102 
Review. 
Quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non. — H or. 
On Cystic Entozoa in the Human Kidney. By T. Herbert 
Barker, M.D-, F.R.C.S. 
In our last volume, p. 463 et seq we inserted some ac- 
count of the metamorphoses or further development which 
certain parasites undergo, when introduced into the living 
organism of a higher order of animals : a subject replete with 
interest, and opening up altogether new views as to the 
origin of many of the entozoa, and superseding the necessity 
of having recourse to false philosophy, or that which will not 
bear the test of reason, to account for their existence, namely 
spontaneous generation. i( Ex nihilo , nihil fit E 
The above pamphlet records a case in which no less than 
upwards of 150 cysts containing echinococci, were voided by 
the urethra, at different times ; their size varying from a 
pin’s head to that of a walnut, commonly in clusters, but 
without any impairment of the general health of the person, 
although the pain at times was great : this varying in pro- 
portion with the size, number, and rapidity with which 
the entozoa were expelled. 
The source of these hydatids, in the opinion of the author, 
is to be traced to the food, for at p. 8, we are informed, when 
speaking of the patient’s diet — 
‘Tor some years past he has rarely eaten either beef or mutton, having 
a natural aversion to these meats, and for one year, six years ago, he was a 
vegetarian. As an ordinary rule, however, lie has lived on pork, and 
thinks that, on an average, he has taken * pig’s fry,’ consisting principally of 
the liver, at least twice weekly. He has on more than one occasion eaten 
‘ measly’ pork, and pig’s chitterlings (the intestines of the animal) lias been 
a frequenc dish. He is also very fond of sheep’s head, and especially of the 
brains, but does not know whether the brains he has thus taken were those 
of ‘ sturdy’ sheep. He has likewise been accustomed to take in the morn- 
ing herbal bitters, such as decoctions of horehound, wormwood, and agri- 
