Library / How To / An Epitome of the Homeopathic Healing Art
AN EPITOME OF THE Homoeopathic Healing Art,
CONTAINING THE NEW DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS TO THE PRESENT TIME;
DESIGNED
FOR THE USE OF FAMILIES, FOR TRAVELERS ON THEIR JOURNEY,
AND AS A POCKET COMPANION FOR THE PHYSICIAN.
BY B. L. HILL, M. D.,
Professor of General, Special, and Surgical Anatomy Late Professor of
Surgery, Obstetrics, and Diseases Females and Children, in the W. H.
College, Author of the "Homoeopathic Practice of Surgery," &c., &c.
CLEVELAND, OHIO: JOHN HALL, 72 SUPERIOR STREET.
CHICAGO, ILL. HALSEY & KING, 162 CLARK STREET.
1859.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859,
By B. L. HILL, M. D.,
In the Clerk's office of the District Court in and for the Northern
District of Ohio.
PINKERTON & NEVINS' Print, Cleveland, O.
* * * * *
TABLE OF REMEDIES.
In this table I have affixed to the remedies figures designating the
dilutions or the attenuations, at which, under ordinary circumstances, I
would advise their use. The strongest, or mother tinctures, marked with
an apha (0), the dilutions or triturations to be of the decimal degrees
of attenuation, are marked 1, 2, 3, &c., to designate that they are to
be used at 1-10th, 1-100th, 1-1000th, &c., the strength of the pure
drugs.
The list for a full FAMILY CASE contains all the remedies recommended in
this book for diseases that may be safely trusted to unprofessional
hands.
The TRAVELER'S CASE needs only such medicines as are prescribed for the
diseases which he would be most liable to contract on his journey;
though I have put in the principal ones used in domestic practice, so
that the Case will do for family use.
The CHOLERA CASE is only supplied with such remedies as are particularly
applicable to that disease; useful, however, for many other complaints.
TRAVELER'S CASE.
1 Aconite p 3|15 Hydrastus Can. p 1
2 Apis Mellifica p 3|16 Ipecac p 3
3 Arsenicum p 3|17 Mercurius sol. p 3
4 Arnica tr 0|18 Mercurius cor. tt 2
5 Arum triphyllum tt 2|19 Macrotin tt 1
6 Belladonna p 3|20 Nux Vom. p 3
7 Baptisia p 1|21 Phosphorus p 3
8 Bryonia p 3|22 Phos. acid p 3
9 Colocynth p 3|23 Podophyllin p 2
10 China Sul. tt 1|24 Rhus toxicod. p 3
11 Chamomilla p 3|25 Secale p 3
12 Copaiva p 2|26 Tartar emetic p 3
13 Cuprum p 3|27|Veratrum p 3
14 Eupatorium Aro. p 1|
CHOLERA CASE.
1 Aconite p 3|8 Laurocerasus p 4
2 Arsenicum p 3|9 Opium p 3
3 Belladonna p 3|10 Merc. cor. p 3
4 Camphor tr 0|11 Phosphorus p 3
5 Carbo Veg. p 5|12 Phos. acid p 3
6 Cuprum p 3|13 Secale p 3
7 Ipecac p 3|14 Veratrum p 3
FULL FAMILY CASE.
Tr. is used for tincture, Tt. trituration, P. pellets.
REMEDIES. |CONTRACTIONS.
|
1 Aconitum. |Aconite Tr 0 1 p 3
2 Althæa. |
3 Apis mellifica. |Apis mel. 0 p 2 3
4 Arsenicum. |Arsenicum 0 p 3
5 Arnica. |Arnica, 0 p 3
6 Arum triphyllum. |Arum triphyllum, 0 tt 2
7 Belladonna. |Bell. tr 1 p 4
8 Baptisia tinctoria. |Baptisia, tr 0 2
9 Bryonia. |Bryonia, tr p 3
10 Carbo. Vegetabilis. |Carbo. Veg. tr p 4
11 Cantharides. |Cantharides, tr 0 p 3
12 Colocynthis. |Colocynth, tr or p 3
13 China Sulphuricum. |China Sul. tt 1
14 Chamomilla. |Chamomilla tr or p 3
15 Copaiva. |Copaiva tr 1 p 2
16 Cauloph. Thalictroides.|Caulophyllum tr 1
17 Cuprum. |Cuprum, p 3
18 Cuprum Aceticum. |
19 Cornus Sericea. |Cornus sericea, tr 0 p 2
20 Conium maculatum. |Conium mac. tr 0 p 3
21 Coffea. |Coffea p 4
22 Eryngium Aquaticum. |Eryngium Aquaticum 2
23 Eupatorium aromaticum |Eupatorium aro. tr 0 p 2
24 Hepar Sulphur. |
25 Hydrastus Canadensis. |Hydrastin tr 0 p 2
26 Hamamelis Virginica. |Hamamelis Vir. tr 0 p 3
27 Ipecacuanha. |Ipecac tr 0 p 2 3
28 Laurocerasus. |Laurocerasus p 3
29 Mercurius solubilis. |Merc. tr 3
30 Mercurius corrosivus. |Mercurius cor. tt 2 p 3
31 Macrotys Racemosa. |Macrotin, tr 2
32 Nux Vomica. |Nux p 3
33 Opium. |Opium p 3
34 Phosphorus. |Phosphorus, tr 2 p 3
35 Phosphoric acid. |Phos. acid, tr 2 p 3
36 Podophyllum peltatum. |Podophyllin, tt 1 p 3
37 Pulsatilla. |Pulsatilla 3
38 Rhus Toxicodendron. |Rhus Tox. p 3
39 Secale cornutum. |Secale, tr 1 p 3
40 Santonine. |Santonine, tr 1
41 Spongia. |Spongia, p 4
42 Tartar Emetic. |Tartar emetic tr 2 p 3
43 Thuya. |
44 Veratrum alba. |Veratrum. p 3
AN EPITOME
OF THE
HOMOEOPATHIC HEALING ART.
Introduction.
This work contains in a condensed form a very large portion of all
that is practically useful in the treatment of the diseases ordinarily
occurring in this country. The symptoms are given with sufficient
minuteness and detail to enable any one of ordinary capacities of
observation to distinguish the complaint; and the treatment is so
plainly laid down, that no one need make a mistake. If strictly
followed, it will, in a very large proportion of cases, effect cures,
even when administered by those unacquainted with the medical sciences
generally. It has been written from necessity, to meet the demands of
community for a more definite work in a concise form, that should
contain remedies of the most reliable character, with such directions
for their use as can be followed by the traveler on his journey, or by
families at home, when no physician is at hand. It might seem to some
preposterous to speak of a demand for another domestic
Homoeopathic Practice, when half a score or more of such works are now
extant, some having come out within a very short time. The demand
arises, not from the want of Books, but from the defects of those that
exist. There is in most of them, too little point and definiteness in
the prescriptions, and a kind of vague doubting recommendation
noticeable to all, which carries the impression at once to every reader,
of a want of confidence by the author in his own directions.
Again, in some of the works there is too much confusion, the symptoms
not being laid down with sufficient clearness to indicate the best
remedy. Some of the works are unnecessarily large and cumbersome, while
the real amount of valuable practical matter is comparatively meager,
obliging the reader to pay for paper and binding without the contained
value of his money. I do not claim entire perfection for this work, yet
I do claim it to be several steps in advance of the books now extant.
* * * * *
This work is my own, being the result of my practical experience and
observation. I have introduced several remedies that, though they are
familiar to me, and have been used in my practice for many years, are,
nevertheless, comparatively strange and new to most of the profession.
Of some we have no extensive provings yet published, still the provings
have been made, both upon the healthy and the sick. Their use, as
directed in this work, is in strict accordance with their
Homoeopathic relation to the symptoms for which they are prescribed.
Some may object to my practice of giving several remedies in alternation
or rotation and in quick succession. To such I would say, When you try
this mode of practice and on comparing it with the opposite one of
giving only one remedy, and that at long intervals between the doses,
find my mode to be less successful than yours, then it will be time
for you to make your objections. You may rely upon the vague
hypotheses of the books, and give your high dilutions singly, at long
intervals, and let your patients die for want of real treatment, while
I will use lower dilutions and give two or more remedies in quick
succession and cure mine. I only speak what is in accordance with
universal observation, where the two modes are compared on equal
footing, when I affirm that, while the former may effect some cures,
most of the recoveries under it, are spontaneous and unaided, the
latter does cure; the disease being arrested by the medicine, and the
proportion of unfavorable terminations is much less under the latter
than the former course. I know many learned and successful practitioners
who have substituted low dilutions and the giving of several remedies in
quick succession for the old mode of high attenuations and long
intervals of single remedies, all of whom still adhere to the low, while
I have yet to hear of the man who has gone back to high single
remedies and long intervals. My reason then, for the course here laid
down, is, that it will cure with more promptness and certainty. If
others are so prejudiced as not to try it, they will still remain in
ignorance of the best practice, and their patients will be the
sufferers.
In reference to the fear that is expressed that if one medicine is given
too soon after another, it will antidote the former, I have simply to
say, I have no confidence in the hypothetic antidotal powers of the
medicines one over another, as laid down in the books. It has not been
verified by experience, and has no foundation in truth. It is true that
one medicine will remove morbid symptoms that might be produced by an
overdose of another; but both being given in the ordinary medicinal
doses, neither of them to such an extent as to produce sensible
symptoms, if given alone, would not, if given in quick succession,
prevent each other from acting to remove their own peculiar symptoms
that exist in the system at the time. So if we have the symptoms that
are found in two or more different remedies present in the same attack,
as is often the ease, we may give these several remedies one after
another, with confidence in their curative effects for the symptoms they
represent.
