220 ON THE OCCURRENCE OF " WORM-NODULES " IN CATTLE 



1910, p. 82-4). In the same year, Stanley (1893) referred 

 to the presence of nodules in New South Wales cattle. 

 For many years after this, little notice seems to have been 

 taken of the condition in spite of its commonness. The 

 fact that infected animals apparently do not suffer in health 

 may have been responsible for this indifference towards 

 the matter. The waste of meat incurred in removing 

 the nodules from carcases and in condemning badly-infested 

 portions, should have been sufficient reason for an investiga- 

 tion being undertaken. Apart from a few mere references 

 dealing with the presence of worm-nests in cattle in West 

 Australia (Cleland, 1907), in New South Wales (Johnston, 

 1909), and in Queensland (Pound, 1909), nothing was done 

 until the latter part of 1909, when Dr. Cleland and myself 

 in Sydney, and Drs. Gilruth and Sweet in Melbourne, began, 

 independently, to devote special attention to the subject. 

 Very shortly afterwards public notice was draAvn to presence 

 of these nodules in abundance in frozen carcases arriving 

 from Australia, mainly from this State (Robinson, 1910, 

 p. 6; Ann. Rep. Med. Off. Health, 1909, London, abstract 

 in Jour. Meat Milk Hyg., 1911, p. 24). It was suggested 

 that such infected meat was possibly unfit for human 

 consumption (Collingbridge — quoted by Robinson, 1910, 

 p*. 6). This led to severe measures being taken by the 

 Health authorities in London and elsewhere (Robinson, 

 1910; Hancock, 1910, p. 25; Macfadden, 1911). Of 

 course, a scare was created, and investigations were com- 

 menced by the Local Government Board (London). In 

 the Annual Report of the Medical Officer for Health for the 

 Corporation of London for 1909 (1910, p. 106-7)*, it was 

 stated that in November, 1909, a large percentage of 

 carcases of Queensland beef were found to contain encapsuled 

 parasites lying in th,e connective tissues of the flank and 

 brisket. The nodules, together with a small portion of the 

 surrounding tissues, were removed and the rest passed 

 as being fit for food. In cases where they were very 

 numerous, the whole quarter was condemned. The 

 parasite was identified by Shipley as jSpiroptera reticulata, 

 and by Leiper as Onchocerca reticulata. This report was 

 probably issued early in 1910. 



* Abstract in Journal Meat and Milk Hygiene I., 1911, p. 24. 



