or milk^ but live mostly on 
fish j he had never seen a single person who had. suffered firom 
tape-worms^ and was assured by the oldest fathers that they never 
remembered any of their associates to have been troubled with 
them. 

But it is not alone in the torrid and temperate zones of our 
globe that man is visited by these parasites^ for even in the polar 
regions the cestoids find means of reaching him. Dr. Schleisner, 
who a few years ago published a medical topography of the island 
of Iceland^^ makes mention of an epidemic liver complaint or 
hydatid disease which made great ravages among the Ice- 
landers. In the short account of this complaint^ which is 
more commonly met with in the interior of the country than on 
the coast^ I recc^nise a tape-worm which is imbedded not only ia 
the livers, but also in the abdominal organs and in the skin of 
these islanders. ProfesscM* Eschricht, of Copenhagen, wrote to me 
lately that the sixth part of the whole population of Iceland 
suffered firom this disorder of the liver, and that with many of 
them, after dreadful and protracted sufferings, it terminates in 
death. From a more particular description and illustration of 
this disease produced by the tape- worm, for which I am indebted 
to the kindness of Eschricht, I conclude that the parasite is one of 
the Cysticerci, and has its origin in the Tenia serrata {solium). In 
Copenhagen, people's attention has already been drawn to this 
cestoid disease, so highly fatal to the Icelandic population, and 
they appear to be desirous of taking energetic measures for its 
prevention. I entertain the belief that, bearing in mind the 
natural histwy of the Cysiicerci as I have represented it in these 
page«, it may be possible to prevent the immigration of the 
cestoid young — to which, bom the Icelanders' mode of life, they 

> See his < Bemeiicungen Über den Urapnmi;, die Entwickelnng, die Ursachen, Symp- 
tome und Heilart des breiten Bandwurmes in den Gedärmen des Menschen/ Vienna, 
1812, p. 25. 

' See his < Forsög til en Nosographie of Island,' Kjöbenhavn, 1849 A short abstract 
of this work will be found in < Janus/ the ' Central-Magazin für Qescfaichte und literär- 
Geschichte der Medisin,' toI. i, 1851, p. 300. 



CESTOID EPIDEMIC OP ICELAND. 87 

are so fatally exposed — ^into the inliabitaiits of this island. How 
this may be effected the following remarks may serve to show. It 
is well known that the Icelanders carry on an extensive breeding 
of cattle and sheep, in which the canine race are in many ways 
serviceable.^ I presume that the Icelanders, when slaughtering 
their cattle, never have the dogs far off, and thereby it readily 
happens that these voracious animals, in swallowing what is 
thrown aside, take in various Cysiicerci; from these the T€mia 
serrata is developed, and their young, by means of the oxen, give 
rise to many evil consequences to man. If the dogs of the Ice- 
landers were kept under supervision and free from the Tarda serrata^ 
not only would the propagation of the young of this tape-worm 
be certainly prevented, but also their immigration into man and 
cattle, and their injurious degeneration into Cysiicerci. 

It can now be no longer regarded as wonderftd, or considered 
as fabulous, when physicians inform us that after raw meat had 
been prescribed for certain of their patients, they had found 
them to become troubled with tape-worms.^ In the cases that were 
met with, it was explicitly said to be the Tania sotium that was 
expelled, which exactly supports the opinion that this tape- worm, 
so rare in St. Petersburg, has there been developed by the 
adoption of a diet of raw meat. The statements would have 
been much more to be suspected if, in the tape- worms that were 
passed, the Bothriocephalua latiLS, so general in Russia and Poland, 
had been recognised, since this worm is never met with amongst 
our cattle in a scolex condition. Formerly, the geographical 
distribution of both these hxunan tape-worms, the Bothriocephalus 

' What important services the munerous dogs spread all over Iceland render to the 
inhabitants in their husbandry, is given in the more or less detailed accounts of travellers. 
Compare Homebow, 'Zuverlässige Nachrichten von Island/ Copenhagen, 1753, pp. 143 
and 164 ; further. Hooker, * Journal of a Tour in Iceland in the Summer of 1809,' 
London, 1813, vol. i, p. 339. 

