Cysticercus fasciolaris is developed within the liver of white mice; Cysticercus cellulosæ in the muscles of the pig; hence we have the diseased state of pork familiarly known as “measly pork.” Should a lamb become infested with Tænia the final transformation will be different; within a fortnight symptoms of a disease known as “staggers” manifest themselves, and in the course of a few weeks the Cœnurus cerebralis will be developed within the brain. Von Siebold pointed out the bearing of this fact upon the important practical problem of the prevention of “staggers.” Others belonging to the same class of parasites are quite as remarkable in their preference for the alimentary canal of fishes. The Echinorhynchus is developed in the intestinal canal of the flounder, Triænophorus nodulus in the liver of the salmon. Thus, by careful and repeated observation with the microscope, a close connection is found to exist between the cystic and cestoid entozoa.
The Echinococcus ([Plate IV]., No. 101) infests the human liver. These parasites are always found in cysts, and in closed cavities in the interior of the body. They are united in fours by a very short stalk or pedicle, common to the whole. By an increase of magnification the contents of a cyst present the several structures represented in [Fig. 376].
Echinorhynchus, or spiny-headed threadworms, constitute a group of entozoa which undergo a metamorphosis hardly, perhaps, less remarkable than that known to take place in other Nematode worms. Leuckart instituted, in 1861, a series of experiments with the ova of Echinorhynchus proteus found parasitic upon the Gammarus pulex. The ova of E. proteus resemble in form and structure those of allied species. They are of a fusiform shape, surrounded with two membranes, an external of a more albuminous nature, and an internal chitinous one. When the eggs reach the intestine the outer of these membranes is absent, being in fact digested, while the inner remains intact until ruptured by the embryo.
Fig. 376.—Cystic Disease of Liver (Human).
a. Cyst with Echinococcus enclosed; b. detached hooklets from the head of Echinococcus, magnified 250 diameters; c. crystals found in cyst, chiefly cholesterine; d. cylindrical epithelium, some enclosed in structureless vesicles; e. Puro-muculent granules, fat and blood corpuscles.
The typical Threadworm belonging to the order Nematoidea infest the intestines of children, and are a source of much suffering. The egg is elliptical, and contains a mass of granular protoplasm, the external wall of which soon becomes marked out into a layer of cells. The mouth of the worm appears as a depression at the end of the blunt head. When the muscular system and alimentary canal are developed the embryo hatches out, some few of which are free living forms; most of them lead a parasitic life. Their reproduction is enormous, representing thousands of eggs and embryos.
Of the non-parasitic species of thread-worm, the common vinegar eel, Anguillula,[74] affords an example. This is found in polluted water, bog-moss, and moist earth, as well as in vinegar; also in the alimentary canal of the pond-snail, the frog, fish, &c. Another species is met with in the ears of wheat affected with a blight termed the “cockle”; another, the A. glutinis, in sour paste. If grains of the affected wheat are soaked in water for an hour or two before they are cut open, the so called “eels” will be found. The paste-eel makes its appearance spontaneously just as the pasty mass is turning sour; the means of securing a supply for microscopical examination consists in allowing a portion of the paste in which they show themselves to dry up, and laying it by for stock; if at any time a portion of this is introduced into a little fresh-made paste, and the whole kept warm and moist for a few hours, it will be found to swarm with these wriggling little worms. A small portion of paste spread over the face of a Coddington lens is a ready way of viewing them.
Trichina spiralis.—One of the smallest and most dangerous of all human internal parasites is T. spiralis, since it finds its way into the muscles throughout the human body. The young animal presents the form of a spirally-coiled worm in the interior of a minute oval-shaped cyst ([Plate IV]., No. 104), a mere speck scarcely visible to the naked eye. In the muscular structure it resembles a small millet seed, somewhat calcareous in composition. The history of the development of Trichina in the human muscle is briefly that in a few hours after the ingestion of infected pork, Trichina, disengaged from the muscle, will be found in the stomach: hence they pass into the small intestine, where they are further developed. Continuing their migrations, they penetrate far into the interior of the primitive muscular fasciculi, where they will be found, in about three days after ingestion, in considerable numbers, and so far developed that the young entozoa have almost attained a size equal to that of the full-grown Trichina ([Plate IV]., No. 105). They quickly advance into the interior of the muscular fasciculi, where they live and multiply in continuous series, while the surrounding structures as well as the muscular tissue undergo a process of histolysis. The destructive nature of the parasite is very great.
The number of progeny produced by one female may amount to several thousands, and as soon as they leave the egg they either penetrate through the blood-vessels, or are carried on by the circulation, and ultimately become lodged in the muscles situated in the most distant parts of the body. Here, as already explained, they become encysted.