This has been my practice, and it has been eminently successful, and
therefore I commend it to others, treating with pity the infirmity of
those who ignorantly condemn it, as "They know not what they do."
ADMINISTRATION OF REMEDIES.
The remedies are either in the form of tinctures saturated, more or less
dilute, in Pellets or Powders. The Pellets may be taken dry upon the
tongue, allowed to dissolve and swallowed. The dose for an adult is from
4 to 7; for an infant, from birth to one year old, 1 to 3; from one to
three years, 2 to 4; from three to ten years, 3 to 5 pellets; after ten,
same as an adult. 15 or 20 pellets may be dissolved in a gill of water,
and a tea-spoonful dose given at a time, being particular to stir it
until all are perfectly dissolved, stirring it each dose.
Powders may be taken in the same manner, upon the tongue, a dose when
dry, being about the same bulk as of the pellets as nearly as
practicable. If put into water, to a gill of water add of the powder
about what would lie on a three cent piece. If the liquid medicine is
used, add 1 drop to a gill of water, and use tea-spoonful doses as above
directed. The length of time between the doses should be, in Dysentery
and Diarrhoea, regulated by the frequency of the discharges, giving a
dose as often as the evacuations occur. In acute and violent diseases,
the doses should be repeated oftener than in milder cases--about once an
hour as a general rule is often enough, though in some cases they should
be given in half an hour or oftener. In mild cases, once in two or three
hours is often enough, and in chronic cases, once or twice a day.
Bathing.
The surface of the body should be kept clean, as far as possible, and to
this end, in summer, should be well bathed at least once a day. In
winter, though useful, it is not so indispensable; still no one should
neglect the bath more than a week, and all ought to bathe at least twice
a week, if not oftener, even in winter.
The bath should be of a temperature that is agreeable, and the room
warm, especially for a feeble person. It should be so applied as not to
give a general chill, as such shocks are always hurtful.
The teeth should be kept clean and free from tartar. They should be
cleaned every morning and after each meal. The feet, legs and arms
should be warmly clothed, especially the arms, as an exposure of them
to cold is liable to induce affections of the lungs, and to aggravate
any existing disease of those organs.
By exposure of the feet and legs to cold, diseases and derangements of
the female organs, even in young girls, are induced; and one prolific
cause of female weakness is to be found in improper dressing of the feet
and legs, while the lung affections of females, now so fearfully
prevalent, are traceable in a great degree to the fashion that has
prevailed for a few years, of exposing the arms to cold.
Diet.
The diet of the sick should he nutricious, but at all times simple, free
from greasy substances, and from all stimulating condiments whatsoever,
as well as from vinegar, or food in which vinegar is used.
In short, let the food be nutritious, easily digested, small or moderate
in quantity, and free from all "seasoning," except salt or sugar; and if
salt is used at all, let the quantity be very small, much less than
would be used in health.
Diarrhoea.
This disease consists in a looseness of the bowels, generally
accompanied with pain in the abdomen, more or less severe. It sometimes
occurs without pain, but is then attended with a sense of weakness,
and a general feeling of uneasiness. It prevails mostly in the warm
seasons, but may occur at any time. It is not usually considered a very
dangerous affection, except during the prevalence of Cholera, or in
children during hot weather.
TREATMENT.
Veratrum and Phos. acid, given alternately, at intervals, as
frequently as the discharges from the bowels occur, will generally be
sufficient. If there is nausea or vomiting, or cramping pains in the
bowels, give Ipecac in alternation with one or both the former. If
thirst and a burning of the stomach or bowels exist, use Arsenicum.
This last medicine may be given in alternation with either of the
others, but is most frequently indicated in connection with Veratrum.
The intervals between the doses should be regulated by the frequency of
the evacuations in all cases, lengthening them as the evacuations become
less frequent, until they cease. In children, where the discharges are
greenish or slimy, and contain undigested food, give Chamomilla and
Ipecac alternately, as above directed. If the discharges are dark, or
yellow, with distress in the stomach, give Podophyllin. The dose is
from 3 to 6 pellets. In all cases of diarrhoea, adults should abstain
from all kinds of food until cured, if possible, and eat but little at
first, when food is taken. Children should be fed carefully, and but a
small quantity at a time, being particular both for adults and children
to use as little liquid as possible; drink water in small
quantities, not very cold. Avoid exercise, and lie on the back quietly,
when that is practicable. In a large majority of cases, Veratrum, if
given in the early stages of the disease, will arrest it at once, and in
many chronic diarrhoeas of weeks or months standing, it is the surest
remedy. In chronic diarrhoea of females, Podophyllin should be used
in alternation with Veratrum.
Dysentery.
This disease is caused by inflammation of the mucous membrane of the
colon and rectum, (the large intestine) generally confined to the lower
part of the bowel. It is always painful. There is griping and straining
in the lower part of the abdomen, and generally great bearing down when
at stool, with a peculiar distress after the evacuation, called tormina.
The discharges often commence like a common diarrhoea, with copious
liquid evacuations, but there is more or less griping pain, low down,
from the beginning. The evacuations sooner or later become lessened,
slimy or bloody, or both, the pain increasing accompanied with more or
less fever, often quite severe. Sometimes the patient is costive, and
has been so for several days, the dysentery coming on without being
preceded by looseness. At others, especially in summer, when fevers are
prevailing, the dysentery begins with a severe chill, followed by fever
and the dysenteric symptoms above described.
TREATMENT.
If it begins with looseness without blood, give Arsenicum and
Veratrum alternately, once an hour, or oftener if the evacuations are
more frequent. If the discharges are bloody, use Mercurius cor. in
place of the Arsenicum. If there is any sickness of the stomach, or
the discharges are dark or yellow, use Podophyllin with _Mercurius
cor._ If there are colic pains in the bowels, use Colocynthis
alternately with the others, giving it between them. If the patient was
costive previous to the attack, and the dysentery came on without much
looseness, Nux Vomica should be given alternately with _Mercurius
cor._ If the disease comes on with a chill, or a chill occurs at any
time during the attack, followed by fever, Aconite, Baptisia and
Podophyllin should be used in rotation half an hour apart until a free
perspiration is produced, and the pain diminishes; or if bloody stools
appear, use Mercurius cor, with the Aconite and Baptisia. A large
proportion of the dysenteries of hot weather in miasmatic regions, will
be arrested in a few hours by these three or four remedies, especially
if the patient keeps still, and generally even if he keeps about his
business. In very bad cases, much benefit will be derived from
injections of Gum Arabic water, or mucillage of Slippery Elm thrown into
the bowel in quantities of a pint or more at a time, as warm as can
possibly be endured. I have often relieved patients immediately with
injections of a strong solution of Borax in Rice water, as hot as
bearable. Never apply cold water to any inflamed surface, much less
a mucous surface. All food should be withheld as far as practicable
and not starve, until the symptoms abate.
Colic.
The symptoms of this are cramping pains in the abdomen, without fever or
looseness of the bowels. The colic sometimes occurs after the cessation
of a diarrhoea that had been induced by severe cathartics. The pains
are cutting and straining, drawing the bowels into knots, relieved
temporarily by pressure.
TREATMENT.
For a male, Nux Vom., and for a female, Pulsatilla will generally
afford immediate relief. In children, especially, where diarrhoea
exists, Chamomilla should be used. If it is the result of severe
cathartics, or if there is a soreness or a bruised feeling, Colocynth
is the remedy. Hot injections into the rectum, and large quantities of
warm water taken into the stomach, will often cure colic.
Bilious Colic.
This disease, in addition to the symptoms of cutting, cramping pains in
the bowels, as in common colic, has great distress in the stomach, with
nausea and vomiting, the bowels being costive, the feet and hands cold,
sometimes cold sweats occur. There is also considerable fever, and
frequently headache is present. The substance vomited is at first dark
bilious matter, but if the case continues a long time, stercoraceous
(fecal) matter will be thrown up.
TREATMENT.
Colocynth is the most important remedy, and should be given early and
constantly. Podophyllin is next in importance, and it should be given
in alternation with the former, the dose to be repeated as often as
every half hour at first, and as the patient becomes easy, at longer
intervals. In this, as in the former case, great benefit will be derived
from large injections of quite warm water, and let it be taken into the
stomach freely, as hot as can be safely swallowed. I have given a gallon
of hot water in the course of two hours, to a patient suffering under
this disease, the first half pint being rejected, but the balance
remaining, perfect relief having been experienced. If fever continues
after the colic and nausea cease, Baptisia and Aconite should be
given alternately every hour until the fever subsides. If the patient
is, and has been, for some time, costive, Nux Vomica should be given
once in six or eight hours until the bowels move. Injections may also be
used.
Cholera Morbus.
This disease generally comes on at night, in hot weather, and is, in
many cases, induced by over eating while the patient is suffering from
diarrhoea and a deranged state of the liver. It is essentially of a
bilious character. It sets in with great pain in the bowels, sickness at
the stomach, and vomiting of large quantities of dark greenish bitter
tasting substance. At first, the vomiting will seem to afford relief,
but sooner or later the stomach and bowels cramp, and the cramping may
extend to other parts of the body, the feet, hands, calves of the legs,
and the arms, cold sweats come on, and death terminates his sufferings.
TREATMENT.
