Miscellaneous. 235 



author perhaps, but yet is not in a position absolutely to disprove 

 his haphazard assertion, the reviewer would be inclined to believe 

 that a humming-bird could recede from an object without turning, 

 exactly as a humming-bird moth can. 



If Mr. W^estell had only taken the trouble to prepare an index to 

 his scrap-album, it is possible that some of the quotations from 

 Giitke, Kearton, Eidwell, &c. might have been selected by his 

 readers ; but when they have to wade through such stuff as the 

 statement that '^ Mr. Philip Crawley !," of Croydon, has the largest 

 private collection of birds' eggs, some frivolous nursery rhyme, or a 

 jest from one of the penny comic papers, it is not unnatural that 

 one who desires to learn something about birds should not be 

 attracted thereby. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



The Poisoiis given off by Parasitic Worms in Man and Animals. 

 By G. H. F. NuTTALL. 



Many of the symptoms affecting the human subject as well as 

 animals who harbour parasitic worms have been attributed by 

 certain authors to poisons which the latter develop within the body 

 of their host. Peiper, of Greifswald, recently published an article 

 in which he gathered together a good deal of evidence from scattered 

 sources, evidence which very clearly proves that a number of worms 

 do give off poisons. 



In the case of the Ascari (familiarly called round or maw-worms), 

 which are found in man, the pig, the cat, and horse, the evidence is 

 very striking. There are a number of cases recorded where children 

 who suffered from convulsions, loss of consciousness, great loss of 

 flesh, ancemia, and other symptoms were promptly and permanently 

 cured of all of these by the use of medicines (" anthelmintics," 

 vulgarly called " worm-medicines "), which removed the parasites 

 from the body. A number of authors have claimed that these para- 

 sites were simply injurious through their presence as foreign bodies 

 within the intestine, as well as through their boring, their active 

 movements, and their robbing their host of his proper share of the 

 food ho had eaten. That these worms contain some poisonous 

 substance was claimed by Miram, who, whilst studying the Ascaris 

 megalocepJiala, suffered twice from attacks of sneezing, swelling of 

 the eyelids, and excessive secretion of tears, besides severe itching 

 and swelling of the fingers which had been in contact with the 

 worms. Von Linstow noted that when these worms were cut open 

 they gave off a sharp peppery odour and caused tears to flow from 

 his eyes. Inadvertently touching his eye with a finger which had 

 been in contact with these worms, a very severe inflammation of 

 the conjunctiva, with a condition known as chemosis, resulted. 

 Raillet, Arthus, and Chanson had similar experiences. The latter 



