In the theses submitted for his dissertation, Kosminsky 

 expressed the same ideas more briefly and yet with more 

 definition: 



Thesis 4. The idea that the worms are conceived from eggs 

 which get into the human body appears to be false. 



Thesis 5. The development of worms is best explained by what 

 is called spontaneous conception. 



In 1841 in Dorpat, the doctoral dissertation of the 

 physician Ivan Kramarenkov, from Sum, was published as 

 "Something about the Flatworm, and Some Means of Its Expul- 

 sion. "49 Kramarenkov, with detailed study of the literature, 

 discussed further the development of worms in the human body, 

 and had come to accept the idea of their spontaneous conception 

 The first section, titled "Something about the Origin of Worms 

 in the Body," begins: 



The question of how worms are conceived in the body 

 can be solved in two ways : either they develop from 

 some organic material and not from pre-existing 

 creatures similar to them, which would suggest 

 spontaneous development, or else new organisms 

 develop as a result of the coupling of bodies similar 

 to each other, consequently by propagative development, 

 (p. 1) 



Comparing the opinions supporting each point of view, 

 Kramarenkov wrote that "Pallas deduced from his experience 

 that from the eggs of cestodes, introduced into the abdominal 

 cavity of a puppy, new small worms are formed. With some 

 passion, he tried to explain the origin of worms as a result 

 of eggs dispersed in nature (p. 4). Pallas' opinion, 

 according to Kramarenkov, was completely disproved by 

 Bremser; Kramarenkov himself considered that "the most 

 probable is that human worms develop in the organism in 

 the beginning neither from water, nor soil, nor from eggs 

 or larvae, nor from food or drink. They develop by means of 

 spontaneous generation" (p. 16). To confirm his point of 



49. Johannes Kramarenkov (Medicus primi ordinis Sumensis) , 

 "Nonulla de Bothriocephalo lato ej usque expellendi 

 quibusdam methodis." Dorpat, 1841. iii + 51 pp. 



177 



