434 APPENDIX. 



pital. Mr. Partridge was present at the examination of the body, and 

 was struck with the appearance of the gall-bladder, which, instead of 

 being stained by bile, as is usual, was perfectly white. He took the gall- 

 bladder away to make of it a preparation, to show the natural structure, 

 and on laying it open discovered the fluke. He presented the fluke to 

 Professor Owen, who considered it to differ in no respect from the Dis- 

 toma hepaticum of the sheep. The gall-bladder and cystic duct, which 

 were perfectly healthy, are preserved in the museum of King's College." 



I am not aware of any other recorded case of the occurrence 

 of this parasite in the gall-bladder in English practice. The fol- 

 lowing case, however, communicated to me by my friend Pro- 

 fessor Busk, appears to be an undoubted instance of the oc- 

 currence of Distoma hepaticum in the tissues of the human body. 

 Mr. Busk's attention was first called to the case by Mr. 

 Clapp, of Exeter, who detected the nature of the parasite when 

 shown him by the surgeon in whose practice it had been met 

 with. Mr. Busk satisfied himself that the creature was truly 

 the Distoma hepaticum. The case occurred in the practice of 

 Mr. Fox, of Topsham, Devonshire. The following are the parti- 

 culars of the case as given by Mr. Fox : 



"Mr. L— , set. 39 years, of good constitution, and much marked with 

 the smallpox, had been a sailor for twenty years, sailing to the West 

 Indies, Mediterranean, South America, &c. For the last eight years he 

 has loaded to Cronstadt in the Baltic, and has also visited Amsterdam. 

 About fourteen months since, whilst at Cronstadt, he perceived a small 

 " pimple" about three inches behind the ear. This gradually enlarged to 

 the size of a small walnut. A solution of iodine was applied with a view 

 to dispersing the swelling, but unsuccessfully. After sometime, " while at 

 sea," it inflamed and burst, discharging a sero-sanguinolent fluid from two 

 small orifices. It then healed up again, and after a time was refilled with 

 a similar fluid. It was then laid freely open, and dressed with dry lint. 

 The next day, on examining the wound, I thought I saw something 

 moving, and, on taking it out, found it was a Distoma. When the wound 

 was dressed the following day, there appeared to be portions of another 

 worm, but in so softened a state that I could not be quite certain of it. 

 The colour of these worms was very similar to that of the surface of the 

 wound. The wound was afterwards dressed with Ung. Resinae and lint, 

 and healed very kindly, remaining sound ever since. The man is now at 

 sea, and I have not heard of his having any more tumours of the same 

 kind. 



(Signed) Charles Fox, 



Topsham, Devon." 

 February 2d, 1857. 



The following correspondence, which has been kindly placed at 

 my disposal by Professor Busk, who received it from Professor 