Ipecac and Colocynthis are to be given in alternation, and repeated
as often as every 30 minutes, for the first three or four doses, then as
the patient gets easier, at longer intervals. A dose every hour will
suffice as soon as the symptoms begin to abate. The application of hot
cloths or even mustard, over the abdomen, frequently palliates the
sufferings, and does not interfere with the action of the medicines.
Fever of a low typhoid type some times sets in after an attack of
cholera morbus, and terminates fatally. This ought never to occur under
Homoeopathic treatment. For such fever give Baptisia, a dose every
hour until the fever subsides, which will occur generally in six or
eight hours; if not, and the patient complains of headache, or is
delirious, or dizzy, or feels a fullness in the head, give Macrotin in
alternation with the Baptisia. Keep the patient very quiet and free
from noise, as far as possible. Sleep is a great restorer in any case,
but particularly so in this.
FEVERS.
Intermittent Fever, Ague or Chill Fever.
This comes on with pains in the head and back, aching in the joints,
yawning, followed by coldness of the hands and feet, blueness of the
nails and skin of the hands, general chilliness, sometimes "shaking."
This lasts from a few minutes in some cases, to several hours in others.
The chill is followed by a fever, which is generally severe and long
continued, in proportion to the length and severity of the chill. The
fever is followed by free perspiration, when it subsides and leaves the
patient in a comfortable condition. This state is called the
Intermission. This continues from a few hours to twenty-four, or
longer, when another chill comes on followed by fever and sweats as
before. During the chill and fever, the patient often suffers great
pain, and is sometimes delirious. Young children frequently have
convulsions when the chill sets in. These convulsions of children,
though alarming, are not often dangerous.
TREATMENT.
As soon as the first symptoms of the chills appear, such as the
headache, pain in the back and bones, coldness of the hands, nose and
ears, give Aconite and Baptisia alternately, giving the first three
doses every ten minutes, the next three doses every fifteen minutes, and
then once in half an hour until the patient begins to sweat freely, when
the medicines should be discontinued. If there is nausea or vomiting
present, let the patient have lukewarm water freely in large draughts,
until he vomits it up several times. As soon as the sweating commences,
give Arsenicum and Macrotin alternately every hour during the
intermission, except during sleeping time. On return of the chill,
should it appear a second time, use the Aconite and Baptisia as
before, and follow them with Arsenicum and Nux Vom. every two hours.
This course of treatment will cure a majority of cases, but some require
Cinchonia. That Cinchonia is a specific for intermittent fevers in
many of their forms, no one will deny. It is the Homoeopathic remedy
for many cases, and should be prescribed. The injurious effects that are
often attributed to Quinine, are, I have no doubt, attributable not to
that remedy, but to the drugs that are used prior to giving the
Chinium Sul. I have used it in more than two thousand cases, and have
never been able to see any evil consequences follow its proper use. It
should be given from the beginning of the chill to the end of the
paroxysm, and continued during the whole time of the intermission: _i.
e._ until the time arrives for the next chill, time being important in
the use of this remedy. Use the first decimal trituration, and give
grain doses (equal to 1-10th of a grain of the drug) every half hour
till the time the next chill would occur, if it pursued its regular
course, allowing the patient six or seven hours time in each
twenty-four, for sleep.[1] Though from two to four grains of the pure
Chinium Sulphuricum is all the patient would get, very few cases that
do not yield to a course of the former treatment here recommended, will
have the third paroxysm after this China treatment is commenced and
pursued as here directed. For children the dose may be one-half or
one-fourth that of the adults. If a trituration of the medicine cannot
be got conveniently, four grains of the Quinine may be put into a four
ounce vial of water, shaken well every time, and a teaspoonful taken at
a dose. Abstinence from food as far as practicable, and quiet is of much
importance in this disease, but the patient may use water freely.
[1] NOTE.--The Eclectic Physicians use equal parts of Quinine and
Prussiate of Iron, with marked success in agues, giving from one to
three grains of the mixture at a dose, every two hours, or oftener, for
ten or twelve hours, and some times more, during the intermission. An
intelligent Homoeopathic Physician informs me that he has used with
uniform success, a trituration of this mixture of Quinine and
Prussiate of Iron, in proportion of ten grains of the Sugar of Milk to
one of the Mixture, giving the trituration in doses of about one grain
every hour through the chill, fever and intermission. Very few cases had
a second chill after taking the prescription. I have used this
trituration successfully in a few cases.
In some cases, the chill is irregular and indistinct, the patient is
thirsty during the chill, and the cold stage is long in proportion to
the length of the fever, the surface pale and more or less bloated.
Arsenicum is the remedy, and should be given from the commencement of
the chill, and every hour until the fever subsides, then every three
hours during the intermission. In chronic cases, where the patient has
been drugged with mercurials and cathartics, together with larger doses
of Quinine, and is still suffering under the disease, Pulsatilla and
Macrotin in alternation, will, in nearly every case, effect a cure.
Bilious Fever.
This fever may be either intermittent, remitting, or continued, and
typhoid. It is distinguished from common intermittent, by the great
derangement of the stomach, as nausea and vomiting of bilious matter,
yellow coated tongue, bitter taste in the mouth, foul breath, loss of
appetite, high colored urine, and frequently distress and fullness in
the right side, (though this last is not in every case present,) the
skin and white of the eyes soon become yellowish, the chills are often
imperfect, the fever being disproportionably long.
TREATMENT.
Podophyllin and Merc. should be given in ease of intermittents of
this character, during the paroxysm, and in rotation with the other
remedies for intermittents, giving a dose every three hours during the
intermission. It is well also to continue these remedies night and
morning, alternately, for a week or so, after the cessation of the
chills and fever, or until all bilious appearances cease.
* * * * *
A REMITTING FEVER is one that goes nearly off, but not so entirely as an
intermittent, returning again by a paroxysm of chill more or less
distinct, sometimes hardly perceptible, and an increase of the fever
following, from day to day, until arrested.
* * * * *
CONTINUED FEVERS are generally of a Bilious character, except in winter,
when they are more or less connected with irritation of the lungs, or
with Rheumatic affections, when they are termed Catarrhal or Rheumatic
Fevers. If the bilious symptoms prevail, give Aconite and Baptisia
during the chills and high febrile stage, at intervals of an hour, and
during the declining stage of the fever, give Podophyllin and
Mercurius until a perfect intermission is produced, when the same
treatment should be adopted as in intermittents. But should it take the
form of
Catarrhal Fever,
the head being "stuffed up," pain in the head, the lungs oppressed,
cough and sneezing, the eyes and nose suffused with increased secretion
of tears and mucus, pain in the back or loins, almost constant chilly
sensations, use in rotation Baptisia, Copaiva and Phosphorus,
giving a dose every hour until the fever begins to abate and
perspiration comes on, then leave off the Baptisia, and give in its
stead Macrotin, lengthening the interval between the remedies to two
hours or longer.
For the chronic cough that sometimes follows catarrhal fever,
Copaiva, Macrotin and Phosphorus should be used morning, noon and
night, in the order here named. Should the fever be a
Rheumatic Fever,
(Rheumatism,) the patient complaining of soreness of the muscles, of
the chest, back and limbs, with or without lameness of the joints,
Aconite, Macrotin and Nux Vom. are the remedies for a male
patient, and the two former, with Pulsatilla, for a female, (or for a
male, of light hair, delicate skin, feminine voice and mild temper,)
to be used in rotation one hour apart. These remedies are to be taken in
a severe acute case, every half hour until the symptoms begin to abate;
then every hour or two hours as the case progresses. Baths properly
administered, are of great importance in all forms of fever. The surface
of the patient should be washed and thoroughly rubbed in water quite
warm, into which a sufficiency of the ley of wood ashes has been put to
make it feel quite slippery. This should be done twice daily in all
fevers. But in
Rheumatism,
In addition to the medicines directed under the head of _Rheumatic
Fever_, the most decided benefit can be derived from _Alcoholic Vapor
Baths_, which, while they do not in the least interfere with the action
of the medicines, tend greatly to mitigate the pains, and produce an
equal state of the circulation by stimulating the surface; abridging in
many cases, the disease one-half the time it would run under the long
interval treatment alone. This is to be applied by filling a tea cup
with alcohol, placed in a saucer of water to insure against danger from
an overflow while burning. Place both under a solid wood bottom chair,
elevated about the thickness of a brick under each post, strip the
patient naked, and after giving him the alkaline bath, and rubbing his
surface dry, place him upon the chair, enveloping him completely, except
his head, with a woollen sheet or blanket, (as there is no danger of
the wool taking fire,) letting the blanket enclose also the chair and
come down to the floor. Then set fire to the alcohol, and if the heat is
too great, raise the edge of the blanket and let it become reduced.
Continue this until he sweats freely, or becomes too much fatigued to
sit longer. Let the patient often drink freely of cold water, during the
process. Remove him from the chair to his bed and cover him warmly. It
is well to place the feet in hot water during this process. This is a
delightful operation for a rheumatic patient, and no one will object to
a repetition of it. Whatever Physicians may think or say of this
operation, I know it is a most potent agent for the cure of
inflammatory rheumatism, and is a valuable agent in the chronic form
of this disease.
Typhoid Fever.
