222 SPECIAL THERAPEUTICS. 



of febrile affections produced by entozoa. When 

 lumbrici get into the stomach, the vomiting caused 

 by the administration of tartar emetic frees the 

 patient of these troublesome parasites, and prociires 

 immediate reHef. The expulsion of taenia has been 

 accomplished by this remedy. An interesting case 

 is quoted at page 109 of the successful injection of a 

 solution of tartarised antimony into the veins, in a 

 case of lumbrici, where the ordinary means of treat- 

 ment could not be resorted to, owing to the rigid 

 tetanic closure of the mouth and jaws. 



Aspidium Filix Mas. 



The Aspidium FiHx Mas, or Male Fern, is 

 one of the most anciently known anthelmintics, 

 having been used in the treatment of intestinal 

 entozoa from the time of Galen and Dioscorides. Its 

 efficacy is greatest in cases of bothriocephali and 

 lumbrici ; when used for the purpose of expelling 

 taenia, its action is not so well marked. 



Much of the disappointment and uncertainty 

 which occur in the employment of anthelmintics, and 

 other rem.edies taken from the vegetable kingdom, 

 doubtless arises from the joint circumstances that 

 the wrong plants are sometimes collected, that the 

 parts which are used medicinally are gathered at an 

 unsuitable season of the year, and that the dried 

 plants or the preparations made from them are kept 

 beyond the period during which they retain their 

 active properties. ' In some instances, also, as in that 

 of santonine, for example, the high price which the 

 drug commands in the market, unfortunately serves 

 as an inducement to extensive adulterations. 



