394 
On  Koussin  for  Tapeworm. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     Sept.  1, 1872. 
ON  KOUSSIN  AND  ITS  MEDICINAL  USE  AGAINST  TAPEWORM. 
By  Dr.  C.  Bedall,  Apothecary  at  Munich.* 
In  his  lengthy  essay,  the  author  first  gives  a  brief  description  of 
the  three  kinds  of  tapeworm  which  have  been  observed  in  the  human 
intestines,  Tcenia  Solium,  T.  medioeanellata  and  Botriocephalus  latus* 
The  successful  removal  of  these  parasites  depends,  in  a  great  mea- 
sure, upon  some  casual  circumstances,  among  which  the  following 
appear  to  be  the  most  important :  age,  constitution  and  habits  of  the 
patient,  the  species  of  the  tapeworm,  the  length  of  time  it  has  been 
in  the  intestines,  the  period  in  which  parts  of  it  are  spontaneously 
expelled,  and  the  influence  exerted  upon  it  by  different  victuals  and 
medicines. 
The  older  remedies  for  tapeworm  are  the  rhizome  of  male  fern  and  the 
root  bark  of  pomegranate  ;  after  about  the  year  1840,  kousso,  kamala 
and  saoria  were  introduced  from  Abyssinia  and  Malabar.  Each  of 
these  remedies  has  had,  and  still  has,  its  advocates  and  its  opponents 
among  physicians ;  but  the  large  dose  and  disagreeable  taste,  as  well 
as  the  preparatory  diet  required  when  male  fern  and  pomegranate  are 
used,  render  these  two  rather  objectionable;  saoria  requires  likewise  a 
large  dose,  and  overdoses  are  apt  to  produce  unpleasant  results  ;  ka- 
mala  is  not  open  to  these  objections,  but  it  is  frequently  largely  adul- 
terated, while  the  large  dose  of  powdered  kousso,  which  is  sometimes 
thrown  up  by  the  patients,  is  the  fault  that  has  been  found  with  the 
latter. 
To  obviate  the  employment  of  the  powder,  a  resin  had  been  pre- 
pared, and  seems  to  have  answered  its  purpose  better  than  the  pow- 
dered flowers.  Proximate  analyses  were  made  by  Wittstein,  St. 
Martin,  Viale  and  Latini,  Pavesi,  Willing  and  Bedall.  The  first  and 
last  of  these  analyses  agree  in  the  main  results,  and  prove  the  pres- 
ence of  tannin,  volatile  oil,  valerianic  acid  and  two  resins  ;  one  black 
green  and  tasteless,  the  other  yellowish-white,  bitter  and  acrid.  The 
hagenic  acid  of  Viale  and  Latini,  and  the  alkaloid  koseina  of  St.  Mar- 
tin could  not  be  obtained.  Pavesi's  koussin  or  taeniin  is  identical 
with  Wittstein's  bitter  and  acrid  resin,  but  does  not  exist  only  in  the 
pollen,  as  supposed  by  Pavesi,  but  likewise  in  a  small  proportion  in 
the  stalks  and  pedicels. 
*  Translated  and  abridged  from  Wittstein's  Vierteljahresschrift,  1872,  p. 
339-357. 
