9 



practised as a physician about the end of the 13th century, 

 also makes mention of the threadworm ; and if we look to 

 the East and the Arabian physicians, we find that AVICENNA, 

 the foremost among them, is unable to enlighten us any 

 further on our subject. 



The Golden Era of Helminthology. 



What may be called the Golden Era of medical literature 

 dealing with verminous diseases in general, and the thread- 

 worm in particular, included the 18th century and the early 

 part of the 19th. During this period, PALLAS, BLOCK, MULLER, 

 GOEZE, ZENKER, RUDOLPHI and BREMSER had elevated 

 Helminthology to the rank of a science, and vast numbers of 

 medical authors followed in their train with treatises, observa- 

 tions and dissertations on the clinical 1 , and the then-accepted 

 therapeutical aspects of the subject. When, however, medical 

 men press into their service discoveries which have been made 

 in other branches of science, the latter inevitably become 

 exaggerated and distorted beyond recognition. And what 

 happened in this instance proved no exception to the rule. 



Its Effect on Medicine. 



Soon the minds of pathologists became obsessed with the idea 

 that worms played a part in practically every disease 2 , and 

 worm-pathology assumed proportions far in excess of its real 

 importance 3 . Monographs were devoted to every known 



1 English medical men had their :i It is to these exaggerations 

 share of these treatises, as shown that the subsequent neglect of, 

 by the following appreciation : and contempt for, worm-pathology 

 " Dr. Hooper, in the fifth volume has frequently been attributed : 

 of the Memoirs of the London " Les relations fabuleuses de 

 Medical Society, published in the certains auteurs, leurs observa- 

 year 1799, gives a very excellent tions et leurs notions peu precises, 

 paper on the five species of worms avaient fait tomber la plupart 

 which are found within the in- des modernes dans un scepticisme 

 testinal canal of the human body." qui avait pu les conduire jusqu'a 

 (RniND, W., A treatise on the rayer les affections vermineuses 

 nature and cure of intestinal worms, du cadre nosologique. Ainsi 

 London, 1829, p. 3.) Rudolphi, Brera, Bremser, qui 



2 " Au XVIIIe siecle, toute se sont specialement occupes de 

 maladie accompagnee de vers ces maladies, pensent qu'il ne 

 etait une affection vermineuse." faut pas attacher une trop grande 

 (FiDELiN, P., Des accidents pro- importance aux helminthes quand 

 duits par . . . les oxyures vermi- il s'agit de determiner la cause 

 culaires, Paris, 1873, p. 4.) d'une maladie." (FiDELix, P., 



ibid., p. 5.) 



B 



