Liberia ^ 



ini[iregnated by the male before it enters the human body. 

 Once this female worm has 'entered the human tissues, it o;rows 

 to a remarkable length, and develops an enormous uterus, 

 which is crowded with actively mobile embryos. The fully 

 developed worm measures as a rule between two and three 

 feet, but its diameter is only one-sixth of an inch. It has a 

 blunt head at one end, but the tail at the other extremity 

 develops into a hook by which the worm is able to retain its 

 hold. When the female has brought her embryos to a suffi- 

 ciently advanced stage for setting them free in the world, she 

 begins to move through the tissues under the skin towards 

 some point of escape from the human body. Usually — that 

 is to say, in by far the greater number of cases — the worm 

 pierces the skin and begins to protrude in the legs or in the 

 feet. Much more rarely the worm appears in the skin of the 

 arms or of the abdomen, of the sexual parts or the back. One 

 or two instances have been recorded, however, wherein this 

 long Filaria worm has worked its way up into the face. When 

 it is getting ready to leave the body, it is often distinctly visible 

 as a slender, twisted cord under the skin. Gradually its head 

 reaches the surface of the skin, causing a large pimple to form, 

 through the top of which at length the head is visible." 



When this occurs the West Coast natives treat it in a 

 manner which throws an interesting light on the course that 

 Nature might take if she were left to herself : they souse the 

 open boil with cold water. Instinctively the worm ejects or 

 protrudes its uterine sac from the oral aperture. This is 

 a thin membranous bag containing a slightly opalescent fluid 

 swarming with minute embryos. The protruciing bag then 

 ruptures and sets free the tiny worms. No doubt this is what 

 would occur if by chance the Filaria found itself near water. 

 The embryos would then escape into the water, take refuge 



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