96 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



Effects and Remedies. 

 These eggs are well protected by a shell, but when taken 

 into the human stomach, or into the stomach of sheep, cattle, 

 or pigs, they are acted upon l^y the gastric-juice and then im- 

 mediately hatch. The embryo is a very minute worm, very 

 different from the parent, and provided with six little hooks, 

 by means of which it digs its way through the lining of the 

 intestine into the blood-vessels, and entering the circulation 

 they are carried to the various organs of the body, where they 

 develop into the peculiar cysts first described, and thus cause 

 disease and death. When lodged in the brain, they are most 

 dangerous, soon causing insanity and death by their rapid 

 growth and consequent pressure. In the lungs they are also 

 very dangerous and often fatal ; in the liver they cause severe 

 disease, often terminating fatally ; and in other organs the 

 effects differ according to the nature of the organ. When 

 the lodgment is amoiig the muscles, or near the exterior of 

 the body, the timiors may be removed by a surgical operation, 

 or even by simple puncture, they may be destroyed. The dis- 

 charge of the contents is fatal to the life of the hydatid 

 opened, but there may be many others adjacent that will not 

 be affected. Injections of iodine, etc., after opening, are un- 

 necessary. When in the internal organs there is generally 

 no remedy, though by chance the cyst may of itself Jjurst, as 

 sometimes happens, when, if the discharge takes place through 

 some natural channel, recovery is possible, but such cases are 

 of very rare occurrence. In the majority of cases the true 

 nature of the disease is not suspected until a post mortem 

 examination reveals it, or until the tumors burst or are 

 opened, when a microscopic examination of the matters dis- 

 charged gives reliable evidence ; but many of these hydatid 

 tumors are no doubt observed and treated by physicians, who 

 do not even suspect what their real character may be, because 

 they have neither suitable instruments nor sufficient knowl- 

 edge to make the requisite examinations. Chemical tests 

 may be applied to the liquid discharged, it is said, with satis- 

 factory results. The properties of the fluid are described as 

 follows : "If the sac be not inflamed, it is limpid, has a 

 specific gravity of 1007 or 1009, and contains no albumen, 



