NEW, OLD AND FORGOTTEN
REMEDIES.

PAPERS BY MANY WRITERS.

COLLECTED, ARRANGED AND EDITED BY
E. P. ANSHUTZ.

PHILADELPHIA:

BOERICKE & TAFEL. 1900.

COPYRIGHT
BY
BOERICKE & TAFEL.

1900.

T. B. & H. B. COCHRAN, PRINTERS,
LANCASTER, PA.

PREFACE.

During the many years that the compiler has had the management of the publishing department of Messrs. Boericke & Tafel—long to look back over, yet short to live—so many inquiries came in for "literature," or, in the form, "where can I find something about" this, that, or the other, remedy, that finally I became convinced that there might be a niche in the great world's already over-crowded library for a book containing, in part, at least, the information desired by my numerous correspondents. This determined, and the great publishing house willing to back the enterprise, came the task of collecting the material. The work once begun, it was soon found that it is much easier to plan such a volume than to carry out the plan, for it involved no inconsiderable amount of delving in dusty piles of old journals to discover the sought for matter, which, when brought to light, had to be scanned closely to determine whether it was of a nature to justify this literary resurrection. However, in the odd hours of time that could be bestowed the work was finally completed and—the result is before you, kindly reader.

That this collection of papers has many gems is, I believe, not to be questioned; that some better papers on the remedies than those herein presented may exist is also probable; that it may contain some that are of doubtful value is not to be denied, and even some that have no right in such a book may have crept in. But what it is, it is; take the good and, in the current phrase of the hour, "forget" the rest.

The part born by the editor, beyond delving for and selecting the remedies, will be found scattered through the book in bracketed small type, and consists simply in announcing who the writer of the paper was and where it may be found; no attempt has been made at editing any of the papers, or commenting on them, beyond a little cutting out of a little verbosity here and there, or of matter not bearing on the use of the remedy.

The material was drawn from journals of all "schools," wherever a paper could be found that seemed to contain something not to be found in medical-book literature, and to be honestly written.

The new remedies of the laboratory have been purposely ignored because they do not come in the scheme of this book, they having a literature of their own that, not infrequently, may be had "free on request" to the laboratories. Only remedies (with a few exceptions) such as nature gives us are included in this work.

And now the task completed naught remains but for the compiler to subscribe himself,

Edward Pollock Anshutz.

1011 Arch St., Philadelphia, January 2, 1900.

LIST OF REMEDIES.

New, Old and Forgotten Remedies.

ACALYPHA INDICA.

Nat. Ord., Euphorbiaceæ.
Common Name, Indian Acalypha, Indian Nettle.
Preparation.—The fresh plant is macerated with two parts by weight of alcohol.

(Dr. Tonnère, of Calcutta, India, seems to have been the first to call attention to this plant as a remedy. In a small work, Additions to the Homœopathic Materia Medica, collected and arranged by Henry Thomas, M. D., and published in London in the year 1858, appears the following credited to that physician.)

Tincture of the Acalypha Indica, prepared and administered in the sixth decimal dilution, is specific in hæmorrhage from the lungs. In three cases in which I have employed it, the persons were affected with phthisis. In one case there was a tuberculous affection of the upper portion of the left lung, of some two years' standing. Hæmoptysis had been going on for three months; the expectoration had been in the morning pure blood; in the evening dark lumps of clotted blood, and the fits of coughing were very violent at night. In this case all homœopathic remedies had been tried unsuccessfully, when I accidentally discovered the virtues of the Acalypha Indica, that remedy having been given me by a native for jaundice. I prepared the mother tincture upon the homœopathic principle, and took 10 drops, which brought on a severe fit of dry cough, followed by spitting of blood. Having noted all the symptoms experienced by myself, and finding that they were nearly all similar to those of my patients, I gave six drops 6th [decimal] dilution in half a tumbler of water, a spoonful to be taken every half hour, beginning immediately (9 a.m.). At 6 p.m., the blood stopped. I continued this for eight days, and the blood has never reappeared (now three months since). The patient is improving, and auscultation proves the disease has decreased, and I am in hopes to affect a cure, yet one month since I have been giving them the medicine they have not spit any blood, although previously one of them never passed a day without spitting a great quantity. Calcarea carb. is an antidote to the Acalypha.

Another transatlantic medical friend writes:—"I hope you obtained some of the Acalypha Indica while you were here. I have found it perfectly successful in arresting hæmoptysis in three cases of consumption in the last stage; I could not perceive any other effect from its use, but the cessation of the hemorrhagic sputa was, I think, a great advantage."

Its use in my hands has been very satisfactory, but I have only tried it in similar cases to those already cited. The first instance of my using it—in a hopeless case of phthisis—a continued and wearisome hæmoptysis succumbed to its exhibition, and quiet sleep succeeded its use—the patient eventually died of pulmonary paralysis.

In a case of passive hæmorrhage from the lungs, after Arnica was used with little benefit, Acalypha benefited, and then failed; after which the use of Arnica entirely stayed the hæmorrhagic flow. (Perhaps Hamamelis would have at once cured, but it was not at hand.)[A]

K., a phthisical patient, had hæmoptysis to a considerable extent; in a short time his voice failed him; he took half-drop doses of 7th [decimal] dilution of Acalypha in water every half hour, and in a few hours the blood spitting left him entirely.

(In 1885 Dr. Peter Cooper, of Wilmington, Delaware, read a paper on the drug Acalypha Indica of which the following is an abstract:)

Professor Jones recapitulates as follows: "Time. Hæmorrhage occurs in morning. Blood. Bright-red and not profuse in morning; dark and clotted in afternoon. Pulse. Neither quickened nor hard; rather soft and easily compressible. Cough. Violent and in fits at night; patient has a played-out feeling in the morning and gains in strength as the day advances.

N. B.—Worthy of trial in all pathological hæmorrhages having notedly a morning exacerbation."

Such is an outline presentation of the drug given us by so eminent an authority as Professor Jones, of the University of Michigan. It was his "N. B.," his suggestion that Acalypha was worthy of trial in all pathological hæmorrhages from any source, providing the morning aggravation was present, that fixed my attention upon the drug especially. At the time I had a case of hæmorrhage per rectum that had baffled me for several months. No remedy had aided the case in the least, so far as I could see, unless it was Pond's Extract used locally in the form of injection; and I finally came to the conclusion that the relief apparently due to the Hamamelis was merely a coincidence. I had given all the hæmorrhagic remedies I knew of or could hear of. Still the bleeding came just as often, with increasing severity. Each time the patient was sure she would "bleed to death," and I was not positive she would be disappointed. In fact, I was so hopeless that I used to delay the answer to her summons as long as possible, so that the bleeding might have time to exhaust itself. She became reduced in flesh and the hæmorrhagic drugs became reduced in number, until like the nine little Indians sitting on a gate the last one tumbled off and then there was none. As soon as I read Dr. Jones' monograph on Acalypha Indica, I determined to try it. She had all the symptoms—bright-red blood in the morning; dark and clotted in the afternoon and evening; weak and languid in the forenoon, stronger during the afternoon—except one, i.e., instead of the blood coming from the lungs it came from within the portals of the anus. I procured the 6x dil. and served it in water. It gave speedy, almost immediate relief. Each subsequent attack came less profuse and at longer intervals. She has not had a hæmorrhage now for two months, while before she was having from seven to one (continuous) a week. She is gaining in flesh, is in every way improved, and keeps Acalypha Indica constantly by her.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] Homœopathic Review, vol. 1, p. 256.

ACIDUM LACTICUM.

Common Name, Lactic acid.
Origin.—Lactic acid is obtained from sour milk, resulting from the fermentation of the sugar of milk under the influence of casein.
Preparation for Homœopathic Use.—One part by weight of pure lactic acid is dissolved in 99 parts by weight of alcohol.

(A very complete proving of this remedy will be found in Allen's Encyclopædia of Pure Materia Medica, but little use seems to have been made of it, though the following by Dr. Tybel-Aschersleben, Allgemeine Hom. Zeitung, March 13, 1890, seems to show that it is very efficient in certain forms of rheumatism).

We are by no means rich in remedies against arthritic rheumatism, and those which we do use lack the reputation of being reliable. A new and a valuable remedy will therefore be a welcome addition to this list. I say reliable, inasmuch as this remedy is truly homœopathically indicated for, according to Foster, of Leitz, Niemeyer's Pathology, 10th edition, 2d vol., pp. 561: "Lactic acid in large doses and used for a long time will produce symptoms entirely analogous to arthritic rheumatism." We also find mention elsewhere that the use of lactic acid occasioned rheumatic pains in the thigh.

Clinical Cases.

1. A young girl æt. 15 was afflicted with acute arthritic rheumatism, she received Acid Lacticum 2x dil., a dose every 2 or 3 hours, and was so much improved in two weeks that the pain had subsided, and for her remaining weakness China off. sufficed.

2. A nine-year-old girl was confined to her bed for three weeks with acute arthritic rheumatism. Acid Lacticum 2 speedily cured her.

3. A miner, B., had been afflicted over six weeks with acute arthritic rheumatism. The first dose of Acid Lactic 2 gave relief and a second dose cured the man.

4. In a case with swollen and very painful joints one dose of Acidum Lactic 2 sufficed to overcome the pain and the swelling. Against the remaining weakness China proved efficacious.

5. Arthritic rheumatism of the wrist vanished slowly after using Acid Lactic 2 from two to three weeks.

6. A patient afflicted with arthritic rheumatism for four weeks, accompanied by copious perspiration, soon mended under the use of Acid Lactic 2 and was entirely cured within two weeks.

7. Even in a case of chronic arthritis with inflation of the Epiphyses of Metacarpal bones and consequent partial displacement of the fingers, Lactic Acid 2 produced such a decided amelioration that two months later the report said: all pains are gone even the anchylosis has disappeared.

(It has also been successfully employed in cases where the digestive powers are weak and is said to be preferable to other acids in such cases. It has also been successfully employed in cases of dyspepsia.)

ÆTHIOPS ANTIMONIALIS.

(This remedy is prepared by triturating together equal parts of Æthiops mineralis and Antimonium crudum; we may add that the first named consists of a trituration of equal parts of Mercurius viv. and washed flowers of sulphur. Therefore Æthiops antimon. consists of mercury, crude antimony and sulphur.

The following clinical cases illustrating the use of the preparation is by Dr. H. Goullon and was published in Vol. II of the Zeitschrift fuer Homœopathie:)

The following case was cured in a few days by Æthiops antimonalis after having been treated by a homœopath who strictly followed Hahnemann's rules, but failed to make an impression beyond a certain point.

Miss A. inherited from her father, who was reported to have suffered from laryngitis, a distinct disposition to scrofulosis and tuberculosis. This was proved two years ago by a bloody cough caused by lung catarrh. After the lung was affected she suffered from profuse sweats, especially down the back, but of special interest was the appearance of a "quince colored" swelling of the size of a pea at the extreme corner of the left eye with suppuration which threatened the bulbus. A skilled specialist removed by operation this pus-hearth, which no doubt acted as a fontanel. The immediate result was a large furuncle under the arm and the affliction for which I was consulted. A patient presented herself to me whose appearance was shocking. Numerous parts of her face were literally covered with thick, elevated fissured scabs. A scrofulent liquid was oozing out, and the worst were those parts on the side of the lower lip, the nostrils and the root of the nose. On the whole, a certain symmetry could be observed in the arrangements of these frightful diseased products.

This eruption, which according to its nature must be called herpetic-eczematous, had existed for five months. The patient, who has red hair, and is between 20 and 30 years old, contracted this disease at the sight of a fainting sister. This kind of genesis is an established fact. I remember of reading in Stark's "General Pathology" of an instance where a mother was affected with eczema of the lips immediately on seeing her child fall on a knife.

Our patient, however, lost the above mentioned sweats, which proves that the fright had a metastatic effect. I learned that at first there appeared very small spots which developed into pustules, infecting half of the forehead. Scratching aggravated the condition, so that some places assumed a cup-like appearance, somewhat as favus.

When patient came to me the face was oozing so terribly that the pillow was thoroughly soaked in the morning, and she suffered greatly. When asked the nature of the pains she said that they were sometimes itching, sometimes tensive, and often indescribable, suddenly appearing and disappearing.

What should be done? Certainly no strictly homœopathic indication presented itself since one might think of Sulphur, another of Arsenicum, Silicea, Hepar sulphur, Causticum, Mezereum, etc. In such case I have laid down, as a rule for my guidance, never to experiment at the cost of the patient (and my own as well as Hahnemann's), but to employ a so-called empirical remedy. I know Æthiops antimonialis as a very effective remedy through its recommendation (by the Berlin Society of Homœopathic Physicians) in ophthalmia scrofulosa of the worst kind, a fact which I proved myself to be correct. In this case, also, we find the deepest and most stubborn disturbance of the organic juices and a subject with every indication of the worst form of scrofula, ending in lethal cancer—dyscrasia or tuberculosis.

The patient received the remedy in doses of the 1st centesimal trituration, every evening and morning, as much as a point of a knife blade would hold. There was no attempt at external removal of the eruption, a method so much favored by the allopaths, and yet the simple internal effort was magical, since after a few days the scabs were dried up, had fallen off, and the terrible oozing as well as the pain had ceased. The happy patient presented herself again on Friday, after having taken the medicine for the first time on Sunday evening. Very great changes could, indeed, be noticed which justified the hope for a speedy and total cure.

I again ask all my colleagues which was the principle of healing in this case? We may soonest think of Schüssler's therapeutic maxim, the biochemic principle. The definition that this preparation acts as a blood purifier is not sufficient, and yet it may be accepted as the most intelligent.

Schoeman triturates the Æthiops antimonalis with Æthiops mercurialis (or mineralis), which last consists of equal parts of quicksilver and sulphur, and says of the product: "It acts analogous to Æthiops mercurialis, but stronger, and is therefore preferred to it in scrofulous eruptions of the skin, scald, milk-scab, scrofulosis conjunctivitis, keratitis, blepharitis glandulosa, otorrhœa and swellings of the glands. It is especially valuable for children as a mild but nevertheless effective remedy."

AGAVE AMERICANA.

Nat. Ord., Amaryllidaceæ.
Common Names, American Aloe, Maguey, Century Plant.
Preparation.—The fresh leaves are pounded to a pulp and macerated with two parts by weight of alcohol.

(We find the following concerning this little known remedy in Volume I, 1851, of the North American Journal of Homœopathy.)

1. Agave Americana or Maguey.—[Dr. Perin, U. S. A., stationed at Fort McIntosh, in Texas, having many cases of scurvy to treat, and finding the usual allopathic routine ineffectual, was led to make inquiry as to the domestic remedies in use among the natives. Among others, his attention was called to the Agave Americana or American Aloe, and he reports to the Surgeon General the following cases in which it was the drug relied on. We extract from the N. Y. Jour. Med.:]

Private Turby, of Company "G," 1st U. S. Infantry, was admitted into hospital March 25th, in the following state: Countenance pale and dejected; gums swollen and bleeding; left leg, from ankle joint to groin, covered with dark purple blotches; leg swollen, painful, and of stony hardness; pulse small, feeble; appetite poor; bowels constipated.

He was placed upon lime juice, diluted and sweetened, so as to make an agreeable drink, in as large quantities as his stomach would bear; diet generous as could be procured, consisting of fresh meat, milk, eggs, etc.; vegetables could not be procured.

April 11th. His condition was but slightly improved; he was then placed upon the expressed juice of the maguey, in doses of f. ǯij. three times daily; same diet continued.

April 17th. Countenance no longer dejected, but bright and cheerful; purple spots almost entirely disappeared; arose from his bed and walked across the hospital unassisted; medicine continued.

May 4th. So much improved so as to be able to return to his company quarters, where he is accordingly sent; medicine continued.

May 7th. Almost entirely well; continued medicine.

Private Hood, "G" Company, 1st U. S. Infantry, was admitted into hospital April 10th. His general condition did not differ much from Private Turby's. He had been on the sick report for eight days; had been taking citric acid drinks, but grew gradually worse up to the time of his admission, when he was placed upon lime-juice until the 13th, at which time no perceptible change had taken place. On that date he commenced the use of the expressed juice of the maguey; same diet as the case above described.

April 21st. General state so much improved that he was sent to his company quarters.

May 22d. Well; returned to duty.

Eleven cases, all milder in form than the two just related, were continued upon the lime-juice; diet the same. On the 21st of April they exhibited evidences of improvement, but it was nothing when compared with the cases under the use of the maguey.

Seven cases were under treatment during the same time, making use of citric acid. On the 21st of April no one had improved, and three were growing worse.

At this time so convinced was I of the great superiority of the maguey over either of the other remedies employed that I determined to place all the patients upon that medicine. The result has proved exceedingly gratifying; every case has improved rapidly from that date. The countenance, so universally dejected and despairing in the patients affected with scurvy, is brightened up by contentment and hope in two days from the time of its introduction; the most marked evidences of improvement were observable at every successive visit. From observing the effects of the maguey in the cases which have occurred in this command, I am compelled to place it far above that remedy which, till now, has stood above every other—the lime-juice.

This no doubt will appear strong language, but further experience will verify it.

The juice of the maguey contains a large amount of vegetable and saccharine matter, and of itself is sufficiently nutritious to sustain a patient for days.

This succulent plant grows indigenous in most parts of the State, and, if I am correctly informed, in New Mexico and California. In Mexico it is well-known as the plant from which they manufacture their favorite drink, the "Pulque," and grows in great abundance. As it delights in a dry sandy soil, it can be cultivated where nothing but the cactus will grow; for this reason, it will be found invaluable to the army at many of the western posts, where vegetables cannot be procured.

The manner in which it is used is as follows, viz.:—The leaves are cut off close to the root, they are placed in hot ashes until thoroughly cooked, when they are removed, and the juice expressed from them. The expressed juice is then strained, and may be used thus, or may be sweetened. It may be given in doses of f. ǯij. to f. ǯiij. three times daily.

It is not disagreeable to take, and in every instance it has proved to agree well with the stomach and bowels.

After the leaves have been cooked, the cortical portion near the root may be removed, and the white internal portion may be eaten; it appears to be a wholesome and nutritious food. I have seen muleteers use it in this way, and they seem to be very fond of it. I have been informed, upon good authority, that several tribes of Indians in New Mexico make use of it in the same manner. The use of the leaf in this way, I believe, will ward off most effectually incipient scorbutus.

(In El Siglo Medico, 1890, Dr. Fernandez Avila reports the case of a boy, æt. 8, who had been bitten by a supposedly mad dog on Feb. 18. The wound healed up, but on July 7th the boy developed all the symptoms of rabies and on the 17th was so violent that he had to be tied and had not tasted food for seventy-two hours as all remedies failed to produce any effect, the doctor, having read that Agave Americana was efficacious in such cases, and having none of the tincture at hand, gave the boy a piece of the plant itself which he greedily ate; it was given to him as long as he would take it. On the 25th his symptoms had all abated and he was dismissed cured.)

AMBROSIA ARTEMISIFOLIA.

Nat. Ord., Compositæ.
Common Names, Rag Weed, Hog Weed.
Preparation.—The fresh leaves and flowers are pounded to a pulp and macerated with two parts by weight of alcohol.

(The following concerning this little used remedy was contributed to the Homœopathic Recorder, 1889, by Dr. C. F. Millspaugh, at that time the editor):

Of late years much attention has been called to the species of the genus Ambrosia (the Rag Weeds) as being, through the agency of their pollen, the cause of hay fever. Many people afflicted with this troublesome complaint lay the charge directly at its doors, while others claim that, in all probability, it is the direct cause, as their sufferings always commence during the anthesis of the plant. The general impression, however, both among the laity and the medical fraternity, has been that the effect was a purely mechanical one, the nasal mucous membranes being directly irritated by the pollen dust in substance. If this were true, would not every one suffer from hay fever? Impressed with the above report, I had the pleasure of curing two attacks while writing my work upon "American Medicinal Plants," in which the above species figures. Since the publication of the work, all the cases I have had of the disease (four) have yielded beautifully to the 3d centesimal potency of the drug.

The four cases, Mr. B——, Mrs. I——, Mr. C—— and Miss P——, presented the following generic symptoms: Inflammation of the mucous membranes of the nose, adventing yearly in the autumn. At first dryness, then watery discharges, finally involving the frontal sinuses and the conjunctival membrane. In Mr. B. and Miss P. the irritation extended to the trachea and bronchial tubes, in Mr. B. amounting to severe asthmatic attacks. In all cases the coryza was very severe, and in previous years lasted, in spite of all treatment, from four to eight weeks. Mr. B. has found relief from Ambrosia ʒ₁, three times a day, in from four to six days, for three successive years, with no return of the trouble in the same year; Mrs. I. has been relieved in from two to four days for two years; Mr. C. gets immediate relief in twenty-four hours (three seasons); Miss P., in this her first experience with Ambrosia, found entire relief from six doses.

AMYGDALUS PERSICA.

Nat. Ord., Rosaceæ. Amygdaleæ.
Synonym, Persica vulgaris.
Common Name, Peach.
Preparation.—The tincture is made by pounding to a pulp the fresh bark of the twigs and macerating in two parts by weight of alcohol. The infusion is made by taking of the bark one part and of boiling Distilled Water ten parts. Infuse in a covered vessel for one hour and strain.

(Outside the old herbalists the virtues of the bark and leaves of the peach tree have received little attention. The following contributed by Dr. C. C. Edson in the Chicago Medical Times, 1890, however, aroused some attention):

Some ten years ago I had a little patient whose principle difficulty seemed to be an inability to retain anything whatever upon its stomach. It would vomit up promptly everything I gave it, and I had given it everything I had ever heard of and also had eminent council, but it was no go; I was literally at my rope's end. At this juncture an elderly lady neighbor, one of "the good old mothers," timidly suggested an infusion of peach bark. Well, as it was any port in storm, I started to find the coveted bark, which I was fortunate enough to procure after a long tramp through the country and two feet of snow. I prepared an infusion, gave the little patient a few swallows, and presto! the deed was done, the child cured. * * It fills all the indications of the leaves and many more. It fills the indications of hydrocyanic acid, ingluvin, ipecac or any other anti-emetic. It will more frequently allay the vomiting of pregnancy than any remedy I have ever tried. And nearly every case of retching or vomiting (except it be reflex) will promptly yield under its use. * * * For an adult the dose is five drops, and in urgent cases repeat every five to ten minutes until the symptoms subside, after which give it at intervals of one to four hours as indicated. After ten years' use I am thoroughly convinced that any physician once giving it a thorough trial will never again be without it. Of course it is not a specific for all "upheavals of the inner man," but will I think meet more indications than any other known remedy of its class.

(This brought out the following from Dr. Kirkpatrick in the same journal):

I must say that I feel a little plagued after reading what Dr. Edson says about Amygdalus; he has taken the wind out of my sails, but I must give my experience. Quite a number of years since a good friend in the profession called on me, and asked me to visit one of his patients, honestly stating that he thought she would die. I went a few miles in the country to see her. She had been vomiting blood for two or three days, and, notwithstanding she had had oxalate of cerium, bismuth, pepsin, ingluvin and other good remedies, everything she swallowed would come up, so that she looked more like a corpse than a living being. I ordered them to go out and get me some of the young switches of the last year's growth from the peach tree; I had them pound them to loosen the bark; I then nearly filled a tumbler with this bark, then covered it with water. I ordered her a teaspoonful to be taken after each time she vomited, one dose being given then, and one every hour after the vomiting stopped. The result was, she vomited no more and made a good recovery.

* * * In recent cases I have very rarely had to give the second prescription to relieve morning sickness. I was visiting a doctor in Quincy; while there he told me he was afraid he would have either to make a lady abort or let her die, from the fact that he had failed to stop her vomiting. I happened to have a sample of the medicine with me; I gave it to him, he took it to the lady and in a few days he reported her well. I may say, like Dr. Edson, it is a standard remedy with me. I have found it very useful in hæmorrhage from the bladder. Some of my lady patients find it very good in nervous headache. I have used the tincture prepared from the leaves, but it is far inferior to that prepared from the bark of the young shoots. A medical friend was going to see a lady who had morning sickness; he told me he had thought of advising her to use popcorn; I handed him a small bottle of my Amygdalus and told him to take a couple of ears of corn in his pocket and try both. The next time I met him he said my medicine had done the work.

(Dr. Oliver S. Haines, of Philadelphia, also contributed the following experience):

Apropos of the remarks made by Dr. C. C. Edson upon the efficacy of infusion of peach bark in the gastric irritability of children, we might mention the following authentic case:

An infant, during its second summer, had been much reduced by acute dyspeptic diarrhœa. A marked feature of this case was the persistent vomiting of all food. The stomach would tolerate no form of baby food with or without milk. The child's parents had consulted some eminent physicians of our city. The child had been treated homœopathically. None of the remedies chosen seemed to produce the desired effect. After a consultation it was deemed best to send the infant to the mountains. The change aggravated its condition. While the parents hourly expected their baby would die, it was suggested that they send for an old practitioner living in the mountains near at hand. This man had a local reputation as a saver of dying babies. His prescription was as follows: Two or three fresh peach leaves were to be put in a cup of boiling water, the infant to receive a "drink" of this infusion at frequent intervals. The effects of this remedy were as remarkable in this case as in the case narrated by Dr. Edson. Our child soon retained food and eventually recovered.

It seems this ancient disciple of Esculapius had long used peach leaves and regarded them as possessing specific virtues.

ANAGALIS ARVENSIS.

Nat. Ord., Primulaceæ.
Common Names, Scarlet Pimpernel. Poor Man's Weather-Glass.
Preparation.—The fresh plant, of the scarlet-flowered variety, gathered before the development of the flowers, is pounded to a pulp and subjected to pressure. The expressed juice is mingled with an equal part by weight of alcohol.

(This paper was arranged from the provings by Dr. W. H. A. Fitz for the Organon and Materia Medica Society of Philadelphia, and published in the Medical Advance, 1891)

We think of this remedy for the following clinical indications: Hypochondriasis, mania, epilepsy. Amblyopia, cataract, spots on the cornea. Syphilis, hepatitis and indurated liver, visceral obstruction, inflammation of rectum (horses), hemorrhoids, inflammation of kidneys, gleet, copious urination (horses), gravel, syphilis with deranged mind, nosebleed, pain in small of back, gonorrhœa, amenorrhœa, cancer of mammea, sterility (cows), consumption, lumbago, itching, gout, bloody sweat (murrain of calves), dropsy, ill-conditioned ulcers, snake bites and hydrophobia, promotes the expulsion of splinters, inflammation of stomach (horses).

It is characterized by great tickling and itching. We find tickling and pricking in the urethra, in left ear; on tip of nose; at soft palate as from something cold; in symphysis pubis; as from a brush against epiglottis (with hoarseness); pain in right leg and at os illium; itching on vertex and occiput; of eyelids; in left ear; on cheek bones; itching and tickling stitches on left corner of mouth and upper lip; in rectum; at anus after evacuation of bowels; on left side of chest, principally on nipple; on neck and scapula; on inside of upper arm, just above elbow joint; on back of right hand; tetter on hands and fingers. In fact, great itching all over the skin.

Headache just over supra-orbital ridges, with eructations and rumbling in bowels; spasmodic lancination in temples, extending to eyes; pressive aching in forehead and occiput from a current of air blowing on him; intense headache and nausea, with pains throughout the body. Occiput: dull or tearing pains and inclination to vomit; violent headache, with hard, knotty stools; knocking pains in left side; dull pain all night.

Pains: Teeth pain as from cold.

Stitches: In scalp, over left ear and on occiput; in eyeballs; in temples; in left corner of mouth; in right ear; in left side, region of fourth and fifth ribs; in left tibia, when sitting, when moving leg or foot; disturb sleep.

Neuralgic Pains: In right cheek bones.

Rheumatic, gouty pains.

Tearing Pains: In occiput; in right cheek bone; in upper molars; in spermatic cords; in muscles of left leg; disturb sleep.

Drawing Pains: In right testicle and cord; tensive drawing in left shoulder to neck, returns when lifting or stretching arms; in muscles of upper arm; especially when moving hands or arm in writing; in right carpal and metacarpal bones (sometimes left), returning at regular intervals; also tearing; in muscles of left leg.

Pressing Pains: In forehead and occiput; with stitching in eyeballs; in eyes; on lungs; in sacrum.

Dull Pain: In occiput; in hollow tooth, with trembling of heart; in upper molars; in gums, accompanied by hard stools.

Cramps: In right thenar; ceasing there as it goes to the left.

Violent Pain: As if caused by external pressure on occiput, behind the left ear; in sacrum when lifting, they take her breath; in muscles of forearm, inside near elbow joint; in carpal and metacarpal bones, extending to shoulder; in palm of right hand, extending between thumb and forefinger, as if a pin were thrust through.

