eafes. I know that cafes may be brought againft me, which do not admit of doubt, and I fhall not rafhly contradict many learned men whofe experience will always entitle them to respect. The following fact happened, I may fay, under my own eyes. A woman of Nordhausen, of a fanguine and choleric temperament, was at the age of eight and forty troubled with an abscess, formed on the hypogaftric region, on the left fide, immediately under the ribs. A violent fever was fucceeded by gangrene and afterwards by palfy of the left leg. In this fi tuation fhe applied to Mr John David Plock, who had formerly practifed furgery with Mr D. Culmus at Dantzick. On the 27th of August 1734, upon opening the abscess he found he had cut through a worm; he afterwards found other two. On the 28th he difcovered three more, and in the space of three weeks he extracted no less than nineteen. Thefe worms perfectly refembled thofe that are engendered in the human intestines. They were of the thickness of a quill, four inches in length, and pointed at the extremities. What are we to conclude from this fact? Shall we fay that when worms are found in diseased perfons, the difeafes are produced by them? By no means, I believe on the contrary, that a part must be diseased before worms can lodge themfelves in it. Let me be allowed to explain myself; Every naturalift knows that among flies there is a particular one which lays its eggs in flefh, especially when beginning to turn putrid. The infects when hatched are fmall, and are provided with a very sharp pointed inftrument, which though very tender, is able to penetrate the fkin. Bodies fubject to the diseases we are talking of are precifely fuch as they go in queft of. Attracted by the fmell, they use their inftrument to depofit their eggs, and as nothing is wanting there to the process of hatching, either in refpect of warmth or aliment, they live, grow and nourish themfelves. Such is my opinion opinion, of which however I am not so tenacious as not to yield to more probable reasons. But I alfo believe, that worms are actually the caufe of fome difeafes. Low and marshy places are not wholesome, and whether we live there, or accidentally fleep by the fide of ftanding waters, we ought not to rely on the strength of our constitution, especially in warm weather. The ague, and feveral other diseases will attack us fooner or later, occafioned, partly by worms generated in the mud, partly by vapours rifing from the water, and which we receive in refpiration. Thefe worms are of fuch extraordinary minutenefs, that a moderate degree of the fun's heat is fufficient to raise them along with the vapour, the parts of which are ftill heavier, than those they carry up with them. It is probable, that the diseases which prevail in fuch places, originate from worms, especially as they are moft virulent in fummer, which is the leason of infects, and as they disappear in autumn, when these ceafe to live. But by what means do they thus prey on our conftitution? Do they poifon us by the acrimony of their falts, or do they abridge our days, by devouring the folid parts of our frame? Here I honeftly confefs my ignorance, and without attempting to folve this difficulty, I fhall only infer the caufe from the effects, although the manner in which it operates, is to me, altogether a my stery. It is likewife undoubtedly dangerous to swallow certain infects. There is a fort of mildew, which is generally met with, at the bottom of the ftalk of red cabbage. This grofs and fulphureous exhalation is raised by the heat of the fun, and nourishes worms, which are the more to be dreaded, as they are imperceptible to the eye, and, as they often get into the body, along with the food, by the careleffness of thofe those who prepare it. Fruits likewise are always fubject to the attacks of a fpecies of fly, the eggs and poifon of which they conceal. Our relifh for this kind of food, prevents us from examining it with proper care, and we eat the bad, as well as the good, at the hazard of a dyfentery. I confider this cruel disease, as a neceffary confequence of intemperance, as it prevails only at the time when fruits are moft plentiful. Animal food, foiled with the excrement of flies, is likewife a moft pernicious aliment; and, if it is noxious to fwallow infects in fubftance, along with our drink, it is unpardonably rafh to ufe fuch food, without having it perfectly purified from all malignity. I cannot omit to mention, the fatal effects produced by worms upon children, and even upon adult perfons. Thefe worms are generated, either by a fpecies of ichneumon, which depofits them in different parts of the