An addictive personality refers to a particular set of personality traits that make an individual predisposed to developing addictions.[1] This hypothesis states that there may be common personality traits observable in people suffering from addiction. Alan R. Lang of Florida State University, author of an addiction study prepared for the United States National Academy of Sciences, said, "If we can better identify the personality factors, they can help us devise better treatment and can open up new strategies to intervene and break the patterns of addiction."[1]
Description
The following factors are believed to influence addiction susceptibility.
Psychological factors
Alan R Lang's research found that, while there is no single set of traits that is definitive of an “addictive personality",  several “significant personality factors” exist,[1] including:
Impulsivity
Sensation seeking[2][3]
Nonconformity combined with weak commitment to socially valued goals for achievement
Social alienation and tolerance for deviance
Heightened stress coupled with lack of coping skills.
Some claim the existence of “addictive beliefs” in people more likely to develop addictions, such as “I cannot make an impact on my world” or “I am not good enough”, which may lead to developing traits associated with addiction, such as depression and emotional insecurity.[4]   People who strongly believe that they control their own lives and are mostly self-reliant in learning information (rather than relying on others) are less likely to become addicted.[5] However, it is unclear whether these traits are causes, results or merely associated coincidentally. For example, depression due to physical disease[6] can cause feelings of hopelessness that are mitigated after successful treatment of the underlying condition, and addiction can increase dependence on others.
Genetic, physical and environmental factors
Specific genetic variants predispose to drug addiction—it's one of the behavioral disorders most strongly correlated with genetic makeup.[7] Exposure to sustained stress in childhood, such as physical or sexual abuse, especially accompanied by unpredictable parental behavior also correlate with addiction.[8]
Interaction of biopsychosocial factors
Individual traits can share common underlying factors or interact. For example, depression, poor self-control, and compulsive behavior are linked to neurotransmitter abnormalities, i.e., biological mechanisms.[9] Likewise, there is a gene/environment connection in that individuals with particular personality traits may self-select into different environments, e.g., they may seek out work environments where addictive substances are more readily available.
[10]
Signs and symptoms
People who suffer from an addictive personality spend excessive time on a behavior or with an item, not as a hobby but because they feel they have to.[11] Addiction can be defined when the engagement in the activity or experience affects the person’s quality of life in some way. In this way, many people who maintain an addictive personality isolate themselves from social situations in order to mask their addiction.[12]
People that face this issue are currently defined to have a "brain disease" as promoted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and other authorities.[13] People who experience addictive personality disorders typically act on impulses and cannot deal with delayed gratification.[12] At the same time, people with this type of personality tend to believe that they do not fit into societal norms and therefore, acting on impulses, deviate from conformity to rebel.[11] People with addictive personalities are very sensitive to emotional stress. They have trouble handling situations that they deem frustrating, even if the event is for a very short duration. The combination of low self-esteem, impulsivity and low tolerance for stress causes these individuals to have frequent mood swings and often suffer from some sort of depression.[12] A coping mechanism to deal with their conflicting personality becomes their addiction and the addiction acts as something that the person can control when they find it difficult to control their personality traits.[12]
People with addictive personalities typically switch from one addiction to the next.[14] These individuals may show impulsive behavior such as excessive caffeine consumption, Internet use, eating chocolate or other sugar-laden foods, television watching, or even running.[1]
Extraversion, self-monitoring, and loneliness are also common characteristics found in those who suffer from addiction.[15][16] Individuals who score high on self-monitoring are more prone to developing an addiction.[15][16]  High self-monitors are sensitive to social situations;[15][16] they act how they think others expect them to act. They wish to fit in, hence they are very easily influenced by others.  Likewise, those who have low self-esteem also seek peer approval; therefore, they participate in "attractive" activities such as smoking or drinking to try to fit in.[15][16]
People with addictive personalities find it difficult to manage their stress levels. In fact, lack of stress tolerance is a telltale sign of the disorder.[17] They find it difficult to face stressful situations and fight hard to get out of such conditions.  Long-term goals prove difficult to achieve because people with addictive personalities usually focus on the stress that comes with getting through the short-term goals.[17] Such personalities will often switch to other enjoyable activities the moment that they are deprived of enjoyment in their previous addiction.[17]
Addictive individuals feel highly insecure when it comes to relationships. They may often find it difficult to make commitments in relationships or trust their beloved because of the difficulty they find in achieving long-term goals.[1] They constantly seek approval of others and as a result, these misunderstandings may contribute to the destruction of relationships. People suffering from addictive personality disorder usually undergo depression and anxiety, managing their emotions by developing addiction to alcohol, other types of drugs, or other pleasurable activities.[1]
An addict is more prone to depression, anxiety, and anger.[16] Both the addict's environment, genetics and biological tendency contribute to their addiction.[16] People with very severe personality disorders are more likely to become addicts. Addictive substances usually stop primary and secondary neuroses, meaning people with personality disorders like the relief from their pain.[16]
Personality traits and addiction
Addiction is defined by scholars as “a reliance on a substance or behavior that the individual has little power to resist.” Substance-based addictions are those based upon the release of dopamine in the brain, upon which the range of sensations produced by the euphoric event in the brain changes the brain’s immediate behavior, causing more susceptibility for future addictions. Behavior-based addictions, on the other hand, are those that are not linked to neurological behavior as much and are thus thought to be linked to personality traits; it is this type of addiction that combines a behavior with a mental state and the repeated routine is therefore associated with the mental state.[18]
Alan R. Lang, a psychology professor at Florida State University, wrote in a study that the continuing search for the personality traits that play a part in the development of addictions are important for the broader fight against addiction.[1] Identifying the different personality traits will help in the long term when it comes to the treatment of addiction, the strategies to intervene, and how to break the pattern of addiction.[19] With addictive tragedies becoming prevalent in communities around the United States, scientists are asking questions about the aspects of psychological makeup and how they contribute to addiction.[1] They also want to know if there are common threads that are in all addictions, from hard drugs to cigarettes and from gambling to overeating.[1] Through the information that already exists on the personality's role in addictions, with a lot of emphasis on drugs and alcohol, a study from the National Academy of Sciences says that there is no single set of psychological characteristics that pertain to all addictions.[1] The study did show, however, that there are common elements between all addictions.[1]
Common forms of addictive behavior
Substance addiction
One form of addiction is substance addiction. This is different from substance abuse in that abuse of a substance is not really definable while substance addiction is a behavioral addiction where there is an overwhelming involvement with the use and buying of drugs or alcohol.[20] It is a mental dependence or addiction to a substance but not a physical addiction, although it can lead to a physical addiction in the end.[20]
Gambling
Another common addiction that may attract those with addictive personalities is gambling. When an addict behaves mindlessly and irresponsibly while gambling, it can grow to be a bigger problem. A gambler with an addictive personality goes through three stages.[21] The first is the "winning phase" in which the person can still control his or her own behavior. Second comes the "losing phase" where the individual starts to gamble alone, borrowing cash and gambling large sums of money, compiling debt which he or she may not be able to pay off. Finally, the "desperation phase" of the addictive behavior gambler is when the person takes further risks, may engage in illegal loans and activities and even experience depression or attempt suicide.[21]
Eating disorders
Addictive personality behaviors even include eating disorders, such as anorexia, bulimia and compulsive overeating.[21] There are many external factors that also contribute to disordered eating behavior, but for some it can develop into a pathology quite similar to addiction. Those with anorexia nervosa channel their success into this one goal: losing weight. Once a person starts dieting, it is very difficult for him or her to quit. This is similarly true for those suffering from bulimia. A person is said to have bulimia when he or she binges on large amounts of food and then prevents digestion by purging (laxatives, vomiting, water pills, etc.).[21] With compulsive eating, the person has a compulsive urge or craving to eat and will eat even when not hungry. This addictive behavior often results in obesity.[21]
Compulsive buying
Addictive personality can also manifest as compulsive buying disorder. Compulsive buying is different from hoarding or normal purchasing behavior in that it is about the process of buying,[22] not the process of acquisition: goods are bought purely for the sake of buying, and the items themselves get put away and are rarely ever used.[22] People who buy this way describe the act as giving them a high or a buzz.[22] Compulsive buying becomes a disorder when it entails negative effects on the person’s life; these can include financial debt, psychological issues, and interpersonal and marital conflict.[22]
