4 ART. 7. — I. IJIMA. 



ing the fact that the hardening process has contracted the sub- 

 cutaneous connective tissue, through loss of the lymph, into dense 

 fibrous bundles, so that it no longer bears a semblance of what 

 it was in the fresh state. The corium in the same piece may be 

 said to be 3-6 mm. thick ; it seems to be on the whole consider- 

 ably thicker than in the normal state. In the figure above 

 referred to, the lightly shaded subcutaneous spaces represent the 

 adipose tissue, which, when blackened with osmic acid, stood out 

 in sharp contrast to the connective tissue bundles and the cap- 

 sules containing the worm. 



The Worm Capsule, — The worm capsules of various sizes 

 occur in abundance in all parts of the subcutaneous tissues and 

 less abundantly in the corium. They w^ere also observed in some 

 numbers in the intermuscular connective tissue but not in the 

 muscles themselves, so far as such observation could be made on 

 parts incidentally exposed during the surgical operation. In the 

 corium the c;ipsule may be situated so close to the epidermis that 

 the latter is externally raised into an acne-like prominence. On 

 a piece of the preserved skin about 2 inches square I find at 

 least four such prominences, which, as seen on the surface, appear 

 smooth and less pigmented than the surrounding parts. Capsules 

 in so superficial a position might without difficulty be caused to 

 break through the epidermis by force applied from the exterior. 

 The " soft whitish mass " which the patient pressed out after 

 scratching certain itchy spots, could have been nothing else than 

 the parasite which was present in the ruptured capsule.^^ 



1) The escape of the worms from the host, in the manner indicated, is to be hioked 

 upon as merely an accidental occurrence dependent upon tlie exceptionally superficial sitna- 

 lon of their capsules; it was surely not an event natural to the species' life-history. 