body, or they enter by means of every thing we eat or drink, and occafion dreadful changes. Either by pricking or gnawing the nerves and fibres, they produce gout, cramp, and in general, whatever is comprehended under the name of fpafmodic contraction. If they are lodged in the fto. mach, they excite fometimes a falfe appetite, fometimes an exceffive loathing; but generally great ficknefs, palpitations, vomiting, cold fweats, faintings, languor and fuffocation. If, on the other hand, they have got to the head, they are the cause of megrim, fyncope and mania; in the throat, shooting pains and naufea; in the urinary paffages, diabetes; in the ears, continual finging and pain; in the noftrils, extreme itching, and perpetual inclination to fneeze; in fhort, they injure the complexion, by making the face pale and wan, and caufe, in the extremities of the body, alternate heat and cold: thefe accidents, however, are but rare; while other difeafes hardly ever fail to follow when worms get into the intef tines, for which reafon, it is proper to say something of that matter here. I am ready to confess, that it is difficult to divine the origin of such infects. To fay that they are taken in by inspiration, by food or drink, or by eggs lying in our bowels, either because thefe worms originated there, or for any other reason whatever, is to fay nothing, and each conjecture is attended with more difficulties than proofs. Suppofe we should maintain, that these worms were introduced with the air, the queftion would ftill remain to be answered, by what means were the feeds of them fpread in the atmosphere? why, amongst mankind in general, fome fhould be afflicted with worms, while others are free? and lastly, how it is poffible to conceive, that in every perfon, and every where, these infects have always the fame determinate form? Should the entrance of their eggs with our food be maintained, there arises at once, a very natural objection; whence happens it, that there never has been discovered in nature, a worm, fimilar to those that infeft the human body? Befides, is it to be prefumed, that the ftomach is unable to destroy the eggs of those infects, when it can diforganize fubftances of the most difficult digeftion? I do not mean to enter into the fubject, either to investigate the origin of thefe worms, or to develope their effects when produced. What is not to be refuted, is, their exceffive multiplication in fome perfons, who have voided vaft quantities of them, both by vomit and ftool. I fhall not mention diarrhea, tenefmus, ftinking breath, ftarting in fleep, bulimia, atrophy, &c. which are the least of the evils which thefe infects fubject us to; I fhall only mention fome diseases, which either directly or indirectly proceed from them. Some produce melancholy, tremblings, vertigo; others cholic and afthma, afthma; many penetrate the vifcera, and threaten the patient with premature death; but it is chiefly in violent fevers, that these guests cause the greatest diforders: As this is an acute disease, they throw the patient into convulfions which threaten him with immediate death. How many direful effects of infects in general might we not adduce, were we to collect what has been related! Uladiflaus duke of Bohemia loft his life by a fly, which, entering in at his throat, came out at the nape of his neck, and caufed an hæmorrhage, which nothing could ftop. Adolphus, count of Juliers, was purfued and killed by infects of the fame kind. Pope Adrian IV. in drinking, fwallowed a fly, which ftopped in the paffage and fuffocated him. The venomous qualities of many infects fpread through the air, and on land, have often proved fatal, both to the timid and the curious, to the prudent and to the rash. It is true, that the cold climates which we inhabit, have this advantage, that infects themselves are not a poison: It is only their fting, or their bite, which is noxious, and not till they are irritated; for then, their vital fpirits being violently agitated, there is generated a fermentation in their humours, which thereby contract qualities, exceedingly noxious to the bodies into which they are injected. It has been obferved, that these animals are much more fierce in hot than in temperate climates. The reafon is evident, the fun acting with much more force in the one than in the other, and attracting more earthy and fulphureous particles, infects acquire humours of a warmer, more pungent, and confequently, of a more malignant quality. They communicate their venom in various ways; fome, by a fort of exhalation from them, infect the air, and whatever breathes in it: others infinuate it G g into |