Nebraska advertiser., 1857-11-05
Miscellaneous.
Animal Parasites that produce
Z ~ Disease IN Stock.

Animal Parasites that produce
81 Disease I'm Stock,
We were very much interested in
reading anearticleoini the Veterinary
department, Of the Transactions of the
Highland and Agricultural Society Of
Scotland, that treated Of several dis
easesicOuslnoi ~ sheep. In trcating
OF sturdy 1t is stated that the hydatid,
(Csrnnrals eere6ralis,) which infests the
brainOf the sheep, lis but phasis of
the tape worm which inhabits the in
testines, Of the dog, and which is
knownsby the name I1enia ssrYafa. 1t /
is claimed that the dead body or seyer-
ed segments Of the ttgniia, when dis
charged from the internal canal Of the /
deg, are full of eggs or germs that
will exist even for months in the de-
composed mass Of the body Of the pa
rent, without undergoing any change.
Il
Such minute germs are scattered in
4 places where dogs are kept with the
i flocks, and areswallowed by the close
biting sheep. Having thus arrived at
a condition favorable to its farther
/ development, the cell bursts, setting
/ free the embryo, which Immediately,
BY an huRerring instinct, directs its
course to that organ of the body in
which its proper subsistence lies. In
this condition, It's enveloped in blad-
der, filed with a watery fluid. While
occupying this position it is merely a
farve entirely unable to propagate its
race, and must therefore undergo a
ehahgeiof location and habits, If by
any means the c9nurus at this period
| should reach. the stomach of the dog, a
rapid change takes place, The small
hydatid becomes free from its individr
pai cell, the segments Of the tape worm
appears, and the mode Of life is entir-
. ely altered. 1t is then capable of con-
tinuing the race, nearly every,segment
of the body becoming matrix in
whose substance egg germs are'devel-
oped. What is remarkable in such
germs, is, that those which have been
separated for many months from the
i body of the parent, or occupy her de-
: composed segments for the same period
: placed as they are in a condition which
:, we might conceive destructive to their
vitality, retainlit, and are in fact more
easily hatched than those recently ex-
!. cluded. What period Of time it takes
to destroy this vitality of the germ, is
: unknown. The observation was made
many years ago, that the Cyslicerci, or
hydatids, generally inhabited particu-
/ lar organs of the animals, belonging
to the R,emindntiq, and Roaeatid, two
great families, the iWhofe3 Of whose
members, with few exceptions in the
! latter, live entirely on plants, and d are IRE
n the natural food Of che CarniUOra, or
fesh-eating animals. In this latter
! family, tape-worms, ( TEte'ia, are tasbe
l found most generally. The common
rabbit or hare are, however, excep-
tons to this rule, for they areinfested
5, with both hydatids and tape-worms.-
d The common rat and mouse have hy-
: datids, which become tape-worms in
the stomach of the cat; and the huke-
worm of the livers of our cattle is a
/, protean in its shape, and habitat, as il
we'll can be. There is,little doubt but
the next half century will give to the
world much Of the history of this class
I of minute, though highly injurious an
+ imals, and that many diseases may be
81 found to be really the production o.
some minute or even infusoriab or
SC ganic form. This field of research, il
almost untrodden,s and the wonders
which no doubt will yet be discovered
d d will shed light in many dark parts il
to science. These organisms are minute
but their effects are great and worthy
of the attention Of the most exalted
understanding.
An Irishman trying to put out ;
T gas-light with his fingers, cried out,
4 "0ch, murther theirs piEer Kicl
7 in it !" ,ass|a. 81.