On the production of the so-called 'acute cestode tuberculosis' by the administration of the proglottides of Tænia medicoanellata / by James Beart Simonds and T. Spencer Cobbold.

  • Simonds, James Beart.
Date:
[1865]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the production of the so-called 'acute cestode tuberculosis' by the administration of the proglottides of Tænia medicoanellata / by James Beart Simonds and T. Spencer Cobbold. 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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    Neither of us having exhausted certain funds placed at our disposal for scientific purposes (in the one case by the Royal Agricultural Society through the Governors of the Royal Veterinary College, and in the other by the British Association for the Advancement of Science), we have united the resources which severally remained to us, and have instituted a series of experiments in helminthology. These experiments, we are happy to state, have proved, for the most part, eminently successful; moreover, several of them not having been previously performed in this country, we have ventured to think that at least the firstfruits of our combined research in this particular relation might not unfitly be submitted to the notice of the Royal Society. The subject selected for the experiment which we now proceed to relate, was a fine healthy female calf about a month old, living at the time on the milk of its dam. As we were unable to obtain possession of the dam, another cow was procured as a foster-mother, and the calf was placed with her in order that it might receive a proper supply of milk in the natural way. This plan was preferred to that of obtaining a weaned calf, as being better calculated to preserve the health aud strength of the young animal. In the course of a few days the two animals became perfectly accustomed to each other, the calf taking nourishment as often as was requisite. On the 21st of December, 1864, we administered to the calf eighty mature proglottides of the Tcenia mediocanellata, mingled with a little warm milk in the form of a draught. The potion was taken readily, and the worm- joints probably entered the stomach in a perfect and unbroken condition. No alteration was made in the subsequent management of the animals, but a careful daily watch was kept upon the calf. For some time no indications were perceived of disturbed health ; but on the 6th of January, 1865 (the sixteenth day after the experiment), a careful observation showed that the animal, although lively (and taking its milkand likewise some hay with undiminished appetite), was nevertheless suffering from some persistent cause of irritation. It, would often be nibbling at its legs and other parts of its body, and trying with its mouth and tongue to get at places which were beyond its ordinary reach. It would also fre- quently rub itself against the manger and sides of the loose box in which it was confined. Desisting from this, it would arch its spine and stretch out its hind limbs in an altogether unusual manner. It would also strain itself repeatedly, at such times voiding either urine or faeces, or occasion- ally both in small quantity. There was, however, no expression of suffer-