CH. III.] MERCURY, PRECAUTIONS NECESSARY. 41o' 



within the owners' reach. Laxative alterative medi- 

 cines then obtrude themselves upon our notice ; and 

 in all cases are found to do good, more or less as 

 they may be addressed to the actual seat of the dis- 

 order : in pills, if the worms lie in the intestines ; 

 in powders or liquid, if they occupy the stomach — 

 in all forms, alternately, when we are uncertain. 

 The various preparations of mercury, and of anti- 

 mony, with Barbadoes aloes, as being more drastic 

 in operation ; also common salt, box, sulphur, savin 

 (a vegetable poison), and sal Indicus, offer a suffi- 

 cient variety for the bases of as many varied pre- 

 scriptions ; and variation is here most desirable, in- 

 asmuch as some kind of worms which resist the ef- 

 fects of one substance may be detached and hurried 

 off by another. 



Water-gruel, as it relaxes the parts, and pre- 

 pares them and the worm for receiving the anti- 

 dote, should precede every other remedy, parti- 

 cularly the mercurials ; a course of which should 

 be followed by a purgative, but not be given to- 

 gether, as is commonly practised. For ascarides, 

 which usually infest the large gut, we have found 

 great service in calomel to the amount of a drachm 

 or more, given over night twice, followed by a pur- 

 gative ball on the next morning after the second. 



No. 1. — Mercurial Bolus. 



Calomel, 1J drachms, 

 Anise seed, 5 drachms. 

 Mix with treacle for two doses. 



t3 



