Avicenna in his account of worms condenses all the information contained in the Greek authors, but we do not find that he supplies anything new. He in particular copies freely from Aëtius and our author. The same may be said of Serapion, who recommends wormwood, bitter lupines, calamint, peach leaves, cabbage, onions, thyme, colocynth, &c. Averrhoes says that the lumbrici in general are removed by bitters, such as wormwood or wormseed, but that the cucurbitini (tæniæ) require strong medicines. Of the pineæ nuces he says, “Occidunt vermes qui sunt in ventre.” (Collig. v, 42.) Probably this hint may have led to the use of turpentines for the cure of tænia. Avenzoar attributes the formation of worms to ill-digested food in the stomach, and recommends much the same remedies as the Greeks. Haly Abbas describes the three species of worms, and details the symptoms of them. He remarks that these animals are to be killed by medicines of a hot and dry nature, such as bitters. He recommends wormwood, fern, and the like, pounded with honey, vinegar, &c. The remedies mentioned by Alsaharavius are oils, bitters, and drastic purgatives. He treats of lumbrici very fully. Rhases recommends in general terms bitters; for the round, wormwood, for the broad, (tæniæ, called by him semina cucurbita) seriphium, bitter lupines, narcissus, &c. And for the ascarides he directs us to apply a suppository of wool dipped in the gall of a bull. He remarks that they occur most frequently in autumn, being engendered by fruit. He states correctly that they often bring on epilepsy, and looseness of the bowels. He much commends the oil of unripe olives. Vegetius recommends nearly the same medicines for removing the vermes of cattle as those already mentioned, namely, wormwood, cresses, coriander, fenugreek, and the like, boiled in oil, and administered by the mouth and in clysters. (Mulom. i, 44; see also Columella vi, 25.) According to Michaelis and Sprengel the ancient Brahmins were acquainted with the anthelminthic properties of the dolichos pruriens. We have stated above that the most celebrated of the ancient _savans_ believed in the _spontaneous generation_ of animals. This doctrine, although generally rejected at the present time, has been advocated by many modern naturalists of great eminence, such as Baron Buffon and Professor Rudolphi. Virey gives a very impartial statement of the arguments for and against this physiological doctrine. (See Hist. des Mœurs et de l’Instinct des Animaux, ii, 121.) Mr. Madden, the traveller, relates that the bark of the pomegranate is still considered in the east as a specific, not only for ascarides, but also for the tape-worm. He says, “I have rarely seen it fail in the cure of tænia. They make a decoction of two oz. of the fresh bark in a pint of water, this they drink daily till the worm is expelled, which it generally is the third day.” (Travels in Egypt, ii, 371.) SECT. LIX.—ON DRACUNCULUS, OR THE GUINEA-WORM.