268 A Cause of Appendicitis 
Weinberg to an infection by some peculiarly toxic, anaerobic bacteria. 
The very severe mortality amongst horses due to the presence of 
S. equinum is thus accounted for. The question where do the bacteria 
come from has been advanced a stage further by the researches of 
Weinberg and Saeves. They have succeeded in withdrawing the 
contents of the intestine of 97 Sclerostomes taken from 25 horses. 
Thirty-three of these worms contained bacteria in the contents of their 
alimentary canal: B. coli, “Enterococcus ,” and a Diplobacillus, whilst 
cultures yielded Streptococcus and Staphylococcus. It is thus evident 
that the Sclerostomes can in many cases infect the pierced tissues not 
only 'by chance bacteria sticking to their exterior but also by the 
contents of their intestine should they escape. 
Man. 
With reference to bacteria adhering to the outside of entozoa and 
by them conveyed to places where they become pathogenic it may 
be mentioned that Piana was the first to show the migration of 
Cysticercus pisiformis into the liver of the rabbit. Metchnikoff (1901) 
first drew the attention of medical men to the danger which the 
presence of entozoa in the human intestine entailed upon their hosts. 
In the Hai'ben Lectures (1906), he relates instances in which attacks of 
appendicitis have been associated with the presence of Oxyuris and 
Trichocephalus in the alimentary canal. Guiart and Grimbert (1906), 
further consider the matter in some detail. They consider that entozoa, 
especially round-worms, act as inoculating needles, and play a part in 
the etiology of certain diseases of the wall of the alimentary tract and 
of the liver comparable to that played by certain Diptera and Ixodoidea 
in the diseases of the blood. The gravity of the disease set up has of 
course a definite relation to the virulence of the bacteria admitted to 
the deeper tissues, and the course of the disease runs on quite 
independent of whether the inoculating needle—the entozoon—has 
been removed from the intestine or not, but removal naturally stops 
further infection. 
If we now consider in turn the effects that three of the commonest 
human nematodes, Oxyuris vermicularis, Ascaris lumbricoides and 
Trichocephalus trichiurus, have upon the walls of the places they live 
in we shall find that the part played by these entozoa is being daily 
better appreciated. 
