Page images
PDF
EPUB

tried "all known anti-spasmodics, counter-irritation, firm pressure around waist, pressure on phrenic nerve, and galvanism;" also "quinine and arsenic in large doses, bromide of potassium, cannabis indica, &c."

These are the suggestions he got the following week:

(1) "No one remedy can be depended on for a cure, but . . . a combination seldom fails. In my last attack I used a three-ounce dose of strong infusion of mustard seed, followed in two hours by two-drachm doses of pure glycerine, taken every three hours. I also rubbed in warm laudanum and chloroform along the course of the phrenic nerve." "Hypodermic injection of morphia and a hot spinal compress' were successful in one case; and in another spinal ice bag alternated with heat.

[ocr errors]

(2) Ten minims of opium every four hours, and scrupulous avoidance of all saccharine articles of food gave marked relief in the case of an elderly gentleman in a good social position in whom the hiccough proved afterwards to depend on cancer.

(3) A third correspondent suggests that the inquirer will relieve his patient if he will try the following treatment: "Hyoscyamine, To gr. ; arseniate of strychnine, 10 gr.; bromohydrate of cicutine, gr.; every half hour till relieved (!), all these together. He will be able to obtain these alkaloids in the above doses in the form of little granules or pilules..."

(4) Acetate of morphia gr., injected subcutaneously, followed next morning by a cold water lavement, together with an aloes and gentian pill.

(5) A fifth suggests that if his patient be not suffering from worms, the doctor may find relief from administering a few drops of ether for his patient to inhale, and the following mixture prescribed :-Sulphate of ether, 38s or 3j; ipecacuanha wine, 3ss; tincture of digitalis, 3ss or 3j; sulphate of magnesia, 3ij; chloroform water to 3vj. Two tablespoonfuls every four hours.

(6) A teaspoonful of mustard steeped in four ounces of boiling water for twenty minutes and steamed; the whole at a draught. Nitrite of amyl also suggested.

(7) Twenty drops of chloroform to be inhaled. Nothing has been heard of the patient since.

American Homœopathic Pharmacopœia.

WE lately gave a very favourable account of this publication, which the profession owe to the enterprise of Messrs. Boericke and Tafel. Unfortunately for them it happened that a portion of the work entrusted to a subordinate was by him carelessly copied from some works that had been already published, and were consequently copyright. On the attention of the publishers having been called to this they immediately withdrew from circulation the still unsold copies of the work, and have set about preparing a new edition, under the careful revision of Dr. J. T. O'Connor, Professor of Chemistry at the New York Homœopathic College. It is hoped by the publishers that this new edition will be ready early in May. We mention the above circumstances because the Philadelphia Medical Times has misrepresented the facts, stating that the publishers were compelled by a lawsuit to suppress the whole edition, whereas we have the assurance of Messrs. Boericke and Tafel that there was no lawsuit, that the matter was amicably adjusted as above, and no damages were either claimed or paid. The Medical Press and Circular adopts the erroneous version of the Phil. Med. Times in its number for February 7th, and makes the most of it."

Homeopathy in Tasmania.

By a Hobart newspaper of September 12th that has been forwarded to us, we perceive that a proposition to establish a homœopathic ward in the hospital of that city, at the request of a number of influential adherents of the system, has been rejected at a meeting of the hospital board, where the principal speakers were medical men belonging to the old school, and the arguments against the proposal were of the old school too. It is hopeless to attempt to persuade a council of allopathic doctors to admit homœopathy into any public institution on equal terms, and we think that as the partisans of homeopathy in Hobart seem to be numerous and influential, they would have a better chance of establishing a hospital for themselves than of persuad

ing the managers of existing hospitals (which are, of course, in the hands of allopaths) to give up some wards for the practice of Hahnemann's method. We may mention that the action of Dr. Kidd in the case of Lord Beaconsfield presented the most telling argument against entertaining the proposal of the petitioners in Tasmania. Here is how it reads in the speech of one

of the opponents:

“Dr. Kidd found the earl very ill; he sent for the Queen's physician, Sir W. Jenner, to consult with. He promptly refused, as the bulk of the profession would have done. Dr. Kidd then applied to Dr. Quain, and that doctor, before consulting with the homœopathic physician, asked how Lord Beaconsfield was being treated; and when he was informed that he was not being treated homoeopathically, he consented to confer with Dr. Kidd."

