Ellsworth American., 1883-12-06
Farm and Home.
Maine Farmer
The Liver fluke.

Bv the AID OF sclehtihe
are constantly arriving at new iae's re-
specting diseases of animals, and 1t Is not
little surprising to learn how many OF them
are caused BY living organisms IN the amman
system After series Of experiments, Mr..
Thomas of Oxford, England. has as
cer,ained the nature of the pastoral disease
called the "rot." "huke," ''coothe' "oone'
&c. and has published the same IN the Jour
nal of the Royal Society Of England Inc
imnortance of this discovery TO every one
connected with sheep hushandry can hardly
be exaggerated.
Flukes have been known TO exist IN cat
rio n;,s rabbits. and even in man himself.
In every case in which fukes hnd an en-
trance at all, they enter in one way. lhe
animal lin mans case) probably oy eat'hg
wo,ercresses without washing in salt and
water has swallowed with It's food certain
small bags. which in certain seasons are
found attached to the heritage, which are
called cvsts. ThtSe cysts are IN some sea-
sons frightfully common. and ionnd over
wide tract: but in ordinary seasons 'hey oc-
cur only in low, marshy spots. lhese
cyS,s are somewhat similar to the pup1 or
chrysalides in which some insects lie Tor
while dormant. But the fuke-cysts cannot
emerge of their own actioni they must per-
ish in a few weeks unless some warm-blood-
ed animal swallows them. II this occurs
n wonderful series Of development begins
The tiny germ expands in the cyst as soon
as it is swallowed. and becomes the ioa'h-
some fiuke about an inch long. whose uSlv
features have leone known TO SO many
farmers of late wears. Il is not unlike
small sole, and is even more prolific OF eggs
(it is estimated tha; one fluke may give rise
TO 800. 900 eggs) These eggs, produced IN
myriads, pass from the diseased animal win
the dung. If this falls on dry ground and
drought follows, the eggs perish II II iaiiS
in a moist spot, and water is near, ana the
thermometer stands at over 60 degrees. the
egg matches into an embryo IN few days
which. invisible to the naked eye, may be
seen under the microscope, darting TO and
fro in water with incredible rapldity- Its
activity is not purposeless. for It's whole OBJ
iect is to come i:.to contact with SPECIAL
kind of snail which seems to be predestlned
TO become its nurse and victim.
As soon as the embryo touches this snail
it commences to bore through its shell and,
succeeding in this, penctrates the snail, and
the second change takes place. The active
embryo becomes motionless sporocyst-a
long word. which means bag Of germs.
This bag NAV either subdivide into two or
more bags, each complete, and capable OF
repl oduction or II may al once within ihe
heIpless snail. send forth redin (named after
an Italian anatomist, Redn organizations
capable of noving which the sporocyst Is
not. Moving about within the snail, and
supported bv its Juices, the redia give vent
10 tailed creatures called cercarle, which
resemble minute lAdpoles. These wrisgle
ou. of the wretched snail's flesh either after
il succumbs 10 their attacks, or whilst it still
lives, and by help of the tail, move among
the herbaye. until they find suitable stem
TO which the cercarie attach themselves
Then the tail drops of, and each cercafia,
forming cover for itself, becomes cyst
and is ready for the next victim to swallow,
and so to begin the round anew
1t will be seen, in this wonderful nara
tive, that the fuke egg gives birth to some
thing quite unlike its parent. which never
does become like it, nor lives where 1t lived.
There has to be the intermediate host (the
snail known as Linnaus truncatuus) and
the final host. (the warm-blooded anmal)
before this kind Of fatworm known as Fas-
ciola hepatica) can run its career. snail
cannot take the infection directly from
another snail, nor sheep from another
sheep; nor can saal and sheep suffice to
spread the vermin without wet and warmth.
Only in a small part of each year can the
mischief be exten led.