I38 Difeafes occajioned by Infects 



its confihement. This kind of efTential 01I3 furcharged witli 

 inflammable matter, is inalterable by acids, and may becon- 

 fidered as inflammable gas ill the form of a fluid, bf which 

 it has indeed all the properties. 



IX. Comparative Vtetu bf foifte dangerous Difeafes, fuppofed 

 to he occafoned by hfefls, zvhicb prevail iti Siveden, Ruf- 

 fia, Siberia, and the adjacent Countries *. 



n 



'li. SOLANDEU was the firft perfoii whd obferved, with 

 the eye of a philofopher, a difeafe known in Weft Bothnia 

 and the neighbouring parts of Lapland under the name of 

 Jkat or fkutzf. This difeafe attacks thofe only who travel 

 or labour in the open air; and in the above diftrifts it is 

 confidered as the efiedl of the witchcraft of the Laplanders. 

 'The common people believe that the Laplanders caufe balls 

 of the hair of their cattle to fly through the air, and that the 

 hairs which fall from thcfe balls penetrate the bodies of men 

 and animals, according tfc» the plcafure of the witch or for- 

 cefer, and occafion their death with excruciating pain. 



Except in Eaft and Weft Bothnia, Torneo, Kemi, and 

 other parts ort the gulph of Bothnia, this difeafe is c:^ceed- 

 ingly rare in Sweden. In thofe parts, however, it is gene- 

 rally known, and attacks fame of the inhabitants every year; 

 Linnaeus conjeftured that this difeafe was occafioned by a 

 fntall kind of worm, one of which, in a dried ftate, had been 

 fent to him frmii Kemi X ; but be concluded, very erroneoufly, 

 that the difeafe might be of the fame nature as that prevalent^ 

 aimong the horfes in Holland, and known under the name of 

 the vyvel ov feyfel. This is now proved to be a miftake. 

 Dr. Solander, however, has placed it beyond all doubt, that 

 a fmall worm which penetrates into the flefli of living ani- 

 mals, is the occafion of thofe dangerous and mortal tumours 



* From Neiie Nordifcbe Erylrage, by Profeffor Pallas, Vol. I. 



t Furia iufanal'is, Dan. Chr. Solander in Nov: AUa Upfalie/ijla, Vol, I, 



V' 44. 



+ Anicen'iiates AcMlcmica, Vol. Ill, p. 311. 



with 



