348 KENNEL DISEASES. 
The following morning, the bowels having been thoroughly evacuated, and 
thus the tape-worm uncovered, as it were, the vermifuge ought to work to good 
advantage. 
Areca nut will oftentimes expel the tape-worm, and some authorities appear 
to prefer it to the generally accepted tenicides; but there are other agents 
which seem to be rather more destructive to this species of the worm, and the 
most popular among them is the oleoresin or oil of male fern. 
This was the secret remedy of Madame Nouffer, the widow of a surgeon in 
Switzerland, who by successful use in cases of tape-worm acquired celebrity 
so great that the interest of the medical profession of Paris was aroused; and 
after being satisfied that its merits were all that had been claimed for it, the 
king of France purchased the secret, and by his order the same was published, 
and thus given to the world. Madame Nouffer’s plan of treatment was to ad- 
minister a goodly dose of the powdered root of male fern, and follow it in two 
hours with a generous cathartic; and this process she had repeated again and 
again if necessary, at proper intervals, until the worms were expelled. 
Returning to the treatment of tape-worms in dogs, when the oil of male 
fern is to be used, and one dose only of it is to be given, the subject to be 
treated is of medium or largest size breed, and six or eight months old, for such, 
a safe dose is sixteen drops; for fox-terriers and the like, eight drops; and for 
toys, four drops. 
For all varieties excepting toys, the dose of the oil of male fern ought to be 
increased by one-half after the twelfth month; while with the largest breeds 
another and similar increase should be made after the twenty-fourth month. 
The writer cannot advise that it be given to very young puppies, yet one 
of the most successful breeders of Irish setters has assured him that he has 
often administered it to little ones only a few weeks old without any ill effect; 
the dose being two drops in one teaspoonful of castor-oil. 
While the popular treatment by male fern consists in giving one dose only, 
with all, and especially young subjects, it would be better to administer the 
remedy in divided doses and at short intervals. 
If this novel plan be decided upon, the quantity to be administered ought 
to be about one-fourth more than that which has been already advised for one 
dose ; furthermore, it should be divided into about fifteen doses. 
The usual preparatory treatment having been first applied, one such small 
dose should be given every five minutes, until the last has been taken; and 
if the bowels do not then move in the course of two hours, action should be 
encouraged by means of a medium dose of castor-oil. 
While male fern alone is quite destructive to tape-worms, when combined 
with calomel it is still more deadly; and there can be no valid objection to the 
use of this mercurial if the mixture be divided up into very small doses, and 
one dose be given every five minutes, after the method just advised. 
