REPORT OF A CASE OF SICK HEADACHE.

BY J. C. CUMMINGS, M. D., BEAVER CREEK, MINN.

Many are the victims of this much dreaded disease (or symptom), which, like many other diseases that the human race are subject to, are alike amenable to treatment by medication, although many of the almost innumerable remedies which are at the physician's command in this enlightened age of medical science, have and do fail to produce the desired effect, which effect we can attribute to many causes, as climate, constitution, and the preparation of the drug used. It should not only be the aim of the physician to procure the most reliable preparations of medicines, but to make climate and the constitutions of each and every patient a study of as much value as that of medicine, which I consider of as much importance or essential to success, and very much more than many of the fictitious problems on which the agitators of medical science are and have been filling the minds of the medical profession, which for the most part must inevitably fall, like many preparations of medicine, into disuse, and become one of the things of the past. Considering then the constitution, climate, condition, and carefully studying the case before you, your diagnosis made, you are ready.to prescribe; and last but not least, consider carefully the financial condition of your patient before you, as this is one of the most essential considerations, as no man is more worthy of a compensation for his services than a physician. Better had he do nothing than to exhaust his energies and vital powers for naught. You will pardon me from deviating from the subject matter.

follows.

Case as

Mr. O. A. H. came under my care in April, 1885, age 36, weight 170 pounds, suffering from periodical attacks of sick headace occurring about once in two weeks. He had been the subject of this loathsome affection for a period of twelve years, and the degree of severity was in proportion to the number of years affected. The subject was particularly temperate in all his habits, was a lumber dealer, led an active out-door life. Being compelled to abandon his business pursuits for five days each month, he anxiously sought relief, which he had previously sought in vain, and had almost given up in despair, and considered himself a subject doomed to suffer without relief.

The attacks came on in the morning, and continued for a period of twenty-four hours with increased severity, until becoming so fatigued that he would pass into a profound sleep, which would last from two to six hours, awaking experiencing none of the symptoms of headache but a feeling of profound depression and lassitude, which con. tinued correspondingly to that of incubation. After a thorough examination, I found him to be a subject of chronic liver trouble, in whom the usual train of symptoms peculiar to these cases were found which are so familiar to the practitioner. I shall not enumerate them. Prescribed nitro-muriatic acid in zj doses t. d. in 3vj of aqua after eating, and the following to be taken as soon as the first symptoms of the headache appeared: B Morphiæ aceta.......gr. iiiss;

Caffeine citrate............. ..gr. iij; Ammonia muriat, "s,"................3 j; Spirits ammonia aromaticus...3 jss; Comp. elixir sumbul...........3 ijss; Aqua menth. pip., ad. q. s....3 iv. M. Sig.-zij every ten or fifteen minutes until five doses were taken, if the symptoms continued unabated.

At the usual period the symptoms came on, and the above was administered at once, and I am happy to say the symptoms disappeared with the third dose, never again to appear.

The patient has been under my observation up to the present time. Using his own language: "I consider myself cured, and consider it (the medicine) of more value than the best farm in the northwest." As he begins to show signs of biliousness, I prescribe the mineral acids in doses above given.

I prescribed the same to one other patient, who had been a sufferer from the same disease (headache), but not of a bilious temperament, the fourth dose being sufficient to abort the attack, which has as yet failed to return (16 months ago) under constitutional treatment peculiar to the requirements of the case.

I take pleasure in recommending this formula. to the profession for trial, as it has in these cases proved to be an efficient remedy with me. -Med. and Surg. Reporter.

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THE TONIC TREATMENT OF THE HAIR.

