Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Notes on the fluke in sheep / by Alfred T. Brett. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![[From the ‘Transactions or the Hertfordshire Natural History Society,’ Vol. I, Part 3, March 1881.] 2d. NOTES ON TIIE FLUKE IN SHEEP. 7 By Alfred T. Brett, M.D. Read at Watford, 20(A April, 1880. The metamorphoses of insects is a subject that has much charm and fascination about it, and the metamorphoses of the Entozoa, or parasitic worms, are not less remarkable, nor are they less in- teresting than the metamorphoses of insects. It seems that many parasites require to go through the bodies of two animals to acquire their perfect growth. But it is not my intention to detain you with an account of the natural history of parasites in general or of flukes in particular, for the family of flukes is a numerous one, and has been estimated by some naturalists at from 400 to 500 species, all of which are supposed to pass through allied metamorphoses. I shall only briefly direct your attention to a few facts connected with fluke in sheep. The subject is of great importance. The ‘ Times ’ says, in a leading article, on April 13th, 1880: “An insidious and protean creature, called the fluke, is causing losses actually exceeding, in the aggregate, the cost of many of the wars which have figured in the indictment against the Ministry.” In 1861 there were 3,556,050 sheep in Ireland. Professor Pergusson, in reporting on the disease to the Irish Government, says : “ It is my opinion that more than 60 per cent, of the sheep on the island are at present unsound, although not all to a fatal extent.” A correspondent in the ‘Echo’ says: “The losses of sheep in the three counties of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall may be counted by thousands; hundreds of farms in these counties are virtually denuded of sheep.” I am informed that one farmer in Watford has lost 400 sheep at Pinner; and sheep have been sold in Watford Market for from three to four shillings each. The fluke is called Distoma hepaticum or Fasciola hcpatica. It belongs to the order Trematoda, which denotes that it is a suctorial worm. It is a matter of minor importance whether we speak of this entozoon as a liver-fluke, trematoid worm, Distoma, or Fasciola. Distoma hepaticum varies in size in the same animal according to the age of the entozoon. Although this is the case, it is a singular cir- cumstance, hereafter to be explained, that none are found in long existing cases of rot so small as to warrant the belief that they have been hatched from ova deposited within the biliary ducts. The form is that of an oblong oval, flattened from side to side. It will often attain a length of an inch and a quarter, and a breadth of half an inch in its widest part. It reminds one of a flounder or some flat fish. It will live a few hours after the liver has been removed, and it can be seen to move about. The colour varies according to the amount of bile in the digestive system. If full,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22354694_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
