238 



A GRUB SUPPOSED TO HAVE TRAVELED IN THE HUMAN BODY. 



During June last we received a communication from Dr. Elizabeth 

 R. Kane, of Kane, McKeau County, Pa., from which the following is 

 an extract : 



Numbers 3 and 7 of Vol. 1 of Insect Life con- 

 tain papers on Larvae infesting Man and the 

 Squirrel. A case occurring in the practice of Dr. 

 Silvanus D. Freeman, of Smethport, McKean 

 County, Pa, may not be without interest, as touch- 

 ing points alluded to in both papers. 



On the 22d of February, 1889, Dr. F. visited a 

 child residing in the country. He had been sent 

 for some days previously, but being unable to go 

 himself had sent his assistant, who reported a 

 threatening of erysipelas. As the child was still 

 suffering, the parents sent again for Dr. Freeman. 

 He found the ear and the tissues around it much 

 swollen, and the swelling plainly erysipelatous. 

 Yet there was no sign of constitutional disturb- 

 ance, the tongue was clean, breath sweet, and 

 temperature normal. The child, a boy three or 

 four years old, was lively enough to play during 

 the day, but in sufficient pain not to sleep at 

 night. The mother remarked that the cause of 

 suffering was a "pollywog" working under the 

 skin, but no particular attention was paid to the 

 observation. 



On February 28, the doctor again visited the child. The swelling under and 

 behind the ear was gone, but a red line of inflammation went up to the under eyelid 

 and then down the cheek. The mother stated that the eye had been closed for twenty- 

 four hours by the swelling, which had traveled about 2 inches since the doctor's first 

 visit, and seemed now about to " point" in the cheek. Placing his finger on the in- 

 side, the doctor detected a foreign body in the swelling, which he lanced, and squeezed 

 slightly. A living grub emerged, a little less than half an inch long while living, a 

 little over that when it died a few hours after. Dr. Freeman questioned the 

 child's mother closely and learned that she had first noticed what she called the 

 "pollywog" five mouths before. It was then under the skin near the sternal end 

 of the right clavicle, and in the five months had traveled (appearing as a tiny lump 

 followed by a red line of inflammation) up and down the chest in front, down one arm 

 as far as the elbow, and over one side of the back, never crossing the median line. 

 Sometimes it had "pointed" and they thought it would come out, but its course had 

 continued on again. Until within a few weeks it had given the child little annoy- 

 ance, but latterly its nights had been very restless. The mother thought that the 

 "pollywog" traveled at night because she had never detected its movements, and 

 because the child seemed more easy in the day-time. Its increasing suffering was 

 probably caused by the increase of growth of the grub. Taken out February 28, when 

 was the egg deposited ? Its movements had been noticed five months before. 



A careful examination was made of it under the microscope, and a description 

 written out and sent to an entomologist, who advised the doctor to apply to the De- 

 partment for Vol. 1 of Insect Life. He found that Dr. Rudolph Matas had figured 

 in No. 3 of that volume a grub found under the skin of certaiu laborers on the Cen- 

 tral American works, who had been stung while bathing, and appeared to be infested 



Fig. 48. — Hypoderma larva taken from 

 boy : 'a, ventral surface— enlarged ; b, 

 anterior end ; c, anal end— still more 

 enlarged (original). 



