[m] The Animals ordinarily bred in the Stomach and Guts, are the three Sorts of Worms call’d Lati, Teretes, and Ascarides; concerning which, it would be irksome to speak in Particular, and therefore I shall refer to Moufet, L. 2. c. 31, 32, 33. Dr. Tyson’s Anatomy of them in Mr. Lowthorp’s Abridg. V. 3. p. 121. Seignior Redi’s Obs. and others that have written of them.
And not only Worms, but other Creatures also are said to be found in the Stomach; Instances of which are so innumerable, that I shall only select a few related by Persons of the best Credit. And first of all, by some of our own Countrymen. Dr. Lister, (whose Credit and Judgment will hastily be question’d,) gives an Account of true Caterpillars, vomited up by a Boy of nine Years old; and another odd Animal by a poor Man. Mr. Jessop, (another very judicious, curious and ingenious Gentleman,) saw Hexapods vomited up by a Girl; which Hexapods liv’d and fed for five Weeks. See Lowth. ib. p. 135.
And to Foreigners, it is a very strange Story (but attested by Persons of great Repute,) of Catharina Geileria, that dy’d in Feb. 1662, in the Hospital of Altenburg, in Germany, who for twenty Years voided by Vomit and Stool, Toads and Lizzards, &c. Ephemer. Germ. T. 1. Obs. 103. See also the 109. Observation of a Kitten bred in the Stomach, and vomited up; of Whelps also, and other Animals, bred in like Manner. But I fear a Stretch of Fancy might help in some of those last Instances, in those Days when spontaneous Generation was held, when the Philosophers seem to have more slightly examined such Appearances than now they do. But for the breeding of Frogs or Toads, or Lacertæ Aquaticæ in the Stomach, when their Spawn happeneth to be drank, there is a Story in the second Tome of the Ephem. Germ. Obs. 56. that favours it, viz. In the Year 1667, a Butcher’s Man going to buy some Lambs in the Spring, being thirsty, drank greedily of some standing Water, which a while after, caus’d great Pains in his Stomach, which grew worse and worse, and ended in dangerous Symptoms. At last he thought somewhat was alive in his Stomach, and after that, vomited up three live Toads; and so recover’d his former Health.
Such another Story Dr. Sorbait tells, and avoucheth it seen with his own Eyes, of one that had a Toad came out of an Abscess, which came upon drinking foul Water. Obs. 103.
[n] Not only in the Guts, and in the Flesh; but in many other Parts of the Body, Worms have been discover’d. One was voided by Urine, by Mr. Mat. Milford, suppos’d to have come from the Kidneys. Lowth. ib. p. 135. More such Examples Moufet tells of. Ibid. So the Vermes Cucurbitini are very common in the Vessels in Sheeps Livers: And Dr. Lister tells of them, found in the Kidney of a Dog, and thinks that the Snakes and Toads, &c. said to be found in Animals Bodies, may be nothing else. Lowth. ib. p. 120. Nay, more than all this: In Dr. Bern. Verzascha’s sixth Observation, there are divers Instances of Worms bred in the Brain of Man. One, a patient of his, troubled with a violent Headach, and an itching about the Nostrils, and frequent Sneezing; who, with the Use of a Sneezing-Powder, voided a Worm, with a great deal of Snot from his Nose. A like Instance he gives from Bartholine, of a Worm voided from the Nose of O. W. which he guesseth was the famous Olaus Wormius: Another, from a Country Woman of Dietmarsh; and others in Tulpius, F. Hildanus, Schenchius, &c. These Worms he thinks are undoubtedly bred in the Brain: But what way they can come from thence, I can’t tell. Wherefore I rather think, they are such Worms as are mentioned in [Note (k)], and even that Worm that was actually found in the Brain of the Paris Girl (when opened) I guess might be laid in the Laminæ of the Nostrils, by some of the Ichneumon, or other Insect Kind, and might gnaw its way into the Brain, through the Os cribiforme. Of this he tells us from Bartholine, Tandem cùm tabida obiisset, statim aperto cranio præsentes Medici totam cerebelli substantiam, quæ ad dexterum vergit, à reliquo corpore sejunctam, nigrâque tunicâ involutam deprehenderunt: hæc tunica ruptæ, latentem Vermem vivum, & pilosum, duobus punctis splendidis loco oculorum prodidit, ejusdem fere molis cum reliquâ Cerebri portione, qui duarum horaram spacio supervixit. B. Verzas. Obs. Medicæ, p. 16.
Hildanus tells us such another Story, viz. Filius Theod. aust der Roulen, Avunculi mei, diuturno vexabatur dolore capitis.——Deinde febriculâ & sternutatione exortâ, ruptus est Abscessus circa os cribrosum——& Vermis prorepsit. By his Figure of it, the Maggot was an Inch long, and full of Bristles. Fabri Hildan. Cent. 1. Obs.
Galenus Wierus (Physician to the Princ. Jul. & Cleve) he saith, told him, that he had, at divers Times, found Worms in the Gall-bladder in Persons he had opened at Dusseldorp. Id. ib. Obs. 60.
[o] See before [Book IV. Chap. 13. Note (c).]
[p] Some Insects lay up their Eggs in Clusters, as in Holes of Flesh, and such Places, where it is necessary they should be crowded together; which, no question, prevents their being too much dried up in dry Places, and promotes their hatching. But,
[q] As for such as are not to be clustered up, great Order is used. I have seen upon the Posts and Sides of Windows, little round Eggs, resembling small Pearl, which produced small hairy Caterpillars, that were very neatly and orderly laid. And to name no more, the White Butterfly lays its neat Eggs on the Cabbage Leaves in good Order, always gluing one certain End of the Egg to the Leaf. I call them neat Eggs, because if we view them in a Microscope, we shall find them very curiously furrowed, and handsomely made and adorned.