72 ENTOZOA FOUND IN MAN. 



depend upon special circumstances connected with. diet. 

 So long ago as 1804 it was remarked by Dr. Fortassin 

 that those persons who are occupied in the mani- 

 pulation of fresh animal matter are more frequently 

 affected with tape-worm than those who follow some 

 other trade ; and this opinion has since then been 

 supported by most writers on the subject. 



Out of more than two hundred patients under 

 the care of Wawruch, one-fourth followed the calling 

 of a cook ; and it is stated that, in India, the mem- 

 bers of a particular caste, who employ an almost 

 exclusive vegetable diet, are not attacked by taenia, 

 which is nevertheless common amongst the other 

 natives. 



Of themselves, these observations have no great 

 importance, but they are interesting when considered 

 together with the following facts. 



The taenia solium, as is well known, is extremely 

 frequent in Abyssinia, and nearly all the inhabitants 

 of that country are affected by it. Various reasons 

 have been given in order to account for the fre- 

 quency of this malady ; some travellers have attri- 

 buted it to the quality of the water, and others to a 

 kind of grain, called Teff, from which the native 

 bread is made, but the majority (including our coun- 

 tryman, James Bruce,) have stated their belief that 

 it is due to the use of raw meat as an article of food. 



In Bussia, where the bothriocephalus ordinarily 

 prevails to the exclusion of the taenia solium, a 

 curious circumstance occurred some few years since. 

 In order to check the ravages of an epidemic of 

 dysentery, which was generally fatal amongst very 

 young children, in St. Petersburgh, the expedient 



