Larvce in the Human Body. 229 



1 820. — A very warm summer. — 1 821. — Do. do. 



1822. — Very hot and dry. 



1 823.— Cold and wet.— 1 824.— Do. do. 



1825. — Warm and dry. 



1826. — Very hot and dry. 



Art. IV. — On a Larva, liberated tfuv Oupw; by Jer. Van 

 Rensselaer, M. D. Corresponding Secretary of the Lyce- 

 um of Natural History, New York. 



(READ BEFORE THE LYCEUM.) 



A few English words have been translated into Greek. — Editor. 



It must be well recollected that some months ago, I laid 

 on the table, as a donation, a small vial, received from a re- 

 spectable physician, one of our associates, labelled " Larvae, 

 passed tfuv Oupw Tuvaixotf afafAou." The larva was in spirits, and 

 may thus be described. Body, rather more than an inch in 

 length, about a line and an half in breadth ; glabrous, translu- 

 cent, light clove brown color cylindrical, tapering gently at 

 each extremity; consisting of twelve articulations with the 

 head. Head, small and long. The last, or anal articulation 

 of the body, small, acute, and terminated by two short pro- 

 cesses. Legs, six. 



At the time this specimen was added to our Cabinet, some 

 doubt existed as to the correctness of the statement respect- 

 ing the manner in which it had been obtained. Its size cer- 

 tainly could present no obstacle. 



It is a well established fact, that animals have issued from 

 various parts of the human frame, however much the idea 

 may have been ridiculed. But scepticism in science is daily 

 yielding to observation, and the investigations of practical 

 men are clearing away much of the rubbish that popular belief 

 and prejudice have placed in the way of naturalists. Facts, well 

 authenticated and indisputable, are now received as scientific 

 records, which a few years ago would have startled the best 

 informed minds of the day ; whence we are led to hope that 

 science will continue to advance, and unfold to us more of 

 those hidden operations of nature, which are yet mysteries 

 to us, and seem now inexplicable. 



A case similar to the one now under consideration, is re- 



