REVIEWS. 
479 
significance ; it is intended as a hand-book for the general practitioner, who 
will find therein a clue to the nature of the “guest” which his patient un- 
willingly entertains. Hitherto medical men have been too prone to divide 
intestinal parasites into the broad groups of tape-worms and thread-worms, 
without giving themselves the trouble of investigating the several species of 
the former. This was a serious error, and we here thank Dr. Cobbold for 
having pointed out to the profession the necessity for studying the several 
species, with a view to their identification. The matter is one of very 
decided importance. There are no less than eleven different kinds of these 
formidable entozoa, and inasmuch as the sources, consequences, and treatment 
of them differ with the species, a careful diagnosis is essential to the proper 
cure of the patient. And even when the treatment does not differ for any 
two tape-worms, a knowledge of the specific characters may enable the phy- 
sician to relieve the anxiety of the patient, which otherwise he could not 
effect. Thus, Dr. Cobbold tells us that the commonest tape-worm is really 
not that which comes from the pig, but that of the ox. The latter differs 
from the former in having the head unarmed. This circumstance should be 
noticed, because in watching for the expulsion of the parasite one should not 
wait till a head armed with hooklets is expelled. It appears that very great 
attention must be paid to the selection of drugs in the treatment of the 
tape-worm, the author having known many instances of failure to result 
simply from the use of spurious or inactive medicaments. The creatures 
which Dr. Cobbold deals with in this work are the following : — The armed 
or pork tape-worm, the unarmed or beef tape-worm, and the pig-headed, 
Greenland, elliptic, margined, triple-crowned, spotted, ridged, Egyptian, and 
hydatid-forming tape-worms. Of these the two first and the last are those 
most frequently met with in these countries, and their natural history and 
the modes of expelling them may be learned from Dr. Cobbold’s book in half 
an hour’s reading. Of our author’s knowledge of his subject it is superfluous to 
speak, but of his little volume we may say that we can honestly recommend 
it to the student, the physician, and the general reader, as the tersest and 
most accurate treatise on the subject of tape-worms. 
POPULAR ASTRONOMY * 
A STRONOMY is fast becoming a very popular pursuit. Of late years 
opticians have given an impetus to the study of the heavenly 
bodies, by the manufacture of excellent telescopes at moderate prices : the 
telescope is now as favourite an instrument as the microscope, and amateurs 
begin to be as familiar with the features of Mars and Saturn, and with the 
characteristics of the double stars, as they are with the revolving spheres of 
* “ Popular Astronomy.” A series of lectures by George B. Airy, Astro- 
nomer Royal. London : Macmillan & Co. 1866. “ A Treatise on 
Astronomy,” for the use of Colleges and Schools. By Hugh Godfray, M.A. 
Macmillan & Co. 1866. “ The Handbook of the Stars.” By Richard A. 
Proctor, B.A., F.R.A.S. London : Longmans & Co. 1866. 