Dr. Foley, in the New York Med. Jour., says: "A wineglassful of aromatic spirits of ammonia added to a basinful of water is very cleansing and refreshing. Care should be taken that it does not get into the eyes. The shampoo as given by the barber is too rough and vigorous, and the conglomeration he puts on the head afterward is anything but beneficial. While one performs daily ablutions of the face, hands and body, the head is generally left out. This should not be; it is as necessary to wash the scalp as any other portion of the body. The hair should be brushed daily. Too much violence must be guarded against. It should be brushed gently in the direction in which it lies. A harsh brush should be used to cleanse the scalp of dust and dandruff, and then the hair-shafts should be smoothed and polished by means of a softer brush. The scalp should receive a roseate glow. This insures quicker circulation in the follicle about the hair-papilla, and hence the growth is invigorated. Hair tonics have the same effect upon the skin-viz, a stimulating effect upon the skin capillaries. Morning and night, before retiring, is the best time for brushing the hair. Too hard brushing tends to produce dandruff. In brushing, the object is to cleanse it from extraneous materials, such as teathers, dust, dandruff, and concrete sebaceous material, which often oozes out upon the scalp, to make it smooth, and to bring truant hairs into the right place, and set at harmony discordant filaments.

Friction polishes the hair as well as bandoline. cr ointment. The end we seck in building up a scanty hair crop is a proper amount of blood-supply, through friction and hair tonics. pended is an excellent hair-tonic:

The ap

CHRONIC RHEUMATISM.

Dr. Wm. T. Plant, of Syracuse, N. Y., says: "No other remedy has so commended itself to my respect in these conditions as the potassium iodide. Its remarkable power over specific periosteal inflammation has been known since Dr. Thomas Willianis, of London, called attention to it. It is certainly of the greatest good in very many instances of chronically inflamed fibrous tissue not of syphilitic origin. Often it has disappointed ue, but less frequently than any other agent. For some years I have followed the method first proposed, if I am not mistaken, by Dr. Golding Bird, of giving it largely diluted. I order a half pint or more of water to be drunk after each dose. This is in imitation of Nature's method with her medicinial spring waters. She gives them to us in copious dilution; and perhaps in that fact more than in any other lies the remarkable power that they have over some of these vexatious cases. I have no doubt that great relief, if not cure, can often be got by alkaline medicines, especially the iodide, given in this way, together with frequent hot baths and massage and a regulated diet."

Ol. cocois......aa...q. s. ad.....3 iv. M.

Apply once or twice a day to the scalp by means of a soft sponge. This will prevent the hair from falling out if it does not produce a luxuriant crop."

M. Sig. Shake thoroughly. ful, repeated p. r. n.

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Like many other preparations of the ferruginous type, hydrocyanate of iron appears capable to subserve quite a number of indications, though its predominant value is exhibited in the treatment of epilepsy. My attention was first called to this remedy in the treatment of epilepsy by Prof. D. S. McGuin, of the Iowa Medical College, in the supplement of the Journal of Materia Medica, in the year 1872, in which he speaks of it as the remedy par excellence, and sites a number of cases that were permanently cured by this drug alone. Having at that time under my care and treatment a young man aged eighteen years, who had been a sufferer from that terrible disease, "epilepsy," since early childhood, and which had resisted the action of all remedies then known to the medical profession, I determined upon a trial of the hydrocyanate of iron, as it was a case which seemed to demand such a combination or such a remedy-as his general system was in a bad condition, which is usually the case after a protracted course of treatment with the bromides.

I wrote to Messrs. Tilden & Co., New York, who kindly sent me a sample of the iron. I then put my patient upon the following:

B Iron hydrocyanate..............gr. lx ;

I believe if patient had lived or been put upon the hydrocyanate of iron treatment sooner, that a permanent cure would have been cffected. There is one thing sure in this case, that it controlled the paroxysms better and more effectually than any remedy that had been administered before. It possesses this advantage over the bromides, that it not only controls the paroxysms better, but it does not impair the general health of patient like the latter. Since that time I have administered this remedy to some eight or ten cases with decided success-about half of this number being cured, others being old and chronic cases— were more or less benefitted. Now I do not claim that hydrocyanate of iron is a specific for epilepsy, but I do claim, that, if judiciously administered and continued for a sufficient length of time, "say one year," that it will cure more cases than any remedy or remedies known to the medical profession. It is an excellent remedy in the treatment of the various forms of neuralgias. can be combined with sulph. of quinine, sulph. of morphia, or the extract of henbane, as each individual case may require. It exerts a powerful influence over the functions of the uterus, and when combined with the extract of belladonna I know of no remedy better to relieve congestive dysmenorrhoea or irritation of the ovaries when of a neuralgic character.-So. West. Med. Gaz.

