Feb. i8. 1918 Efficacy of Some Anthelmintics 403 



liver or heart had already been injured or diseased, a single does might have serious 

 consequences. It would seem advisable not to repeat a dose for several days at 

 least. 



The experiments of the writers with chloroform were as follows : 



For worms in dogs. — Five dogs, weighing from 5.5 to 17.7 kgm., were 

 given, in the morning after fasting from the evening of the day before, 0.2 

 mil of chloroform per kilo of body weight mixed with 3 mils of castor oil 

 per kilo of body weight. All of the dogs were infested with hookworms 

 {Ancylostoma caninum), four very lightly, one heavily, three had a few 

 ascarids (Belascaris marginata),iour a few (i to 27) whipworms (Trichuris 

 depressiuscula) , two a few tapeworms (Dipylidium caninum), and one 

 numerous (250) tapeworms of the same species. The dog which had the 

 single hookworm failed to lose the parasite as a result of the treatment, 

 but none were left in the other lightly infested dogs, while more than 

 half the hookworms were passed by the heavily infested dog (457 passed 

 and 355 found post-mortem). One dog passed a single ascarid and showed 

 none post-mortem, two others showed i and 2 ascarids, respectively, 

 post-mortem, but had passed none after treatment. Two of the dogs out 

 of the four infested with whipworms passed a few of these worms, and all 

 four showed a few on post-mortem. After the treatment no tapeworms 

 were recovered from the feces of the dogs infested with D. caninum. 



In this experiment chloroform and castor oil proved rather highly 

 efficacious in removing hookworms, removing all in three cases of light 

 infestation, failed to remove any in one case, and removed over half of 

 the parasites in a case of heavy infestation. The results in the case of 

 ascarids and whipworms are not striking. In the case of D. caninum 

 there is no evidence that chloroform is of value as an anthelmintic. 



The failure of chloroform to remove all the hookworms from the heavily 

 infested dog indicates that repeated treatments may be necessary in 

 cases of heavy infestations, but in view of the dangers attending the use 

 of chloroform the advisability of repeating the dose is questionable. 

 Several days at least, perhaps a week or longer, should be allowed to 

 elapse to allow time for the animal to recover from the possible ill effects 

 of the first treatment. Further experiments are desirable. 



A further test of the efficacy of chloroform in combination with other 

 drugs as an anthelmintic for hookworms in dogs was made with the 

 remedy in the form of Hermann's mixture. This preparation consists, 

 according to Railliet {19 15), of the following: 



JOleoresin of male-fern 4 g™-* or) 



|Oil of eucalyptus 2 gm. J 



Chloroform 3 Z^- 



Castor oil 4° g™- 



He suggests its use as a substitute for thymol. Although the prepa- 

 ration is intended to include either male-fern (Dryopteris filix-mas) or 

 eucalyptus oil, through an error both drugs were included. In conduct- 

 ing this experiment two objects were aimed at : (i) To determine whether 



