134 A NATUP^^AL HISTORY 



Thus Pride, the malignant Tumour of the Mind, was the 

 fatal Wound, by which the Angelic Serpent, the firft in Dignity 

 among created Beings, was transformed into a Devil. Sin, a Poi- 

 fon fo ftrong, that by the firH: tafte of it, the whole human 

 Nature was infedled. Adam and E,vc faded the forbidden Fruit, 

 and lo ! we muft all die for it, at the diilance of fo many thou- 

 .fand Years. 



CXIV. The Attaleg-atus is a fmall flender Serpent, not ex- 

 ceeding the Quill of a Goofe in proportion i not poifonous in its 

 Nature, yet very mifchievous 5 for thefc little Creatures are an 

 united Body, and live in community, and never feparate : they 

 are a Society without Schifm, which is more than can be affirmed 

 of all human Societies, civil or ccclefiaftick. 



When thefe fmall harmonious Reptiles go abroad, they travel 

 in Company, a hundred flrong or more, and where they find any 

 aflecp, they immediately feizethe Body, and with a Force united 

 and irrefiftable, they devour it *. Behold ! a Conquefl by an 

 Army of Worms 1 



Thus Herod the Great, the Proud, the Cruel, when upon 

 the Tbro?2e J was attack'd by an Army of Worms, that quickly 

 devoured him. His Body became worm-eaten^ like a piece of rot- 

 ten Wood -f. Of the Executions done by Worms, we have di- 

 vers In fiances in the human World. No part of Man's Body, 

 whether inward or outward, but is fubje(5l to Worms, and have 

 been tormented with them. 



Man's Body, if rightly underflood, would appear to be a 

 Granary for Worms, of divers Colours and Sizes : In the inward 

 Parts, as Stomach, Guts, Liver, Blood, Gall, Bladder, have been 

 found fwarms of Vermin, fapping the Foundation of the animal 

 Strudure. We have Inftances of Worms bred in the human 

 Brains, and were difcovercd in the Brain of the Paris-Girl when 

 opened— probably laid, by fome Infedl, in the Laminae of the 

 Noflrils, from whence it gnawed its way into the Brain j. So 

 in the outer parts. 



GALEN 



* Niertmherg'ii Hifioriay cap. xiii. p. 274. 

 j Derham from Barthtlinus. 