Sensation: In lungs as if struck by a cushion full of pins; anxiety in chest; skin of forehead feels too tight; tension in bend of left knee, as if swollen or sore. Cold or chilly sensation on right frontal protuberance; in teeth, as if something cold were placed on tongue; at soft palate, as from touch of something cold; chilly, trembling; scratching in throat after eating; when reading aloud.

Soreness on chest.

Burning in urethra.

Heat rising to head.

Dryness in throat.

Things seem to float to and fro; he cannot write.

Pain: In right ear, as if meatus auditorius were obstructed; in facial muscles, in lungs, in the front and the back up to the scapulæ; in right side of back, followed by violent sneezing; in upper arm, outside, near the shoulder; pain and twitching in the left thumb; in bend of left knee; in upper part of metatarsus of right foot; in great and little toe of left foot in morning; in sole of left foot.

Hence we find under—

Locality and Direction—below upwards.

Pains in upper limbs.

Right: Chilly sensation in frontal protuberance; pain in the eyeball; in palm of hand; in about knee and tibia; in foot; pain and stitches in ear; tickling pains in leg and os ilii; drawing in testes and cord; pressure on lungs; itching on scapula; weak, lame feeling in leg.

Left: Knocking inside of occiput; pain in knee and posterior muscles of leg; in tibia; in foot; glittering before eye; stitches over ear; in corner of mouth (and itching); tensive drawing from shoulder; drawing in muscles of leg; itching in ear; on side of chest; tight feeling in bend of knee.

Motion: In bed: trembling of heart with toothache; chilliness.

Position: Sitting with legs crossed; pain in and about right knee; stretching arm; tensive drawing from left shoulder up to neck; lifting; tensive drawing in left shoulder; pain in sacrum.

Rest: Walking: pressure on right lung; motion: of leg or foot < stitches in and left tibia.

Time: Night: dull pain in occiput; neuralgia in cheek; tickling at palate; erections.

Morning: burning in urethra when urinating; pain in feet.

Towards evening: spells of chilliness.

Evening: glittering before left eye; trembling, anxious feeling in chest; toothache.

Aggravations: Pain right eyeball < from touching lids; burning in urethra when urinating, mostly in mornings; violent pain in sacrum when lifting a slight load; tensive drawing, ascending from left shoulder to nape of neck; < raising and extending arm; pain in right eyeball < from touch.

Ameliorations: Coffee relieves headache; burning in urethra before and during erection, ceases during coition.

Causes: Mental work causes great prostration (Picric acid); when cutting with shears, cramps in ball of thumb; pressure on right lung after eating, or when walking; pressing in eyes after headache; obstruction and pain in right ear after pressure in eyes.

Mental State: Exhilarated, mind very active; everything gives pleasure.

Nose: Nosebleed, violent sneezing, expelling lumps of yellow phlegm; running of water from nose; copious secretion of yellow phlegm.

Mouth: Viscid saliva in mouth, raised by coughing; water in mouth with tearing pains in molars.

Abdomen: Distended with wind; weak feeling in abdomen.

Stools: Piles; passes offensive flatus; stools soft and pappy; watery diarrhœa; stools hard, like stone, knotty.

Urine: Dark, straw-colored; orifice seems agglutinated; presses to urinate; urine escapes in divided streams.

Skin: Rough, dry; dry, bran-like tetter in rings; groups of small vesicles, smarting and itching, oozing a yellowish-brown lymph, which soon turns into a scurf, new vesicles appearing beneath.

Ulcers and swelling on joints; promotes expulsion of splinters (Hepar).

Relationship: Collateral relation. Cyclamen. Similar to Coffee (joyous, excited); Picric acid (prostration after mental exertion); Cyclamen (sneezing); Lithia carb. (rough skin, ringworm); Sepia, Tellur. (ringworm); Pulsatilla (chilliness; catarrhs); smelling of Rhus, and, an hour later, taking Col., relieved sacral pains. Rhus relieved swollen gums.

ARSENICUM BROMATUM.

Common Names, Arsenous or Arsenious Bromide; Arsenic Tribromide.
Preparation.—Add one drachm each Arsenious acid, Carbonate of Potassium and Tartar to eight ounces of Distilled Water; boil until entirely dissolved; after cooling add sufficient water to make eight ounces. Then add two drachms of pure Bromine. Clemens.

(The following paper was translated, 1888, from the German (Deutsche Clinic, March, 1859) of Dr. Th. Clemens, by the late Dr. Samuel Lilienthal):

Arsenious acid, Arsenic blanc, Arsenic oxide, Flowers of Arsenic (AsO₃) is commonly used as the only preparation in which it could be assimilated. In the Solutio Fowleri we find a combination with Kali carbonicum e Tartaro, a combination which allows to the Arsenious acid its full destructive power. Now comes Spiritus Angelicæ comp. and the pure chemical preparation smells like Theriac, but it ought hardly ever be allowed to add something to a pure chemical preparation in order to give it taste, color, and use. This Spir. Angel. comp. is made up of Anglica, Siordium, Juniper berries, Valerian, Camphor, and Alcohol, and Solutio Fowleri is prepared even to this day in the same manner, and ought therefore be expelled from every pharmacopœia, especially as it is sure to spoil in the pharmacies if kept too long on the shelves. Looking, therefore, for a better preparation, I prescribe now for the last decade: ℞. Arsen. albi. depurat. pulv., Kali carb. e Tartar. āā ʒj., coque cum Aqua destill. lb 1/2 ad perfect. solutionem, refriger., adde aqua destil. q. s. ut fiat solutio ǯxii., Dein adde Brom. pur. ʒii. This solution, which during first eight days is frequently shaken, becomes colorless in the fourth week, and is then ready for use. It must be kept in a dark, cool place.

I will now give my reason for choosing Bromine as a combination. The study of mineral waters is an old pet of mine; many of them contain Arsenic in combination with Bromine, and are all well known for their roborating and alterating qualities. I begun, therefore, my experiments with minute doses of Brom. arsen.; gradually these were increased, and I felt astonished what large doses were well borne, and how long I could use this preparation without injurious consequences. After a few drops of my solution I could prove Arsenic in all secretions, an experiment easily made by Marsh's test. Experiments on animals with toxic doses of either solution (Clemens and Fowler) showed that the same quantity Arsenicum brom. is less poisonous (one has to be careful with the selection of animals, as many of them, especially ruminants, bear very large doses of Arsenic without injury). My preparation gives a rapid, not destructive, but roborating action on every part of the body.

In doses of two to four drops daily, always to be taken in a full glass of water, it always shows its specific action as an antipsoricum. Herpetic eruptions and syphilitic excrescences or exanthemata dry up and heal up, while simultaneously the relaxed and thoroughly infected body steadily increases in turgor vitals. Glandular tumors and indurations of dyscrasic origin, where any other treatment has failed, are scattered by the long-continued use of my preparation. I have in suitable cases given it for years without noticing any hurtful sequelæ, and after my patients were cured I kept them under observation for years afterwards, and know, therefore, that nothing injurious followed. This cannot be said of the usual arsenical preparations, and old Heim, a great admirer of Arsenic, opposed a lengthy use of it; he rather preferred larger doses, which is rather a dangerous procedure. Given for a long time for carcinoma, it stops the rapid progress of this fearful disease, and though at the same time Chloride of arsenic was used externally, a real cure remained an impossibility. My best successes were in obstinate cases of lues inveterata, in the first stages of tabes dorsalis (ataxie locomotrice), in the reconvalescence from exhausting acute diseases, in gastric suppurations, inactivity of bowels, tardy digestion, constipation. In cases where Chininum sulph. failed in intermittent fevers, I prescribe Brom. arsen. twice daily, four drops, each time in a full glass of water, gradually diminishing it to one daily dose, and in four weeks even the most obstinate cases yielded to this treatment. The patient feels encouraged by his increasing vigor, the fever-cakes disappear, the bowels move regularly, and appetite leaves nothing to be desired. Those mean obstinate cases of intermittens larvata, often appearing in the form of unbearable neuralgiæ, yield more rapidly to it than to the Quinine. It is often quite astonishing what good results can be obtained by the daily use of only one drop of this solution, kept up for a very long time in dyscrasic constitutions, who spent a fortune to regain their health and failed with every other treatment. Its full solubility and rapid assimilation are the reason that it can be used without injury, but it must be taken largely diluted. Let me give you a few cases for elucidation.

St., 46 years old, contracted syphilis several years ago and was relieved of it by mercurial treatment and Zittman's decoction. About six years ago he felt out of sorts, and a papular eruption appeared on forehead, temples, and especially at the root of the nose. Though treatment was immediately instituted, still in a few weeks the face of the patient was covered by an ugly, foul-smelling crust. Cod-liver oil was now taken internally, and applied externally till the scuffs fell off and the eruption concentrated on three points. For six months that treatment was kept up, but after being omitted for a few weeks, the eruption spread again to its former extent. Every treatment was tried in rotation without the least benefit. In the spring 1856 he entered my clinic. In the centre of the forehead, at the root of the nose, on both eyebrows, on the temples and right cheek there are moist herpetic eruptions covered with crusts, exuding on least pressure an acrid ichor and easily bleeding. Around these eruptions the skin is injected, reddened, interspersed with a large network of veins. Cough and expectoration hint to a beginning of tuberculosis, an heirloom in the family. Little appetite, disturbed digestion, tardy defecation, and evening fever. He is ordered Solutio arsen. brom. twice a day, four drops in a glass of water, and already after two weeks the eruption begins to dry up, appetite returns, and bowels are regular. A generous diet and fresh meat several times a day are accessories to an arsenical cure. After two months two crusts fall off and the skin under them is soft, shining, somewhat red. About July all eruption had gone, and the cough greatly improved. A few months ago I saw the patient again, and I feel sure that the disease is eradicated.

Miss W., 42 years old, passed her childhood in the West Indies, and brought from there a peculiar skin disease. When I saw her for the first time her features looked old for her age, skin gray and sallow, hair gray, rough, full of dandruff, and moisture oozing from the ears and forehead. The scalp feels hard and thickened. The cervical glands are indurated all around the neck. On the left chest an herpetic eruption of the size of a dollar, and on the mamma a hard tumor of the size of a fist. For a year past this tumor began to be painful and sensitive to pressure, and my advice was sought for relief of all her ailments, especially as her hands were also in a fearful state, where the eruption looked as if she had the itch. The nails were discolored, knobby, easily bleeding and covered with a gluey eruption. She had to wear and to change gloves every day. For nine years she never entered society, as the exhalation from her body disgusted even herself, and was hardly bearable, though sponging the whole body and daily renewal of linen was strictly adhered to. In such an obstinate chronic psoric case treatment with small doses is at first necessary, and Arsen. brom., two drops twice daily, ordered, and her cold bath continued. After four weeks the dose was doubled, and after nine weeks the first glimmer of improvement could be seen. The tumor in the mamma was smaller and painless, and where before it was so sensitive as to be covered with oil-silk she could bear now the pressure of her clothing. After four months steady continuation of four drops twice daily, she was able to go without gloves. The scalp also was cleaner, less hard, and the ears more dry. But with the return of spring the eruption gained new vigor. The head and hands became covered with suppurating nodules and small exuding herpetic spots, which became confluent and itched terribly, a most classic picture of the herpes of the ancients. Though for years she had been accustomed to an aggravation in the spring, she never witnessed it in such severity. I now omitted the drug and ordered head and hands frequently washed with cold water. After eight days the storm calmed down, and it was remarkable to witness the steady decrease of the induration in the cervical glands and mamma. After four weeks the old treatment was renewed. During the summer months she took regularly her four drops twice daily, and in the beginning of autumn the dose was reduced to two drops, and so continued during the whole winter. The following spring crisis was the mildest one she ever experienced. During the summer she took her four drops, during fall and winter two drops. The third spring aggravation came with full severity, but lasted only three days, when desquamation followed. Another year of the same treatment and the fourth spring eruption showed itself slightly only in small papules behind the ears and between the fingers, and were hardly worth noticing. She now felt a slight weakness in right arm, which from childhood up was rather weaker than the other one. After the disappearance of the induration in the mamma the arm seemed to regain its former strength and the patient felt therefore rather astonished at the reappearance of the weakness when its cause seemed removed, but it yielded readily to a mild constant current applied a few times, and some faradic shocks each time from the shoulder through the arm, and in September she went to Nizza in order to use sea-bathing, with the advice to take for a whole year one drop daily of her solution. She considered herself now well, but still her skin was flabby, especially on the hands where the epidermis often desquamated, and the nails remained hard, brittle and without lustre.

I may here remark that I found repeatedly Arsenic in the urine of such patients. A case of obstinate intermittens larvata, characterized by vomiting of chyme, also yielded to Arsen. brom. One case more must suffice. A young man went to America but failed in his trade, and became barkeeper on a Mississippi steamer, which place he had to give up on account of intermittent fever. We find him then as hostler in Chicago where he was laid up with an attack of cholera, and as he did not fully recover his strength he returned to the old home again. When I saw him for the first time the diagnosis seemed to be first stage of Bright's disease. Anamnesis, ætiology, and present state, albumen in the urine, justified the diagnosis. Patient is pale, bloated, œdema pedum, no appetite, white tongue, thin feverish pulse, swollen spleen, watery diarrhœa alternating with constipation. Every drug produced vomiting, and he perfectly abhorred the old Quinine powders. I ordered four drops Arsen. brom. and a full meat diet. Improvement followed with the continuance of the treatment. After three weeks the spleen was reduced in size, his face showed better color, hardly any œdema. To strengthen the skin he was advised to take pineneedle baths, and after three months' treatment he could be discharged, a well man. He was advised to take for a few months one drop daily of his solution, and to take often an airing in the pineries which abound around Frankfort. Though he returned to America the latest reports from him are that he feels again as well as ever, but he keeps his drops about him.

Arsen. brom. is also a powerful remedy in diabetes mellitus and insipidus, for I cured cases with it where the patient had already been reduced from 138 pounds to 98, and where the urine could be condensed, by boiling, into syrupy consistency. Mixed diet may be allowed, though I insist upon large quantities of fresh meat during treatment with Bromide of arsenic. Let the patient take three drops thrice daily in a glass of water, and after a week the insatiable burning thirst will be quenched, and these doses must be continued till the quantity of sugar in the urine is reduced, when the drug might be taken twice a day and continued for a long time. A diabetic patient needs fresh pure air if he wishes to get well; confinement in a room or in the office prevents the action of any treatment, for it needs ozone to reduce the sugar of the blood into carbonic acid and water.

ASPIDOSPERMINE.[B]

Preparation.—Trituration of the alkaloid.

(Dr. Edwin M. Hale communicated the following concerning this alkaloid to the Homœopathic Recorder for 1889):

Dyspnœa.—This alkaloid is from the South American tree—Quebracho. The maximum dose, according to Merck, is 1/10th grain. I use the 1/500th trituration, which I find most efficient in doses of 2 to 5 grains.

Case I.—A boy of ten. The attacks of spasmodic dyspnœa were a sequel of hay fever. The aggravation was at night, when lying down, or sleep was impossible. I tried Ipecac and Arsenic, but with no effect. Aralia, also. (I never had any curative or palliative effects from Aralia.)

Prescribed Aspidospermine, 1/500th trituration, 2 grains every two hours, all day. The night was comfortable, could lie down and sleep. Continued the remedy for four days, when he was so much better that the medicine was suspended.

Case II.—Cardiac dyspnœa in a man of 60. Valvular disease, hypertrophy with dilatation. Distressing difficulty of breathing from the slightest exertion; had to sit upright day and night. Face livid from venous stasis. Strophanthus regulated and strengthened the heart's action, but only slightly benefited the dyspnœa. Five grains of Aspidospermine, 1/500th trituration, every two hours effected a marvellous change. He could walk about the house and out to his carriage with but little discomfort. He has now continued it three weeks. Observes no unpleasant symptoms. Can lie on his back and right side and is very grateful for the relief. It seems to act as well as an aid to Digitalis, or Strophanthus, in cardiac dyspnœa.

FOOTNOTES:

[B] Aspidospermine or Quebrachine is derived from the Chilian "white Quebracho" (Aspidospermia Quebracho). At Santigo de Chile the bark is used as a substitute for Cinchona as a febrifuge. The alkaloid forms salts with Citric, Hydrochloric and Sulphuric acids.

AURUM MURIATICUM NATRONATUM.

Common Name.—Chloride of Gold and Sodium.
Preparation.—A mixture composed of equal parts of dry chloride of Gold and chloride of Sodium, triturated in the usual way.

(The following is an extract from a paper by Dr. H. Goullon in the Allg. Hom. Zeit., bd. 114, No. 12, on the therapeutics of this remedy):

Never have I observed gold so startling in its action as in the following case: The patient is a type of the scrofulous habit; reddish hair, pasty complexion, thick nose, coarse features. About thirty years of age. He has had the misfortune of being infected by syphilis, and the still greater ill-luck of being treated by mercurial inunctions and iodine to excess. All these circumstances conjoined helped to produce a complication of morbid conditions which would put medical art to a severe test. Let us recall the region in which gold makes such brilliant cures, and we find it especially suitable in an uncommon swelling of the left testicle. In this case I do not exaggerate, when I say that the scrotum was as large as a gourd of moderate size and the tumor was four or five times larger in circumference than the right testicle, which was also swollen. The entire mass simulated an oblong, heavy weight, like those one meets with in old-fashioned clocks, and could hardly find space in the capacious suspensory.

The skin was also involved. On the elbow was a wide-spread herpetic eruption; on different parts of the body were gummy indurations; the ear discharged; in short, the many characteristic manifestations of the syphilitic poison were to be seen throughout the cutaneous and mucous systems. There were also ulcerous formations in the oral cavity and on the sides of the tongue.

After about four weeks the patient again set foot upon the floor, saying: 'The drops have done wonders.' And indeed the influence upon the testicles was so striking that now the right, which was formerly the smaller, seemed the larger, without having actually at all increased in size. Not the less remarkable had been the action of gold on the general condition. The patient, formerly irritable and uneasy, is cheerful and comfortable; enjoys sound sleep, whereas before he was disturbed with morbid dreams; has lost his previous debility and disgust for everything; and says that his digestive power is quite a different thing. He assimilates articles of diet which he did not formerly dare to take, unless he wished to suffer with flatulence, gastric acidity and vomiting. Among other things punch, which he 'could not even smell,' agrees well.

But, evidently, the mode of administering gold in such cases is not a matter of indifference. And although I have only recently published a cure with high potencies (in which I subsequently corrected the mistake of the 100th Dec. for the Centes., which was what I used of the Natrum muriaticum), I cannot commit myself to high potencies in syphilitic complications. Experience in these cases is always in favor of substantial doses. But, as we shall soon see, these proportionally massive and heavy doses are always quite out of the allopathic posological range, and even on this ground one must set boundaries, and seek for the conversion of the traditional school. By two or three clinical experiences of this sort many a Saul would become a Paul in spite of all former prejudices, vis inertia, and most tormenting skepticism. One-half grain Aurum muriaticum natronatum was dissolved in 6 grms. Spiritus vini, but of this first 6 drops are again put into a wineglass of water, of which the patient takes a teaspoonful thrice daily.

(Dr. Tritschler, of the Gynæcological Clinic of Tübingen, furnishes the following on the use of this remedy in diseases of women. From Allg. Hom. Zeit., bd. 94. Nos. 17. 18, 19):

Permit me now to specify some practical instances of the curative powers of Aurum, and especially of Aurum muriaticum natronatum, in reference to gynæcology.

Chronic Metritis.

The first case is that of a woman with chronic metritis and prolapsus uteri. Hydrarg. chlorat. mit. was given at first, which acted favorably on the inflammation, but whose further use was prevented by its giving rise to salivation. The intumescence of the uterus continued about the same. Chloride of gold entirely reduced the chronic inflammation, and restored the uterus to its natural position without external means.

Induration of Uterus.

The second case was an unmarried woman at the climacteric, the vaginal portion of whose uterus showed an induration which disappeared during the administration of chloride of gold.

Hysterical Spasms.

The third case was a woman with periodical attacks of hysterical spasms, which involved the entire body, with unconsciousness lasting several hours, asthma, palpitation, etc., beginning with a sense of coldness, ascending from the abdomen, and perceptible even to the bystanders. Sometimes the attack began with pulsation through the occiput. Examination showed an inflamed uterus, filling not only the true pelvis, and interfering with urination and defecation, but the enlarged uterus perceptible through the thick abdominal walls above the pubes. At the end of seven months, Aur. mur. nat. had entirely reduced the swelling. The woman has enjoyed good health for several years, quite free from the so-called hysteria.

Induration of Cervix.

It happened that a woman presented an induration of the cervix, together with a remarkable softening in the posterior uterine wall. The result of treatment with chloride of gold was, that in proportion to the decrease of the induration there was an increase in the consistency of the softened posterior wall. The woman, who had been married for three years and childless, became pregnant for the first time and has since borne several children. With this experience, the Gold-chloride was also given for a softening of the atrophied cervical canal, in one case until it was curved at right angles to the body of the uterus; also in a diffused softening of the uterine tissues, with the result that the hitherto sterile woman, after toning up the uterine tissue, attained the joy of motherhood. * * * * *

Habitual abortion and premature labor recurring at about the same month of pregnancy generally depended upon induration in some portion of the uterus, which, preventing its natural expansion during gestation, gives rise to premature expulsion of the fœtus. By the use of Aur. mur. nat. before and during pregnancy, the absorption of this induration will conduce to the proper termination of parturition.

A swelling of the ovary, reaching as far as the umbilicus, I have cured with Aur. mur. nat., and have improved others of considerable extent very decidedly. Martini has cured five cases of ovarian dropsy in the greatest possible degree with the same remedy.

Ulcers of the os and the vaginal portion, which had resulted from inflammation and induration, some as large as a dollar, and of a gangrenous character, were healed by the use of gold, without any topical applications.

The profession considers ulceration and induration of the uterus incurable. This dogma of theirs is based on the fact that the usual change, the disturbance of nutrition, can neither be remedied nor hindered in its advance. Now since ulcers are generally found only in an advanced stage of softening and induration, it is conceivable why the school—seeking a cure solely in the use of local means—turns away almost entirely from the employment of internal remedies. According to the opinions of the specialists the use of different remedies, partly insoluble, partly soluble, pure or in combination, permanent or transient, is indicated. Others apply ointments on sponges to the surface of the ulcers, keeping them in contact with it by tampons. Others again prescribe injections, and with these expect to attain the end. Finally, glowing-hot iron, the galvano-cautery, or the knife and scissors remove partially or entirely the vaginal portion.

Now, if the malady continues to thrive on the wounds made by these procedures, if old cicatrices break out again, if too a permanent cure is out of the question, there is ground for supposing that the product of illness, the ulcer, may be cauterized, burnt and cut away, but that the cause, the diathesis, the tendency to it, can only be removed by internal medication. * * * * *

Chronic Metritis.

One day an official in Dresden brought his wife to me, who was 41 years of age. The couple, all of whose children had died soon after birth, longed once more for children. The woman had aborted several times, and both were intelligent enough to see that everything could not be right with the sexual organs, and even begged for a gynæcological examination. The result was in a few words: inflammation of both lips of the uterus, a thickening of the cervical canal with a swelling of the posterior uterine wall as hard as cartilage, and retroversio uteri. Menstruation too early, dysmenorrhœa, blood dark, tarry, passing in clots. Yellowish, fetid leucorrhœa. Stools retained, appetite changeable; pains in the broad ligaments on both sides during rest as well as on exertion. The so-called "facies uterina"—weeps much. Frequent exclamations on the distastefulness of life since the death of all her children, and on account of her present childlessness. Should I register in my journal in the beginning of a scirrhus? I wrote simply: metritis chronica; intumescentia labiorum orificii et colli uteri.

Prognosis, not unfavorable as far as regards the swelling, after my already well-tested experience with Aur. mur. nat. But how about the removal of sterility acquired in her 41st year. I was more cautious about this. The cure took six months, and was not only accompanied by absorption of the affected parts, but the woman became pregnant in good time and gave birth to a boy with comparative comfort. Thus would the wishes of the worthy couple have been fulfilled, if their joy had not been banished once more by the death of the child in four weeks from an attack of eclampsia.

Anteversion With Prolapsus.

I now come in conclusion to a gratifying case, which I relate partly because we make ourselves guilty of sins of omission in certain instances through neglect of the needful investigation. A woman in her twentieth year, quite healthy, had been delivered with forceps for the first time two years before, nominally on account of deficient labor pains. There was nothing unusual about the confinement. Immediately after the first getting up, she began to have constant pain in the right side of the uterine region, and soon a feeling "as if something would fall out of the parts." The family physician paid no attention to these persistent complaints for a whole year, until finally a constantly increasing leucorrhœa demanded an examination. He now expressed himself as unable to make a diagnosis alone, and the lady was referred to a celebrated gynæcologist in Leipsic. Cauterizations were now undergone at the professor's house at short intervals, and further treatment of a similar character was to be carried out at the patient's own house, which was, however, discontinued when the patient was referred to me. Examination showed: metritis following upon sub-involution of the uterus, anteversion with prolapsus of the whole organ. Both uterine lips were swollen, and on examination with the speculum a greenish-yellow discharge was seen to flow from the uterus. All local treatment was discontinued, the woman received for the first time in April, 1876, Aur. mur. nat., and in June, 1876, again became pregnant; the treatment with gold was continued until the 8th month of pregnancy, in consequence of which the uterus was found in its normal position on examination twelve days after her safe confinement on March 30th. The menses, which up to this time had been very painful, returned for the first time on the 25th of April, and were quite free from suffering.

But now let us ask, whether we have in the salts of gold a simile for the diseases of the female sexual organs under the comprehensive name of chronic metritis. We find in the homœopathic proving, inflammatory affections of the internal organs; fainting depression and emaciation; great anxiety, sadness, dizziness, whimsical mood, weariness of life, morbid desires, and headache; nausea, vomiting; pressure in the gastric region; cardialgia, contractive, drawing pains in the abdomen. Stitches in the left hypochondrium, pinching and burning in the right, the abdomen sensitive to touch, with distension; dull pains in the abdomen; drawing and stinging in the whole abdomen; eruption of small papules above the pubes; decreased excretion of urine, pressure on urinating, burning on urinating; redness, burning, swelling and moisture of the labia, discharge of yellow mucus, menstruation too soon and lasts too long; amenorrhœa; labor-like pains, as if the menses would appear; symptoms which certainly correspond to the whole picture of chronic metritis and its results.

The mode of administration which I have used for Aur. mur. nat. is in trituration. Generally I have had the patient herself divide into three parts a 10 gr. powder of the 3d trit., and take one of these dry just one hour after each meal. But I have also used the 1st and 2d trituration. The effect cannot be seen before four weeks, hence I seldom make a further examination before that time. Many women notice a remarkable increase of the appetite during the use of gold. After the administration of the 1st trit. I have observed frequent, dark stools. An increase in the urine with a thick, gray sediment is often seen. * * *

Uterine Diseases.

Uterine diseases, according to my experience of many years, make more marriages unfruitful than all the other known or fancied hindrances to child-bearing. They can exist many years even with a blooming appearance, without apparently disturbing the general health, and on that account are often overlooked and mistaken by physicians themselves, who are not concerned about gynæcological examinations, or else make only superficial investigations, not having their eyes at the ends of their fingers. I beg, therefore, if this communication should give rise to a more extensive use of Aur. mur. nat., above all things, a thorough gynæcological examination, not leaving this to the so-called surgeons and midwives. If women complain of gastric troubles, dizziness, pain in the loins and back, disturbances of urination or defecation, with a more or less pronounced hysterical appearance, and withal purposely or unwittingly deceive themselves and the physician; if, added to these, leucorrhœa and a sensation as if everything would drop out of the abdominal cavity, one may say of the patient that her uterus is diseased, and may base upon that his proposal for an examination, which will give the correct information of the nature of the malady. As a rule, every deep-seated, morbid alteration in the uterine tissues entails suffering upon the nervous system, which, being in such close relation with the uterus, not seldom apparently suffers the most.

Hysteria.

