INSECTS. 



confided of the fame beini^p, \vhk:h, MCording to their na,- 

 turc, comnuiiiicatcd fciiLits, and fypliilis, finall-pox, dyfen- 

 tery, the plague, and every other iiifedious JifoixUM-. (See 

 ihe.leai-neddiirertation of Dan. Le Clcre, entitled •' Hiilo- 

 ria Lator. Lumbricorum," p. 274, c//.';.) But nv.ire ac- 

 curate invelligation lias hkewife caufcd "thefe notio;is to be 

 exploded ; and the catalogue of parafitic creatures, which 

 iiifell the human frame, in addition to the worms, S:c. above- 

 mentioned, is reduced to a few v.irl, iks of the infed tribes. 

 It is well known, that the iiit^rn.l c. vitics and paffagcs 

 of fome animals, efpecially the no hi'.s and adjoining fuuifes, 

 the ilomach, and rulum or Ihaiglit gut, m horfes, Ihecp, 

 and cows, are the fit nations in which alone certain infefts 

 are . Apparently intended by nature to breed, and to be 

 nurtured in tli'cir firft ftage of exiftence. This is the cafe 

 efpecially with the fevcral fpecies of irjlrus, the grub or 

 larva-of which is called a lolt. (See an ample hillory of 

 this-jnfecl, under the article Botts.) The o-va, or eggs 

 of thefe infcfts are introduced mto thofe pallages by the 

 parent infeft, or,aro cnsivoycd tlnther by licking with the 

 tongiK,- inhaling od irons mattas, 5cc. Now, although 

 thei-e does not appear to be any fpecies of inleit dellmed 

 particularly to be nurtured in the human body ; yet it ap- 

 pears beyond all qtiellion, that the larvx of fome of the 

 ■winged infeds are occalionally hatched and nurtured in the 

 Doftrils and fuiufes, as well as in the ilomach and intellines 

 of man. 



The want of accurate inveftigation, fnice the fubje<a of en- 

 tomology has been well undcrllood, leaves us in a ftate or 

 uncertainty as to the number of infedls which are thus nur- 

 tured within the lumian body. It fccms probable, how- 

 ever, as we miglit, perhaps, hiv^- ;\i^tN ii'iiid, that the mofl 

 frequent inllances which occt: I', ;r ■ ;ii>:!. nl our moll com- 

 mon domeftic infeft, the varnii. h i.t //: />. The hirvx 

 of fev.eral of the fpecies of the fly {wi/jl-.i, L-.v.r,.) are aquatic, 

 or at leafl inhabit moill and wet places, and therefore feem 

 to be ad,ipted to exift in the fluids of the human Ilomach : 

 and the author of this article is in poiTellion of fome 

 larva; of tlic eonunon h'lnfc-fi^, the niuj'La doinejika. minor of 

 Denver (Hiiloire dcs In'lcdes, toin. v, tab. 2. iig. 4.), 

 which V. -re reji-Ch-d alive from the ll<niiaeh of a man by vo- 

 miting (fee Edin Med. and Surg. Journal, for Jan. 181 1, 

 p. 41.) ; and df others of the fame fiy, which werfe palTcd 

 by ilool by another pcrfon. The la' va of another fpecies 

 of /y is al'fo figured in the Jon:: ', ;:•. ' rred to, by Dr. 

 Cheyne, now if Dublin: ar'i'. ■ ,! ; !os of the larvas 



■oijicst difcliarged from the l!u::r:': 1,;^ :\. ,. s are on record. 

 Dr. ^v^ahlbom, of Upfal, has related the cafe of a girl, 

 who, after , fuffering coufiderable pain in the ftomach and 

 left fid;, difcharged by ftool a number of larvse on feveral 

 fucceiTive days, after which {he was relieved from the com- 

 plaint.' " One of thefe larvic, whi'e it was kept in a phial, 

 was converted into a /!y, which proved to be the mi/fca 

 ttigraQi Linnajus. ■ (faun. .SueC. rio^.)'' Dr. Wahlhom 

 alfo ftates, " that a few years ago thert was a girl in Upfal, 

 from whom a large quantity of worms were brouglit away, 

 and thefe were ^y ■■worms. N. Faun. Succ. 1064 ;'' for an 

 account of which he refers to Dr. Du Cois' Tteatife de 

 Taenia. (See Med. Chirurg. and Anatom. Cafes and Ex- 

 periments, communicated to the Royal Academy of Sciences 

 at Stockholm, tranfiatcd from the Swedifii, 1757, cafe 24.) 

