CHAP. VI. INTESTINAL WORMS. 217 



not known in more temperate regions : this is the 

 Filaria medinensis of Linnaeus. Tt comes to the herb- 

 age in the morning dew, from whence it pierces the 

 skin and enters the feet of such as walk without shoes, 

 and causes the most painful irritations, succeeded by 

 violent inflammation and fever. The natives extract it 

 with the greatest caution, by twisting a piece of silk 

 round one extremity of the body, and withdrawing it 

 very gently. When we consider that this insidious 

 worm, as we are told, is frequently twelve feet long, 

 although not thicker than a horse hair, we can readily 

 imagine the difficulty of the operation. If, unfortu- 

 nately, the animal should break, the part remaining 

 under the skin grows with redoubled vigour, and fre- 

 quently occasions a fatal inflammation. The Fasciola 

 Hominis, belonging to the same genus as the worm 

 which infests the liver of sheep (Fasciola hepatica}, is 

 peculiar to the human subject. But we scarcely know 

 one of these dreadful pests -which can be considered 

 more terrible than the Furia irtfernalis, first made 

 known by Linnaeus, who met with it during his Lap- 

 land journey, and was very near becoming, himself, a 

 victim to its deadly attacks. His account of this ex- 

 traordinary plague is nearly as follows : In Finland, 

 Bothnia, and the northern provinces of Sweden, the 

 inhabitants are often seized with an acute pain, con- 

 fined to a mere point, on some exposed part of the 

 body, which afterwards increases to a most excruciating 

 degree, and sometimes, even within a few hours after 

 its commencement, proves fatal. This disorder is more 

 prevalent about marshy or low places, and occurs during 

 autumn : it is occasioned by the Furia infernalis. 

 This little worm appears to creep up the stalks of 

 aquatic grass and shrubs in the marshes, where it is 

 often carried off by the wind: if, at these times, it 

 comes in contact with the naked skin of the inhabitants, 

 it immediately adheres, and buries itself within. The 

 first sensation is said to be like that occasioned by the 

 prick of a needle j this is succeeded by a violent 



