l^B MALE FEEN. 



properties reside in the roots of other of our common ferns. 

 This fern was first used at Genfeve, by Peschier, some twenty 

 or thirty years ago, in the form of an etherial extract ; but it 

 appears to have been recommended as a vermifuge by Theo- 

 phrastus, Dioscorides, and Galen ; and it formed the chief part 

 of Madame Nouffer's celebrated reinedy for the tape-worm. It 

 does not appear to be accurately determined on what special 

 ingredients of the root its vermifuge property depends : we 

 know it contains tannic and gallic acids. There is some con- 

 trariety of opinion as to the proper period of the year for col- 

 lecting the plant for use; Peschier regarding it as most effectual 

 if gathered between May and September, and Prof. Christison 

 considering the date of collection immaterial. The only cau- 

 tion necessary in using it is, probably, that it ought always to 

 be had fresh ; if gathered and prepared by the practitioner him- 

 self, so much the better. The oleo-resin, however, seems to 

 retain its properties for a considerable time ; though what this 

 period accurately is, still remains sh6 jxidice. It has been found 

 quite efficient after being kept a year, (Prof. Christisn, loc. cit.) 

 Prof. Christison commends it as a less disagreeable and more 

 efficient anthelmintic than the ' Abyssinian Kousso, the conti- 

 nental pomegranate, or the American turj)entine. It is sur- 

 prising that Peschier's observations, made on a very large scale 

 indeed, have attracted so little attention in Britain.' Dr. Ku- 

 chenmeister recently made a number of experiments iTpon the 

 relative value of vermifuges in common use, by immersing liv- 

 ing worms in albumen at a temperature above 77° Fahr., and 

 adding the anthelmintic. He found Ttenia crassicornis, thus 

 treated with the etherial extract of the male fern, died in two 

 hours and three quarters, — a longer period, however, than in 

 the case of Kousso {Brayera anthelmintica, an Abyssinian rosa- 

 ceous shrub). Pereira gives an excellent article on this fern in 

 his ' Materia Medica ' (vol. ii. part 1), which may be referred to 

 for particulars as to the chemistry of the root. See also Chris- 

 tison's ' Dispensatorjr,' Eoyle's ' Materia Medica,' Graves's 

 ' Hortus Medicus,' and other works on Medical Botany, or the 

 Pharmacopoeias." — Dr. Lauder Lindsay in Phytol. iv. 1062. 



The following extract is from the ' New Homoeopathic Phar- 

 macopoeia ' : — 



" Tincture of Polypodium Filix-mas. — We gather the plant 



