HYDATIDS IN THE URINARY ORGANS. 167 



hydatids which escape into the ureter, temporarily 

 obstruct it, as has just been stated, and produce the 

 symptoms which are common to all foreign bodies 

 obstructing this passage, namely, difficult micturition, 

 spasmodic pain in the ureter and kidney, hiccough, 

 nausea, and vomiting ; sometimes the hydatids com- 

 pletely block up the urethra, and cause retention of 

 urine, and acute pains in the bladder and urethra, 

 which cease soon after the expulsion of the hydatids 

 with the urine. 



Hydatid cysts, developed in the kidney or in its 

 immediate vicinity, form, whilst entire, a tumour 

 which resembles that of chronic pyehtis, or of dropsy 

 of the kidney; hydatid trembling, if it existed, 

 would, however, serve to distinguish between them. 

 It is not always easy to ascertain whether the cysts 

 belong to the kidney or to the hver. The position 

 of the cysts developed in the latter organ is usually 

 more in front, and at the acute margin of the Hver ; 

 in some cases, the previous existence of an attack 

 of jaundice or of functional derangement of the 

 kidneys, may assist in clearing up the diagnosis. 



The passage of hydatids with the uriae deter- 

 mines the nature of the lumbar swelling, and it also 

 indicates that the tumour does not belong to the 

 liver ; but it is nevertheless necessary to bear lq mind 

 that hydatids which are expelled with the urine may 

 come from a cyst situated in some other organ than 

 the kidney. 



If we may form an opinion from the progress of 

 the affection, in the majority of the cases of cysts of 

 the kidney which have been recorded, the prognosis 

 of this species of tumour would be generally less 



