Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 13, MAT-MIC

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Worm«.
w or nIne mornings fucceffively, a dofe of jalap with
caleRiel muft be given, which feldom fails to bring
away the worms, feme dead, fome alive. If at any
tiroc iiit decodlion produce more than one or two
loofe ftools, a few drops of liquid laudanum may be
given ; and, in general, Mr Anderfon gave 15 or 20
drops of the fpirit of lavender with each dofe.
In a letter from Dr ilufh, profefTor of chemiftry at
Philadelphia, to Dr Duncan of Edinburgh, the. follow¬
ing account is given of another preparation of this me¬
dicine. “ It has long (lays he) been a complaint
a "ong phyficians, that we have no ’vermifuge medicine
which can be depended upon. Even calomel fails in
ina y caies where there are the moll pathognomonic
ligns of worms in the bowels. But this complaint, it
is hoped, is now at an end. The phyficians of Jamaica
have lately found, that the cabbage-bark, as it is ca'led
in the Weft Indies, made into a fyrup with brown fu-
gar, is an infallible antidote to "them. I have ufed
above 30 pounds of it, and have never found it fail in
one inftance. The fyrup is pleafant ; it fometimes
pukes, and always purges, the firft or fecond time it is
given.”
The moft accurate botanical defeription of the geof-
froea inermis, 01 the tree furniftung the worm bark, as
it has often been called, is that which was publiftied
fome years ago in the Philofophical Tranfadions by
Eb Wright, formerly phyfxcian at Jamaica, now of
Edinburgh, who alfo highly extolls this remedy as an
anthelmintic.
Notwdthftandingthefe encomiums, however, the cab¬
bage bark has not come into general ufe in Britain.
But difeafes from the teretes, or lutnbnci as they are
often called, the fpecies of worm againft which this
bark is employed, much lefs frequently occur in Bri¬
tain than in fome other countries. When they do oc¬
cur, in almoft every inftance they readily yield to more
gentle and fafe anthelmintics ; and the worms may not
only be expelled by calomel, but by the vegetable bit¬
ters ; as the powder of the artemilia fantonica, or the
like.
4. Couhage, or cow-itch. This is the Dolichos urens
or pruriens of Linnaeus and the principles on which
it acts have been already explained under the ar¬
ticle Dolichos. It is fomewbat fimilar to the pow¬
der of tin, but bids fair for being more efficacious.
It might at firft appear to occur as objedions to this
medicine, that by the hairs of it entangling themfelves
with one another, calculi might be formed in the in-
teftines, or obftrudions equally bad ; or if the ffiarp
points and hooks with which it abounds were to ad¬
here to the nervous coats of the inteftines themfelves,
they might occafion a fatal irritation, which could not
be removed by any means whatever. But from the
experience of thofe who have employed it extenfively
m niadjee, it would appear, that thele objedions are
entirely theoretical : and that it maybe employed with
perfed fafety. The fpiculae, gently feraped off from a
fingle pod,, and mixed with fyrup or melaffes, are taken
for a dofe in the morning faffing. This dofe is repeat¬
ed in this manner for two or three davs without any
fenfible operation ; but ever, a very flight purgative
taken afterwards has been found to difeharge an almoft
incredible quantity of worms. And according to Dr
Bancroft, who has given a very particular account of
MEDICINE. Appendix
2 ff ’n h'S Nf,tUraI Hi,lo7 °f Gukna, it is one of Wo™
the iaieft and moft certain anthelmintics yet difeovered-
but, as well as the bark of the Geoffreea, it has hither*
to been very little ufed in Britain, probably from its
not being neceflary.
S' Indian pink.. This plant, which is the Spigelia
man/andica or Linnaeus, is alfo an American plant
and was firft recommended in the Edinburgh Phyfical
and Literary Effays by Dr Garden of Charleftown in
South Carolina. He is of opinion that a vomit ought
always to precede the ufe of it j and informs us, that
half a dram of it purges as brifkly as the fame quan¬
tity of rhubarb. At other times he has known it pro¬
duce no effedl on the belly though given in very large
quantity : In fuch cafes it becomes neceffary to add 3
grain or twm of fweet mercury, or fome grams of rhu¬
barb ; but then it is lefs efficacious than when it proves
purgative without addition. The ufe of it, however
in fmall dofes, is by no means fafe ; as it frequently
produces giddinefs, dimnefs of fight, convulfions, &c»
The addition of a purgative, indeed, prevents thefe ef-
fefts ; but at the fame time, as already obferved, it di-
miniflies the virtue of the medicine. The doftor there¬
fore recommends large dofes, as from them he never
knew any other effedf than the medicine’s proving eme¬
tic or violently cafhartic. The doib is from 12 to 60
or 70 grains of the root in fubftance, or two, three, or
foui drains of the infufion, twice a-day. This medicine
has alfo had its day, and is now very far from being
confidered as a fpecific. ®
The long round worms feem to be the moft dan¬
gerous which infeft 'the human body, as they often
pierce through the ftomach and inteftines, and thus
bring on a miferable death. The common fymptoms of
them are naufea, vomiting, loofenefs, fainting, {lender
intermitting pulfe, itching of the nofe, and epileptic
fits. By the confumption of the chyle they produce
hunger, palenefs, weaknefs, coftivenefs, tumor of the
abdomen, erudations, and rumbling of the inteflines;
but it is from the perforation of the inteftines that
the difeafe proves fo frequently fatal. A child may
be known to have worms from his cold temperament,
paltntfs of the countenance, livid eyelids, hollow eyes,
itching of the nofe, voracity, ftartings, and grinding
of the teeth, in fleep; and more efpecially by a very
fc tid breath. Very frequently, however, they are void¬
ed by the mouth and anus, in which cafe there is no
room for doubt. In the Medical Commentaries, vol. ii.
we have an account of the inteftines being perforated
by a w’orm, and yet the patient recovered. The pa¬
tient was a woman troubled with an inflammation in
the lower part of the abdomen. The pain was fo vio¬
lent, that for fix days (he flept none at all; the tumor
then broke, difeharged upwards of a pound of thin wa¬
tery fanies, immediately after which the excrements
followed. The next day (he was extremely loir •, her pidfe
could fearcely be felt; the extremities were cold; and
there w>as a confiderable difeharge from the wound,
which had already begun to mortify. She got a de-
coflion of cinchona with wine, which alleviated the
fymptoms; but in removing the mortified parts a wo'Tn
was found amom* them nine inches long, and as thick
as an eagle’s quill. By proper applications, the dif-
charge of excrements ceafed, and ffie recovered perfed:
health. She was fenfible of no accident giving rife to
the