ENTOPHYTA. 



ENTOZOA. 



Achorion is in the depth of the hair follicle, against the hair, and, as 

 well as we can understand the description, outside the layer of 

 epithelium which covers the root of the hair, and which forms the 

 ' inner root-sheath ' of Kolliker. In this observation however he has 

 been anticipated by Wedl, who has pointed out that by using a 

 concentrated solution of liquor potassse to make the parts transparent, 

 the fungus is found in the follicle round the hair at the place where 

 it passes through the epidermis. In addition to this, the plant is 

 found in depressions on the surface of the skin, forming the yellow 

 honeycomb-like masses which give the specific name Favus to the 

 disease, and which from their frequent buckler-h'ke shape suggested 

 the term scittulata. The development of the Achorion in this 

 situation is described by Robin after Retnak and Lebert. A cuticular 

 elevation is seen, beneath which is a small favus. When the cuticle is 

 raised, a drop of pus sometimes issues : hence the error of those who 

 have considered this disease always pustular. Generally however 

 there is no pus or liquid of any kind. The plant grows, and the cuticle 

 over it (supposing it has not been forcibly detached) finally separates, 

 leaving the favus exposed to the air. 



M. Bazin describes the Farm under three heads, which are funda- 

 mentally identical, and different only in respect of form : 



1. Faviu nrceolaria dissemina : this corresponds to the Porrigo 

 faroia, Farus dispersus, and Teiyne alveolaire of other authors. 



2. F. ictUiformis : this is the Porrigo scutulata, or P,. confertus. 



3. P. tquamota, a form usually called scutulata, but distinguished 

 chiefly by the irregular distribution of the achorion, and by the 

 furrowed masses formed by the fungus, the hairs, epidermis, and 

 exudation. 



8. Pitccinia Favi. The achorion constitutes, with epithelium and 

 a little exudation, the mass of the Farm; but it has been lately 

 (1850) observed by Ardsten, of Christiania, that a different fungus, a 

 species of Puccinia, ig occasionally also present. Robin considers it 

 to be only an epiphenomenon, and that it is certainly not present in 

 all cases. The Puccinia is easily recognized. It has one extremity 

 (the body) rounded, and composed of two cells of unequal size, a 

 superior and an inferior. The other extremity is prolonged into a 

 pointed stem or trunk. 



There are still three other plants found upon the skin which need 

 merely be enumerated. 



9. Mucor. In senile gangrene, an ill-described fungus, supposed to be 

 the Mucor mucedo of Linnaeus, has been seen on the sloughing mass. 



10. Atperyiltiu. In the wax in the external meatus of the ear, 

 Mayer many years ago described a fungus, and Paccini has lately 

 made a similar observation Leptomitus (?) of the epidermia An A Iga 

 has been seen by M. Gubler in the epidermis of an arm which was 

 irrigated for a long time to keep down inflammation after a gunshot 

 wound. No one else has noticed it. Not only Messrs. Robin and 

 Bazin, but Simon and others of the best dermatologists of Europe, 

 have adopted the opinion that the plants are the actual causes of the 

 diseases in which they are found. The contrary opinion is generally 

 held in this country, on the grounds that fungi are generally the 

 proofs and consequences of decay, but not its causes ; that in the 

 various forms of Tinea a special condition of the skin and hairs 

 appears necessary for the growth of the plant ; and that in Tinea 



favosa (Pavtu) in particular, a marked feature of the disease occa- 

 sionally is an hyper-secretion of epithelium and exudation, owing to 

 an hypenemic cutis, before any trace of fungus can be found. 



Nevertheless, these arguments, strong as they are, seem to be over- 

 borne by the two grand facts that Tinea tondens and Tinea favosa can 

 be communicated by transfer of the plant, and that the disease can be 

 cured with the greatest readiness by the chemical agents which are 

 most destructive to vegetable life. That a special nidus is necessary 

 may very well be admitted by the partisans of this view, since even 

 in the case of epidemic agents a predisposition is necessary ; yet no 

 one dreams of confounding the co-operating cause with the special and 

 peculiar poison. 



It may be desirable to recapitulate the diseases of the skin in which 

 parasitic plants are found : 



1. Tinea tandem, in which the Trichophyton toniurant is present. 



2. Tinea favota, in which are present the Achorion Schcmleinii, 

 and the Puccinia Favi in some cases. 



3. Mentaga, or Tinea mentagra, which exhibits the Microsporon 

 mentagrophyta. 



, 4. Pityriarit versicolor (Chloasma), in which the Microiporon 

 furfur occurs. 



6. Porrigo decalvani (Tinea achromatota) in which the Micro- 

 tporon Audouini is found. 



6. Plica Polonica, in which the Trichophyton tonturam and 



Trichoplryton poruloide> are present. 



II. Entojihyta on the Mucous Membrane. The plants forming on 



mucous membranes, or in the contents of cavities lined by mucous 



membrane, are of less interest than those which grow on the skin 



n in most cases they are decidedly only secondary. We shall merely 



'numerate them : 



1. Cryptocvrcui Ceremiiat, Kiitzing (Torula Cereviticf), the Yeast- 

 Plant in the bladder, stomach, intestines, &c. 



2. Aferitmopcedia ventriculi, Robin (Sarcina), in the stomach 

 intestines, Ac. 



