1849.] 229 



lineola, which, however, does not appear to be voluntary, but reactionary ; they 

 bend and pursue a straight course, until they meet with sonne obstacle, when they 

 instantly move in the opposite direction, either extremity forward. 



But it must not be understood that these facts militate against the hypothesis 

 of the production of contagious diseases through the agency of cryptogamia. It 

 is as well established that there are microscopic cryptogamia capable of produc- 

 ing and transmitting disease, as in the case of the Muscardine, &c., as that there 

 are innocuous and poisonous fungi. But to suppose that they are the sole cause of 

 contagious disease, is to doubt the possibility of other causes, such as a change in 

 the chemical constitution of the atmosphere, the elements of our food, &c., and 

 is as ridiculous as the psoric origin of most diseases of that miserable charlatanry 

 denominated homoeopathy. In many instances it is difficult to distinguish their 

 character whether as cause or effect, as upon diseaseif surfaces, in Tinea capitis, 

 apthous ulcers, &c. In a post-mortem examination, in which I assisted Dr. 

 Horner, a few weeks since, '28 hours after death, in moderately cool weather, 

 we found the stomach in a much softened condition. In the mucus of the 

 stomach, I detected myriads of mycodermatoid filaments, resembling those grow- 

 ing upon the teeth; simple, floating, inarticulate, and measuring from ]. 7000th to 

 l-520th of an inch in length, by l-25,000th of an inch in breadth. It is possible 

 they may have been the cause of the softened condition ; but I would prefer think- 

 ing that swallowed mycodermatoid filaments from the teeth, finding an excel- 

 lent nidus in the softening stomach, rapidly grew and reproduced themselves. 

 In the healthy human stomach these do not exist. 



In the stomach of a diabetic patient, I found so very few that they probably 

 did not grow there, but were swallowed in the saliva. 



Dr. Leidy, after exhibiting numerous drawings of the entophyta described by 

 him, and also specimens, beneath the microscope, growing from the mucous mem- 

 brane of the small intestine of Julus, and from the exterior surface of entozoa 

 infesting that cavity, proceeded to exhibit and describe some new genera and 

 species of entozon, as follows : 



1. Ascaris eynndrica. Body nearly cylindrical throughout, anteriorly mode- 

 rately attenuated; tail curved, 1.214th of an inch in length from the anus, ceso- 

 phagus elongated, gibbous in the middle, with the oesophageal bulb and pharynx 

 1-lOOth of an inch in length ; oesophageal bulb pyriform, l-75th of an inch in diame- 

 ter; ventricle or intestine somewhat tortuous, cylindrical, dilated at both extre- 

 mities; rectum pyriform; female generative aperture about half way betweeen 

 the mouth and tail. Whole length 4-5th of a line, breadth l-12th of a line. 



Habitat.— Smz.\\ intestine of Helix alternata. 



Remarks.— I found the female only of this species in fifteen out of forty speci- 

 mens of Helix alternata, in numbers of from one to three. The ovaries in all 

 were distended with ova, the latter measuring l-43Cth of an inch in length by 



l-576th in breadth. 



2. Asearis iiifecta. Female, subcylindrical gradually d.mmishmg towards the 

 extremities, white, with a brown streak down the lower two-thirds of the middle 

 line; anteriorly obtusely rounded; tail slightly curved, l-80th of an inch long 

 from the anus. The three papillae of the mouth projecting ; oesophagus strongly 