This is a dangerous, and with the ordinary allopathic treatment, a very
fatal disease. It generally comes on insidiously, the patient feeling a
dull head ache, more or less pain in his joints, back and shoulders,
with loss of appetite, restless and disturbed sleep, slight chilly
sensations, with a little fever, dry skin, and a general languid
feeling. These symptoms continue from four or five days in some cases,
to two or three weeks in others, gradually getting worse until the
patient is prostrated, or if he takes no drugs, and keeps still,
avoiding food as far as practicable, he may escape prostration, and
after lingering for eight or ten days, and sometimes longer, just on the
point of prostration, he begins slowly to get better, and recovers about
as slowly and imperceptibly as he grew sick. This is in accordance with
observation of cases under my own eye, and I have no doubt those cases
of spontaneous recovery, had they taken a single dose of active
cathartic medicine or any of the active drugs, they would have been
immediately laid upon a bed of sickness from which a recovery would have
been extremely doubtful. I believe that two-thirds of the deaths from
typhoid fever are the direct results of medication, and that those who
recover, do so in spite of the cathartics and the active drugs when such
are used. Some cases, however, will not thus spontaneously recover, and
require proper treatment; and it is safest to treat all cases, at as
early a day as possible. Some cases come on more rapidly and run into
the prostrating or critical stage, in a very few days. Delirium is a
symptom that comes on early in these cases. When the disease is fully
established, and even sometimes in the early stage, diarrhoea sets in
and runs the patient down rapidly.
TREATMENT.
In the early stage, that which might be called premonitory, while the
patient is yet able to be about his business, but is complaining of the
symptoms above named, he should, as far as possible, abstain from
exercise and food, and take of Baptisia and Phosphorus alternately,
a dose once in three hours. These will almost invariably produce
amendment in a few days, and as soon as he improves any, leave off the
medicines. Should there be diarrhoea present, use Phos. acid instead
of Phosphorus. If the patient is delirious or has fullness and redness
of the face, the eyes red, and headache, give Belladonna in rotation
with the other two. For the foul breath that comes on, use _Mercurius
cor._, especially if the diarrhoea assumes a reddish tinge, like beef
brine. Should the fever at any time rise high, the pulse being full and
hard, give Aconite, but it rarely happens that Aconite is useful in
the later stage. If the patient complains of pains in the back, and
fullness of the head, give Macrotin. This is particularly useful for
persons who have rheumatic pains in the limbs or back, during the fever.
If the evacuations from the bowels are dark, or yellow and consistent,
or there is bilious vomiting, Podophyllin is the remedy. From some
cause or other, to me wholly unaccountable, the writers generally have
laid down Rhus and Bryonia as the remedies in typhoid fever. I
must confess I have no confidence in them for this fever as it prevails,
and has for several years past, in this country. They have proved a
failure, and I discard them altogether, as I am confident, from thorough
trial, we have much more reliable remedies as a substitute for Rhus in
the Podophyllin, and for Bryonia in the Macrotin. In the early
stage, or at any time to arrest febrile and inflammatory symptoms, the
Baptisia is much more potent than Aconite, its symptoms corresponding
peculiarly with typhoid fever. If the discharges become slimy or bloody,
give Leptandrin and Nit. acid. It is important to bathe in this
disease.
Scarlet Fever.--Scarlatina.
This fever assumes two principal forms: Simple or mild, and Malignant.
In the Simple form, there is great heat of the surface, extremely
quick and frequent pulse, headache, and some sense of pain and soreness
in the throat. After a day or two, there appears upon the surface,
bright scarlet patches, in some cases extending over the whole limbs,
the skin smooth and shining, and somewhat bloated or swollen; upon
pressure with the finger, a white spot is seen, which soon disappears on
removal of the pressure. As the disease subsides, the cuticle comes off
(desquamates) in patches. In the simple form of this disease, the
throat, though often more or less sore, does not ulcerate. In some
cases, notwithstanding the fever is high, the pulse frequent, and the
throat sore, there may be no external redness, but the mouth and tongue
will have a scarlet hue, indicating the existence of disease more
dangerous than when it appears externally. In the malignant form, the
same symptoms are present, the patient suffers more pain in the head;
the back and throat, root of the tongue, tonsils and soft palate become
ulcerated, turn black, and sometimes gangrenous, proving fatal in a few
days, or slough out in large portions, the ulcers destroying the parts
extensively. The breath becomes foul and fetid, and the effluvia from
the ulcerated surface, is very sickening to the patient and all around
him. This disease rarely attacks adults, but occasionally, and for the
last six or eight months, in one region where I am acquainted, where
Scarlatina of a malignant type has prevailed among children, adults have
been affected with an epidemic soreness of the mouth and throat,
strongly resembling the worst form of the angina in malignant
Scarlatina, together with a low typhoid form of fever.
TREATMENT.
In simple scarlatina, all that is necessary is to keep the child quiet,
in a room of uniform temperature, as far as practicable; let it drink
cold water only, and give Aconite, Belladonna and Pulsatilla in
rotation, a dose every hour until the fever subsides. If any soreness of
the throat remains, give a few doses of Mercurius. If the fever
subsides, and the soreness remain, Hydrastin or Eupatorium arom.
will soon complete the cure. In the malignant form, with ulcerated,
dark colored, or red and purulent throat, and typhoid form of fever,
give Aconite and Belladonna in alternation, every hour, and, at the
same time, gargle the throat freely with Hydrastin. Some of the
tincture may be put in water, about in the proportion of ten drops to a
teaspoonful, or a warm infusion of the crude medicine may be used. This
can be applied with a camel's hair pencil, or a swab, to the parts
affected, once in two hours, and will soon bring about such a state as
will result in speedy recovery. After the active fever has subsided, the
Aconite and Bell. may be discontinued, and Eupatorium arom. used
instead, once in three hours until convalescence is complete.
I would remark that, with these remedies applied as here recommended, my
brother, Dr. G. S. HILL, of Erie County, Ohio, has, during the last four
months, treated a large number of those malignant sore-throats, (the
"Black tongue Erysipelas,") and been universally successful, relieving
them in a few hours, when the symptoms were of the most alarming
character, and the disease in some cases, so far advanced that the
patients were considered by their friends and attendants, "at the point
of death."
The Hydrastin is a most potent remedy in putrid ulcerations of the
mucous surfaces, and much the same may be said of _Eupatorium
aromaticum_.
Yellow Fever.
[As I have never practiced farther South than Cincinnati, and have seen
but few cases of this disease, my experience with it has not been
sufficient to be relied upon as authority. Therefore, I shall give a
brief description of the disease, with the proper and _successful
treatment_, furnished me by A. H. BURRETT, M. D., of New Orleans, who is
not only a Physician of more than ordinary learning and skill in his
profession generally, but is one who has spent his time in New Orleans
among the sick of Yellow Fever, through three of the most fatal
epidemics that ever scourged any city. He is a man for the times, a man
of resources, who draws useful lessons from experience and observation.
Hence he has been able to select such remedies as have enabled him to
cope most successfully with the pestilence, saving nearly all his
patients, while, under other treatment, a majority have died. I
therefore, attach great value to his treatment, and recommend its
adoption with the most implicit confidence.]
* * * * *
When this Fever prevails as an epidemic, as it usually does, in the
southern part of the United States, it is a disease of the most
malignant character. The proportion of fatal cases under the
Allopathic course of treatment, has been equal to, and, in some places,
as in New Orleans, and some Towns in Virginia, has exceeded that of
Asiatic Cholera. It is almost entirely confined to Southern regions,
and only prevails in hot weather, after the continuance of extreme heat
for some weeks.
It usually begins with premonitory symptoms somewhat like those of
ordinary fever, but with this difference: the patient, instead of losing
his appetite, has often a morbidly increased desire for food. He
complains of severe pains in the back, and more or less headache. Both
the head and backache are of a peculiar character: the pains resembling
rheumatic pains, the head feeling full and too large, the eyes early
turn red, almost bloodshot and watery, a chill comes on, which may be
distinct and quite severe, lasting for an hour or more, or, it may be
slight, and hardly perceptible. The chill is followed by high fever, the
pain in the head and back increasing, the eyes becoming more red and
suffused, the forehead and face extremely red and hot, and the heat of
the whole surface very great, the carotids beat violently, the pulse
very frequent, and usually, at first, full and strong, though sometimes
it is feeble from the beginning. However the pulse may be in the
beginning, it very soon becomes small, but continues to be frequent. The
tongue is at first covered with a white paste-like coating, which
afterwards gives place to redness of the edges and tip, with a dark or
yellow streak in the center. The stomach is very irritable, rejecting
every kind of food, and all drinks, except, perhaps, a few drops of ice
water. There is a peculiar distressed feeling in the stomach, often a
burning sensation, so that, if suffered to do so, he would take large
quantities of ice or water. One remarkable feature of the cases noticed
in the epidemic, as it existed in New Orleans the past season, was, that
the patients had a great desire for food, notwithstanding the nausea and
distress at the stomach.
Sooner or later, varying from a few hours to several days, in the
ordinary course of the disease, the fever subsides. From this time the
patient may recover without any further symptoms, but this is, by no
means, the usual result. If the subsidence of the fever is accompanied
by natural pulse, a free, but not profuse or prostrating perspiration,
a genial warmth of the surface, natural appearance of the countenance,
eyes, and tongue, with little or no soreness on pressure over the
stomach, we may safely look for a speedy recovery. But if, on the
contrary, the eyes, face, and tongue, become yellow, or orange-colored,
the epigastrium is tender to pressure, the urine has a yellow tinge, the
pulse becomes unnaturally slow, with the least degree of mental stupor,
we have reason to know, full well, that the lull of the fever is only
the calm preceding a more destructive storm. The fever has subsided,
only because exhausted nature could re-act no longer. It may be in a few
hours, or not until twelve or twenty-four have elapsed, the pulse
becomes quickened, even to the frequency of 120 to 140 in a minute, but
very feeble, the extremities of the fingers and toes turn purple or
dark, the tongue becomes brown and dry, or is clean, red, and cracked,
sordes may be on the teeth, the stomach become more irritable, nausea
and vomiting are extreme, the substances vomited being, at first,
reddish, afterwards watery, containing floculæ, like soot, or coffee
grounds; the breath becomes foul, and the whole surface emits a
sickening odor. The pulse becomes very small, though the carotid and
temporal arteries beat violently. The urine fails to be secreted, and
later, blood is discharged from the mucous surfaces, involuntary
discharges from the bowels, clammy sweats; and death follows.
