Volume 1

On animal and vegetable parasites of the human body : a manual of their natural history, diagnosis, and treatment / by Dr. Frederich Küchenmeister ; translated from the second German edition, by Edwin Lankester.

  • Küchenmeister, Friedrich, 1821-1890.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On animal and vegetable parasites of the human body : a manual of their natural history, diagnosis, and treatment / by Dr. Frederich Küchenmeister ; translated from the second German edition, by Edwin Lankester. 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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    nified development of its parent. From this point of view we may compare the cystic worm to the caterpillar, or chrysalis stage in the development of the insect. It differs, however, in this, that in many cases the cystic worm has the power of developing, at this stage of its growth, a large number of creatures resembling itself, and these have, each of them, the power of developing themselves mto tape-worms, as though the caterpiUar had the power of pro- ducing in its interior any number of young caterpillars, each of which would grow into a perfect butterfly. It IS here that the history of our Entozoa becomes interesting from another point of view. They are illustrations of Steenstrup's theory of the Alternation of Generations. The cystic-worm— let it be an Echinococcus—has originated from the egg of a tape- worm, the embryo of which has found its way from the stomach and intestines through their walls, into the tissues of the body. This worm consists of a vesicle, or bag, to which is attached a head, called the scolex.''^ In Cijsticercus, the hydatid of the pig, there is but one scolex, but in Echinococcus there are many scolices. Now this scolex, or scolex-head, as it is sometimes called, is the stock or germ—the head—from which all the segments of a tape-worm proceed. The cyst of Echinococcus, then, has the power of producing a large number of these heads, each of which may grow into a tape-worm. The cyst, the original cyst of the worm, is, in the language of Steenstrup, a nurse. Kiichenmeister and the Germans caU it a mother-cyst. But this cyst will not only produce scolex-heads, but other cysts like itself. These are daughter-cysts, and these secondaiy cysts will also produce scolex-heads. They are also nurses; and in virtue of their existence the mother-cyst becomes, in the language of Steenstrup, a parent-nurse. The second cyst ' This word scolex was originally employed by Midler to designate generically some imperfectly developed forms of tape-worm. The head was the most characteristic i)art of these creatures, and gradually the term scolex was applied to the heads of all forms of cystic and tape-worms. The term scolex has now no generic signification, as the creatures to which it was ajjplied were immature forms of other genera.