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Show COWHAGE. COWHAGE. in small doses of Dimsdale’s powder*. But even this is not al. ways effectual. Andit is very extraordinary, that wherenature has pointed out and supplied us with the noblest and safest anthelmintics, the preparations of art should be substituted, and preferred, though inferior in virtue, and more hazardous in their consequences. Fewor none of the European medicines are equal in efficacy to those vermifuges which the East and West Indies supply us with. The wormgrass is highly commended by many,andis allowed a place among the first anthelmintics, by those who have been accustomed to give it. Its use principally obtains among the free black and mulatto women of Jamaica, who make a livelihood bypractising physic among those of their owncolour, with the medicinal herbs which nature so abundantly bestowsin that climate. It is the anthelmia of Dr. Browne, and the spigelia ofLine Deus. The preparations of it are an infusion, decoction, and the clarified juice. Dr. Browne, who, in his Natural History of Jamaica, gives us the best methods of preparing it, speaks very highly in its praise. ‘Those to whom it is administered are first affected asif with a degree of intoxication. It then procures sleep almost as certainly, and in the same degree, as opium; and the patient’s eyes, after the sleep is over, appear sparkling and distended. However, the exhibition of it is not unattended with danger ; if the dose betoolittle it will do no good, and excess in the dose I have knownproductive of alarming effects. The asclepias, which is the apocynum erectum folio oblongo &c. of Sloane, from its emetic quality called bastard or wild ipecacuanha, and by the negroes red-head, is a powerful ver- mifuge. The usual way of administering it is, either in a decoction or strength of the patient. The expressed juice may also be made into a syrup with sugar. I have knownit to bring away worms (after operating as an emetic) from patients in whom there never appeared any symptoms of them. If there are any in the stomach, it certainly dislodges them. When the crude juice is to be administered, I would recommend an addition of an equal or a double portion of lukewarm water with it, which makes it ope+ rate more gently, and likewise moreeffectually. The bark of the bastard cabbage tree ( Geoffrea inermis) stands among the first in the list of powerful vermifuges. It is the bark of a tree, very frequently to be met with in the mountainous parts of Jamaica, which grows to a considerable height. grains 3; tartarized antimony, grain } or 4. The bark is of an ash colour, sometimes spotted with reddish or iron-coloured spots: the outer thin bark, or epider. mis, being peeled off, the inner bark appears, when dry, of a rusty iron colour, andits interior surface of a cineritious hue. Altogether, when stripped off the tree, and kept for use, it is not unlike the eleutheria, or cascarilla bark. The wood of the bastard cabbagetree is exceedingly hard and durable, and much used for the purposes of building, where strength andstability are required. ‘The leaves are oblong, oval, smooth, and of a beantiful green colour, disposed in a pinnate form along the stem. Of this tree there are said to be two sorts, the male and the female. The bark of that only whichis called the female bas. tard cabbage tree is applied to the purposes of medicine. This latter, in the months of April, May, June, and July, appears most beautifully adorned with very large spikes of papiliona- ceous blossoms, of a purple colour, which are succeeded by a fruit, of the shape, size, and appearance of a green walnut ; being a drupa, containing one oval kernel, inclosed in a hard, smooth, thin shell. The most usual way of exhibiting this bark is in decoction. About an ounce, or an ounce and a half, grossly powdered, may be boiled in a quart of water, until it is reduced to half a Pint. * R. calomel, compound powder of crabs claws, of each equal parts PROT If mercurybe given at all for the expulsion of worms, the safest way of administering it has always appearedto me to be ¥3" than injuring the constitution. the expressed juice of the leaves. Of the former; half a pint is the usual dose to an adult, when intended as an emetic. In the latter form, from a tea-spoonful to three table-spoonfuls may be given as an emetic, according to the age, constitution, and bi in many millions of real worm cases, without any othereffect 637 Bythis time the decoction becomes very high coloured, like old Madeira wine, or porter; but if it should not then at~ es) 636 |