Because the uterus receives its nerves from the sympathetic system, which governs nutrition, circulation, respiration with distribution of animal heat, gestation, etc., these functions being out of sight, it is difficult to get at the root of the matter as regards the uterus in a suffering woman. Her sensations and fancies offer, according to her education, organization, etc., a wide field in which to make her a burden to herself and others. Her mind is generally out of order, she knows not why. In the more advanced stages of disease, the functions of the higher nervous system, the organs of sense, and even the mental activities are disordered. Then appears that chameleon of diseases, which goes by the name of hysteria, suitable in so far as hysteria almost without exception takes root in the "hystera" or uterus. I shall certainly not deny the possibility of primary or purely nervous diseases of the uterus, hysteria sine materia; I am nevertheless convinced that in at least nine cases out of ten, hysteria depends upon objective, sensible, perceptible changes in the uterus. It is these whose existence I ascertain by a thorough examination, and according to these that I regulate my treatment; they give me in every case a more certain starting point than a lengthy account of true and imaginary suffering. If I find, however, no palpable abnormality in the tissue to remove, and prescribe Aur. mur. nat. simply as an excellent nervine, following Niemeyer, it occasionally does good, but generally leaves me in the lurch.

AVENA SATIVA.

Nat. Ord., Graminaceæ.
Common Name, Oats.
Preparation.—The fresh green plant, gathered in August, is pounded to a pulp and macerated with two parts by weight of alcohol.

(Comparatively little has been written concerning this remedy, the tincture of oats. It acquired a bad reputation somewhere in the "eighties" by being advertised as a proprietary remedy making wonderful cures, but analysis showed the advertised "avena" to contain opium. The following outline of the drug is by Dr. E. H. Russell, in North American Journal of Homœopathy):

Avena sativa is pre-eminently an anti-neurotic, quieting the nervous system to a remarkable degree. Its special sphere of action seems to be upon the male sexual organs, regulating the functional irregularities of these parts perhaps as much as any drug can. It is a most useful remedy in all cases of nervous exhaustion, general debility, nervous palpitation of the heart, insomnia, inability to keep the mind fixed upon any one subject, etc., more especially when any or all of these troubles is apparently due to nocturnal emissions, masturbation, over sexual intercourse, and the like. For these disorders it is truly specific. It is one of the most valuable means for overcoming the bad effects of the morphine habit. In most cases in which the habitue has not used more than four grains daily the opiate may be abruptly discontinued, and even substituted, without any serious results. If a larger quantity than this amount has been taken for some time, it is better to gradually reduce the daily dose of morphine, in the usual manner, simply prescribing the Avena in addition. The latter should be given in the same dose, as a rule, regardless of the amount of morphine taken. In other words, it is not necessary to increase the Avena as the opiate is withdrawn. When the quantity of morphine has not exceeded four grains daily it should be stopped at once, as stated above, and Avena given in its stead in fifteen-drop doses, four times a day, in a wineglassful of hot water. By this method the disagreeable after-effects will be much less than though the dose of morphine is gradually reduced, and the patient will find life quite bearable, as a rule, at the end of a week.

Avena sativa should always be given in appreciable doses of the tincture. Fifteen drops three or four times a day, well diluted, will usually meet the case. It may be given in doses of from five to sixty drops in rare instances. It should, however, never be given in larger quantities than twenty minims unless the patient is thoroughly accustomed to the remedy, and has found the usual dose insufficient. Otherwise there is danger of getting the physiological effect of the drug, which is pain at the base of the brain. When this symptom makes its appearance the medicine should be discontinued for a day or two, and then given in reduced doses. There seems to be no danger whatever of forming the habit of taking this drug, as it can be suddenly abandoned at any time without evil consequences, even when given in large quantities. In one case it was prescribed by the writer in sixty-drop doses, night and morning, for one year, and then abruptly stopped, nothing being substituted therefore, without bad effects.

Whenever a quick action is desired, and in all cases where Avena is given to overcome the morphine habit, it should be prepared in hot water. It is also a good plan to prescribe it in this fashion wherever indigestion complicates the case.

The writer has employed this drug in his private practice for a number of years with the most gratifying results. He has very rarely found it to fail when indicated, and on account of his high opinion of the remedy he has taken great pleasure in thus bringing it prominently to the attention of the medical profession.

AZADIRACHTA INDICA.

Preparation.—The fresh bark is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(The following synopsis of Azadirachta Ind., is contributed by P. C. Majumdar, M. D., of Calcutta, India):

Azadirachta Indica. Syn.: Sanskrit, Nimba; Bengala and Hindi, Nim. Belongs to the natural order Meliaeæ. It is a large tree. Bark is used for making tinctures from which provings were instituted. The leaves, bark, wood, roots and fruits, in short, every part of this tree, is intensely bitter. According to Ayurveda (Hindu System of Medicine) the different parts of this tree possess different medicinal properties. Bhava Misra, Charak, Susratha and several other Sanskrit authors agree that its bark, though very disagreeable in taste, is generally used with success in cases of lassitude, thirst, cough, fever, loss of appetite, helmenthiasis, boils, bilious derangements, catarrh, vomiting, cutaneous diseases, hiccough, gonorrhœa, etc.; its leaves are used in some forms of ophthalmic disease, helmenthiasis and disorders brought on by deranged bile or use of poisonous things. A decoction of fresh leaves is used as a favorite wash to cure old ulcers of long standing. It removes within a short time the sloughs and promotes the healing. The fruit is purgative, demulcent, and is used in some forms of cutaneous affections. A kind of oil is produced from the seed of ripe fruits, and this oil is said to cure lepra, eczema and some other obstinate skin diseases.

Nim is also praised by some of the Allopathic physicians for its tonic, antiseptic, astringent and anti-periodic properties. Its febrifuge action is well-known in our country. Kanirages (native physicians) use Nim as the principal substance in their febrifuge medicines. The vast range of its action is chiefly due to azaderine, margocine and katechin, the three active principles found in this tree. Nim was proved by me and one of my students, U. C. Bagchi. A full report of the proving was published in the Indian Homœopathic Review, Vol. iii, No. 1. Here I give the most reliable and peculiar symptoms obtained in its proving.

Mind: Depressed and forgetful, mistakes in writing and spelling words, weak and dull, full of anxiety, inactive, could not think or remember names of persons very familiar, or what has been done in the previous day. No desire to go out or walk out. Loss of memory.

Head: Giddiness, as if the head were moving to and fro, especially when rising from a sitting posture; headache, pressure in the head, by moving it; headache, throbbing in the temporal arteries, especially of the right side, with a little vertigo; aching, drawing and throbbing in the whole head; headache, by wet compress, with much pain in the right eyeball; headache, on moving; headache on the right side with much pain. Frontal headache, especially on the right side, in the open air. Throbbing in the vertex, by stooping; scalp is painful and sensitive to touch, even the hair is painful. Vertigo at 10 a.m.; intense headache, pain in the whole head; on walking pain is felt in the back part of the head.

Eyes: Burning in the eyes; burning of the eyes continued throughout even the next day; burning, dull and heavy. Pain in the eye, by slightest pressure; red, congested and burning with slight coryza; sense of pressure in the right eye; eyes red and sunken; pressive pain in the right eyeball.

Ears: Buzzing in the ears; a peculiar cracking sound is heard in the ear like tickling with a feather, which is increased on opening the mouth.

Nose: Running of watery fluid from the nose.

Face: Flushings of the face; flushing and heat in the face; face pale.

Mouth: No thirst but mouth is clammy, water has relish; taste good, but mouth is clammy and bitter. On the sides and surface of the tongue a painful burning sensation is felt as if scalded; papillæ seem to be enlarged and prominent. Putrid taste in the mouth. Saliva coming out which tastes salty. Slight difficulty in deglutition, especially water and meat.

Throat: Bitter taste in the throat; left-sided sore throat.

Stomach: No thirst; appetite very acute and keen; very great thirst for large quantity of cold water; very great thirst at long interval. Heart-burn and water-brash. Uneasy sensation in the thorax.

Abdomen: Great uneasiness in the abdomen with flatulent rumbling in the bowels; twisting pain in the epigastric region; no tenderness in the abdomen; clutching pain in the umbilical region, obliging to bend forwards, which affords some relief; abdomen a little distended, passing of offensive flatus; painful tension in the hypochondriac region.

Stools: Insufficient; bowels very much constipated; stools hard, small and knotty; stools hard, but natural; stools copious, soft, semi-solid. Diarrhœa, no satisfaction after stool.

Genito-urinary organs: Great excitement of sexual organ (in male); sexual desire a little diminished. Urine scanty and high-colored, and scalding; urine white, clear and copious; urine of strong odor (once with purple sediment).

Respiratory organs: Very troublesome cough after bathing at 1 p.m. Sputa white in small lumps expelled with much difficulty. Sighing, breathing at intervals. Slight hoarseness. Cough with greyish expectoration; cough with thick sputa; short, dry cough in the afternoon; very troublesome cough with white sputa and tasteless. Deep breathing at long intervals; breathing very rapid and hot.

Chest and throat: Aching in the lower part of the right chest, below the nipple. Stitches in the chest. Crampy pains in the lower part of chest. Transitory stitches in the chest, especially in the right side.

Pulse, quick and hard, feeble.

Neck and back: Pain and debility in the nape of the neck.

Extremities: Numbness of the limbs, as if the limbs are paralyzed. Gnawing in the legs. Strength of the hand diminished. Burning of the hands and soles of the feet. Numbness of the hands only, especially the right hand. Rheumatic pains in the lower extremities.

Sleep and dreams: Sleeplessness and tossing in bed; dreamy and interrupted sleep at night. Dreams of quarrels and beating in the latter part of night.

Fever: Fever commences with very slight chill or without chill from 4:30 p.m., and abates from 7:30 p.m.; afternoon fever. Glowing heat and burning, especially in the face, eyes, palms of the hands and soles of the feet, in open air.

Copious sweat, especially on the forehead, neck and upper part of the body; sweating commences on the forehead, gradually extending towards the trunk; no sweat in the lower part of the body.

Skin: Itching of various parts of the body, without the appearance of any eruption; itching of the body. Sudamina on the back.

BACILLINUM, TUBERCULINUM AND AVIAIRE, THE VIRUSES OF TUBERCULOSIS.

Preparation.—Triturate in the usual way.

(The literature on these several preparations is so extensive that we must confine ourselves to the paper read by Dr. Francois Cartier, Physician to the Hospital St. Jacques, Paris, at the International Homœopathic Congress, 1896, it covering the ground more completely than any other. For fuller information on Bacillinum the reader is referred to Dr. J. Compton Burnett's book, the New Cure for Consumption.)

I must disclaim any intention of traversing afresh the pathogenesy of Tuberculin, or of instituting an examination into the various treatises put forth on the subject of the virus of tuberculosis by the allopathic as well as by the homœopathic school.

The materia medica of Tuberculin takes its rise in the complex result of the use of Koch's lymph, in experiments upon animals, and in certain symptoms observed by those who have experimented upon themselves with different products of tuberculous nature. I shall therefore indicate the published sources, and I specially desire to place before the Homœopathic Congress of London the tuberculous virus under certain aspects which are perhaps new; and if my conclusions seem somewhat paradoxical I am content to accept, with a good grace, the criticisms of my colleagues.

Fourteen years anterior to the researches of Koch, Hering, Swan and Biegler availed themselves, as a homœopathic remedy, of the maceration of tuberculous lungs, and of the sputa of tuberculous subjects.

Dr. J. Compton Burnett in his book, "A Cure for Consumption," several years before Koch's experiments, noticed symptoms resulting from taking the preparation which he calls Bacillinum.

Drs. de Keghel[C] and J. H. Clarke[D] instituted an inquiry into the symptoms produced by the employment of Koch's lymph in the case of tuberculous and non-tuberculous patients.

Dr. Mersch[E] published a pathogenesy, based to a large extent upon that of Dr. de Keghel; it is an excellent work.

Dr. d'Abzen,[F] of Lisbon, sent to the Tuberculosis Congress of 1895, at Coimbra, a study of the works of Koch and Pasteur, and an enumeration of the treatises published by homœopathists.

We must notice also an English translation of Dr. Mersch's pathogenesy, by Dr. Arnulphy, of Chicago, in which special attention is paid to the symptoms observed in healthy and non-tuberculous persons, with some original remarks about Tuberculin. It is published in the Clinique for this year (February, 1896).

Nor must we overlook a series of writers who have published isolated observations of the cases of persons cured with Tuberculin. Such are Drs. Lambreghts, Joussett, Zoppritz, Horace Holmes, Richardson, Young, Clarke, Pinart, Youman, U. H. Merson, Snow, Lamb, Clarke, Ebersole, W. James, Kunkel, A. Zoppritz, Steinhauf, Van den Berghe, &c.

Finally, for my own part, in my articles in L'Art Médical, published three years ago, and in the Hahnemannian Monthly (July, 1894), I have insisted on homœopathic action of the viruses of tuberculosis.

In certain of the pathogenesies of Tuberculin we find thrown pell-mell together symptoms appertaining to Koch's lymph, as well as others which belong to the product baptized by several names, such as Bacillinum and Tuberculin, in the recommendation of which Hering and Swan, and Dr. J. Compton Burnett, in England, have made themselves conspicuous.

Bacillinum—since it must be distinguished from Koch's Tuberculin—is a maceration of a typical tuberculous lung.[G] Koch's lymph is an extract in glycerine of dead tuberculous bacilli. The former is compound natural infection; the latter is a product of laboratory experiment. In the one, various bacteriological species are associated which give, clinically, an appearance of cachexia and of hectic fever; from the other we may sometimes observe vascular, cardiac, renal changes having no connection with the clinical "syndrome" of pulmonary tuberculosis. To place these products together in the same pathogenesy gives an absolutely wrong sense, and the fact that both contain Koch's bacillus gives no excuse for confounding them. In my opinion there are, from a homœopathic point of view, distinct differences between Bacillinum and the Koch's lymph.

Experimentally Koch's bacillus, like many other microbes, does not reproduce a clinical symptom-group; and we homœopaths must have an assemblage of clearly-defined symptoms before prescribing a poison on homœopathic principles. Such is unfortunately the case with many other microbes in pure culture. The experimental diphtheria does not resemble clinical diphtheria. The pneumococcus, pathogenetic of pneumonia, is met with in many other diseases, such as pleurisy, salpingitis, meningitis, etc. Koch's bacillus, too, sometimes remarkably mild in its effects, and seeming to meet with no reaction in the system, evolves aside as in the verrucous tuberculosis; while at other times nothing is able to arrest the action of this terrible microbe, and the world still waits in vain for the man who shall find the means of combatting it. The toxins of tuberculosis are far from reproducing clinical tuberculosis; yet even here we find a curious aspect sometimes assumed by certain poisons drawn from the pure cultivation of microbes. We cannot produce with Tuberculin symptoms analogous to those of real tuberculosis—as it is possible, for instance, to produce tetanus with the toxine alone, Tetanin.

As a general rule, in the case of a healthy man, Koch's lymph would not develop any reaction, its effects manifesting themselves in a febrile congestion, which betrays the presence of tubercles. In our pathogeneses (those of Mersch-Arnulphy), we note the following symptoms—"catarrhal pneumonia with soft hepatisation, and tendency to abscess formation; at post-mortems it is not a gelatinous or fibrinous exudation which oozes out from the alveoli, but an opaque and watery fluid; 'never,' so says Virchow, 'is there found the characteristic lesion of croupous pneumonia.'" A pneumonia from which issues an aqueous and opaque liquid! I confess I do not understand it.

Experimentally this same lymph of Koch gives symptoms of inflammation of the arteries which are not found in clinical tuberculosis.

Animals inoculated with progressive doses of Avian tuberculin, or with serum of tuberculous animals, undergo wasting and loss of appetite, and other general symptoms. They may die of cachexia, or may develop an isolated abscess; but they do not present characteristic symptoms as they would under the action of Cantharis, of Phosphorus, or of Lead.

Finally, inoculation with dead bacilli may produce real tuberculosis.

In the pathogenesy put forth by homœopathists, pulmonary symptoms do not occupy a prominent place. Dr. Burnett, who has experimented on himself with Bacillinum, notes at the end of his symptoms, after the headache, a slight and almost insignificant cough.

In explaining the clinical forms of infectious complaints, we are frequently forced to admit the increasingly preponderant part played by association of microbes—as it is the frequent case in diphtheria—and especially the modifications which depend directly on the disposition of the organ attacked, and not upon the action of the microbe itself.

An examination of the above considerations leads me to the following conclusions:

1. That the importance of the materia medica of the tubercular virtues ought not to be exaggerated. There are few characteristic symptoms to take off; it is more wise to guide oneself in the homœopathic application of the therapeutics by the clinical symptoms of the evolution of the various tuberculosis, rather than by the intoxication produced by their active products, the Tuberculins.

2. Koch's lymph, Bacillinum and Avian tuberculin must be studied separately, clinically as well as experimentally. Bacillinum presents symptoms very different from those of Avian tuberculin, and especially from those of Koch's lymph; and I intend to divide my remarks into three parts, corresponding to these three substances, which have actually become homœopathic remedies.

At the time of the introduction of the ever-memorable Koch's lymph, there were included under the head of poisonings by this drug vascular lesions, as I have mentioned above, acute arteritis, arterio-sclerosis, changes in the vessels of the heart and the kidneys, and acute nephritis. Apropos of acute nephritis, the supposition was that the kidney became congested because of the presence in that part of certain tubercular islets, and that the kidney responded, like the tuberculous lung, under the influence of the Tuberculin, by acute congestion.

However this might be, these vascular lesions drew attention to the homœopathicity of Koch's lymph in nephritis. Dr. Jousset has experimented in it with encouraging results, using homœopathic dilutions, in Bright's disease; and at the meeting of the Société Homœopathique Francaise on April 18, 1895, Drs. Tessier, Silva and Jousset, father and son, mentioned the diminution of albumen in cases of chronic and incurable nephritis, and the appearance of that substance in acute cases.

Dr. Arnulphy, in a series of articles in the Chicago Clinique, which I have read attentively, speaks favorably of Koch's lymph in homœopathic dilutions in cases of tuberculosis. Personally I have not used it, and I am loth to pass judgment on observations recorded in every good faith. I would merely remark to my honorable colleague that Koch's lymph was used in our school in all the homœopathic dilutions possible at the moment of its far-resounding discovery—a fact which he should know as well as myself. To mention only one instance—Drs. Simon, V. L. Simon Boyer and Chancerel used the drug at the Hahnemann Hospital in Paris at the time of the arrival in France of the first consignment of lymph from Germany; and I am nearly certain that there is not at this time a single country where homœopathists have not used this remedy in all the infinitesimal dilutions. Homœopaths and allopaths have actually taken pretty much the same side as regards the primitive formula put forward by Koch (I am not now speaking of trials of new tuberculins); and Dr. Arnulphy would be fortunate enough were he able to revive its credit after its several years' oblivion as a cure of tuberculosis.

Clinically this lymph of Koch has led to wonderful cures in lobular pneumonia, for it produces pneumonia, broncho pneumonia, and congestion of the lungs in the tuberculous patient. Its homœopathic action would thus appear more trustworthy than its isopathic, and Dr. Arnulphy makes this remark: "I make bold to state that no single remedy in our materia medica, not excepting Ipecac, Iodine, Tartar emetic, and even Phosphorus, approaches the singular efficacy of Tuberculin in well-authenticated cases of that affection (broncho pneumonia, be it) in the child, the adult, or the aged. Its rapidity of action in some cases is little short of wonderful, and all who have used it in this line are unanimous in their unbounded praise of its working."

The four cases quoted by Dr. Mersch (Journal Belge d' Homéopathie, November, 1894, January and May, 1895) are very instructive:

The first is that of a member of the Dutch Parliament who had contracted a pneumonia which reached a chronic stage. While undergoing a relapse his expectoration assumed a rusty-red color, which color disappeared completely in three days on treatment with Tuberculin 30th.

The second case is that of a person who was seized, after an attack of measles, with broncho-pneumonia. On the fifth day Dr. Mersch prescribed Tuberculin 6th. In a day or two the condition of the chest was completely altered.

In the third case an old lady was likewise attacked with broncho-pneumonia, together with digestive troubles, and was for a long time in a serious state. After the lapse of a single night, which was a rather distressing one, under the action of the remedy the amelioration was great, and it was with difficulty that Dr. Mersch found a touch of bronchitis in the very place where the day before he had heard nothing but the tubular souffle. The prescription ran: Tuberculin 6th, eight packets of ten globules each, one to be taken every two hours.

Finally, in a fourth case, the patient was a lady of vigorous physique, and twenty-five years of age, who had capillary bronchitis, combined with the symptoms of angina pectoris. Dr. Mersch had once more had an opportunity of viewing with astonishment the rapidity with which the therapeutic action of Tuberculin may be manifested in such cases.

Bacillinum deserves study from two points of view, isopathically in the treatment of tuberculosis, homœopathically in the treatment of affections of the respiratory organs without tuberculosis. To fully understand its action it is necessary to know with exactness its composition. Dr. J. Compton Burnett has christened it Bacillinum, because he recognized in its lower dilutions the presence of Koch's bacilli. As a matter of fact, Bacillinum contains in its elements everything that a cavity of a tuberculous lung is capable of containing; that is to say, many other things besides Koch's bacillus. The bacillus of Koch is feebly pyogenetic, and the purulent contents of the cavities include pyogenetic staphylococci and streptococci, to say nothing of the organic products which play a large part in the production of the hectic fever of tuberculosis. It is a combination of toxins, then, which constitutes Bacillinum, and especially of toxins of a purulent nature. I lay stress upon this last fact, as it goes to sustain the opinion that I hold on the action of Bacillinum.

The infinitesimal dose of Homœopathy is in no way inimical to the entrance of all the elements constituting a substance into its materia medica. The salts of potassium owe their effect to their base as well as to their acid; Graphites is analogous to Carbo and Ferrum, because it contains both carbon and iron; Hepar sulphuris calcareum acts by reason of its sulphur as well as of its lime. Bacillinum, then, combines in its action all its constituent products, owing its efficacy to its suppurative microbes as well as its inclusion of Koch's bacillus.

This method of viewing the matter, which is peculiar to myself, permits me to include in one and the same category the action of Bacillinum in consumption and its action in non-tuberculous bronchitis.

I have studied conscientiously the action of Bacillinum in tuberculosis, and I must confess that I am looking out still for an authentic case of cure by this remedy. Nevertheless, in the midst of the paucity of drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis, I am happy to state that Bacillinum has produced in my hands considerable amelioration of the symptoms of this disease. Perhaps in certain cases it produces what Bernheim would call "la treve tuberculeuse." But sooner or later the drug, after ameliorating the symptoms, loses its effect, and the disease again gets the upper hand. I wish I could be as optimistic as Dr. J. Compton Burnett in his interesting book, "A New Cure for Consumption;" but that is impossible.

In looking over my observations I find that the symptom which has always undergone the greatest mitigation has been the expectoration. When Bacillinum acts on tuberculosis the sputum is less abundant, less purulent, less green, and more aērated. It is this which has always struck me most in the action of Bacillinum. It is rarely that a patient satisfied with the remedy fails to remark, "I expectorate less." In cases of dry cough at the beginning of tuberculosis I have noticed that the drug evidently arrests the tubercular process.

I would most severely criticise, as well for myself as for others, cases of so-called "cure of tuberculosis." There certainly are persons in whom the disease does not develop. These may have been accidentally infected, and their phagocytes may have struggled against their microbe foe. But in the case of an individual in whom the tubercle finds a suitable field for development, it is the merest chance that he entirely recovers without ulterior relapse; mostly it is a seeming cure, caused by a time of pause in the microbian pullulation.

Last year I had under my care, at the Hospital St. Jacques, a truly extraordinary case. It has been followed out by Dr. Jousset, by Dr. Cesar, head of the hospital laboratory, and by the house-physicians. It was that of a woman who entered the hospital suffering from influenza, and who, a few days after a slight amelioration of her symptoms, was attacked with a pulmonary congestion, clearly localized in the top of the left lung, and accompanied by all the clinical symptoms of tuberculosis—râles and moist crepitation, dulness, exaggeration of the thoracic vibration, nummular expectoration, fever, perspiration, spitting of blood—everything was there. Examination of the sputa showed distinctly the presence of Koch's bacilli. Everyone at the hospital diagnosed tuberculosis, myself the first. I gave her Avian tuberculin and in three weeks all the symptoms had disappeared. That woman left the hospital completely cured, and a year afterwards her health was still perfect. In my opinion this patient never had consumption; she was attacked with pseudo-phymic bronchitis, a complication which is very often found with influenza, and which may very easily be mistaken for tuberculosis; and in spite of the presence in the sputa of Koch's bacillus I would not register it as a case of tuberculosis, because, in contradistinction to that single case, I could mention twenty cases of tuberculosis whose symptoms neither Avian tuberculin nor any other such drug has cured.

There is absolutely no connection between the clinical evolution of real tuberculosis and observations based on the autopsies of old persons whose lungs contain cavities, but whose death was not due to tuberculosis. To admit, with Professor Brouardel, that three-fourths of those who have died a violent death are possessed of tuberculous lesions, whose existence was not suspected while the subject was living, would be running absolutely counter to clinical experience. The time is probably at hand when the different kinds of tuberculosis will be distinguished and separated, as we distinguish and separate the varieties of serious pleurisy and purulent pleurisy, of broncho-pneumonia arising from the presence of pneumococci, of streptococci, or of staphylococci. Malassez has already described cases of pseudo-tuberculosis, or zoogleic-tuberculosis, whose existence has only been acknowledged of late years. Courmont has discovered a pseudo-bacillosis of a bovine origin. We have a pseudo-bacillosis of a strepto bacillar origin, not to mention the "professional" tuberculoses, such as that to which persons are exposed who have to breathe the fumes of charcoal.

To return to Bacillinum, I consider this remedy as a powerful moderator of the muco-purulent secretion of consumption. While diminishing the secretion it modifies the auscultation; there is less thick sputum, the cavities are drier, the peri-tuberculosis congestion less intense. The clinical symptoms follow those of the auscultation; as the patient expectorates less he is less feeble, coughs less, gains strength, and regains his spirits; but the tubercle remains untouched. The peri-tuberculous congestion only is diminished, as one may observe with the naked eye when Koch's lymph is employed in the amelioration of lupus. The peri-tuberculous inflammation disappears; the skin seems healthy, but the yellow tubercle remains as it was, and the patient is still uncured. Such are the limits I assign to Bacillinum in its action on consumption.

Far more potent is the part played by Bacillinum in non-tuberculous pulmonary affections, for the simple reason that the struggle is with a less redoubtable opponent. Ebersole, Young, Zoppritz, Burnett, James, Holmes, Jousset, Steinhauf have published cases of the cure of acute bronchitis, influenza diarrhœa, syphilitic eruptions, cystitis, ringworm of the scalp, nephritis, idiocy, retarded dentition, cretinism, gout, rheumatism, etc., with Tuberculin or Bacillinum.

If we wish to prescribe Bacillinum successfully in non-tuberculous affections, we must observe, on auscultation, symptoms analogous to those which are perceptible in tuberculosis. The peculiar characteristics which indicate Bacillinum for non-tuberculous maladies of the respiratory organs are, in my opinion, the two following: The first is oppression; the second, muco purulent expectoration. These two phenomena show themselves always in the last stage of tuberculosis; that is to say, together with the products contained in the preparation of Bacillinum. Dyspnœa resulting from bronchial and pulmonary obstruction caused by a super-abundant secretion from the mucous membrane is marvellously relieved by Bacillinum. I put forward this fact, not on the evidence of a single isolated observation, but on that of several cases conscientiously studied. Such expectoration leads to the auscultation of sub-crepitant râles, sounding liquid and gurgling, having some analogy to the moist sounds of tuberculosis.

This power of Bacillinum to relieve oppression in pulmonary catarrh is in no way surprising from the point of view of the law of similars; for in the acute and infectious stage of tuberculosis the dyspnœa is a characteristic symptom, and is far more distressing than the cough. I have read with pleasure in the work of Dr. Mersch, of Brussels, on Tuberculin, of a fact which corroborates my statement as to the influence of Bacillinum over catarrhal dyspnœa. After the sixth dose the patient, who was suffering from bronchial asthma, was seized with violent intercostal pains, with augmented cough; but the oppression entirely disappeared after the first day, and did not return even three months after the treatment had ceased.

In L' Art Médical of January, 1894, and in the Hahnemannian Monthly of July, 1894, I published the case of an old man of eighty years of age, suffering from broncho-pneumonia, who, in the last stage of asphyxia, had been saved by Bacillinum. Two years ago I was called upon to treat another octogenarian who, as the result of a cold, developed an obstruction in the bronchial tubes, and at the basis of the lungs. He passed sleepless nights in a sitting posture, striving to draw deep inspirations. Phosphorus, Arsenic, and Stibium produced no relief. I gave him Bacillinum 30th, and he slept the whole night through. Doses of this remedy, administered at longish intervals, always produced a remarkable amelioration. Last year I was called to the house of an upholsterer. He preferred not going to bed at all to passing the night in bed without closing his eyes. He had humid asthma with incessant cough, which ended by causing him to eject thick yellow and puriform mucus. For eight days he took Arsenic and Blatta, and for a whole week he passed the nights without sleeping. From the day he took Bacillinum he was able to sleep. I saw him again this year in good health. Once or twice he was attacked with the same bronchorrhea, and had my prescription made up at the chemists, with the same success. This year, too, I have given Bacillinum to several patients at the Hôpital St. Jacques for the same symptoms, and it has never yet failed me.