Compulsive buying disorder is frequently comorbid; that is, compulsive buyers have another, concurrent or underlying disorder. Many are experiencing depression and buy things to make themselves feel better—to them, the act is much the same as taking a drug.[22] One study found that 20% have an eating disorder as well.[23] Further disorders that go hand-in-hand with it include mood and anxiety disorders. And like people with other addictions, people with compulsive buying problems tend to get confused by their feelings and to poorly tolerate aversive psychological states such as bad moods.[24] Compulsive buying may lead to psychological problems because the afflicted become dependent on the high it gives them.[23] It puts them in a positive mood at the moment, but later they feel guilt and anxiety over their purchases.[23]
Currently the only treatment for compulsive buying is cognitive behavioral therapy.[22] One way prevention can be achieved is through education: one study found that adolescents who have taken a class or course on finance and financial planning were less likely to buy impulsively.[23]
Cell phone use
Another form of addictive personality is problematic cell phone use. A recent study indicates that people who are addicted to their cell phones share common traits with those who suffer from an addictive personality.[15][16] Characteristics such as self-monitoring, low self-esteem, and peer approval-motivation are commonly found in those who are addicted to their cell phones as well as those who suffer from any other addiction such as alcoholism.[15][16] Despite personality characteristics leading to addictive tendencies, cell phones themselves can partly be blamed for causing addiction. Improvements in cell phones such as GPS, music players, cameras, web browsing, and e-mail can make them an indispensable instrument to an individual.[15][16] Technological advancements reinforce the over-attachment people have to their cell phones, thus contributing to addictive personality.[15][16]
Internet and computer use
A more recent addiction that is being looked into is Internet addiction (also known as pathological Internet use).[25]  This addiction has become more prevalent in younger generations as computer technologies advance.[26] When people suffer from internet addiction they are unable to control their use of the Internet. This can lead to psychological, social, school and work difficulties.[25] Those addicted to the internet may be drawn to social networking sites, online games or other sites. Symptoms of this addiction include the following: mood changes, excessive time spent online, perceived social control while online, and withdrawal when away from the computer.[25]
Tanning
Another form of behavior that is still being investigated is obsessive sun tanning as a behavioral addiction.  In a recent study, researchers have proved that many frequent tanners demonstrate signs and symptoms adapted from substance abuse or dependence criteria.[27]  Many people who admit to being frequent tanners say they tan to look good, feel good, and to relax.[27] People who partake in excessive tanning are usually completely aware of the health risks associated with it, just like addicted smokers are completely aware of the health risks of smoking.[28]  The health hazards are even more severe for high-risk age groups such as teenagers and young adults.[28] Due to the fact that the health risks do not deter tanners from their habit, they are exhibiting self-destructive behavior that resembles the characteristics of those who suffer from substance abuse.[27]
Frequent tanners have said a primary reason why they participate in artificial tanning is to experience the "feel good" feeling tanning salons have to offer.[27]  Researchers have found that ultraviolet (UV) radiation from tanning beds offers mood-enhancing effects that act as a treatment for seasonal affective disorder (SAD).[27] SAD is when a person exhibits minor depression during seasonal changes, such as during the winter months.[27] Ultraviolet radiation has been proven to increase the level of melatonin in the body.  Melatonin plays a key role in sleep patterns and is suggested to reduce anxiety levels.[27]  Thus, those who go tanning experience a sense of relaxation afterwards.  This sensation is what possibly drives tanners to continue tanning regardless of the health risks.  More research needs to be done, but many researchers are beginning to add tanning to the list of addictive processes.[27]
Exercise
Exercise provides physical benefits, but performed persistently to unreasonable excess, becomes hazardous, in addition to leading to  interpersonal difficulties: such persons are considered exercise-dependent.[29]  Vigorous and steady exercise releases endorphins[29] and  endocannabinoids, naturally produced chemicals that are mimicked by opioids and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the active principle of marijuana) respectively. They are together responsible for the "Runner's High".[30] THC binds to the brains CB1 (Cannabinoid Receptor Type 1) receptors: knockout mice that are CB1-deficient show reduced wheel-running.[31]
Exercise addicts undergo emotional withdrawals in the absence of exercise.[29] Performed reasonably, however, exercise is used therapeutically as an adjunct to treat mild-to-moderate depression and opioid addiction/withdrawal, because of its mood-boosting effects and because the released endorphins substitute for opioids.
Relation to leadership
When people are seeking a leader they look for qualities like honesty, intelligence, creativity, and charisma, but a leader also needs to be driven and be willing to challenge certain ideas and practices.[32] The fact is that the psychological profile of a great leader is a compulsive risk-taker.[32] It has been realized that what is sought in leaders is often the same kind of personality found in addicts, whether they are addicted to alcohol, other drugs, or sex.[32]
The reason that this connection exists is because pleasure is a motivator that  is central to learning. Dopamine can be artificially created by substances that carry a risk for addiction, like cocaine, heroin, nicotine and alcohol. People with risk-taking and obsessive personality traits, which are often found in addicts, can be useful in becoming a leader.[32] For many leaders, it is not the case that they are able to do well in spite of their addiction; rather, the same brain wiring and chemistry that make them addicts serve them well in becoming a good leader.[32]
Treatment
When treating addictive personalities, the primary or presenting addiction needs to be treated first. Only once the behavior is under control can the person truly begin to do any of the therapeutic work necessary for recovery.
Common forms of treatment for addictive personalities include cognitive behavioral therapy, as well as other behavioral approaches. These treatments help patients by providing healthy coping skills training, relapse prevention, behavior interventions, family and group therapy, facilitated self-change approaches, and aversion therapy.[33] Behavioral approaches include using positive reinforcement and behavioral modeling.[33] Along with these, other options that help with treating those who suffer with addictive personality include social support, help with goal direction, rewards, enhancing self-efficacy and help teaching coping skills.[33]
Another important skill to learn in treatment, which can be overlooked, is self-soothing. People with addictive personalities use their addictions as coping mechanisms when in stressful situations. However, since their addictions do not actually soothe them, so much as they provide momentary relief from anxiety or uncomfortable emotions, these individuals feel the need to use their addiction more often.[34] Thus, self-soothing and other mindfulness-based interventions can be used for treatment because they provide healthier coping mechanisms once the addictive behavior has been removed.[35] These strategies relate to the use of dialectical behavior therapy, another useful technique. DBT provides ways to tolerate distress and regulate emotions, both of which are challenging to someone with an addictive personality.[36] DBT may not be the most effective treatment for all substance abusers, but there is evidence that it is helpful for most alcoholics and addicts,[36] as well as in eating disorders,[37] and those with co-occurring conditions.[36]
Another form of treatment that has been considered for people with addictive personalities who tend towards substance abuse is medication. A medication called Disulfiram was created in 1947.[38] This pill was used for alcoholics and would cause adverse effects if combined with alcohol. This medication is still used today but two others have been made to help treat alcohol dependence (Acamprosate and Naltrexone).[38] Along with alcohol addictions, Naltrexone is also used for opioid addiction.[38]
Although these medications have proven results in decreasing heavy drinking, doctors still have to consider the patients' health and the risky side effects when prescribing these medications.[38]
Controversy
There is an ongoing debate about the question of whether an addictive personality really exists. There are two sides of this argument, each with many levels and variations. One side believes that there are certain traits and dimensions of personality that, if existent in a person, cause the person to be more prone to developing addictions throughout their life. The other side argues that addiction is in chemistry, as in how the brain’s synapses respond to neurotransmitters and is therefore not affected by personality.
A major argument in favor of defining and labeling an addictive personality has to do with the human ability to make decisions and the notion of free will.[39] This argument suggests human beings are aware of their actions and what the consequences of their own actions are and many choose against certain things because of this. This can be seen in that people are not forced to drink excessively or smoke every day, but it is within the reach of their own free will that some may choose to do so.[39] Therefore, those with addictive personalities are high in neuroticism and hence choose to engage in riskier behaviors.
The theory of addictive personalities agrees that there are two types of people: risk-takers and risk-averse. Risk-takers enjoy challenges, new experiences and want instant gratification. These people enjoy the excitement of danger and trying new things.[39] On the other hand, risk-averse are those who are by nature cautious in what they do and the activities they involve themselves in.[39] It is the personality traits of individuals that combine to create either a risk-taker or risk-averse person.
Some people believe that claiming that there is such thing as an addictive personality belittles the types and significance of many tough addictions. Others also argue that by placing a label on the type of people that have addictions, this stereotypes people and denies that addiction can happen to anyone.[40] Some people who agree with this argument believe that claiming an addictive personality may be used as an excuse by some who do not use drugs, and are hence not addicted, to explain why they are not addicted to drugs and other people are.[40]
Other arguments against this theory of addictive personalities is that it is very deterministic. By labeling someone with an addictive personality, one may think that there is no way to change the outcome and that he or she will inevitably develop addictions.[41] Also, this label may cause many to believe that there is no way to change this or treat addictions, which, according to many researchers and doctors, is untrue.[41]

