100 On the Guinea JVonn, 



were a foot and a half long, although they are commonly 

 shorter j but in general their size and shape may be com- 

 ared to the small string of a violin. 



It is at the extremities, particularly the legs, that they 

 appear, and sometimes in the arms. Some Hindoos assured 

 me that they had seen tlicm in the nose, the ears, the eye- 

 brows, he. ; but I have never seen them except in the legs 

 and arms. 



I do not feel myself capable to divine the origin and causes 

 of this singular disease. The Hindoos, accustomed to attri- 

 bute the most of their diseases to the bad qualities of the water 

 they use, generally believe that element to be the cause; 

 pretending the worms are there engendered, and, being 

 swallowed, that they increase in the human body until they 

 find an outlet. According to this system, it would be very 

 difficult to explain how these insects could pass through the 

 organs of deglutition and digestion in a state of life. On 

 the other hand, admitting that water has no part in their 

 formation, it will be difficult to explain it. 1st, How does 

 it happen that the inhabitants of a village who drink the 

 water from the same well are attacked with this disease, 

 while others, at the distance of only half a mile, are not 

 attacked ? 2d, How does it happen that those who live at 

 the distance of a mile' from a river, and who are obliged to 

 drink well water, are almost regularly every year attacked 

 with the above ? 



The climate also may have some effect upon this malady. 

 It rarely attacks those who live near the sea-shore. I never 

 saw it in any part of the Mysore, and it is even not known 

 by name beyond the Ghauts ; while it rages continually in 

 the Carnatic, and other districts within the Ghauts, the 

 neighbourhood of rivers excepted, as I have already re- 

 marked. 



But whatever is the cause and origin of this disease, I 

 shall be happy if the remedy I propose be a specific against 

 it. The following; example will at least prove its efficacy : 



A long time before this remedy was known to me, I was 

 told that the Bramins were never, or at least very rarely, at- 

 tacked with the above disease, although living in villages the 



inhabitants 



