THYSANOUR.A, PARASITA, SUCTORIA, l6l 



one equally disgusting, has been the inheritance of the rich, 

 the wise, the noble, and the mighty ; and in the list of those 

 who have fallen victims to it, you will find poets, philoso- 

 phers, princes, kings, and emperors."""' It would be some- 

 what hard to believe that among all these there was not one 

 less bloody than the first, or less profligate than the second 

 Herod, less oppressive than Maximin, or less bigotted than 

 Philip. The fact is, diseases of all kinds, like the rain of 

 heaven, fall upon thejust and the unjust. They follow to be 

 sure, as a pretty certain consequence, the indulgence in some 

 vices. Intemperance of all kinds will entail them on the 

 practiser as a necessary, but a natural punishment. But 

 the man who unites a sound constitution to a prudent care 

 of his health, may be at once supremely wicked and remark- 

 ably healthy. He may cheat and rob, and oppress and mur- 

 der, but while he avoids the vices which are ruinous to health, 

 he is more likely to find the reward of his villanies here from 

 the indignation of mankind than from any heaven-descended 

 visitation of disease. 



Mr. Kirby seems doubtful whether all the cases recorded 

 as of morbus pedicidaris are referrable to the same specific 

 cause. He believes there is sufficient reason for thinking 

 that three different kinds of insects are concerned in the pro- 

 duction of diseases which have all been confounded under the 

 name of phthiriasls. Besides those produced by pediculi, 

 this eminent naturalist refers many cases to the agency of 

 acari, or mites, and larvce in general. 



It has never been proved, in any well authenticated way, 

 that the species of the genus pediculus burrow beneath the 

 skin, or are subcutaneous. This remark is equally applica- 

 ble to man, and the lower animals, as far as we know any- 

 thing of the habits of the genus in question. For this we 

 have the highest medical authority, as far as man is con- 

 cerned. Dr. Mead informs us that " the louse feeds on the 



VOL. XIV. M 



