ASPIDIUM FILIX MAS. 223 



The best season of the year for the collection of 

 the root of the male fern, in which part of the plant 

 the vermifuge properties are present, is the spring, 

 according to Pescher, of Geneva, who has given much 

 attention to this subject. 



The forms in which this remedy are administered 

 are various. Some practitioners give the powdered 

 root made into an electuary with simple syrup ; 

 others prefer the etherial extract which, when fresh, 

 is a very good preparation ; Kiichenmeister recom- 

 mends some of the powdered root to be sprinkled 

 over the extract, when it is taken, so as to increase 

 the surface of contact of the medicine as much as 

 possible. An extractive substance, filicine, or fihcic 

 acid, has been obtained from the plant, but it does 

 not appear to possess any anthelmintic properties ; 

 and the infusion, decoction, and etherial oil, have also 

 been prepared ; the latter is highly spoken of, in the 

 treatment of bothriocephali. 



The dose of the extract is from a scruple to two 

 drachms, of the powder from one to four drachms, 

 and of the decoction from half an ounce to two 

 ounces. The remedy should always be given in the 

 morning, upon an empty stomach, and it should be 

 followed in the course of an hour or two by a full 

 dose of some purgative, castor-oil being one of the 

 best. 



The once-celebrated method of Nouffer, which 

 was practised secretly for upwards of twenty years 

 at Morat, in Switzerland, whither patients resorted 

 in great numbers from all parts, and which was 

 subsequently divulged upon the payment of eighteen 

 thousand francs by the French government, in 1776, 



