1862.] DR. T. S. COBBOLD ON HUMAN ENTOZOA, 31] 
endemic known as the Echinococcus-disease of Iceland, the best 
account of which we owe to the researches of Eschricht. 
My friend Dr. Arthur Leared, M.R.C.P., who has just returned 
from a short tour in Iceland, has undertaken to draw up a report on 
the present state of our knowledge on this subject (with a view to its 
being ultimately laid before the Icelandic Parliament) ; and he has 
ingeniously suggested that every dog should be efficiently physicked 
at a certain given time, and that all the excreta, tapeworms included, 
should be buried at a considerable depth in the soil. The experi- 
ment should be extended over several seasons. The mature Tenie 
thus destroyed would, it is conceived, cut off the supply of embryos 
and Echinococci, and the endemic might thus be averted. To this 
suggestion I would add that, in place of burying the excreta, they 
should, in all cases, be burnt. If this latter suggestion be not carried 
out, it is more than probable that multitudes of the minute embryos 
will escape destruction, and ultimately find their way into the 
human body. I have previously urged this preventive measure with 
the view of lessening the prevalence of other entozoa, both of man 
and animals; and I again, in a social point of view, respectfully invite 
attention to the importance of this rule. All entozoa (uot preserved 
for scientific investigation and experiment) should be thoroughly 
destroyed by fire when practicable, and under no circumstances 
should they be thrown aside as harmless refuse. In the case of 
Tenia echinococcus the greatest difficulty likely to be experienced 
lies in the circumstance of the extreme minuteness of the strobila, 
which, in the full-grown state, does not exceed the eighth of an inch 
in length. It is almost certain to be overlooked ; and I fear, there- 
fore, the treatment suggested by Dr. Leared will only be attended 
with partially beneficial results. As an additional security, I 
would recommend that boiling-hot water be thrown over the floor 
of the kennels or enclosures where the dogs subjected to Dr. 
Leared’s treatment are kept. In this way nearly all the embryos 
would be destroyed. In regard to the structure of Echinococcus 
itself, very little now remains to be made out. The literature of the 
subject is of very great extent. One of the best memoirs extant is 
that communicated by Prof. Huxley to this Society; and, from 
repeated original investigations, I have been enabled to follow out 
and satisfy myself as to the accuracy of most of the facts therein 
recorded. I have sought, however, very diligently for the internal 
cilia described by Huxley, Virchow, and Lebert, hitherto without 
success. Respecting the well-known hydatids or acephalocysts, the 
majority of them are clearly undeveloped larvee of Tenia echinococcus, 
comparatively few of them being referable to other Tapeworms*. 
. * Since the above was written, an instance of Echinococcus-disease in a young 
female has very opportunely come under my notice at the Middlesex Hospital ; 
this case, unhappily, terminated fatally. On Sept. 30, I secured, and fed a house- 
dog with, several hundreds of heads of the scoleces, which, in all respects, corre- 
sponded with those of Echinococcus veterinorum, and I hope to be able to extend 
this experiment after the production of the Tenie, (This experiment only gave 
a negative result—probably on account of the cysts having been accidentally 
steeped in a solution of carbonic acid before®l received them.—T. S.C. ; Jan. 1863.) 
