174 ENTOZOA FOUND IN MAN. 



Sulphuretted baths might be tried, with advan- 

 tage in some cases. The medical treatment of 

 hydatids is of more certain value when the tumour 

 produces various complications, such as the inflam- 

 mation and suppuration of adjacent organs ; and 

 blood-letting, leeches, baths, and cataplasms may then 

 be usefully employed, according to the nature of the 

 individual case. Under special circumstances some 

 internal remedies may also be resorted to ; such as 

 narcotics to allay the paroxysms of cougliing which 

 are caused by the passage of the contents of the cyst 

 into the bronchi, and turpentine when a cyst deve- 

 loped in the kidney has opened into the pelvis of 

 the kidney. 



Electricity has been suggested for the purpose of 

 destroying hydatids, and in one case, of which the 

 particulars were communicated by Guerault to the 

 Societe de Chirurgie of Paris, this method was suc- 

 cessful. In this case. Dr. Thorarensen, of Iceland, 

 introduced long, fine steel needles into the tumour, 

 at its two opposite extremities, and through these he 

 transmitted a series of electric shocks. The cure 

 was prompt and complete ; the tumour gradually 

 subsided, and the hydatids, which were probably 

 absorbed, did not make any re-appearance.^ 



Cold applied over the hydatid tumour during a 

 sufficiently long period to admit of its penetrating 

 the mass, might perhaps destroy the echinococci or 

 the vesicle which encloses them, and in this manner 

 prevent the further growth of the tumour, or promote 



^ Note sur la maladie hydatique du fois en Islande, et 

 remploi de relectro-puncture a la destruction des Acephalo- 

 cy&tes.^- Gazette des Sopitaux, 1857. 



