236 SPECIAL THERAPEUTICS. 



containing santonine is sometimes very speedy in 

 cases of thread- worm. 



Some authors have raised an objection to the use 

 of santonine, in consequence of certain secondary 

 results which are occasionally produced by it, of 

 which the most common is the peculiar coloration of 

 the vision, everything appearing to the patient to be 

 of a yellow or greenish tint. This phenomenon is 

 only of a transient character, and passes off in a few 

 hours after the suspension of the drug, or sooner if 

 a purgative be administered, without causing any 

 injury ; but it would always, of course, be proper to 

 apprise the patient of its possible occurrence. 



Various conjectural explanations of this singular 

 phenomenon have been offered ; some have attempted 

 to account for it by supposing that the serum of the 

 blood acquires a yellowish tinge ; and others, again, 

 imagine that a temporary influence is exerted upon 

 the optic nerve, or the retina. Its coincidence with 

 the exhibition of santonine internally has, as might 

 be expected, induced some practitioners to give that 

 agent a trial in the treatment of deeply-seated 

 affections of the eye. Dr. Martini, of Naples, has 

 reported that much benefit attended its adminis- 

 tration in several cases of nervous amaurosis ; and 

 M. Guepin, of Nantes, has confirmed Dr. Martini's 

 statements ; but further evidence of the nature and 

 degree of the action of santonine upon the visual 

 organs is necessary before it can be admitted into the 

 list of acknowledged ophthalmic remedies. 



The preceding remarks formed part of a paper of 

 of mine on this subject which was inserted in the 

 Medical Times and Gazette, for 1862. The results 



