CHAP. XXXV.
OF WORMS.
These are chiefly of three kinds, viz. the tænia, or tape-worm; the teres, or round and long worm; and the ascarides, or round and short worm. There are many other kinds of worms found in the human body; but as they proceed, in a great measure, from similar causes, have nearly the same symptoms, and require almost the same method of treatment as these already mentioned, we shall not spend time in enumerating them.
The tape-worm is white, very long, and full of joints. It is generally bred either in the stomach or small intestines. The round and long worm is likewise bred in the small guts, and sometimes in the stomach. The round and short worms commonly lodge in the rectum, or what is called the end gut, and occasion a disagreeable itching about the seat.
The long round worms occasion squeamishness, vomiting, a disagreeable breath, gripes, looseness, swelling of the belly, swoonings, loathing of food, and at other times a voracious appetite, a dry cough, convulsions, epileptic fits, and sometimes a privation of speech. These worms have been known to perforate the intestines, and get into the cavity of the belly. The effects of the tape-worm are nearly the same with those of the long and round, but rather more violent.
Andry says, the following symptoms particularly attend the solium, which is a species of the tape-worm, viz. swoonings, privation of speech, and a voracious appetite. The round worms called ascarides, besides an itching of the anus, cause swoonings, and tenesmus, or an inclination to go to stool.
CAUSES.——Worms may proceed from various causes; but they are seldom found except in weak and relaxed stomachs, where the digestion is bad. Sedentary persons are more liable to them than the active and laborious. Those who eat great quantities of unripe fruit, or who live much on raw herbs and roots, are generally subject to worms. There seems to be a hereditary disposition in some persons to this disease. I have often seen all the children of a family subject to worms of a particular kind. They seem likewise frequently to be owing to the nurse. Children of the same family, nursed by one woman, have often worms, when those nursed by another have none.
SYMPTOMS.——The common symptoms of worms are, paleness of the countenance, and at other times, an universal flushing of the face; itching of the nose; this however is doubtful, as children pick their noses in all diseases; starting, and grinding of the teeth in sleep; swelling of the upper lip; the appetite sometimes bad, at other times quite voracious; looseness; a sour or stinking breath; a hard swelled belly; great thirst; the urine frothy, and sometimes of a whitish colour; griping, or colic pains; an involuntary discharge of saliva, especially when asleep; frequent pains of the side, with a dry cough, and unequal pulse; palpitations of the heart; swoonings; drowsiness; cold sweats; palsy; epileptic fits, with many other unaccountable nervous symptoms, which were formerly attributed to witchcraft, or the influence of evil spirits. Small bodies in the excrements resembling melon or cucumber seeds are symptoms of the tape-worm.
I lately saw some very surprising effect of worms in a girl about five years of age, who used to lie for whole hours as if dead. She at last expired, and, upon opening her body, a number of the teres, or long round worms, were found in her guts, which were considerably inflamed; and what anatomists call an intus susceptio, or involving of one part of the gut within another, had taken place in no less than four different parts of the intestinal canal[[134]].
MEDICINE.——Though numberless medicines are extolled for expelling and killing worms[[135]], yet no disease more frequently baffles the physician’s skill. In general, the most proper medicines for their expulsion are strong purgatives; and to prevent their breeding, stomachic bitters, with now and then a glass of good wine.
The best purge for an adult is jalap and calomel. Five and twenty or thirty grains of the former with six or seven of the latter, mixed in syrup, may be taken early in the morning, for a dose. It will be proper that the patient keep the house all day, and drink nothing cold. The dose may be repeated once or twice a week, for a fortnight or three weeks. On the intermediate days the patient may take a drachm of the powder of tin, twice or thrice a-day, mixed with syrup, honey, or treacle.