385 



CLASS II. ENTOZOA.* 



THE animals before us, usually called Intestinal 

 Worms, reside for the most part in the interior of 

 other animals while in a living state. There is 

 scarcely a single species which is not the habita- 

 tion of some one or more of these obscene creatures, 

 from Man to the meanest Insect ; and even some 

 of these Worms themselves are found to contain 

 other species which feed upon them. They inhabit 

 not only the intestines, but, to a greater or less 

 extent, all parts of the body, such as the stomach, 

 the liver, the brain, the eye, and even the tissue 

 that divides one muscle from another. No creatures 

 are more calculated to humble the pride of human 

 knowledge than these, for there is not a more diffi- 

 cult problem in the whole range of natural science 

 than the origin of internal Worms. It appears 

 certain that they are found in an animal at its birth ; 

 and hence some naturalists have been compelled to 

 the old supposition, however improbable it may 

 seem, that they are produced spontaneously, life 

 being not communicated, but created in each indi- 

 vidual. But this is so utterly contrary to all other 

 experience, that most prefer to believe that the eggs 

 or germs of these creatures exist in the water, air, 

 or earth around us, but in forms not to be disco- 



* 'Evrof , entos, within, and 20v, zoon, an animal. 

 VOL. II. S 



