EFFECT OX THE HEALTH OF THE HOST. 4-87 



a year in the bladder, and expelled single proglottides at intervals of 

 about eight days, until it was killed by an injected anthelminthic and 

 then expelled at once. 1 We need hardly add that the expulsion of 

 proglottides through the urethra is accompanied by violent and painful 

 disorders, and that the above-mentioned worm-abscesses interfere in 

 many ways with the health of the host. 



Besides these, the presence of a tape-worm in the intestine gives 

 rise, under some circumstances, to protracted disease. I say " under 

 some circumstances," for in many cases the health remains unim- 

 paired in spite of the uninvited guest. This happens especially in the 

 case of young children and healthy persons, while, on the other 

 hand, and particularly where there are previous nutritive disturbances 

 and nervous irritability, many and various diseases may be caused by 

 the parasite. As a rule, however, there is an exaggerated fear of the 

 pain excited by the tape-worm. There are some whose complaints 

 begin the moment that they discover the presence of the parasite, 

 although they have perhaps harboured it for months ; and others who, 

 after having undergone a tape- worm cure, continue to feel their former 

 pains, although, perhaps, they have long been rid of the worm. 

 Just as physicians speak of a " hypochondriasis syphiliticorum" there 

 often seems even more occasion to diagnose a " hypochondriasis tcenio- 

 sorum" 2 We have already noted that, in contrast to the disfavour 

 with which we regard the worm, the Abyssinians consider themselves 

 ill when they are without it, and regard it as having an advantageous 

 influence on their health. Only if it become too long do they think 

 that it causes any disorder. 



In Europe, too, it is sometimes asserted that the tape-worm 

 has a medicinal value. This idea is, however, erroneous ; for in 

 cases in which Tcenice of the dog (especially T. marginata) occurred 

 in the alimentary canal of the host, I have not unfrequently observed 

 a diseased condition of the intestinal mucous membrane (injection, 

 desquamation of the epithelial layer, and even little ulcers), and, as I 

 have already observed, there could be no doubt that these were due 

 to the parasite. 



The disorders usually caused by the tape- worm are partly local 

 and partly of a general nature. And among the former, besides the 

 troublesome and disagreeable tickling occasioned by the spontaneous 

 emigration of the proglottides, we find frequently recurrent disturb- 

 ances of digestion and colic-like pains, which are felt sometimes at 

 one place and sometimes at another, especially during fasting, being 

 quieted for a time by food and drink. Sometimes the patients have 



1 Darbon, Archiv. de Med., t. v., p. 351, 1824. 



2 For such cases see Cobbold, "Worms, &c.," p. 14. 