"." N.p., 6 April 2001. Rpt. in Encyclopedia of Psychology. BNET. Web. 7 April 2010.
Benedict-Mason, Stephen. "." Psychology Today. N.p., 14 March 2009. Web. 31 March 2010.
Engs, Ruth C. "." Addictive Behaviors. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 March 2010.

How do you tell if you have an addictive personality?


 Hauts-de-
France
Normandy
Île-de-
France
Grand Est
Bourgogne-
Franche-
Comté
Centre-
Val de Loire
Pays de
la Loire
Brittany
Nouvelle-
Aquitaine
Auvergne-
Rhône-Alpes
Occitanie
Provence-
Alpes-
Côte d'Azur
Corsica
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RéunionBelgium
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Germany
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The following are ranked lists of French regions.
Population figures are from the 2016 census, with the exception of Mayotte, whose statistics are as of 2017.
Region boundaries are as of 2018.

By population
These figures are from the census in 2016.[1][2] Statistics for Mayotte are from 2017.[3]

By area
The total area of France is 635,775km², of which 543,974km² (85.6%) is in Europe.[4]

By density
In 2016, the official population of France had a density of 104.8 people per square kilometre, including the overseas regions, and 118.5 people per square kilometre excluding them.

See also
List of French regions and overseas collectivities by GDP


Ascariasis is a disease caused by the parasitic roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides.[1] Infections have no symptoms in more than 85% of cases, especially if the number of worms is small.[1] Symptoms increase with the number of worms present and may include shortness of breath and fever in the beginning of the disease.[1] These may be followed by symptoms of abdominal swelling, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.[1] Children are most commonly affected, and in this age group the infection may also cause poor weight gain, malnutrition, and learning problems.[1][2][5]

Infection occurs by eating food or drink contaminated with Ascaris eggs from feces.[2] The eggs hatch in the intestines, burrow through the gut wall, and migrate to the lungs via the blood.[2] There they break into the alveoli and pass up the trachea, where they are coughed up and may be swallowed.[2] The larvae then pass through the stomach for a second time into the intestine, where they become adult worms.[2] It is a type of soil-transmitted helminthiasis and part of a group of diseases called helminthiases.[6]

Prevention is by improved sanitation, which includes improving access to toilets and proper disposal of feces.[1][7] Handwashing with soap appears protective.[8] In areas where more than 20% of the population is affected, treating everyone at regular intervals is recommended.[1] Reoccurring infections are common.[2][9] There is no vaccine.[2] Treatments recommended by the World Health Organization are the medications albendazole, mebendazole, levamisole, or pyrantel pamoate.[2] Other effective agents include tribendimidine and nitazoxanide.[2]

About 0.8 to 1.2 billion people globally have ascariasis, with the most heavily affected populations being in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia.[1][10][11] This makes ascariasis the most common form of soil-transmitted helminthiasis.[10] As of 2010 it caused about 2,700 deaths a year, down from 3,400 in 1990.[12] Another type of Ascaris infects pigs.[1] Ascariasis is classified as a neglected tropical disease.[6]

Signs and symptoms

In populations where worm infections are wide-spread, it is common to find that most people are infected by a small number of worms, while a small number of people are heavily infected. This is characteristic of many types of worm infections.[1][13] Those people who are infected with only a small number of worms usually have no symptoms.
Migrating larvae
As larval stages travel through the body, they may cause visceral damage, peritonitis and inflammation, enlargement of the liver or spleen, and an inflammation of the lungs. Pulmonary manifestations take place  during  larval migration and may present as Loeffler's syndrome,  a transient respiratory illness associated with blood eosinophilia and pulmonary infiltrates with radiographic shadowing.[14]
Intestinal blockage

The worms can occasionally cause intestinal blockage when large numbers get tangled into a bolus or they may migrate from the small intestine, which may require surgery. More than 796 A. lumbricoides worms weighing up to 550g [19 ounces] were recovered at autopsy from a 2-year-old South African girl. The worms had caused torsion and gangrene of the ileum, which was interpreted as the cause of death.[16] The worms lack teeth. However they can rarely cause bowel perforations by inducing volvulus and closed loop obstruction.
Bowel obstruction
Bowel obstruction may occur in up to 0.2 per 1000 per year.[1] A worm may block the ampulla of Vater, or go into the main pancreatic duct, resulting in acute pancreatitis with raised serum levels of amylase and lipase. Occasionally, a worm can travel through the billiary tree and even into the gallbladder, causing acute cholangitis or acute cholecystitis.
Allergies
Ascariasis may result in allergies to shrimp and dustmites due to the shared antigen, tropomyosin; this has not been confirmed in the laboratory.[17][18]
Malnutrition
The worms in the intestine may cause malabsorption and anorexia which contribute to malnutrition.[19]  The malabsorption may be due to a loss of brush border enzymes, erosion and flattening of the villi, and inflammation of the lamina propria.[20]
Others
Ascaris have an aversion to some general anesthetics and may exit the body, sometimes through the mouth, when an infected individual is put under general anesthesia.[21]
Cause

Transmission
The source of infection is from objects which have been contaminated with fecal matter containing eggs.[2] Ingestion of infective eggs from soil contaminated with human feces or contaminated vegetables and water is the primary route of infection. Infectious eggs may occur  on other objects such as hands, money and furniture.[2] Transmission from human to human by direct contact is impossible.[22]
Transmission comes through municipal recycling of wastewater into crop fields. This is quite common in emerging industrial economies and poses serious risks for local crop sales and exports of contaminated vegetables. A 1986 outbreak of ascariasis in Italy was traced to irresponsible wastewater recycling used to grow Balkan vegetable exports.[23]
The number of ova (eggs) in sewage or in crops that were irrigated with raw or partially treated sewage, is a measure of the degree of ascariasis incidence. For example:
In a study published in 1992, municipal wastewater in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia detected over 100 eggs per litre of wastewater[24] and in Czechoslovakia was as high as 240–1050 eggs per litre.[25]
In one field study in Marrakech, Morocco, where raw sewage is used to fertilize crop fields, Ascaris eggs were detected at the rate of 0.18 eggs/kg in potatoes, 0.27 eggs/kg in turnip, 4.63 eggs/kg in mint, 0.7 eggs/kg in carrots, and 1.64 eggs/kg in radish.[26] A similar study in the same area showed that 73% of children working on these farms were infected with helminths, particularly Ascaris, probably as a result of exposure to the raw sewage.

The larva of Ascaris lumbricoides developing in the egg
Ascaris lumbricoides adult worms (with measuring tape for scale)
Ascaris lumbricoides adult worms
Ascaris egg, incubation process: The Ascaris egg incubation process consists in placing the egg in a controlled environment, at 26°C during 28 days, in acidic conditions. This process allows for evaluation of an egg to determine if it is viable or not, by watching the bipartition of the nucleus, and the growth of the larva.

Lifecycle
The first appearance of eggs in stools is 60–70 days. In larval ascariasis, symptoms occur 4–16 days after infection. The final symptoms are gastrointestinal discomfort, colic and vomiting, fever, and observation of live worms in stools. Some patients may have pulmonary symptoms or neurological disorders during migration of the larvae. There are generally few or no symptoms. A bolus of worms may obstruct the intestine; migrating larvae may cause pneumonitis and eosinophilia. Adult worms have a lifespan of 1–2 years which means that individuals may be infected all their lives as worms die and new worms are acquired.[13]
Eggs can survive potentially for 15 years and a single worm may produce 200,000 eggs a day.[2] They maintain their position by swimming against the intestinal flow.[27]
Mechanism
Ascaris takes most of its nutrients from the partially digested host food in the intestine. There is some evidence that it can secrete anti-enzymes, presumably to protect itself from digestion by the hosts' enzymes. Children are often more severely affected.[1]
Diagnosis
Most diagnoses are made by identifying the appearance of the worm or eggs in feces. Due to the large quantity of eggs laid, physicians can diagnose using only one or two fecal smears.
The diagnosis is usually incidental when the host passes a worm in the stool or vomit.  The eggs can be seen in a smear of fresh feces examined on a glass slide under a microscope and there are various techniques to concentrate them first or increase their visibility, such as the ether sedimentation method or the Kato technique. The eggs have a characteristic shape: they are oval with a thick, mamillated shell (covered with rounded mounds or lumps), measuring 35-50 micrometer in diameter and 40-70  in length.  During pulmonary disease, larvae may be found in fluids aspirated from the lungs. White blood cells counts may demonstrate peripheral eosinophilia; this is common in many parasitic infections and is not specific to ascariasis. On X-ray, 15–35cm long filling defects, sometimes with whirled appearance (bolus of worms).
Prevention
Prevention is by improved access to sanitation which includes the use of properly functioning and clean toilets by all community members as one important aspect.[1] Handwashing with soap may be protective; however, there is no evidence it affects the severity of disease.[8] Eliminating the use of untreated human faeces as fertilizer is also important.
In areas where more than 20% of the population is affected treating everyone is recommended.[1] This has a cost of about 2 to 3 cents per person per treatment.[1] This is known as mass drug administration and is often carried out among school-age children.[28] For this purpose, broad-spectrum benzimidazoles such as mebendazole and albendazole are the drugs of choice recommended by WHO.[29]
Treatment

