94 
The Rot in Sliccp. 
fen-land, part of which was marsh. Their death, as stated, was 
comparatively sudden, and the gentleman who sent the specimens 
found in each case, on making a jwst-mortem examination, that a 
serous effusion had taken place into the cavity of the al^domen, 
and that the liver presented well-marked indications of disease. 
We were at once struck with the remarkable softness or pulpy 
condition of the liver, and on a close examination we ascer- 
tained that many of the bile-ducts were filled with entozoa, which 
proved to be very young flukes. The presence of these parasites 
in such numbers, and in animals so young, had, contrary to the 
general rule, produced a quick destruction of the integrity of the 
liver, with its several concomitants. It is a singular fact, but one 
Avhich fully accords with our present knowledge of -the natural 
history of the entozoon; that not a single fully matured or parent 
Jiuhe was met with in these cases. Having preserved several of 
these entozoa, we here insert a sketch of a group of three of them 
of their natural size, as drawn to a scale. 
Fig. 1. Young Distomata. 
Vogel has spoken of the young distoma as being four lines long, 
and one and a half broad. The smallest of our specimens, how- 
ever, as will be seen, had not attained even these dimensions. 
Notwithstanding their diminutive size a microscopical exami- 
nation showed that the nutritive system of these young distomata 
— aquiferous and bile-digestive — was fairly developed and in 
active operation, but that only an outline of their generative 
organs — the female portion in particular — existed. 
Before leaving this division of our subject it is necessary to 
say a word with reference to the ordinary pathological changes 
which the liver undergoes from the presence of flukes. In 
general, unless the entozoa are very numerous, little structural 
change takes place until they have attained a fair size, and 
have travelled onwards from the main biliary duct, which they 
entered from the duodenum, into its various branches and smaller 
ramifications to deposit their ova. Their existence now pro- 
duces pressure, persistent irritation, and increased vascular action, 
which ultimately lead to the coats of the ducts becoming thick- 
ened, and their calibre increased. In medical language hypertro- 
phy, with dilatation, takes place. It is these changes which give an 
altered outline, and often an increased size, in some parts to the 
gland. Nature may be said to strengthen the walls of the ducts, 
even to their minutest divisions, to prevent the entozoa from 