When I am called upon to treat a patient suffering from an obstruction of the bronchial tubes occasioned by mucus, which is frequently thick and opaque and puriform—an obstruction extending to the delicate bronchial ramification, and causing oppression more frequently than cough, I turn my thoughts at once to Bacillinum. Bacillinum is a drug for old people, or, at any rate, for those whose lungs are old; for those chronically catarrhal, or whose pulmonary circulation is enfeebled without regard to the age of the subject; for those who have dyspnœa, and who cough with difficulty from inaction of the respiratory ducts; for the humid asthmatic, the bronchorrheal, who feel suffocated at night; and, finally, for those who, after taking cold, are straightway attacked with pulmonary congestion. Here, I believe, is the exact sphere of action of Bacillinum as a homœopathic remedy.

Bacillinum has been stigmatized as an unstable product. I consider this reproach ill-founded. Bacillinum is no more unstable than Psorinum, which is an approved remedy in Homœopathy. Typical tuberculous lungs contain practically almost invariable elements. Do not the microbes produced by cultivation and the animal extracts show any variation in quality, and do they not change in the long run?

Like most homœopathists who have made use of Bacillinum, I think it is best given in the high dilutions and at long intervals. Dr. J. Compton Burnett and Van der Berghe recommended the higher potencies—the 1000th, 100,000, etc., whereas I content myself with the 30th, which satisfies every requirement. As regards the intervals which must elapse between the doses, certain writers recommend from one to two weeks. In acute cases I generally give six globules of Bacillinum 30th every two or three days; and in chronic cases of tuberculosis, etc., one dose about twice a week.

We are no longer permitted to include in the same description the tuberculosis of birds and that of mammals. Although the two bacilli, as far as form and color are concerned, are absolutely identical, the evolution of the two forms of tuberculosis presents characteristics so different that we are forced to study them separately. At this day the debate is a question of words, and experts discuss whether there are two distinct genera or merely two different species.

It is this characteristic of non-transmissibility from mammals to birds, and vice versa, which forms the chief difference between the two kinds of tuberculosis. Strauss failed in his endeavor to inoculate a fowl with tuberculosis by injecting fifty kilogrammes of tuberculous human sputa, whereas the fowl, absolutely impervious to human tuberculosis, became infected when treated with a very slight quantity of the avian tuberculosis. The guinea-pig, so sensitive to the human microbe, presented encysted abscesses when treated with the virus of birds; it dies of cachexia, but never, as far as the naked eye can discern, of generalized tuberculosis. Rabbits are more sensitive to the avian infection. Dogs are absolutely refractory. The monkey, so delicate in our climate, and which almost invariably perishes from tuberculosis, is uninjured by inoculation from avian virus. The parrot is a remarkable exception to the general rule; it is the only bird which resists avian tuberculosis, while, on the other hand, it is sensitive to that of man. Such facts as these irrefutably differentiate the two kinds of tuberculosis.

Ever since this variety of tuberculosis has been distinguished, attempts have been made to inoculate or cure human tuberculosis with that of birds. In our school the thing has been attempted at the Hôpital St. Jacques, where Aviaire has been administered in homœopathic dilutions, in potions or through punctures in cases of consumption. As a matter of fact, neither allopaths nor homœopaths have succeeded in obtaining a formula which will cure consumption with the virus of birds. Amelioration has been noted as with other remedies, but never a series of authenticated cures. Nevertheless, in every country experiments are continually being made; we must hope that they will end in a more decisive success than is at present the case.

Hoping to profit by the homœopathicity of an active virus, I was, I think, one of the first who employed Aviaire in non-tuberculous respiratory affections on the lines of Bacillinum, and I am bound to say that up to the present my faith in the law of similars has not been shaken by my experiments.

In L'Art Médical (August, 1895) I published a number of cases in which I successfully treated localized bronchitis, generally the result of influenza, and reproducing the symptoms of tuberculosis, with Aviaire. The most characteristic of all these observations is that of which I have spoken above. The patient was restored to health as if by magic with Aviaire within three weeks. Dr. P. Jousset, anticipating my observations, thus expressed himself in the number of L'Art Médical preceding the one which contained my remarks: "A young woman entered the Hôpital St. Jacques at the end of January, 1895, with feverish influenzal bronchitis. At first the patient was treated with small doses of Sulphate of Quinine, and a little later she took Ipecac and Bryonia alternately. The fever disappeared and the general condition improved considerably, and the sub-crepitant râles became confined to the top of the left lung. The patient continued to expectorate thick nummular and puriform sputa, as in the influenza. After some days the disease resumed its sway, the bodily forces diminished, the emaciation made great progress, and local and general signs indicated rapid consumption. Bacteriological analysis led to the detection of numerous Koch's bacilli. I gave over the case at this time, and some weeks afterwards I learnt with surprise that the patient was well and growing fat, and that the inoculation of the sputa had produced no effects. The cure has been maintained for three months, and the young woman has resumed her employment." I had prescribed Aviaire 100th, five drops a day, during the whole period of the disease, unaccompanied by any other remedy.

As I have said before, more than a year afterwards the young woman continued in good health.

Following this case, Dr. Jousset quoted two analogous instances in his practice, both of influential bronchitis, in which the sputa contained, for a certain period, Koch's bacillus. One was cured with Aviaire 6th and strong doses of Sulphate of Quinine, and the other with Aviaire 6th and twenty drops of Tincture of Drosera, a day.

"What conclusions must I draw from these facts?" says Dr. Jousset. "That the avian tuberculosis cured the consumption? I have failed too often in the treatment of ordinary consumption with this remedy to admit that." That is my opinion also.

Koch's bacillus has been found in the nasal secretions of healthy hospital nurses, and of students of medicine, as noted by Strauss. Would it not be possible to come across it accidentally in certain kinds of expectoration, just as the pneumococcus is found in saliva?

In one of the numbers of La Médecine Moderne of last year there appeared a short article on the "Influenzas known as pseudo-phymic." The writer remarked on the strong analogy which certain complications of pulmonary influenza presented to acute tuberculosis. He observed, among other forms: 1st, the influenzal bronchitis which affected one of the summits of the lung, the most difficult form to diagnose from tuberculosis; 2d, the broncho-pneumonic form; 3d, the pleuro-pneumonic form, bearing a close resemblance to tuberculous pleurisy. I might remark that this last form is still little known and ill-defined. The influenza microbe always imitates to a remarkable degree the microbe of tuberculosis in certain instances; and if we wish to effect a cure on the laws laid down by Hahnemann in certain forms of influenzal bronchitis, we must frequently seek for the simillimum in the virus of tuberculosis.

I have mentioned oppression as one of the characteristics of Bacillinum. Now influenzal bronchitis is markedly accompanied by an incessant cough and by grave general symptoms. There is more frequently acute than passive, obstructive and dyspnœic congestion. I am inclined to prefer Aviaire to Bacillinum in such cases, and I should like to briefly touch upon certain cases in my practice.

I have under my care a little girl of twelve years of age who has for two years developed an influenza which rapidly leads to pulmonary symptoms, always distinctly localized in the top of the left lung. The mother is tuberculous, and the child, who was born with forceps, has her left chest less developed than her right. The congestion which accompanies the influenza is sudden and severe; within twenty-four hours the lung is invaded, and fine râles are soon heard. Twice running, at intervals of a year, Aviaire 100th has stifled the symptoms in a few days. I have seen an analogous case, only with congestion of the base of the lung.

In my clinical report of the Hôpital St. Jacques (in August, 1895) I note ten cases of acute influenzal bronchitis with incessant cough, fever, and expectoration, rapidly cured with Aviaire. This year I have prescribed it with the same success as at the Hôpital St. Jacques in cases of influenzal bronchitis, with active congestion. I will mention two cases of the pulmonary complications of measles which were rapidly dissipated by this remedy; but I must also mention a third case of measles in which Aviaire failed and Bryonia proved successful. The child had an acute rubeolic laryngitis, and few pulmonary symptoms. Bryonia was in this case more decidedly indicated than Aviaire.

The dilution of Aviaire which I have always used is the 100th. I give usually five drops a day.

It seems that Aviaire does not act in diminishing the cough like an anodyne or a narcotic, but braces up the whole organism. The relief of debility and the return of appetite are the phenomena which I have observed in conjunction with the diminution of the cough.

I have given Aviaire 100th for weeks, and even for a month, regularly every day, without having observed excitement or aggravation. It would thus appear to be a remedy of long-lasting action, capable in certain cases of modifying the organism, and of bracing a constitution which has become enfeebled from the effects of influenza or of suspicious bronchitis.

In contrast with Bacillinum I have noted, in my observations on Aviaire, considerable cough and little dyspnœa—an acute inflammatory, extremely irritating cough, such as one meets with in acute diseases or sub-acute affections in young people; a cough which fatigues, and which leads to enfeeblement and loss of appetite—in a word, a suspicious cough. To conclude my remarks, the utility of Aviaire in suspicious bronchitis—an expression on which I again lay stress—I will recall certain indubitable examples of the cure (at the Hôpital St. Jacques) of bronchitis or of pulmonary congestion at the top of one of the lungs, or of bronchitis on one side only, or of congestion predominating on one side. These localizations on one side are sufficiently grave symptoms to warrant apprehension of the hatching of tuberculosis.

If I were myself attacked, as the result of influenza or measles, or of some weakening malady, with an incessant tickling and stubborn cough, with certain closely localized pulmonary symptoms; if I lost my strength and appetite; if, in a word, I were attacked by bronchitis whose upshot was highly doubtful, and which caused apprehension of tuberculosis, I should not hesitate a single moment, with the examples which I have had before me, to try Aviaire 100th upon myself.

Such is the conclusion of my clinical observations made at Hôpital St. Jacques in August, 1895.

What I said last year I can only repeat with renewed confidence in this; and I hope that the years which follow will not cause me to alter my opinion.

FOOTNOTES:

[C] L' Union Homéopathique, vol. v, No. 3.

[D] Homœopathic World, vol. xxvi, No. 304.

[E] "On Tuberculin," an extract from the Journal Belge d' homéopathie, 1895.

[F] Pathogenese, sua importancia.

[G] Dr. J. Compton Burnett, in his book, "New Cure for Consumption," p. 129, makes this remark: "The best way to get some really good Bacillinum is to take a portion of the lung of an individual who has died of genuine bacillary tuberculosis pulmonum, choosing a good-sized portion from the parietes of the cavity and its circumjacent tissue, as herein will be found everything pertaining to the tuberculous process—bacilla, débris, ptomaines and tubercles in all its stages (such was practically the origin of the matrix of my Bacillinum) and preparing by trituration in spirit. In this way nothing is lost."

[H] I have tabulated shortly their various characteristics.

BELLIS PERENNIS.

Nat. Ord., Compositæ.
Common Names, English Daisy. Garden Daisy. Hens and Chickens.
Preparation.—The fresh plant, in flower, is pounded to a pulp and submitted to pressure. The expressed juice is then mixed with an equal part by weight of alcohol.

(The following is from Thomas' Additions to the Homœopathic Materia Medica, 1858. To it we may add Dr. J. C. Burnett's statement that Bellis is a remedy for all ills that may be traced to a sudden wetting when overheated.)

Bellis perennis or daisy, formerly called consolida, on account of its vulnerary properties; the roots and leaves were used in wound drinks, and were considered efficacious in removing extravasated blood from bruises, etc. It is said to be refused by cattle on account of its peculiar taste. Lightfoot, in his Flora Scotica, says: "In a scarcity of garden-stuff, they (daisies) have, in some countries, been substituted as pot herbs." My first trial with this plant as a curative agent was in the autumn of 1856. While on a visit in the neighborhood of Bangor, a countryman, understanding that I was a "doctor," wished me to prescribe for his foot, which he had sprained very badly. Not having either Arnica or Rhus with me, I determined to try the effects of the daisy; so directed him to procure a handful of the leaves and flowers of the plant, chop them up small, boil them for a quarter of an hour in half a pint of water, and apply them in linen as a poultice round the ankle at night. The application was not made until the next morning, but in half an hour's time the ankle admitted of very fair motion. A piece of calico wetted and wrung out of the daisy water was then wrapped round the ankle, and the man put his shoe on and limped about all day, walking not less than five miles. He repeated the poultice at night, and found his ankle so much restored in the morning that he was able to walk four miles to his work without experiencing any difficulty. The success, in this instance, so far exceeded the previous use of Arnica and Rhus, especially in the time gained, that I had a tincture from the whole plant made for such uses, and have used it in sprained ankle from a fall—the ankle was well the second day. A sprain of the wrist, which had been a week ailing, yielded to the daisy in three days. I have also successfully used it in several severe whitlows; in every case the pure tincture was used externally. The only provings I have made with this remedy have been with the pure tincture in ten or twenty drop doses at a time. After taking the medicine for fourteen days without any symptoms, I suspended the use of it—in two weeks after leaving it off, for the first time in my life I had a large boil on the back of my neck (right side), commencing with a dull aching pain; some difficulty and a bruised pain in keeping the head erect; slight nausea, want of appetite, and a little giddiness in the head at times. Pain in middle finger of the left hand, as of a gathering, for a short time only; and at the same time pain in inner side of left forearm, as of a boil developing; two nights before similar pains in corresponding parts of the right arm—query, are these effects of Bellis (this was written December 11, 1856). The boil on the neck came December 7, 1856; began as a slight pimple with burning pain in the skin, increasing until in six days' time it was very large, of a dark fiery purple color, and very sore burning and aching pain in it, accompanied with headache, extending from occiput to sinciput, of a cold aching character; brain as though contracted in frontal region, dizziness, etc. (as before stated). I now set to work to cure myself, which by use of hot fomentations and lint dipped in θ tincture of Belladonna externally, taking at the same time 3d dil. Belladonna internally, was soon accomplished. Three days after this was cured, another made its appearance, which speedily succumbed to the same remedies. As I had never previously had a boil, and had not made any change in my diet, I suspected Bellis tincture to be the cause of the trouble. On the 12th of January, 1857, feeling my left foot somewhat strained after running, I applied Bellis θ to the strain, which for several days aggravated the feeling; and in five hours after the application I had another small boil (three weeks after disappearance of the last), which yielded to same treatment as the others, by January 19, 1857. On March 7, 1857, I chewed some daisy flowers. On the 11th, a small boil appeared at the angle of the inferior maxilla, right side; Belladonna θ, externally, cured it. The last trial I made with the third centesimal dilution of Bellis, taking three drops on Tuesday, 2d March, 1858, on the following Friday a small pimple appeared a little behind the angle of left inferior maxilla; it increased very much in size and pain by Saturday, when I treated it with Belladonna θ externally, to which it soon yielded. As at no other time in my life have I suffered from boils, I am inclined to think these are due to the use of the daisy.

BERBERIS AQUIFOLIUM.

Nat. Ord., Berberidaceæ
Common Names, Oregon grape. Mountain grape.
Preparation.—The fresh root and stem is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(This unintentional proving was published in August, 1896, under the signature J. d. W. C. The paper referred to by J. d. W. C. was a clipping from the Eclectic Medical Journal.)

In the Homœopathic Recorder for March, 1896, p. 133, there appears an interesting article on the virtues of the plant named above—it starts out with: "From the fact that it will make a 'new' man of an old one in a short time it is an excellent remedy."

As I am now over sixty years old, it seemed high time to cast about for something possessing the virtue specified, viz., making "a 'new' man out of an old one"—and to my knowledge, as I have never had five days' illness confining me to bed, or even to my room, during the said sixty years, I considered myself an easy subject for the contemplated rejuvenation; besides all this, I am what some would call a homœopathic "crank;" and believed, and yet believe, if there be anything that can effect such a transformation it is to be found only within the lines of Homœopathy, I immediately ordered quantum suf. of the article in question from the celebrated firm of Boericke & Tafel, and started out on the trip to the "Fountain of Youth" in full confidence that something would come of it.

The first day I took two doses mother tincture 10-15 drops each; no special effect noticed—no youthfulness either! Second day, ditto; third day, one dose in morning; after bank hours went to friend's sanctum and engaged in a game of chess, and while so engaged felt a growing sense of nausea and thick-headedness—so much so, that I was obliged to excuse myself and hurry to my own quarters. Berberis, however, did not once occur to me—I had scarce reached my room when the sense of nausea (seven minutes' lively walk, since it became really oppressive) had full sway, and having eaten nothing whatever since the previous evening (as I do not eat unless I am hungry) the straining was rather severe, but exactly similar to some previous attacks of "biliousness"—in feeling, and color and taste of discharges—and still Berberis did not occur to me; as soon as the strain was over I was seized with a remarkable and peculiar headache; a thing of which I have no recollection whatever to have previously experienced in any shape—the sensation was that of a strong, well-defined, compressive band of iron (or some unyielding substance), about two inches wide, passing entirely round the head, just above the ears—it kept on growing tighter and tighter; I jumped from the reclined position on a couch, wet a folded towel in cold water, and passed it round my head so as to cover the "band;" but it gave little relief; about 10 o'clock I began to think over what I might have eaten to disagree with me so, and at last Berberis came plump into sight; I at once prepared a cup of strong, strong coffee (Hahnemann's antidote, and for which I had to send to a neighbor), believing it would antidote the Berberis (or rather hoping it might), and about 12 o'clock there was a slight diminution of pressure; then more coffee, black and strong, two or three mouthfuls, and again laid down; by morning the serious phase of the headache had disappeared, but I was exceedingly tremulous in nerves and unsteady in gait up to noon, when I ventured on some oatmeal and syrup—habitually, I do not eat meat, or drink tea or coffee, nor spirituous liquors, nor use tobacco, and have not for over thirty years.

Finally, I "made a good recovery," and now whenever I have a sensation of biliousness I touch my tongue to my finger after touching the cork of the mother tincture bottle of Berberis aqui.; with laid finger—and have no trouble compared to what I have usually had—I believe I may say, I am subject to bilousness by heredity, but it has removed much thereof, and this remedy, I think, is good enough for the remainder.

BLATTA ORIENTALIS.

Synonym, Indian cockroach.
Class, Insecta.
Order, Orthoptera.
Common Name (Indian), Talápoka.
Preparation.—Triturate in the usual way.

(These two papers are by Dr. D. N. Ray, of Calcutta, India, and were originally published in the Homœopathic Recorder in the years 1890 and 1891. A number of papers from American physicians could be added confirming what Dr. Ray says of the drug.)

The Blatta orientalis is a common insect in India, where it is found abundantly in the dwelling houses. It has rather a flat body, from an inch to a couple of inches in length; deep brown color. It can fly a short distance. The wings reach beyond the body and cover it completely; the feet have several segments and are provided with prickles.

Preparation.—The live animal is crushed and triturated as under class IX of American Homœopathic Pharmacopœia, a tincture can be prepared as under class IV of the same Pharmacopœia.

This new unknown remedy has a curious anecdote connected with it. I call it new because it has not been mentioned in any of our medical works, although the use of Blatta Americana (American cockroach) as a remedy for dropsy has been mentioned in journals. The Indian cockroach is used not in cases of dropsy but in cases of Asthma, a most obstinate disease to deal with. In asthma it acts almost specifically. Before I further proceed to give an account of this new, invaluable drug I shall narrate here a short story how it came into use.

Some years ago an elderly gentleman had long been suffering from asthma; for over twenty years. He took all measures and tried different methods of both recognized and unrecognized medical treatments, but unfortunately all proved in vain. At last he gave up all treatment and was getting fits daily. He was brought to such a deplorable condition that he was left to suffer. He was in the habit of taking tea. One afternoon as usual he drank his cup of tea—afterwards he noticed that his oppression in the chest was much less and that he was feeling unusually better, so much so that he felt himself a different being. This led him and his friends to inquire into the cause of it. He immediately inferred that the relief was due to the drinking of the tea, although he habitually drank the same tea but never before had experienced any such changes. So this change he attributed to something in the tea. The servant who prepared the tea was sent for and questioned. His reply was that he made the tea as usual and there was nothing new in it. The residue of the teacup was carefully examined, nothing was found there, but on examining the tea-pot a dead cockroach was discovered. So it was concluded that this infusion of cockroach did the gentleman a world of good. The very day he drank that cup of tea he had hardly any fit of asthma at night, and in a few days he got entirely well to his and his friends' surprise.

The accounts of his Providential recovery were communicated to some of his friends—one of them, not a medical man, but quite an enterprising gentleman, took this into his head and resolved to try whether cockroach does any good to other asthmatic patients. For this purpose he got a lot of cockroaches, put them alive into a quantity of boiling water and mixed it after filtering the water when cool with almost the same quantity of the rectified spirit of wine, so that it might last for some time without getting soured. This new mixture (or tincture) he began to try in each and every case of asthma that he came across. The dose was a drop each time, 3 or 4 doses daily, and more frequently during the fits of asthma. Within a short time he made some such wonderful cures that people began to flock from different parts of the country to his door. Soon the number of attendants was so great that he had to manufacture the medicine by pounds and all this medicine he distributed to patients without any charge. He has records of some of the cases.

Some two years ago a patient of mine asked me whether we make any use of Talápoka (cockroach) in our Pharmacopœia. My reply was that we use many loathsome insects as our remedial agents. I told him also that Blatta Americana (American cockroach), I had heard, had been used in cases of dropsy, but I had no practical experience with it. He then said the Indian cockroach is used in cases of asthma and he knew several cases had been cured with it. This struck me and I determined to try this in cases of asthma whenever next opportunity occurred. For this purpose I got a lot of live cockroaches, killed them and pounded to a fine pulp and triturated according to class IX of American Homœopathic Pharmacopœia, that is, two parts by weight of the substance and nine parts by weight of sugar of milk, giving 1x trituration. Thus I prepare up to 3x trituration and I also make an alcoholic solution—a few live cockroaches were crushed and five parts by weight of alcohol poured over them—it was allowed to remain eight days in a dark, cool place, being shaken twice daily. After the expiration of that period the alcoholic solution was poured off, strained and filtered, when it was ready for use.

I began to try both the preparations—drop doses of the tincture and grain doses of 1x, 2x and sometimes 3x, 3 or 4 times daily when there was no fit and almost every fifteen minutes or half hourly during the severity of a fit. Both preparations began to answer well and I was getting daily more and more encouraged about the efficacy of this new drug. I had the opportunity of trying quite a number of cases of asthma within this short time, the reports of which I wish to publish in the future, but for the present I am glad to say in many cases it acted almost specifically, that is, the whole trouble cleared away within a fortnight or so without recurrence. In some cases the severity of the paroxysm was lessened and the recurrence of the fits took place at a longer interval; in others again only temporary benefit was observed. This failure to benefit all cases alike I attribute to many circumstances. Some people did not, rather could not, take the medicine regularly according to my directions owing to their untoward circumstances; some persons were suffering from other complications along with asthma; some again got temporary relief and in the meantime discontinued the medicine and came back again when there was a recurrence of the fits, that is, they did not continue the drug for sufficient length of time. Some cases again, not having derived immediate benefit, got impatient and discontinued the medicine without proper trial.

Besides all these, I think individual idiosyncrasy has a great deal to do. The season of the year has some influence. It is usually observed in this country that those who are subject to periodical attacks of asthmatic fits are more prone to an attack either during the full or the new moon, or at both the times. I believe if it is properly watched this fact will be evident all over the world. Same is true of some other diseases, as chronic cough, chronic fevers, rheumatism, either acute or chronic, gout, elephantiasis, other glandular enlargements, etc., get aggravated or are prone to aggravation during such changes of the moon. Then some people get more severe and frequent fits during the winter than the summer and the others more during the summer than the winter. Let me here tell you that the Indian summer is very different from either the English or the American. Some part of the Indian summer season is quite rainy and the atmosphere is saturated with moisture and other irritating ingredients, consequently a class of asthmatic people suffer more during this season. I noticed to this class of cases Blatta orientalis will prove most efficacious. I have used it in bronchial and nervous asthma with better success than the stomachæ.

Second Paper.

I have of late tried Blatta orientalis indiscriminately in almost all cases of asthma that have come under my treatment, and I am glad to say I have received good results in most cases, as the reports of some of the clinical cases will show. I have not come to any definite use of this drug yet, but I shall only mention a few facts that I have observed during its use. It acts better in low potency and repeated doses during an attack of asthma; when the spasm subsides, the terminal asthmatic cough with wheezing and slight dyspnœa, etc., is better relieved with higher potencies; the low potency, if continued after the spasmodic period is over, will make the cough more troublesome and harassing to the patient and the expectoration tenacious, thick and very difficult to raise, but this will not be the case if the potency is changed. I had this difficulty in a few cases when I was less acquainted with the action of the drug, but now I manage my cases better. In four patients who continued the drug for some time in the low potency, during the paroxysm and after it was over, the cough became dry and hacking with little or no expectoration, the streaks of blood appeared in the sputa, which the patients had never observed in the course of their long illness. This appearance of blood in their sputa was the cause of a great anxiety to them and made them hurry over to my office. On inquiry I learned from two of them—one a lady and the other a young man—that while taking this remedy they felt a sensation all over the body, for four or five days previous to the appearance of the blood, as if heat were radiating from the ears, eyes, nose, top of the head, palms of the hands and soles of the feet. They attributed this sensation of heat all over the body and the appearance of the blood in the expectoration to the drug. I directed them to stop the medicine at once; this they did, and with the discontinuance of it the blood disappeared from the sputa as well as the sensation of heat, but to me it was an open question whether this appearance of blood in the expectoration was due to overdrugging, although I must say that the presence of the streaks of blood in the sputa of asthmatic patients is not an uncommon phenomenon. I resolved to give the same potency to the same patients after the lapse of some days. I did so, and to my surprise the blood-streaked sputa again appeared after they had taken the remedy ix, one grain four times daily. From this the patients understood it was the same medicine that had been given to them on the last occasion and begged me not to give it again, as the appearance of blood in the sputum frightened them, in spite of all my assurance. No more strong doses of the drug were given to them and they did not notice any more blood in the sputum. I have heard other patients complain of this peculiar sensation of heat whenever strong doses were given to them for some time. It acts better on stout and corpulent than on thin and emaciated persons. The asthmatic patients subject to repeated attacks of malaria derive less permanent benefit from the use of the drug. So, it seems to me, that in hæmic asthma, which is due to the abnormal condition of the blood, it is efficacious. I have also used this drug in troublesome cough with dyspnœa of phthisical patients with good result.

Clinical Cases.

Case I. Baln R. M., aged fifty-five, thin, emaciated and irritable temperament, has been suffering from hereditary asthma for the last twenty-five years. For the last six or seven years he suffered from asthmatic fits almost nightly and a troublesome cough with a good deal of frothy expectoration. He said he had not known what sleep was for the last six or seven years, in fact, he could not lie down in bed, as that would immediately bring on a violent fit of coughing which would not cease until he sat up, so the recumbent posture for him was almost impracticable, and he used to sit up during the night and doze on a pile of pillows. He passed his days comparatively better, but the approach of the night was a horror to him, his struggle, commencing at 9 or 10 p.m., would last till the morning. He was the father of many children and was well taken care of, but his suffering was so great that he had no ambition to live any longer. He tried almost all systems of medicine without much good. For the last ten years he took opium, which afforded him slight relief at the beginning, using as high as forty-eight grains of opium in twenty-four hours. Owing to the constant sitting posture he became stooped, and the back of his neck stiff and painful. In April, 1889, he was suddenly taken ill with fever. The fever became protracted. After an illness of over a month his condition became so bad that all hope of his recovery was given up. During this illness he was treated by an old school physician of some repute, but his condition daily grew worse, the asthmatic attacks became very violent and almost incessant, and the difficulty of breathing very great. He became so feeble that he had not strength enough to enable him to bring up the expectoration; his chest was full of it; fever was less; there was general anasarca. He was sitting with head bent forward, almost touching the bed, as that was the only position possible to him day and night. He had become almost speechless, when I was sent for, at about 3 p.m. on the 23d of May, 1889. When I was entering the patient's room a medical man came out and hinted that there was no use of my going in as the patient was just expiring. I found the patient breathing hard; unconscious; jaws were locked and saliva dribbling from the corners of his mouth; body cold; cold, clammy perspiration on forehead; eyes partially opened; in fact, to all appearance, he looked as if he were dead, except for the respiratory movements. I felt his pulse and found it was not so bad as the patient was looking. I examined the back of his chest, as that was the only portion easily accessible, and noticed that the bronchial spasms were going on with loud mucous râle. From the character of his pulse I thought that the present state of the patient was probably due to the continued violent struggle and not deep coma, and that he had become so exhausted that he was motionless, speechless and completely unconscious. His bed was surrounded by many friends and relations, who had come to bid him a last farewell; and it was with surprise that they all looked at me when I proposed to administer medicine to a patient whose death was expected every minute and for whose cremation preparations were being made.

