SANTONIN  AS  AN  ANTHELMINTIC. 
Tufnell,  Professor  of  Military  Surgery  in  this  city  has  also  tried 
it  in  some  cases,  and  found  it  eminently  successful  London 
Chemist,  May,  1857,  from  Dublin  Hospital  Gazette, 
SANTONIN  AS  AN  ANTHELMINTIC. 
By  G.  G.  Perry,  Esq.,  Droxford. 
The  very  satisfactory  effects  of  Santonin  in  expelling  round 
and  thread  intestinal  worms  are  not  generally  known.  Mr. 
Perry,  who  has  tried  its  effects  in  many  cases,  says  : 
Among  the  first  cases  treated,  was  that  of  a  child  of  two  years 
of  age,  to  whom  I  gave  three  grains  of  santonin,  followed  in  two 
hours  by  an  aperient  powder;  this  child  voided  the  next 
morning,  at  one  time,  thirty-seven  worms,  some  of  them  a  foot 
in  length,  of  the  lumbricoid  ascaris  kind.  Two  children  in 
another  family  were  similarly  treated,  and  between  forty  and 
and  fifty  worms  came  from  each  ;  again,  in  a  family  of  four,  124 
worms  at  one  time,  and  many  more  afterwards,  followed  the 
aperient,  each  child  having  taken  one  dose  of  santonin.  I  could 
instance  many  more  cases  which  have  been  relieved  by  this 
medicine.  After  the  expulsion  of  the  worms,  I  give  a  tonic 
mixture,  containing  the  muriated  tincture  of  iron  and  muriatic 
acid,  and  change  the  diet  from  a  vegetable  one  to  that  of  meat 
and  bread.    My  cases  all  do  very  well. 
I  should  state  that  santonin  is  a  medicine  that  may  be  ad- 
ministered with  perfect  safety.  I  give  it  in  its  crystallized  form, 
between  bread  and  butter,  and  two  hours  after  it  a  dose  of  calomel 
and  jalap  ;  in  some  cases  an  interval  of  twenty-four  hours  occurs 
before  the  worms  are  voided. 
The  persons  who  reside  in  the  locality  in  which  I  have  met 
with  these  cases,  are  very  poor,  and  from  the  high  price  of  bread 
this  winter,  have  had  recourse  to  vegetables  of  the  commonest 
description,  as  an  article  of  food,  which  will  account  for  the 
presence  of  worms  in  the  alimentary  canal  London  Chemist, 
May,  1857,  from  Medical  Times  and  Gazette. 
