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
In relation to the capsules, it is true that prior claims of discovery
have been put forward; but whilst Peacock’s preparation of the “little
bodies” testifies to the fact of his having seen the capsules before
other English observers, including Wormald, it was Hilton who first
surmised their parasitic character. As for the claims of Klencke and
Tiedemann, they are practically of no value, even if it be admitted that
the former may have at an early period seen something resembling this
nematode, and that the “stony concretions” encountered by the latter
were degenerated capsules.
On no subject have I desired to write with more accuracy and precision
than on this, and lest the above remarks should appear to be somewhat
partial, I now purposely re-state the facts as they have presented
themselves to me during a full and prolonged study of the entire
literature of the subject. If it be asked with whom rests the discovery
of _Trichina_, the reply must be framed with a due regard to precise
issue at stake. The first recognition of the capsules as parasitic
products is fairly claimed by Hilton; the worm by Paget; the zoological
allocation and nomenclature by Owen; the adult worm by Virchow; the
developmental phenomena by Leuckart; the rearing of the larvæ by Herbst;
and to crown all, the clinical importance of the parasite by Zenker. Due
regard being had to these relative claims, I think the following more
extended statement will be found to be true and just in all its bearings.
In the year 1834 Sir James Paget, then a student, first actually
determined the existence of the nematode entozoon, which was
subsequently more completely described by Professor Owen. The discoverer
was assisted by the celebrated botanist, Robert Brown, who lent his
microscope for the purposes of examination. In the following year
Professor Owen first scientifically described and named the flesh-worm
(_Trichina spiralis_) in the published transactions of a learned
society. He first fully interpreted the true zoological position of the
parasite. Sir J. Paget’s colleague, Mr. Wormald, had “more than once”
previously noticed the characteristic specks “in subjects dissected at
St Bartholomew’s Hospital.” He transmitted the individual specimens
which enabled Owen to draw up his valuable paper. It is clear, however,
that Mr Hilton was the first to suggest the parasitic and animal nature
of the specks observed in human muscle. As the “find” was made in 1832,
he anticipated Wormald in his observation of the “gritty” particles in
dissecting-room subjects, describing the bodies as “probably depending
upon the formation of very small Cysticerci.” Nevertheless, according
to Dr Hodgkin, “the first observation of these little bodies was
made in 1828” by Mr H. Peacock. The latter made a dry preparation of
the _sterno-hyoideus_ muscle to display the specks. That preparation
is the oldest in existence, and may be seen in Guy’s Museum. It may
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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