AN INQUIRY. 
103 
duced by the parasites, I found no parasites; this, I think, may 
be accounted for by the parasites having died in the cyst which 
formed around them, their bodies softening and becoming ab¬ 
sorbed. 
On making a rather hurried examination of the veterinary 
works in my library treating on parasites, the only reference I 
found to the distoma hepaticum infesting the lungs was by Dr. 
Cobbold, who mentions a case in which that parasite was found 
in the lung of an ichneumon. On sending to Professor Law, 
however, a description of my cases, he referred me to two articles 
by M. Hedley, M.R.C.V\S., which appeared in the Veterinary 
Journal for June and July, 1881, in which that gentleman had 
discovered the distoma hepaticum in the lungs of cattle. 
How do the parasites find their way into the lungs? To this 
interesting question I would suggest the answer that the cercaria, 
which is usually supposed to be swallowed while the animal is 
drinking, in some instances does not pass further than the 
pharynx, and from there passes into the larynx, and from thence 
into the lungs. I think the distoma hepaticum occurs quite fre¬ 
quently in the lungs of Texan cattle, as the total number of lungs 
which I examined belonging to that breed was quite small. 
Besides the scientific interest attaching to these cases, they 
are of practical importance, because the morbid alterations which 
the parasites produce might be mistaken for an advanced or con¬ 
valescent stage of the lung plague. 
AN INQUIRY 
INTO THE ETIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF THE VENEREAL DIS¬ 
EASES OF MAN AND OF THE LOWER ANIMALS. 
By Charles F. Ring, M.D. 
{Continued from page 54.) 
“ It enters the domain of every branch of pathology. A close 
acquaintance with it is claimed by the physician, the surgeon, the 
specialist, in nearly all branches. Miles of pages have been 
Written about it ? and yet all is not told. Every year adds to our 
