OIL  OF  WORMSEED. 
503 
I 
OIL  OF  WORMSEED. 
Mr.  Editor, — I  noticed  a  communication  on  oil  of  wormseed, 
in  the  last  number  of  your  Journal,  by  Samuel  S.  Garrigues,  of 
Gottingen.  He  states,  "  two  kinds  of  oil  are  found  in  the 
American  market,  one  under  the  name  of  Baltimore,  and  the 
other  called  Western  Wormseed  Oil.  Each  is  sold  at  a  quite 
different  price,  though  no  difference  can  be  found  in  their  effects." 
Here  he  is  in  error ;  two  druggists  of  this  city  years  ago  sent 
Baltimore  seed  to  Ohio,  where  it  was  planted,  and  the  product 
was  distilled  ;  the  first  crop  had  some  resemblance  to  Baltimore 
oil,  but  the  second  far  less,  and  the  oil  on  a  fair  trial  was  found  to 
possess  much  less  anthelmintic  power  and  pungency,  as  well  as  a 
differentiator  from  that  raised  in  the  vicinity  of  this  city.  Those 
druggists  when  the  oil  was  first  received  from  Ohio  concluded  it 
was  equal  in  value  to  Baltimore,  and  sold  it  conscientiously  under 
that  impression,  but  by  experience  found  and  regretted  their 
error.*  Vermifuge  makers  as  well  as  physicians  have  tried  the 
western,  and  found  it  to  possess  so  little  efficacy  that  they  confine 
themselves  exclusively  to  Baltimore  oil.  This  peculiarity  in  soil 
with  many  plants  is  generally  admitted.  It  is  known  that  the 
best  Havana  tobacco  comes  from  a  certain  district  in  Cuba,  and 
if  the  seed  is  planted  in  our  soil  it  degenerates  in  a  few  years  to 
Maryland  tobacco  ;  and  vice-versa,  if  Maryland  seed  be  planted 
in  Cuba.  The  peculiar  strong  flavor  of  Baltimore  oil  is  never 
found  in  the  western,  neither  is  its  pungency ;  and  I  believe  had 
not  western  oil  been  introduced  and  sold  by  many  of  our  druggists 
as  equal  to  Baltimore,  that  the  use  of  oil  of  wormseed  would  be 
prescribed  at  this  day  by  physicians  as  an  anthelmintic  to  a  far 
greater  extent  than  it  now  is.  Previous  to  the  introduction  of 
the  western  it  was  prescribed  here  much  more  extensively  than 
at  present.  I  have  thought  it  but  just  to  send  you  those  facts, 
&c,  lest  the  publication  of  Mr.  Garrigues'  communication  in  your 
highly  valued  and  extensively  read  journal  should  lead  pharma- 
ceutists to  coincide  with  his  erroneous  views. 
A  Baltimore  Subscriber. 
Baltimore,  Sept.  29,  1854. 
*  This  information  I  had  from  them  both  personally  -within  two  weeks 
past. 
