VERMINOUS DESEASES 211 



seinen-contra, assafoetida, or rob of walnuts, etc.(9S) 

 To a child seized with spasmodic convulsions oc- 

 casioned by worms, I prescribed a mass of pills, (9S) 

 in a manner analogous to that of Fuller : the worms 

 •were promptly expelled from the intestinal tube, the 

 convulsions subsided almost immediately, and the 

 patient was well. 



Water acidulated with iron,(94) and what are 

 better the martial waters,(95) so much commended 

 by practitioners, as a means of curing verminous 

 complaints, possess this medicinal quality by rea- 

 son of the iron they hold in solution, and united 

 with other astringent substances which strengthen 

 and invigorate the stomach, the intestines, and tiie 

 whole animal machine.* 



4 C XXXII. Mercury. A number of eminent 

 physicians(9 J) have ascribed to mercury the prop- 

 erty of dissolving and attenuating the mucus of the 

 intestines, and of destroying the worms which in- 

 habit them. 



Conformably to this idea, they have recom- 

 mended, without limitation, the decoction of mer- 

 cury, as a very active remedy in verminous com- 

 plaints. A similar practice has given rise to. dis- 

 cussions, of which it is useless to speak here. 

 I shall merely remark that nonoxidized mercury 

 has no irritating power on our bodies, except what 

 comes from its weight and continual motion, and 



* See. in tlie work of Dr. Marie de Saint- Ursin, entitled the 

 ^mi des Femmes, page 238, the maner of using the artificial 

 mineral waters. F. Trs. 



