2o6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



precede putrefactive decay ; the chyle should never stagnate, the 

 stream of the organic functions should move with an uninterrupted 

 current. There are rivers that become so low in summer that pools 

 of water can be found only in the deeper cavities of the river-bed, and 

 such pools are sure to swarm with " wrigglers," or incipient gnats. 

 But, as soon as the current of the rising river drains those pools, the 

 wrigglers speedily vanish. 



The maw-worm plague is caused and should be cured on the same 

 principle. Most people eat too often. Before the stomach can dis- 

 pose of the first meal, it receives a second consignment, and soon after 

 a third, of comestibles elaborately contrived to retard digestion ; after- 

 noon work monopolizes the energies of the system; the melange in the 

 sn;\^l intestines becomes unmanageable, stagnates, and at last ferments. 

 IBabies are gorged with milk till the contents of the little vessel liter- 

 ,> ally spill at the muzzle ; they are swaddled and bandaged, kept in 

 ; horizontal confinement, and anxiously prevented from every motion 

 that might ease the labor of the sorely overtaxed bowels. Fresh air, 

 the next best peptic stimulant, is likewise carefully excluded. Nature 

 fights the enemy for a week or two, but at last succumbs to odds : 

 fermentation sets in ; parasites fasten upon their well-prepared pabu- 

 lum, and soon the tortures of the mummified little martyr are aggra- 

 vated by the wriggling of hundreds of ascarides. Nervous children 

 can thus be worried into epileptic fits, and even delirium and brain- 

 fever. Locally the worm-plague produces constipation, haemorrhages 

 (often resembling the symptoms of true haemorrhoids), and burning 

 stools. 



If the evil has reached proportions that defy dietetic specifics, the 

 removal of the cause (as in prurigo, scabies, and syphilis) requires the 

 application of artificial remedies. Injections of warm water with an 

 infusion of quassia, or carbolic acid, will expel pin-worm ; oil of 

 chenopodium (worm-seed) in minute doses, administered with a tea- 

 spoonful of castor-oil, is an effective prescription for the expulsion of 

 the " round- worm." 



Among the remedies against tcenice, or tape-worms, the following 

 vegetable specifics are not less effective and much safer than the calo- 

 mel preparations which were formerly prescribed for that purpose : 

 Pomegranate-bark ( Granati fructus cortex) ; male fern {Filix mas- 

 cula) ; but especially pounded pumpkin-seed. Three ounces of the 

 fresh seed, mixed with a pint of water and pounded into an emulsion, 

 taken after a twenty-four hours' fast, rarely fail to evict the tenant 

 within three hours. 



But the germs of the parasites remain behind, and the same predis- 

 posing conditions may at any time effect their redevelopment. Dietetic 

 remedies must complete the cure. Children should be restricted to three 

 meals a day. Let them earn their recovery by exercise — running, 

 tumbling, dangling at the end of a grapple-swing. Adults should 



