T^NTA solium:. 223 



emaciation." In addition to these, many other anomalous symptoms 

 may present themselves, or, as Davaine remarks, periodical fits of 

 faintness, with one or more of the above accompaniments, may recur 

 with considerable regularity. Of course, in all cases where a suspicion 

 exists as to the cause of these symptoms, a true solution can only 

 be arrived at by ocular proof of the passage of proglottides or cu- 

 curbitini. In most cases, restlessness and anxiety are conspicuous 

 features, and it has also been observed that the symptoms acquire 

 a greater intensity in female patients. The increase or loss of appe- 

 tite on the one hand, and the absence or presence of diarrhoea on 

 the other, are criteria of very little value, as their occurrence or 

 non-existence is altogether uncertain. In severe cases, the sym- 

 pathetic phenomena become very strongly marked, manifesting 

 themselves in the form of hysterical fits, chorea, epilepsy, and epi- 

 leptiform seizures, in which the convulsions may become extremely 

 alarming. 



Amongst some of the more interesting and remarkable cases 

 recorded in our English journals, I may instance that of Mr. 

 Hutchings, where a complete cure followed the evacuation of the 

 worm which had produced convulsions. Mr. TufiheU records a case 

 where irritability of the bladder and stricture of the urethra were en- 

 tirely dependent on tapeworm, as proved by the subsequent recovery. 

 At a meeting of the Pathological Society, in 1853, Dr. Winslow 

 mentioned his experience of three or four cases of mania arising 

 from tapeworm ; whilst on the same occasion Drs. Ryan and Davey 

 each recorded a similar instance. A case had also been previously 

 published by Mr. W. Wood. At a meeting of the London Medical 

 Society, held on the 10th of April, 1837, Dr. Theophilus Thomson 

 (during an interesting discussion on this subject) stated the facts 

 of a case where the presence of tapeworm had given rise to a 

 tumultuous action of the heart ; this symptom entirely disappear- 

 ing after evacuation of the worm. Our journals likewise (anony- 

 mously) record a considerable number of cases from foreign sources. 

 Thus, in the " London Medical Gazette " for 1840, there is the case 



