Animal Parasites and Messmates. By J. P. Van Benoden. (Henry
S. King and Co.)—We suppose the duties of an executioner, however revolting to the uninitiated, have a certain interest almost scientific to him, which renders nil any abhorrence at the performance of them, and we apprehend this is the case with the naturalist who makes helmin- thology his speciality. In spite of the enthusiasm and largo know- ledge displayed by our garrulous author•, and the interest he 'cannot help arousing, we lay down the book with a feeling of disgust. It is not very pleasant to imagine that we may be harbouring a colony of active and rapidly multiplying creatures, who have no hesitation in dis- turbing our animal economy for their own necessities, and this not only in the intestines, but the stomach, liver, muscles, brain, and even the heart and eyes. Nor shall we feel more comfortable when we learn that it is almost impossible to avoid them, taking, as we do, their germs with every species of animal food and the water we drink. If our readers can conquer this disgust, and read the life-history of vermin and parasites as a romance in low life, they will find plenty of startling episodes and reproductions of human life in it. Here are audacious robberies, cunning disguises, and cowardly assassinations, alongside, of hospitality requited by all sorts of service, from toilet operations to those of the lowest scavenger. The book is fairly illustrated with woodcuts.
Previous page
