CAMPHOIl. 225 



and in such cases, as also in those just mentioned, the 

 assafoetida could only act by communicating to the 

 secretions some pecuhar quahty which is obnoxious 

 to the entozoa. An analogous property has been 

 remarked when turpentine is administered. The 

 worms are probably not destroyed ; but they are 

 compelled to abandon the various organs which have 

 been rendered uninhabitable in consequence of the 

 altered nature of the secretions. These facts give a 

 strong semblance of probability to the statement 

 which has been made respecting the Brahmins, 

 namely, that they are protected from the attacks of 

 the Guinea-worm, by their habitual use of assafoetida 

 as an article of diet, although the other natives, who 

 do not make the same free employment of this plant, 

 are more or less affected by this parasite. 



Garlic, onions, and other plants of a very strong, 

 disagreeable odour, possess somewhat similar pro- 

 perties. 



Camphor. 



Camphor was held in great esteem as an 

 anthelmintic, diu-ing the last century. Roederer and 

 Wagler gave it, in combination with purgatives, in 

 the mucous epidemic, apparently due to the existence 

 of worms in the intestines, which came under their 

 notice. Kosen prescribed it in solution with vinegar ; 

 and Brera and Moscati directed their patients to 

 take, at certain intervals, a spoonful of a mixture 

 containing camphor and gum-arabic dissolved in 

 water. 



Some cases of taenia, in which the cure was attri- 

 buted to the administration of camphor, have been 