I got a big phial full of water and put in it Blatta orientalis 1x trit. a few grains and tried two or three times to give him a spoonful of it, but in vain; the jaws were locked and I could not make him swallow any of that medicine; then I put some powder dry in the hollow of his lips and asked the attendants to try to give him the medicine I left in the bottle. I was asked whether there was any hope of his recovery, of course my answer was "no," and I also said he could only live a few hours. I left the patient's house with the idea of not visiting it again, but at 9 p.m. a messenger came with the report that the patient was slightly better, he could swallow medicine and two doses of it had been given. I was asked to see the patient again. I could hardly believe what he said, however, I went to see the patient again. I noticed there was a slight change for the better, the pulse was steady, the jaws were unlocked, there was mobility of the limbs, he could swallow liquid with ease and was expectorating freely, the breathing though still difficult was slightly improved. There was the winking of the eyelids. On the whole he was looking less lifeless, but still I entertained no hope of his recovery. I left instructions to repeat the same medicine once or twice during the night, if required, at the same time to give milk repeatedly, one or two spoonfuls at a time, and to inform me next morning if he had survived the night. Next morning I really grew anxious to know what had become of my patient who had shown symptoms slightly better with this new remedy. A messenger came with the report that the patient passed a good night. I was requested to see him again. When I arrived at his place at 8 a.m. I was surprised to see him so much better, he had not only regained his consciousness, but was sitting quietly in his bed, could speak slowly, the difficulty of breathing was completely gone, but the cough occasionally troubled him and a good deal of expectoration of frothy white or sometimes of big yellowish lumps of mucus came up. He was given three doses of the same medicine 2x trit. during the day. He passed a fair day, but at night his difficulty of breathing again appeared in somewhat milder form. He had to take two doses of the medicine. Thus the medicine was continued for a week and his trouble daily became less and less until after the expiration of a week he was able to sleep at night for the first time in the last six or seven years. I treated him over a month, and his health improved so rapidly that he not only got rid of the asthmatic trouble, but was soon able to go out and even attend his business. The stooped condition of his neck with slight pain and slight chronic bronchitis did not leave him altogether. Besides Blatta orientalis, I also prescribed for him Arsenicum alb. 6 and 12, Naja tri. 6, Ipecac 3, and Antim. tart. 3, as they were indicated. He continued well for over a year, but in August, 1890, he had slight reappearance of the asthmatic trouble. He again took Blatta orientalis and got well.

Case II. Mrs. Nundy, a thin lady, aged twenty-three, mother of three children, came from a village for the treatment of asthma, from which she had been suffering for the last eight years. For the first two or three years she used to get two or three attacks in the year, but gradually they were repeated more frequently, though the character of the attack remained the same throughout. It would last two days and two nights, whether any medicine was given to her or not. Nothing would alleviate her suffering during an attack—too much interference would increase her sufferings and prolong the duration of the attack, so, practically speaking, almost nothing was given to her during an attack. The great oppression of breathing, restlessness, profuse perspiration, inability to move or lie down and loud wheezing would be the most prominent symptoms in each attack. These would remain almost with equal violence for nearly forty hours, when the spasms would cease with slight cough and expectoration, and she would be perfectly at ease as ever, and there would be no trace of disease left, except slight wheezing sound on auscultation. But latterly these attacks were very frequent, almost every week or ten days. In August, 1890, she was brought here for treatment. It is worth while to mention that she took both allopathic and native drugs during the interval of attacks to prevent their recurrence, but without any effect. I saw her first on the morning of the 5th of August, during an attack. I prescribed Blatta Orientalis IX trit., one grain every two hours. It was to their surprise that this attack subsided unlike all others by the evening; that is, it disappeared within twenty hours. This encouraged the lady and her husband so much that she wanted to have regular course of treatment under me. I put her under tincture of Blatta Orientalis IX, one drop per dose, twice daily. She continued this medicine till the time of the next attack was over; that is, for ten days. After the expiration of this period she began to complain of a sensation of heat all over her body, so I changed it to 3x, one drop morning and evening. She kept well, and after a month she went home thinking she got well. A month after her going home she had an attack of asthma at night and took Blatta Orientalis IX as before, and by the next morning she was well. This was in October, and after two months of the last attack. She had another attack in winter and none since.

Case III. A young man, aged thirty-four, had been suffering from asthma for some years. He was invariably worse during the rains and the winter, and a chronic bronchitis was almost a constant accompaniment. He tried allopathic and lots of patent drugs, with only temporary amelioration of the trouble. At last, in November, 1888, he came to my office. On examination of his chest I found there was a chronic bronchitis. He said that slight difficulty of breathing with hacking cough used to trouble him every night, besides a cold would be followed by a severe attack of asthma, so its periodicity of recurrence was irregular. I treated him with Ipecac, Arsenicum alb., etc. The first-named medicine did him the most good, but he never got entirely well. So in July, 1889, I put him under tincture Blatta orientalis 3x, drop doses, three or four times daily. Under its use he began to improve steadily, and had only two or three attacks of asthmatic fits since he used this drug, which were promptly relieved by the same drug in 1x potency. Euphrasia off. was prescribed for his cold whenever he had it. He is free from all trouble for the last year and a half. His general condition is so much changed that there is no apprehension of the recurrence of his former illness.

Case IV. Baln Bose, an old, corpulent gentleman, aged sixty-two, has been suffering from asthmatic attacks for some years. He never took any allopathic medicine, but had always been under treatment of native kabiraj (medical men), under whose treatment he was sometimes better and worse at others. Latterly he became very bad and passed several sleepless nights. He used to pass his days comparatively better, and it was at night and in the morning he used to be worse. On the 24th of July, 1890, at 9 a.m. I saw him first—there was a slight touch of asthma even then. I made him try to lie down in bed; this he could not do, owing to the coughing fit it excited while in that posture. On examination the chest revealed chronic bronchial catarrh, and there was also a harassing cough, with very little expectoration after repeated exertion. I prescribed Blatta orientalis IX trit., one grain every two hours. He passed the night without an attack, and the next morning when I saw him he complained that only the cough was troublesome last night and no fit of asthma. The cough was somewhat troublesome even when I saw him in the morning. I gave him tincture Blatta ori. 3x, one drop dose every two hours. He passed the day and night well. He continued the treatment for a fortnight and then went home, where he has been keeping good health, with the exception of an occasional bronchial catarrh.

Case V. A shoemaker, aged forty-two, robust constitution, has been suffering with asthma for three or four years. He came to my office on the 6th of November, 1890. He had been getting asthmatic fits almost every night since October last. During the day troublesome cough, with slight expectoration and hurried breathing made him unable to attend his business. Tincture Blatta orientalis IX, one drop doses, six times daily, was given. The very first day he perceived the good effect of the medicine and continued the same for a month, when he got well and discontinued the medicine. He has been keeping well ever since.

Case VI. Mr. G., aged forty, healthy constitution, had an asthmatic fit on the 4th of August, 1890, preceded by a violent attack of cold, from which he frequently used to suffer. He had this severe cold in the morning, and in the afternoon he began to experience a great difficulty of breathing and slight oppression and lightness of the chest—this, by 9 p.m., developed into a regular fit of asthma. I was sent for. On my arrival, at 10 p.m., I found he was sitting before a pile of pillows with elbows supported on them, and struggling for breath. There was also a great tightness in the chest, occasional cough, and inability to speak. I at once put him under Blatta orientalis IX trit., one grain every fifteen minutes, and less frequently afterwards if he felt better. On my visit next morning I found him much better, but he said his trouble at night continued, more or less, till 2 a.m., after which he got some rest. Now, there was a troublesome cough, slight oppression of the chest and great apprehension of a second attack in the night. The same medicine, 3x trit., was given to him during the day, and a few powders of 1x were left with him in case he was to get an attack at night. There was a slight aggravation of those symptoms at night, and he had occasion to take only two powders of 1x. The next morning he was every way better, except the cough, for which four powders of 3x were given daily. In four or five days he got entirely well and had no relapse.

Case VII. Mrs. D., aged twenty, a healthy, stout lady, mother of one child, had been always enjoying good health, was suddenly attacked with a violent fit of asthma on the 8th of August, 1890. This was the first occasion she had a fit of asthma, the result of a severe cold. At about 2 a.m. she was suddenly seized with difficulty of breathing and a great oppression in the chest. She could not lie down any longer in bed and had to sit up, being supported on a pile of pillows. In the morning at 8 a.m. I saw her first. I noticed she was in great agony and almost speechless. On examination I could not detect much loud wheezing—the characteristic of an asthmatic attack—though the rapid movements of the walls of the chest were even quite visible to the bystanders. The patient was feeling almost choked up, and could not express what was going on. She only pointed out a point, a little over the pit of the stomach most painful. There was no cough—perspiration was pouring over her body. I could not at once make out whether it was a case of pure asthma, especially as she never had it before. However, I made up my mind to give her Blatta orientalis IX trit., a grain dose every fifteen minutes, and watch the effect myself. Three doses of it were given without much change for the better. I left a few more doses to be repeated half hourly and promised to see her again within a couple of hours. On my return I found her in a much better condition, and she had taken only one of those powders I had left, and they were not repeated, as she felt better. Now I thought it must have been an attack of asthma, and I continued the medicine unhesitatingly. There was no aggravation at night, but on the next morning she was better, and the usual asthmatic cough began with slight expectoration. There was pain in the chest and head with each coughing fit. Blatta orientalis 3x trit., four to six doses, was continued for a few days, when she got well. Again in November she had a slight tendency to an asthmatic fit, took two or three doses of the same medicine and got well. Since then she had not been troubled again.

Case VIII. A gentleman, the keeper of a common shop, aged forty-four, belonging to a village, had been suffering from asthma for the last eight years and had always been under treatment of native kabiraj (medical men). In June, he came to the city, and I was called to see him on the 14th of June, to treat him for his asthma. The day previous he had an attack, for which he took no medicine. Each of his attacks usually lasted four or five days. I gave him Blatta orientalis IX trit., one grain every two hours, and left him six such powders to be taken during the day. He took them and felt better the next day. He stayed here two or three days more, and when well he wanted to proceed home, which was some couple of hundred miles. He took with him two two-drachm phials of Blatta orientalis, one of IX and the other of 3x trit. He continued the 3x, one grain doses, two or three times daily, for a month, and discontinued afterward. He had no more asthmatic fits. In January last, 1891, I had a letter from him, thanking me for his recovery and asking for some of the same medicine for a friend of his, who had been suffering from asthma. The friend of his who used the same drug, Blatta orientalis, was equally benefited.

Case IX. Mrs. Dalta, a thin lady, aged thirty-eight, mother of several children, had been exposed to cold, which brought on an attack of bronchitis with fever. This, in the course of a fortnight, developed into a regular fit of asthma. She was all this time treated by an old-school physician, but when the husband of the lady saw that she was daily getting worse, and a new disease crept in, he made up his mind to change the treatment. I was called to see her in the morning of the 8th of June, 1890. She became very much emaciated, could not take any food, had fever with acute bronchitis, hurried respiration, difficulty of breathing; this she was complaining of bitterly, owing to which she could not lie down in bed, but had to sit up day and night. There was a prolonged fit of spasmodic cough at short intervals, with slight expectoration, but these coughing fits would make her almost breathless. This was the first time I prescribed Blatta orientalis IX in a case of asthma with fever and acute bronchitis. It answered my purpose well. She had only ten powders during the day and passed a comparatively better night. Next morning when I saw her she was better, except the coughing fits, which were continuing as before. The same medicine was repeated. On the 10th of June she had no asthmatic trouble at night, but there was not much improvement in her cough—Anti. tart. and Bryonia were needed to complete the cure.

BOLETUS LARICIS.

Nat. Ord., Fungi.
Common Names, Larch Agaric, Larch Boletus, Purging Agaric, White Agaric.
Preparation.—The dried fungus is macerated in five parts by weight of alcohol.

(Here are two typical cases out of thirteen by Dr. W. H. Burt, which we find in the North American Journal of Homœopathy, 1866, quoted from th Medical Investigator from a volume not attainable.)

Case 1. Intermittent fever: Type Quotidiana Duplex. In a large lymphatic woman; weight about 180 lbs.; aged thirty-nine. November 4th. For the last five weeks has had the ague. At first it was a simple quotidian. Took Quinine, which broke it for four days, when it returned; took Quinine in massive doses, which checked it for one week. It returned two weeks since, in the form of a double quotidian. The chill comes on every day at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The chill lasts from one to two hours each time; hands and feet get icy cold, chills run up and down the spine, with severe pains in the head, back and limbs; followed by high fever for three hours, and then profuse sweat. Tongue furred whitish-yellow, with large fissures in the tongue; flat, bitter taste; has had no appetite for five weeks; craves cold water all the time; bowels rather costive; has nausea during every chill, but no vomiting; very weak, can only sit up about one hour in the morning; great depression of spirits, cries during the whole examination; face very much jaundiced. Treatment: Ars. 2, every two hours, for three days. It produced constant nausea and lessened the chills, but aggravated the fever. I then determined to try the Boletus 1st, two grs. every two hours. Took two doses when the chills came on, she then ceased to take the medicine until 5 p.m. Took three doses, and then fell asleep. 8th. Says she is feeling a little better, continued treatment; 10 a.m., commenced to have a severe diarrhœa, an effect of the medicine; discontinued the powders until 5 p.m. The fever did not come on until 3 p.m.; had no chill; fever lasted three hours; perspired profusely all night; slept well for the first time in a number of weeks. 9th. Feeling much better. Fever came on at 4 p.m., had no chill; fever lasted four hours; nausea all the evening; sweat all night. 10th. Feeling quite well. Had no more fever, but had night sweats for a week after. Convalescence was very slow; notwithstanding she had no more fever it was three weeks before she felt perfectly well.

This case demonstrates the fact to us that the Boletus is superior to our greatest remedial agents in the case of intermittents. I believe if I had not been acquainted with the therapeutic properties of the Boletus I would have been compelled to treat this lady every few weeks for two or three months with our usual remedies.

Case 2. Intermittent fever: Type quotidian. November 1st, Mrs. B., aged fifty-six. Temperament, nervous. Three weeks since had an abscess in left ear, which made her quite sick for a week. Since then has had a fever every afternoon and night; feels chilly whenever she moves; walking produces nausea; does not perspire any; tongue coated white; loss of appetite; bowels loose; very restless at night, cannot sleep any; getting very weak, keeps her bed most of the time. Gave Boletus laricis. Had the fever but one day after.

CALCAREA RENALIS PRÆPARATA.

Preparation.—There are two kinds of renal calculi, the phosphatic and the uric, which should be triturated as separate preparations.

(The Homœopathric Examiner, 1846, contained the following paper, by Dr. Bredenoll. We may add that the remedy is reported to be peculiarly beneficial in Rigg's disease of the teeth.)

My professional engagements do not permit me to spend much time in writing; the following case, however, I deem worthy of note.

Born of healthy parents, I remained quite healthy until my twenty-third year. I had no trouble in getting over the diseases to which children are generally liable. Some of them, scarlet fever and measles, attacked me when I was already engaged in my professional career. I am now fifty-seven years old.

In the year 1808, while vaccinating children, I caught the itch from one of them. Although I washed myself with soap water immediately, yet a pustule made its appearance in about eight days, between the little finger and ring finger of the left hand; afterwards a few more came on at the same place and some others between the ring and middle finger. I hastened to repel this eruption as fast as possible, which I unfortunately succeeded in doing within the period of eight days.

This suppression of the eruption was followed by a host of diseases: Liability to catching cold; frequent catarrh; rheumatic complaints; toothache; attacks of hemicrania, with vomiting; continual heartburn; hæmorrhoidal complaints, at times tumors, at times fluent; excessive emaciation; afterwards a pustulous eruption over the whole body; painful swelling of the joints, arthritic nodosities in different places; a copper-colored eruption in the face, especially on and about the nose, which made me look like a confirmed drunkard, etc., etc.

These affections tormented me more or less, until in the year 1833 I visited Hahnemann at Coethen, for the purpose of studying homœopathia with him. Hahnemann treated me for three weeks, and I continued the treatment at my native place. My health improved steadily, and at the end of a year I considered myself cured. This lasted until October, 1836, when I was attacked with violent colic in one night. The pain was felt in the region of the left kidney, lancinating, pinching, sore; retching ensued, resulting in vomiting of mucus, and lastly bile. I took a few pellets of Nux v. x; after this the pain disappeared gradually, and the vomiting ceased. Next day I was well again. Two days afterwards I discovered gravel in the urine, and my sufferings had vanished.

One year elapsed in this way; however, I occasionally experienced an uncomfortable sensation in the region of the left kidney, especially when riding on horseback, driving in a carriage, or walking fast; I took at times Lycopod., at times Nux v., in proportion as one or the other of these two remedies appeared indicated.

In November, 1837, I was suddenly attacked with vomiting, accompanied with violent lancinating, sore or pinching pains in the region of the left kidney. The horrible anguish and pain which I experienced extorted from me involuntary screams; I was writhing like a worm in the dust. A calculus had descended into the ureter and had become incarcerated in it. Repeated doses of Nux relieved the incarceration, and I distinctly felt that the calculus was descending towards the bladder. After twenty-four hours of horrible suffering the vomiting ceased, the pain became duller and was felt in the region where the ureter dips into and becomes interwoven with the tissue of the bladder: it continued for three days and then disappeared all of a sudden (the stone had not got into the bladder). Thirty-six hours afterwards the calculus entered the bulb of the urethra. I felt a frequent desire to urinate; the urine was turbid and bloody, until at last a calculus of four grains made its appearance in the urine. After this I frequently passed gravel and calculi, at times with slight, at times violent pains, sometimes accompanied with vomiting; I kept the larger calculi, with a view of using them hereafter as a curative agent.

Professor Nasse, of Bonn, where my son studied medicine at the time, has analyzed the calculi, and has found them to be urate of lime. He advised me to take Merc. dulcis and the Sulphate of Soda for some time; it is scarcely necessary for me to say that I did not follow his advice.

On the fifteenth of February, 1839, I felt the precursory symptoms of a new attack, which really did break out in all its fury on the 16th, and continued on the 17th and 18th. I now caused 5 grains of my calculi to be triturated in my presence with 95 grains of sugar of milk, according to the fashion of Hahnemann, and took 1/2 grain in the evening of the 17th, another 1/2 grain in the morning of the 18th. On this day I passed very turbid urine with a considerable quantity of gravel; however, in the region where the ureter dips into the bladder, I experienced an uncomfortable sensation, but was well otherwise. On the 19th I was obliged to visit a patient at the distance of two miles; on my journey I felt that the calculus was descending into the bladder; the urine which I emitted shortly afterwards was very turbid and bloody. That same evening, after returning home, I felt the stone in the bulb of the urethra, and on the morning of the 20th it came off during stool, but unfortunately got lost among the excrement. To judge from my feeling it must have been larger than any of the preceding calculi, and also rougher, for its passage through the urethra was very painful and followed by an oozing out of blood.

The uncomfortable feeling in the region of the left kidney never disappeared completely; it became especially painful when pressing upon that place, when riding on horseback or in a carriage, when taking exercise or turning the body. It seems to me that the whole pelvis of the kidneys must have been full of gravel and calculi. I now took 1/2 grain at intervals of eight days; the result was that I passed gravel and small calculi at every micturition. On the 30th of November my condition got worse, and I continued to take 1/2 grain of Calc. ren. præp., at longer or shorter intervals, until October 18th, 1840. After this period I ceased to pass any gravel, and I felt entirely well. On the 3d of February I passed some more gravel. Another dose of 1/2 grain of Lapis renalis; another dose on June 3d. On June 17th precursors of another attack; on the 18th vomiting accompanied by all the frightful circumstances which I have detailed above; the vomiting of mucus, bile, ingesta, continued at short intervals until the 26th; my tongue was coated with yellow mucus, and my appetite had completely disappeared. Bryon., Nux v. and Pulsat. relieved the gastric symptom; on the 26th, in the afternoon, I passed a calculus of the size of a pea. I now resume the use of Calc. ren. præp. in 1/2 grain doses, at irregular intervals. On the 23d of October I passed a calculus of the size of a pea, without vomiting; there were no other precursory symptoms except the uncomfortable feeling in the region of the kidney a few days previous. I have felt well ever since and free from all complaint, although I continue the occasional use of 1/2 a grain of Calc. ren. præp., lest I should have a relapse.

Every time I took a dose of Calc. ren. pr. I found that the so-called tartar on the teeth became detached a few days afterwards. A short while ago a nodosity, hard as a stone, which had appeared on the extensor tendon of the right middle finger, about nine months ago, and which threatened to increase more and more, disappeared. I consider the tartar on the teeth, calculi renales and arthritic nodosities very similar morbid products.

In conclusion I beg leave to offer the following remarks:

1. Hahnemann's theory of psora is no chimera, as many theoreticians would have us believe. I was perfectly healthy previous to my being infected with itch. What a host of sufferings have I been obliged to endure after the suppression of the itch!

2. Isopathy deserves especial notice.

It is true, the most suitable homœopathic remedies afforded me relief; the incarceration of calculi in the ureter especially was relieved by Nux; but they were unable to put a stop to the formation of calculi; this result was only attained by the preparation of Calc. ren.

CEANOTHUS AMERICANUS.

Nat. Ord., Rhamnaceæ.
Common Names, New Jersey Tea. Red Root. Wild Snowball.
Preparation.—The fresh leaves are pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(The following by Dr. Majumdar in Indian Homœpathic Review, 1897, illustrates the chief use of this "organ remedy.")

Recently I had a wonderful case of supposed heart disease cured by Ceanothus. I am indebted to my friend, Dr. Burnett, for the suggestion of using Ceanothus.

A thin and haggard looking young man presented himself to my office on the 26th of July, 1896. He told me he had some disease of the heart and had been under the treatment of several eminent allopathic physicians of this city; some declared it to be a case of hypertrophy of the heart and some of valvular disease.

Without asking him further, I examined his heart thoroughly, but with no particular results. The rhythm and sounds were all normal only there was a degree of weakness in these sounds. Dulness on percussion was not extended beyond its usual limit. So I could not make out any heart disease in this man.

On further inquiry, I learned that the man remained in a most malarious place for five years, during which he had been suffering off and on from intermittent fever. I percussed the abdomen and found an enormously enlarged and indurated spleen, reaching beyond the navel and pushing up the thoracic viscera.

The patient complained of palpitation of heart, dyspnœa, especially on ascending steps and walking fast. I thought from these symptoms his former medical advisers concluded heart disease. In my mind they seemed to be resulted from enlarged spleen.

On that very day I gave him six powders of Ceonothus Amer. 3x, one dose morning and evening. I asked him to see me when his medicine finished. He did not make his appearance, however, on the appointed day. I thought the result of my prescription was not promising. After a week he came and reported unusually good results.

His dyspnœa was gone, palpitation troubled him now and then, but much less than before. He wanted me to give him the same powders. I gave him Sac. lac., six doses, in the usual way.

Reported further improvement; the same powders of Sac. lac. twice. To my astonishment I found the spleen much reduced in size and softened than before; I knew nothing about this patient for some time. Only recently I saw him, a perfect picture of sound health. He informed me that the same powders were sufficient to set him right. He gained health; no sign of enlarged spleen left.

CEPHALANTHUS OCCIDENTALIS.

Nat. Ord., Rubiaceæ.
Common Names, Button Bush, Crane Willow.
Preparation.—The fresh bark of branches and roots is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(The item given below was contributed to the American Observer, 1875, by Dr. E. D. Wright.)

Proving—one-half ounce in a day.

First day—raw, sore throat; nervous, excited; felt light and easy, happy; bowels constipated.

Second day—the same dose. Hard dreams about fighting, quarreling; restless and tossing over; joints of the fingers lame; griping pains in the lungs(?); in body and limbs, especially in the joints; toothache; bowels loose, stool offensive; almost affected by the piles.

Cures.—Intermittent fever, quotidian and tertian fever; sore throat, quinsy—had very good effect.

Rheumatic fevers, with soreness of the flesh.

A teamster fell in the river. Cold, and inflammatory fever was cured quickly.

CEREUS BONPLANDII.

Nat. Ord., Cactacæ.
Common Name, A variety of the night blooming cereus group.
Preparation.—The fresh green stems are pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(This paper, which we take from the Homœopathic Physician, 1892, was prepared by Dr. J. H. Flitch, of New Scotland, N. Y., the original prover. The proving is also found in the Encyclopædia, Allen's.)

Mind and Disposition.—An agreeable and tranquil state and frame of mind and body (first day, evening).

Mind perfectly composed.

Feel better when engaged at something or occupied.

Desire to be at useful work, desire to be busy (second day).

Desire to be employed.

Praying or disposition to be at prayer.

Ill at ease.

Rest (third day).

Doesn't know what to do with one's self.

Feels a strong desire to give away something very necessary for him to keep or have.

Feeling irritable (on rising).

Cannot keep himself employed at anything.

Very much disturbed in mind.

Passes the time in useless occupation (fourth day).

Very irritable; acts impulsively.

Spends the whole forenoon uselessly.

Difficulty in becoming devotional (at church).

Finds it easy to become devotional.

Feels well late in the evening (seventh day).

Thinks he is under a powerful influence.

Sensorium.—Vertigo followed by nausea.

Swimming of the head (sixth day).

Head.—Decidedly painful drawing sensation in the occiput, soon subsiding (first day).

Painful stunning feeling in the right frontal bone.

Pressive pain from without inward in the occiput high up on walking.

Slight painful pressure in the right occiput from behind forward (second day).

Disagreeable feeling in occiput, running down over the neck, followed by a slight qualmishness.

Slight heavy feeling in the top of the forehead.

Headache occipital, continued for a quarter of an hour.

Sensation, as if something hard like a board were bound against the back of the head, felt more especially on left side.

Head feels drawn to the left backward.

Pain in occiput running through lobes of the cerebrum.

Pain running from left ear through the head to right ear and right parietal bone.

Pain commencing in the medulla oblongata and running upward and expanding to the surface of the brain, worse on stooping or bending forward.

Pain along right external angular process of frontal bone.

Pain through or across the brain from left to right.

Feeling as of being pressed at left occiput and immediately thereafter a counter pain in left frontal bone, the latter continuing a minute or two.

Pain from left occiput verging around left parietal bone.

Pain through occiput.

Pain in right forehead (third day).

Pain in anterior portion of brain and extending in a backward direction.

Tenderness at the point of exit of the left supra-orbital nerve.

Pain in occiput (high up).

Occipital pain (fifth day).

Bad feeling, head (third day).

Eyes.—Pain over right eye, passing down over globe (first day).

Nauseated feeling commencing in throat, passing to stomach simultaneous with a congested feeling in both eyes.

Pain in orbits, running from before backward.

Pain in left eyelids when stooping low (second day).

On closing the eyes perception of a cluster of round-shaped, symmetrical, orange-colored spots.

Swimming eyes.

Capillary congestion of the conjunctiva.

Severe photophobia, producing a sticking pain through eyes.

Sore feeling through eyes as if exposed to strong sunlight.

Pain through globe of right eye.

Pain in the globe of left eye.

Nose.—Greenish (pale) mucus discharged from nostril.

Accumulation of mucus in nose as in nasal catarrh.

Stinging in nose, more especially right side.

Stinging in right nostril.

Sneezing.

Hardened mucus in left nostril.

Face.—Pain along right malar bone running to temple.

Looks haggard.

Yellowish face or countenance.

Mouth, etc.—Saliva in mouth when swallowed of no unpleasant taste (first day).

Feeling of coldness in the mouth (second day).

Feeling as of having eaten something tasting alkaline.

Water in the mouth.

Metallic taste in the mouth.

Watery saliva in the mouth (not disagreeable).

Slight metallic taste, feels as if having eaten something of a metallic taste.

Taste of green vegetables.

Watery taste.

Sensation as of a thread of mucus on the tongue.

Insipid, watery taste (third day).

Fetid breath (noticed by myself) (fourth day).

Fetid breath (noticed by others) (fifth day).

Tongue looks frothy (sixth day).

Tongue of a purplish red hue.

Tongue feels rough.

Throat.—Mucus adherent to the hard palate easily removed (first day).

Mucus in pharynx easily detached (second day).

Mucus in larynx easily detached.

