The use of the microscope also revealed a large number of very small organisms in the water and moist soil, some of which undoubtedly resembled helminthes. Considering the wide dissemination of these minute organisms, it was natural to conjecture that after their almost unavoidable introduction into the human system they should grow into helminthes (Boerhave, Hoffmann). Linnæus went even further, for he traced the descent of the liver-fluke of sheep from a free-living planaria (_Dendrocœlum lacteum_), the _Oxyuris vermicularis_ from free-living nematodes, and the _Tænia lata_ (_i.e._, _Dibothriocephalus latus_) from a tapeworm (_Schistocephalus solidus_) found free in the water. Linnæus’ statements met with general approval. However, we must bear in mind that at that time the number of helminthes known was very small, and many of the forms that we have long ago learned to differentiate as specific were then regarded as belonging to one species. Linnæus’ statements were partly supported by similar discoveries by other investigators, such as Unzer, and partly also by the discovery of eggs in many helminthes. It was believed that the eggs hatched in the outside world gave rise to free-living creatures, and that these, after their introduction into the intestine, were transformed into helminthes. By means of these eggs the old investigators tried to explain the HEREDITARY TRANSMISSION of the intestinal worms, which was universally believed until the commencement of the last century. Some authors went so far as to regard the intestinal worms as congenital or inherited; they maintained the possibility of direct transmission, as in suckling, and denied that the eggs reaching the external world had anything to do with the propagation of the parasites.
The more minute comparison between the supposed free-living stages of the helminthes and their adult forms, and the impossibility of finding corresponding free forms for the ever-increasing number of parasitic species, revealed the improbability of Linnæus’ statements (O. Fr. Müller). It was the latter author also who recognized the origin of the tapeworms (_Schistocephalus, Ligula_) found free in the water. They originate from fishes which they quit spontaneously.