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This h)datid is the ]ai\al form of the Tcriiia l-lcliiiiococcus^ which infests the 

 small intestines of the dog- or wolf. The adult tape worm is composed of 

 four segments or joints, and is a little over a quarter of an inch in length. 

 The first joint includes the head, which is about one-hundreth part of an inch 

 wide, and is provided with four suckers, a double coronet of booklets, 

 between thirty and forty in number, and a central beak. The fourth 

 segment is as long as all the rest of the worm. The way in which the 

 human being and the horse and other creatures become infested with this 

 larval form is as follows : — The mature worm in the intestines of the dog- 

 discharges its ripe eggs, and these being ingested by man or the horse, soon 

 lose their shells, which are dissolved, thus liberating the six-hooked little 

 embryoes. These bore their wa)- into one of the blood vessels, and are thus 

 carried to the various organs of the bod)-, more especially the liver and lungs. 

 When the embiyoes have arri^•ed here, they become metamorphosed into 

 hydatids. The lining membrane of these little cysts then develops heads. 

 The worm cannot undergo further development, unless the hydatid be 

 eaten by some animal. 



Dr. Cobbold tells us that at least i per cent, of our dogs harbour the 

 mature tape worm, and he asserts that in the United Kingdom several 

 hundred human deaths occur annually from the ingestion of the eggs, which 

 develop into hydatids. In some other countries, especially in Iceland, where 

 dogs arc so much used, and live in close contact with their masters, this 

 disorder is fatally endemic, and thus Iceland stands at the head of the 

 afflicted territories. Our Australian colonies are probably entitled to the 

 next place of distinction in this respect (Cobbold). Dogs frequently con\ ey 

 the eggs of this parasite to man by licking his hands and face. Regarding 

 the treatment of this larval form we have nothing to say, it being Aery 

 rarely diagnosed in horses. Last year we had under treatment an aged cart 

 horse suffering from chronic renal disease. The water passed contained 

 abundance of matter. After death, thirty hydatid cysts were found in the 

 right kidney. They varied considerably in size, one being as large as a 

 cocoa-nut ; the others varied from the size of a walnut to that of a pea. In 

 the left kidney there were also more than a dozen of these cysts. 



