DR. CHISHOLM ON THE MALIS DRACUNCULUS. 643 
Having these facts before me, for the most part minutely ob- 
served by myself, and confirmed by the experience of three years, 
during which nearly three thousand cases of the disease were un- 
der my charge, I feel much disposed to offer a speculation on the 
mode in which the Guinea-worm is generated and received into 
and evolved in the human body. Whatever can be said on the 
subject, in the present state of our knowledge of it, must be con- 
sidered merely as speculative, or can amount to little more than 
very probable conjecture. Were it possible, indeed, to procure 
some of the dracunculi in a perfect living state, and to watch 
their economy in their native medium, then the inferences 1 am 
disposed to draw from the imperfect knowledge I have acquired 
of that economy, might become established facts ; and the mys- 
tery of their generation, of the mode of their admission into the 
human body, and of their growth there, might be developed. But 
before I proceed to this, it may be useful to state the following in- 
teresting facts*. 
In July 1812, a very ingenious and respectable friend, Mr. 
David Inglis, from Bombay, favoured me with the following 
statement: A particular friend of his was engaged in digging a 
well in his garden at Bombay, the soil and rock of which seem 
to be similar, from the description given, to those of Point Saline. 
The gentleman’s anxiety to have the work properly executed 
induced him to oversee the workmen, and even to go down into 
the well, with slippers only on his feet. He one day perceived 
a sensation of pricking in one of his feet, and some days after 
evident symptoms of a Guinea-worm appeared. After suffering 
* In all countries in which the dracunculus is endemic, the prevailing be- 
lief of the people is, that it proceeds from drinking water which contains the 
ova or embryo of the animal. Among a variety of authorities, I may cite 
the following : In Africa, the Chev. de Marchais, Voy. en Guinde, I’anne 
1725-1727, tom. ii, 136, says, “On en attribue la cause des vers cutanes 
aux eaux croupissantes, et de mauvaise quality, qu’on y ( en Guinde) boit.” 
Mr. Park says, “ The Guinea-worm is likewise very common in certain 
places, especially at the commencement of the rainy reason. The negroes 
attribute this disease to bad water, and allege that the people who drink 
from wells are more subject to it than those who drink from streams.” 
— Travels, p. 276. Mr. Bruce says, that “ this extraordinary animal only 
afflicts those who are in the constant habit of drinking stagnant water, whe- 
ther that water is drawn out from wells, as in the kingdom of Senaar, or 
found by digging in the sand, where it is making its way to its proper level, 
the sea, after falling down the sides of mountains after the tropical rains.” — 
Travels, vol. iii, 4to,p,37. In Asia, we have already the authority of Dubois. 
At Ormus, an anonymous writer in the Phil. Trans, abridged, vol.iii, 138, says 
the Guinea-worms are bred by the water. Koempfer says the same thing. 
Friend’s Diet. of'Phys. vol. i, p. 49. In St. Domingo, M. Chevalier says, 
“ ces vers sont engenebrbs dans le corps par les mauvaise eux,”&c. — Lettres 
a M. de Jean stir les maladh de St. Domingue. 
