HYDATID IN A PIG. 
286 
hundreds of animalcule, which appeared like little white points. 
On being examined with a lens, a minute cavity was seen in 
each, which seemed to be its mouth. These hydatids were 
grouped together, and did not occupy the whole of the external 
membrane of the envelop or bladder, and portions of the spinal 
marrowy answering to these groups, were irregular, furrowed, 
and covered by a false membrane. 
May not the dropsy of the spinal canal, described by another 
writer, be considered as produced by the development of vesicu¬ 
lar worms like these, the envelope of which, beside being of ex¬ 
treme thinness, may be accidentally broken, and present to the 
observer the appearance of simple dropsy % 
This etiology is the more probable, as the researches of M. 
Majendie have proved that m a state of health there always 
exists a great quantity of fluid round the spinal marrow. The 
presence of this fluid has sometimes been considered as dropsy; 
and possibly we have fallen into the same error. In opening 
horses which have died of staggers, we have found no other 
morbid appearances than great distention of the great ventricles 
of the brain, by a fluid limpid as water. 
Journal Theoretique et Pratique . 
Hydatids in a Pig. 
By M. Dupuy. 
Palsy of the hind limbs, with loss both of motion and feeling, 
was observed in a pig eighteen months old. On carefully ex¬ 
amining him after death, the muscles were discoloured and 
softened. There w r ere in the psoas muscles numerous cysts en¬ 
closing hydatids. Other cysts, w ith their parietes more thickened 
and fibrous, inhabited the muscles surrounding the trochanter, 
containing likewise hydatids# These parasites were also found in 
the lungs, the liver, and the cortical substance of the kidneys. 
Between the internal surface of the cyst and the hydatid, was 
a fine white powder, resembling pulverized bones. The spinal 
marrow was softened about the lumbar and sacral regions, and 
the membranes were slightly reddened, particularly about the 
roots of the lumbar nerves. 
This case of palsy, occasioned by vesicular worms, possesses 
considerable interest. It shews that loss of motion and feeling 
may be produced by very different causes. Can this kind of 
disease be classed among the neuroses ? 
Journal Theoretique et Pratique . 
