WORMS IN DEERS' HEADS 117 



that resembles the stem of the myrtle-leaf. These 

 worms are often found in the gall bladder and not only 

 live and swim about in the gall, but also inhabit all parts 

 of the liver excepting the arteries, in which I have never 

 found any. I think, however, that they are born in the 

 gall bladder and make their way through the bile duct to 

 the blood vessels; then if they multiply excessively, they 

 eat into the inner substance of the liver, and make cav- 

 ities in it, which fill up with blood mixed with bile ; this 

 stagnates, thickens, and becomes of a rusty color mixed 

 with green, ugly and disgusting to the sight and very 

 bitter to the taste; so that anyone, who saw this process, 

 would never care to eat liver again; though it must be 

 said that butchers cleanse the meat of all this dirt before 

 placing it on sale. 



Aristotle, the great and wise philosopher, in chapter 

 fifteenth of the second book of the '' History of Animals," 

 describes the worms of the deer's head in these words : 

 " All deer have live worms in the head, which are born 

 under the tongue, in a certain cavity near that vertebra, 

 by which the head is attached to the neck. ^ They are 

 larger than the largest worm, that originates in carrion, 

 and they number at most twenty." Impelled by curi- 

 osity, I made many investigations with old and young 

 deer, and found worms in almost all cases. On the 27th 

 of February, out of ten deers' heads opened for my ex- 

 amination, nine had worms in them, only a single one 

 being free from this pest. Aristotle compares them in 

 size to the worms usually found in decayed flesh. 



" Because he's Aristotle, it implies 

 That he must be believed e'en though he lies." 



But these worms, of the deers' heads, seemed to me 

 incomparably larger, and not at all like the others in 



