352 



ENTOZOA. 



parasites from the intestines by purgatives and anthelmintics. 

 Which, among the latter, is the most energetic and certain is not 

 yet determined : calomel is, perhaps, M. Davaine thinks, the best. 

 After six or eight weeks, all treatment directed towards the intes- 

 tines is superfluous. It is scarcely probable that any substance 

 will act on the larvae disseminated through the muscles. Friedreich 

 has recommended picronitrate of potash ; but in the case in which 

 he used it, live Trichina were found in the muscular tissue after 

 the patient was considered to be cured." 



At the risk of repeating one or two minute particulars which I 

 had previously recorded from Leuckart and others, and also from 

 the Hanoverian newspapers ; and rather, moreover, than mutilate 

 this part of Davaine' s succinct summary, I have preferred to quote 

 the passage as it stands. His memoir, indeed, is a remarkably 

 complete one, but on going over it, I do not find any important par- 

 ticulars (other than the above) which I had not before gathered 

 from Leuckart, Virchow, Kiichenmeister, and other writers of less 

 distinction,* At present I have not myself enjoyed an opportunity 

 of experimenting with this particular parasite, although, some time 

 ago, I saw two subjects in which the voluntary muscles were exten- 

 sively invaded by Trichina. At that time, Zenker's case had not 

 been made public ; but, from my recollection of the circumstances 

 connected with the death of one of the above-mentioned persons, I 

 entertain little doubt that the fatal result was due to the larvae of 



* In a foot-note (p. 337), I have already referred to the admirable resumS whioli first 

 appeared in the pages of the "Medical Times and Gazette" (for April, 1864). The 

 author dwells more particularly on the question of the prevention and cure of Trichi- 

 niasis, and especially, also, on the harpooning method of diagnosis. About three months 

 previously, Dr. Thudichum published an account of the flesh-worm epidemic as it had 

 occurred in Germany. This paper appeared, anonymously, in the " British Medical 

 Journal," and, from the ardent terms in which it was communicated, naturally excited 

 considerable attention. On comparing the data therein set forth with those derived 

 from other sources, one cannot fail to notice a considerable divergence of statement as 

 to the actual numbers of persons attacked with Trichiniasis. In the main, however, the 

 various records are sufficiently harmonious. Very lately, at a soiree held at the Eoyal 

 College of Physicians (June, 1864), Dr. Thudichum exhibited some living Trichina and 

 flesh-worm harpoons, which he had received from Germany. — T, S. C 



