S06 TREATMENT OF 



*' It now remains to oifer my observations on 

 the prevention and cure of the dracunculus. Nev- 

 er was there a disease, to which the medical pre- 

 cept, sublata causa, iolHtur morbus^ more di.stinctly 

 applies, than this. The result of the application 

 of this precept at Point Saline, in Grenada, is a 

 manifest exemplification of the means, by which 

 this is to be effected, and precludes the necessity 

 for saying more of the subject here. As to the cure 

 of the disease, that is to be accomplished by the 

 destruction of the insects. I used a variety of 

 means, but none were effectual, till I had recourse 

 to mercury. 



" Mildly saturating the system with this medi- 

 cine, destroyed the insect. I since then find that this 

 medicine has been long used by others for this pur- 

 pose. At that time, 179^^, I knew of no auihority 

 for it. Linnaeus says, " Infuso mercurii subl-mati 

 corrosivi Swietenii intra dies SO, qui alias 40 edu- 

 citur." (Syst. Nat. Tom. i. p. 2. 1075.) In phthi- 

 riasis, and other diseases ol' the exanthemata viva, 

 mercury has been long known, as an effectual rem- 

 edy, externally applied ; but in dracunculus it is 

 not so : the remedy must pervade the system, in or- 

 der to destroy the insect, or its ova. It is unneces- 

 sary to detail the variety of means employed in dif- 

 ferent countries. They are of doubtful effect, how- 

 ever vaunted of — asafoetida, garlic, the root of an- 

 gelica, sulphur, &c. &c. Some gentlemen, consid- 

 ering the disease as an inanimate substance, recom- 

 mend the extraction of it by a painful surgical ope- 



