142 
.SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
the wind. In this way the eggs find lodgment on all kinds of 
food stuff and with it are conveyed into the stomachs of ani¬ 
mals and even man. The digestive processes in the stomach 
liberate the embryos in the eggs, which may permeate the 
walls of the intestines, enter the blood stream and find lodg¬ 
ment in any organ or part of the body, there to develop into 
cysts like these. Sometimes in man the cysts develop to im¬ 
mense proportions, or undergo degenerative changes which 
compromise the health and finally the life of the host. 
Dogs infested with large numbers of these worms (taenia 
echinococcus) may suffer reflex nervous irritation with cerebral 
disturbances, including a state of frenzy, which may be mis¬ 
taken for rabies. A post-mortem examination of the intestines 
of infused dogs would not reveal the presence of these worms 
to the casual observer, owing to their minute dimensions, but 
they are easily found by the close observer, and appear as short 
yellowish threads or filaments attached by one end to the mucous 
membrane. The prevalence of hydatids in swine indicates that 
many dogs, particularly those belonging to butchers and farmers, 
are infested with the adult worm. If butchers and farmers would 
cook or burn all organs of swine containing the cysts, instead of 
giving them to their dogs, the tsenia echinococcus and its hydatid 
would soon be annihilated, and this menace to the public health 
be removed. 
DISCUSSION. 
Dr. McCurdy : I understood the essayist to say that the adult 
worm was only found in the intestinal tract of the dog. I wish 
to inquire if this worm does not sometimes migrate to some 
other parts of the body. 
Dr. Stewart ,* So far as I am informed, no cases have been 
reported where the adult worm was found in any other part of 
the body than the intestines. The worm is fixed in its location 
by its hooks and sucker disks and lives by absorption of food 
intended for its host. The disease is found most frequently in 
man (in the hydatid form) in Iceland, where the people and 
dogs closely cohabit. 
Dr. McCurdy : Do the records show whether the disease is 
prevalent among the Indians and Chinese, where the dog is 
consumed as food ? 
Dr. Stewart: The records do not show such prevalency 
and the parasite is not communicable through eating the flesh 
of the dog, but it is only acquired by the ingestion of the eggs 
of the adult tapeworm. In countries where the hydatid form of 
