272 ANIMAL PAHASITES. 



There was no fluctuation. A little above the margin of the foot, 

 directly under the malleolus interims, there was also a circular, 

 slightly elevated swelling, of an inch in diameter, exhibiting a 

 pseudo-erysipelatous redness. Upon this there was a small black- 

 ish-red spot, somewhat larger than is seen on the inflamed stings 

 of bees and other insects. No opening could be detected in the 

 epidermis. No splinters of wood, nails, or fragments of glass 

 had entered the foot. From the outside of the ankle the swelling 

 had gradually extended over the lower part of the leg and the 

 sole of the foot. 



Dr. Giesker considered that the disorder originated from a 

 foreign body, which would be separated by the occasional inflam- 

 mation of the edge of the foot. He therefore opened the 

 swelling by an incision in the inner edge of the foot, and then 

 observed that the black spot in the centre of the swelling led to 

 a small canal, which was in connection with a larger one in the 

 sole of the foot. This, which corresponded with the position of 

 the second swelling, was also opened. It ran under the 

 fascia plantaris, between this and the flexors of the toes, termi- 

 nated in a csecal extremity at the ball of the little toe, and con- 

 tained no pus, or other foreign body, but only coagulated blood, 

 and separated, discoloured areolar tissue. After the bleeding 

 was stopped, lint was introduced into the wound, and the bandage 

 was left without being renewed for eight days. On the removal 

 of the bandages for the first time, and the application of strong 

 pressure from below, a worm-like animal, which moved in water, 

 issued with the pus. The house-surgeon regarded this as an 

 illusion, and took hold of a second similar body, and unfortunately 

 crushed it between his fingers, supposing it to be areolar tissue. 

 On the 1 1 th of February the cure was completed. 



The animal could not have been introduced into the diseased 

 spot by the lint of the bandage. Everything indicates that the 

 animal had been in the body long befoi'e the opening of the 

 swelling, and that it had produced the passage and the varying 

 inflammation. The animal was recognised as a young D. liepati- 

 cum, of six lines in length, by Frey, and also by Von Siebold. 

 It is most probable that it had penetrated directly in the form 

 of a Cercaria into the sole of the foot. The woman may have 

 given opportunity for this by washing linen in the more stagnant 

 parts of the Lake of Zurich, or by bathing her feet or her whole 

 person in the lake. 



