228 SPECIAL THERAPEUTICS. 



treatment of taenia and of bothriocephalus. This 

 remedy has been commonly employed in Europe 

 during the last twenty years only, although our 

 celebrated countryman, James Bruce, made it known 

 after his travels in Abyssinia. He called the plant, 

 of which Kousso, or Cosso, is the native name, 

 Banksia Ahyssinica, in honour of Sir Joseph Banks, 

 then President of the Boyal Society ; the more recent 

 appellation, Brayera antkelmintica, was given to the 

 plant in 1822, when Dr. Brayer, who had resided for 

 several years in Turkey, brought some specimens of 

 the Kousso to Paris. 



The dose of the powdered Kousso is from two 

 to six drachms ; in larger quantities it produces 

 sickness, violent cramps in the abdomen, and other 

 unpleasant symptoms. Another great drawback in 

 its administration, which induces many practitioners 

 to give a preference to Kamala, is that it brings 

 away the worm in pieces instead of expelling the 

 whole of it at once, so that there is always a chance 

 of the head remaining in the intestine. The odour 

 and taste of Kousso form an obstacle to its adminis- 

 tration to young children. The powdered Kousso 

 ought to be given, as the infusion is not sufficiently 

 powerful to expel the taenia ; the dose may be divided, 

 like that of other anthelmintics, into two or three 

 portions, to be administered at frequent intervals, 

 and it is advisable to give a dose of castor oil in 

 about two or three hours after the last portion has 

 been taken. The worm usually begins to come away, 

 as is also the case when Kamala is employed, at 

 about the third or fourth evacuation following the 

 administration of the medicine. 