Medications
Medications that are used to kill roundworms are called ascaricides. Those recommended by the World Health Organization for ascariasis are: albendazole, mebendazole, levamisole and pyrantel pamoate.[2] Other effective agents include tribendimidine and nitazoxanide.[2] Pyrantel pamoate may induce intestinal obstruction in a heavy worm load. Albendazole is contraindicated during pregnancy and children under two years of age. Thiabendazole may cause migration of the worm into the esophagus, so it is usually combined with piperazine.
Piperazine is a flaccid paralyzing agent that blocks the response of Ascaris muscle to acetylcholine, which immobilizes the worm. It prevents migration when treatment is accomplished with weak drugs such as thiabendazole. If used by itself, it causes the worm to be passed out in the feces and may be used when worms have caused blockage of the intestine or the biliary duct.
Corticosteroids can treat some of the symptoms, such as inflammation.
Other medications
Hexylresorcinol effective in single dose[30]
Santonin, more toxic than hexylresorcinol[30] and often only partly effective.[31]
Oil of chenopodium, more toxic than hexylresorcinol[30]
Surgery
In some cases with severe infestation the worms may cause bowel obstruction, requiring emergency surgery.[32] The bowel obstruction may be due to all the worms or twisting of the bowel.[32] During the surgery the worms may be manually removed.[32]
Prognosis
It is rare for the infections to be life-threatening.[1]
Epidemiology

Regions
Ascariasis is common in Africa and in Southeast Asia. It also occurs in the United States including Gulf Coast.
Infection estimates
Roughly 0.8-1.3 billion individuals are infected with this intestinal worm, primarily in Africa and Asia.[1][2][11] About 120 to 220 million of these cases are symptomatic.[1]
Deaths
As of 2010 Ascariasis caused about 2,700 directly attributable deaths, down from 3,400 in 1990.[12] The indirectly attributable deaths due to the malnutrition link may be much higher.
Research
There are two animal models, the mouse and pig, used in studying Ascaris infection.[33][34]
Other animals
Infections in pigs leads to poor weight gain and thus financial losses for the farmer.[1] In pigs the infection is due to Ascaris suum.[1] In horses and other equines, the equine roundworm is Parascaris equorum and the parasites are colloquially called Ascarids.  A problem for young animals more than for mature ones, clinical signs include unthriftiness, potbelly, rough hair coat, and slow growth.[35]

Miscellaneous
Kings of England Richard III[36] and Henry VIII[37] both had ascariasis.

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 on the


William Penn (14 October 1644 – 30 July 1718) was the son of Sir William Penn, and was an English nobleman, writer, early Quaker, and founder of the English North American colony the Province of Pennsylvania. He was an early advocate of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Native Americans. Under his direction, the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed.
In 1681, King Charles II handed over a large piece of his American land holdings to Penn to pay the debts the king owed to Penn's father. This land included present-day Pennsylvania and Delaware. Penn immediately set sail and took his first step on American soil in New Castle (now in Delaware) in 1682 after his trans-Atlantic journey.[1] On this occasion, the colonists pledged allegiance to Penn as their new proprietor, and the first general assembly was held in the colony. Afterward, Penn journeyed up the Delaware River and founded Philadelphia. However, Penn's Quaker government was not viewed favorably by the Dutch, Swedish, and English settlers in what is now Delaware. They had no "historical" allegiance to Pennsylvania, so they almost immediately began petitioning for their own assembly. In 1704 they achieved their goal when the three southernmost counties of Pennsylvania were permitted to split off and become the new semi-autonomous colony of Lower Delaware. As the most prominent, prosperous and influential "city" in the new colony, New Castle became the capital.
As one of the earlier supporters of colonial unification, Penn wrote and urged for a union of all the English colonies in what was to become the United States of America. The democratic principles that he set forth in the Pennsylvania Frame of Government served as an inspiration for the United States Constitution.
As a pacifist Quaker, Penn considered the problems of war and peace deeply. He developed a forward-looking project for a United States of Europe through the creation of a European Assembly made of deputies who could discuss and adjudicate controversies peacefully. He is therefore considered the very first thinker to suggest the creation of a European Parliament.[2]
A man of deep religious convictions, Penn wrote numerous works in which he exhorted believers to adhere to the spirit of Primitive Christianity.[3] He was imprisoned several times in the Tower of London due to his faith, and his book No Cross, No Crown (1669), which he wrote while in prison, has become a Christian classic.[4]
Biography
Early years

