If he discovers cysts, the diagnosis is confirmed, but failure to do so by no means disposes of the possibility of infection. Railliet declares that about one animal in four or five shows no cysts beneath the tongue, and, moreover, fraud is possible in this connection, it being quite possible to prick the little cysts with a needle so that the liquid contents escape, and examination gives no positive result. For these reasons _intra-vitam_ examination alone is now discounted, and the chief reliance is placed on post-mortem search. =Prognosis.= The prognosis is very grave, not on account of danger to the lives of the infected, but because infected meat may be offered for human consumption. Should such meat, in an insufficiently cooked condition, be eaten by man, its ingestion is followed by the development of _Tænia solium_. If cooking were always perfect it would destroy the cysticerci, but the uncertainty in this respect should prevent such meat being consumed. The cysticerci are killed at a temperature of 125° to 130° Fahr. [Illustration: $1] =Lesions.= The lesions are represented by cysts alone—_i.e._, by semi-transparent bladders, each of which contains a scolex or head armed with four suckers and a double crown of hooks. The little bladders are most commonly found in the muscles, lodged in the interfascicular tissue, which they slightly irritate. [Illustration: $1] The number present varies extremely, depending on the intensity of infestation and the number of eggs swallowed. Whilst in some cases difficult to discover, in others they are so numerous that the tissues appear strewn with them. They are commonest in the muscles of the tongue, neck, and shoulders, in the intercostal and psoas muscles, and in those of the quarter. The viscera—viz., the liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, etc.—are less commonly infested, and in these organs the cysts degenerate very rapidly. In animals which have been infested for a long time, the cysts may even have undergone caseo-calcareous degeneration, the liquid being absorbed and the lesions presenting the appearance of little oblong firm nodules. On cutting through masses of muscle the vesicles protrude from between the bundles. In young animals, infestation with cysticerci causes wasting and ill-health; subsequently the patients improve in appearance, later on fatten, and gain marketable condition. Of the carcases examined in Prussian slaughter-houses between 1876–82, one in every 305 was found infested; between 1885–93, one in every 537. =Treatment.= There is no curative treatment. Only preventive measures are of value. These are confined to rendering it impossible for animals to ingest eggs of the _Tænia solium_.