51 
At the time of examination, January, 1887, the patient complained of headache, 
sense of fatigue in the lower limbs, numbness in the lumbar region, and malaise, 
more pronounced after the least exertion. Slight pains in the joints were attributed 
to the irregular life which the boy had led between the age of 13 and 15, when he 
wandered about in the Helds in all sorts of weather, hunting for birds. For two years 
he had experienced frequent attacks of vertigo, and losses of consciousness lasting 
about a minute. The physical examination showed no abnormalities. The feces 
contained numerous eggs of Hiimenolepis nana. 
After treatment the patient passed a large number of worms, and the symptoms 
rapidly subsided. In December, 1888, he was in perfect health, and more recently, 
according to his father, was still entirely well, with no return of his former trouble. 
Sommariva del Bosco, near Turin, Italy, 188Y-1888 1 case. 
Case No. 45. — Perkoncito & Airoldi (1888 a, b, c) report the case of a boy of 6 
years. Two years before he came under observation he had suffered from an attack of 
typhoid fever at Turin, and during convalescence was sent to the country and placed 
on a raw-meat diet. Soon afterwards he began to pass segments of Tsenia saginata. 
He also suffered from headache, abdominal pain, lack of appetite, and frequent 
vomiting, the symptoms altogether indicative of gastro-enteric and nervous disturb- 
ances due to helminthiasis. The case was seen for the first time in November, 1887, 
when the feces were found to contain eggs of Tsenia saginata and large numbers of 
the eggs of Hymenolepis nana. A dose of 4 grams of ethereal extract of male fern was 
administered, most of which was vomited; a number of pieces, however, of Tsenia 
saginata and about 1,000 Hymenolepis nana were passed. 
On May 24, 1888, the case was again examined. According to his parents the boy 
was often ill, with frequent pains in head and abdomen, lacked appetite, and vomited 
frequently. The patient appeared rather more pale than at the former examination. 
The stools, as before, contained eggs of Hymenolepis nana and of Tsenia saginata. A 
purge was given the 24th, and several pieces of T. saginata were passed. The next 
day the boy was placed on special diet, and another purgative administered that 
evening. On the morning of the 26th he was given 6 grams of ethereal extract of male 
fern, and in an hour and a quarter afterwards 15 grams of castor oil. (Some of the 
male fern was vomited three-quarters of an hour after administration). At about 
noon the evacuations began; a Tsenia saginata about 4.5 meters long and more than 
Hymenolepis nana were passed. 
Tuscany, Italy, 1889-1895 5 cases. 
SoNsiNo (1889, 1891, 1895a) has reported 5 cases of Hymenolepis nana from the 
neighborhood of Pisa. 
Case No. 46- — In October, 1889, the feces of a 9-year-old girl from the Comune di 
Cascina, who had been suspected of uncinariasis, were sent to Sonsino for examina- 
tion. Eggs of Hyynenolepis, but none of Agchylostoma, were found. The girl died 
shortly afterwards of a febrile malady (Sonsino, 1889, 1891). 
Case No. 47. — The second case (Sonsino, 1889, 1891), which was that of a man 
from Pisa, likewise suspected of uncinariasis, was seen in the same month. 
Ethereal extract of male fern gave no apparent results. The man was afterwards 
treated with thymol, some Agchylostoma were passed, but he continued to suffer 
from gastro-enteric troubles. As late as April, 1890, his feces still contained 
eggs of Hymenolepis, but less in number than at first. This patient was again exam- 
ined five years later (Sonsino, 1895), and eggs of Agchylostoma, evidently from a new 
infection, were found in large numbers, but none at all of Hymenolepis nana. 
Case No. 48. — A 7-year-old girl from a family of brickmakers of the same locality 
as that of the first case, (Comune di Cascina) was brought in April, 1891, to Sonsino 
(1891, 1895a), to be treated for possible uncinariasis. The parents of the child were 
strong and healthy; during the first two years of her life the child herself was per- 