3. Leptothrix buccalis, Robin (Alga), of the mouth. 



4. Oscillaria of the intestines. (Farre.) 



5. Leptomitus urophilns, Montague ; an Alga described as forming 

 n the urine. It has as yet been scarcely studied. 



6. Leptomitus (?), Hannover, Robin; Alga found by Hannover in 

 ;he pharynx and oesophagus. 



7. Leptomitus of the uterua. 



8. Leptomitus of the uterine mucous. 



9. Leptomitus of the eye. 



10. Oidium albicans, Robin (Cryptogamia:), of diptheritis and 

 aptha; Aptophyte. (Gruby.) 



11. Fungus of the lungs. (Bennett.) 



12. Fungus in the discharge of glanders. 



To this list from M. Robin may be added the so-called Cholera 

 Fungus of Brittan and Budd. It should however be added that no 

 confirmation of the view originally taken by the discoverers, that the 

 fungus discovered in the dejections of those affected with cholera was 

 the cause of the disease, has been afforded. The only explanation that 

 can be given of the occasional occurrence of the spores of fungi or 

 spore-like bodies on the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines, 

 is their introduction with the food. It has been stated above that the 

 spores of certain species of fungi are found naturally on grains of 

 wheat, and only await favourable conditions for development. Such 

 fungi may be constantly introduced into the stomach with the flour 

 of wheat in the form of bread or other kinds of food. 



" In the study of the vegetable parasites of animals, particularly 

 those of the intestinal canals, it is necessary to be careful not to 

 confound the tissues of certain well-known cryptogamic plants, which 

 may serve as food or adhere to the ordinary food of such animals, 

 with true Entophyta. Thus, fragments of fungi, confervse, lichens, 

 and the spores of these, used as food, or adhering as foreign matter 

 to food of an ordinary kind, are liable within the intestine to be 

 mistaken for parasites. 



" In mid-winter I found beneath an old fence-rail an individual of 

 Achela nigra t or large black cricket, within the proventriculus of 

 which were large quantities of what I supposed at the time to be a 

 free floating Eutophyte, resembling in general appearance the ordinary 

 Yeast Fungus, Torula, but which I now suspect to be an ergot upon 

 which the animal had fed. The plant consisted of oblong or oval 

 vesicular bodies, apparently thickened at the poles, and filled with a 

 colourless liquid ; but this appearance more probably arose from the 

 cells being distended with a single large, transparent, colourless, 

 amorphous globule, which pressed a small existing amount of proto- 

 plasma to each end of the cavity. The cells were single, or in rows, 

 to eighteen in number. Frequently a single cell of comparatively large 

 size had an attached pair of cells, or rows of cells, at one or both 

 ends. Occasionally they are met with containing one or two small 

 round hyalina amorphous nuclei The isolated cellules, measured 

 from the ^th to the ^th of an inch in length by the ^th to the 

 gJ^th of an inch in breadth. The rows measured up to the ^th of 

 an inch in length." (Leidy.) 



(Leidy, A Flora and Fanna within Animals; Robin, Ilistoire 

 Naturelte de Vlgttaux Parasites; Bazin, Recherches tur la Nature 

 des Teignts, <kc. ; Parkes, Epiphytes and Entophytea ; Brit, and For. 

 Medico-Chirurgical Review, 1853 ; Journal of Microscopical Science, 

 vol. ii.) 



ENTOZO'A, from irrbs, within, and (ffov, an animal. Under this 

 name are designated the different living beings which are produced 

 and developed within other living beings. It comprehends a series of 

 animals differing greatly from one another in form and organisation, 

 and having but one character in common, which is, that they are all 

 parasitic, or have their exclusive habitation in, and live at the expense 

 of, the bodies of other animals. They can scarcely be said to form a 

 distinct clans in the animal kingdom, Home of the species being closely 

 resembled, both in external appearances and internal structure, by 

 individuals placed in other classes, and only differing from them in 

 the localities where they are found ; thus, the zoosperms, or seminal 

 animalcules, which are enumerated by some zoologists with the 

 Entozoa, closely resemble the true Cercarice of vegetable infusions. 



Entmoa are found in most animals. They have been discovered in 

 all the Mammalia, from man down to the Uetacea ; they also occur in 

 the other classes of the Vertebrata ; indeed, it seems that a greater 

 number reside in birds, reptiles, and fishes, than in mammals. The 

 Im-ertebrata have also their peculiar parasites ; and they have been 

 ascertained to exist in all the Insect tribes, and in beings still lower 

 in the scale. The best known species are those which inhabit the 

 intestines of the human subject, and vulgarly go by the denomination 

 of Worms, which term was probably derived from the resemblance 

 which the Ascaris lumbricoides bears to the common earth-worm, as 

 this species is most frequently met with, and was the first described 

 of the human Entozoa, being mentioned by Hippocrates, who called 

 it the <? A/UPS (Trpoyyfaos, or round worm. The origin of Entozoa is 

 involved in some obscurity, as well as the circumstances under which 

 they are developed. 



" Within living beings," says Dr. Leidy, " that is, within then- 

 cavities or the parenchyma of the organs, of course all the indis- 

 putable conditions of life exist, and consequently we cannot wonder 

 at their being infested with other living beings adapted to their 



