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Duboisia in Exophthalmic Goitre.-Desmos (Rev. des Sciences Méd., Oct. 15th, 1882) had great success in three cases by hypodermic injections of from 0.5 to 1 milligramme of the neutral Sulphate of Duboisia. The projection of the eyes and palpitation diminished, the general health improved, the thyroid enlargement, with the accompanying pulsation and bruit, decreased greatly. Slight symptoms of poisoning, such as formication and cramp in the gluteal region, were observed in two cases, which rendered a reduction of dose necessary.

Anthemis Nobilis in Infantile Diarrhea.-Elliott (Pract., xxix, 426) finds an infusion of chamomile flowers especially useful in the diarrhoea connected with dentition when the stools are many in number, green in colour, slimy and streaked with blood, and there is pain and cramp. These are precisely the characteristics of the stools in which Ringer recommends Chamomile. The latter does not say what Chamomile he uses, but probably the medicinal qualities of the Anthemis nobilis and the Matricaria chamomilla are nearly, if not quite, identical. As an adherent of modern scientific medicine is never happy unless he can give a quasi-pathological reason for his prescriptions, we shall not search in vain for one from Dr. Elliott. He says, "The rationale of the treatment is explained, I believe, by the power which chamomile flowers possess of subduing reflex excitability." Why not: quia est in ea virtus anti-diarrhoeica? The real rationale or reason of Ringer's use of Chamomile in infantile diarrhoea, and of Elliott's employment of it after him, is that it has been used successfully for just the same condition by the school of Hahnemann for more than half a century.

Arsenite of Bromine in Diabetes.-Dr. T. Clemens claims his treatment of diabetes as the most successful of modern times. He dissolves Bromine and Arsenious acid in water and glycerine, so that two drops of the solution represent the twenty-fourth part of a grain of Arsenite of Bromine. The dose is two drops three times a day, gradually increased to nine and twelve drops daily, each dose to be given in a wine-glassful of water immediately after a meal, which should consist mostly of meat. The thirst and diuresis soon diminish, and the percentage of sugar decreases. The dose is to be increased gradually until the sugar in the urine has entirely disappeared.

Mode of administering Santonine for Vermicide purposes.VOL. XLI, NO. CLXV.-JULY, 1883,

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Lewin (Berlin. Klin. Wochensch., March 19th, 1883) says that in aqueous solution it is inert, but that given dissolved in oil it quickly and effectually destroys the worms. Oil of almonds, cocoa-nut oil, olive oil, cod-liver oil, butter, &c., may either of them be used as the solvent.

Belladonna as a Prophylactic of Scarlatina.-Mr. Owen Pritchard, of Kingston Hill, writing in the Lancet of April 14th, states that he has given Belladonna an extensive trial as a prophylactic in a scarlet-fever epidemic with great success. He gave one to three minims of the tincture three times a day to all the children in a house between six months and fourteen years of age, as soon as one of the household had been attacked. It was thus given to twenty-eight families, numbering seventy-four children, of which only four-54 per cent.-took the fever; whilst among those similarly exposed, and to whom Belladonna was not given, 36.2 per cent. took it. Of course no acknowledgment is made to Hahnemann or homœopathy.

Iodine-painting in Smallpox.--Bojinski-Bojko (Vratch, 1883, No. 1) found that if a patient suffering from the prodromal symptoms of smallpox was painted on the anterior part of the thighs with Tincture of Iodine the eruption of variolous pustules was strictly limited to the skin so painted, and the disease ran a remarkably mild course. He tried it in four cases with the same result. Anti-vaccinationists should make a note of this.

Pilocarpin in Hydrophobia.-A patient was brought to the hospital suffering from hydrophobia caused by the bite of a rabid dog. Morphia, Bromide of Potassium, and Codeia were tried without result. Then Dr. Dumont gave him hypodermic injections of one centigr. of Pilocarpin. Profuse perspiration and salivation set in, followed by almost immediate relief, and in a few days the cure was complete. Pilocarpin was originally recommended by Dr. Neale as a remedy for hydrophobia in 1879, since which time many cases have been published where recovery took place during its administration.

Hyoscyamine.-Browne (Brit. Med. Jour., Nov., 1882, p. 1030) gave this alkaloid hypodermically th toth a grain in three cases of furious mania with marked benefit. Simpson (ibid., Dec., 1882, p. 1148) says this drug should be discarded as too dangerous. It never does more than quiet a patient, and does not tend to stop the frequency of the attacks.

Syzygium Jambolanum in Diabetes.-Banatvala (Lond. Med. Rev., Feb. 15th, 1883) saw in India some cases treated with this remedy by a quack. The dose was five grains of the powdered fruit-stones three times a day. Banatvala tried it in three other cases with the following results:-1. It decidedly lessened the daily secretion of urine. 2. The sugar disappeared in every case. 3. The preliminary change was produced in about fortyfive hours. The patients can take starchy diet with impunity as long as they are under the influence of the drug.

Chrysophanic Acid in Psoriasis.-Napier (Glasgow Med. Jour., June, 1882) recommends the internal use of this substance in psoriasis, half a grain for a dose. Cautz (Lancet, Dec., 1882, p. 935) tried it in three cases with little or no benefit, but it caused severe vomiting and purging, and he thinks that any benefit it has caused in cases of psoriasis must be owing to the constant purging it caused.

