OF THE HUMAN BODY. 57 



In general they prevail most in persons poorly 

 nourished and full of viscous humours, or attacked 

 by some severe asthenic disease. 



It has been observed that the more numerous 

 these worms are, the smaller is their body. 



These worms arc generally found collected to- 

 gether in great numbers ; some sick persons have dis- 

 charged a hundred and fifty of them at once,(21S) 

 a hundred and seventy, (313) and a thousand in the 

 space of some days.fSll) 



§ XLYIII. Tijson, Redi^ and VulVsrerihuxQ 

 been distinguished by their description of the or- 

 ganization of the lumbrico'ides. 



Werner has latterly given us a more exact de- 

 scription of this worm, ornamentrd with excellent 

 and perfect plates of it. The reader may consult 

 them in plate V, here subjoined, and thus ascertain 

 the organs serving for nourishment, and those des- 

 tined to the propagation of the species. 



§> XLIX. On opening the body of the female 

 lumbrico'ides,(21'^) we immediately discover the in« 

 testinal tube, commencing at the head, and envel- 

 oped with other parts by cellular tissue. 



It is thin and slender at its origin ; afterward it 

 gradually increases in order to contract and dilate 

 into a sack, which may be called stomach ; this ter- 

 minetes in an intestine, which adheres, like the 

 oesophagus and stomach, to l!:e abdominal line, 

 extending quite to the tail, where is seen a very 

 small aperture, which forms| the anus of the 

 worm.(Sl6} Its colour is ordinarily dark and vel- 



