10 



species, including the threadworm 1 , known, until the 

 time of BREMSER, as Ascaris vermicularis. Every kind of 

 inflammatory disease, especially when accompanied by de- 

 struction of tissue, was ascribed to worms 2 . In every ailment 

 of childhood, worms figured as an setiological factor. Curious 

 treatises on verminous ulcers were read before learned bodies, 

 and a peculiar condition of the intestinal walls, named Morbus 

 Mucosus, was believed to be intimately related to the presence 

 of worms. The latter were also thought to be largely re- 

 sponsible for enteric fever, while the '' worm-epidemics " 

 which were described as having occurred in France 3 and 

 Germany 4 may be regarded as the climax of medical exaggera- 

 tion in this respect. 



Modern Writings. 



Since then, during the last hundred years, the references 

 to the threadworm, either from a clinical or: a therapeutical 

 standpoint, have become too numerous to particularise. 



1 The best known books, dealing 

 mainly with the threadworm 

 since 1728, are : 



COULET, STEPHANUS, Disputatio 

 medico, inauguralis de ascaridibus et 

 umbrico lato, Lugduni Batavorum, 

 1728; 



Same author, Tractatus liistoricus 

 de ascaridibus et Iwnbrico lato, 

 Lugd. Bat., 1729; 



FIDELIN, P., Des accidents produits 

 par . . . les oxyures vermiculaires, 

 Paris, 1873; 



PEREBOOM, N. E., De ascaridibus, 

 Franequerae, 1791 ; 



PHELSUM, M. v&n.,Naturgeschichte, 

 und Pathologische Geschichte der 

 Spring wuermer, Gotha, 1781, 2. 

 (German translation of the Latin 

 original, which is almost obsolete); 



POMPER, A., Beitrag zur Lehre 

 von Oxyuris, Berlin, 1877 ; 



TERSON, S., E., De Voxyure ver- 

 miculaire, Paris, 1858 ; 



ZUMBUSCH, JULIUS, De diagnosi 

 atque therapia symptomatum oxyuri 

 vermicular i effectorum, Gryphiae, 

 1865. 



2 An early 18th century writer, 

 HUMMEL, ascribes most diseases to 

 worms, but thoughtfully concedes 



that the idea of toothache being 

 caused by a worm is a fallacy : 

 " Vermes extra intestina geniti 

 oriuntur in capite, auribus, nari- 

 bus, hepate, corde, etc., ingen- 

 tesque producunt morbos. Atroces 

 dentium dolores non a vermibus 

 producuntur. Vermes cordis saepe 

 efficiunt mortes subitaneas. Cancri 

 seu carcinomata sunt plena par- 

 vorum vermium qui rodunt fibras 

 partium. Hydrops aliquando a 

 vermibus potest oriri." ( HUMMEL, 

 J. B., H elminthologia Intricata, 

 Tubingae, 1724, pp. 23, 24.) 



3 " Aussi trouve-t-on a cette 

 epoque, des epidemics phis ou moins 

 meurtrieres qui ont envahi diverses 

 provinces de France, et qui furent 

 attributes a la presence des vers." 



(FlDELIN, P., op. dt., p. 4.) 



4 " Mentionnons surtout 1'epi- 

 demie de fievre putride vermineuse 

 observee au Gros-Thail, dans Ic 

 Roumois, par Lepecq de la Cl6ture, 

 medecin norm'and (1769), et la plus 

 celebre de toutes, celle qui a regne 

 a Goettingen, durant les annees 

 1760 et 1761, et dont la relation 

 nous a ete laissee par Roederer et 

 Wagler." (FIDELIN, P., op. cit., p. 4.) 