Scraping of mucus, which seems to adhere to left side of pharynx.

Persistent accumulation of mucus in the pharynx, continually and recurring in considerable quantities and of a pale-green color.

Mucus easily expectorated or cleared from the throat.

Clearing of the hard palate of mucus.

Stomach, Appetite, etc.—Dry eructations (second day).

Thirstlessness.

Appetite diminished; ate very light breakfast (third day).

Relish of sweet things.

Abdomen, Stool, etc.—Slight rumbling in bowels, left side (first day).

Nearly or quite inefficient effort to evacuate bowels.

Fetid flatus passed from bowels.

Slight pain in epigastrium, coming and going at intervals of a few minutes.

Slightly painful sensation in epigastrium (second day).

Passed stool not easy, not sufficient at 6 a.m. (third day).

Natural stool at 6 a.m. (sixth day).

Urine and Urinary Organs.—Inclination to pass urine (first day).

Urine of a slightly brownish tinge (second day).

Urine smells strongly after a few minutes.

Yellowish urine.

Urine less than half usual quantity.

Urine normal.

Urine clear, small in quantity.

Urination frequent (at 4 p.m.) (second day).

Amelioration after urination.

Passed a small quantity saturated yellowish urine.

Sexual.—Slight increase of sexual desire.

Anæsthesia and dwindling of the sexual organs.

Kidneys.—Slight pain of a sticking character in right kidney (second day).

Pain in left kidney, long continued, as from the presence of a renal calculus.

Pain in left abdomen sharp and cutting, as from a calculus impacted in the ureter.

Slight pain in right kidney repeated after an interval (third day).

Sticking pain in right ureter.

More severe sticking pain in right kidney.

Soreness on external pressure over right kidney.

Pain on stooping, bending over in right kidney.

Pain in left kidney (fifth day).

Chest, Heart, etc.—Deep inspiration as if tired, although experiencing no fatigue whatever (second day).

Feels as if pained or oppressed at chest.

Slightly painful sensation at left chest, region of the heart.

Deep inspiration.

At intervals deep inspiration, as if the chest were laboring under an oppression hardly definable.

Slight feeling of oppression, or a weakness in the chest with the deep inspiration.

Tendency to expand the chest automatically and rhythmically, recurring very frequently.

The chest expands itself to its utmost capacity, seemingly, and in an instant collapses, the same process to be repeated.

Respiration measured, no interval between inspiration and expiration.

Sensation of uneasiness extending to lumbar region on deep inspiration (described above).

Slight pricking sensation of pain in the heart.

Sighing respiration (very frequent) (fourth day).

Tenderness of the anterior lower left intercostal muscles below the heart (third day).

Pain in chest and through heart, with pain running toward spleen, the latter momentarily, the former (heart pain) continuing.

Pain in left great pectoral muscle, worse toward the tendon.

Sighing respiration, noticed many times (fifth day).

Coughing on throwing off outer garments.

Somewhat persistent pains in the cartilages of the left lower ribs.

Long, deep, uneasy respiration, felt more acutely (sixth day).

The chest acts automatically, not according to will or whim.

Chest feels empty.

Pain at heart.

Pulse dicrotic, and several intermissions noticed within a minute (after rising 6 a.m.).

Deep inspiration and expiration, chest is emptied quickly.

Sensation as of a great stone laid upon the heart.

Sensation (soon after) as if the thoracic wall anterior to heart were broken out or torn away.

Pulse sharp.

Desire to remove clothing from chest.

Pain in chest and both arms.

Neck, Back, etc.—Painful sensation in the sides of the neck, left, at mastoid or below it, continuing longer than on right side.

Pain in left neck behind mastoid process, running backward and upward.

Pain through right shoulder blade (scapula).

Dorsal vertebræ feel painful (third day).

Tenderness along spines of cervical and upper dorsal vertebræ (fourth day).

Pain in muscles of thorax midway between scapula and sacrum (sixth day).

Pain on pressure of muscle of left side of the neck.

Back lame on stooping.

Pain in right scapula.

Pain in neck.

Pain in left side above and along clavicle.

Fatigue in lumbar region on riding.

Upper extremities.—Tired feeling in both arms (second day).

Drawing pain in index finger of both hands.

Pain in both upper arms.

Pain running across inner side of left arm, felt longest at bend of the elbow.

Pain in left shoulder like that produced by carrying a heavy load.

Pain running along the back down to the arms.

Dull pain in left elbow and forearm.

Pain with numbness in left forearm, ulnar side (third day).

Pain along inner side of right upper arm.

Pain with numbness of right arm while writing.

Pain in metacarpal bone of right thumb.

Pain (very noticeable) in metacarpal phalangeal joint of right hand.

Lameness in right forearm above wrist.

Drawing from end of right thumb upward, pain quite constant.

Considerable soreness on contact of anterior muscles of right arm.

Pain on ulnar side of left carpo-metacarpal joint (fourth day).

Pain in external border of left elbow joint.

Pain at and back of left shoulder joint.

Lameness of left little finger.

Pain over ulna posteriorly.

Pain above wrist.

Tenderness of the flexor muscles of both upper arms.

Pain in right ring finger at 3 p.m. and repeated (fifth day).

Pain at junction of second and third phalanx (last joint) of left index finger.

Pain in dorsum of right hand.

Pain in left forearm.

Pain in both arms and chest.

Pain in third phalanx of left index finger.

Pain in right little finger running through bone.

Pain in right ring finger.

Pain in right wrist.

Pain in first and second metacarpal bones (sixth day) of right hand.

Pain in the dorsum of left hand.

Pain in left little finger.

Pain on back of left wrist, running to forearm.

Pain in the anterior muscles of upper arm.

Lower Extremities.—Pain in right knee (second day).

Pain through right hip (fifth day).

Pain in right great trochanter.

Pain on the inner side of left knee (repeated).

Pain on left knee, inner and lower border.

Pain in both knees.

Pain in both knees on rising.

Pain in hamstring tendons of left thigh.

Pain in right hip (sixth day).

Pain in head of the right thigh bone.

Pain in right patella, very sore, difficult to touch without very considerable pain.

Pain above right external malleolus.

Pressing or pressive feeling, beginning at the sacrum and running down through both thighs down to feet.

Pain in different joints of the lower extremities.

Skin.—Itching of the nose (second day).

Itching on various parts of the body (general itching) (third day).

Itching pustule of face near ala of nose.

Itching of the right popliteal space, with roughness of the skin (fifth day).

Profuse shedding of the hair on combing the head.

Itching with roughness of the skin of a spot a few inches square above the left knee.

Itching of a spot a few inches below left scapula, with a condition of the skin like eczema periodically.

Sleep. Not sleeping late at night.

Not sleeping at 11 p.m., mind disturbed (fourth day).

Dreamed of dogs (fifth day).

Dream of a fracas which caused great excitement in the dreamer.

Drowsiness at 11 p.m. (sixth day).

Drowsiness (third day).

Slept pretty well (fifth day).

Awakes at 5 a.m. (sixth day).

Awakes at 9 a.m. (seventh day, Sunday).

Recurrence of old dreams of years ago.

Yawning (second day).

Generalities.—Feeling miserably on retiring.

Throws himself on bed without undressing.

Great yawning fit (third day).

Feels not pleasant.

Feels half sick.

Very dull in the morning, all morning.

Feels very badly, has an ill-defined bad feeling in the evening and at night.

Easily chilled in a room; better on disrobing for bed.

Alternations of symptoms of mind and bodily pains. When pains of the body are noticed, symptoms affecting the mind are suspended. The mind loses its characteristics, is clear, and one feels better.

Remarks.—In looking over the above proving we find a number of illustrations of the alternate action of the drug. But perhaps what strikes the reader most forcibly is the way the symptoms follow Reuter's series. The most prominent symptoms early developed, catarrhal and gastric, have come and gone within three or four days, while those affecting the chest, heart, sensorium, eyes, brain, and nerves are more slowly developed, and are the ones that persist. Another thing to be noticed is the long duration of its action. The high-water mark in regard to its action was not reached (I mean its action on the nervous system) until nearly ten days after discontinuing to take it. It is an antipsoric of remarkable power. Some skin symptoms developed by it persisted off and on for years, two or three of which I will mention. "Itching of the right popliteal space," this after continuing for eight or nine years disappeared. I think some Sepiaιπ I took had something to do with its disappearance. Another: "Itching with roughness of the skin, like eczema, above the left knee anteriorly." This still persists. I still have "Itching, with an eruption resembling at times herpes zoster below the left scapula." This is still present, although annoying. I have done nothing to cause its disappearance.

In regard to verifications I could report a goodly number. One of the first I ever had was a case of eczema of both hands, extending as far as the elbows. Cured in six weeks. The provings point in the direction of kidney troubles, and I have seen it speedily cause the disappearance of deposits in the urine that were giving much inconvenience. In a case of dropsy of cardiac and renal origin (albuminuria) in which there was great œdema, cured in two or three weeks. Sleeplessness, peculiar in its nature, corresponding to the proving, is relieved by it. Intercostal neuralgia, especially on left side. Anterior crural neuralgia, an aggravated case, promptly relieved. I need not say that the symptoms strongly point to rheumatism. I could say much on that part of the subject, and there is the sphere in which it has seemed to have been useful by the professional friend to whom I have furnished the medicine for trial. In a monograph by Dr. R. E. Kunge, of New York, and the writer, I ventured the prediction that Cereus bonplandii would prove of value in the treatment of insanity. I send you the report of two cases. I have one other still under treatment. A patient for fourteen years in the Middletown Insane Hospital, improving, called to see Ida Reamer, a young woman of eighteen, living in New Scotland, on what is called the Heldeberg Mountain or hill, on the evening of April 19th, 1884. For some time previously she had been living with a relative in Albany, attending school and assisting in household labor. Had studied hard and probably overtaxed her strength. Her friends noticing that she was not her former self, and that though usually amiable and cheerful, she had become gloomy and taciturn, brought her home. Rest did her no good, and I was called after she had been home for some time. On my visit I noticed she would not answer questions; was wandering aimlessly about the house; could not sit still, if seated, more than a few minutes. During my visit I think she changed her position a dozen or fifteen times. She would go to the water pail and get a drink, then in a minute or two would get up and go to the door. After standing a minute or two she would come in and sit down, only to rise up and repeat her restless wanderings. I could elicit nothing from the mother of anything wrong in regard to the menstrual function. Prescribed Cereus bonplandii, fourth decimal. Did not call again, but was informed by her friend that she soon regained her health. Was requested to call again to see Ida R. on November 29th of the same year. This time there was considerable mental disturbance; she had attended some entertainment which she had considered of a questionable nature, and had been worrying over it. Although living out at service, it did not appear that she had overworked. I found her sitting still; she would sit for hours. If any one disturbed her, she would curse, swear, throw boots and shoes or anything that came in her way, resisted attempts made by her friends to remove her to her home. Prescribed Cer. bon. 4. Saw her December 3d, 7th, 10th, at the end of which time she was entirely free from any mental manifestations, and although under observation has never experienced a return of them to the present date.

In the summer of 1879 was consulted in the case of Mrs. D. V., afflicted with melancholia for a year or two. The disease had appeared just subsequent to her confinement with her last child. Prescribed wholesome advice in regard to mode of life, etc., and very little medicine. In a few months she was apparently as well as ever. June 5th, 1884, was called to see Mrs. D. V. She had quite recently given birth to a child and was developing delusions, most of which were those of a spiritual nature. She thought she had committed the unpardonable sin, or that she had offended some of her friends, and was constantly worrying. Appetite very poor. Prescribed Cer. bon. 4, gave her nourishing diet with Maltine and Pepsin to aid digestion. On July 11th she was about the house attending to her household duties.

CHEIRANTHUS CHEIRI.

Nat. Ord., Cruciferæ.
Common Name, Wall flower.
Preparation.—The fresh plant is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(Dr. Robert T. Cooper, of London, contributed the following to the Hahnemannian Monthly, 1897):

A tincture is used made from a single dark-flowered plant. No proving of this remedy has come under my notice, yet I consider the following case worth reporting: T. T., age twenty, a clerk; admission date, 30th April, 1892; never heard well on the left side, but particularly deaf the last month, and deafness increases; watch, hearing contact only. History of much earache in childhood; left ear discharges, but the discharge does not run out. Wisdom teeth; left upper and right, lower and upper, breaking through. Gave Cheiranthus cheiri.

28th May, hears very much better; left, 3-1/2 inches. No medicine.

11th June, continues improving gradually; left, 15 inches.

25th June, continues to hear voices very fairly on the left side, but no improvement since last time; left, 15 inches. Gave Cheiranthus cheiri.

25th July, restoration of improving condition; left, 20 inches. No medicine.

CHIONANTHUS VIRGINICA.

Nat. Ord., Oleaceæ.
Common Name, Fringe Tree. Snow-flower.
Preparation.—The fresh bark is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(The following is the only proving, we believe, ever made of this drug; it was the thesis of Dr. John W. Lawshé, Atlanta, Ga., on his graduation, and was published in North American Journal of Homœopathy, May, 1883).

This being the first and only proving of this drug, Prof. Lilienthal requested a copy of it for publication, which I cheerfully agreed to give him.

Monday, July 10, 1882, 9:30 a.m., I took one drop of the tincture, after having taken the 12x and 6x potencies, one day each, without any effect. I continued taking the tincture each hour during the day, increasing each dose one drop till five were reached, then increased each dose five drops till twenty-five were reached, but without any effect whatever.

Tuesday, July 11th, I began with thirty drops at 9 o'clock a.m., and increased the dose five drops each hour till I reached one drachm, and took three doses of one drachm each. I retired at 10 o'clock feeling perfectly well.

I awoke at 4:10 a.m., Wednesday, July 12th, with a severe headache—chiefly in the forehead and just over the eyes—especially the left eye. Eyeballs exceedingly painful, feel sore and bruised.

Cutting twisting pains all through my abdomen.

I turned over and lay with my face downward, which seemed to relieve the abdominal pains some, and after awhile I went to sleep. I awoke again at 8:20 feeling very sick and badly all over. Head feels very sore all over and through it; heavy dull feeling in forehead and a drawing or pressing at the root of my nose. I felt so weak I had to sit down awhile before I could finish dressing; never before felt so sick at my stomach. Bitter eructations, great nausea and retching, with a desire for stool.

I finished dressing and looked at my tongue, which was heavily coated and of a dirty, greenish yellow color. I started down stairs and had a violent attack of nausea and a great deal of retching before I could vomit. It seemed as though there were a "double suction" in my abdomen, one trying to force something up and the other sucking it back, till finally, by quite an effort, I vomited a teacup full, or more, of very dark green bile, rather ropy, I think, and exceedingly bitter. The bile came up with a single gush and I was through. Immediately a cold perspiration broke out and stood in beads on my forehead, and I felt very weak. Desire for stool gone after vomiting.

I have a sore, weak, bruised feeling all over the small of my back; feels very weak when standing or moving about; better sitting or lying down.

No appetite for breakfast, but my stomach felt so weak and empty that I drank a cup of coffee and ate half a biscuit, which relieved to some extent.

9 a.m., am so nervous I cannot keep still and can hardly write down my symptoms.

9:30 o'clock, my back in lumbar and sacral region is so sore and weak I could hardly walk from the car to the office, every step seemed to jar my whole body and made my headache worse.

10 o'clock, have been quiet for half an hour and feel some better; have a pressing or squeezing sensation in the bridge of my nose; sore constricted feeling in the temples, with throbbing temporal arteries.

10:30 o'clock, just came from stool; the first passed was watery, but the last was more solid in appearance; stool terribly offensive, like carrion. Heavy, all-gone sort of feeling low down in hypogastrium; color of stool was dark brown with pieces of undigested food in it.

11:30, just got home and feel very bad and weak. My head and back ache considerably, and I feel "played out" generally.

12 o'clock, forehead and cheeks very hot and dry, radial pulse 114, chilly sensation darting through body from front to back, causing a sort of shivering or involuntary jerking, forehead feels like a hot coal of fire to my hand; headache in forehead and over eyes relieved by pressing with my hand, but I cannot bear it long for my head seems to get hotter from it; am exceedingly nervous, cannot lie still, involuntary jerkings in different parts of the body. Roof of mouth and tongue feel very dry, although there seems to be the usual amount of saliva present. No thirst at all.

I went to sleep about 12:20 p.m., and was awakened at 2 o'clock for dinner. Couldn't eat anything; I tried but it nauseated me; could only drink a cup of coffee; headache worse after waking; pulse 88; head not quite so hot, body feels chilly, and I had a shawl thrown over me; went to sleep again about 3:30.

I was told that at 4:15 my face and head were covered with a profuse perspiration, and my carotid arteries pulsated very hard and rapidly; I got up at 5 o'clock and bathed my face in cold water and felt somewhat better, though my head and back still ache considerably and feel quite sore; eyeballs feel bruised.

6:30. Weak, empty feeling about stomach, which was relieved for awhile by eating some crackers and drinking a cup of coffee. Pulse still 88.

At 8:15 had an action from my bowels; during stool griping and cutting pains in abdomen, about and below umbilicus; stool thin, watery, blackish-brown color and very offensive. I retired at 9:30 and had to have an extra covering thrown upon me, I was so chilly, while my room-mate lay without any covering at all. My head feels sore and bruised all over, and the small of my back is exceedingly weak and feels, when I touch it with my hand, as though the skin were all off.

Thursday, July 13th. I was very nervous and restless last night after going to bed; didn't go to sleep till after 12 o'clock, and woke up several times before daylight with pains in my head, abdomen and back. Got up at 8 o'clock. My head feels sore and bruised; the bruised feeling seems to go into my brain now; every time I move, cough or laugh it seems as if my head would split open and fly in every direction; my back is not so painful this morning; I couldn't eat much breakfast; stool this morning was quite copious, watery, dark brown and not so offensive as yesterday.

9:30. Headache better; several times this morning I have had attacks of cutting or griping pains in my intestines, in and about the umbilical region; my tongue is very heavily coated in the centre with a thick yellowish fur; the tip is slightly red, and on each side of the tip there are several little places that look as though blood was about to ooze forth from them; my tongue feels drawn and shriveled up the centre.

4:30. The only symptom at 11 o'clock was a dull, sore, aching feeling in the umbilical and iliac regions, occasionally changing for just a minute or so to a severe griping, which was relieved some by emission of flatus. My face has a yellowish appearance; from the outer to the inner canthus there is a reddish-yellow streak, about one-quarter of an inch wide, in the whites of both eyes; the blood vessels of the sclerotic coat are very much enlarged and distinctly visible.

Friday, July 14th. I suffered considerably after 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon and last night with pains in my abdomen, and they are more severe this morning than yesterday; it feels just like a string tied in a "slip knot" around my intestines in the umbilical region, and every once in awhile it was suddenly drawn tight for a minute or so, and then gradually loosened; stool this morning was very thin, watery and rather flaky; the flaky portion was dark yellow, the fluid portion dark green, with a light green foam or froth on top, streaked with a white, mucus-looking substance; flatus and fæces passed together; some pain in my bowels during stool, and a hot, scalded sensation in anus, which lasted fifteen or twenty minutes after stool; during stool a cold perspiration broke out on my forehead and back of my hands; took quite a while to pass stool, and then only a small quantity passed; eyeballs feel bruised and the whites have a yellowish cast all over, though the "bands" are still very distinct; my skin is quite yellow to-day and I feel very much fatigued generally.

Saturday, July 15th. Stool about natural this morning; some feeling in my abdomen, though not so severe; no new symptoms.

Sunday, July 16th. The only thing unusual which I noticed to-day was the passage of considerable offensive flatus; a greater quantity after retiring than during the day.

I noticed no more symptoms after Sunday night.

(The following is from a letter of Dr. E. M. Hale):

Some time ago I received a letter from Dr. F. S. Smith, of Lock Haven, Pa., in which, referring to Chionanthus, he says:

"For the first time to-day I read your article on Chionanthus in the last edition of your Materia Medica of 'New Remedies.' I have been using this drug for over two years, as a specific for so-called sick headache. It has done wonders for me in that disease. I had been a victim from early childhood, and have suffered terribly. I have not had an attack for two years. If I am threatened, a few drops, timely taken, dissipates it at once.

"Dr. B., a dentist, aged 35, dark complexion, a victim to sick headache, had an attack on an average once in three weeks. Since taking Chionanthus, has not had more than two or three attacks in over two years, and then owing to a neglect to take the medicine. I have failed in but one case, and that was a menstrual sick headache.

"I prescribe it as follows: In cases of habitual sick headache, 5 gtts. of the 2x dil. three times a day for a week, then twice a day for a week, then once a day for a week, after which the patient only takes it when symptoms of the attack show themselves. I regard it almost a specific."

(Chionanthus is also, by some physicians, regarded as a specific in jaundice, either acute or chronic, and the proving seems to justify the belief.)

CORNUS ALTERNIFOLIA.

Nat. Ord., Cornaceæ.
Common Name, Alternate-leaved Cornel or Dogwood. Swamp-walnut.
Preparation.—The fresh bark and young twigs are pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(The following proving of this remedy was made under the supervision of Dr. F. H. Lutze, Brooklyn. The Cornus alternifolia, or "swamp walnut," has a reputation among the people in certain localities as being a "sure" remedy for "salt rheum.")

First Proving by R. E. Albertson.

Commence at bedtime Tuesday, May 12, 1896.

Wednesday, May 13, 1896.—Awoke this morning after a very refreshing night's sleep, feeling as well as usual; and did not notice anything out of the ordinary during the entire day. Had stool, but somewhat scanty. Appetite fair.

Thursday, May 14, 1896.—Did not rest very well during night. Had dream I was spending summer in country. Did not get into anything like a sound sleep until near morning; and then was very reluctant about getting up; would have preferred to have had a couple hours more of such sleep. I have noticed nothing in the course of the day worthy of mention excepting a pain across the small of the back, which lasted only a short time and then disappeared. Stool to-day little better than yesterday.

Friday, May 15, 1896.—Another restless night; would get into a light sleep off and on until near morning. Dreamed again; this time of an exciting fire drill. Up to to-day had been taking Cornus alternifolia thrice daily; 3 drops 30th, commencing with this morning every three hours. Stool to-day at first hard and difficult, then loose. Nothing further noticed to-day.

Saturday, May 16, 1896.—Passed a very restless and sleepless night; guess I was awake at the striking of every hour. Tongue has been coated a yellowish white for a couple of days. Stool to-day, but scanty. Feel as well as usual, but don't seem to have the ambition to do anything for any length of time.

Sunday, May 17, 1896.—Experienced another very restless and sleepless night. Felt an aching in left shoulder and dull pain across forehead, more particularly on right side. Stool to-day and appetite fair.

Monday, May 18, 1896.—While I passed another restless night, it was not as bad as nights previous. Seem to hear every little noise and sound. When once awake, mind becomes active and then it is difficult to get into a sleep again. Have dreamed something mostly every night; some of which I do not remember.

Tuesday, May 19, 1896.—Rested somewhat better last night; though was awake off and on. Last dose taken at bedtime.

Wednesday, May 20, 1896.—Experienced another restless night; was awake most of the night until about 3 a.m., when I dropped off into a sleep.

Friday, May 22, 1896.—Noticed a little sore inside of mouth (left side), which by Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday had become very annoying. When eating anything that came in contact with it, or even when moving the mouth in a certain direction would cause a sticking, pricking pain. I also want to mention a few eruptions, small pustules on face and neck, which appeared during this proving.

Second Proving of "Cornus Alternifolia."

By F. H. Lutze, M. D.

February 1, 1896.—Took 5 drops of θ three times daily.

February 6, 1896.—Took 5 drops of θ every two hours. On second day had two loose evacuations in quick succession in the afternoon.

February 9, 1896.—A cold feeling in chest as if it were filled with cold air or ice; this continued for two days and was very disagreeable, but seemed to have no influence on action of heart or respiration.

A second proving, commenced on April 1st, reproduced the same symptoms in same manner. Have made no proving of 30th yet.

Third Proving of "Cornus Alternifolia" 30th Dilution.

Commenced at bedtime Sunday, June 7, 1896.

Monday, June 8, 1896.—Awoke after being awake the greater part of the night feeling as usual. Felt dull pain in right side region of liver about 11 a.m.

Tuesday, June 9, 1896.—Slept very little; tossed and turned mostly all night; could not get into any comfortable position. Tongue this morning coated a yellowish white. No stool to-day and appetite fair.

Wednesday, June 10, 1896.—While I rested somewhat better than nights previous, yet was awake considerable part of the night. Had two dreams; one of dead rats mashed to a pulp; the other of coition, causing an emission. When I awoke this morning, felt a raw feeling in throat, which continued throughout the day; though not quite as bad as when I arose. Sneezed some, too, to-day; head partially stopped up toward night. About an hour or two after dinner, which I ate with a relish, a sick sensation came over me, a dull heavy feeling in forehead accompanied with a nauseous and dizzy feeling; could hardly pull one foot after the other on my way home from work; but after being a little while in the open air and walking, feeling subsided some, and when I reached home felt much better; and after supper had entirely left me; though when I retired that night I felt as though I had been doing a very hard day's work and was glad when my body touched the bed. Stool very scanty to-day; appears difficult to do anything; seems to be quite some gas.

Thursday, June 11, 1896.—Awoke very tired; sleep disturbed considerably; could not rest in any position. Raw feeling in throat still this morning, with a frequent desire to clear; a feeling as though something lodged there and should come out. Stool to-day, but scant. A dull ache in region of heart felt in afternoon. Feel tired and drowsy. All ambition seems to have left me. Appetite very good to-day.

Friday, June 12, 1896.—Feel very well this morning and slept fairly well during the night, though was awake a few times. To-day marks the first appearance of eruptions; one on the right wrist, the other on right side of chin; small pustules; in one case blind, all others forming pus.

Saturday, June 13, 1896.—Experienced another restless night. Another pustule has appeared on chin and also ringworm on forehead (right side); feel very well to-day.

Sunday, June 14, 1896.—Slept fairly well during night. Experienced nothing particular excepting toward night an awful uneasy feeling came over me; a feeling that something terrible was going to happen.

Monday, June 16, 1896.—Awoke very tired this morning; have a cough, with a feeling as though something heavy was lying upon my chest and throat.

Wednesday, June 17, 1896.—Slept pretty well during night; feel very languid and tired; a feeling as though my legs were unable to bear me up.

Sunday, June 28, 1896.—Toward evening felt very tired and drowsy with heavy sensation in head; about 9:30 lay down upon the lounge and dropped off into a doze; awoke a half hour afterwards with a feeling as though I wanted to vomit, and chills, which continued for an hour when I vomited, which seemed to relieve me some, after which fever took the place of the chill which abated some toward morning.

Monday, June 29, 1896.—Managed to get to my business, but was unable to do anything all day on account of the weak feeling and a violent pressing headache in forehead, which continued all day; worse on motion and on stooping felt as though everything would come out. About 5 p.m. diarrhœa set in which continued all night, every half hour to an hour, the same the day following and continued right up to Sunday night, July 5th. Lost in that time six pounds.

CRATÆGUS OXYACANTHA.

Nat. Ord., Pomaceæ.
Common Name, White or May Thorn. English Hawthorn.
Preparation.—The fresh berries are pounded to a pulp and macerated in two times their weight of alcohol.

(The The New York Medical Journal, October 10, 1896, published a communication from Dr. M. C. Jennings, under the heading "Cratægus Oxyacantha in the treatment of Heart Disease," of which the following is the substance):

Dr. Green, of Ennis, Ireland, for many years had a reputation for the cure of heart disease that caused patients to flock to him from all parts of the United Kingdom. He cured the most of them and amassed considerable wealth by means of his secret, for, contrary to the code, he, though a physician in good standing, refused to reveal the remedy to his professional brethren. After his death, about two years ago, his daughter, a Mrs. Graham, revealed the name of the remedy her father had used so successfully. It is Cratægus oxyacantha. So much for the history of the remedy. Dr. Jennings procured for himself some of the remedy, and his experience with it explains Dr. Green's national reputation. He writes:

"Case I was that of a Mr. B., aged seventy-three years. I found him gasping for breath when I entered the room, with a pulse-rate of 158 and very feeble; great œdema of lower limbs and abdomen. A more desperate case could hardly be found. I gave him fifteen drops of Cratægus in half a wineglass of water. In fifteen minutes the pulse beat was 126 and stronger, and breathing was not so labored. In twenty-five minutes pulse beat 110 and the force was still increasing, breathing much easier. He now got ten drops in same quantity of water, and in one hour from the time I entered the house he was, for the first time in ten days, able to lie horizontally on the bed. I made an examination of the heart and found mitral regurgitation from valvular deficiency, with great enlargement. For the œdema I prescribed Hydrargyrum cum creta, Squill and Digitalis. He received ten drops four times a day of the Cratægus and was permitted to use some light beer, to which he had become accustomed at meal time. He made a rapid and apparently full recovery until, in three months, he felt as well as any man of his age in Chicago. He occasionally, particularly in the change of weather, takes some of the Cratægus which, he says, quickly stops shortness of breath or pain in the heart. His father and a brother died of heart disease."

