Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the EctozoaCobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Science
Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the Ectozoa
Cobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Helminths; Parasites
It was not until several months had elapsed that his wife was attacked
with diarrhœa. In both cases there was more or less flatus. The motions
were white, and there were other indications implying that the liver was
affected. Later on, symptoms of indigestion, with heartburn, set in and
became very severe. Streaks of blood appeared in the fæces, but there
was no dysentery. For the most part these symptoms were attributed to
the effects of climate.
When, in the month of February, 1875, I saw the missionary a second
time, professionally, I found that all the old symptoms had returned.
He had a foul tongue, the surface of the body was cold, he felt
chills, and the pulse, though regular, registered ninety-six to the
minute. Indigestion, nausea, headache, and diarrhœa had reappeared.
Notwithstanding these febrile symptoms, so satisfied was the patient
himself that all his ailments were entirely due to the presence of
parasites, that I felt inclined to take the same view of his case.
Accordingly my attention was principally directed to an effort for their
expulsion; and in this view I ordered an aloetic pill followed by a
castor-oil emulsion. This having no effect, I subsequently prescribed
aloes and assafœtida pills, followed by scammony mixture. The action
of the latter drug did not occasion griping, but, although efficient,
led only to negative results. I should mention that in the patient’s
judgment none of the vermifuges administered to him at any time had
exerted any influence in the expulsion of the flukes. He was still
thoroughly impressed with the notion that the milk diet, ordered by Dr
Henderson, was the sole cause of their expulsion.
As even a missionary could not live by milk alone I insisted upon a more
substantial diet. The milk, indeed, had occasionally been supplemented
by Liebig’s extract of meat and by light farinaceous food. When I last
saw him neither he nor his wife had passed any more flukes, but they
did not feel satisfied that no more guests remained. Somewhat improved
in general health, the missionary resolved to go back to his duties in
China. I expressed my fears, however, that his strength would prove
unequal to the work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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