ICHAPTER LXVII 



THE MYIASES AND ALLIED CONDITIONS 



The Myiases: Rhinal; Aural; Ocular; Urinary; Vaginal; Oro-gastro-intestinal; 

 Dermal — Allied conditions — References, 



THE MYIASES, 



Definition. — ^The myiases are the invasions of j any part of the 

 body of man or animals by dipterous larvae. ^ ' 



Nomenclature. — -In 1815 Kir by and Spence suggested the name ' schole- 

 chiasis ' for the infestations of man and animals by insects and their larvae. 

 In 1840 Hope proposed a series of terms applying to various groups of insects, 

 some of which have come into general use, and all of which are employed in 

 this chapter. Thus he names the invasion of dipterous larvae ' myiasis,' 

 while that due to the larvae of lepidoptera he calls 'scolechiasis,' and that 

 brought about by beetles ' canthariasis.' In the present chapter we utilize all 

 these old terms and keep the names' dip lopodiasis ' and ' chilopodiasis,' which 

 we have already used in previous editions, while we increase the number 

 by turning one of Hope's terms into ' dermapteriasis.' Some of these old 

 terms may not appear very suitable, but they are the first to be suggested. 



Historical. — ^The history of the myiases may be divided into 

 ' ancient knowledge ' and ' modern knowledge.' 



Ancient Knowledge. — ^As the disease is much more frequently 

 found in animals than in man, it is not surprising to find that it was 

 first recorded in them. According to Sambon, it was well known in 

 animals to the Babylonians, and to the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, 

 and Romans. According to the same authority, it was recognized 

 in man even in the Middle Ages. In the tenth century there appeared 

 a book entitled * The Leech Book ' of Bald, or Medicinale Angliciim, 

 which described the * ana-worm ' as growing in man and eating 

 through to the outside and shedding itself out of the hole so made. 

 Sambon says this may well have been the larva of Hypoderma bovis. 

 In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Arabian physicians mention 

 a malady called * bovine disease,' which may have been an infestation 

 with the larva of the same fly. In the sixteenth century Ambrose 

 Pare gave an account of several infestations by larvae, and illus- 

 trated the paragraphs with fanciful drawings of maggots. 



In 1589 Father Pedro Simon wrote an account of the occurrence 

 of the fly which we now call Dermatohia hominis, as seen along the 

 banks of the Rio Magdalena and in the low plains to the east of the 

 Andes. This appears to be the first reference to the subject as seen 

 in the tropics. 



These observations were extended in 1653 by Father Bernabe 



1619 



