On the destruction of fish and other aquatic animals by internal parasites / by T. Spencer Cobbold.

  • Cobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer), 1828-1886.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the destruction of fish and other aquatic animals by internal parasites / by T. Spencer Cobbold. 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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    LONDON, 1883. Conference on Thursday, July 12, 1883. Professor Huxley, P.R.S., in the Chair. ON THE DESTRUCTION OF FISH AND OTHER AQUATIC ANIMALS BY IN- TERNAL PARASITES. This communication is not intended to be an exhaustive memoir. The subject is a wide one, yet it may with truth be said that few persons are awai'e of its importance. As regards man and the higher animals, physicians and other professional persons have a direct interest in con- ducting researches amongst the parasites ; nevertheless, it is surprising to what an extent mere prejudice has operated to prevent labourers from entering into this instructive field of comparative pathology. Taking a comprehensive grasp of the study of parasites it will be readily admitted that the extent of the subject is in itself rather appalling. If you consider that for every known species of bird, beast, reptile, and fish, acting as “hosts,” there are probably, on the average, not less than four times as many different species of “ guests ” liable to occupy their bodies, you will then gain some adequate notion of the zoological difficulties of the study. If, further, you will consider that by far the larger proportion of all these parasites undergo transformations, often of a complex [24] B 2