functions have been exhaustively studied, and even the 

 nervous system of the threadworm has been the subject of 

 no little heated discussion amongst helminthologists 1 . 



Physicians and Threadworm Disease. 



Medical men, again, on their part, have advanced an endless 

 number of theories to account for the presence of the worm, 

 and for the phenomena it produces. They have, with scrupu- 

 lous care, noted every symptom of threadworm disease in the 

 living, and, in modern times, laboriously searched the tissues 

 of the dead for indications of its presence and effects. They 

 have striven to locate the haunts of the parasite in the in- 

 testines, and enthusiastically recorded, in scientific journals, 

 every instance of a worm found in an abnormal situation. 

 But at this point orthodox medical science stops short, and 

 the question of treatment seems to have been almost entirely 

 overlooked in favour of the other branches of the subject. 

 It was a mediaeval tradition that the treatment of " worms " 

 was not worthy of the attention of a learned physician 2 , and, 

 it is not to be wondered at that the treatment of this malady 

 receives no serious consideration at the present time, when 

 Therapeutics as a whole are so utterly neglected. 



Drastic Treatment based on wrong: Principles. 



The underlying principle of all treatments for " worms," 

 in antiquity, was purging. It remains the same to this day. 

 The reasoning on which this is based seems to be logically 

 perfect, but experience shows that, in Therapeutics, logic and 

 dialectics are invariably at fault. The faculty has always 

 argued : Purgatives clear out the contents of the bowels. 

 Item : The seat of the parasite is in the bowels. Ergo : The 

 more drastic the purgative, the more complete the expulsion 



1 It is of interest to note that KITE- 2 " Les vers du canal digestif 



CHENMEISTER had suffered from ont ete suivant ces deux opinions, 



threadworms for years when he pub- tantot recherches avec soin, com- 



lished his celebrated work on para- battus avec acharnement ; tantot 



sites. He admitted that, in spite of considered comme peu dignes de 



his] intricate knowledge of Oxyuris, Fattention du medecin, et ne 



he was unable to cure himself : reclamant aucun moyen particu- 



" Ich selbst leide noch jetzt Her." (FucHET, B., Recherches 



in meinem fiinfundreissigsten sur les causes et les effets des vers 



Jahre daran." (KUECHENMEISTER, qui ont leur siege dans Vestomac et le 



G. F. A., ibid., vol. i., p. 287.) canal intestinal, Paris, 1819, p. 5.) 



