— 99 — 



give to the liqueur the characteristic spicy and bitter taste, the other 

 herbs help to form the aroma and the pleasant taste. 



Common wormwood is gathered by cutting the shrubs close to 

 the ground with a pair of hedge shears; the cut-off plants are spread 

 out on frames to dry. When the wormwood is dry it is cut in the same 

 way as chaff and packed in bags which, when filled, weigh 80 to 90 kilos. 



Artemisia pontica is usually cut with a scythe, gathered on linen 

 sheets of 1 square metre, and finally tied into a bale. What has 

 been cut off during the day is brought into the store every evening, 

 as this plant must not be left in the open air. over night. 



The cultivation of hyssop and balm is carried on in the same 

 manner. The young plants are partly grown from seed, and partly 

 obtained from old shrubs which are divided into several parts; the 

 use of cuttings is also common. For gathering the plants a kind of 

 sickle is employed; they are dried on a frame work similar to that 

 used for common wormwood. 



Wormseed Oil, American. Owing to Bruning's public- 

 ations to which we referred in our last Reports, the demand for this 

 anthelmintic was very brisk, and occasionally it was not possible to 

 meet the requirements to their full extent. The stocks in the United 

 States have dwindled down very much, and it is yet too early to 

 draw conclusions as to the results of the new harvest which commences 

 in the course of this month. 



On several occasions 1 ) we have already discussed the activity of 

 American or Baltimore wormseed oil as an antiascaridiac. Further 

 experiments made by H. Br lining 2 ) on children have confirmed 

 that Oleum Chenopodii anthelmintici does not only deserve to rank side 

 by side with santonin as its equal, but that disturbances which have 

 always to be taken into account when the last-named remedy is 

 administered, never occur in a manner worth mentioning if wormseed 

 oil is taken as an anthelmintic. This also applies to the active 

 principle C 10 H 16 O 2 discovered by us in the oil. Although this body 

 naturally proved more active than the oil itself in the pharmacological 

 experiments made with it, it was a remarkable fact that in patients 

 suffering from worms no noteworthy difference could be observed with 

 regard to its action as compared with that of the oil. 

 ^ The children affected received every morning three times 8 to 

 15 drops, according to their age (measured with a dropping glass, 

 = 0,5 to 1,0 g. pure oil) stirred up in sugar water, and subsequently 

 a laxative in the form of castor oil, Pulv. Curellae, or such like, at 



*) Report October 1900, 81; April 1907, 102. 



2 ) Deutsche Mediz. Wochenschrift 1907, No. 11 (reprint). 



7* 



