140 CIIEMTFiTRY OF THE AMMAL PARASITES 



qvist and Boycott/** using various sorts of tienia. These results con- 

 tradict the earlier positive finding's of Messineo and Calamida/'' who 

 found extracts of taenia from dog's to be hemolytic, chemotactic 

 (especially for eosinophilos), and to cause local fatty degeneration 

 in the liver. Extracts of 2\ perfoliata and plicata (of the horse) 

 were found highly toxic for guinea-pigs by Pomella,'^" the hema- 

 topoietic organs being greatly stimulated. Bedson ^"^ found that ex- 

 tracts of all sorts of helminths produced similar effects on guinea-pigs, 

 the chief lesions being in the adrenals and thyroid. Possibly these dif- 

 ferences in results are due to the fact that different parasites were 

 studied by different investigators; furthermore, tests of toxicity of 

 human parasites upon rabbits and guinea-pigs can hardly be consid- 

 ered conclusive. Le Dantec did not find a precipitin for Taenia 

 saginata extracts in the blood of persons harboring this parasite, and 

 negative results with several other taenia were obtained by Langer,^^ 

 but complement fixation reactions may be given. ^^ 



Picou and Ramond °^ state that tienia extracts undergo putrefaction 

 very slowly, and attribute this to a bactericidal property, which was 

 observed with several forms of t^nia by Allesandrini. AVeinland '"* 

 has found that many intestinal parasites exhibit antitryptic proper- 

 ties,^^' but in a study of the histological changes of autolysis I observed 

 a taenia in the intestine of a dog undergo more rapid karyolytic changes 

 than did the intestinal epithelium. Dastre and Stessano ^"^ state that 

 extracts of Taenia serrata act upon enterokinase rather than on tryp- 

 sinogen. 



NEMATODES 



Ascaris. — The toxicity of members of this group has been a matter 

 of dispute, although, as with the Taenia, there have been observed in 

 patients symptoms that were more easily explained as due to chemical 

 substances than as due to mechanical irritation. INIiram, while study- 

 ing Ascaris megalocephala, suffered from attacks of sneezing, lachry- 

 mation, itching, and swelling of the fingers, v. Linstow suffered from 

 a severe attack of conjunctivitis with chemosis after touching his eye 

 with a finger that had been in contact with one of these worms. 

 Others have had similar experiences, and it has been found that the 

 fluid from these worms is toxic to rabbits. In man it seems to affect 



48 Jour. Pathol, ajid Bacteriol., 1905 (10), 383. 



49 Cent. f. Bakt., 1001 (;iO), 346 and 374. 

 •"'OCompt. Rend. Soc. Biol., 1912 (73), 445. 

 50a Ann. Inst. Pasteur, 1913 (27), 682. 



•"•i Munch, med. Wocli., 1905 (52), 1665. 

 •'••2Mever, Zeit. Imniuuitiit., 1910 (7), 732. 

 saCompt. Rend. Soe. Biol., 1899 (51), 176. 

 MZeit. f. Biol.. 1902 (44), 1 and 45. 



5fj ('orrol)orated for Taenia sa<finata by l-'oltorolf (Univ. of Poinisvlvania ]\Iod. 

 Bull.. 1907 (20), 94). 



5« Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol., 1903 (55)., 130. 



