An account of hydatids found in the omentum of an axis deer : with observations on their pathological changes : illustrated by an engraving / by John Houston, M.D.

  • Houston, John, M.D.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of hydatids found in the omentum of an axis deer : with observations on their pathological changes : illustrated by an engraving / by John Houston, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    the rim or outer border of which is of a more oiDaque character, and armed with a double row of horn-like, sharp-pointed, re- troverted cilia^, in number, as far as T could count, abouttwenty. Behind the attachment of the ciliae the head enlarges for a short distance, and at tlie widest part presents four smooth depres- sions, arranged circularly, and at equal distances from each other, around the transverse axis. These depressions are called mouths, meaning thereby patulous orifices; but, from my own observations, I believe them to be covered over by the same kind of transparent membrane as that which completes the ante- rior plane, for I had abundant opportunities of remarking that the fluid of the caudal vesicle, when squeezed along the neck into the head, protruded, and rendered them prominent without making its escape from apertures in their centre. Indeed, to such an extent did this yielding of the structures of the head take place, that the anterior plane was rendered convex, and the part immediately adjoining it elongated into a sort of cylin- drical proboscis, before giving way to the pressure from within. The representation given in fig. 2 is taken from^an hydatid with the head distended after this fashion. Behind the lateral mouths, the head suddenly narrows, and terminates by giving attachment to the neck. This part of the worm is about one line and half in length, (Fig. 2 magnified,) as small as the finest silk, and narrowest about the centre. It is composed of bundles of circular fibres, like rings, closely ap- proximated. It is tubular, as shown by the transmission which it affords to fluids squeezed from the vesicle in the direction of the head,—an experiment which may be practised satisfactorily while the parts are lying under the field of the microscope. The bodi/ (Fig. 2) varies in size; it is pyramidal, nearly half an inch long, pointed anteriorly, and about a line in diameter at its junction with tlie caudal vesicle. It is firm, opaque, and white ; striking the eye at first sight as a distinct part of the ani- mal. It is composed of circular fibres, arranged like those of the neck, and giving to the animal a jointed appearance like that observable in the common earth-worm. Pressure on the fluitl