treatment seemed to dissolve the exudation and prevent its formation. Some cases that were seen late and the formation had become great and seemed to be choking the patient to death, were relieved by the fumes of crude turpentine. We would put the turpentine in a pot or something of the kind, and by heating it and letting the patient inhale the fumes and smoke. I have known patients that seemed to be hopeless cases relieved and asleep within a few minutes after the room was filled with turpentine smoke. In all my experience in treating the horrid disease I have never seen it relieved so readily and effectually as with the above treatment. The number of deaths in proportion to the number of those sick was unprecedently small. The disease lingered in the neighborhood about two months, when it left us. We have had sporadic cases every year since, which yielded promptly to the same treatment. There were a good many cases of paralysis as the sequel, but they all eventually recovered, and strange it seems, it occurred in those who seemed to have diphtheria the lightest. ANÆSTHETICS IN OBSTETRICS. Dr. Fordyce Barker, in his paper read before the Medical Society of the State of New York, as reported in the Medical News, says: During the past year and a half there have come to my notice, at various stages of the disease, a number of cases of herpes zoster, and as the following method of treatment has given very gratifying results, it occurred to me that it might be of interest to your readers. The treatment consists briefly in the administration of a blue pill (two or three grains) twice or three times during the day, and the local application of zinc ointment carbolized (two per cent.), the parts being for this preference are briefly also protected from irritation of the clothes and "I may here say that I have long regarded chloroform as the best and safest anæsthetic in obstetrics, and that since 1830 I have used no other. these : 1. Its odor is to most persons much more agreeable, and it is much less persistent. When sulphuric ether is used, it frequently, at first, pro. duces more or less irritation of the fauces and bronchi and an annoying cough or choking is ex. cited. The effect of this is bad, both on patient. and on the surrounding friends. It excites apprehension which more or less tend to counteract the influence of the agent. 2. The influence of chloroform is much more rapid and a much less quantity of this agent is required than of ether. We are thus saved, in a majority of cases, the preliminary stage of excitement which the ether produces, and we are able to use the chloroform for each recurring pain, the other external influences. In every case so treated the pain ceased and the eruption was controlled in the course of a day or two, or after the purgative effects of the drug had disappeared, the vesicles drying up, leaving brownish crusts, the latter dropping off in the course of a few days.Medical News. A correspondent writes to the Medical Record that he has used the ether-spray on several cases of strangulated hernia, one of two day's duration, with the best results. The operation was painless, and reduction occurred "spontaneously, or with slight pressure." ABDOMINAL SUPPORT DURING PREGNANCY. I always advise patients in a preg::ant condition to leave off their corsets (from about the fourth month onward, should I see them at that time), and having supplied the want of a corset by a suitable bodice, to wear a supporting belt with elastic sides, so arranged as to exercise a comfortable pressure, from below, on the muscles, and fitted with tapes or straps to relax the pressure as the uterus enlarges. In every case in which I have recommended this to be done, and where my directions were followed, the patient not only expressed herself as feeling far more comfortable, but I have remarked that subsequent labor was of much shorter duration than usual, owing, I believe, to the support afforded in time to the abdominal muscles, and which by husbanding their tone and strength, enabled them to assist the uterus in its efforts of expulsion in a marked degree. When engaged to attend primiparæ, I also direct the bandage to be left off at night, and the abdomen well rubbed with lard at bedtime. When this treatment is followed in primiparæ, I find there is little or no trace of the "linea albicantia" to be discovered after the patient recovers from the lying-in, and the abdomen also resumes its natural appearance, which the patient as a rule is the first to remark.