Another case was that of a young woman, who, when Dr. Jennings appeared in response to the summons, was said to be dead. "I went in and found that she was not quite dead, though apparently so. I put five or six drops of Nitrite of amyl to her nose, and alternately pressing and relaxing the chest, so as to imitate natural breathing, I soon had her able to open her eyes and speak. I gave her hypodermically ten drops, and in less than half an hour she was able to talk and describe her feelings. An examination revealed a painfully anæmic condition of the patient, but without any discoverable lesions of the heart, except functional." Under Cratægus she made a good recovery. "Her heart trouble, though very dangerous, was only functional, and resulted from want of proper assimilation of the food, due chiefly to the dyspeptic state and dysentery."

Another case was that of a woman who "was suffering from compensatory enlargement of the heart from mitral insufficiency," was taken with dyspnœa when Dr. Jennings was called and was nearly dead. Under Cratægus and some other indicated remedies she made an excellent recovery. "In a letter from her, three months afterward, she said she was feeling well, but that she would not feel fully secure without some of the Cratægus."

"The forty other cases ran courses somewhat similar to the three cited—all having been apparently cured. Yet I am not satisfied beyond a doubt, that any of those patients were completely cured except those whose trouble of the heart were functional, like the second case cited. And it is possible and even probable that in weather of a heavy atmosphere or when it is surcharged with electricity, or if the patient be subjected to great excitement or sudden or violent commotion or exercise he may suffer again therewith. That the medicine has a remarkable influence on the diseased heart must, I think, be admitted. From experiments on dogs and cats made by myself, it appears to influence the vagi and cardio inhibitory centres, and diminishes the pulse rate, increases the intraventricular pressure, and thus filling the heart with blood causes retardation of the beat and an equilibrium between the general blood pressure and force of the beat. Cardiac impulse, after a few days' use of the Cratægus, is greatly strengthened and yields that low, soft tone so characteristic of the first sound, as shown by the cardiograph. The entire central nervous system seems to be influenced favorably by its use; the appetite increases and assimilation and nutrition improve, showing an influence over the sympathetic and the solar plexus. Also a sense of quietude and well-being rests on the patient, and he who before its use was cross, melancholic and irritable, after a few days of its use shows marked signs of improvement in his mental state. I doubt if it is indicated in fatty enlargement. The dose which I have found to be the most available is from ten to fifteen drops after meals or food. If taken before food it may, in very susceptible patients, cause nausea. I find also that after its use for a month it may be well to discontinue for a week or two, when it should be renewed for another month or so. Usually three months seem to be the proper time for actual treatment, and after that only at such times as a warning pain of the heart or dyspnœa may point out.

(The Kansas City Medical Journal, 1898, contained a paper on the remedy, by Dr. Joseph Clements, from which the following pertinent extracts are taken):

About twelve years ago I was suddenly seized with terrible pain in the left breast; it extended over the entire region of the heart and down the brachial plexus of the left arm as far as the wrist. I pressed my hands over my heart and seemed unable to move. My lips blenched, my eyes rolled in a paroxysm of agony; the most fearful sense of impending calamity oppressed me and I seemed to expect death, or something worse, to fall upon and overwhelm me. The attack lasted a short time and then began to subside, and soon I was myself again, but feeling weak and excited. I consulted no one; took no medicine. I did not know what to make of it, but gradually it faded from my mind and I thought no more of it until two years afterwards, when I had another attack, and again nearly a year later. Each of these was very severe, like the first, and lasted about as long and left me in about the same condition. I remember no other seizure of importance until about three years ago, and again a year later. These were not so terrible in the suffering involved, but the fear, the apprehension, the awful sense of coming calamity, I think, grew upon me. From this time on, two years ago, the attacks came frequently, the time varying from two or three months to two or three weeks between.

I took some nitro-glycerine tablets and some pills of Cactus Mexicana, but with no benefit that I could perceive. This brings me down to about fifteen months ago. I was feeling very badly, having had several attacks within a few weeks. My pulse was at times very rapid and weak, and irregular and intermittent.

(About this time he got hold of Cratægus with the following result):

After getting my supply I began with six drops, increasing to ten before meals and at bedtime. The results were marvellous. In twenty-four hours my pulse showed marked improvement; in two or three weeks it became regular and smooth and forceful. Palpitation and dyspnœa soon entirely left me; I began to walk up and down hills without difficulty, and a more general and buoyant sense of security and well-being has come to stay. During the three months that I was taking the medicine, which I did with a week's intermission several times, I had several slight attacks, one rather hard seizure, but was relieved at once on taking ten drops of the medicine.

(He adds that hypodermic of Morphia does not give relief from these heart pains as quickly and as surely as does fifteen drops of Cratægus. He also says, "of course I consider it the most useful discovery of the Nineteenth century." He also names a number of "the most reputable and careful men in the profession," who are having good results with this remedy.)

(Dr. T. C. Duncan contributes the following illustrative cases):

Mrs. A., a printer, came to me complaining of some pain in the side as if it would take her life. She did not have it all the time, only at times, usually the last of the week, when tired. I prescribed Bryonia, then Belladonna, without prompt relief. One Saturday she came with a severe attack, locating the pain with her right hand above and to the left of the stomach. The pulse was strong and forcible. On careful examination I found the heart beat below the normal, indicating hypertrophy. I examined the spine, and to the left of the vertebra about two inches I found a very tender spot (spinal hyperæmia). She told me that when a girl she had several attacks, and that her own family physician (Dr. Patchen) gave her a remedy that relieved her at once. She had tried several physicians, among them an allopath, who gave hypodermic injections of morphia, without relief. Hot applications sometimes relieved.

I now recognized that I had a case of angina pectoris, and that her early attacks were due, I thought, to carrying her heavy brother. Now the attacks come when she becomes tired holding her composing stick; at the same time she became very much flurried, so much so that she had to stop work because she was so confused.

I now gave her a prescription for Cactus, but told her I would like to try first a new remedy, giving her Cratægus, saturating some disks with the tincture (B. & T.). I directed her to take two disks every hour until relieved, and then less often. If not relieved to take the Cactus.

She returned in a week reporting that she was relieved after the first dose of Cratægus. More, that hurried, flurried feeling had not troubled her this week. Her face has a parchment skin, and the expression of anxiety so significant of heart disease was certainly relieved. I have not seen her since.

In my proving of this drug it produced a flurried feeling due, I thought, to the rapid action of the stimulated heart. One prover, a nervous lady medical student, gives to-day in her report "a feeling of quiet and calmness, mentally." This is a secondary effect, for it was preceded by "an unusual rush of blood to the head with a confused feeling."

"One swallow does not make a summer," neither does one case establish a remedy; but I think that as Cactus has a clearly defined therapeutic range, so it seems that Cratægus may prove a valuable addition to our meagre array of heart remedies.

CUPHEA VISCOSISSIMA.

Nat. Ord., Lythraceæ.
Common Names, Clammy cuphea. Tar-weed.
Preparation.—The fresh plant is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(In 1888 Dr. A. A. Roth contributed the following concerning Cuphea vis. to the Homœopathic Recorder):

Two years ago, whilst battling manfully for the life of a child ill to death from cholera infantum, I was persuaded by a lady friend to use red pennyroyal tea, and to my delight I had the pleasure of seeing a marvellous change in less than twenty-four hours. The vomiting ceased promptly and the bowels gradually became normal. Impressed by this fact, and also the fact that it was used very extensively in home treatment by country people, I procured the fresh plant, and prepared a tincture as directed in the American Homœopathic Pharmacopœia under article "Hedeoma." This made a beautiful dark-green tincture, having an aromatic odor and slightly astringent taste. Of this I gave from five to ten drops, according to age, every hour until relieved, and then as often as needed, and found it act promptly and effectively. Feeling loath to add another remedy to our already over-burdened Materia Medica, I deferred any mention of the fact; but now after a fair trial for two seasons I feel justified in believing that the Cuphea viscosissima will prove a treasure in the treatment of cholera infantum. Out of a large number of cases treated I had but three square failures, and they were complicated with marasmus to an alarming extent before I began the Cuphea; one died and two finally recovered. Cuphea does not act with equal promptness in all forms of cholera infantum. Two classes of cases stand out prominently; and first, those arising from acidity of milk or food; vomiting of undigested food or curdled milk, with frequent green, watery, acid stools, varying in number from five to thirty per day; child fretful and feverish; can retain nothing on the stomach; food seems to pass right through the child. I have frequently had the mother say after twenty-four hours' use of Cuphea: "Doctor, the baby is all right," and a very pleasant greeting it is, as we all know. A second class is composed of cases in which the stools are decidedly dysenteric, small, frequent, bloody, with tenesmus and great pain; high fever, restlessness and sleeplessness. In these two classes Cuphea acts promptly and generally permanently. It contains a large percentage of tannic acid, and seems to possess decidedly tonic properties, as children rally rapidly under its use. It utterly failed me in ordinary forms of diarrhœa, especially in diarrhœas from colds, etc.; but in the classes mentioned I have frequently had it produce obstinate constipation after several days' use.

ECHINACEA ANGUSTIFOLIA.

Nat. Ord., Compositæ.
Common Name, Pale Purple Cone-flower.
Preparation.—The whole plant including the root is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(This rather famous drug first came to notice as "Meyers' Blood Purifier;" the proprietor did not know the name of the drug used and sent a whole plant to Professors King and Lloyd, of Cincinnati, who identified it as Echinacea angustifolia, commonly known as "cone flower," "black Sampson," "nigger head," etc. If we may believe all that has been printed about it the remedy is a veritable cure-all. The following, however, is a safe guide; it is taken from the paper by Dr. J. Willis Candee in Transactions, 1898, of the Homœopathic Medical Society of the State of New York, and credited by Dr. Candee to Dr. J. C. Fahnstock):

He (Dr. Fahnstock) refers to the clinical application of Echinacea, from personal experience, substantially as follows: Cases of shifting pains in rheumatism, for which Puls. had been unsuccessfully prescribed, rapidly disappeared under Echin. Several cases of acne resembling that caused by Bromide of Potassium, cured. "A great remedy." When boils progress to the stage where they appear about to "point" then stop and do not suppurate, Echinacea is the remedy. "In carbuncles with similar symptoms, a bluish-red color and intense pain, it will in a few hours make your patient grateful to you." It is of great value in very fetid ozæna. Beneficial in some cases of leucorrhœa with discharge bright yellow, as from a suppurating surface. Very serviceable in gangrene, where it may be classed with Rhus and Arsenicum, perhaps ranking between them. Has attributed to it unusually good results in a case of tuberculous disease of hip and in an old, well-dosed case of destructive syphilis of throat. "In suppurative processes Echin. is to be thought of."

In typhoid fever, diphtheria and appendicitis he has failed to substantiate the claims of other admirers of this remedy.

These clinical hints have been given place as naturally following report of the proving and also because of their coming from a closely observant homœopathist. It is unnecessary at this time to review in detail the alleged field of usefulness of Echinacea. All are familiar with the published testimonials and indications, some of which would lead one to think that little else is to be desired with which to combat degenerative processes in mankind.

On the other hand are those, who, having tried the drug without satisfactory results, are willing to cast it aside as worthless. To such it may be well to make these suggestions: 1, to ascertain whether they have used a reliable preparation, and 2, to refrain from hasty judgment until guides for prescribing, more accurate than perchance the label on a bottle, shall have been found and consulted.

My own limited experience would throw no particular light on the subject. It has, however, served to impress me with confidence in the remedy and its future. The gist of trustworthy clinical findings may be stated in two words, antiseptic and alterative.

(From an article by Dr. H. W. Feller, in the Eclectic Medical Journal, we quote the following generalities concerning this remedy):

If any single statement were to be made concerning the virtues of Echinacea it would read something like this: "A corrector of the deprivation of the body fluids;" and even this does not sufficiently cover the ground. Its extraordinary powers—combining essentially that formerly included under the terms antiseptic, antifermentative, and antizymotic—are well shown in its power over changes produced in the fluids of the body, whether from internal causes or from external introductions. The changes may be manifested in a disturbed balance of the fluids resulting in such tissue alterations as are exhibited in boils, carbuncles, abscesses, or cellular glandular inflammations. They may be from the introduction of serpent or insect venom, or they may be due to such fearful poisons as give rise to malignant diphtheria, cerebro-spinal meningitis, or puerperal and other forms of septicæmia. Such changes, whether they be septic or of devitalized morbid accumulations, or alterations in the fluids themselves, appear to have met their Richmond in Echinacea. "Bad blood" so called, asthenia and adynamia, and particularly a tendency to malignancy in acute and sub-acute disorders, seem to be special indicators for the use of Echinacea.

(The North American Journal of Homœopathy, December, 1896, contains a paper on the drug by Dr. Charles F. Otis, from which we quote the following):

I doubt if there are many physicians here assembled, who are general practitioners, who have not, at some period of their professional lives, come in contact with one or both of these diseases either in an epidemic form or isolated cases, and in instances, have met more than their match; have seen their patients with tongue so swollen that it protruded from the mouth; with membrane gradually extending from the throat into the posterior nares, possibly protruding from the nostrils, with the awful odor so characteristic; with a respiratory sound that told you too plainly that membrane was extending into the air passages and that the misery of your patient would soon cease, not because of your ability to afford relief, but because death would close the scene.

I need not complete the picture by mentioning the enormously high temperature, the thread-like pulse, the cessation of the action of the kidneys, the awful agonizing expression of the face, and, perhaps, in your efforts, intubation had been practiced without good results. It is in just this class of cases that Echinacea is king. So reliable has been its action in my hands that I am inclined to give a favorable prognosis, and if I am so fortunate as to be called early the application of the drug in question does not permit of the symptoms just enumerated. The whole case will usually be changed to one of a mild form followed by a quick recovery.

(This from a paper by Dr. W. H. Ramey in Medical Gleaner):

It is a specific, I think, for the condition of the system which sets up the boil habit. I never have found a case so bad, and I've had some very severe ones, that an ounce and a half of Echinacea, taken in ten-drop doses four times a day, would not cure. Try it in your cases of stomatitis with depraved conditions of the system, both internally and locally. It has done me valuable service in cases of old ulcers and unhealthy sores, both as local and internal treatment. Then in your typhoid cases, with the characteristic indication, it is simply a wonderful remedy. I have seen it step in and restore normal conditions when it seemed impossible for remedies to act quick enough to prevent a fatal termination.

(Dr. S. J. Hogan in Chicago Medical Times):

One other thing I would like to tell about it: I had a case I was treating. Among other things, the patient had on the scalp and at the margin of the hair on the back of the head a number of wen-like tumors; since taking Echinacea they have been entirely absorbed.

(Dr. Joseph Adolphus in Medical Gleaner):

I have seen its very beneficial action in two epidemics of smallpox. The remedy did certainly modify the severity of the disease, restrain suppuration, check the severity of the symptoms, and promote convalescence. I knew of several very desperate cases, which I think would have terminated fatally but for the timely use of Echinacea. I frequently saw cases of severe confluent type, wherein the symptoms were of a very serious kind, high fever, delirium; some with coma, abominably offensive odor of body and breath, urine nearly suppressed, eruption confluent, exceedingly abundant pus, steadily improve under Echinacea tea taken internally and used locally over the entire body. One of the very striking effects of the Echinacea was to abate the dreadfully offensive odor of the body and breath and modify the acute severity of the eruption.

(The following proving of Echinacea, conducted by Dr. J. C. Fahnestock, of Piqua, Ohio, was read before the American Institute of Homœopathy, at Atlantic City, 1899):

It becomes my pleasant duty to place before the American Institute of Homœopathy a collection of provings of Echinacea angustifolia.

Four species of this genus are recognized. Two of them, E. Dicksoni and E. dubia, are native in Mexico.

There are two native in this country, E. purpurea, Mœnch. Leaves rough, often serrate; the lowest ovate, five nerved, veiny, long petioled; the other ovate-lanceolate; involucre imbricated in three to five rows; stem smooth, or in one form rough, bristly, as well as the leaves. Prairies and banks, from western Pennsylvania and Virginia to Iowa, and southward; occasionally advancing eastward. July—Rays fifteen to twenty, dull purple (rarely whitish), one to two feet long or more. Root thick, black, very pungent to the taste, used in popular medicine under the name of Black Sampson. Very variable, and probably connects with E. angustifolia, described as follows: Leaves, as well as the slender, simple stem, bristly, hairy, lanceolate and linear lanceolate, attenuate at base, three nerved, entire; involucre less imbricated and heads often smaller; rays twelve to fifteen inches, (2) long, rose color or red. Plains from Illinois and Wisconsin southward—June to August. This is a brief description of the botany of the plant under consideration.

Your chairman, T. L. Hazard, in his usual characteristic manner, went vigorously to work and secured all the provers possible. I was also fortunate enough to secure a number of provers, besides proving and reproving it myself. The results of all these provings were handed over to me to present to you in such form as seemed best.

I must tarry just long enough to preface this collection and tell you that explicit printed directions were sent to all the superintendents of these provings. This being of too great length, I will give you the most important points in these directions, viz.: Let each prover be furnished with a small blank book, in which shall be written date, name, sex, residence, height, weight, temperament, color of eyes, color of hair, complexion; describe former ailments and present physical condition. In concluding give pulse in different positions, respiration, temperature, function of digestion, analysis of excretions, especially the urine; analysis of the blood, family history, habits, idiosyncrasy, etc.

The different colleges and universities were called upon to assist on these provings. The following institutions responded to the call: Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis, the Chicago, Iowa City, and Ann Arbor. None of the eastern institutions responded; don't know whether dead or just hibernating.

I wish to publicly express my thanks to all who have taken part in these provings. I think it but just to state that the University of Michigan furnished the best provings. Thanks also are extended to Boericke & Tafel for remedy furnished in the θ, 3x, 30x, which were also used in the provings. One lady, who commenced the proving and had begun to develop valuable provings, contracted a severe cold and stopped, for which I am very sorry. All the rest of the provers were males; medical students or physicians. Only a very few symptoms were produced by the use of the 30x attenuation, a greater number of provers not recording any at all.

The symptoms here compiled were produced by the 3x attenuation and the tincture, using from one drop to thirty drops at a dose. In proving and then compiling the symptoms produced by this drug, I am fully aware of the many difficulties to be met on every side.

The one great trouble that I find is that those who are unaccustomed to proving do not observe what really is going on while attempting to make a proving, and are not capable of expressing the conditions so produced. I find that there are few who can take drugs and accurately define their effects. In selecting and discriminating the effects of drugs there must exist a mental superiority, and no man had this genius so highly developed as Hahnemann.

After making three different provings upon myself, I have undertaken to select those symptoms which to the best of my ability were found in all of these different provings.

I have taken special care not to omit any symptoms, even though it may have been noticed by but one prover; but in the majority of cases you will notice the symptoms occurred two or more times in different individuals, thus confirming the genuineness of the symptoms.

Not giving you the day-book records of these provers, a few remarks, showing its general action, may not be out of place. As stated before, only two recorded symptoms after the use of the 30x attenuation.

After taking the tincture, there is soon produced a biting, tingling sensation of the tongue, lips and fauces, not very much unlike the sensation produced by Aconite. In these provers there soon followed a sense of fear, with pain about the heart, and accelerated pulse. In a short time there was noticed a dull pain in both temples, a pressing pain; then shooting pains, which followed the fifth pair of nerves.

The next symptom produced was an accumulation of sticky mucus in mouth and fauces. Then a general languor and weakness followed, always worse in the afternoon. All the limbs felt weak and indisposed to make any motion, and this was accompanied by sharp, shooting, shifting pains. In quite a number of cases the appetite was not affected.

Those using sufficient quantity of the tincture had loss of appetite, with belching of tasteless gas, weakness in the stomach, pain in the right hypochondriac region, accompanied with gas in the bowels; griping pains followed by passing offensive flatus, or a loose, yellowish stool, which always produced great exhaustion. After using the drug several days the face becomes pale, the pulse very much lessened in frequency, and a general exhaustion follows like after a severe and long spell of sickness.

The tongue will then indicate slow digestion, accompanied with belching of tasteless gas. In most of the provers, however, there was a passing of very offensive gas and offensive stools.

You will observe that the remedy exerts quite an effect on the kidneys and bladder, but I am very sorry to say that the urinary analysis made did not show anything but the variations generally observed in ordinary health.

I must say that the provers did not go into the details as much as was desirable. Likewise, I may say the same of the blood tests made, but what was given is very valuable.

I could give you an expression of its special action, but will merely give you the symptoms collected and then you can make your own deductions.

Echinacea Angustifolia.

A collection of symptoms from twenty-five different provers, anatomically arranged:

MIND.

• 3 Dullness in head, with cross, irritable feeling.
• 2 So nervous could not study.
• 3 Confused feeling of the brain.
• 2 Felt depressed and much out of sorts.
• 3 Felt a mental depression in afternoons.
• 1 Senses seem to be numbed.
• 5 Drowsy, could not read, drowsiness.
• 2 Vertigo when changing position of head.
• 3 Drowsy condition with yawning.
• 2 Becomes angry when corrected, does not wish to be contradicted.

SENSORIUM.

• 5 General depression, with weakness.
• 8 General dullness and drowsiness.
• 4 General dullness, unable to apply the mind.
• 5 Does not wish to think or study.
• 3 Restless, wakes often in the night.
• 2 Dull headache, felt as if brain was too large, with every beat of heart.
• 5 Sleep full of dreams.

INNER HEAD.

• 5 Dull pain in brain, full feeling.
• 5 Dull frontal headache, especially over left eye, which was relieved in open air.
• 2 Severe headache in vertex, better by rest in bed.
• 5 Dull headache above eyes.
• 4 Dull throbbing headache, worse through temples.
• 3 Head feels too large.
• 1 Dull headache, worse in evening.
• 2 Dull headache, worse in right temple, with sharp pain.
• 3 Dull pain in occiput.
• 3 Dull headache, with dizziness.

OUTER HEAD.

• 3 Constant dull pressing pain in both temples.
• 2 Shooting pains through temples.
• 2 Dull occipital headache.
• 3 Constant dull pain in temples, better at rest and pressure.
• 2 Head feels as big as a windmill, with mental depression.

EYES.

• 2 Eyes ache when reading.
• 1 Tires me dreadfully to hold a book and read.
• 1 Eyes pain on looking at an object and will fill with tears, closing them relieves.
• 1 Sleepy sensation in eyes, but cannot sleep.
• 1 Pains back of right eye.
• 1 Sense of heat in eyes when closing them.
• 2 Dull pain in both eyes.
• 1 Lachrymation from cold air.
• 2 Sharp pains in eyes and temples.

EAR.

• 2 Shooting pain in right ear.

NOSE.

• 2 Stuffiness of nostrils, with mucus in nares and pharynx.
• 4 Full feeling in nose as if it would close up.
• 2 Full feeling of nose, obliged to blow nose, but does not relieve.
• 2 Nostrils sore.
• 2 Mucus discharge from right nostril.
• 2 Rawness of right nostril, sensitive to cold, which cause a flow of mucus.
• 1 Bleeding from right nostril.
• 1 Right nostril sore, when picking causes hæmorrhage.
• 1 Headache over eyes, with sneezing.

FACE.

• 2 Paleness of face when head aches.
• 1 Fine eruptions on forehead and cheeks.
• 2 Vomiting with pale face.

TEETH.

• 2 Darting pains in the teeth, worse on right side.
• 3 Neuralgic pains in superior and inferior maxilla.
• 2 Dull aching of the teeth.

TONGUE.

• 2 White coating of tongue in the mornings, with white frothy mucus in mouth.
• 2 Slight burning of tongue.
• 2 Whitish coat of tongue, with red edges.

MOUTH.

• 2 Accumulation of sticky, white mucus.
• 3 Eructation of tasteless gas.
• 2 Burning of the tongue, with increased saliva.
• 1 Dry sensation in back part of mouth.
• 2 Burning peppery taste when taking remedy.
• 3 Bad taste in the mouth in the morning.
• 3 A metallic taste.
• 3 Belching of gas which tastes of the food eaten.
• 2 Dryness of the mouth.
• 3 Sour eructation.
• 1 Sour eructation, which caused burning of throat.

THROAT.

• 3 Accumulation of mucus in throat.
• 1 Mucus in throat, with raw sensation.
• 1 After vomiting of sour mucus, throat burns.
• 2 Soreness of throat, worse on left side.

DESIRE.

• 5 Loss of appetite.
• 2 Desire for cold water.

EATING.

• 3 Nausea, could not eat.
• 5 Loss of appetite.

NAUSEA AND VOMITING.

• 2 Nausea before going to bed, which was always better lying down.
• 2 After eating stomach and abdomen fill with gas.
• 3 After eating belching, which tastes of food eaten.
• 2 Nausea, with eructation of gas.

STOMACH.

• 1 Stomach distended with gas, not relieved by belching.
• 4 Belching of tasteless gas.
• 2 Sense of something large and hard in stomach.
• 2 Belching of gas and at same time passing flatus.
• 3 Sour stomach, "heart burn," with belching of gas.
• 1 Relaxed feeling of the stomach.
• 1 Pain in stomach, going down through bowels, followed by diarrhœa.
• 3 Dull pain in stomach.

HYPOCHONDRIA.

• 5 Pain in right hypochondria.

ABDOMEN.

• 5 Full feeling in abdomen, with borborygmus.
• 2 Pain about umbilicus, relieved by bending double.
• 2 Pain in abdomen, sharp cutting, coming and going suddenly.
• 1 Pain in left illiac fossa.

URINE.

• 6 Desire for frequent urination.
• 4 Urine increased.
• 1 Involuntary urination "in spite of myself."
• 2 Sense of heat while passing urine.
• 3 Urine pale and copious.
• 1 Urine scanty and dark in color.
• 2 Pain and burning on urination.

MALE SEX ORGAN.

• 1 Soreness in perineum.
• 2 Testicles drawn up and sore.
• 1 Pain in meatus while urinating.
• 2 Pain across perineum.
• 2 Perineum seems stretched.
• 1 Pain in right spermatic cord.

FEMALE SEX ORGAN.

• 1 Mucus from vagina in evening.
• 1 Pain in right illiac region, which seems deep, lasting but a short time.

LARYNX.

• 2 Irritation of larynx.
• 1 Voice husky.

COUGH.

• 2 Constant clearing of mucus from throat.
• 2 Mucus comes in throat while in bed, must cough to clear throat.

LUNGS.

• 2 Full feeling in upper part of lungs.
• 2 Pain in region of diaphragm.
• 1 Pain in right lung.

HEART AND PULSE.

• 2 Slight pain over heart.
• 1 Rapid beating of heart.
• 4 Heart's action increased.
• 2 Heart's action decreased.
• 2 Anxiety about the heart.

CHEST.

• 2 Pain in pectoral muscles.
• 1 Sore feeling in the chest.
• 1 Feels like lump in chest.
• 2 Feeling of a lump under sternum.

NECK AND BACK.

• 3 Pain in small of back over kidneys.
• 6 Dull pain in small of back.
• 3 Pain in back of neck.
• 4 Pain in lumbar region, worse from stooping.

UPPER LIMBS.

• 3 Pain in right thumb.
• 2 Sharp pain in left elbow.
• 2 Pain in right shoulder, going down to fingers.
• 2 Sharp pain in left arm, going down to fingers, with loss of muscular power.
• 2 Cold hands.
• 4 Pain in wrists and fingers.
• 2 Pain in left shoulder, better by rest and warmth.

LOWER LIMBS.

• 2 Cold feet.
• 2 Pain back of left knee.
• 2 Sharp shooting pain in legs.
• 1 Extremities cold.
• 3 Left hip and knee pains.
• 2 Pain in right thigh.
• 2 Pain in right leg.

LIMBS IN GENERAL.

• 7 General weakness of limbs.
• 1 Pain between shoulders, which extend to axilla and down the arms.

POSITION.

• Pains and sickness of stomach better by lying down.

NERVES.

• 7 Exhausted, tired feeling.
• 5 Muscular weakness.
• 2 Felt as if I had been sick for a long time.
• 6 General aching all over, with exhaustion.

SLEEP.

• 2 General languor, sleepy.
• 3 Sleep disturbed, wakes often.
• 5 Sleep full of dreams.
• 1 Dreams about exciting things all night.
• 2 Dreams of dead relations.

TIME.

