69 



PART VI. 



Pathology and Treatment. 



ATTEMPTING to classify the symptoms which arise from 

 the presence of these tapeworms, is somewhat like 

 classifying those arising from the so-called disease, 

 hysteria ; and, in this connection, permit me to sug- 

 gest, that many cases of hysteria may possibly arise 

 from the presence of this parasite, more particularly 

 in women. Their name is legion ; and withal so ob- 

 scure are they, and so calculated in their form to draw 

 the medical man's attention away from the true cause, 

 that, until the detection of the proglottides in the 

 faeces, the diagnosis must, in a great measure, be con- 

 jectural. 



Often, these entozoa are not productive of any 

 marked trouble to their host ; and indeed in Abys- 

 sinia the often-quoted remarks, that no person is con- 

 sidered healthy who is not the bearer of at least one 

 tapeworm, and that no slave is sold without a packet 

 of Kousso, would tend to make it appear, that, in that 

 country at least, no evil results from their presence. 

 Still, it oftener happens that they are not so innocent ; 

 and the feeling of weariness and lassitude which often 

 occurs may be attributed to them, not to mention the 



