hours until 8 doses are taken. This will relieve the paroxysm; then give a few gentle hints as to diet to "prevent its return," and if you can collect the fee you can count the patient "cured." The treatment I like better for myself would be to take in the place of the simple syrup the best Bourbon whiskey, one pint, and one ounce of gum guaiacum, and then take it until you feel happy. That will do for doctors; but I do not prescribe that for my patients, as I believe in temperance, and do not prescribe ardent spirits as long as I believe there is anything else that will answer; hope the readers of this article will do likewise. I have never failed to give satisfaction in any case I ever treated. You must, of course, look for indications and meet them in every case; there may be some general remedies that will be useful; special remedies must be used in all casesrhus. tox., aconite, belladonna, veratrum, or anything else as needed; rhus. tox. is frequently needed.

RHEUMATISM.

BY N. A. NOE, PH. G., M. D.

Seeing in your valuable journal an article on rheumatism by Dr. Carr, I will say that his suggestions are very good in many cases of rheumatism, but many are very obstinate. As an "all round" prescription, I have found the following to be most excellent, and suits many diatheses R. Acidum nitricum c. p., 3j.; acidum hydrochloricum c. p., 3j.; tinct. nucis vomicis, 3ij.; elixir calisaya, q. s. ad. 3vi. M. Sig. From one-half to one dessertspoonful in a wineglass of water three times a day.

:

In this prescription you get the acid, so suitable to a majority of the rheumatic affections, the nitre, the tonic effects of nux and calisaya. In this the liver is stimulated, as is also the stomach and whole alimentary canal, and a great benefit to the digestion; with this you do not require the jalap compound, calomel, etc., and very seldom the morphia or liniments.

I have found by the free use of this recipe it keeps the stomach so stimulated, and, in fact, the whole system, that you are not so liable to have cardiac troubles to contend with, and, your acid acts as an alterative and prevents valvular deposits. I think when this prescription is properly and vigorously used there will seldom be a necessity of going back to the alkalies.

In cases of too great pain, I use a little Dover's for temporary relief, and occasionally paint the parts affected with a compound chloral hydrate, āā zij.; chloroform, zij.; Apply with camel's hair brush twice a day.

of: R. Camph. gum, menthol, 3ij. M. Sig.

Now, if Brother Carr or others of the unfortunate M. D's will try this on their patients, they will find good results.

She is aged fifty-seven years, height five feet eleven inches, weight 180 pounds. I was called to see her December 31, 1886, at II P. M. She was having severe uterine or abdominal pains.

Question-Mrs. Brady, what do you think is the matter?

Answer-I am in the family way at the seventh month. Yes, Doctor, I am an uncommon woman; I began to menstruate at eleven years of age.

Ques. How long since has it ceased?

Ans. It never ceased until the seventh of last June; it never came a day too soon nor a day too late, not a drop too much nor a drop too little, for forty-six years, except the time of my pregnancies. It has been twenty-three years since my last accouchement.

Ques. Did you have any morning sickness?

Ans. It did not exactly amount to that; I was bilious and had eructations which lasted about three months.

Ques. When did you first feel the motions?

Ans. I felt motion at four and a half months from my last menstruation, and these have continued more or less ever since. My breasts are enlarged a good deal and they have milk in them.

I found the milk present, the abdomen enlarged and even in its rotundity. I made a vaginal examination, but found nothing unusual nor any sign of pregnancy. The abdomen was very flat, I could feel the uterine ball. I gave valerianate of zinc and hydrate of chloral and departed, not feeling fully satisfied as to the nature of the case.

About ten days afterwards I met Dr. M., near Mrs. Brady's, he having seen the woman previously. I proposed that we would go and examine our patient together. We found her eating dinner and

feeling jolly. The stethescope elicited nothing; the os was pretty high up, but we left without a decision as to the nature of the case.

The madam, however, consoled us by telling us that she was expecting her confinement the 21st of March, and hence by the next issue of your journal we will be able to report.

POSTAL BRIEFS.

PROLAPSE OF THE CORD. -In the month of January last I had an unusual number and variety of obstetrical cases, fifteen in all. Two of them were breech presentations and one prolapsus of the umbilical cord in advance of the foetus eight or ten inches. I replaced the prolapsed cord a dozen times, but it would not remain. for a moment. The child was delivered without instruments, and to my astonishment I found the umbilical cord tied in a hard knot. The mother informed me that about a week prior to her confinement she had had a very severe spell of cholera morbus, attended with severe vomiting and purging, and that at that time the movements of the foetus were extremely violent and seemingly convulsive. Might not the cord have become tied by the foetus turn ing end over end, passing through the cord as to tie a knot? This is my first experience with a case of this kind. The child of course was born dead. J. E. CALLAWAY, M. D., Ravenna, Mo.