' Compare, upon this subject, the communications made by Weisse (in the * Journal 
fur Kinderkrankheiten,' vol. xvi, 1851, p. 384), which, in spite of Braun's objections 
(ibid., vol. xviii, 1852, p. 78 ; or in Froriep's * Tagesberichten,' 1852 ; ' Geburtshülfe 
und Kinderkrankheiten,' p. 281), are worthy of all belief. The opinion expressed by 
Andral in favour of the doctrine of equivocal generation ('Grundriss der pathol. 
Anatomie,' Leipzig, voL i, p. 393), that from external mechanical influences (a contusion) 
affecting an organ, its necessary nourishment may be disturbed, so that the organic par- 
ticles are not fully assimilated, and become metamorphosed into lower kinds of animals 
(into a Cysticercus)— '2jk opinion in which Professor Uhde, of Brunswick, also coincides 
(see * Deutsche Klinik.,' 1851, No« 40, p. 434)— is thus thoroughly refuted. 



88 CONCLUSION. 

lattts and the Tania solium^ was declared to be very sharply 
defined ; the appearance of the former being supposed to be con- 
fined to Switzerland, Poland, and Russia ; but now, if the T{enia 
solium were to show itself in these countries, it would not be a 
matter of astonishment nor appear unworthy of belief, since, 
through the importation of cattle infested with Cysticerd, firom 
countries where only the Tcmia solium is found, this tape-worm 
may easily be introduced in its scolex form.^ 

After this statement of the history of the tape- worms, and of 
the Cysticerd which stand in such close relationship with them, 
I trust that I may have so strongly shaken the many false views 
and prejudices so deeply rooted amongst physicians, veterinarians, 
and economists, with regard to the origin, development, and pro- 
pagation of these intestinal worms, that they may henceforth be 
renounced as untenable. I have thereby not only the satisfaction 
of having uprooted the very foundations of a chateau en Espagne, 
filled with the most marvellous hypotheses, but of having erected 
in its place a structure compacted of facts and based upon experi- 
mental demonstrations, which throw a light upon a path hitherto 
wrapped in profound obscurity, but which may now be profitably 
followed. 

' According to a written communication, for which I am indebted to Dr. Baumert, 
during his stay in Neuchatel, the Cysticerd are almost unknown in pigs in the western 
parts of Switzerland, viz., in Neuenburg, whilst all those pigs that are introduced there 
from France are abundantly infested with them. 



INDEX OF TAPE AND CYSTIG WORMS. 



Abyssinia, 85 
Acanthorhynchos, 48, 52 
Acantbobothrium, 43 
Agamazooids, 13 
Alternation of generations, 11 
Anthobothrium, 43 
Antbucephaius, 48 
Arion empiricorum, 39 
Ascaris acuta, 26 

angulata, 26 

capsularis, 26 

incisa, 26 

marginata, 61, 72 

osculata, 26 

spiculigera, 26 

BaU, 39 

Baumert, Dr., 88 
Bilbarz, 85 
Bojanus, 11 

Botbriocepbalus latus, 87 
solidus, 31 

Calliobotbrium, 43 
Caterpillar, tbread-worm of, 8 
Cats, 57 

Caudal appendages, 52 
Cercaria armata, 21 

encysted, 22 

epbemera, 16 

sacs, 15 
Cercarie, 15 

Cestoid Entozoa, origin of, 57 
Ccenurus, 48 

cerebralis, 29, 80 

cerebralis, experiments oi 
witb, 69 

cerebralis, origin of, 84 
Creplin, Dr., 32 
Cysticercus, 48 

cellulose, experiments of feeding 
witb, 66 

fasciolaris, 54 



Cysticercus of rats and mice, 57 

pisiformis, 59 

tenuicoUis, 53, 62 
Cystic Entozoa, origin of, 57 
Cysticercl, experiments of feeding witb, 64 
Cystic worm, diseases produced by, 77 