The disease runs its course in from three to seven days, sometimes
proves fatal in less than a day, and at others, assumes a typhoid form,
and runs for weeks. Occasionally it sets in without any of the
premonitory symptoms, the chill being first, the fever following,
succeeded immediately by the black vomit, going through all the stages
in a single day, or two days.
Again, it sometimes begins with the black vomit, the patient being
immediately prostrated. In all cases, however it may begin, the peculiar
head-ache and back-ache as described in the beginning, as well as the
extreme heat of the head and face, redness of the eyes, the gnawing
sensation at the stomach, and peculiar nausea are present. These seem to
be characteristic symptoms that mark the Yellow Fever, and those which
should guide in the search for the proper remedies.
TREATMENT.
The remedies that proved successful in arresting the disease during the
early or forming stage, before the chill or fever had set in, while the
symptoms were pain, fullness, and throbbing of the head, with more or
less dizziness, rheumatic pains in the back, and redness of the eyes,
were Aconite and Bell., at low attenuations, once in two to four
hours, according to the violence of the symptoms. For the fullness of
the head, pressing outwards, as though it would split, with pains of a
rheumatic character, Macrotin 1st, given in one grain doses, every
hour or two hours, proved specific.
These three remedies, Aconite, Bell. and Macrotin,
would, in nearly all cases, arrest the disease in the forming stage, so
that no chill or fever would occur, or, if fever did come on after this
treatment, it was mild.
When the fever sets in, and the pain in the head and back increases, the
eyes, forehead and face are extremely red, or purple and hot, the pulse
frequent and full, the tongue coated white, Aconite, Belladonna and
Macrotin are still to be relied upon, but they should be given every
half hour, in rotation, at low attenuations. If the tongue is red, in
the early stage, use Bryonia in place of the Belladonna. In a later
stage, when sickness or distress at the stomach had become prominent,
with the quick pulse, and hot skin, Ipecac and Aconite, both at the
1st attenuation, a dose given every half hour alternately, generally
arrested the symptoms, and brought on perspiration of a healthful
character, followed by subsidence of the fever and convalescence. Sponge
baths, with half an ounce of Tr. Ipecac in two quarts of tepid water,
applied to the whole surface freely, under the bed clothes, so as not to
expose him to the air, contributed much towards bringing on perspiration
and subduing the fever, as well as allaying the nausea.
When called to patients in the stage of Black Vomit, whether that came
on as an early symptom, or at a later stage, Nit. acid, _Veratrum
virid._ and Baptisia, all at the first dilution, were administered
every hour, in rotation, with great success, the symptoms yielding in a
few hours. For the great oppression, as of a load, in the stomach,
without vomiting, Nux was found sufficient. In the later stage, when
there seemed to be no secretion of urine, Canabis and Apis mel.,
gave relief.
The remedies most successful for the cases that assumed a typhoid
character, with dry, cracked tongue, sordes on the teeth, and low
sluggish pulse, were Baptisia and Bryonia, given every two hours,
alternately. Nitric acid given internally and injected into the
rectum, when bloody discharges appear, is generally quite successful.
Good nursing is of the utmost importance, and the patient should be
visited frequently by his Physician, as great changes may occur in a
short time. Three times a day is none too often to see the patient. As
soon as the fever comes on, the patient should be stripped of his
clothes, and dressed in such garments as he is to wear in bed through
the attack. He should be put to bed and lightly covered, but have
sufficient to protect him from any sudden changes in the atmosphere, and
the room should be well ventillated all the time. The baths should
always be applied under the bed clothes.
The diet should be very spare and light, after the fever subsides, and
while the fever exists no food should be taken. Thin gruel, in
teaspoonful doses, once in half an hour, is best. After a day or two,
the juice of beef steak may be given in small quantities but give none
of the meat. No "hearty food" should be allowed for eight or ten days
after recovery. A relapse is most surely fatal.
As Prophylactics (preventives) of the fever, Macrotin, Bell. and
Aconite should be taken, a dose every eight to twelve hours, by every
one that is exposed. These will, no doubt, often prevent an attack, and
if they do not, they will so modify it, that it will be very mild, of
short duration, and very easily arrested.
Pregnant females, and young children were sure to die if attacked, when
treated by the Allopathic medication; but, by the use of these remedies
as preventives, their attacks were rendered so mild as to be amenable
to remedies, and all recovered.
Pleurisy--Pleuritis.
This is inflammation of the Pleura of one or both lungs, generally
confined to one side. It is known by sharp pain in the side of the
chest, increased by taking a long breath, or coughing, or by pressing
between the ribs. The cough is dry and painful, the patient makes an
effort to suppress it, from the pain it gives him; the fever is of a
high grade, the pulse full, hard and frequent, with more or less pain in
the head.
TREATMENT.
Aconite is a sovereign remedy. It should be given at intervals
proportionate to the severity of the disease, once in half an hour, for
about three doses, then every hour until the patient is easy and
perspires freely. This is the course I have generally pursued, and
scarce ever failed of relieving in a few hours. Other means may often be
used with advantage at the same time, and not interfere with the action
of the medicine. Put the feet and hands into water as hot as it can be
endured, and apply to the affected side very hot cloths, hot bags of
salt, or mustard. There is no harm in this, and it relieves the pain.
Let the patient drink freely of hot water, into which you may put milk
and sugar to render it palatable. If the case seems to linger, and
perspiration is tardy in appearing, give, in alternation with Aconite,
Eupatorium arom. This will soon relieve.
Inflammation of the Lungs--Pneumonia.
This disease is often connected with Pleurisy, and consists of
inflammation of the substance of the lungs. As in the former case, it
may attack only one, but may exist in both sides at the same time. If
the pleura is also affected, there will be all the symptoms of pleurisy,
together with those peculiar to inflammation of the lungs proper. They
are, pain in the lungs, oppressed breathing, cough, causing great
distress on account of the soreness of the affected parts: at first,
expectoration from the lungs is nearly wanting, the cough being dry, but
after a time, there is a rattling sound on coughing, and more or less
mucous substance is with difficulty raised. This is, at first, white or
brownish, but soon becomes reddish and frothy, tinged with blood. The
patient lies on the affected side, and cannot rest on the sound side.
The pulse is full, hard and frequent, the fever high, pain in the head,
and sometimes delirium. If the disease is not arrested, the patient
generally dies from suffocation, by the lungs filling up, hepatized, or
abscess and ulceration come on, and then what is called "quick
Consumption" carries him off.
TREATMENT.
In the early stage, Aconite and Phosphorus should be used at
intervals of from half an hour to one hour, in alternation, until the
fever abates, and the oppression in the chest is relieved. If, however,
there is bloody expectoration, Bryonia may be used in place _of
Phosphorus_, though I prefer to use it in rotation with the two others.
These will soon, in all ordinary cases, subdue the most distressing
symptoms, and effect a perfect cure in a day or two. Belladonna should
be used, when there is much delirium, or great pain in the head.
Occasionally, the cough from the beginning, is apparently loose; there
being a rattling sound, but the expectoration is difficult, the fever
high, with some chilly sensations, or at least, coldness of the knees,
feet and hands, a white or brownish fur upon the tongue, and pain in the
bowels, For such symptoms, especially with the pain in the bowels, as
though a diarrhoea would come on, give Tartar emet. It is often one
of the best remedies in this disease, affording relief when others have
failed.
After subduing the high febrile symptoms, if there remains cough,
indicating much irritation, or inflammation of the lungs, Macrotin
should be used in place of Aconite, with Phosphorus and Copaiva, the
three in rotation, two hours between doses.
Acute Bronchitis,
Inflammation of the Bronchial Tubes.
This is attended with distressing cough, profuse expectoration,
oppressed breathing, pain in the forehead, and general catarrhal
symptoms. Baptisia, Copaiva and Eupatorium arom. given every hour,
in rotation, will, in general, relieve from the acute affection in a
short time; but the
Chronic Bronchitis
requires the use of Copaiva, Macrotin and Arum triphyllum, to be
taken morning, noon, and night, in the order named; or, if the cough be
severe, they should be used every three hours. These will be sufficient
to effect a cure.
Coughs
Generally, unless they arise from consumption, yield readily to the
alternate use of Copaiva, Phosphorus and Macrotin, a dose given
once in from three to six hours. If, however, there is soreness of the
throat, redness and soreness of the tonsils, palate, and fauces, or
soreness of the larynx, with hoarseness, Arum triphyllum and
Hydrastus Can. are the surest remedies. They rarely ever fail of
effecting a complete cure in a few days. They should be used three or
four times a day. They may be used with the other medicines recommended
for coughs. In acute
Sore Throat,
arising from sudden cold, Arum triphyllum and Eupatorium aromaticum
are the remedies to be relied upon. If the tonsils seem to be mainly
involved, constituting
Quinsy--Tonsilitis,
Belladonna and Aconite should be given, while there is high fever,
then substitute for them, Arum tri. and Phosphorus; or, these may be
used in rotation with the former, a dose every hour or oftener.
