The symptoms in this case most evidently arose from worms in the intestines; which often occasion unaccountable complaints, and frequently elude the most powerful medicines, as they did in the instance before us, till at last they were dislodged by the enormous quantity of oil-paint, which the poor boy devoured; and the cause being thus removed, all the effects ceased. At first sight it appears wonderful, that this immense quantity of white lead did not prove fatal; and that it was not so, could be owing to nothing but the oil, by which it was enveloped, and its contact and immediate action on the coats of the intestines thereby prevented. But the oil did not only obviate the dangerous effects of this mixture, but appears, to me at least, to have been the chief cause of the success, with which it was happily attended. I speak this with some restriction, because the lead, as its stypticity was thus covered, might, by its weight, assist in removing the verminous filth, especially as the bowels were made slippery by the oil. Oil has long been observed to be noxious to insects of all kinds, so that not only those, which survive after being cut into several pieces, but those also, which live long with very little air, and those, which revive by warmth after submersion in water, die irrecoverably, if they are immerged in, or covered with oil. Rhedi and Malpighi have made many experiments to this purpose; and account for the event very rationally from the oil stopping up all the air-vessels, which in these animalcula are very numerous, and distributed almost over their whole bodies. On this account oil has been recommended as a vermifuge both by Andry and Hoffmann, though I believe it has been seldom used in practice in that intention; or at least has not been given in quantities sufficient to answer it. Indeed Hoffmann[222] himself seems not to lay much stress on it as an anthelmintic, recommending it only as serving to line the inside of the intestines, and to relax spasms in them; and therefore as a proper preparative to be given before any acrid purgatives are ventured on.