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
being preserved entire), numbers of distomata were found within them,
lying singly, flattened, and generally with the anterior extremity,
or “oral sucker,” directed towards the periphery of the organ, the
posterior extremity towards its centre; or in twos, threes, or even
little groups of fours, variously coiled upon themselves or upon each
other. The lining membrane of the biliary canals was found abnormally
vascular, its epithelial contents abundant (catarrh?), and, among these,
ova could be detected under the microscope. Sections of the liver,
hardened and then examined in glycerine, showed fatty infiltration of
the lobular structure, but not to any advanced degree; the bile ducts
considerably dilated, their walls thick and hypertrophied, but nothing
else abnormal, or in any way remarkable. The weight of the liver was 3
lbs. In the transverse and descending colon numerous indolent-looking,
shallow, pigmented ulcers were found, and in the rectum others evidently
more recent and highly injected. The submucous tissues throughout were
abnormally thickened. The intestinal contents consisted of only about
three ounces of thin yellowish (bilious) fæcal fluid, with small bits of
opaque mucus. This was carefully washed and examined, but no flukes were
discovered. About a dozen distomata escaped from the liver on making the
primary incisions, and quite twice this number was found subsequently
within the biliary canals. Only a portion of the right lobe has, as I
have said, been dissected, so that it may be confidently stated that
probably not less than a hundred of these flukes must have infested
this liver. All were found dead, but it must be remembered that the
autopsy was performed thirteen hours after the death of the patient.
It is remarkable that in this case, as in the one before described by
me, no distomata were found in the gall-bladder. The presence of these
parasites in the bile-ducts seems to have led to catarrhal inflammation
of their lining membrane and abnormal thickening and dilatation of
their walls, but there is no evidence of their having caused sufficient
obstruction to produce cholæmia, as in the case just referred to, and no
marked pathological change could be detected in the lobular structure of
the liver.”
After referring to the anatomical descriptions of the worm, as recorded
by myself (in ‘Entozoa’) and by Lewis (in the memoir quoted below),
Professor McConnell further observes that the addition of a few more
particulars seems necessary for the determination of the identity of the
species. He then gives the following characters:
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