NEMATODA 161 



quantity of muscle from a highly trichinised German subject, 

 who died from the effects of an accident at the London 

 Hospital the day previous. The case was fully reported by 

 Dr Thudichum in a new journal, called ' Scientific Opinion ' 

 (No. 4, April 25th 1866, p. 55). During the same day (at 

 2.30 p.m.) I fed a dog with part of this human flesh. On the 

 morning of the 31st I killed the dog, and examined the 

 intestinal canal (at 11.30 a.m.), which revealed the presence of 

 sexually -mature living Trichinae. The males (of one of which 

 I retain an accurate figure) displayed the characteristic bilobed 

 caudal appendage, leaving no doubt as to their source and 

 nature. I have mentioned the precise time of the experiment, 

 in order to show that a period of sixty-nine hours proved amply 

 sufficient for the development of the young muscle-flesh-worms 

 of the human subject into the sexually-mature adult Trichinae 

 of the dog. 



Exp. 24. With another portion of this human flesh (taken 

 from the muscles of the tongue) in which the Trichinae were 

 extraordinarily abundant, I fed a cat. In about ten days the 

 animal showed the most marked symptoms of trichinosis. It 

 refused to eat ; the eye lost its lustre ; the body became very 

 thin, and I thought the animal would die. By very great care, 

 keeping it warm before the fire, and subsequently inducing it 

 to take a little milk, the creature improved, gained flesh, and 

 eventually recovered. About three months afterwards I de- 

 stroyed this cat, when on examining the panniculus carnosus, 

 latissimus dorsi, and other superficial muscles, I found great 

 quantities of well-developed, capsuled Trichinae. Although the 

 animal had swallowed scarcely a quarter of an ounce by weight 

 of the infested flesh, yet thousands of parasites had been pro- 

 pagated, and dispersed throughout its muscular system. In 

 this way the helminthiasis nearly proved fatal to my cat. As 

 has been already stated, Dr Thudichum, who I believe had 

 an opportunity of examining the corpse of this trichinised 

 German, estimated the number of parasites in his body at 

 40,000,000. I do not think this estimate likely to be exag- 

 gerated, for if all the flesh had been infested to the extent I 

 found to obtain in respect of the muscles of the tongue, I 

 believe 100,000,000 would have been nearer the mark. In 

 places the point of a needle could scarcely be thrust between 

 the capsules, so closely were they agglomerated. 



Exp. 25. From the 19th to the 25th of April, 1866, inclusive, 



11 



