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
These peculiarities, however, can hardly be understood without reference
to the original illustrations. That these secondary coils were not of
the nature of hernial protrusions was evident, not alone from the nature
of their contents, but also from the fact that they showed distinct
anastomoses. In fact, the parasite was a simple sac or bag with branches.
On puncturing the main tube with a fine needle a small quantity of
tenacious creamy fluid made its escape. This, under Ross’s 1/4-inch
lens, resolved itself into a few excessively delicate sarcode globules
surrounded by fine granules. The granular matter displayed a tendency
to collect itself in the form of oval masses without showing any trace
of a limiting border. One of these masses, measuring 1/250″ in length,
I examined under a Wasserlein-objective, when I further ascertained
that the elementary particles or granules were uniformly oval in shape,
rather highly refractive, their size scarcely exceeding 1/8000″ in
diameter. The sarcode corpuscles, on the other hand, were of different
sizes, ranging between 1/3000″ and 1/1600″ in diameter.
From the facts thus elicited, negative as they were in respect of
helminthic structure, I could see no escape from the conclusion that
we had to deal with a new form of psorospermial bag, whose granular
contents consisted of excessively minute pseudo-navicellæ. In the centre
of the largest hernia-like loop there was a clear oval disk, which at
first brought to my mind the nucleus of _Monocystis_ infesting the
earth-worm, but it was merely a vacuole.
The case recorded by Gubler reminds me of another remarkable instance
of psorospermial cysts, in this case associated with true hydatids. In
1873 Dr Whittell sent me particulars of a case in which the contents of
an hydatid of the liver (drawn off, during life) consisted of shreds of
a true hydatid, a few echinococcus-hooklets, together with multitudes of
spindle-shaped amœboid particles of excessive minuteness and delicacy.
The bodies, floating in a transparent fluid, formed a thick milky or
creamy fluid, resembling pus in appearance; but there was no trace of
pyæmia. Judging from Dr Whittell’s figures, he must also have found a
solitary microscopic nematoid hæmatozoon, the nature of which was not
clear to him. I believe it to have been a specimen of _Filaria sanguinis
hominis_. Be that as it may, the case is altogether unique and deserves
further elucidation.
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