Inflammation of the Bowels.--Enteritis.
This consists in inflammation of the muscular and peritoneal coats of
the intestines, sometimes also involving the mucous coat.
The pain in the abdomen is constant, intense and burning in its
character, felt most at the navel; the abdomen is extremely tender to
pressure, and often bloated or tympanetic.
Thirst is intense, but cold drinks distress and vomit the patient. The
pulse is small, feeble and frequent, and the bowels costive. This is a
very dangerous disease. It is sometimes connected with inflammation of
the stomach, then called gastro-enteritis. The tongue is then red and
pointed, the nausea and vomiting are more violent and constant, the
thirst burning and insatiable.
TREATMENT.
The same medicines are applicable to both Gastritis and Enteritis.
Aconite, Arsenicum and Baptisia should be used one following the
other every half hour until the symptoms begin to subside, then let the
intervals be lengthened.
In addition to these remedies, I allow the patient to drink often and
freely of hot water, as hot as can be swallowed, and though it is at
first almost instantly rejected by the stomach, by repeating it in a few
minutes in moderate quantities, it gives relief and will soon so allay
the irritation as to remain. In some cases the vomiting is severe, the
bowels are loose, and pain burning. For such, Tart. Emet. is the
proper remedy. Cold drinks should not be taken.
Cloths wet in cold water, ice water if it is at hand, and wrung out so
as not to drip, should be laid over the whole abdomen and instantly
covered with two or three thicknesses of warm dry flannel, and the
patient's feet kept warm. This may be considered harsh treatment, but
there is no danger in it; on the contrary I have, in the worst and most
alarming cases of gastritis and peritonitis, made such applications,
and in less than an hour have seen my patient easy and beginning to
perspire freely, all danger having passed. It always affords more or
less relief and is never attended with danger. Covering the wet cloths
immediately with plenty of dry ones is very essential.
After the acute inflammation has subsided, it is well to have the bowels
moved, but don't give drastic cathartics. Nux Vomica given at night
and repeated morning and noon, will generally serve to cause an
evacuation. Injections may be used.
Croup.
This is a disease of children. Comes on in consequence of a sudden cold.
Children suffering from Hooping Cough are more subject to it. The cough
is of a peculiar whistling kind, like the crowing of a young chicken,
with rattling in the throat and difficult breathing, fever is present,
and often very violent. It is properly an inflammation of the Larynx,
but the inflammation may also exist in the Pharynx, the tonsils may be
involved, and it may extend to the trachia, (wind pipe). A false
membrane forms in the larynx if the disease is not arrested, and so
obstructs the breathing as to cause death from suffocation.
TREATMENT.
Give at first Aconite, Phosphoric Acid, and Spongia, giving them
in the order here named once in ten minutes in a very violent case, and
as the patient improves at intervals of half an hour, and then an hour.
Should the fever subside, and still the tightness in the throat and
cough continue to be troublesome, give Ipecac in place of Aconite. And
when the cough seems to be deep seated use Bryonia instead of spongia.
The patient should be kept in a warm room, and free from exposure to
currents of cold air. The application of a cloth wrung out of cold or
ice water to the throat, covered immediately with dry warm flannels so
as to exclude the air from the wet cloth, will often exert a decidedly
beneficial effect, and there is no danger if managed as here directed.
The feet should be kept warm and the head cool, but don't put cold
water on a child's head.
Asthma.
If an attack comes on from sudden cold, take Aconite and Ipecac
every hour for a day, and if any symptoms remain, in place of the
Aconite use Copaiva, Arsenicum and Phos. Acid with the Ipecac,
giving them in rotation, a dose every hour.
In Chronic Asthma, where the patient is liable to an attack at any
time, great benefit will be derived from taking these four in rotation
about two hours apart for a day or two, at any time when symptoms of an
attack begin to appear.
I have recently succeeded in alleviating several bad cases, at once, by
these four remedies in succession as here recommended, on whom (some of
them) I had at various times tried all of them, as well as other
medicines, singly at longer intervals, as directed in the Books, without
any decided benefit. After trying these in succession, as here directed,
I found no trouble in arresting the paroxysm in a few hours, and I am
strong in the faith that with some, at least, I have effected cures.
It is worth much to arrest the paroxysm if no more.
Hooping Cough.
According to my experience, though this disease may not be entirely
arrested in its course, and not generally much abridged in its duration,
still the use of appropriate medicines will greatly modify it, and
render it a comparatively trifling affection.
In treatment, give at the commencement of the attack Bell. and _Phos.
acid_ alternately every twelve hours for a week, then once in six hours,
and if the child should take cold so as to bring on fever, give one
every hour. Continue these, as above directed, for the first two or
three weeks, then, in their stead, after the cough becomes loose, and
the patient vomits easily, give Copaiva and Ipecac in the same manner
as directed, for the two former remedies.
Dyspepsia.
This term is applied so loosely and so indiscriminately to all chronic
derangements of the stomach, that it is difficult to define it. I shall
therefore point out some of the more common ailments of the stomach and
their proper remedies.
For sour eructations with hot, burning, scalding fluid rising up in the
throat, with or without food, give Phos. acid and Pulsatilla in
alternation every half hour, until the stomach is easy. For a feeling of
weight and pain in the stomach, with dull pain in the head, with or
without dizziness, give Nux. Vom. every hour until it relieves. If
there is a burning feeling in the stomach as well as the heavy load,
without eructations and rising of fluid, Arsenicum should be
alternated with the Nux. Vom., at intervals of two hours. There are
persons who, from imprudence in eating or drinking or both, or which is
more frequent, from harsh drug medication, have so enfeebled their
stomachs, that, though by care in selecting their food, and prudence in
taking it, they may suffer but little, are, nevertheless, when from home
or on special occasions, liable to overeat or take the wrong kind of
food, from which unfortunate circumstance they are made to suffer the
most tormenting and intolerable distress in the stomach and bowels,
which may last, more or less severe, for several days. Soon after the
unfortunate meal, perhaps the next morning, or, it may be, in a few
hours, the stomach begins to bloat, by accumulating gas within, which is
belched up every few minutes in large quantities; the stomach and bowels
are racked with the most torturing pains; cold sweat stands on the brow,
and he is the very picture of misery. Thus he may roll and tumble all
night, and remain in misery the next day and several days longer, before
the food will digest. It often passes from the stomach without
digestion, and on its way through the bowels inflicts constant pain. If
he does not take some emetic substance, he is not apt to vomit, his
stomach cramping so as to prevent it.
I have here described one of the bad cases, but bad as it is they are by
no means very rare. There are such cases in abundance, of all grades
from the one here described down to a slight derangement. They all
require a similar course of treatment.
It is useful for such patients to take at once large quantities of
lukewarm water, and repeat the draught every ten to fifteen minutes,
until free and thorough vomiting is induced, so as to throw off all the
food from the stomach.
But even this does not often cure these bad cases. If it did, it is not
always convenient to do it. The medicine that is quite certain to afford
relief at once is Podophyllin. Let it be given, and the dose repeated
in an hour. A third dose is rarely necessary. After relief from this
attack, the medicine should be taken night and morning for a month or
more until the stomach is restored. In the meantime care should be taken
not to overload the stomach.
Constipation.
The medicine for this affection is Nux vom., to be taken at night on
retiring. If there is fulness and pain in the head from costiveness,
Bell. should be used in the morning, and at noon. Let the patient
contract a habit of drinking cold water freely on rising in the
morning, at least half an hour before eating. The patient _should not
take physic_.
For constipation of children, Nux and Bryonia are to be given Nux at
night and Bryonia in the morning. Opium is useful.
Much needless alarm is often felt by persons on account of a costive
state of the bowels. If no pain is felt from it, there is no cause for
alarm.
"Heartburn."
This peculiar burning and distressed feeling at the stomach depends on
imperfect digestion, but is not ordinarily, as is generally supposed,
connected with a sour or acid state of the fluids in the stomach. The
condition of the fluids is alkaline, in most cases, though it is
sometimes acid. If it depends upon biliary derangement, Nux Vomica and
Podophyllin are the remedies for a male; Pulsatilla and
Podophyllin for a female.
Erysipelas.
This is a disease of the skin, producing redness, burning and itching
pains, appearing in patches, in adults, most apt to appear about the
head and face, but in children, upon the limbs, or in very young
children, beginning at the umbilicus. It sometimes begins at one point,
and continues to spread for a time, then suddenly disappears, and
reappears at some other point.
Simple Erysipelas only affects the surface, with redness and smarting.
Vessicular, produces vessicular eruption, or blisters filled with a
limpid fluid, somewhat like the blisters from a burn.
The Phlegmonous Erysipelas affects the whole thickness of the skin and
cellular tissues beneath it, producing swelling, and not unfrequently,
resulting in suppuration, ulceration or gangrene and sloughing of the
parts. It is a dangerous disease, especially when on the head.
TREATMENT.
For the simple kind, Bell. is all that will be needed, unless there
should be considerable fever, when Aconite should be alternated with
the Bell. For the vessicular kind, where there are blisters, _Rhus
tox._ should be used with Bell. For the Phlegmonous, with deep
seated swellings, Apis mel is the most important remedy. I prefer to
use three of these remedies, giving them in rotation, beginning with the
Bell., followed with Rhus, and then by Apis mel. giving them one
hour apart. In a mild case, or after the patient begins to recover, give
them at longer intervals. The Apis alone will often be sufficient.
