PARASITIC DISEASES OF THE LIVER. 



it is filled with a serous liquid, which is transparent and does not 

 contain any albumin ; some are found to contain as much as five 

 kilogrammes of this liquid. The scolices of young taenias are 

 formed at the expense of the proligerous vesicles originating from 

 the germiual membrane ; each vesicle may contain as many as 

 thirty-four scolices, therefore one echinococcus alone may contain 

 as many as a thousaud. 



Pathological anatomy. The liver is ordinarily hypertrophied ; 

 its volume may be increased fivefold or even tenfold. It presents 

 an irregular surface, the salient parts of which correspond with the 

 echinococcus (more than a thousand have been found in one liver). 

 Its weight is increased in proportion to its volume. In the ox 

 Perroncito found a liver affected by ecchinococcus which weighed 

 158 French pounds (livres), while the weight of the normal organ 

 is ten pounds. In the pig the liver may weigh fifty pounds (Per- 

 roncito has found one of the enormous weight of 111 French 

 pounds ; the average weight of this animal's liver is four pounds 

 (livres). The serous membrane which covers the organ is often 

 thickened and joined to the neighboring organs, the diaphragm and 

 the intestine (perihepatitis). On section, the liver is found to be 

 tilled with a number of caverns, between which the parenchyma 

 remains in the shape of small islands or ribbons of variable dimen- 

 sions. When the echinococci die their contents are transformed 

 into a yellow, fatty, pasty material, which sometimes seems to be 

 composed exclusively of lime ; pus may be found in it, more rarely 

 blood. When they have reached this state their nature may still 

 be recognized through a microscopic examination ; we find hooks 

 in the contents of the vesicles. 



In the lung, the echinococci are of a size varying from that of a 

 pea to a man's fist ; the surface of the lobes is uueven ; the paren- 

 chyma is compressed ; often it keeps its normal appearance in some 

 points, while in other places it is very hard to the touch. Uhse 

 compares the lung affected by the echinococcus to a bag full of 

 potatoes." The lung of the ox may acquire a weight of fifty livres,, 

 its normal weight is about six livres. When the hydatids die the 

 cysts become filled with a detritus which gives them a caseous tuber- 

 culous aspect. 



In most cases the heart contains but one vesicle, which is mostly 

 located at the inferior extremity of the median septum near the 

 point ; it may bud either toward the ventricle or the pericardium. 



