1 52 LECTURES. 



thing is to support the system. The amount of 

 parasitism and consequent bleeding in this case 

 was, and probably still is, extraordinary. But for 

 her change of residence and vigorous tonic treatment 

 away from the infectious locality, this child must, 

 in my view, have sooner or later succumbed to the 

 disease. At the very lowest estimate she cannot 

 have expelled less than 10,000 eggs of Bilharzia 

 daily; and on some occasions I believe the number 

 discharged in twenty-four hours was fully ten times 

 that amount. The santonin remedies, though of 

 great service in securing the expulsion of the round- 

 worms, appear to have aggravated the hsematuria. 

 The parents, at all events, were of that opinion. 

 For my own part, I should only foresee great danger 

 to the patient in the attempt at administering what 

 are termed true parasiticides. Be pleased to bear 

 in mind that these blood-flukes are actually lodged 

 within the blood-vessels; and you cannot operate 

 upon them without conveying the poisonous remedy 

 into the circulating system. Moreover, if you 

 weaken your patient in any way, and especially by 

 mere drugging, you prevent Nature from slowly 

 working a natural cure. Even the employment of 

 diuretics should be adopted with caution. The 

 only service they can render is mechanical, facili- 

 tating the expulsion of the parasitic ova by in- 

 creasing the flow of the urine. The administra- 

 tion of injections by the urethra is, in my 



