Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 4, 1802).djvu/216

i9o] TAP the creatare be discharged. Should it, however, fail of succrss, 2 or 3 table-spoonfals of fresh castor-oil are to be taken by the mouth, or a clyster, consisting chiefly of tliis oil, onght to be administered. The contriver of this method prudently obser'es, that the use of such ac- tive medicines, should be diretled by a skilful physician, on account of the material difference in the sex, age, and constitution of indi- viduals. He farther remarks, that as the efficacy of the remedy. No. 1 , greatly depends on the qua- lity of the male fern ; care should be taken, that the root of the Poli/- podittm filir mas, and not of a spu- lious variety, be seleAed for the purpose ; and that even of the ge- nuine root, only the medullar)' jxirt is to be pulverized : in this state, it assumes a reddish cojour. On reviewing these boasted re- medies, it becomes evident that their principal efficacy is derived from the male fern, properly com- bined with drastic purgatives ; though it cannot be denied, that the auxiliary ingredients have, in some worm-cases, proved equally successful. But all those drugs having been known to the medical world for centuries, it is to us a matter of surprize, that a man, fike Mathieu, should hare the effrontery to offer this clualer nf vermifuges as things of his own in- vention, and obtain from the royal hand, a gilt laurel, for which others have for past ages, toiled in vain ! Nay, we are informed il>at, in a particular case, his pretended spe- cific has also failed. — Quackery remains the same, whether covered with embroidered scarlet, or with rags. Ele(5lricity has, likewise, been reconimeudcd for tte removal of TAU this troublesome inhabitant of tlie human body, especially after taking a brisk laxative in the morning.— - Physicians on the Continent have remarked, that in persons whff had eaten a supper of strawberries, the tape-worm could be traced to different parts of the abdomen, by means of eleftric sparks drawn from a wooden point, and carefully directed to the body, so that it cmikl afterwards be easily ex- pelled. Lastly, therer is another effica- cious metliod of exterminating this worm ; and which has frequently been attended with the desired ef- fe6t. Three or four days, previ- ously to the use of opening medi- cines, from one to three tea- spoon- fuls of a solution of tartarized an- timony (2 grains in 4 oz. of water), is to be taken three times a-day : on the fourth day, a purging pow- der, composed of calomel and ja- lap, from 3 to 6 grains each, ac- cordingly as the patient is moved with greater or less diffi^culty.must be administered before breakfast -, but he should endeavour to check vomiting. In case this dose prove not sufficiently powerful, its ope- ration may be promoted by the in- ternal use and external application of castor-oil. During the passage of the worm, care must be taken not to interrupt its progress ; as it has been observed, on the least ir- ritation, either to return into the body, or to break off suddaily ; in conse(}uence of which, the whde complaint will be renewed : hence it would be advisable to sit on a vessel containing lukewarm milk, into which it may gradually de- scend ; a pra^ice that has often been attended with success. Tapioca. See Cassava. TAB, a thick, black, uaduous nuUer,