TREATMENT FOR HYSTERO-MANIA.

It

er irritable and gloomy, but was sprightly and hopeful, and looked forward with confidence to an ultimate and permanent cure. "The paroxysms, which had been frequent and severe, had entirely ceased. Treatment continued. Patient died about six months afterward, or nine months from date of treatment, from an intercurrent disease.

formula before mentioned-the hemp and the hemlock-are of notoriously uncertain strength. Hence the proportion of each of these drugs to the rest of the prescription must always be governed by their respective strengths, and the mixture should never be administered excepting with extreme caution, carefully watching its effects.

BRONCHO PNEUMONIA VERSUS NEMATODA

BY L. C. CARRICO, A. M., M. D. HUGHESVILLE, MD.

The history of the following case, the symptoms of which so closely simulated those of bronchopneumonia, may not prove uninteresting.

I was called to see M. M., æt. 3, on March 9th, and obtained the foliowing information, viz. : That the little patient was just recovering from an attack of whooping cough and that on previous days complained of chilliness which was soon followed with fever and much difficulty in breathing.

Upon seeing the little one I observed the breathing to be very rapid, superficial and labored; respiration 52, pulse 140, temperature 103 2-5, and cyanosis extending over the entire face.

On auscultation rales were found abundant over the chest, but the examination was not satisfactory owing to the excessive dyspnoea and fretfulness of the child.

From the previous history of whooping-cough, and the initial symptoms of the attack, as well as the sensible signs, broncho-pneumonia was promptly diagnosticated and an emetic exhibited with the most happy results.

The vomiting brought up a full-grown round worm nine inches long, much to the relief of the little one, and to the gratification of the parents, who had been given an unfavorable prognosis.

The dyspnoea at once disappeared and an uninterrupted recovery at once began, careful auscultation then revealing a slight attack of bronchitis.

The dyspnoea was doubtless due to the parasite having crawled up into the larynx and thus made suffocation so eminent.-Md. Med. Jour.

ment; the prescription is as follows.
B Cinchonæ rubra pulveris.......3j;
Serpentariæ virg....

3 ss. M Sig. -Put into one and one-half pints of water, simmer to one pint, strain when cold, and add one pint of Lisbon wine. Two tablespoonfuls to be taken before meals.

The second prescription relates to the treatment of erysipelas, and is as follows:

R Tincturæ ferri chloridi.......................... 3 ij ; Tincturæ cinchona.................... .3 iij, Quiniæ sulphates....3 ij. M. Sig.-Paint over the involved region several times hourly. The cure is complete when the part receives and holds a black coating, and never until such result is secured.

In using this second prescription it is of course understood that any existing systemic disturbanc s to be corrected. Prof. Garretson advises the use of the combination as well internally; ten to twenty drops in a little water pro re nata.

A CURE FOR FRECKLES.

Dr. Halkin's procedure is as follows: The skin being washed and dried is put on the stretch with two fingers of the left hand, and a drop of carbolic acid is applied exactly over the patch. When it dries the operation is completed. The skin becomes white, and the slight sensation of The thin burning disappears in a few minutes.

crust which forms after the cauterization should not be disturbed; it detaches itself spontaneously in eight or ten days, leaving a rosy coloration, which is soon replaced by the normal color of the skin.-American Practitioner and News.

PRESCRIPTIONS OF SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Prof. J. E. Garretson, in the course of a clinical lecture delivered lately before his class, at the Medical Chirurgical College, Philadelphia, directed particular attention to two remedies which he pronounced as approaching more nearly to what is meant by specifics than perhaps almost any medicines used by the profession. The first per tains to malaise, associated with malarial environ

PRICKLY HEAT. -I have tried everything that a fat man suffering the tortures of sheol could think of, and got no relief until I used a two per cent. aqueous solution of sulphate of copper, applied with a bit of soft sponge and allowed to dry on the skin. It dries up the eruption in from one to three days. The wash should be ap plied morning and night.-St. Louis Med. and Surg. Journal.