IN THE BODIES OF ANIMALS. 389 



has urged in support of his position, viz. that the eggs of 

 worms are carried into the body, and are there hatched ; nor 

 has any one of his supporters brought forward more powerful 

 arguments, or contributed any new ones, that I am aware of. 

 But, as regards the first argument, it cannot be a matter of 

 surprise that the verminous diathesis should attack the 

 poorer classes of society in densely-peopled towns, surrounded, 

 as they are, by all the evils of poverty, sustaining life by the 

 roughest kinds of food, and with water frequently of an un- 

 wholesome nature; causes which must weaken the intestinal 

 canal, impair digestion, produce a copious secretion of un- 

 healthy mucus, and thus favour the generation of worms. For 

 a similar reason, the weakest animals should most frequently 

 suffer from them, as would be seen in the young of all animals, 

 and particularly in those which are domesticated. Nor is the 

 fact (which the author lays much stress upon), viz. that certain 

 classes of animals are more obnoxious to them than others, 

 depending on the mechanism of their digestive apparatus, sup- 

 ported on indubitable evidence. 



I never understood that the Ferae, were particularly liable to 

 worms ; and it appears, on the testimony of Goeze, that they 

 are frequently found free from them. Pallas remarks the same 

 thing in the instance of the dog and cat ; but we must not 

 forget that by domestication they are unlike the same animals 

 in a wild state. Among the Glires, hares and rabbits are more 

 obnoxious to worms than the weasel, fox, or otter, and the 

 rat and mouse are much more subject to them ; for in these we 

 find Cysticercus hepatisfasciolaris exceedingly common; and 

 frequently, too, Ascarides, Tcenice, and others are to be found. 

 The Ruminantia are, above all, most subject to worms. Pallas 

 was unacquainted with many of these, some of which have been 

 since discovered by Rudolphi. The sheep and goat abound 

 with worms ; also the cow and stag, and it would be difficult 

 to discover one individual free from them. Pigs, who delight 

 in filth and refuse, are not (as Goeze has truly remarked) more 

 liable to worms than other animals. I believe that the carni- 

 vorous tribes of birds are not more subject to worms than others. 

 Rudolphi, indeed, has frequently found falcons free from them, 

 and has never found so many among the genus Strix, or owl tribe, 

 as in that of the Scolopax, snipe, woodcock, &c. ; for the former 

 never have Tcenice, whilst the latter possess a profusion of 



