VERMINOUS DISEASES. 317 



was shut up in an empty, dry pill box ; after some 

 months, 1 cannot now ascertain the exact time, as 

 the insect was not then in my possession, the box 

 Was opened and the inhabitant found to have pass- 

 ed throui^h the intermediate changes to las perfect 

 state. A scientific friend recognized him as the 

 Tenebrio Molitor of Linn, or the mill beetle. 

 This gentleman observes, *' the larvae must have 

 been introduced into the cellular membrane in the 

 state of eggs. It is indeed surprising that larvae, 

 which naturally feed on meal, flour, bran, &c. 

 should be able to exist in such a situation. It was 

 too moist for them to go through their metamorpho- 

 sis, and the larvae therefore quitted it when about 

 t(» put on their perfect and ultimate form.'' This 

 poor woman lias never had the consolation of kuow- 

 ing that these troublesome inmates cannot arrive at 

 that state in which they propagate while under her 

 skin. On the contrary, she thinks they are constant- 

 ly multiplying and growing, and that she can nev- 

 er survive their existence. 



Dr. Frank, of Vienna, relates the following 

 case of a gardener's wife, near Vienna, who, after 

 being tormented for seven w^hole years, with an al- 

 most uninterrupted and very painful headach, at 

 last had been relieved by a lucky chance. She was 

 twenty four years of age, not subject to any kind 

 of sickness, when she began to be seized with a 

 very troublesome and frequently returning head- 

 ach, which gradually became more violent, drove 

 her almost to despair, and extended over the whole 



