134 A NATURAL HISTORY 



Thus Pride, the malignant Tumour of the Mind, was the 

 fatal Wound, by which the Angelic Serpent, the firft in Dignity 

 among created Beings, was transformed into a Devil. Sin, a Poi- 

 fon fo ftrong, that by the firft tafte of it, the whole human 

 Nature was infed:ed. Adam and Eve tafted the forbidden Fruit, 

 and lo ! we mull all die for it, at the diftance of fo many thoufand 

 Years. 



CXIV. The Attalegatm is a fmall flender Serpent, not ex- 

 ceeding the Quill of a Goofe in proportion j not poifonous in its 

 Nature, yet very mifchievous ; for thefe little Creatures are an 

 united Body, and live in community, and never feparate : they 

 are a Society without Schifm, which is more than can be affirmed 

 of all human Societies, civil or ecclefiaftick. 



When thefe fmall harmonious Reptiles go abroad, they travel 

 in Company, a hundred ftrong or more, and where they find any 

 alleep, they immediately feize the Body, and with a Force united 

 and irrefiftable, they devour it *. Behold ! a Conqueft by an Army 

 of Worms ! 



Thus Herod the Great, the Proud, the Cruel, when upon 

 the Throne, was attack'd by an Army of Worms, that quickly 

 devoured him. His Body became worm-eaten like a piece of rot- 

 ten Wood •\. Of the Executions done by Worms, we have di- 

 vers Inflances in the human World. No part of Man's Body, 

 whether inward or outward, but is fubjedl to Worms, and have 

 been tormented with them. 



Man's Body, if rightly underftood, would appear to be a 

 Granary for Worms, of divers Colours and Sizes : In the inward 

 Farts, as Stomach, Guts, Liver, Blood, Gall, Bladder, have been 

 found fwarms of Vermin, fapping the Foundation of the animal 

 Structure. We have Inftances of Worms bred in the human 

 Brains, and were difcovered in the Brain of the Parh-Girl when 

 opened — probably laid, by fome Infect, in the Laminje of the 

 Noftrils, from whence it gnawed its way into the Brain %- So 

 in the outer parts. 



GALEN 



* NieTembergii Biftoria, cap. xiii. p. 2.''4" 

 X Derham from Bartholinus. 



