SPURIOUS WORMS. 139 



to the real cause of his sufferings. His illness 

 commenced, he says, with pain over the epigastric 

 region, followed by diarrhoea. When he visited 

 me, on the 28th of September, 1871, I perceived 

 that there was a strong pulsation (as if from an 

 aneurism al tumour) over the epigastrium ; and on. 

 this account he afterwards consulted Dr. Mur- 

 chison. To what extent, however, the parasites 

 contributed to his symptoms it was impossible to 

 say. My impression is that the diarrhoea was in 

 part due to them, and that the prostration of 

 which he complained was not solely attributable 

 to the heart affection from which he was at the 

 same time suffering. As many of the disagreeable 

 symptoms had disappeared since the passage of the 

 worms, I forbad the employment of any active 

 anthelmintics, except in the event of their return, 

 or of a suspicion that there were any more parasites. 

 Five or six were passed in all ; and those which I 

 received were characteristic examples of the larvae 

 of Anthomyia canalicularis. 



The presence of these insect larvae is by no means 

 harmless, and I believe that, in proportion to their 

 number and size, they give rise to more irritation 

 than the ordinary forms of intestinal worms, pro- 

 perly so called. Numerous instances of the occur- 

 rence of the larvae of flies in the human intestines 

 have come before me; but, fortunately for the 

 bearers, they rarely existed in any considerable 