William Penn was born in 1644 at Tower Hill, London, the son of English Admiral Sir William Penn, and Margaret Jasper, from a Dutch family, previously the widow of a Dutch captain, and the daughter of a rich merchant from Rotterdam.[5] William Penn, Sr. served in the Commonwealth Navy during the English Civil War and was rewarded by Oliver Cromwell with estates in Ireland. The lands were seized from Irish Catholics in retaliation for the failed Irish Rebellion of 1641. Admiral Penn took part in the restoration of Charles II and was eventually knighted and served in the Royal Navy. At the time of his son's birth, Captain Penn was twenty-three and an ambitious naval officer in charge of quelling Irish Catholic unrest and blockading Irish ports.[6]
William Penn grew up during the rule of Oliver Cromwell, who succeeded in leading a Puritan rebellion against King Charles I; the king was beheaded when Penn was age 5.[7] Penn's father was often at sea. Little William caught smallpox at a young age, losing all his hair (he wore a wig until he left college), prompting his parents to move from the suburbs to an estate in Essex.[8] The country life made a lasting impression on young Penn, and kindled in him a love of horticulture.[9] Their neighbor was famed diarist Samuel Pepys, who was friendly at first but later secretly hostile to the Admiral, perhaps embittered in part by his failed seductions of both Penn's mother and his sister Peggy.[10]
Penn was educated first at Chigwell School, by private tutors whilst in Ireland, and later at Christ Church, Oxford.[11] At that time, there were no state schools and nearly all educational institutions were affiliated with the Anglican Church. Children from poor families had to have a wealthy sponsor to get an education. Penn's education heavily leaned on the classical authors and "no novelties or conceited modern writers" were allowed including William Shakespeare.[12] Foot racing was Penn's favorite sport, and he would often run the more than three-mile (5 km) distance from his home to the school. The school itself was cast in an Anglican mode– strict, humorless, and somber– and teachers had to be pillars of virtue and provide sterling examples to their charges.[13] Though later opposing Anglicanism on religious grounds, Penn absorbed many Puritan behaviors, and was known later for his serious demeanor, strict behavior and lack of humor.[7]
After a failed mission to the Caribbean, Admiral Penn and his family were exiled to his lands in Ireland. It was during this period, when Penn was about fifteen, that he met Thomas Loe, a Quaker missionary, who was maligned by both Catholics and Protestants. Loe was admitted to the Penn household and during his discourses on the "Inner Light", young Penn recalled later that "the Lord visited me and gave me divine Impressions of Himself."[14]
A year later, Cromwell was dead, the royalists resurging, and the Penn family returned to England. The middle class aligned itself with the royalists and Admiral Penn was sent on a secret mission to bring back exiled Prince Charles. For his role in restoring the monarchy, Admiral Penn was knighted and gained a powerful position as Commissioner of the Navy.[15]
In 1660, Penn arrived at Oxford and enrolled as a gentleman scholar with an assigned servant. The student body was a volatile mix of swashbuckling Cavaliers (aristocratic Anglicans), sober Puritans, and nonconforming Quakers. The new government's discouragement of religious dissent gave the Cavaliers the license to harass the minority groups. Because of his father's high position and social status, young Penn was firmly a Cavalier but his sympathies lay with the persecuted Quakers. To avoid conflict, he withdrew from the fray and became a reclusive scholar.[16] Also at this time, Penn was developing his individuality and philosophy of life. He found that he was not in sympathy with either his father's martial view of the world or his mother's society-oriented sensibilities, "I had no relations that inclined to so solitary and spiritual way; I was a child alone. A child given to musing, occasionally feeling the divine presence."[17]
Penn returned home for the extraordinary splendor of the King's restoration ceremony and was a guest of honor alongside his father, who received a highly unusual royal salute for his services to the Crown.[16] Though undetermined at the time, the Admiral had great hopes for his son's career under the favor of the King. Back at Oxford, Penn considered a medical career and took some dissecting classes. Rational thought began to spread into science, politics, and economics, which he took a liking to. When theologian John Owen was fired from his deanery, Penn and other open-minded students rallied to his side and attended seminars at the dean's house, where intellectual discussions covered the gamut of new thought.[18] Penn learned the valuable skills of forming ideas into theory, discussing theory through reasoned debate, and testing the theories in the real world.
At this time he also faced his first moral dilemma. After Owen was censured again after being fired, students were threatened with punishment for associating with him. However, Penn stood by the dean, thereby gaining a fine and reprimand from the university.[19] The Admiral, despairing of the charges, pulled young Penn away from Oxford, hoping to distract him from the heretical influences of the university.[20] The attempt had no effect and father and son struggled to understand each other. Back at school, the administration imposed stricter religious requirements including daily chapel attendance and required a dress. Penn rebelled against enforced worship and was expelled. His father, in a rage, attacked young Penn with a cane and forced him from their home.[21] Penn's mother made peace in the family, which allowed her son to return home but she quickly concluded that both her social standing and her husband's career were being threatened by their son's behavior. So at age 18, young Penn was sent to Paris to get him out of view, improve his manners, and expose him to another culture.[22]
In Paris, at the court of young Louis XIV, Penn found French manners far more refined than the coarse manners of his countrymen– but the extravagant display of wealth and privilege did not sit well with him.[23] Though impressed by Notre Dame and the Catholic ritual, he felt uncomfortable with it. Instead, he sought out spiritual direction from French Protestant theologian Moise Amyraut, who invited Penn to stay with him in Saumur for a year.[24] The undogmatic Christian humanist talked of a tolerant, adapting view of religion which appealed to Penn, who later stated, "I never had any other religion in my life than what I felt."[25] By adapting his mentor's belief in free will, Penn felt unburdened of Puritanical guilt and rigid beliefs and was inspired to search out his own religious path.[26]
Upon returning to England after two years abroad, he presented to his parents a mature, sophisticated, well-mannered, "modish" gentleman, though Samuel Pepys noted young Penn's "vanity of the French".[27] Penn had developed a taste for fine clothes, and for the rest of his life would pay somewhat more attention to his dress than most Quakers. The Admiral had great hopes that his son then had the practical sense and the ambition necessary to succeed as an aristocrat. He had young Penn enroll in law school but soon his studies were interrupted. With warfare with the Dutch imminent, young Penn decided to shadow his father at work and join him at sea.[28] Penn functioned as an emissary between his father and the King, then returned to his law studies. Worrying about his father in battle he wrote, "I never knew what a father was till I had wisdom enough to prize him... I pray God... that you come home secure."[29] The Admiral returned triumphantly but London was in the grip of the plague of 1665. Young Penn reflected on the suffering and the deaths, and the way humans reacted to the epidemic. He wrote that the scourge "gave me a deep sense of the vanity of this World, of the Irreligiousness of the Religions in it."[30] Further he observed how Quakers on errands of mercy were arrested by the police and demonized by other religions, even accused of causing the plague.[31]

With his father laid low by gout, young Penn was sent to Ireland in 1666 to manage the family landholdings. While there he became a soldier and took part in suppressing a local Irish rebellion. Swelling with pride, he had his portrait painted wearing a suit of armor, his most authentic likeness.[32] His first experience of warfare gave him the sudden idea of pursuing a military career, but the fever of battle soon wore off after his father discouraged him, "I can say nothing but advise to sobriety...I wish your youthful desires mayn't outrun your discretion."[33] While Penn was abroad, the Great Fire of 1666 consumed central London. As with the plague, the Penn family was spared.[34] But after returning to the city, Penn was depressed by the mood of the city and his ailing father, so he went back to the family estate in Ireland to contemplate his future. The reign of King Charles had further tightened restrictions against all religious sects other than the Anglican Church, making the penalty for unauthorized worship imprisonment or deportation. The "Five Mile Act" prohibited dissenting teachers and preachers to come within that distance of any borough.[35] The Quakers were especially targeted and their meetings were deemed undesirable.
Religious conversion
Despite the dangers, Penn began to attend Quaker meetings near Cork. A chance re-meeting with Thomas Loe confirmed Penn's rising attraction to Quakerism.[36] Soon Penn was arrested for attending Quaker meetings. Rather than state that he was not a Quaker and thereby dodge any charges, he publicly declared himself a member and finally joined the Quakers at the age of 22.[37] In pleading his case, Penn stated that since the Quakers had no political agenda (unlike the Puritans) they should not be subject to laws that restricted political action by minority religions and other groups. Sprung from jail because of his family's rank rather than his argument, Penn was immediately recalled to London by his father. The Admiral was severely distressed by his son's actions and took the conversion as a personal affront.[38] His father's hopes that Penn's charisma and intelligence would win him favor at the court were crushed.[39] Though enraged, the Admiral tried his best to reason with his son but to no avail. His father not only feared for his own position but that his son seemed bent on a dangerous confrontation with the Crown.[40] In the end, young Penn was more determined than ever, and the Admiral felt he had no option but to order his son out of the house and to withhold his inheritance.[41]
As Penn became homeless, he began to live with Quaker families.[41] Quakers were relatively strict Christians in the 17th century. They refused to bow or take off their hats to social superiors, believing all men equal under God, a belief antithetical to an absolute monarchy which believed the monarch divinely appointed by God. Therefore, Quakers were treated as heretics because of their principles and their failure to pay tithes. They also refused to swear oaths of loyalty to the King believing that this was following the command of Jesus not to swear. The basic ceremony of Quakerism was silent worship in a meeting house, conducted in a group.[36] There was no ritual and no professional clergy, and many Quakers disavowed the concept of original sin. God's communication came to each individual directly, and if so moved, the individual shared his revelations, thoughts or opinions with the group. Penn found all these tenets to sit well with his conscience and his heart.
Penn became a close friend of George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, whose movement started in the 1650s during the tumult of the Cromwellian revolution. The times sprouted many new sects besides Quakers, including Seekers, Ranters, Antinomians, Seventh Day Baptists, Soul sleepers, Adamites, Diggers, Levellers, Anabaptists (such as Swiss and German Mennonites, etc.), Behmenists, Muggletonians, and many others, as the Puritans were more tolerant than the monarchy had been.[42][43] Following Oliver Cromwell's death, however, the Crown was re-established and the King responded with harassment and persecution of all religions and sects other than Anglicanism. Fox risked his life, wandering from town to town, and he attracted followers who likewise believed that the "God who made the world did not dwell in temples made with hands."[44] By abolishing the church's authority over the congregation, Fox not only extended the Protestant Reformation more radically, but he helped extend the most important principle of modern political history– the rights of the individual– upon which modern democracies were later founded.[45] Penn travelled frequently with Fox, through Europe and England. He also wrote a comprehensive, detailed explanation of Quakerism along with a testimony to the character of George Fox, in his introduction to the autobiographical Journal of George Fox.[46] In effect, Penn became the first theologian, theorist, and legal defender of Quakerism, providing its written doctrine and helping to establish its public standing.[47]
Penn in Ireland (1669–1670)
In 1669,[48] Penn travelled to Ireland to deal with many of his father's estates. While there, he attended many meetings and stayed with leading Quaker families. He became a great friend of William Morris, a leading Quaker figure in Cork, and often stayed with Morris at Castle Salem near Rosscarbery.
Penn in Germany (1671–1677)
Between 1671 and 1677 William Penn made trips to Germany on behalf of the Quaker faith, resulting in a German Settlement in Pennsylvania that was symbolic in two ways: it was a specifically German-speaking congregation, and it comprised religious dissenters. Pennsylvania has remained the heartland for various branches of Anabaptists: Old Order Mennonites, Ephrata Cloisters, Brethren, and Amish. Pennsylvania also became home for many Lutheran refugees from Catholic provinces (e.g., Salzburg), as well as for German Catholics who had also been discriminated against in their home country.
In Philadelphia, Francis Daniel Pastorius negotiated the purchase of 15,000 acres (61km²) from his friend William Penn, the proprietor of the colony, and laid out the settlement of Germantown. The German Society of Pennsylvania was established in 1764 and is still functioning today from its headquarters in Philadelphia.
Persecutions and imprisonments

