VERMINOUS DISEASES. 19.5 



mals,* and then applied over the skin, are capa- 

 ble of producing effects scarcely inferior to those 

 obtained, when they are administered internal- 

 ly (14) 



For this reason, when I have wished to apply 

 medicines to the surface of the body for the expul- 

 sion of all the worms which torment the inner parts 

 of the body, and at the same time to strengthen the 

 solids, I have advised them to be prepared accord- 

 ing to the rules laid down in the anatripsologia.(15) 



§ CXI. I ought to remark, that in the sympa- 

 thetic affections from worms, the nervous system 

 being strongly excited, the most suitable remedies 

 and such as should be preferred in these cases, are 

 those endowed with a diffusively stimulant proper- 

 ty, that is, calculated to sooth and calm the de- 

 rangement and disturbance of the living solids. 

 The class of medicines called antispasmodic, ex- 

 hibits a long series of them. Valerian, opium, and 

 assafoetida are the most frequently used. But let 

 us pass to the examination of the principal reme- 

 dies which have been extolled, either against worms 

 in general, or some particular species of them. 



* Dr. Alibert is convinced by a multitude of experiments,^ 

 of the nullity of the gastric juice, and the medicines he has ap- 

 plied by friction, without having recourse to this vehicle, 

 have been attended with the same success. See Memoires de 

 la Societe Medicale rf' emulation, 1st year, second edition ; Bul- 

 letin des sciences de la Society PJdlomatiqiie de Paris, nivose 

 jear6, F. Trs. 



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