It will be long before Dr. Kidd's half-hearted adhesion to homeopathy will cease to exercise a baneful influence on the acceptance of homoeopathy by the prejudiced person. Unfortunately Dr. Kidd is regarded as an exponent of homœopathy, which is an entire mistake, and his halting between two opinions and his practice thence resulting are looked upon as common to the disciples of Hahnemann, which they are not. But it is difficult to disabuse the public of an idea that has once got into their heads, and we may expect that for a long time to come, when we are advocating the advantages and scientific character of homoeopathy, we shall have Dr. Kidd and his treatment of Lord Beaconsfield thrown in our teeth.

Dr. Richardson's Work on Obstetrics.

PROFESSOR WILLIAM C. RICHARDSON has returned from a vacation trip in the mountains of Colorado much rested and improved in health. He writes:- "I am busy at a revised edition of my work on obstetrics, and will be thankful to any of your readers for obstetrical hints of any kind. I want to make this new edition a credit to the school; it will be much enlarged, elegantly printed and bound, and up to the times on all points; in fine, a practical and complete work on obstetrics, a companion

volume to Ludlam on Diseases of Women, and Duncan on Diseases of Children.

"Send any hints or suggestions to WILLIAM C. RICHARDSON, M.D., 721, Chestnut Street, St. Louis, Mo."

Modest Merit.

Ar the banquet given on the 20th of November last to welcome the medical officers of the Egyptian Expedition, Sir William Jenner, Bart., K.C.B., Physician-in-Ordinary to the Queen, was in the chair, and in proposing Her Majesty's health he managed most ingeniously to pay himself a back-handed compliment, as seen in this extract from his speech as it appears in the Medical Times and Gazette of 25th November:

"Her confidence is given without stint. There is no backthought. Confidence is entirely given to those who merit it, for she will be as clear to see the want as she is to appreciate the merit."

One cannot say of this passage that there is no "backthought" in it. It is as clear as a syllogism. It is just as though the illustrious orator had said :-" Her Majesty is a consummate judge of merit. She only gives her confidence to those who merit it. She has given me her unstinted confidence for many years. Ergo, I am a person of merit." Or thus:-"Her Majesty is clear to perceive a want of merit. She withdraws her confidence when this want exists. She has never withdrawn her confidence from me. Ergo, there is no want of merit in me."

Evidently Sir William is anxious that his own good opinion of himself should be shared by others; perhaps if his merits had been less transcendant he might have displayed this anxiety in a less glaring manner.

208

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Old-school Medicine and Homœopathy. By J. W. DOWLING, M.D. New York: Hurlburt. 1882.

Hæmorrhoids. By W. JEFFERSON GUERNSEY, M.D. 1882. Supra-pubic Lithotomy. By W. TOD HELMUTH. New York: Boericke and Tafel.

1882.

The Springs and Baths of Kissingen. By Dr. HERMANN WELSCH. 2nd edition. Kissingen, 1880.

Third Annual Report of the Society for the Prevention of Blindness. December, 1882.

Annual Report of the Homœopathic Hospital, Melbourne. 1882. Revue Générale d'Ophthalmologie. Tom. ii, No. 1.

The California Homœopath.

Revista Homeopatica Catalana.

The Calcutta Journal of Medicine.

Boletin Clinico del Instituto Homeopatico de Madrid.
The Medical Counselor.

Rivista Omiopatica.

Revue Homeopathique Belge.

The Monthly Homœopathic Review.

The Homœopathic World.

The Hahnemannian Monthly.

The American Homœopathic Observer.

The North American Journal of Homœopathy.

The New England Medical Gazette.

El Criterio Medico.

L'Art Médical.

Bulletin de la Société Méd. Hom. de France.

Allgemeine homöopathische Zeitung.

New York Medical Times.

Homœopathic Journal of Obstetrics.
The Medical Call.

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »