ROUNDWORMS. 119 



doubts I might entertain on the subject, the patient 

 brought me a parasite which he had just passed, 

 and this I readily determined to be a characteristic 

 female example of Oxyuris vermicularis. This was 

 a sort of evidence scarcely to be resisted ; but it 

 was rather weakened by the fact that he had 

 observed no other specimens in the faeces. When, 

 however, I questioned him as to his symptoms, the 

 correctness of the surmise of his usual medical adviser 

 that he had worms seemed to gain strength. For 

 years past he has been getting thinner and thinner, 

 being now anaemic and emaciated. His appetite 

 has been at all times indifferent; he is likewise 

 extremely nervous, and occasionally disturbed at 

 night by unpleasant dreams. His general appea- 

 rance was that of a man gradually reduced by some 

 persistent cause of internal irritation; and there 

 was nothing else, apparently, to account for the ill 

 health apart from parasitism. Accordingly, I 

 thought it right to put him to a thorough test, and 

 prescribed charcoal and sulphur powders, followed 

 by ^viij doses of the Friedrichshall mineral waters. 

 In a few days he called to tell me that the aperient 

 action of the water was at first excessive, but it 

 soon gradually decreased in power. It appeared 

 nevertheless to have had a sufficiently fair trial for 

 the particular purpose held in view; yet no more 

 Oxyurides were observed. Therefore, discounte- 

 nancing, provisionally at least, the further use of 



