medicine, and whose references to the subject are orten more 

 curious than instructive 1 . 



Hippocrates. 



It has already been stated that HIPPOCRATES, who nourished 

 in the 5th century B.C., refers to the threadworm in his 

 writings 2 . Though he cannot have possessed an intimate 

 knowledge of the details of the disease, yet he knew many of 

 the more important clinical phenomena. He even appears 

 to have been cognisant of the fact that threadworms some- 

 times creep into the vulva and vagina, and cause unpleasant 

 symptoms such as vulvitis, vaginitis, leucorrhoea, and ma- 

 sturbation. 



Dioscorides. 



DIOSCORIDES, whose knowledge of Materia Medica is inferior 

 to none in antiquity, in his " Euporista," written about the 

 end of the 1st century A.D., recommends the application of 

 rancid fat for the local irritation due to worms. Internally, 

 he advises the use of Calamintha, a plant, the identity of which 

 is somewhat in doubt. According to SPRENGEL, it is the 

 Melissa Cretica of the natural order, Labiatos, which, the most 

 recent authorities declare, has no medicinal action whatever. 



Galen. 



GALEN, the most revered of ancient physicians, whose system 

 of medicine ruled the medical world with autocratic sway for 

 fourteen centuries, also mentions the threadworm repeatedly 

 in his writings. GALEN describes the worm as being very 

 similar to large insect-larvae (fl*Xw#)j and assumes that 

 its habitat is the rectum. As regards treatment of the 

 disease, he is somewhat guarded, but he confesses that the 



1 It is well known that worms Wiirmern verzehren lassen, die 



were once supposed to be sent ohnstreitig aus seinem koniglichen 



as a punishment for sin, and this Leibe gewachsen waren." (KRAT- 



was in all seriousness repeated by ZENSTEIX, C. G., Abhandlung von 



medical men: " Wissen wir dooh der Erzeugunyder Wuermer im M en- 



aus den heiligen Biichern, dass Gott schlichen Ccerper, Halle, 1784, p. 4.) 



sich der Wiirmer bedienet, die 2 " Hippocrate croyait a la 



Laster der Menschen damit zu generation spontanee des vers 



bestrafen. Herodes, weil er sich formes, disait-il, de la putre- 



gottliche Ehre anthun Hess, musste faction et de la surabondance du 



sich gleich drauf bey lebendigen lait et du sang dans les enfants." 



Leibe in seinem Purpur von den (FucHET, B., op. cit., p. 15.) 



