78 THE STAGGERS. 



on the development and form of the cystic worms, and giving 

 rise to many kinds of distinct degenerations (races) . 



By keeping in view these highly interesting vital conditions of 

 certain intestinal parasites, we^ shall be enabled to take more 

 efficient means against the spread of cestoid and cystic worms, in 

 those cases in which their presence is prejudicial to the animals 

 they inhabit, than could be the case so long as no one was 

 aware in what way these parasites, whose entrance it was so 

 desirable to prevent, made their way into the creatures they 

 infested. 



What purposeless and useless remedies have been proposed for 

 this same worm-disease, we gather, amongst other things, from 

 the numerous treatises which the disease of the " staggers" in sheep 

 has called forth. On account of not having a correct acquaint- 

 ance with the natural history of the Cystica, there necessarily 

 arose the most contradictory and unreasonable opinions, and 

 upon these a series of prophylactic and curative measures have 

 been founded, which, resulting in no success, have been one after 

 another discarded again. Amidst such irrational proceedings, we 

 cannot blame the sheep owners if they entirely gave up using 

 means for the eradication or prevention of the staggers, and 

 unwillingly submitted to a loss that, amongst rich flocks, was 

 by no means to be lightly estimated, amounting in many sheep- 

 farms to more than ten per cent. 



Were I to bring forward all the various causes to which the 

 origin of the Coenurus has been referred, I should far exceed the 

 limits that I have assigned myself in these pages. That the 

 doctrine of equivocal generation played a conspicuous part therein 

 will surprise no one, since there yet exist veterinary surgeons 

 who adhere to that doctrine in all points. 



The only mode of insuring the destruction and removal of the 

 worm, and hence the only effectual cure for the disease of the 

 staggers, is trepanning. Unfortunately this process is not appli- 

 cable in all cases since it depends upon the situation of the 

 worm, whether it can or cannot be reached by trepanning. The 

 operation is of course admissible only when the Coenurus cere- 

 bralis is imbedded in the anterior and upper portion of the 

 ruminant's brain, whilst if, on the other hand, it be deeply 

 seated in the base of the brain, or in the spinal marrow, it cannot 

 be reached by trepanning. For this reason the testimonies as to 