Penn's first of many pamphlets, Truth Exalted: To Princes, Priests, and People (1668), was a criticism of all religious groups, except Quakers, which he perceived as the only true Christian group living at that time in England. He branded the Catholic Church as "the Whore of Babylon", defied the Church of England, and called the Puritans "hypocrites and revelers in God". He also lambasted all "false prophets, tithemongers, and opposers of perfection".[49] Pepys thought it a "ridiculous nonsensical book" that he was "ashamed to read".[50]
In 1668 Penn was imprisoned in the Tower of London after writing a follow-up track entitled The Sandy Foundation Shaken. The Bishop of London ordered that Penn be held indefinitely until he publicly recanted his written statements. The official charge was publication without a license but the real crime was blasphemy, assigned in a warrant by King Charles II.[51] Placed in solitary confinement in an unheated cell and threatened with a life sentence, Penn was being accused of denying the Trinity, though this was a misinterpretation Penn himself refuted in the essay Innocency with her open face, presented by way of Apology for the book entitled The Sandy Foundation Shaken, where he himself proceeded to prove the Godhead of Christ.[52] Penn said the rumor had been "maliciously insinuated" by detractors who wanted to create a bad reputation to Quakers.[53] Later, he stated that what he really denied were the Catholic interpretations of this theological topic, and the use of unbiblical concepts to explain it.[54][55][56] Penn expressly confessed he believed in the Holy Three as well as in the divinity of Christ.[57] In 1668 in a letter to the anti-Quaker minister Jonathan Clapham,  Penn wrote: "Thou must not, reader, from my querying thus, conclude we do deny (as he hath falsely charged us) those glorious Three, which bear record in heaven, the Father, Word, and Spirit; neither the infinity, eternity and divinity of Jesus Christ; for that we know he is the mighty God."[58][59]
Given writing materials in the hope that he would put on paper his retraction, Penn wrote another inflammatory treatise, No Cross, No Crown: A Discourse Shewing The Nature and Discipline of the Holy Cross of Christ and that the Denial of Self, and Daily Hearing of Christ's Cross, is the Alone Way to Rest and Kingdom of God. In it, Penn exhorted believers to adhere to the spirit of Primitive Christianity. This work was remarkable for its historical analysis and citation of 68 authors whose quotations and commentary he had committed to memory and was able to summon without any reference material at hand.[60] Penn petitioned for an audience with the King, which was denied but which led to negotiations on his behalf by one of the royal chaplains. Penn bravely declared, "My prison shall be my grave before I will budge a jot: for I owe my conscience to no mortal man."[51] He was released after eight months of imprisonment.[61]
Penn demonstrated no remorse for his aggressive stance and vowed to keep fighting against the wrongs of the Church and the King. For its part, the Crown continued to confiscate Quaker property and jailed thousands of Quakers. From then on, Penn's religious views effectively exiled him from English society; he was sent down (expelled) from Christ Church College of Oxford University for being a Quaker, and was arrested several times. Among the most famous of these was the trial following his 1670 arrest with William Mead. Penn was accused of preaching before a gathering in the street, which Penn had deliberately provoked to test the validity of the 1664 Conventicle Act, just renewed in 1670, which denied the right of assembly to "more than five persons in addition to members of the family, for any religious purpose not according to the rules of the Church of England".[62] Penn pleaded for his right to see a copy of the charges laid against him and the laws he had supposedly broken, but the judge, Thomas Howel, refused, although this was a right guaranteed by law. Furthermore, the judge directed the jury to come to a verdict without hearing the defense.[63][64]

Despite heavy pressure from Howel to convict Penn, the jury returned a verdict of "not guilty". When invited by the judge to reconsider their verdict and to select a new foreman, they refused and were sent to a cell over several nights to mull over their decision. The Lord Mayor then told the jury, "You shall go together and bring in another verdict, or you shall starve", and not only had Penn sent to jail in Newgate Prison (on a charge of contempt of court for refusing to remove his hat), but the full jury followed him, and they were additionally fined the equivalent of a year's wages each.[65][66] The members of the jury, fighting their case from prison in what became known as Bushel's Case, managed to win the right for all English juries to be free from the control of judges.[67] This case was one of the more important trials that shaped the concept of jury nullification[68] and was a victory for the use of the writ of habeas corpus as a means of freeing those unlawfully detained.
With his father dying, Penn wanted to see him one more time and patch up their differences. But he urged his father not to pay his fine and free him, "I entreat thee not to purchase my liberty." But the Admiral refused to let the opportunity pass and he paid the fine, releasing his son.
The old man had gained respect for his son's integrity and courage and told him, "Let nothing in this world tempt you to wrong your conscience."[69] The Admiral also knew that after his death young Penn would become more vulnerable in his pursuit of justice. In an act which not only secured his son's protection but also set the conditions for the founding of Pennsylvania, the Admiral wrote to the Duke of York, the successor to the throne.
The Duke and the King, in return for the Admiral's lifetime of service to the Crown, promised to protect young Penn and make him a royal counselor.[70]
Penn was not disinherited and he came into a large fortune but found himself in jail again for six months as he continued to agitate. After gaining his freedom, he finally married Gulielma Springett in April 1672, after a four-year engagement filled with frequent separations. Penn stayed close to home but continued writing his tracts, espousing religious tolerance and railing against discriminatory laws.[71] A minor split developed in the Quaker community between those who favored Penn's analytical formulations and those who preferred Fox's simple precepts.[72] But the persecution of Quakers had accelerated and the differences were overridden; Penn again resumed missionary work in Holland and Germany.[73]
Founding of Pennsylvania

Seeing conditions deteriorating, Penn decided to appeal directly to the King and the Duke. Penn proposed a solution which would solve the dilemma—a mass emigration of English Quakers. Some Quakers had already moved to North America, but the New England Puritans, especially, were as hostile towards Quakers as Anglicans in England were, and some of the Quakers had been banished to the Caribbean.[74] In 1677 a group of prominent Quakers that included Penn purchased the colonial province of West Jersey (half of the current state of New Jersey).[75] That same year, two hundred settlers from the towns of Chorleywood and Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire and other towns in nearby Buckinghamshire arrived, and founded the town of Burlington. George Fox himself had made a journey to America to verify the potential of further expansion of the early Quaker settlements.[76] In 1682 East Jersey was also purchased by Quakers.[77][78]
With the New Jersey foothold in place, Penn pressed his case to extend the Quaker region. Whether from personal sympathy or political expediency, to Penn's surprise, the King granted an extraordinarily generous charter which made Penn the world's largest private (non-royal) landowner, with over 45,000 square miles (120,000km2).[79]:64 Penn became the sole proprietor of a huge tract of land west of New Jersey and north of Maryland (which belonged to Lord Baltimore), and gained sovereign rule of the territory with all rights and privileges (except the power to declare war). The land of Pennsylvania had belonged to the Duke of York, who acquiesced, but he retained New York and the area around New Castle and the Eastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula.[80] In return, one-fifth of all gold and silver mined in the province (which had virtually none) was to be remitted to the King, and the Crown was freed of a debt to the Admiral of £16,000, equal to £2,463,355 today.[81]

Penn first called the area "New Wales", then "Sylvania" (Latin for "forests" or "woods"), which King Charles II changed to "Pennsylvania" in honor of the elder Penn.[82] On 4 March 1681, the King signed the charter and the following day Penn jubilantly wrote, "It is a clear and just thing, and my God who has given it to me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation."[83] Penn then traveled to America and while there, he negotiated Pennsylvania's first land-purchase survey with the Lenape Indian tribe.  Penn purchased the first tract of land under a white oak tree at Graystones on 15 July 1682.[84] Penn drafted a charter of liberties for the settlement creating a political utopia guaranteeing free and fair trial by jury, freedom of religion, freedom from unjust imprisonment and free elections.[85]

