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DR. GARDNER'S WORM MEDICINE.

The following is a copy of the Doctor's advertisement, taken from a Sunday paper-

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"A gentleman, named Ramsey, physician to King Charles II. found in the left ventricle of a man's heart, a worm of the most extraordinary kind, having a head like a snake, and two legs, with five claws to each. This monster "caused the death of Mr. Pennant, aged 21 years, described by Mr. Ramsey's publication, "1668; but, alas! it was not till Mr. P. was "dead, that the cause was known. We are happy "to inform our readers, that although in those "days monsters of that description could not be "expelled, it is otherwise now, as can be proved "by thousands of living instances. Mr. C

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Westminster, voided a snake-worm, which is "now for public inspection; this, together with a vast variety of other curious insects from "the human body, may be scen at Dr. Gardner's, "No. 74, Long Acre, and No. 3, High Street, "Shoreditch, by whose medicine these were expelled."

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That a worm of such a description should be discovered in the heart, no man in his senses, however ignorant of diseases and anatomy, will accredit; and we can venture to affirm, that had it been really the case, and the existence of the worm ascertained during the lifetime of the patient, neither Dr. Gardner's, nor even Ching's

worm medicines would have been capable of destroying or dislodging it.

Dr. Keighley justly observes, that "no disease “ offers such a field for the impositions of quack66 ery, as worms. Appearances of tremendous "vermin, many yards in length, suspended in a " fluid, are ostentatiously displayed at the window, "with interesting accounts of their being expelled

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by the never-failing nostrum, to the admiration "of the gaping passenger, and in order to gain "his complete faith in the amazing ability of the "self-dubbed Doctor. Little does he think that " these monsters, at the sight of which he shud. "ders, never entered into the body of any human being whatever, but are a species of deception, being the small tripe of poultry, prepared so as to imitate the tape-worm, to an ignorant or superficial observer.

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"Such arts, through the want of a medical po" lice, are suffered to delude the public, and in"duce parents to pour down the throats of their "children dangerous quantities of mercury, un"der the denomination of worm powders, cakes, "or other specifics. An intelligent country printer very lately published an account of the "murder of his child by one of the most cele“ brated of those nostrums, the boasting pro"prietor of which deleterious mercurial prepara"tion, is, however, still permitted to vend his poisonous lozenge, under the authority of letters patent from his Majesty, and the sanction of the most exalted characters in the kingdom, whose names appear in every newspaper!!!"Page 250.

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In Dr. Gardner's curious exhibition of worms, stated to have been evacuated from the human body, there is an animal resembling a snail, which

is termed a "monster from the lungs of a person "cured by the Doctor's pills." Now, how an ani mal of that size could be evacuated from the lungs, would puzzle any person acquainted with the ana tomy of the wind-pipe, to conjecture. It could not possibly pass the glottis: how, then, was it expelled, when this is the only avenue to the lungs? Probably the learned Doctor may say, that it eat its way through the sides; if so, the cure could not be attributed to his pills!! That this monster ever was in the lungs, or that it is possible that any worm should be formed in them, no man acquainted with anatomy will believe; and as to the other insects, with legs and coloured heads, we are persuaded they could never have existed without atmospheric air, which they could not have either in the stomach or intestines.

We must, however, give the ingenious Doctor credit for his great judgment in the selection, as well calcu lated to excite that alarm in the minds of the ignorant examiners, which may operate to the advantage of his never-failing destroying medicine.

The following communication, from an intelligent practitioner in London, will give our readers an idea of the Doctor's skill, and the efficacy of his celebrated medicine, and the great advantages that may sometimes result from their use.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE MEDICAL OBSERVER.

Gentlemen,

"If you condescend to notice Dr. Gardner's medicines in your promised work, you will oblige me by inserting the enclosed case, which I think must tend to prove the necessity of a medical po

lice, for the purpose of examining the pretensions of quacks, and reporting the result to the legislature.

Craven Street.

I am your's, &c."

The wife of a poor retailer of coals applied for my advice, by the recommendation of the merchant who supplied her husband with coals.

It appeared from the history she gave me of her complaint, that she had for some time suffered much from indigestion, the symptoms of which she attributed to worms. An advertisement in a Sunday paper induced her to apply to a Dr. Gardner, who confirmed her suspicions, and was so obliging as to shew the kind of worm which so much distressed her. She told me that she con tinued under his care for some weeks, taking his celebrated medicine, which operated violently on her bowels, and brought away at different times parts of the worm, which she had preserved in spirits, and that the Doctor had assured her, if she persisted in the use of his medicine for some time longer, it would effectually evacuate the whole of the worm, which otherwise might make its way through her sides, into her heart. This account so much alarmed her mind, that she attributed all the pains she experienced, in different parts of the body, to the gnawing of the worm; and when she came to me, she declared it was lodged under the right blade-bone, and expressed a wish that I would cut it from thence. The contents of the bottle which her physician had declared to be parts of a monstrous worm, I found, on examination, to consist of the veins, arteries, and membranes of the meat which she had at

different times eat, and which had not been suffered to digest properly, through the drastic purges she had token to carry off the supposed worms. Indeed, what with distress of mind, and the operation of the medicines, her constitution was so reduced, that she was afraid to venture on another dose of these celebrated specifics, which was the chief reason for applying

to me.

After taking a few doses of the medicine, she was seized with violent menorrhagia, which, from her account, I have no doubt was the effect of abortion.

I prescribed some time medicines for her, from which she derived considerable benefit; but her former physician's opinion, that she had a worm wandering over her body, and living on different parts, was so much impressed on her mind, that I could not convince her to the contrary. She was, from this idea, the most miserable being I ever met with. At one time she adopted the resolution of starving it out, and for this purpose she really abstained from food for some time; but finding her pains increased by it, she thought the animal might be living on her sooner, therefore, than be destroyed by it, she took to an extra quantity of animal food, to appease and satisfy its wants, and with this view never went out without something in her pocket to feed it. Indeed her mind was so truly wretched, that she seldom got any rest.- So much for empirical doc

trines.

All the advertised nostrums for worms we have had an opportunity of examining, prove to be a composition of mercury, combined with scammony,

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