104 On the Guinea Worm, and the Sting of Scorpions. 



saponaceous quality which it appears to possess softens the 

 teguments when strongly inflamed, diminishes the tendency 

 to gangrene, and favours the coming out of the worm ; 

 which I have seen sometimes lodged in the pectoral muscles 

 as well as in the inferior extremities. 



If you reflect, that insects spread themselves in clouds 

 over districts where we never saw them before, you will fmd 

 it very difficult to ascertain the local situation of certain spe- 

 cies, such as those known bv the name of the Guinea 

 worm, while our own vessels alone frequent the mouths of 

 some rivers in Africa, whence we first learned the know- 

 ledge of them. Rajamundry, which is situated on the banks 

 of the Codavery, the largest river on the Malabar coast, is 

 very subject to it: we know also that it is very common at 

 Trichinopoly, upon the river Cavery ; and even at Bombay, 

 which is a sea-port. It appears to me, besides, that the cir- 

 cumstance of their being so common in your district, which 

 abounds so much in brackish water., renders the idea pro- 

 bable that the vitriolic and muriatic salts, which are found 

 in wells and in the sea, favour the propagation of these 

 worms, although I have seen them in places where the 

 purest spring water only is drunk. 



Note by Dr. Dc Carro. 



The Guinea worm not being a disease to which Euro- 

 peans are subject, the remedies recommended by Mr. Du- 

 bois can only be used in the case of worms in the intestinal 

 canal, where the ordinary remedies have not succeeded ; 

 and even the employment of assafcetida as a vermifuge is 

 no novelty. But I invite agriculturists to try whether the 

 above remedies may not be applied to sheep, and such ani- 

 mals as are subject to worms in various parts of their bodies. 



XIX. Che- 



