HISTORICAL REVIEW. 7 



but a waste of time and money. It is unfortunate that he did not 

 give his experiments in detail, or at least name the remedies he 

 tried; but from the fact that he speaks of them as poisons it seems 

 reasonable to suppose that he tested the various common anthelmin- 

 tics, all of which are poisons. 



Curtice (1889a and 1890c) records tests of various remedies in 

 intestinal and extra intestinal thysanosomiasis of sheep, and says : 



Various taeniafuges were tried with little success. The powdered prepara- 

 tions of pumpkin seed, pomegranate-root bark, koosoo, karnala, male fern, and 

 worm seed proved of no avail. * * * The presence of tsenia? in the biliary 

 ducts is another reason why tseniafuges can not be entirely successful in treat- 

 ment of sheep with T. fimbriata [Th. actinioides]. Any medicine which would 

 affect the taeniae in these ducts would also affect the sheep seriously. It is 

 doubtful whether they can be killed or driven from the ducts. 



Feletti (1894c) administered ethereal extract of male fern in three 

 cases of .human cysticercosis, as follows: 



1. Patient had had Tcenia solium. Present symptoms: Convulsions, cepha- 

 lalgia, vertigo, vomiting. Small subcutaneous nodules appeared and grew to 

 the size of olives ; one of these was excised and found to be Cysticercus cellu- 

 losce. No cestodc proglottids or eggs were found on fecal examination. Feletti 

 administered 1 to 3 grams of extract of male fern per diem to the patient until 

 he had given 18 grams. The patient could not stand more. The cysticerci 

 diminished to the size of a wheat grain, but the cerebral trouble did not im- 

 prove, and the man died a month later. No autopsy was permitted. 



2. Patient had 34 subcutaneous nodules. One of these was excised and found 

 to be Cysticercus celluloses. No cestode proglottids or eggs found on fecal 

 examination. Feletti at first administered 1 to 1.5 grams of extract of male 

 fern per diem, but this was not supported and the dose was accordingly cut 

 down to 40 centigrams. The total amount administered was 26.5 grams. The 

 nodules diminished until they could not be felt. 



3. Patient had had a tapeworm three years before and had not recovered 

 the head in several attempts at removal. Present symptoms: Convulsions, 

 vertigo, and vomiting. For this he was treated with sodium and potassium 

 bromid. Seven nodules developed. One of these was excised and found to 

 be a Cysticercus. Feletti administered 60 centigrams of extract of male fern 

 per diem, and in a month the nodules had disappeared. The nervous condition 

 was improved, but the trouble subsequently recurred and was treated with 

 bromids with good results. Feletti thinks the recurrence was due to brain 

 alterations, but considers that the cysticerci were dead. 



According to Feletti, these cases demonstrate that extract of male 

 fern kills subcutaneous and muscular cysticerci and that it probably 

 acts upon cerebral cysticerci also. He advises a dose of 30 to 40 

 centigrams per diem for 30 or 40 days. 



De Renzi (1908) renewed the interest in this line of work by his 

 report of the administration of extract of male fern in four cases of 

 human somatic t^niasis. We quote the following abstract of De 

 Renzi 's cases from Hall (1909) : 



1. The patient had" occasion to oat badly cooked pork and uncooked sausage; 

 had an infection with Tcenia solium five years previous; had attacks of con- 