—Dr. Duke in the Provincial Med. Jour. THE TREATMENT OF RHEUMATISM IN THE HOSPITAL OF THE UNIVERS ITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. Dr. Osler employs in mild cases, with only one or two joints involved and the temperature not above 102° F., the citrate of potash in 3ss doses every four hours. If there is much pain and the patient is restless, Dover's powder grs. x at night. In more severe attacks, with polyarthritis, and fever above 103°, he orders salicylate of sodium grs. xv every two hours, with a similar quantity of the citrate of potash. The important influence of the salicylate is believed to be in the reduction of the pain and fever. It is not thought to have much influence in lessening the duration of the disease; and, on the other hand, when pushed for many days and in large doses it is thought directly to favor the occurrence of relapse. Hence, as soon as the pain is relieved, the amount of the salt is reduced, and it is stopped as soon as possible. It does not probably influence, one way or the other, the occurrence of endocarditis. When the temperature is above 103.5° antipyrin, grs. 20, is ordered. With fever of 105° the cold pack is employed. Lemonade and carbonated waters are allowed freely. An unstimulating liquid diet is given. Blankets are preferred for the bedding of the patient. Special care is enjoined in changing the clothing, and a wad of cotton-wool is placed over the front of the chest. The joints are wrapped in cotton-wool, or, when very painful, in spongi-opiline or flannel, soaked in Fuller's lotion (hot) (Liquor Opii Sedativus, 3 j; Potass. Bicarb., 3 iv; Glycerin., 3 ij; Aquæ, 3 ix). the salicylate and the local application fail, as they sometimes do, to relieve pain, opium is freely given. During convalescence iron and tonic doses of quinine are ordered.-North Carolina Medical Journal. DECOCTION OF If COTTON-ROOT AS A UTERINE HÆMOSTATIC. The experience of Dr. Garrigues, a most capable and conscientious observer, as reported in the Quarterly Bulletin of the Clinical Society of the New York Post Graduate Medical School and Hospital, apparently conclusively proves that decoction of cotton-root is a remedy of great value. Dr. Garrigues has used it in one hundred and thirty-nine patients, and in the majority he obtained more or less decided benefit. He finds that it lessens the pain, checks the bleeding from uterine fibroids; in sarcoma and carcinoma it lessons, or suspends altogether for a time, hæmorrhage. The remedy should be used in the form It will fail to proof a freshly-made decoction. duce any benefit in about one in ten cases. The following directions are given for preparing and administering the preparation : Three heaping teaspoonfuls of the powdered root are boiled in a pint of water for fifteen minutes; after cooling, the preparation is strained; one-third of the decoction is taken in the forenoon, another in the afternoon, and the last at bedtime. Prof. Bartholow still continues to advocate the use of carbolic acid in typhoid fever. He states that no form of treatment has, in his hands, been so successful. It modifies the disturbances of the intestinal tube, reduces temperature and promotes quiet. Two drops of a solution consisting of equal parts of carbolic acid and Lugol's solution may be given every three hours. For erysipelas, Prof. Da Costa continues to strongly advocate and recommend the use of pilocarpine in robust plethoric subjects. It is of striking value, and better results can be obtained than from any other mode of treatment. The proper dose is gr. %-% of pilocarpine, or the mxx of fluid extract of pilocarpus. Local means are not of much avail. Hydrastis canadensis (fluid extract) is an excellent local application in cervicitis, endometritis, and vaginitis, the one great opjection to its use being its staining properties. In gonorrhoea, the fluid extract mixed with mucilage as thick as can be used by injection, is of much service. It should be retained in the urethra for some time, and the urethra should have been previously cleansed with water or a solution of sodium chloride. A case of marked lateral sclerosis of the cord was recently treated by Prof. Da Costa as follows: B. Hydrarg. chloridi corrosivi,gr 1-30 Ammon. chloridi,.. Aquæ,..... Sig. - Ter die. Also R. Hyoscyamin., Sig. At night. Troy ounces, and in this dissolve 115 grains of pure bromine. This will need occasional strong shaking for the first week, and the solution will not be perfect or clear for three or four weeks, when it will then be ready for use. The dose is one drop three times a day. Failure of voice from simple mucous laryngitis or fatigue can often be wonderfully relieved by small doses of nitric acid every two or three hours, to be given well diluted.