112 ENTOZOA FOUND IN MAN. 



administration of medicines which serve to destroy 

 the parasites, such as santonine, and of the more 

 powerful purgatives, for the purpose of expelling the 

 dead worms. 



The treatment of the oxyurides consists in the 

 administration of purgatives and of the vermifuges 

 suitable for the destruction of the other nematoid 

 worms ; but these means will be insufficient in the 

 majority of cases if the entozoa in the rectum be not 

 also attacked by more direct means, such as injec- 

 tions of cold water, to which salt, an acid^ or some 

 empyreumatic oil, &c., may also be added, or by injec- 

 tions of the decoction of some fetid or bitter 

 plant, such as that of assafoetida, or of absinth ; the 

 application of some antlielmintic or sedative sub- 

 stance in the form of ointment to the anus will be 

 found occasionally useful in the removal of the 

 oxyurides and in aUaying the irritation produced by 

 their presence. Lallemand recommends, as one of 

 the best plans of cure, the use of injections containing 

 sulphurous water. 



The treatment ought to be continued for three 

 or four weeks, or even longer, as it is necessary to 

 destroy all the oxyurides as they issue from the ova, 

 which are deposited in the substance of the mucous 

 membrane, or in the secretion which covers it. Not- 

 withstanding the most careful attention, this result 

 cannot always be attained, and some persons are 

 obliged to take occasional purgatives m order 

 to keep themselves free from these troublesome 

 parasites. 



