HUMAN WORMS. lOT 



§ LXVI. The human lumbricoides is not at 

 all distinguishable from that of the horse or hog ; 

 and the distinctive characters which have been 

 adopted by writers, even the most modern, (35) 

 are very faint. If the lumbricoides are of but one 

 species, there is certainly no good reason for sepa- 

 rating them into three particular species. (36) 



§ LXVir. If worms of the same species have 

 been found in the human system and in the body 

 of animals ; if the difference between them, though 

 slight, arises from the difference of their food; why 

 resort to hypotheses to explain the origin peculiar 

 to the worms of the human body? If we also ad- 

 mit that Linnaeus was deceived, it is by no means 

 -surprising that the bishop Menander, cited by Ros- 

 ensteinf that Unzer and Tissot declare they have 

 found in water the same species that are seen in man ; 

 may they not also be found in fishes and other an- 

 imals? Our researches respecting this genus, are 

 very limited. Perhaps in time some more fortu- 

 nate observers may discover the eggs of the prin- 

 cipal human worms in those animals which supply 

 our daily food, perhaps it may yet be agreed that 

 there are worms which are peculiar to animals ; 

 but we cannot admit that they are peculiar to each 

 species, as Bloch[S'7) pretended ; they will form a 

 separate class whenever the effects, produced by 

 the quality of the nutriment that is assimilated to 

 their parts shall ])e duly considered. 



§ LXVIII. That a taenia and some lumbri- 

 coides have been found in infants, not yet come to 