-Prof. Bartho low. A case of sciatica, originating by strain, having persisted for four months and resisted iodide of potassium and colchicum, and having been only temporarily relieved by atropine and morphine, was finally made to succumb to gr. 1-200 of aconitia three times daily, prescribed by Prof. Da Costa. The patient became almost immediately much better, the pain disappeared and improvement continued. After a week the remedy was given but twice daily and gradually withdrawn. Prof. Bartholow states that Prof. Gee claims chat for temporary relief of asthma, pyridine stands at the head. It is applicable in any variety of the disease, and it is directed to be used as follows: The patient inhales the vapor of a drachm of the liquid, which has been volatilized in an apartment of about twenty cubic metres. It is said that relief promptly follows. Pyridine is a constituent of tobacco smoke, is a liquid, and highly volatile. Dr. J. C. Wilson recently exhibited to the class a specimen of tænia saginata, which he had expelled from a boy 12 years of age. It was known to exist in the child nine months previously, and had resisted several former efforts intended to The latter was given to relieve the spastic con- produce its expulsion. Among the remedies tractions. Clemen's solution of bromide of arsenic, said which had been used were peppo, kousso, turpentine and a half dose of pelletierine. A full dose of pelletierine was finally successful. The outline of treatment was as follows: Saturday night, by Prof. Bartholow to be the best single remedy gave gr. x of calomel with some soda; at one brought forward for diabetes, can be prepared as follows: Boil in eight ounces of distilled water 571⁄2 grs. each of powdered arsenious acid and carbonate of potassium. When cold add sufficient distilled water to make eleven and one-half o'clock next day gave full dose of Tanret's pelletierine, and at bedtime gave 3j of castor oil. At five o'clock Monday morning the worm was expelled entire. But little nourishment was allowed on Saturday or Sunday. of For chronic dysentery, with a great deal of pain, Prof. Da Costa directed as follows: Allow only a mild diet, mostly of milk, but he may take oysters in small amounts, the milk to be diluted with lime water. Give a one grain suppository of extract of opium at night, to be repeated if pain persists. Also: B Bismuthi subnitratis,...........gr. xv ; Pulv. ipecac, et opii,..........gr. ij ; Pulv. aromat.,......... ..........gr. ij. M. Sig. Take every third hour. When stimulus fails to maintain the pulse and heart's action in typhoid fever, Prof. Da Costa states that cocaine has given him most satisfactory results. It will sometimes establish convalescence rapidly when, under stiruulus, the cases seem to be rapidly failing. A case shown at the Pennsylvania Hospital, which was receiving 3 xij of whiskey in 24 hours, and with no response, began at once to improve on gr. 4 of cocaine every two hours, afterward increased to gr. 1⁄2 every third hour; the whiskey at the same time being kept down to 3 viij. Prof. Gross's favorite prescription for secondary syphilis is: B. Hydrarg. iodid. viridis,......gr. 1-5 Ft. pil. For a cure, take one after each meal; after two days, take two pills after dinner; in a few days, if no bad symptoms arise, increase to three pills after dinner and two after breakfast. Increase until it is found what patient can tolerate; five pills a day about the usual amount. This should be persisted in until all symptoms disappear; then cease for a short time, and then renew with 2/3 dose. With intervals of a few weeks every two or three months gradually reduce the dose. After two years in this way we may then cease, but keep the patient under observation for eighteen months longer. Prof. Da Costa recently treated with marked success a case of pure nervous asthma, with onefourth grain of cocaine ter die. After obtaining For the past year Dr. Frank B. Carpenter, of New York, has been using static electricity in the treatment of diseases of the skin. He has found it particularly useful in diseases of the skin of neurotic origin. In seven consecutive cases of alopecia areata treated by that method exclusively, the hair ceased to fall after a few applications, and new hair soon commenced to grow. The more recent the case, the more rapid was the improvement. The duration of the disease in these cases varies from three months to eighteen years. The youngest patient was ten years of age; the oldest was thirty-eight. In the treatment of three cases of alopecia præmature by the same method, the results were sufficiently encouraging to warrant the belief that static electricity will not only prevent the baldness but will restore the hair when it has already fallen. In five cases of zoster treated only by the static current, the neuralgic pains were much diminished. It appeared to check the eruption, preventing the formation of vesicles when used early in the disease, and causing them to dessicate, thus forming a protective covering when the vesicles had already formed. In several cases of severe pruritis genitalum, more satisfactory results were obtained than by any other method of treatment he has used. He has also found it of use in the treatment of lichen planus and dermatitis herpetiformis.- Quarterly Bulletin. |