DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS, 97 



to larva or maggots, and agrees very well with Acari, 

 some of which, particularly A. autumnalis, are of a bright 

 red colour. The other case, and a very similar one, is 

 that recorded by Mouffet of Lady Penruddock ; con- 

 cerning whom he expressly tells us, that Acari swarmed 

 in every part of her body— her head, eyes, nose, lips, 

 gums, the soles of her feet, &c, tormenting her day and 

 night, till, in spite of every remedy, all the flesh of her 

 body being consumed, she was at length relieved by death 

 from this terrible state of suffering. Mouffet attributes 

 her disease to the Acams Scabiei ; but from the sym- 

 ptoms and fatal result it seems to have been a different 

 and much more terrific animal. He supposes, in this 

 instance, the insect to have been generated by drinking 

 goat's milk too copiously. This, if correct, would lead 

 to a conjecture that it might have been the A. Lactis, L. 



These cases I hope will satisfy you that Acari, as well 

 as Pediculi, are the cause of diseases in the human frame. 

 This, indeed, as has been before observed, is allowed on 

 all hands with respect to that of the itch ; and it is, cer- 

 tainly, not more improbable that man should be exposed 

 to the attack of several species of this genus, than that 

 three or four kinds of Pediculus should infest him. If 

 you are convinced by what I have written, you will con- 

 cur with me in thinking that the one are as much en- 

 titled to give their name to the disease which they pro- 

 duce as the other ; and the term Acariasis, by which, 

 with due deference to medical men, I propose to distin- 

 guish generically all acarine diseases, will not be refused 

 its place amongst your Genera Morboram. 



I shall now proceed to the remaining class of diseases 

 mistaken for Phthiriasis ; those, namely, which are pro- 



VOL, I. H 



