SPIGELIA, WORM-GRASS, in botany: A genus of plants belonging to the class of pentandria, and order of monogynia; and in the natural system arranged under the 47th order, Stellata. The corolla is funnel-shaped; the capsule is didymous, bilocular, and polyspermous. There are two species, the anthelmia and marilandica.
The anthelmia has a herbaceous stem, and its highest leaves are fourfold.
"The effects of this medicine (says Dr Browne) are these: It first procures sleep, almost as certainly, and in an equal degree, with opium; the eyes seem to be distended, and sparkle as it were before the eruption of the small-pox or measles, which may be easily observed after the sleep is over; the pulse grows regular and rises, the fever cools, the symptoms appear more favourable, and the worms are generally discharged by the use of the subsequent purgatives (if not before) in great quantities, often above 100 at a time; but when a few only come away, which is seldom, and these alive, the same doses are again repeated, which seldom or never fail. I never saw this medicine fail when there was the least probability of success; nay, often prove successful when there was not the least reason to expect it. I have been, however, cautious in ordering it for children; for though I never knew it at all hurtful, its effect upon the eyes has often deterred me from ordering it to children, whose fibres are weak and relaxed, and in whom the fevers from this source are seldom so vehement as to hinder the administration of other medicines, likely as effectual in other cases of this nature. This plant is generally had in low dry lands, after they have been turned up some months, and after great rains; its taste is herbaceous, and somewhat clammy, its growth is soft and sudden, its stalk hollow, smooth, and roundish. Its herbaceous taste and sudden growth would alone make me think it capable of little or no action, had not hundreds of careful observations satisfied me to the contrary."
The marilandica, perennial worm-grass, or Indian pink. The best description of this plant which we have seen is given by Dr Woodville, in his Medical Botany;
a work which exhibits a complete systematic view of the medicinal effects of vegetables. Its stem is four-cornered; all the leaves opposite.
Dr Garden, in a letter to the late Dr Hope, professor of botany in the university of Edinburgh, dated 1763, gives the following account of the virtues of this plant. "About 40 years ago, the anthelmintic virtues of the root of this plant were discovered by the Indians; since which time it has been much used here by physicians, practitioners, and planters; yet its true dose is not generally ascertained. I have given it in hundreds of cases, and have been very attentive to its effects. I never found it do much service, except when it proved gently purgative. Its purgative quality naturally led me to give it in febrile diseases, which seemed to arise from viscosity in the prima via; and, in these cases, it succeeded to admiration, even when the sick did not void worms.
"I have of late, previous to the use of the Indian pink, given a vomit, when the circumstances of the case permitted it; and I have found this method answer so well, that I think a vomit should never be omitted. I have known half a dram of this root purge as briskly as the same quantity of rhubarb; at other times I have known it, though given in large quantities, produce no effect upon the belly: in such cases, it becomes necessary to add a grain or two of sweet mercury, or some grains of rhubarb; but it is to be observed, that the same happy effects did not follow its use in this way, as when it was purgative without addition. The addition, however, of the purgative renders its use safe, and removes all danger of convulsions of the eyes, although neither of ruia, sabina, or any other nervous substance, is given along with it. It is, in general, safer to give it in large doses than in small; for, from the latter, more frequently the giddiness, dimness of the sight, and convulsions, &c. follow; whereas, from large doses, I have not known any other effect than its proving emetic or violently cathartic. To a child of two years of age, who had been taking 10 grains of the root twice a-day, without having any other effect than making her dull and giddy, I preferred 22 grains morning and evening, which purged her briskly, and brought away five large worms. After some months an increased dose had the same good effects. I prefer the root to the other parts of the plant; of which, when properly dried, I gave from 12 to 60 or 70 grains in substance. In infusion, it may be given to the quantity of two, three, or four drams, twice a-day. I have found that, by keeping, the plant loses its virtue in part; for 40 grains of the root which has not been gathered above two months, will operate as strongly as 60 which has been kept for 15 months."
In Dr Garden's subsequent letters, addressed to Dr Hope, in the years 1764 and 1766, the efficacy of this root in worm cases is further confirmed; and he observes, that the root keeps better than he at first thought (having lately used it several years old with great success). In what he calls continued or remitting low worm fevers, he found its efficacy promoted by the addition of rad. scirparum.