Having proved himself an influential scholar and theoretician, Penn now had to demonstrate the practical skills of a real estate promoter, city planner, and governor for his "Holy Experiment", the province of Pennsylvania.[86]
Besides achieving his religious goals, Penn had hoped that Pennsylvania would be a profitable venture for himself and his family. But he proclaimed that he would not exploit either the natives or the immigrants, "I would not abuse His love, nor act unworthy of His providence, and so defile what came to me clean."[87] To that end, Penn's land purchase from the Lenape included the latter party's retained right to traverse the sold lands for purposes of hunting, fishing, and gathering.[88] Though thoroughly oppressed, getting Quakers to leave England and make the dangerous journey to the New World was his first commercial challenge. Some Quaker families had already arrived in Maryland and New Jersey but the numbers were small. To attract settlers in large numbers, he wrote a glowing prospectus, considered honest and well-researched for the time, promising religious freedom as well as material advantage, which he marketed throughout Europe in various languages. Within six months he had parcelled out 300,000 acres (1,200km2) to over 250 prospective settlers, mostly rich London Quakers.[89] Eventually he attracted other persecuted minorities including Huguenots, Mennonites, Amish, Catholics, Lutherans, and Jews from England, France, Holland, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, and Wales.[90]
Next, he set out to lay the legal framework for an ethical society where power was derived from the people, from "open discourse", in much the same way as a Quaker Meeting was run. Notably, as the sovereign, Penn thought it important to limit his own power as well.[91] The new government would have two houses, safeguard the rights of private property and free enterprise, and impose taxes fairly. It would call for death for only two crimes, treason and murder, rather than the two hundred crimes under English law, and all cases were to be tried before a jury.[92] Prisons would be progressive, attempting to correct through "workshops" rather than through hellish confinement.[93] The laws of behaviour he laid out were rather Puritanical: swearing, lying, and drunkenness were forbidden as well as "idle amusements" such as stage plays, gambling, revels, mosques, cock-fighting, and bear-baiting.[94]
All this was a radical departure from the laws and the lawmaking of European monarchs and elites. Over twenty drafts, Penn laboured to create his "Framework of Government". He borrowed liberally from John Locke who later had a similar influence on Thomas Jefferson, but added his own revolutionary idea—the use of amendments—to enable a written framework that could evolve with the changing times.[95] He stated, "Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them."[96] Penn hoped that an amendable constitution would accommodate dissent and new ideas and also allow meaningful societal change without resorting to violent uprisings or revolution.[97] Remarkably, though the Crown reserved the right to override any law it wished, Penn's skillful stewardship did not provoke any government reaction while Penn remained in his province.[98] Despite criticism by some Quaker friends that Penn was setting himself above them by taking on this powerful position, and by his enemies who thought he was a fraud and "falsest villain upon earth", Penn was ready to begin the "Holy Experiment".[99] Bidding goodbye to his wife and children, he reminded them to "avoid pride, avarice, and luxury".[100]
Back to England
In 1684 Penn returned to England to see his family and to try to resolve a territorial dispute with Lord Baltimore.[101]
Penn did not always pay attention to details and had not taken the fairly simple step of determining where the 40th degree of latitude (the southern boundary of his land under the charter) actually was. After he sent letters to several landowners in Maryland advising the recipients that they were probably in Pennsylvania and not to pay any more taxes to Lord Baltimore, trouble arose between the two proprietors.[102] This led to an eighty-year legal dispute between the two families.
Political conditions at home had stiffened since Penn left. To his dismay, he found Bridewell and Newgate prisons filled with Quakers. Internal political conflicts even threatened to undo the Pennsylvania charter. Penn withheld his political writings from publication as "The times are too rough for print."[103]
In 1685 King Charles died and the Duke of York has crowned James II. The new king resolved the border dispute in Penn's favor. But King James, a Catholic with a largely Protestant parliament, proved a poor ruler, stubborn and inflexible.[104] Penn supported James' Declaration of Indulgence which granted toleration to Quakers, and went on a "preaching tour through England to promote the King's Indulgence".[105] His proposal at the London Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends in June 1688 to establish an "advisory committee that might offer counsel to individual Quakers deciding whether to take up public office" under James II was rebuffed by George Fox, who argued that it was "not safe to conclude such things in a Yearly Meeting".[106]  Penn offered some assistance to James II's campaign to regulate the parliamentary constituencies by sending a letter to a friend in Huntingdon asking him to identify men who could be trusted to support the king's campaign for liberty of conscience.[107]
Penn faced serious problems in the colonies due to his sloppy business practices. Apparently, he could not be bothered with administrative details, and his business manager, fellow Quaker Philip Ford, embezzled substantial sums from Penn's estates. Ford capitalized on Penn's habit of signing papers without reading them. One such paper turned out to be a deed transferring ownership of Pennsylvania to Ford who then demanded a rent beyond Penn's ability to pay.
Return to America

After agreeing to let Ford keep all his Irish rents in exchange for keeping quiet about Ford's legal title to Pennsylvania, Penn felt his situation sufficiently improved to return to Pennsylvania with the intention of staying.[108] Accompanied by his wife Hannah, daughter Letitia and secretary James Logan, Penn sailed from the Isle of Wight on the Canterbury, reaching Philadelphia in December 1699.[109]
Penn received a hearty welcome upon his arrival and found his province much changed in the intervening 18 years. Pennsylvania was growing rapidly and now had nearly 18,100 inhabitants and Philadelphia over 3,000.[110] His tree plantings were providing the green urban spaces he had envisioned. Shops were full of imported merchandise, satisfying the wealthier citizens and proving America to be a viable market for English goods. Most importantly, religious diversity was succeeding.[111] Despite the protests of fundamentalists and farmers, Penn's insistence that Quaker grammar schools be open to all citizens was producing a relatively educated workforce. High literacy and open intellectual discourse led to Philadelphia becoming a leader in science and medicine.[112] Quakers were especially modern in their treatment of mental illness, decriminalizing insanity and turning away from punishment and confinement.[113]
Ironically, the tolerant Penn transformed himself almost into a Puritan, in an attempt to control the fractiousness that had developed in his absence, tightening up some laws.[114] Another change was found in Penn's writings, which had mostly lost their boldness and vision. In those years, he did put forward a plan to make a federation of all English colonies in America. There have been claims that he also fought slavery, but that seems unlikely, as he owned and even traded slaves himself and his writings do not support that idea. However, he did promote good treatment for slaves, including marriage among slaves (though rejected by the Council). Other Pennsylvania Quakers were more outspoken and proactive, being among the earliest fighters against slavery in America, led by Daniel Pastorius, founder of Germantown, Pennsylvania. Many Quakers pledged to release their slaves upon their death, including Penn, and some sold their slaves to non-Quakers.[115]
The Penns lived comfortably at Pennsbury Manor and had all intentions of living out their lives there. They also had a residence in Philadelphia. Their only American child, John, had been born and was thriving. Penn was commuting to Philadelphia on a six-man barge, which he admitted he prized above "all dead things".
James Logan, his secretary, kept him acquainted with all the news. Penn had plenty of time to spend with his family and still attend to affairs of state, though delegations and official visitors were frequent. His wife, however, did not enjoy life as a governor's wife and hostess and preferred the simple life she led in England. When new threats by France again put Penn's charter in jeopardy, Penn decided to return to England with his family, in 1701.[116]
Later years
Penn returned to England and immediately became embroiled in financial and family troubles. His eldest son William, Jr. was leading a dissolute life, neglecting his wife and two children, and running up gambling debts. Penn had hoped to have William succeed him in America.[117] Now he could not even pay his son's debts. His own finances were in turmoil. He had sunk over £30,000 in America and received little back except for some bartered goods. He had made many generous loans which he failed to press.[118]
Making matters worse from Penn's perspective, Philip Ford, his financial advisor, had cheated Penn out of thousands of pounds by concealing and diverting rents from Penn's Irish lands, claiming losses, then extracting loans from Penn to cover the shortfall. When Ford died in 1702, his widow Bridget threatened to sell Pennsylvania, to which she claimed title.[119] Penn sent William to America to manage affairs, but he proved just as unreliable as he had been in England. There were considerable discussions about scrapping his constitution.[120] In desperation, Penn tried to sell Pennsylvania to the Crown before Bridget Ford got wind of his plan, but by insisting that the Crown uphold the civil liberties that had been achieved, he could not strike a deal. Mrs. Ford took her case to court. At age 62, Penn landed in debtors' prison; however, a rush of sympathy reduced Penn's punishment to house arrest, and Bridget Ford was finally denied her claim to Pennsylvania. A group of Quakers arranged for Ford to receive payment for back rents and Penn was released.[121]
In 1712 Berkeley Codd, Esq. of Sussex County, Delaware disputed some of the rights of Penn's grant from the Duke of York. Some of William Penn's agents hired lawyer Andrew Hamilton to represent the Penn family in this replevin case. Hamilton's success led to an established relationship of goodwill between the Penn family and Andrew Hamilton.[122] Penn had grown weary of the politicking back in Pennsylvania and the restlessness with his governance, but Logan implored him not to forsake his colony, for fear that Pennsylvania might fall into the hands of an opportunist who would undo all the good that had been accomplished.[123] During his second attempt to sell Pennsylvania back to the Crown in 1712, Penn suffered a stroke. A second stroke several months later left him unable to speak or take care of himself. He slowly lost his memory.[117]
William Penn died penniless in 1718, at his home in Ruscombe, near Twyford in Berkshire, and is buried in a grave next to his first wife in the cemetery of the Jordans Quaker meeting house near Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire in England. His wife as sole executor became the de facto proprietor until she died in 1726.[124]
Family
Penn first married Gulielma Maria Posthuma Springett (1644–1696), daughter of William S. Springett (the Posthuma in her name indicates that her father had died prior to her birth) and Lady Mary Proude Penington. They had three sons and five daughters:[125]
Gulielma Maria (1671/72-before 1685)
Maria Margaret (born and died 1673/74)
Springett (1674/75-1696)
Letitia (1678–1746), who married William Awbrey (Aubrey)
William, Jr. (1679/80-1720)
Unnamed child (born and died 1682)
Gulielma Maria (1685–1689)
Two years after Gulielma's death he married Hannah Margaret Callowhill (1671–1726), daughter of Thomas Callowhill and Anna (Hannah) Hollister. William Penn married Hannah when she was 25 and he was 52. They had eight children in twelve years. The first two children died in infancy. The other children were:
Unnamed daughter (born and died 1697)
John Penn (1699/00–1746), never married.
Thomas Penn (1700/01–1775), married Lady Juliana Fermor, fourth daughter of Thomas, first Earl of Pomfret.
Hannah Penn (1703–1706)
Margaret Penn (1704/05–1750)
Richard Penn, Sr. (1705–1771)
Dennis Penn (1705/06–1721/22)
Hannah Penn (1708–1709)
Louis Penn (1707–1724)
Legacy
After Penn's death, Pennsylvania slowly drifted away from a colony founded by religion to a secular state dominated by commerce. Many of Penn's legal and political innovations took root, however, as did the Quaker school in Philadelphia for which Penn issued two charters (1689 and 1701). Sometime later, the institution was renamed the William Penn Charter School. "Penn Charter", a well-known secondary day school, is now the oldest Quaker school in the world. Voltaire praised Pennsylvania as the only government in the world responds to the people and respectful of minority rights. Penn's "Frame of Government" and his other ideas were later studied by Benjamin Franklin as well as the pamphleteer of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine, whose father was a Quaker. Among Penn's legacies was the unwillingness to force a Quaker majority upon Pennsylvania, allowing his state to develop into a successful "melting pot". In addition, Thomas Jefferson and the founding Fathers adapted Penn's theory of an amendable constitution and his vision that "all Persons are equal under God" informing the federal government following the American Revolution. In addition to Penn's extensive political and religious treatises, he wrote nearly 1,000 maxims, full of wise observations about human nature and morality.[126]
Penn's Philadelphia continued to thrive, becoming one of the most populous colonial cities in the British Empire, reaching about 30,000 by the American Revolution, and becoming a center of commerce, science, medicine, and politics.[110] New groups of immigrants in the 18th century included German-speaking peoples and Scots-Irish.
Penn's family retained ownership of the colony of Pennsylvania until the American Revolution. However, William's son and successor, Thomas Penn, and his brother John, renounced their father's faith, and fought to restrict religious freedom (particularly for Roman Catholics and later Quakers). Thomas weakened or eliminated the elected assembly's power, and ran the colony instead through his appointed governors. He was a bitter opponent of Benjamin Franklin and Franklin's push for greater democracy in the years leading up to the revolution. Through the infamous Walking Purchase of 1737, the Penns cheated the Lenape out of their lands in the Lehigh Valley.[127]
Posthumous honors

