356 ATONIC DISEASES. 



Kousso {Brayerz antTidmintica). Pomegranate bark {Punica Ora- 

 natum). Leaves and oil of male fern {Filix mas). 



The areca nut was fii-st recommended as a vermifuge by Major 

 Besant, who had seen it used in India for that purpose. It has 

 since been very generally adopted, and appears to answer the pur- 

 pose remarkably well. It should be given every week or ten days, 

 for six or seven times, if the round-worm is present ; two or three 

 doses occasionally given will suffice for the maw-worm. Six or 

 eight hours afterwards, a dose of castor-oil should be administered. 

 The dose of the freshly powdered areca nut is about two grains to 

 every pound of the dog's weight. Thus a dog of 30 lbs. will take 

 one drachm, or half an average nut. Stinking hellebore is very 

 innocent, and even useful in other ways. The dose for a 30-lb. 

 dog is five or six grains mixed up with eight or ten of jalap, and 

 formed into a bolus, to be given every five or six days. Indian 

 pink is a vqyj powerful vermifuge ; but it al.-o occasionally acts 

 very prejudicially on the dog, and it must never be given without 

 knowledge of the risk which is incurred. I have myself used it 

 in numberless instances without injury ; but its employment has 

 60 frequently been followed by fatal results in other hands that I 

 cannot do otherwise than caution my readers against it. How, or 

 why, this has been, I have never been able to ascertain ; but, that 

 it is so, I have no doubt whatever. If it is determined to use it, 

 half an ounce of the drug, as purchased, should be infused in half 

 a pint of boiling water ; and of this infusion, after straining it, 

 from a tablespoonful to two tablespoonfuls should be given to 

 the dog, according to size, followed by a dose of oil. Calomel is 

 a powerful expellant, but it also is attended with danger. The 

 dose is from three to five grains, mixed with jalap. Wormwood 

 may be given with advantage to young puppies, being mild in its 

 operation. The dose is from ten to thirty grains, in syrup or honey. 

 Santonine is an admirable remedy, when it can be procured in a 

 pure state. The brown is the best, of which from one half to 

 three grains is the dos'^, mixed with from five to fifteen grains of 

 jalap, and given at intervals of a week. Cowhage, powdered tin, 

 and glass, all act by their mechanical irritation, and may be given 



