SECOND LECTURE. 



THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN \V0R:MS. 



§1 LVII. The pliilosopliei\ surrouudecl by a 

 multitude of imraeose objects, has always sought 

 to raise that mysterious veil, wliich conceals the 

 cause of the most surprising phenomena of nature. 

 It is thus that the first useful discoveries have aris- 

 en ; these have opened the way to researches still 

 more wonderful, by the aid of which the fact has 

 beeu established, that natural things have between 

 them an affinity more or less remote or immediate, 

 direct or indirect. 



The continued examination and assiduous study 

 of the great book of nature, have enabled us to es- 

 tablish several primitive laws, and led us to adopt 

 a number of immoveable principles, of which the 

 man of genius avails himself in order to elucidate 

 various phenomena peculiar to living beings. 



Guided by this method entirely analytical, and 

 conducted by experiment, we arrive at just relations, 

 unequivocal analogies, and solid points of union. 



In conformity to these philosophical principles, 

 I have laboured to investigate the prime origin of 

 those worms which inhabit the human body. 



