GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 639 



Krabbe found it to be forty-seven times more frequent in the dogs of 

 Iceland than in those of Copenhagen, and discovered its presence in 

 about a third of the animals which he investigated, or in 28 per cent., 

 as against 0'6 per cent, in Copenhagen. Thus, when we consider, in 

 conclusion, that in Iceland there is a dog for every eleven persons (in 

 France for twenty-two, in Baden for forty-nine, in England for thirty- 

 five, and in Scotland for seventy-four), and that all these dogs have 

 intercourse with men and cattle, it is easy to see that millions of eggs 

 must be daily distributed by these animals, and that although the 

 majority of them may be destroyed, the remainder, which reach their 

 destination, are quite sufficient to give rise to the disease to the above- 

 described extent. The transmission of the embryo must be facilitated 

 by the want of cleanliness, which is especially prevalent among the 

 country people, and which is increased by the conditions of their 

 life, and particularly by the long duration of the winter, which is 

 spent by some in the same rooms with the dogs. The carelessness 

 with which the Icelanders carry on their intercourse with these ani- 

 mals must also frequently lead to infection, for they even go so far 

 as to allow their wooden dishes to be licked clean by the latter, instead 

 of washing them. Another fact to be taken into consideration is, that 

 the cool and damp climate preserves the vitality of the dispersed 

 germs much more effectually, and for a much longer time, than would 

 be the case under other circumstances. 



Wherever similar circumstances occur, the Echinococcus disease 

 attains a similar distribution. According to Eichardson, 1 it is so in 

 Australia, among the inhabitants of the district of Victoria, and espe- 

 cially among the shepherds, also among the Buratis, whom we have 

 already had occasion to mention as the hosts of Tcenia saginata. At 

 all events, Kaschin states that in nearly all the post mortem examina- 

 tions which he made, he found " hydatids " in the liver and heart 

 which could hardly have been anything else than Echinococci. z The 

 accounts which are given of the mode of life and customs of this 

 nomadic people support this conjecture. We learn, for example, that 

 in unfavourable weather, and particularly in winter, the Buratis live in 

 the same tents (jurten) as the cattle and dogs, and in the most loathsome 

 state of filth and uncleanliness, since they wash neither their dishes 

 nor their own bodies, and wear their clothing until it falls to pieces. 



1 Edinb. Mcd. Journ., p. 525, 1867. The eating of raw flesh, which is, according to 

 Richardson, the means by which the shepherds are infected with Echinococcus, cannot, of 

 course, be so unless the dogs have by chance deposited on the flesh the proglottides and 

 eggs of their Tania:. [See also Thomas, ' Hydatid Disease, with special reference to its 

 Prevalence in Australia," Adelaide, 1884: in Victoria Echinococcus occurs once in 

 18,800 ; in South Australia once in 23,000 inhabitants. R. L.] 



2 Petersburg Medical Journal (Russian), vol. i., p. 366, 1861. 



