TAPEWORMS. 51 



rigorous total abstainer. He complained of great 

 languor, accompanied by pricking and other myste- 

 rious pains within the abdomen ; but beyond this, 

 and a tone of natural despondency, there was little 

 else worthy of notice. At first I treated him with 

 male-fern, both in the form of powder and extract, 

 bringing away a few feet only of the worm. At 

 the expiration of a month I administered active 

 doses of areca nut and scammony ; but this proved 

 less effective than the male-fern remedies. In the 

 next place I employed kousso, which brought away 

 the entire body of the worm, excepting the head 

 and neck. Lastly, at the expiration of nine weeks, 

 as the parasite again had returned, or rather had 

 grown to its ordinary length, I repeated the kousso. 

 This second trial of the Abyssinian remedy proving 

 just as effective as the first, by dislodging another 

 ten feet of this truly obstinate beef tapeworm. 



In regard to this case it was certainly not 

 unnatural that the patient should grow despondent 

 and think his case incurable; yet the comparative 

 success of the kousso, as contrasted with that of 

 other drugs, should have induced him to give it yet 

 a third trial. As a rule I deem kousso far less 

 powerful than male-fern, yet in special instances one 

 finds particular remedies asserting their apparent 

 superiority in this marked manner. Possibly there 

 may be physiological conditions, apart from the 

 therapeutic action of the drug, which may account 

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