376 ENTOZOA. 



portable pains." Without affecting tlie sense, I have here purposely 

 altered Kiichenmeister's original record in a slight degree (" Para- 

 siten," s. 305) in order to render the passage a little more eupho- 

 nious to the Enghsh reader. Further into this part of the subject, 

 however, it is needless to enter, especially since the Sydenham 

 Society's publication is easy of access to all who desire to investi- 

 gate the matter for themselves. 



Bistribution. — The Guinea-worm possesses a comparatively 

 hmited range, for not only is it proper to tropical regions of the 

 globe, but within these intertropical limits it is almost exclusively 

 confined to certain districts in Asia and Africa. Thus, according 

 to Kiinsenmuller, as quoted by Busk, it occurs endemically in 

 Arabia Petrgea, on the borders of the Persian Gulf and Caspian 

 Sea, on the banks of the Ganges, in Upper Egypt, Abyssinia, and 

 the coast of Guinea. " In America, the Guinea- worm is unknown, 

 except in persons who have had communication with Africa or 

 other parts where it is indigenous. The island of Curacoa is the 

 only locality in the New World which offers an apparent exception 

 to this fact ; and it would be highly desirable to ascertain the real 

 state of the case in this instance." The later observations of Chis- 

 holm, indeed, show that the Dracunculus is really prevalent in 

 several of the West Indian islands, especially in Granada, or Grenada, 

 as it is sometimes spelt. It is not impossible, therefore, that all 

 the numerous islands lying near, as well as between Curacoa and 

 Grenada, may turn out to be Guinea- worm districts. Mr. Busk 

 subsequently adds : " Though endemic only in the above-mentioned 

 parts of the world, it would yet appear that all races of mankind 

 are obnoxious to the attacks of the Filario, when exposed to what 

 may be called the contagion, that is, when placed in circumstances 

 under which it might be supposed a contagious seminium could be 

 conveyed to them. This liability is incurred by the exposure of 

 the bare surface of any part of the body to water in which the 

 infection may be supposed to reside. There is, at all events, at 

 present, no evidence of any other source of infection. I have known 



