DKYOPTEEIS FLLIX-MAS. 195 



under the tongue of a horse that has fallen sick from any un- 

 known cause : by this application the disease will be expelled, 

 and the horse recovered. 



I learn from my friend, Mr. Hanbury, of Plough Court, that 

 this fern is still used in medicine ; and, although long neglect- 

 ed, is returning into some favour with the medical profession. 

 We also learn from the Edinburgh ' Monthly Journal of Medi- 

 cal Science,' that the powdered root or oleo-resin of male fern 

 is an excellent remedy for tape-worm, (page 556). 



But perhaps the best summary of the medical properties of 

 Filix-mas is to be foimd in the ' Phytologist,' from the pen of 

 Dr. Lauder Lindsay : — 



" Lastrea Filix-mas. — This has been repeatedly used, of late, 

 in different wards of this hospital, as an anthelmintic, in the 

 treatment of tape-worm, [Tcenia solium). It has also been 

 extensively applied to the same purpose by the profession in 

 Edinburgh, and other parts of Scotland. It had fallen into 

 disuse greatly in this neighbourhood, in consequence of sup- 

 posed inefficiency, but undeservedly so, until Prof. Christison, 

 in two papers published in the ' Edinburgh Monthly Medical 

 Journal,' for June, 1853, and July, 1853 ("On the Treatment of 

 Tape-worm by the Male Shield Fern "), showed that the want 

 of success, in some cases, depended on bad preparations of the 

 root, or old roots, being used. He found it almost uniformly 

 successful in the form of an oleo-resinous extract, obtained by 

 percolation of the root with ether. It is recommended in the 

 dose of eighteen to twenty-four grains, followed by a purgative. 

 In many parts of England, nothing is more common as a ver- 

 mifuge than half a drachm to a drachm of the powder of the 

 root, made up in the form of an electuary, with a little treacle 

 or jelly ; in other parts of the country, the oil of the male fern 

 is an equally common nostrum. But in neither of the latter 

 conditions can its action be relied upon, especially if purchased 

 in the shops of druggists, who generally not only sell old roots 

 and bad preparations, but some the roots of totally different 

 species. It is most apt to be, and has most frequently been, 

 confounded with Athjaium Filix-femina, the root of which, it 

 has yet to be proved, has a similar virtue. If time permit, ni 

 the course of this summer I intend making a series of experi- 

 ments, to determine whether the same anthelmintic, or what, 



