Tapeworm

a parasitic flat-worm. The common tapeworms live in the intestines of man. One end is attached to the wall, the other hangs free. The tapeworm has no mouth, no alimentary canal. It lives by absorbing the digested food of its host. It has no eyes, no special sense of any kind. It attains an extreme length of several yards. The body consists of some several hundred segments, according to age and favorable conditions. There are several species. The larvae of the species, known as the beef tapeworm, the pork tapeworm, and the broad tapeworm, are derived from beef, pork, and the flesh of fishes respectively. The head, or the part by which the animal attaches itself by means of hooks to the wall of the human intestine, is really the whole animal. The segments are merely successive egg cases, the oldest being farthest from the head. A chain of them may break off at any time, leaving the worm uninjured. It is necessary to detach the head before the tapeworm can be expelled from the body. In fact, the breaking away of segments is nature's plan. The egg sacs must be expelled and be eaten with the food by some other animal, as an ox, hog, or fish, in the intestine of which the larvae develop before they are ready to enter man. Two entirely different animals are requisite, therefore, as homes for the tapeworm. See Parasite