424 ANIMAL PARASITES. 



1. Santonine the preparation of which according to Calloud 

 (See 'Pharmac.Centralblatt./ 1849, 413, and J. Clarus, 'Handbuch 

 der speciellen Arzneimittellehre/ 1852, p. 333), is best effected by 

 the employment of ammonia, must be tasteless, when pure, be- 

 cause it does not dissolve in the mouth ; dissolved in alcohol it 

 tastes bitter ; 'dissolves but little in warm water, but with ease in 

 fatty oils. It is at the same time inodorous, and has a very slight 

 acid reaction, combines readily with alkalies and becomes yellow 

 in the light of the sun. Whe*n impure it still contains resins 

 and essential oils, and is, consequently, nauseous to take. 



It is the best plan to administer santonine simultaneously with 

 fatty oils, in order to bring it into solution as readily as possible, 

 and for this purpose I have preferred to give it sprinkled upon 

 bread and butter or in the yolk of an egg with sugar, and after- 

 wards to follow it every 3 4 days with a gentle purgative (Jalap 

 or the Electuar. Linit. Pharmac. Saxon.), or to administer it, to 

 those who can easily take oils, with castor oil (gr. ij iv with ^j of 

 oil in tea-spoonfuls, until purgative action sets in). In this way 

 the remedy should be repeated, if possible, for some days, or every 

 other day, so that soft stools should be repeated several times a day, 

 rather than that actual purgative stools should be produced. The 

 use of milk at the same time, perhaps even the employment of the 

 santonine in butter-milk, may also be advisable, and butter-milk 

 may be substituted as a purgative in worm-treatment especially 

 with children. Amongst the santonine lozenges, those prepared 

 from cocoa undeprived of oil are most deserving of praise. 



Since the commencement of the administration of santonine, 

 it has become, in consequence of certain subsidiary actions, a 

 subject of contest and strife, which is not yet concluded, and 

 which, perhaps, never will be quite settled, because the remedy 

 will possibly be displaced before the matter is ready for judgment 

 by Hautz's preparation, to which we shall immediately refer. The 

 most troublesome effects said to have been seen from this remedy 

 are spasms and obstinate obstructions with tenesmus, nay even 

 bloody stools, which are said to have been seen by some after 

 comparatively small quantities (gr. ij iv once or twice a day) 

 of the remedy. For my part, with a careful employment of the 

 remedy (gr. ij iv with 3J of castor oil) I have never seen bad sub- 

 sidiary actions, and when it is administered with castor oil, the 

 more obstinate obstructions are also wanting. The most terrible 

 symptom, to the unprofessional patient, is the yellow, or blue, 



