Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the EctozoaCobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Science
Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the Ectozoa
Cobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Helminths; Parasites
He was under the care of Mr Luke (1834).
Comparatively recently I inspected the collection at St Thomas’s
Hospital, which I found to be particularly rich in entozoa of various
kinds, especially tapeworms and hydatids. I encountered seventy-six
preparations of internal parasites; and of these, forty-two were of the
hydatid kind, representing at least thirty-three different cases. I
say “at least,” because it is often impossible to decide in instances
where no history of the specimens can be obtained. Thus, there are three
similar preparations of hydatids passed by the urethra, and, from their
appearance, I judge them to have come from one and the same patient; yet
there is no statement in the catalogue to that effect.
Of the thirty-three cases of hydatids represented in this museum, I
reckoned eighteen as referable to the liver, two to the brain, two to
the bones, two to the urinary organs, and one to the lung, spleen,
uterus, and soft parts of the thigh respectively. There are also three
that may be classed as peritoneal. There is another choice example in
which the disease cannot be referred to any particular organ. I allude
to Dr Peacock’s case, already published (‘Pathological Transactions,’
vol. xv), where the lungs, liver, heart, spleen, and some other organs,
were all occupied by hydatid formations. As an instance of extensive
visceral infection by Echinococci in the human subject, I believe this
case to be unique. The brain hydatids are particularly fine. In the
specimen presented by Mr Boot, of Lincoln, the hydatid, two inches
in diameter, is lodged in the anterior horn of the left ventricle.
One of the peritoneal cases is remarkable for the amount of forward
displacement of the pelvic viscera, caused by four or more hydatids,
each of them nearly as large as a cricket-ball. Amongst the abdominal
cases I have included a recent preparation, to which Mr Stewart has
called my attention. The hydatid in question, of the size of a large
lemon, existed near the fundus of the bladder, its walls being one
third of an inch in thickness, and forming an unusually firm tumour.
Of all the fine specimens of hydatids in the collection, however,
none have struck me so much as those affecting the bones. There is a
humerus, taken from a man thirty-four years of age, in which the shaft
is occupied throughout by small hydatids that have destroyed almost all
the cancellous structure; in some places, also, the absorption of the
cortical layer has gone on to such an extent as to have left little more
than the periosteum. Of course, the bone was at last fractured easily.
It is a beautiful specimen; and the existence of Echinococcus-heads
was proved by microscopic evidence. Scarcely less interesting are two
preparations illustrative of Mr Traver’s case of a man, thirty-eight
years of age, in whom numerous small hydatids occupied both the head of
the tibia and the lower end of the femur. Each set of parasites freely
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account