PJd OF THE PRINCIPAL WORMS 



I omit therefore what would be a useless exam-* 

 ination of those worms which may be called anom- 

 alous, and proceed to the description of those which 

 are constantly found in the human body, and which 

 are sometimes the cause, and sometimes the effect 

 of severe and long continued diseases. 



An acquaintance with the history of those w^orms 

 which I call principal, is the more important^ be- 

 cause experience has clearly proved that each ge- 

 nus of these worms, requires for its expulsion, some 

 peculiar modifications of the general treatment. 



§ II. Till the time of Linnaeus, physicians knew 

 only three sorts of intestinal worms. (4) Naturalists 

 since the new discoveries have increased their 

 genera. 



Latterly, several well informed writers have 

 multiplied the number of human worms, but have 

 classed them obscurely.(5) 



If, admitting the conclusion of the most accu- 

 rate observations of the best naturalists, consulting 

 the classifications they have given of worms in gen- 

 eral, and in particular, I compare them with the 

 models preserved in our museums, and with those 

 I have found in the examination of dead bodies, or 

 have seen expelled alive by my patients, I think I 

 have sufficient motives for presenting to physicians 

 the principal worms of the human body reduced to 

 a single class. 



For, besides their presenting a multitude of ob- 

 jects worthy of contemplation, such as their singu- 

 lar origin, and their prodigious multiplication, they 



