--The causes of worms it is not
very easy to explain; at the same time it is very certain that some
known circumstances favour their production.
If the general health of a child be enfeebled, particularly if the
child be strumous, such a condition will favour the generation of these
animals. The protracted use of unwholesome and innutritious articles of
food, or a deficient supply of salt (the most necessary stimulant to
the digestive organs), or other condiments, predisposes to worms. This
observation is strikingly illustrated by an occurrence which formerly
took place in Holland, where an ancient law existed forbidding salt in
the bread of certain criminals; they were in consequence horribly
infested with worms, and quickly died. Sugar, too, whilst a necessary
condiment for the food of children, if given in the form of sweetmeats,
and their indulgence, long persisted in, may so enfeeble the organs of
digestion as to cause worms. And, lastly, (though many other causes
might be referred to) the injudicious means occasionally employed to
effect the removal of these animals, by the debility produced in the
intestinal canal, favours not only their re-appearance but their
increase.
These, then, are so many causes which may occasion worms in the child,
and of course the best and most effectual method to prevent their
production is their avoidance.
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