Parasitic Worms: Their Role in Medicin[e] in Modern Europe

Little is known about the role that worms played in the lives of modern Europeans. This research strove to combine a multitude of primary sources to shape a cohesive depiction of the role of parasitic worms in modern Europe 1700-1800. The Scientific Revolution played a key role in changing the face of science in the eighteenth century. The microscope opened a new world of discovery, which natural philosophers took advantage of. Several natural philosopher's works combined to quite the spontaneous generation controversy, although it was not completely laid to rest until Pasteur's experiments in 1862. Eighteenth century physicians were able to shift their focus from the question of how worms arose in the human body to how they survived and recording the symptoms, treatments, and the demographic of individuals afflicted with worms. Worms was for the majority a childhood disease, and as such, from journals and diaries one is able to piece together an oblique picture of how adults and children dealt with death