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LIFE. IN ITS LOWER FORMS. 
CHAPTER XIII. 
Helminthia ( Intestinal Worms). 
Few things are more wonderful in the range of physical 
science than the fact, that the bodies of living animals 
form the world in which other animals pass their lives ; 
and few things are more calculated to humble the arro- 
gance of man, and to “stain the pride of his glory,” than 
the knowledge that he carries about with him, and in him, 
multitudes of creatures that fatten upon his flesh, dwelling 
securely in the midst of his organs and tissues, and riot- 
ing unmolested on his various solids and fluids. At least 
eighteen or twenty species of internal parasites have been 
enumerated as infesting the internal cavities and tissues 
of the human body ; and almost every other animal has 
species peculiar to itself, as well as some which are com- 
mon to several. 
A few of the more characteristic of these forms we will 
now briefly consider ; and, repulsive as the subject un- 
doubtedly is, we shall discover not a few proofs of Divine 
wisdom and benevolence in the provisions made for the 
sustenance and safety of vermin so unprepossessing as 
these. 
In the substance of the liver, or other cellular organs 