PULMONIC CORDIAL.-Editor of the American Medical Journal: In your journal I find many valuable suggestions and preparations, to which I wish to add a cough cordial I have been using for several years and which I prize very highly: Take of wild cherry bark ground, 23 lbs. ; ipecac powder, 3v. ; blood root, ground, 3vj.; squills, bruised, 3iij; licorice root, crushed, 3jss.; anise seed, fine, Zviij.; fennel seed, fine, 3ij.; orange peel, crushed, Ziv.; cochineal, 3ss. ; crushed sugar, 10 lbs.; alcohol, 2 galls.; water, 2 galls. Take the wild cherry bark, wet it with water and set it aside two or three days; the rest of the ingredients, except the water and sugar, may be mixed and the alcohol poured over them, let stand for a week, shaking or stirring occasionally. After the wild cherry has stood for two or three days place it in a percolator and run through it two gallons of water. Now add this to the alcohol and other ingredients, and let stand for three days longer, stirring as before; now draw off

and filter the liquid, after which add the sugar, and, lastly, add sulphuric acid 3ij., which sets free the cochineal, making the mixture a beautiful cherry red tinged with orange. Dose, one or two teaspoonfuls. If physicians will try this they will not be disappointed. They can add other agents, such as morphia, tinct. opii. or bromide of potash, as they may desire. O. F. VOIGT, M. D.

NON-ANTISEPTIC SURGERY.-Dear Professor: I present for your Postal Briefs another case to illustrate the decided benefits of antiseptic surgery: I was called in haste to see a boy aged six years; the child of very poor parents, living in a hovel, surrounded with filth, and nothing but the ground for a floor. On a cold day in January, of last year, while the child's right hand was lying prone on a log, an ax had fallen from the shoulder of his little brother, striking its dull edge on his hand, cutting or rather crushing the dorsal aspect, making a gash from the metacarpo - phalangeal articulation of the little finger diagonally to the carpo-metacarpal articulation of the index finger, entirely severing the second and third metacarpal bones. The parents would not permit me to suture the wound. The idea of sticking a needle into the already suffering boy was intolerable; so I approximated the edges of the wound with adhesive strips and bound the hand and forearm to a splint. The next day the little fellow was running around with the rest of the children, playing. The third day he found the splint in his way and removed it; the hand never had any more attention. I saw him about three months after, and he had good use of his hand and the scar was very small. There had been no effort made to keep the hand clean. The little fellow played in the dirt every day, and did not wash the hand because it hurt too bad. The whole family looked as if they never washed, and yet no sign of septic infection. How is that? And why so much fuss about antiseptics?

F. A. REW, M. D., Portia, Ark.

[Perhaps Bro. Rew is not aware that this great globe of ours is a powerful antiseptic. Mother Earth is a combination of a number of geological strata, so mixed and prepared, that it possesses remarkable antiseptic, absorbent, astringent, contractile and healing properties, and I suppose this to be specially the case with Arkansas mud.-EDITOR.]

TOOTH CORDIAL.-Dear Professor: As you ask for Postal Briefs permit me to contribute my mite in giving what I call my tooth cordial, which your readers, I think, will like in case of tooth-ache: B. Chloroform, oil of piper nigrum, of each equal parts, mix. After cleansing out the cavity of the tooth, saturate a piece of lint or absorbent cotton with the above and insert into the cavity. If the affection is of a neuralgic character, use in connection with the above the following: R. Bromide potass., 3ij.; tinct. gelsemium (green root), 3j.; water, q. s., 3ij. Mix it and take a teaspoonful every one or two hours until relived.

J. G. ELLIS, M. D., Oakley, Ill.

A GOOD SUGGESTION.-E. Younkin, M. D., Dear Sir: No doubt you have many suggestions offered as to the management of the JOURNAL. All I can say, for heaven's sake don't allow longwinded articles with no practical application to disgrace its pages. Short, practical articles is what the practitioner wishes, with what will cure tacked on to the end-hints that can be utilized in everyday practice. A long, windy, random article with a half-dozen shot gun R's, is like unto a dog with a tin can hitched on his caudal extremities-something to be avoided.

A. H. COLLINS, M: D., Honey Grove, Texas.

THE VENOM OF a Rattlesnake in Tetanus.-Prof. YounkinDear Sir: In your March number appears an item under the head of "Notes and Personals," intended, perhaps, as a bit of a pasquinade on my alleged discovery of the utility of serpent venom as a remedy for tetanus. I have never yet claimed anything in the line of specifics, but this substance used early will control tetanic rigidity and spasmodic action almost as effectually as quinine will cure an ague. The venom of the rattlesnake is no more poisonous than strychnia and other active medicinal agents used by medical men in the regular routine of practice. It is no more likely to produce sloughing, when used hypodermically, than chloral, and is quite as safe in every respect and much more reliable in its action. But I do not propose to write an extended article at this time, as I prefer to await the result of further experiments before I wander wantonly on the domain of a profession that has always been both too slow in making investigations and too fast in accepting new things.

A. O. AMEDEN, M. D., Glens Falls, N. Y.