92 ENTOZOA FOUND IN MAN. 



Lumbrici which have passed through the stomach 

 may be detained in the oesophagus ; it is very pro- 

 bable, however, that they do not remain there long, 

 but that they are speedily ejected by vomiting. 



If they have happened to get into the pharynx, 

 they produce great irritation, an uncomfortable sen- 

 sation of constriction, and efforts to vomit, by wliich 

 means they are commonly removed, unless they are 

 soon extracted by the fingers ; sometimes during the 

 patient's efforts to vomit, they pass into the nasal 

 fosae, and escape through the nostrils. Besides the 

 nostrils, the Eustachian tube, the frontal sinuses, the 

 lachrymal duct, or the larynx may serve as a tem- 

 porary refuge for the lumbrici, after their expulsion 

 from the pharynx. 



The number of well-authenticated cases of the 

 entrance of lumbrici into the respiratory passages is 

 very limited. 



In addition to the circumstance that it is of 

 importance to know that worms may occasionally be 

 introduced into the larynx during life-time, so that 

 prompt measures may be adopted for their extraction, 

 in any case in which their existence is suspected, 

 this fact is not without some value in a medico-legal 

 sense. Dr. Davaine quotes the case of a woman 

 who, although in good health on the previous night, 

 T as found dead in her bed next morning ; in the 

 course of a post-mortem examination, an ascaiis 

 lumbricoides was discovered in the larynx, and the 

 question was consequently raised as to whether such 

 a worm could have entered the larynx during the 

 life-time of the deceased. 



In one-half of the recorded cases of the intro- 



