100 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



the ground to a Scole.v'', it should seem as if he used 

 the word for an earth-worm, which Aristotle common- 

 ly calls by a figurative periphrasis, " Entrails of the 

 earth''." In the Holy Scriptures this word is used to 

 signify larvae which prey upon and are the torment of 

 living bodies''. It may on this account, perhaps, be re- 

 garded as generally meaning such larvae, to whatever 

 order or genus they belong. 



Dr. Mead, therefore, is most probably right when 

 he considers the disease stated by the ancients to be 

 caused by Eidce or Scoleches, commonly translated 

 worms, as distinct from Phthiriasis ; and if so, the in- 

 human Pheretima, who swarmed with Eulce, and He- 

 rod Agrippa, who was eaten of Scoleches'^, were pro- 

 bably neither of them destroyed either by Pediculi or 

 Acari, but by larvae or maggots. And vvhen Galen 

 prescribed a remedy for ulcers inhabited by Seoleches, 

 observing that animals similar to those generated by 

 putrid substances are often found in abscesses, he pro- 

 bably meant the same thing. The proper appellation 

 of this genus of diseases would be Scolechiasis. 



This <lissertation may perhaps appear to you rather 

 prolix and tedious : yet to settle the meaning of terms 

 is of the first importance. To inquire what ancient 

 writers intended by the words which they employ, and 

 whether such as have been usually regarded as syno- 

 nymous are really so, may often furnish us with a clue 

 to some useful or interesting truth ; and not seldom 

 enable us to rescue their reputation from much of the 



" 11. V. 1, 654-5. 



'' r>K ivn^a. De Animal. Incesstt, c. 9. De Genernt. Animal. 1. 3. c. 1 1. 



" Mark ix. 44. 46. 48. " jKuXysxcS^aiTOi. AcU xii. 23. 



