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OBSERVATIONS UPON WORMS IN THE ALIMENTARY CANAL, AND UPON ANTHELMINTIC MEDICINES.
WITH great diffidence I venture to lay before the public my opinions upon worms: nor should I have presumed to do it, had I not enter|tained a hope of thereby exciting further inquiries upon this subject.
WHEN we consider how universally worms are found in all young animals, and how frequently they exist in the human body, without producing disease of any kind, it is natural to conclude, that they serve some useful and necessary purposes in the animal oeco|nomy. Do they consume the superfluous aliment which all young animals are disposed to take before they have been taught, by experience or reason, the bad consequences which arise from it? It is no ob|jection to this opinion, that worms are unknown in the human body in some countries. The laws of na|ture are diversified, and often suspended under pecu|liar circumstances in many cases, where the departure from uniformity is still more unaccountable, than in the present instance. Do worms produce diseases from an excess in their number, and an error in their