• Worse after eating.
• Worse in evenings.
• Worse after physical or mental labor.
• Better at rest.

CHILLS.

• 1 Chills up the back.
• 1 Cold flashes all over the back.
• 2 General chilliness with nausea.

SKIN.

• 3 Intense itching and burning of skin on neck.
• 1 Little papules on skin, with redness, feeling like nettles; this occurred on the fifth day of the proving.
• 1 Skin dry.
• 2 Small red pimples on neck and face.

BLOOD.

• 2 After proving found a diminution of red corpuscles.

EPIGEA REPENS.

Nat. Ord., Ericaceæ.
Common Names, Trailing Arbutus. Ground Laurel. Gravel Root.
Preparation.—The fresh leaves are pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(In the subjoined paper by Dr. E. M. Hale, North American Journal of Homœopathy, 1869, the old doctrine of signatures seems to crop out again.)

The Gravel Root has long had some reputation in urinary difficulties, and even in calculous affections. The common appellation of "Gravel root" shows that the popular belief points in the direction of its use.

I have never tested its virtues but in one instance, and its effects seemed to be so decided and curative that I deem the case worthy of publication.

A young man, aged twenty-three, applied for treatment of a long array of symptoms, some of which seemed to indicate enlargement of the prostate, and others a vesical catarrh.

The quantity of urine was nearly normal.

The quality was decidedly abnormal. It contained a large amount of mucus, the phosphates, some blood, and a little pus. It was dark red, colored blue litmus paper red (showing its acid condition).

The pain was similar to a vesical tenesmus, a pain in the region of the neck of the bladder and prostate gland. Pressure in the perineum was painful.

He had been under the most atrocious allopathic treatment; had been drugged with copaiva, spts. nitric.-dulc., turpentine, tincture muriate of iron, and other diuretics in enormous doses.

I commenced the treatment with Sulphur 30th, three doses a day for a week.

By this time he had eliminated the drug-poisons from his system, and the real symptoms of the malady began to appear uncomplicated. The blood and pus disappeared from the urine, there was less mucus, and the urine was of a lighter color.

A red, sandy sediment, however, remained. This sediment was not "gritty" under the finger, at least no such sensation was perceptible.

Second prescription: Lycopodium 30th and 6th, the former in the morning, the latter in evening, for a week. No improvement except a slight diminution of the sediment.

No medicine was given for four days, at which time there appeared dysuria, pain in the region of the prostate, mucous sediment, and itching at the orifice of the urethra.

While undecided as to the next prescription, I happened to take up a vial of tincture Epigea repens, which I had prepared from the fresh plant, while on a visit to Mackinaw six months before. Knowing the high estimate placed on this plant, by the people, in the treatment of gravel I resolved to test its virtues. Ten drops of the mother tincture were prescribed, to be taken every four hours.

Two days afterwards my patient brought me several small brownish particles, having the appearance of fine sand. When crushed and pressed between the fingers they had a decidedly gritty feel. Under the microscope they had the appearance of rough coarse sand. The discharge of calculi kept up for nearly a week, under the use of the Epigea, and then ceased, and with it all the symptoms of irritation of the bladder.

It is just possible that the discharge of gravel may have been a coincidence. It is equally possible that the Lycopodium acted curatively; but I am inclined to believe their disintegration and expulsion was caused or aided by the use of the last medicine.

Further observations are needed to place the curative powers of this plant on a certain basis.

ERYNGIUM AQUATICUM.

Nat. Ord., Umbeliferæ.
Common Names, Button Snakeroot. Water Eryngo.
Preparation.—The fresh root is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(Although a well-known remedy, the following concerning its early history may not be out of place here. It is from Thomas' Additions.)

"For spermatorrhœa properly so called, or emission of semen without erections, there is no remedy which has yet received the sanction of experience."—Repertory.

"We have one, however, to propose for trial—it is the Eryngium aquaticum, which has two remarkable cures, reported by Dr. Parks (Pharmacentist, Cin.), to recommend it.

"Case I.—A married man injured his testicles by jumping upon a horse; this was followed by a discharge of what was considered semen for fifteen years, during which time he was treated allopathically and homœopathically. Dr. Parks exhibited a number of the usual remedies without permanent benefit. He then gave a half-grain dose, three times a day, of the third decimal trituration of the 'Eryngium aquaticum.' In five days the emissions were entirely suppressed, and have not returned to this time (over two years ago). The emissions were without erections day or night, and followed by great lassitude.

"Case II.—A married man, not conscious of having sustained any injury, was troubled for eight or ten years with emissions at night—with erections. The semen also passed by day with the urine. The loss of semen was followed by great lassitude and depression, continuing from twelve to forty-eight hours. There was also partial impotence. Had been treated allopathically. Dr. Parks gave him Phos. acid for two weeks, without material benefit. He then exhibited the Eryngium aquaticum, as above, with the like excellent and prompt result."[I]

I used this remedy with a patient who was quite broken down from spermatorrhœa; the emissions left him, but he suffered from vertigo and dim-sightedness whenever he took a dose of the medicine. He is now well through the use of other medicines. Our English Eryngo—the E. maritimum, is noted as an aphrodisiac, and is very similar in appearance to the Eryngium aquaticum.

FOOTNOTES:

[I] Drs. Hill and Hunt, Homœopathic Surgery.

EUPHORBIA COROLLATA.

Nat. Ord., Euphorbiaceæ.
Common Names, Milk Weed. Wild Ipecac. Blooming or Flowering Spurge.
Preparation.—The fresh root is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(In North American Journal of Homœopathy, Dr. E. M. Hale has, among other things, the following to say of this drug):

Its action on the system is intense and peculiar. It is called by the country people by the expressive name of Go-quick, referring to its quick and prompt action. I am indebted to Dr. A. R. Brown, of Litchfield, Mich., for many interesting facts relating to its action. It is considered, by those who use it, as the most powerful "revulsive agent" in their Materia Medica, in all cases of local congestion, especially of the lungs and head; also in inflammation of the pleura, lungs, and liver, and is used as a substitute for bleeding and Calomel. Its admirers allege that it will certainly arrest the progress of the above affections in a few hours, and break up all simple fevers. This is of course erroneous, but it reminds one of the Helleborine of the ancients, so graphically described by Hahnemann. In fact no drug with which I am acquainted so much resembles the Veratrum album.

FAGOPYRUM.

Nat. Ord., Polygonaceæ.
Common Name, Buckwheat.
Preparation.—The fresh mature plant is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(The following paper was published in the Transactions of the Homœopathic Society of Maine in 1895. It is by Dr. D. C. Perkins, of Rockland, Me.)

There is, perhaps, no well proven remedy in the Materia Medica, of equal value to that of which I present a brief study, that has been so wholly overlooked by the homœopathic profession. There certainly is none which possesses a more marked individuality, and which more fully fills a place by itself. It is safe to say that not one in ten of those who practice the healing art has ever used it or is familiar with its pathogenesis. Having not unfrequently cured cases with it, which had refused to yield to other remedies apparently well indicated, I have come to regard it as among the important drugs in our super-abundant Materia Medica. Its effects upon mental conditions are marked by depression of spirits, irritability, inability to study, or to remember what has been read, bringing to our minds Aconite, Bryonia, Chamomilla, Coffea, Colocynth, Ignatia, Lachesis, Mercury, Nux vomica, Staphisagria, Stramonium, and Veratrum. Its effects upon the head are deep-seated and persistent. There is vertigo, confusion, severe pain in many parts of head, with upward pressure described as of a bursting character. The pain may be in forehead, back of eyes, through temporal region on either side, but always of a pressive or bursting nature. For congestive headaches it is as valuable as Belladonna, Glonoine, Nux vomica, or Sepia.

In and about the eyes there is itching, smarting, swelling, heat and soreness; the itching being especially marked and usually regarded as characteristic. The last named symptom is no less prominent in affections of the ears, as has often been shown in the efficacy of buckwheat flour in frost-bites, or erysipelas of those useful organs, from time immemorial. Here the similarity to Agaricus will readily be recognized. The nose does not escape. It is swollen, red, inflamed and sore. There is at first fluent coryza with sneezing, followed by fulness, dryness and the formation of crusts. Nor is the burning absent which has been elsewhere noted. There is much soreness and somewhat persistent pain from even gentle pressure.

The face is pale or unevenly flushed, with dark semi-circles below the eyes. Later, the face becomes swollen, hot and dry, as though severely sunburnt, and the lips are cracked and sore. The mouth feels dry and hot, and yet saliva is not wanting. There is soreness and swelling of roof of mouth, and the tongue is red and fissured along its edges. The bad taste in the morning reminds us of Pulsatilla.

In the throat, there is soreness with pain just back of the isthmus of the fauces, a feeling of excoriation and soreness extending deep down in the pharynx. The uvula is elongated, the tonsils are swollen and red, there is a sensation of rawness in the throat strikingly reminding us of Phytolacca. Externally, there is scarlet redness of the neck below the mastoid process, throbbing of the carotids, the neck feels tired, the head heavy and the parotid glands are swollen and painful. It is unnecessary to name the remedy having similar symptoms.

While the symptoms produced on the digestive tract are not characterized by that intensity noted elsewhere, they are still valuable. There is persistent morning nausea which should lead us to study this remedy in the vomiting of pregnancy. Contrary to Lycopodium and Nux moschata the appetite is improved by eating. The empty or "all-gone" feeling at the stomach is like that of Sepia.

In the abdomen there is fulness and pain but no rumbling. Discharges of flatus are frequent and annoying. The region of the liver is painful, tender and there is aggravation from pressure, compelling the patient to lie on the left side. The stools are pappy, or watery, profuse, offensive and followed by tenesmus.

On the male genital organs there is profuse perspiration of an offensive odor. The urine is scalding, and pain extends from testicles to abdomen. In females the drug acts with force upon the right ovary, producing pain of a bruised or burning character, noted particularly when walking. There is pruritus with slight yellow leucorrhœa, the discharge being more noticed when at rest than when exercising. So far as known this latter symptom does not occur under the action of any other remedy.

In the chest we find a heavy, pulsating pain extending to all its parts. This is persistent, and is worse from a deep inspiration. Around the heart there are dull pains with oppression and occasional sharp pains passing through the heart. Pressure with the hand increases the oppression. The pulse is increased but is extremely variable. There is reason to believe that Cactus grandiflora, or Spigelia are often given in affections of the heart, where Fagopyrum, if given, would accomplish better results.

On the muscular system the action of the remedy stands out in bold relief. There is stiffness and soreness of all the muscles of the neck, with pain, and a feeling as if the neck would hardly support the head. Pains extend from occiput to back of neck and are relieved by bending the head backward. There are dull pains in small of back, with stitching pains in the region of the kidneys. Pains with occasional sharp stitches extend from the arms to muscles of both sides of chest. Rheumatic pains in the shoulders of a dull aching character. Stinging and burning pains extend the whole length of fingers, aggravated by motion. Streaking pains pass through arms and legs with sharp pains extending to feet. Pains extend from hips to small of back, and these also frequently run down to the feet. In the knees there is dull pain and weakness, while deep in the limbs there is burning and stinging. There is numbness in the limbs, with dragging in the joints, especially right knee, hip and elbow. Stooping to write causes constant severe pain through chest and in region of liver. This group of symptoms gives Fagopyrum a striking individuality and establishes it in an uncontested position among the long list of remedies prescribed for rheumatic complaints.

Scarcely less important are the symptoms of the skin. There is intense itching of the arms and legs, becoming worse toward evening. Blotches like flea-bites appear in many localities, sometimes all over the body, are sore to the touch and are multiplied by scratching. These eruptions are persistent and the itching is intense. Blind boils may be developed and attain a large size. The itching of the face is especially marked about the roots of the whiskers. Itching of the hands which is "deep in" is persistent and annoying, this condition being supposed to be the result of irritation of the coats of the arteries.

The sleepiness is unlike that of Belladonna, Nux vomica, Sepia or Sulphur, occurring early in the evening and characterized by stretching and yawning. It is not profound, and when the mind is diverted the patient gets wide awake, but soon relapses unless conversation is continued. In bed, sleep is disturbed by troublesome dreams and frequent waking. Aggravations occur after retiring, ascending stairs, from deep inspiration, walking in bright sunlight, lying on right side, riding in cars, and when stooping or writing. Ameliorations occur after taking coffee, from cold applications, from motion in cold air, and from sitting still in warm room.

FAGUS SYLVATICUS.

Nat. Ord., Cupuliferæ.
Common Name, European Beech.
Preparation.—The Beech Nuts are pounded to a pulp and macerated in five parts by weight of alcohol.

(In volume XIII of the American Observer, Dr. E. W. Berridge, contributes the following concerning the action of Fagus sylvaticus or Beech nuts):

Beech Nuts. (From Medical Museum—London, 1781—vol. ii., pp. 97, 294.) From a dissertation on hydrophobia, by Christian Frederick Seleg, M. D., of Enbenstoff, in Saxony, printed in Eslong, in 1762.

A boy aged 13 had eaten four days ago a large quantity of beech nuts. I found him in great pain, languid, and terrified with apprehensions of present death. Pulse very unequal, sometimes extremely quick, sometimes languid and intermittent; skin burning violently; mouth flowing with froth and saliva, intolerable thirst, entreating for drink, but as soon as any liquid was brought he seemed to shudder with equal horror, as if he had been eating unripe grapes. Soon after eating the nuts he had been seized with torpor, gloominess and dread of liquids. He had not been bitten by any rabid animal.

Next (5th) day, early in the morning, he was the same, but seemed to talk more in his wildness and perturbation of mind, and his mouth flowed with foam more abundantly; the urine he had voided by night was red and firey, depositing a copious turbid white sediment, resembling an emulsion of beech nuts, subsiding as deep as the breadth of the finger at the bottom of the vessel. A few hours before he died he vomited a porraceous bile, after which he died quietly.

The author in the original work gives a number of fatal cases of spontaneous hydrophobia. This work should be examined.

John Bauhin (Hist. Plants, vol. i, pp. 2, 121) says that the nuts will disorder the head like darnel; hogs grow stupid and drowsy by feeding on them.

Ray (Hist. of Plants, tom. ii, p. 1382) and Mangetus (Biblioth. Pharm., vol. i, p. 910) says the same.

FRAXINUS EXCELSIOR.

Nat. Ord., Oleaceæ.
Common Name, European Ash.
Preparation.—The fresh leaves are pounded to a pulp and macerated with two parts by weight of alcohol.

(In the Union Médicale, November, 1852, two French physicians detailed several cases of gout and rheumatism treated with Fraxinus excelsior, or ash leaves, one of Rademacher's favorite remedies. Of the two physicians, one of them, Dr. Peyraud, was himself relieved of the gout by this treatment.)

Ash-leaves were highly recommended by Rademacher, and have been quite extensively used in Germany on his suggestion. In the Union Médicale for Nov. 27, 1852, two French physicians, Drs. Pouget and Peyraud, detailed several cases of gout and rheumatism cured by an infusion of ash-leaves in boiling water. Dr. Peyraud himself was one of those relieved.

"In 1842, Dr. Peyraud had his first attack of gout, which was severe, and lasted for twenty-five days. During the three following years the attacks increased in frequency and severity. Having derived little benefit from the remedial means which he had resorted to, he listened to the suggestion of one of his patients, an inhabitant of the department of Dordogne, in France, who advised him to try an infusion of ash-leaves, informing him, at the same time, that his forefathers had been cured by this prescription, and that many of the country people got rid of 'their pains' by employing it. Dr. Peyraud took the infusion of ash-leaves and from 1845 to 1849 had no fit of gout. He then had an attack, which yielded in five days to the infusion of ash-leaves, used under the observation of Dr. Pouget. These circumstances recalled to the recollection of Dr. Pouget a fact which he might otherwise never again have considered. It was this: that when he was a physician at Soréze, in 1824, the peasants of that place had spoken to him of the great power which an infusion of ash-leaves had in driving away pains. He afterwards discovered that it had been used forty years ago as a gout-specific by the peasants of Auvergne.

"A commercial traveller, who had been gouty for twenty years, and had saturated himself with the syrup of Boubée and other vaunted specifics, consulted Dr. Pouget. At this time he was an almost constant prisoner in his room with successive attacks. After eleven days' use of the infusion, he was able to walk two kilomètres (one and a quarter English miles); in fifteen days he resumed his journeys, and was able to travel without suffering, by diligence, from Bordeaux to Quimper.

"Several other cases are detailed, some of them acute, and others chronic. Articular rheumatism, in numerous instances, was also benefited by the infusion of ash-leaves."

FUCUS VESICULOSIS.

Nat. Ord., Algæ.
Common Names, Sea-wrack. Bladder-wrack. Sea-kelp.
Preparation.—The fresh alga gathered in May or June are pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.

(The following letter, by Dr. J. Herbert Knapp to the Homœopathic Recorder, was published in 1896):

After treating many cases of exophthalmic goitre, I have come to the conclusion that I have found a specific for that disease in Fucus vesiculosis (sea-wrack). I might record one case. Mrs. Mary B., æt. 24 years, German, came into my clinic at the Brooklyn E. D. Homœopathic Dispensary to be treated for swelling of the neck of several years' duration. I gave her the tincture of Fucus ves., thirty drops three times a day. The treatment began December 1, 1895, and patient was discharged cured, on October 2, 1896. Would be pleased to hear from any others who have had any experience with Fucus vesiculosis.

(The foregoing brought out this by Dr. R. N. Foster, of Chicago):

It gives me great pleasure to be able to say a word confirmatory of the remarks made in your December issue by J. Herbert Knapp, M. D., respecting the above named drug.

Twenty years ago, while turning over the pages of that very useful book, "The American Eclectic Dispensatory," by John King, M. D., I chanced to notice the following sentences: "Fucus vesiculosis, sea-wrack, or bladder-wrack,... has a peculiar odor, and a nauseous saline taste.... The charcoal of this plant has long had the reputation of a deobstruent, and been given in goitre and scrofulous swelling."

So far as I now remember, this is the only hint I ever received which led me to try the drug in goitre. At the same time, I do not feel sure of this. Perhaps I had met in some medical journal a statement respecting the relation of this drug to goitre, which fact led me to look it up in the "Eclectic Dispensatory." But if so, I cannot recall the authority. At all events, I was led to try the remedy in a pronounced case of goitre, with such good results that I have never since given any other remedy for that disease, either in the exophthalmic or in the uncomplicated form. And what is more, I have never known it to fail to cure when the patient was under thirty years of age. After that time of life, or about that period, it seems to be no longer efficacious.

I have now used it on more than twenty-four cases, with the same unvarying result, and never with any other result—that is, no unpleasant consequences have ever accompanied or followed its use.

I published this fact in the Medical Investigator after I had used it in a few cases, and again announced it in the Chicago Homœopathic Medical Society still later; and again have frequently repeated it with growing confidence and of greater numbers of cases in medical societies, in colleges, and in private conversation with physicians.

And yet the fact is so utterly unknown that your journal publishes Dr. Knapp's inquiry respecting it, which shows how easily a good thing may be forgotten, and how readily a genuine specific may be superseded by a host of abortive procedures right under the eyes of the profession. It is most probable that more real good things have been forgotten or cast aside in medicine than it now, or at any one time, possesses.

Respecting this Fucus vesiculosis and its use in goitre, I would like to add a few words. The drug is of variable quality. If one specimen fails to give satisfaction it ought to be discarded and another tried. The pharmacist must be importuned to make special efforts to give us an article that is not inert, but contains all the activity that belongs to the drug.

Time is required for effecting a cure. This varies according to the age and size of the goitre. Three months may suffice for a small goitre of one year's growth. Six months may be required for one twice as large and of longer standing. A year and a half is the longest period during which I have had to continue the medicine. But during all that time the goitre was manifestly diminishing.

The dose is a teaspoonful of the tincture twice or three times daily, in a well-developed case. Half a teaspoonful twice a day will answer in recent cases.

Smaller doses seem not to produce any effect.

The medicine is very unpleasant to the taste, but causes no disturbance after it has been taken. It ought to be taken, each dose in about two ounces of water, and preferably between meals.

GAULTHERIA.

Nat. Ord., Ericaceæ.
Common Name, Wintergreen.
Preparation.—The distilled oil from the leaves of Gaultheria procumbens is used and dispensed in one or two drop tablets.

(These two papers were contributed to the Homœopathic Recorder, 1894, by Dr. Benj. F. Lang, York, Nebraska, on the action of Gaultheria.)

My attention was first called to its use about ten years ago in southern Ohio, where I received most pleasing results in the treatment of inflammatory rheumatism. Afterwards to a somewhat more disagreeable class of complaints in form of neuralgia. While I am not a champion of any specific, I want to say that this drug has given me the quickest and most satisfactory results of any remedy in the Materia Medica. If there is anything that a man wants relief from quick and "now," it is from these excruciating pains. Often was I called to treat some obstinate cases of ciliary neuralgia, or facial, or in fact nearly every form of neuralgia, and found my skill taxed to its utmost to bring out the balm. Did I find it in the homœopathic indicated remedy? I trust so, but not in any Materia Medica. I don't say but what I got some results from them, but I found it in this a "helper;" it came to my relief immediately and to the great comfort of the patient. In severest cases of neuralgias of the head and face it would do its work quick and well. Equally well has it served me in very severe cases of neuralgia of stomach and bowels, while for the past few years it has done faithful work in ovarian and uterine neuralgias following or preceding difficult menstruation. I have many a dear friend to-day whose relief from suffering was found in this remedy.

I am satisfied that it should be given a prominent place in our Materia Medica. Lest this article should become tedious, I will cite a few cases.

Mr. A., travelling man from Chicago, a few years ago called on me for temporary relief of a severe case of ciliary neuralgia; said he had suffered for many years with it, every spring especially, and that he had consulted great numbers of physicians of Chicago, Milwaukee and Cincinnati, and, as he said, "had taken bushels of drugs, both old and new school," with only temporary relief. So he expected nothing more, as he was told he must wear it out. I told him I thought I could give him relief. I furnished him one-half ounce of Gaultheria, with directions to take; did not see him again for two years, when he came into my office one day and greeted me by saying I was the only man that could ever give him any permanent relief from his sufferings; that he never had any return after first day taking medicine, and unlike most patrons wanted to make me a present of a $5 (five dollar bill), which of course no doctor refuses. I cite this first, as it was of long standing and had tested the ability of a number of prominent men.

Miss B., dressmaker, came to me suffering terribly with facial neuralgia and greeted me similar to No. 1; that she expected nothing but temporary relief, as she had been afflicted for a long time. Gave her two (2) drachms of oil W.; told her to take one dose immediately and another in two hours if the pain did not quiet down. She was careful to ask if it was an opiate, as she objected to that. I assured her it was not; saw her next day, said that pain disappeared and had not returned. I was acquainted with the lady for three and one-half years, and she only had one return of the disease, which the same remedy relieved immediately. Many cases more could I cite in which it never has failed me.

Mrs. G., No. 3. I was called to relieve a severe case of neuralgia of stomach and bowels this last summer, who had been under the care of two of my worthy competitors. They had exhausted their pill case, and for about three weeks the poor woman had suffered everything but death itself. After diagnosing the case I put her on this remedy, and in two hours she was relieved and after two days was able to be about, and was cured shortly by no other remedy than it. I want to say you will find a true friend in this remedy in all forms of neuralgia, and only give a few suggestions now; but if it should be necessary could give scores to prove its value.

I mentioned in the beginning that it had been of great value in inflammatory rheumatism. So it has, and will give later many cases of immediate and permanent relief if it would be of any value to the profession. A word as to the best way of giving the drug. I have found that the dose should never be less than five drops, and if pain is severe fifteen drops repeated in half hour; afterward two hours apart. For adult it may be necessary to give twenty drops at first. It always should be dropped on sugar and taken.

One suggestion: I would like to have it put in a tablet of about two to five drops pure oil, as I think it could be taken more satisfactorily. While the crude oil is very pleasant to take at first, yet, on account of its strong odor, will nauseate after awhile if not removed from room. I am confident that if you make this into a tablet and place it among your remedies you would have a weapon that you could place into the hands of doctors of untold value in these troubles.

(The latter part of the foregoing communication was addressed to Messrs. Boericke & Tafel, homœopathic pharmacists. This was followed by a second communication reading as follows):

Since the few lines written for the last issue of Recorder on Gaultheria in treatment of neuralgia, I have been asked to write my experience with it in inflammatory rheumatism.

It has never failed me in this terrible disease to give relief. My experience with it dates back to the fall of 1884, in Ross county, Ohio, where I was called to treat a very stubborn case, then under the treatment of one of my old school friends. The patient, a lady about fifty years old, had suffered with two previous attacks, lasting about three months each time. At the time I was called to treat her she had been confined to bed about four weeks. She was suffering intensely, the joints of upper and lower limbs being swollen and extremely tender; in fact, so sensitive that one could scarcely walk about the bed without causing great suffering; temperature, 103; pulse weak and intermittent. At my first visit, 2:30 p.m., I ordered all of the joints to be wrapped with cotton, to exclude all air. I then gave her Bry. On my return, next day, I did not find much improvement, excepting the nausea, which was due to heroic drugging she had been subjected to. Continued Bry. The next day the appetite some better, but joints still very tender; temperature and pulse about the same; some difficulty in respiration. I then resolved to try Gaultheria. I left one drachm vial of the remedy and ordered the same to be divided into two equal doses, one-half at one o'clock p.m., the balance at five o'clock p.m.

At about 7:30 of the same evening a messenger came into town in great haste, saying my patient was failing very fast, and requested me to come out as soon as possible. On my arrival at the home I found the patient sitting by the fire. The husband informed me that he thought she was losing her mind. I asked her why she was out of bed; she said she saw no reason for staying in bed after a patient was well, and further said that about one hour after taking the first dose she began to move easily, and after taking second dose all of the soreness and swelling left the joints. She also said she was all right; that we need not feel alarmed about her. I made only one visit after; continued the same remedy; there were no relapses.

No. 2. A prominent woman in Nebraska had been under treatment for ten days with free old-line medication, Dover's powders and Morphia as palliatives. Husband consulted me to know whether anything could be given to relieve her suffering. I called and found her with temperature 102, pulse 105, left (hand) fingers and elbow joints swollen, very sensitive to touch or movement. I at once assured her that I thought she would get relief without any more Morphia. Gave her one-half drachm Gaultheria and requested her to take twenty drops in two hours if pain and soreness was not relieved. This was about 4 p.m. I met her husband next morning on street on my way to visit her again and he said "that he hardly thought it necessary, as his wife was relieved in about one hour after taking first dose and felt no pain after second, and that she was up dressing her hair when he left home." She had a slight return on account of overwork, but remedy always gave relief and made firm patrons of one of our best families for me. I always advise patients to wrap the joints with cotton to exclude air and advise them to keep quiet.

No. 3. Young man, twenty-eight; had two attacks before, one lasting three months, the second ten weeks. This was the worst case that I have ever treated. As the heart was very weak, pulse intermittent, I put him on the remedy, Gaultheria, with almost immediate relief, but second day there was relapse, which again responded immediately to treatment by same remedy; with this, or in connection with this remedy, I used some Bry. 3 and Rhus tox. 3. I dismissed him in ten days, more than pleased, as we were always able to control the pain immediately without any other remedy than Gaultheria.

I cite these cases among the many that I have had, and have never failed to get good results in any; will say that I give any other remedy after soreness and swelling are removed that may be indicated, always taking the necessary precaution to exclude all air from parts affected and to keep them warm. About three hours apart is as often as I give remedy, and always careful to give it on sugar and remove it from room, with spoon used.

No. 4. Since my article on neuralgia I had a quite severe case of sciatica that had taxed the skill of one of my worthy competitors for nearly two months without any good results; he was about to go to Hot Springs for some relief. Meeting me on the street, wanted to know if I thought any of my "little pills or drops would give any relief." I assured him that I was quite positive that I could. He could hardly move about, and suffered very much if he did; he came and got a prescription and found relief to his great astonishment almost immediately; has had it refilled twice and has worked every day; he takes the remedy morning and night; there is no pain or soreness, nor has there been any after first day, only if he sneezes or gets the leg cramped there seems to be slight contraction of nerve, but the remedy has done most satisfactory work in this case and gained a valuable family.

I hope these few cases may be of some benefit to the readers of the Recorder: 1. Be careful to observe the rule that if remedy should nauseate cease giving for twelve or twenty-four hours. 2. Always give on sugar or in tablets. 3. Remove it immediately from room after administering. 4. Cover joints to exclude air and keep them warm. 5. Give any other indicated remedy.

HELODERMA HORRIDUS.

Preparation.—The virus, obtained by irritating the animal and allowing it to bite on glass, is triturated in the usual way.

(Dr. T. L. Bradford furnishes us with the following classification of this reptile):