 Ruyfch has defcribed and delineated both the larvx, and the 

 flies which originated from them, after they were difcharged 

 (it is affirmed) by urine, by a nobleman, in coufiderable 

 quantities ; and Tulpius has mentioned a fimilar cafe, and 

 has alfo figured tlie larva:, which clofcly refemble thofe in the 

 writer's poffeflion. 



It muft be acknowledged, however, that the bladder 5=5 

 the lead probable nidui for the larvj- of tnfeas, and we - 

 cannot readily conceive how they fhould find their way 

 into that cavity : while, on the other hand, millakes may 

 be made upoii fuch a fubjeft with the greatell facility, as' 

 Vallifneri long ago remarked. Thefe larvae might have 

 crept or fallen into the utenhls, or the ova might have 

 been depofited there, and the larvre afterwards obfervcd in ' 

 the urine. An inllance of this kind of miftake was related 

 to the writer by an eminent furgeou. A lady was in great 

 alarm, from tl'.c belief that (he frequently paifed from the 

 bowels feveral little red worms, extremely lively in their 

 motions, which were found in the excretion?. But it was 

 llrongly fuggeftcd, that thefe worms mult be inhabitants of 

 the water-clofet ; and upon accurate examination, the fug- 

 gellion was confirmed ; they proved to be the larvx of the 

 covimoTi gnat, which are well known to be aquatic in their 

 mode of life. In all cafes, therefore, it is neceffary to be 

 c.uitious in examining all the circunilhuices, before it be 

 concluded, tliHt inll-i'ts, foand in tlu- lx renicntitious dif- 

 chai-gcs, aduallv paHld froui the liumaii body. 



There i, .::)- i f .105 of infed, whu-h, in its ftate of 

 larva, or ^ : ,, , .oi-'-ars to be not unfreqtiently an in- 

 habitant!. '..'. ■. ■- tf the human body, though not fo 



commonly as I'lio uiilLrent fpecies of fly ; we mean the com- 

 mon black beetle, the tenebrio moUtor of Linnxus. The grub 

 of this infcd is a fort of caterpillar, about an inch and a 

 quarter in length, and equal to a large cro\?-quiIl in circum- 

 ference, with fix feet near the head, but dellitute of feet at 

 the other extremity : its body is divided into thirteen fec- 

 tions. The introduftion of this larva into the human body, 

 or of the r,i;a from whit 11 it is hatched, will be readily un- 

 derftood, v>'hen ue n:Lntii)n tl):'.t it lives principally in flour 

 or meal ; whence from the lime of our oldeil writer on in- 

 fcfts, Moufix't, it has been known by the appellation of 

 the meal-iuorm. This writer has given a rude figure of the 

 grub. (See his Infeftorum Theatrum, Lond. 1634, lib. ii. 

 cap. 20. p. 254.) Two cafes, in v.hich this meal-worm 

 was difcharged from the iuunan body, have come to the 

 knowledge of the writer of this article. (See Edin. Med. 

 and Surg. .Journal, above quoted.) Another is mentioned 

 and figured by Dr. Kellie, of Leitli, in the fame .Journal. 

 And Tulpius has given a figure of the farne larva, two of 

 which, he fays, were pafi'ed from the bladder of a woman 

 of fifty years of age, and a fimilar one from the nofe of 

 another woman, who had previoufly fuffered fevere head- 

 ache. (See his Obfcrv. Med. lib. ii. cap. 51. tab. 7. fig. 3 ; 

 and lib. iv. cap. 2:.) The difcl-arge of two from the 

 bladder was probably inferred, by millake, from the grubs 

 being found in the utenlil which received the urine : but the 

 efcape of the ene from the nofe is probably corrcdly ftatcd; 

 for in this way the larva* paflcd in one of the cafes, to which 

 we have jull alluded, and the nofe, or the adjoining cavi- 

 ties, are common receptacles for tlie ova or larvx of other 

 fpecies of inlefts, as we (hall pni'uuly fliew. Forellus 

 has recorded fome cafes, in v.hich the grubs were mod pro- 

 bably of the fame nature. He mentions the circumRance, 

 whicii he witneiTed, of a girl who rejedted from the ftomach 

 two beetles, one at the interval of two days after the other, 

 and likewifc a living worm or grub, which was, in all pro- 

 bability, tlie grub of the beetle. He alfo mentions tfee 

 ejeftion of a fpecies of caterpillar, " vermem erucx fimi- 

 lem," by vomiting, aftor which a fevere pain of the ilo- 

 macli of coufiderable durition was removed. Forefti Opera, 

 lib. xxi. obf. 25. 



Several of the infefts above-mentioned were difcharged 



from the nofe, in which cavity, in brute animals, the ex- 



5 iftciice 