White Lead in Erysipelas.—Barwell (Lancet, March, 1883, p. 400) gives five cases of erysipelas treated by painting over with white-lead paint. The result is that the temperature quickly falls, the pain is relieved, and in a few days the epidermis desquamates. Neale says that this treatment of erysipelas is twenty-five years old. Superficial burns have, as we know, lately been successfully treated with white paint.

Quinine in Pruritus Ani.—Steele (Brit. Med. Jour., Feb., 1883, p. 245) found that Sulphate of Quinine, rubbed up with a sufficiency of lard to hold it together, is a never-failing specific in this affection. Another physician is equally confident on the success of the local application of Peru balsam. We have seen the most inveterate cases cured by the local application of Hamamelis, in the form of "Pond's extract," together with the internal use of Petroleum 3.

Sodium Nitrite in Epilepsy.-Ralfe (Brit. Med. Jour., Dec., 1882, p. 1095) tried it in seventeen cases, three received no benefit, four improved slightly, one was doubtful, nine benefited decidedly. He thinks it may prove useful when bromide of potassium does no good or disagrees.

Glycerine in Unguents.-Vigier (Gaz. Hebd. de Méd.) says that drugs incorporated with Glycerine are not absorbed at all. This is well to know. We have all seen mercurial ointment, prepared in the usual way, when employed for the destruction of pediculi

cause serious symptoms by absorption. By preparing the metal with glycerine in place of lard we shall be able to destroy the parasites without injuring these parts.

Hot Water in Epistaxis.-The advantage of hot water in the treatment of metrorrhagia is now generally recognised. Auguier (Gaz. Hebd. de Montpellier, Nov. 4th, 1882) found it equally efficacious in an obstinate case of epistaxis, which he had tried in vain to stop by means of cold water, plugging the nostrils, mustard plasters, &c.

Oxygenated Water.-P. Bert and Regnard find that the bacteria in cultivated charbon virus are killed in an hour by ten volumes of oxygenated water. So we suppose we shall presently see this fluid proposed as the universal remedy for all diseases depending on microbes, which, according to Pasteur and his disciples, will comprehend all diseases, as according to the simple classification of that remarkable man, diseases are divisible into -1. those in which a microbe has been found, and 2, those in which a microbe will be found. How near we must be to the much sought for arcanum of medieval doctors-the universal medicine. Is it carbolic acid, boracic acid, or oxygenated water? Time will show.

Power of small doses.-A. A. Smith (New York Med. Jour.) recommends in urticaria two grains of Salicylate of Soda every hour; in spasmodic croup 13th of a grain of Atropia in a goblet of water, a teaspoonful every hour or half hour; in the nervous disturbances and excitements of children, the bromides in one or two grain doses every ten or fifteen minutes. Teaspoonful doses of a solution of Tartar emetic one grain in a quart of water, given frequently, will relieve the wheezing and cough of a slight bronchitis in children. In orchitis and epididymitis and also in dysmenorrhoea, two minim doses of tincture of Pulsatilla every hour are most efficient. Hæmorrhages from the uterus and hæmorrhoids will generally be stopped by two minims of the tincture of Hamamelis every half hour. Dr. Smith seems to have in his library a handbook of homoeopathic practice-but he might have told us where he got his therapeutics-to be sure, had he done so, the London Medical Record would not have deigned to notice his article.

Nitro-glycerine.-Koreguski (Wien. Med. Wochensch., 1882, p. 6) uses one to six drops of a one per-cent. solution. Two of

three minutes after the drug is given the heart's impulse is increased, the bruits are stronger, the pulse 8-16 beats more rapid; at same time arterial tension is lower. These symptoms persist about three quarters of an hour, and then the normal condition is slowly re-established. Two drops of the solution cause violent headache and the face becomes flushed. Six drops cause photophobia, painful throbbing in head, synchronous with pulse, buzzing in ears at end of each inspiration. Administered at the commencement of a fit of asthma it almost always arrests it, and is more successful in asthma with emphysema than without. In angina pectoris if the attacks are not arrested they are greatly moderated by Nitro-glycerine.

Cocain. Morselli and Buccola (Riv. Sper. di Fren. e di Med. Leg., 1882, Fasc. iii) say that it has a mydriatic action on the pupil; raises the temperature slightly; quickens respiration, and renders it more superficial, and increases the frequency of the pulse. After its prolonged use, sleep becomes longer and more profound. They give it in melancholia, even when combined with stupor.

Convallaria majalis.-This well known plant, the common lily of the valley, has been at various times employed in medicine. At one time it was reckoned a good cephalic, useful for fortifying the brain and preventing vertigo. Dried and powdered the flowers were held to be emetic and purgative. Half a drachm of the extract is a violent purge, it was proposed as a succedaneum for scammony. The fruit was said to be a good febrifuge. The powder of the flowers when sniffed up provokes sneezing. The distilled water of the flowers was said to revive the vital forces, hence it was called Eau d'or. This plant has been recently recommended as a cardiac remedy, having an action similar to digitalis. Dr. Bianchi (Gaz. degli Ospitali, Jan., 1883) tells us that it is now coming into use in Russia and France in diseases of the heart, nervous and organic.

Convallaria majalis.-Troitzky (Vratch, 1881, No. 15, and 1882, Nos. 18, 40, and 41) gives the following sketch of the physiological effects of the aqueous extract of this fashionable remedy:

1. Heart. It stimulates the central inhibitory apparatus. It paralyses the motor centres situated in the heart itself.

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