entertained of a postponement of the important ceremony; but the bride and groom were ready, and objected to a postponement under such circumstances. At that moment a ray of light opened to me some hope. I remembered the cases I had perused in the Gazette Homœopathique (above inserted), and which tallied pretty well with the one under consideration, so I told them I would give their mother something powerful, and endeavour to strangle the disease at one grasp. I administered the Viola Odorata, 1st dilution, repeated several times during the day. She was convalescent on the third day, and went to the wedding with the use of her wrist and hand, though somewhat weak. I was as much surprised at the immediate operation of the remedy as they were; praises were poured forth in abundance where, in truth, but few were deserved, and which I referred to the beneficial action of a homoeopathic remedy. My next case in point was an apprentice boy, æt. 19. He first complained of his ankles and hips; he had fever and thirst. Aconite was given. Less fever, and pains reduced; they then attacked his upper extremities, and particularly his wrists. Viola Odorata was given. In a few days the right wrist was completely cured; the left one and ankles remained much as before, for which I had to resort to other remedies. This case exhibited a decided proof of the action of the Viola on the right carpal and metacarpal joints. My third case, which happened in January, 1862, was very similar in its phases to the last, commencing in the ankle-joints and then going upwards to the joints of the wrists, which became very painful and much swollen; the skin was tense and inflamed, and a total impossibility to move them or have them moved, so Here the Viola showed its excruciating was the least touch. appropriate sphere of action very decidedly; the right wrist was speedily relieved, and in a few days completely cured; but notwithstanding the continued administration of it, in its various dilutions, for full two weeks, I could make no impression whatever with it on the left one, and so gave it up, after a fair trial, with the most decided conviction of its action on the right carpal and metacarpal articulations, and not at all on the left ones. (Dr. Kitchen, in Ibid.) Apis in Defective Menstruation. CASE 1.—E. M., single, æt. 32, bilious temperament, subject many years to dysmenorrhoea; had used almost every preparation prescribed by an allopath for several years. Finally, for two years, had taken nothing; suffered much at the monthly periods; vio. lent spasmodic bearing-down pains, strongly resembling labour pains, lasting often the whole day, followed by a scanty flow of dark bloody-coloured mucus, continuing not more than twenty hours; emaciation; waxy appearance of skin; bowels regular, though rather costive, and appetite not good. Under Crocus, Pulsatilla, Sabina and Sulphur, she improved very slightly, when in Feb., 1865, I concluded to try the Apis Mellifica. I accordingly mixed one grain of the 3rd trituration in four tablespoonfuls of water the day previous to the recurrence of pain (she being regular almost to a day), and directed a teaspoonful to be taken every six hours while awake. She took five spoonfuls, and the result was, next day, the appearance of the menses very nearly of the natural colour; pain, though quite severe, yet, as she said, not to be compared with her previous sufferings. The discharge continued for twenty-nine hours, the pain gradually ceasing, and she felt better than she had done for years. In March I pursued the same course; result: pain quite severe, discharge natural, and lasted forty-eight hours. In April, same course. Result: pain still severe, but quite bearable; discharge natural, lasted sixty-two hours. I still continue the Apis, and hope in time to restore the parts to their normal integrity. CASE 2.-S. S., æt. 27, single; nervous temperament; very high temper; easily provoked but soon mollified. Amenorrhoea for five or six years, with occasionally a slight show; very little pain, but violent headache, and congestio ad caput, rendering her at times almost delirious; for some months urine very scanty, high-coloured, and frequently scalding; œdematous swelling of feet, ankles, and as far up as the knees, which, upon pressure, pitted slightly; of late observed the abdomen to swell, and had slight difficulty in breathing, very perceptible on going up stairs rapidly; bowels regular, appetite good; took much exercise in the open air. I began with Acon., Bell., and Glono., with but trifling benefit, and then used Apis Mel., as in Case 1. Same dose, same intervals, but did not succeed for a long time in producing the menses. The first result was an increased discharge of urine, which gradually became very large, more than the liquids taken. This was soon followed by diminution of swelling, and a cessation of the difficulty of breathing. At length, five weeks after she had begun the use of Ap. Mel., there was a slight show, lasting only three hours; I then discontinued Apis for twenty-five days. When I again prescribed, on the thirtieth day, counting from the show, menses appeared, with considerable pain, and a copious discharge of black clotted blood occurred; what I saw looked like pieces of putrid calf liver. This was succeeded by a nearly natural discharge which lasted fifty-four hours. It is my intention to continue the Apis Mel. at regular intervals, for some months; general health very much improved; headache nearly gone; congestion very trifling; temper much better. (Dr. J. R. Coxe, in Ibid.) Apis in Inflammation of Labium. A child, æt. 3, girl, was attacked with violent swelling of right labium; inflammation