The volatile oil is now much used, the dose of which, for a child, is from 5 to 10 mimims. The drug should be given in one full dose, fasting, and then be followed, in about two hours, by an active purgative, such as castor oil. When the purge has acted, the patient can take food. The treatment should be repeated ten days later. In view of the uncertain ascaridole contents of some samples, small doses should be given at first.
Toxic symptoms are transient dizziness and vomiting.
The oil has been recommended in the treatment of malaria, chorea, hysteria and other nervous diseases. The plant has been employed, under the name of Herba Sancti Mariae , in pectoral complaints, as an expectorant, in catarrh and asthma. Although oil of Chenopodium has been official in the United States Pharmacopoeia for many years, it does not appear to have received official recognition elsewhere. Originally, this disease was exclusively a tropical and subtropical one, but about thirty years ago, it appeared in mineworkers in Europe north of the Alps. The Hookworm, which causes the disease, is called Ankylostos duodenale , the male of which attains a length of 10 mm., the female 14 mm.