Human worms> los 



these viscera, nor by tbe pulsations of the arteries 

 which pervade their texture : 3. when they are not 

 injured by the vapour which is continually diffus- 

 ed through the stomach and intestines by theexha- 

 lant vessels. In like manner sown Avheat does not 

 vegetate if it is inundated by incessant rains/'' 



^ LXI. Children, women, and persons of soft 

 and weak fibres, are more subject than others, to 

 worms. In asthenic diseases, according to practi- 

 tioners, worms are frequently voided with the fe- 

 ces, or discharged through the mouth. (15) 



Cnildren who have suffered the operation of 

 cutting for the stone, are often tormented with 

 worms, which are developed in great numbers in a 

 a few days aftiir the operation. 



The fear, occasioned by the sight of the appa- 

 ratus, seems greatly to favour the increase of these 

 animals, because it contributes to weaken the body. 



From these practical observations, we may with 

 certainty infer, that the debility or consumption of 

 the parts of the human body in which the eggs of 

 worms are situated, is an essential condition of 

 their unfolding. This circumstance was fully un- 

 derstood by the estimable Redij who was notwith- 

 standing much embarrassed, when, in order to ex- 

 plain the formation of worms, he had recourse to 

 his famous hypothesis of the sensitive soul, inher- 

 ent in those parts of the human fabrick, from which 

 the worm was to originate. 



This learned opponent of equivocal generation, 

 propagated an hypothesl'a still more metaphysical ; 



