210 ENTOZOA FOUND IN MAN. 



Guinea-worm is in the superficial parts of the body, 

 and especially of the lower extremities, and it is 

 highly probable that the entozoon finds its way 

 through the integuments. 



Cases have been recorded by some authors of 

 persons who, although they have not drunk the 

 water of the countries infested by the Guinea-worm, 

 have yet been affected by it ; other observers have 

 stated that, amongst a large body of men the officers 

 who did not walk, nor lay upon the ground, with 

 the legs bare, were not affected with the para- 

 site, whilst nearly all of the common soldiers who 

 were less careful in their habits, and walked about 

 without shoes to their feet, were attacked by the 

 Guinea-worm, after a time ;^ and Dr. Chisholm has 

 reported a fact which, of itself, is a sufficient support 

 for the belief that the larval worms are introduced 

 through the skin, namely, that the Bheesties (native 

 water-carriers in India) who carry the water in 

 leathern vessels resting upon their backs and shoul- 

 ders, are most frequently affected by the Guinea- 

 worm in those parts of the body which are brought 

 into contact with the vessels, and the water which is 

 spilt from them. 



A consideration of the relative size of the pores 

 of the skin, and of the very minute embryos of the ' 

 filaria, shows that it is possible that the young filarise 

 may obtain an entrance through the pores mto the 

 subcutaneous areolar tissue. 



^ See a short paper by Mr. Heatli, " Observations on the 

 Generation of the Guinea-worm," in the "Edinburgh Medical 

 Journal," vol. xii, p. 120. That writer also mentions the im- 

 portant fact that both officers and men drank of the same water, 

 although none of the former were affected. 