During the whole time, the affected parts should be kept covered with
dry, superfine flour, some say Buckwheat flour acts most favorably. The
diet should be very spare. Eat as little as possible, until the disease
begins to subside.
A very important part of the treatment of this affection is to keep the
patient in a room that is comfortably warm, say at a temperature of from
65 to 75°, and keep the temperature uniformly the same, as nearly as
possible, night and day. Do not, by any means, expose him suddenly to
cold air, or a cold breeze, as on going into a cold room, going out into
cold air, or undressing or dressing in a cold room. Uniformly warm
temperature is of great importance.
Burns and Scalds.
No matter what the nature and extent of the burn may be, the very best
of all medicines of which I have any knowledge, is Soap. If the parts
affected, are immediately immersed or enveloped in Soft Soap, the pain
will be greatly lessened, and the inflammation that would otherwise
follow, will be essentially modified, if not entirely prevented. It acts
like magic; no one who has never tried it can have any idea of its
potency for the relief of pain, together with the prevention of bad
consequences following severe burning. Under the influence of the Soap
applications, burns and scalds will often be rendered comparatively
insignificant injuries. Instead of endangering the life of the sufferer
from the excessive pain, or the ulceration, or gangrene and sloughing
that would follow if the pain in the first instance does not destroy
life, the pain ceases, or becomes bearable in a short time, and either
little or no suppuration or sloughing takes place, or the sore assumes
the appearance of healthy suppuration, and heals kindly--avoiding those
unsightly deformities that so commonly follow severe burning. If
practicable, the soap, as before suggested, should be applied
immediately after the burn, the sooner the better. The part may be put
into soft soap, or cloths saturated with it can be wrapped around or
covered over the affected surface, to any desirable extent. The parts
should not be exposed to the air for a single moment, when possible to
prevent it. During the first two or three days, dressings need not be
removed, unless they cause irritation after the first severe pain has
subsided. They should be kept all of the time moist, and as far as
practicable, in a condition to be impervious to the air.
When it is necessary to remove them, let the affected surface be
immersed in strong soap suds, at a temperature of about 75 or 80°, and
the dressing removed while it is under water, and others applied while
in the same situation. In ordinary cases, however, even of extensive
burns, after the fever consequent upon it has subsided, and the part is
tolerably free from pain and smarting, the dressings may be removed in
the air, but others should be in readiness and applied as speedily as
possible. The soap dressings are to be continued from the beginning
until the inflammation has subsided and the sore has lost all symptoms
that distinguish it from an ordinary healthy suppurating sore.
After the first few days, or in case of a slight burn at the beginning,
an excellent mode of applying the soap, is to make a strong thick
"Lather" with soft water and good soap, such as Castile, or any other
good hard soap, as a barber would for shaving, and apply that to the
affected part with a soft shaving brush; apply it as carefully as
possible, so as to cover every part of the surface, and go over it
several times, letting the former coat dry a little before applying
another, forming a thick crust impervious to the air. In small burns,
and even in pretty extensive and severe ones, this is the best mode of
application, and the only one necessary.
In many cases of very severe and dangerous burns, under the influence of
this application, the inflammation subsides, and after a week or more,
the crust of lather comes off, exposing the surface smooth and well.
Although it is important to apply the soap early, and the case does
much better if that has been done, still I have found it the best remedy
even as late as the second or third day. In such a case, the lather
application is the best.
For the fever and general nervous disturbance, Aconite and Bell.
should be given alternately, as often as every half hour, and the
Aconite should be given in appreciable doses; it acts powerfully as an
anodyne. The soap treatment, or at least, the mode of applying it was
first suggested to me by Dr. J. TIFFT, of Norwalk, Ohio, some six or
seven years ago, since which time I have had opportunities of testing
its virtues in all forms of burns and scalds, some of which were of the
severest and most dangerous character, and I am quite sure in several
cases, no other remedy or process known to the medical profession, could
have relieved and restored as this did.
The application of finely pulverized common salt, triturated with an
equal part of superfine flour, acts very beneficially on burns. It seems
to have the specific effect to "extract the heat," literally putting out
the fire. It is particularly useful for deep burns where the surface is
abraded. Some may suppose this would be severe and cause too much pain
when applied to a raw surface, but so far from that being the case, it
is a most soothing application. It often so changes the condition of
even the severest burns, in a short time, as to render them of no more
importance and no more dangerous than ordinary abrasions to the same
extent, by causes unconnected with heat. Urtica urens is directed for
burns, and is useful, but the Urtica dioica is better. For
Chilblains,
That follow freezing or chilling the feet, causing most distressing
uneasiness and itching of the feet and toes, take these remedies, Rhus
and Apis, the former at night and the latter in the morning. In bad
cases, they should be used once in six hours. Applications of _Oil of
Arnica_ to the affected parts at night, warming them before a fire, will
serve greatly to palliate the sufferings, and frequently effect a
perfect cure. The Urtica Dioica will relieve recent cases,
immediately, and is one of the best remedies for the chronic affection.
It should be taken at the 2d dilution, and the tincture applied to the
affected part every night.
Hoarseness.
This arises generally, from inflammation of the mucous membrane of the
Larynx, in ordinary cases but slight. It is a frequent accompaniment
of Bronchitis.
The remedies most useful, and those which will, in almost all ordinary
cases, remove this affection at once, are Arum tri. and Copaiva, to
be taken a dose every three hours in alternation.
If there is present a dry hacking cough, it will be well to take Bell.
in the interval between the other medicines, for a day, or until the
cough is relieved, or changed to a moist condition.
Inflammation of the Brain.
Brain Fever.
Though this affection is not strictly what is called "brain fever," it
is attended with more or less general fever, while in what is called
"Brain fever," there is great irritation of the brain, requiring in many
respects similar treatment. As the treatment proper for inflammation of
the brain, with some slight modifications in relation to the existing
fever, will be applicable to both, I shall treat of them under one head.
Some of the principal symptoms are delirium and drowsiness, fullness of
the blood vessels of the head, beating of the temporal arteries, redness
and fullness of the face, the pupils dilated, (though in the very early
stage they may be contracted.) If the membranes of the brain be the seat
of the disease, the pain is more intense, and frequently the limbs are
in a palsied state. The patient sometimes vomits immoderately, and the
pulse is slow and irregular, but full. The breathing becomes stertorous.
The fever is very considerable, and the head hot.
TREATMENT.
Aconite, Belladonna and Bryonia should be given in rotation, one
dose every hour in a violent case, lengthening the intervals as the
symptoms abate. Applying hot cloths to the head, removing them
occasionally to let the water evaporate, will greatly palliate and will
not in the least, interrupt the action of the medicines. Never apply
cold to the head of any person, when hot or inflamed, much less to that
of a child. Children are often killed by the application of ice to the
head, producing congestion and paralysis of the brain. Hot applications
are Homoeopathic to the state then existing, and always beneficial.
The feet may also be placed in hot water, but children should never be
put into a hot or warm bath when sick, so as to cover more than the
lower extremities.
Convulsions of Children--Fits.
These generally occur, either from the irritation of worms, or as
precursors of ague, or they may arise from diarrhoeal irritation,
affecting the brain. They sometimes occur in hooping cough.
If convulsions occur from worms, the child appearing to be choked, give
at once some salt and water, and as soon as the first paroxysm is over,
give a dose of Bell., and after an hour a dose of Santonine. If they
come on at the commencement of an ague chill, give Aconite and Bell.
every half hour for three or four doses alternately, then leave off the
Bell. and give Baptisia. If diarrhoea is the cause, give Bell.
and Cham omilla. If from hooping cough, Bell. alone should be used.
Measles.
This is a contagious disease, and always begins with symptoms like a
cold, with high fever, and a severe dry cough, thirst and restlessness.
Pulsatilla is the proper medicine to palliate and regulate the
symptoms. If the fever is high, Aconite should be used every two hours
alternately with Puls. Should the eruption subside suddenly, give
Bryonia with Pulsatilla until it reappears.
Let the child drink freely of cold water, and avoid stimulants of every
kind. If the eruption is tardy in its appearance, a hot bath may be
administered, being careful to have the room quite warm, and to rub the
patient dry, very suddenly after the bath. Frictions by the healthy hand
over the surface, will do much towards bringing out measles. After the
eruption is out, quiet, freedom from sudden exposure to cold, cold water
and light diet is all that is necessary. In some of the most obstinate
cases, where the eruptions failed to appear in the proper time, as well
as where they had receded too soon, I have been able to bring them out
in a short time with an infusion of Sassafras root, sweetened and taken
quite warm, in doses of half an ounce in fifteen to thirty minutes. It
is a remedy for measles well worth attention.
Mumps.
This is a contagious disease, consisting in an inflammation of the
Parotid gland. There is, at first, a sense of stiffness and soreness on
moving the jaw, soon after the gland begins to swell, and continues to
be sore and painful, with more or less headache, and general fever for
from six to eight days. It is not ordinarily a dangerous disease, unless
translated to some other part. It may remove from the original seat to
the brain, the testicles, or in females to the breasts.
TREATMENT.
Mercurius should be given three times a day during the attack. If the
brain becomes affected, use Bell. and Apis mel. in alternation.
Should it recede to the testicles, or to the female breasts, Apis mel.
is the remedy. Mercurius may be used in connection with the Apis
as soon as the violent symptoms have subsided, in order to prevent
permanent glandular swellings.
Stings of Insects.