On 28 November 1984 Ronald Reagan, by Presidential Proclamation 5284 (authorised by an Act of Congress), declared William Penn and his second wife, Hannah Callowhill Penn, each to be an Honorary Citizen of the United States.[128]
A bronze statue of William Penn by Alexander Milne Calder exists on top of Philadelphia's City Hall.  When installed in 1894, the statue represented the highest point in the city, as City Hall was then the tallest building in Philadelphia. Urban designer Edmund Bacon was known to have said that no gentleman would build taller than the "brim of Billy Penn's hat". This agreement existed for almost 100 years until the city decided to allow skyscrapers taller to be built. In March 1987, the completion of One Liberty Place was the first building to do that. This resulted in a "curse" which lasted from that year on until 2008 when a small statue of William Penn was put on top of the newly built Comcast Center. The Philadelphia Phillies went on to win the 2008 World Series that year.
A lesser-known statue of Penn is located at Penn Treaty Park, on the site where Penn entered into his treaty with the Lenape. In 1893, Hajoca Corporation, the nation's largest privately held wholesale distributor of plumbing, heating, and industrial supplies, adopted the statue as its trademark symbol.[129]

The Quaker Oats cereal brand standing "Quaker man" logo, dating back to 1877, was identified in their advertising after 1909 as William Penn, and referred to him as "standard bearer of the Quakers and of Quaker Oats".[130][131]
In 1946 the logo was changed into a head-and-shoulders portrait of the smiling Quaker Man. The Quaker Oats Company's website currently claims their logo is not a depiction of William Penn.[132]
Penn was depicted in the 1941 film Penn of Pennsylvania by Clifford Evans.
The William Penn High School for Girls was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.[133]
The William Penn House– a Quaker hostel and seminar center– was named in honor of William Penn when it opened in 1966 to house Quakers visiting Washington, D.C. to partake in the many protests, events and social movements of the era.[134]
Chigwell School, the school he attended, has named one of their four houses after him and now owns several letters and documents which boasts his handwriting.
The former William Penn Primary School, and the successor Penn Wood Primary and Nursery School, in Manor Park, Slough, near to Stoke Park, is named after William Penn.[135]
The Friends' School, Hobart has named one of their six-year seven classes after him.
The William Penn Society of Whittier College has existed since 1934 as a society on the college campus of Whittier College and continues to this day.
George Fox University, a Christian liberal arts university with Quaker heritage, began an Honors Program named after Penn in 2014.[136]
See also

Penn–Calvert boundary dispute
Nicholas More
Notes

Further reading
Dunn, Mary Maples. William Penn: Politics and Conscience (1967)
Dunn, Richard S. and Mary Maples Dunn, eds. The World of William Penn (1986), essays by scholars
Endy, Jr., Melvin B. William Penn and Early Quakerism (1973)
Geiter, Mary K. "William Penn" (Longman,2000)
Moretta, John. William Penn and the Quaker Legacy (2006)
Morgan, Edmund S. "The World and William Penn," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (1983) 127#5  pp.291–315 JSTOR.
Nash, Gary B. Quakers and Politics: Pennsylvania, 1681–1726 (1968)
Peare, Catherine O. William Penn (1957), a standard biography
Soderlund, Jean R.  "Penn, William" in
Primary sources
Dunn, Mary Maples, and Richard S. Dunn et al., eds. The Papers of William Penn (5 vols., 1981–1987)
Soderlund, Jean R.  et al., eds. William Penn and the Founding of Pennsylvania, 1680–1684: A Documentary History (1983)

 by M. L. Weems, 1829. Full-text free to read and search version of Tim Unterreiner biography from 1829 original published in Philadelphia.
 by Tuomi J. Forrest, at the University of Virginia
 by Jim Powell
 by Bill Samuel

 Penn in the Tower
 (copied with permission)
 Prof. Murray N. Rothbard, excerpt from Conceived in Liberty, Vol. 1 (Auburn, Alabama: The Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1999)
 at Find a Grave

Penn's works
 at Project Gutenberg
 at Internet Archive
 at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
No Cross, No Crown (1669).  2nd edition published in 1682. Written during his imprisonment in the Tower of London.
The Christian Quaker, and his divine testimony vindicated by Scripture, reason, and authorities, against the injurious attempts ... lately made ... to render him odiously inconsistent with Christianity and Civil Society. In II. Parts., (1674).(part one written by Penn; Part two by George Whitehead, 1673).
 (1681)
 (1682)
 (1682) From the Avalon Project, Yale Law School.
 (1682)
 contains several documents by Penn and his wife.
 (1692)
 (1696)
 (1694)

 (1693)
CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link) Full text at Internet Archive (archive.org)
Dunn, Mary Maples, Dunn, Richard S., Bronner, Edwin, and Fraser, David. The papers of William Penn, 5 volumes. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981–87.