234 SPECIAL THERAPEUTICS. 



species of Artemisia, especially of the A. ahrotanum 

 and A. santonicKm, were very generally recognised 

 amongst the ancients, as may be deduced from the 

 circumstance that we find a recommendation of them 

 for the treatment of intestinal worms in the works of 

 Paulus ^gineta, Dioscorides, Galen, Celsus, and other 

 early medical writers ; and the use of these remedial 

 agents has been continued, in various forms, up to 

 the present time. In France and other continental 

 countries extensive recourse has long been had, when 

 a vermifuge was required, to the administration of 

 wormseed, also known by the abbreviated name of 

 ** semen-contra " (^. e., semen contra vermes), which 

 consists of the broken flower-stalks, involucres, and 

 flower-buds of several kinds of Artemisia. The chief 

 objection to the use of this remedy is that the large 

 quantity — nearly half-an-ounce — given as a dose is 

 apt to produce dyspepsia and sickness, and it has 

 consequently been abandoned in great measure for 

 .santonine, a crystalline substance, which is procured 

 from wormseed, and which possesses similar pro- 

 perties. 



Santonine, or cinine, as it is sometimes called, is 

 a white, inodorous, and, when pure, almost tasteless 

 powder ; very sparingly soluble in water, but readily 

 dissolved in fatty oils. It has a slightly acid re- 

 action, of which advantage has been taken in the 

 manufacture of a series of salts, santonates, formed 

 by its union with certain bases. ^ 



For children, one to three grains would constitute 



* The principal of these salts, the santonate of soda, is given 

 in doses of from five to eight grains for adnlts, and from two to 

 four grains for children. 



