On the prevalence of entozoa in the dog, with remarks on their relation to public health / by T. S. Cobbold, M.D.

  • Thomas Spencer Cobbold
Date:
[cbetween 1800 and 1899?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the prevalence of entozoa in the dog, with remarks on their relation to public health / by T. S. Cobbold, 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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    infest the dog, it is generally agreed that this form is both human and canine, so to speak. In either case it is believed that the *' host acquires possession of the parasite by the consumption of fish. Dr. Knoch, of Petersburg, believed he had succeeded in rearing this species in dogs by direct experiment with its embryos ; but the necessity of an intermediary bearer has been clearly established by Leuckart. The presence of Bothriocephali in the dog in this country is very rare. One such cestode may be seen in the Museum of the Eoyal Veterinary College; and no doubt can be entertained that it belongs to this species. 10. BotJiriocephalus cordatus.—This form is quite distinct from the above, and seems to be very abundant in the dogs of North Greenland, where it also occasionally infests the human body. In the dog it occurs in considerable numbers, and can scarcely fail to occasion the animal more or less distress; but we have no evidence to show that it gives rise to any inconvenience in the human subject, where, so far as is at present known, it either exists singly or in very small numbers. Its comparative abundance in the dog doubtless depends upon the more ready access which that animal has to the uncooked food containing the larvae, which latter are supposed to abound in marine fish. 11. Bothriocephalus fuscus.—Dr. Krabbe, of Copenhagen, de- scribed a variety of pit-headed tapeworms obtained from dogs in Iceland, aU of which appear to be-distinct from the above species. He recognizes three separate kinds (B.fuscus, B. reticulatus, B. dubius), severally presenting marked features of their own; but he is not prepared to affirm that these characters have any specific value. I do not now discuss this point, but I may remark, in passing, that the preparations of B. cordatus sent me by Prof. Leuckart, and the specimens of B.fiiscus presented to me by Dr. Krabbe, afford convincing proof of the distinctness of these two forms. Taking the BothriocepTiali as a whole they only occur in the ratio of 5 per cent, in Iceland, whilst Dr. Krabbe's investi- gations also show that in Denmark they are very much less frequent. In the 500 dogs examined at Copenhagen he only found one infested. It is by no means improbable that one or other of the forms will be discovered in this country. 12. Tcenia marginata.—The tapeworms, properly so called, are far more numerously represented than the Botliriocephali; and » this is one of the commonest forms. The frequency with which I have encountered it leads me to conjecture its presence in at least 25 or 30 per cent of our English dogs. In Denmark it is