Dr. Miram on the Vitality of Intestinal Worms. 379 



their natural form he placed them in warm water, and, behold ! 

 they began to move, and were soon perfectly restored to life. 



To this interesting fact I can now add the remarkable ob- 

 servation of a restoration to life oi Ascaris Acus, Blochii, which 

 I happened to make in the month of April of this year (1839), 

 and which is certainly quite as astonishing as the case related 

 by Rudolphi. 



I received the intestines of a very large pike, which was 

 to be stuffed for the museum of this town, and found a con- 

 siderable number of Ascaris Acus, partly among the intes- 

 tines and in part on the edge of the plate ; and as they were 

 placed on it without any moisture, several which were not in 

 contact with the moisture of the intestines were already per- 

 fectly dry and dead ; many were dried so firmly to the plate 

 that they could not be removed without destroying them. In 

 order to obtain as many good specimens of this worm as pos- 

 sible, I filled the vessel with cold water and picked out the 

 living individuals, but was astonished to find so many alive. 

 I had soon collected all the Ascarides that moved, and placed 

 therefore the intestines in another vessel, and left the plate to 

 stand with the water, but came accidentally after some mi- 

 nutes to the table where it stood, and was not a little sur- 

 prised to find the water again all alive with these little worms. 

 I observed minutely the dead and dried Entozoa, and con- 

 vinced myself that these actually, when they had imbibed 

 moisture and thus reacquired their previous volume, moved 

 about with the greatest ease in the fluid ; nay, I even sa\f that 

 some worms which were not wholly touched by the water ex- 

 hibited life in that portion only which had imbibed some. 

 Thus, some moved the anterior part of the body, while the 

 hinder portion adhered dried on the plate ; others moved the 

 posterior portion, while the anterior shrivelled portion was 

 fixed to the vessel. 



Wilna, October 2, 1839. 