Diesing, 48 
Distomata, 5, 7. 
Distomum ecbinatum, 19 

hepaticum, 7 

mflitare, 19 

trigonocepbalum, 19 

undnatum, 19 
Dog, 37 

Ecbeneibotbrium, 43 
Echinococcus, 48 

Hominis, 29 

Veterinorüm, 73 
Egg-shell of intestinal worms, 6 

solidity of, 6 
Entozoa cephalocotylea, 48 

cystic, 47 
EphemeridsB, 20 
Eschricbt, 86 

Feeding with Cysticercus, 59 
FiUria cystica, 26 

Insectornm, 8 

Pisdum, 26 
nuke, 7 

Gastropacha Neustria, 10 
Generations, alternations of, 14 
Gierer, Dr., 79 
Gordius, 8 

aquaticus, 11 
Gyrodactylus, 44 

Hematozoa, 29 
Haubner, Dr., 81 
Hydra tuba, 44 

18 



274 



INDEX OF TAPE AND CYSTIC WORMS. 



Iceland, 86 

Intestinal worms, origin of, 3 

King's yellow snails, II 

Leuckart, Professor, 82 
Libellulid», 20 
Ligula, 45 

altemans, 32 

simplicissima, 32 

sparsa, 32 

uniserialis, 32 
Liparis chrysorrhcea, 10 
Livers of Salmo, 33 
Lumbricus hydropicus, 53 
Lymnaeus Stl^;nali8, 21 

Measly meat, 85 
Meissner, 39 
Mermis, 8 

albicans, 10 

embryos of, 10 
Monostomum matabile, 17 

Nurse, Steenstrup's title of, 13 

Oken, 11 
Onchobethrium, 43 

Parasites, strayed, 27 
Perch, 33 
Perlide, 20 
Phryganide, 20 
Phyllobothrium, 43 
Piestocystis, 48 
crispa, 52 
Pike, 33 

Pontia Crataegi, 10 
Pterobothrium, 48, 52 

Rabbits, 59 

Races, 50 

Rats, 57 

Raw meat, 87 

Receptaculnm Scolicis, 51 

Redstart, 39 

Reinlein, 86 

Remedies for w«»rm8, 78 

Rhynchobotbrinm, 34, 45 

Roll. 75 

Round worms, 4 



Rudolpbi, 34, 48 

Salmo salvelinus, 33 

Scbleisner, Dr., 86 

Scolex, 48 

Schistocephalus dimorphus, 32 

Sertularidse, 44 

Sheep, Coenurus cerebralis in, 83 

Solitary worm, 5 

Staggers, 79 

Steenstrup, 12 

Stein, 52 

Stein of Tharand, 38 

Stenobothrium, 48 

Sticklebacks, 31 

Strongyli, 7 

Strongylos fiUria, 7 

Tenia crateriformis, 36 

cellulosae, 53 

crassicollis, 54 

cucuroerina, 84 

fimbriata, 42 

hydatigena, 52 

longicoUis, 34, 54 

ocellata, 34 

of cats, 57 

serrata, 61, 71 

serrata, emigration of the young of, 81 

solium and Taenia serrata, identity of, 
83 

Tcsicularis, 52 
Tape-worm, 4, 31 
Tenebrio molitor, 38, 39 
Tetrabothriorhynchus, 48 
Tetrarhynchus, 34, 43, 45 
Thread-worms of caterpillars, experiments 

on, 9 
Thysanosoma actinoides, 42 
Trematoda, 14 

Triaenophorus nodulosus, 29, 32, 33, 54 
Trichina spiralis, 25 

Van Beneden. 47 
Vermes cucurbitini, 41 

White mice, livers of, 82 

Tponomeuta, 10 
evonymella, 9 



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