very violent; pain great; no cause assignable that I could discover; pulse very quick and very hard; diarrhoea of yellowish mucus, tinged with green. Gave Apis Mel., 6th in water every four hours; in twenty hours, pain gone, fever subsided; no diarrhea; swelling of labium diminished more than half; inflammation not much. Apis Mel. at intervals of ten hours. In twenty-four hours all vestiges of disease had vanished. (Ibid, in Ibid.) Cases treated with Cactus Grandiflorus. By DR. CARROLL DUNHAM. A. B. æt. 28, who had generally been healthy, enlisted in the army in July, 1864. After three months he got acute articular rheumatism in the back and limbs. After a long sick. ness in the hospital, he was mustered out of the service as incurable. He slowly gathered strength, but applied to me in March, 1865, in the following condition: Muscular condition fair; limbs free from stiffness or swelling; lumbar muscles tender on pressure, and stiff, especially on first moving after repose. Extensive dulness in the precordia; blowing with the first sound of the heart. A constant sense of constriction in the region of the heart and epigastrium, "as if the heart were grasped and compressed as by a hand of iron." This sensation is very distressing, it is much increased by muscular exertion, and especially by reading aloud, or by loud talking. Cactus 100, two doses, relieved the patient entirely. No return up to the present time. He is still under observation; symptom 64 is strongly confirmed. CASE 2.-A lady, eighty years of age, complained of periodical constriction of the chest, with fainting and palpitations of the heart; worse in the morning and after rising; periodical stitches in the heart. All these symptoms disappeared after two doses of Cactus grand, 75 m. A confirmation of symptoms 65, 66, 67, 73, 74. Symptom 7, a pressing pain in the head, as if a great weight were lying on the vertex, has been repeatedly removed by Cactus gr., especially when the menstruations returned too frequently, and was too profuse. CASE 3.-A lady, forty years of age, who had often complained of palpitation of the heart and of rheumatism, was, by Cactus gr. 10 m, promptly relieved from rheumatism, first in the hands, later in the feet; worse in the morning and upon beginning to move; the soles of the feet felt as if they were bruised when she walked. The rheumatism of Cactus gr. goes from above downward, that of Ledum from below upward.-Hahnemannian Monthly, November, 1865. On some anomalous Cases occurring in Practice. It is, I think, to be regretted that our journals do not more frequently contain reports of anomalous or unsuccessful cases occurring in practice. Our enemies object to us that we only publish our cures and striking successes, thereby giving a false idea of the proportion of the cures to the failures; and we are also deprived of the instruction to be derived from the history of the latter. Nor do we need to fear the results of such candour. All deductions made, our practice still towers triumphantly above that of the most successful allopaths; and when we add to this that the best of us, when we fail, in cases at least not absolutely in curable or complicated with organic disease, ought rather to blame our own want of experience and skill in recognising the "simile" appropriate to the individual case than allege any real defect in our science itself, we have nothing to fear, but much to gain, by fairly stating our unsuccessful practice. Especially in experimenting with new and unproved remedies is it desirable that we should report our want of success, as has been done by Dr. Hughes with regard to Phytolacca, in the last number of the Monthly Homœopathic Review. Our American brethren seem to be of a more sanguine temperament than ourselves, and describe the effects of the numerous new medicines they have introduced in such glowing terms that inexperienced practitioners at least are apt to be beguiled into relying on them to the exclusion of our old and approved friends, the Polychrests of Hahne mann. Moreover, it must have occurred to every practitioner to have met with cases where, from some unexplained peculiarity or idiosyncrasy of constitution, our remedies either fail to produce their usual effects or, what is much more rare, over-excite the patient's system. I I was propose here to give a short history of four such cases, which have occurred in my own practice, illustrating both these categories of failure-remarking, by the way, that these are nearly the only ones I can recall in thirteen or fourteen years' experience. I. When in practice at Tunbridge Wells some years ago, consulted by a young lady suffering from a febrile attack, caused by exposure to cold. The usual remedies were applied, and with success, the attack being readily cut short. I afterwards attended her for various chronic affections, sore throat, cough, and other ordinary complaints, but never could succeed in producing the slightest impression on any of them by any medicine, however carefully selected or in whatever dilution (from three to thirty) employed. I may add that on more than one occasion, mistrusting my own judgment, I had recourse to the advice of my friend the late Dr. Chapman, but always with the same results, the complaints seeming to get slowly well of themselves, without being in the slightest degree influenced by the medicines. On the other hand, one or two smart attacks of acute disease, attended by fever, were perfectly amenable to treatment. The only peculiarity of constitution which I could discover in this case was an unhealthy condition of the skin. The young lady's mother told me that the VOL. XXIV, NO. XCVI.—APRIL, 1866. X |
