53 



disease is amply 1 demonstrated 2 , if such proof be necessary 3 r 

 by the enormous number of agents which have been used and 

 recommended. Practically one-half of all drugs which are, 

 or ever have been, in any pharmacopoeia, have at some time 

 enjoyed a reputation 4 for threadworms. But not one ha& 

 stood the test of experience, and nearly all are now thoroughly 

 discredited ; though some members of the medical profession, 

 still profess to pin their faith to a few of them. 



Vermifuges and Vermicides. 



The orthodox pharmacologies usually divide anthelmintics 

 into two groups, viz. : Vermifuges, those which are credited 

 with the power of expelling the parasites ; Vermicides, or 

 agents which are believed to actually kill the worms. It is- 



quidem per plures septimanas : et 

 per totum hoc tempus, aliquando 

 in dejectionibus plures, aliquando 

 nullos ascarides videbat. Remediis 

 uti cessavit, et eadem atque antea 

 Phaenomena apparebant ; hoc est 

 per aliquot dies aliquos, et per 

 plures nullos Ascarides reddebat. 

 Per totum fere annum hoc sic 

 durabit, et postea cos multo rarius 

 reddidit, sed sumper plures dies 

 quam antea, eorum ejectis durabat, 

 postquam inceperat. 



" Tandem, postquam instabilis 

 vitae pertaesus, Medicinae studio 

 sedulo me applicare mihi proposuis- 

 sem, atque ab amici mei morbo, 

 qui in eadum prorsus conditione, 

 neque meliore, neque pegore erat, 

 initium facere ; ille mihi quidquid 

 penes ipsum erat libenter ad hunc 

 finem suppeditavit." (COTJLET, S., 

 Tractatus historicus de ascaridibus 

 et lumbrico lato, Lugd. Batavorum, 

 1729, p. 13.) 



1 KUECHENMEISTER is equally 

 pessimistic in prognosis of thread- 

 worm-disease : " Die Prognose ist 

 ungiinstig, da das Leiden zwar 

 gebessert, nur sehr schwer aber und 

 selbst nicht durchs Alter beseitigt 



wird." (KUECHENMEISTER, G. F. A., 



op. cit., vol. i., p. 288.) 



2 COBBOLD. in 1864 and after, 

 fully agreed with his predecessors : 



" Of all the parasites infesting the 

 human body, this is the one con- 

 cerning which the medical practi- 

 tioners are most frequently con- 

 sulted . . . more particularly on- 

 account of the extreme difficulty 

 experienced in getting permanently 

 rid of it." (COBBOLD, T. S., Entozoa, 

 an introduction to the study of 

 Hdminthology, London, 1864, p. 363. > 



3 It will be seen that Professors- 

 MOSLER and PEIPER, both of the 

 Greifswald medical faculty, whose 

 book was published in 1894, had 

 therapeutically not advanced a 

 whit beyond ANDRY, COULET, and 

 KUECHENMEISTER: " Soil dauernde 

 Heilung erzielt werden, so muss- 

 die Kur haufig Wochen hindurch 

 fortgesetzt werden, um sammtliche 

 im Darme vorhandenen Parasiten 

 zu beseitigen." (MosLER, F. und 

 PEIPER, E., op. cit., p. 236.) 



4 Special treatment. " Ascarides- 

 vermiculares pruritum ani, vel et 

 genitalium saepe intolerabilem effi- 

 cientes, vix nisi clysmatibus et 

 injectionibus, his vero repetitis satis- 

 facile abiguntur. Blanda ex decocto 

 hordeaceo, aqua, melle, oleo vel 

 sale addito seligantur ; acria vel 

 tabacina nociva sunt. Si injectiones 

 non sufficiunt, purgans simul pro- 

 pinatur." (RUDOLPHI, C. A., op. 

 cit., vol. i., pp. 510, 511.) 



