Remedies which expel worms[234] from the intestinal canal.
It has been already stated, (_page 90_) that certain bodies have the
power of increasing the peristaltic motions of the intestinal canal, by
operating as mechanical stimulants upon its fibres; in this manner the
filings of tin and iron, or the irritating down which covers the pods of
the _Dolichos Pruriens_, are supposed to act in dislodging and
evacuating the worms from the intestines. But there is a variety of
remedies employed as vermifuges, which must owe their effects to a very
different mode of operation; _Bitters_ for instance appear to prove an
absolute poison[235] to these animals, while they, at the same time,
give an increased tone to the organs of digestion; from whose debility
the generation of worms would seem to arise. Other remedies, again,
obviously depend upon their simple cathartic property, for the powers
which they possess in the evacuation of worms. See _Terebinthinæ
Oleum_—_Cambogia_.
In the cure of Ascarides the local application of the remedy becomes
necessary, in the form of glyster, and which acts both _mechanically_ in
washing out the gut, and _medicinally_ in proving obnoxious to the
animals. According to the experience of some of our best practitioners,
a strong decoction of the _Semina Santonici_ proves most efficacious
upon these occasions.