The effect produced by the sting of Bees, Wasps, and Hornets of all
kinds, is so nearly, if not quite identical, that I shall make no
distinction between them. There are very few, if any persons, who do not
know the symptoms, at least the local effects of the Bee sting. Pungent,
stinging, aching pain, redness and swelling of the part. The wound has
at first, and for some time, a white spot or point where the sting
entered, surrounded by an areola of bright scarlet, growing fainter and
paler as it recedes. The swelling is not pointed, but a rounded
elevation, with a feeling of hardness. If upon the face, it not
unfrequently causes the whole face to swell so as to nearly if not
entirely close the eyes. In some instances, the brain becomes affected
and death ensues.
TREATMENT.
I have for many years, used but one remedy, and that has in all cases,
and under all circumstances, when applied at any stage of the affection,
produced prompt and perfect relief; therefore I shall recommend no
other. It is the common garden Onion, (Allium cepa) applied to the
spot where the sting entered. I cut the fresh Onion and apply the raw
surface to the spot, changing it for a fresh piece every ten to fifteen
minutes, until the pain and swelling, and all disagreeable symptoms
disappear. If it is applied immediately after the stinging, the first
application will afford perfect relief in a few minutes, and no further
effect from it will be experienced. Applied later, it must be continued
longer, and this may be done one or two days after the stinging, with
just as much certainty of removing whatever symptoms may still exist.
I treated one case when three days had elapsed, the patient (a young
lady) was delirious and speechless, the whole face was so swollen as to
entirely disfigure her features, raising the cheeks to a level with the
nose, and closing the eyes. Her life was almost despaired of. The
surface of a freshly cut onion was applied to the point where the sting
entered, and changed about once an hour for a fresh piece. In a few
hours consciousness returned, and a rapid recovery followed. All the
swelling and disagreeable symptoms were gone in three days.
Ledum is highly recommended by some Physicians, and is doubtless of
some value, but it is not to be compared with the Allium.
The most potent and certain remedy for the poison caused by the
Bite of the Rattlesnake
is Alcohol, in the ordinary form, or in common Whisky, Brandy, Rum or
Gin. Let the patient drink it freely, a gill or more at a time, once in
fifteen to twenty minutes, until some symptoms of intoxication are
experienced, then cease using it. The cure will be complete as soon as
enough has been taken to produce even slight symptoms of intoxication.
It is remarkable how much alcohol a patient suffering from the poison
of the Rattlesnake will bear.
An intelligent medical friend of mine in Kanawha County, Virginia, gave
a little girl of ten years, who had been bitten by a Rattlesnake, over
three quarts of good strong Whisky, in less than a day, when but slight
symptoms of intoxication were produced, and that seemed to arise
entirely from the last drink. She recovered from the intoxication in a
few hours, and suffered no more from the poison of the serpent.
Instances of cures with whisky are numerous, and I have never heard of a
failure, when it was used as here directed. I presume it will do the
same for the poison of other serpents.
Headache.
This symptom or affection, (if it can be classed as a disease) may
depend upon so many causes, and be so very different in its effects,
degrees of intensity, and the kind of pain or sensation attending it,
that one will find it very difficult to mark out any definite treatment.
I shall, therefore, only point out some of the more frequent cases, and
the indications for certain remedies.
What is called "sick headache," or "nervous headache," begins by a
sense of blindness or blur, before the eyes, of green or purple colors,
dazzling or swimming in the head, without, for some time at first, any
positive aching or pain. In the course of an hour, a longer or shorter
time, the dimness of vision goes off, and the head begins to ache. This
may or may not be accompanied with nausea and vomiting. Some persons are
always more or less sick at the stomach, when these "nervous headaches"
come on, others are not thus affected.
TREATMENT.
If taken as soon as the first blur before the eyes is noticed, or before
any pain is felt in the head, Nux Vomica will, in nearly all cases,
arrest the disease at once. It may be necessary to take two or three
doses at intervals of an hour. Later in the case, though Nux may
palliate, it will not cure.
If headache with sickness comes on, Macrotin and Podoph. should be
given in alternation, every half hour, if the symptoms are very severe,
and the nausea great; but in a mild case, give it once an hour,
lengthening the interval as the symptoms abate.
If the feet are cold, as is often the case, putting them into hot water
will palliate the symptoms, and not interfere with the medicines.
If the head feels hot, apply hot water to it. Never apply cold to the
head, when there are any symptoms of congestion, as of fullness of the
blood vessels. For
Common Headache,
If the face is red, and the arteries of the neck and temples throb
violently, give Bell. If there is paleness and faintness, Pulsatilla
is the remedy, especially if the forehead is principally affected. If
the pain is mostly in the back of the head, Nux is to be used; if in
the front, and is sharp, affecting the eyes, Aconite; if at the angles
of the forehead, with a sense of pinching, Arnica; if a sense of
fullness and pressing outwards, or with an enlarged feeling, Macrotin;
if intermitting or remitting, Mercurius; if there is ringing in the
ears, China. Headache from fright should have Aconite.
For that kind of headache that often occurs during the prevalence of
fevers, and is not unfrequently a premonitory symptom of an attack of
fever, I have found Baptisia and Podophyllin to be specifics. I give
them alternately, every two hours a dose, until the headache ceases. It
often subsides in a few minutes after the first dose of either, though I
have sometimes failed with one alone and succeeded in the same cases
afterwards with both in alternation. I have no doubt but that they act
in many cases, as Prophylactics, entirely warding off and preventing
fevers, or at least arresting them at the premonitory stage.
Podophyllin is a most valuable remedy for headache.
Nose Bleed--Epistaxis.
If it arises from fullness of the vessels of the head, with throbbing of
the temples, redness of the face and eyes, Belladonna is the remedy.
If fever is present, Aconite must be alternated with Bell.
In females or children who have habitual nose-bleed, Pulsatilla and
Podophyllin are to be used alternately, night and morning. During the
paroxysm of bleeding, Arnica should be used, one dose repeated in a
half hour if it continues.
If it is produced by over-exertion, Rhus is the proper remedy. If it
occurs in the early stage of fever, Aconite and Bell.; in the
latter stage, Rhus and Phos. are to be used. Hamamelis will
frequently arrest nose-bleed immediately after one or two doses.
Worms.
It is difficult to determine the presence of worms in children, much
more in adults, yet both are affected by them occasionally. In children,
there is more or less fever and restlessness, screaming out in sleep,
starting, pain in the bowels, vomiting, choking, diarrhoea, picking at
the nose, fetid breath, voracious and variable appetite.
TREATMENT.
Santonine is a remedy which I have used for years, and I have treated
many hundreds of cases, with such unvariable success, that I feel
disinclined to use or to recommend any other. It brings away the worms
entire, and relieves the patient of all morbid symptoms immediately, or
in much less time than any other remedy of which I have any knowledge.
It seems to act specifically upon the worms, causing them to leave the
bowels by being evacuated with the feces, without producing any sensible
impression upon the bowels, the evacuations remaining natural, if they
were so, or becoming so, if deranged, and the worms coming away not
quite lifeless.
I have often prescribed this remedy for children suffering under
intermittent or remitting, and even typhoid fever, in the summer season,
when there were not present any well defined symptoms of worms, and yet
the fever would soon abate, and in due time worms appear in the fecal
evacuations. It often arrests entirely intermittent fever, when worms
are present, and are the probable cause of the fever.
I give either the crude salt in from one-fourth to one-half grain doses,
or a trituration of one grain to four of sugar, giving in the latter
case, from one to two grains of the trituration. Give one dose at
bed-time, or in an urgent case at any other time, but never repeat the
dose under thirty-six hours, and in an ordinary case, under forty-eight
hours.
This is the medicine par excellence for worms. It may be repeated
once a week, when there is a tendency in the patient to the development
of worm symptoms, or, in other words, the breeding of worms. The idea
held out by some that it is hurtful, or unimportant to remove the worms,
in itself considered, is simply nonsense, and worse, for children
are sometimes sacrificed to this idea.
Earache--Otalgia.
This may arise from various causes, but a common one is sudden cold. If
it arises from cold, and there is general fever, or if the ear is red,
or the side of the head and ear hot, Bell. and Baptisia should be
given in alternation, every hour, or in a violent case, more frequently.
These remedies will soon relieve such cases. Cloths wrung out of hot
water should be laid over the ear, or the side of the head steamed, or
it may be laid into water quite warm, with good effect.
Where the disease is a chronic affection, and the patient is subject to
frequent attacks of pain in the ear, especially on a change of the
weather, from dry to moist, Mercurius is the proper remedy, especially
if it is worse at night, when warm in bed.
If it arises from a shock or blow, Arn. is to be used. In scrofulous
persons, whether there is ulceration or not, Phosphorus and
Pulsatilla are the remedies.
Children and even adults, not unfrequently suffer from earache, without
any known cause sufficient to account for it. On examination into the
ear you will often find either the cavity filled or nearly so, with a
hard black substance, (the inspissated "earwax") almost as hard as horn,
or else the ear will be quite empty, and the sides of the cavity dry
and red, though perhaps not properly in a state of inflammation.
The natural condition of the cavity as it can be seen by straining the
ear outwards and backwards a little in a strong sun light, is moist, the
surface covered slightly with a yellowish, greasy, soft substance (the
cerumen) "earwax." When this is wanting or in excess, or its character
changed, it is evidence of disease, and pain is likely to occur. The
TREATMENT
for this condition is to remove the accumulation when that exists, as
the first step. But this must be first softened by pouring some warm
oil, pure olive oil, or good pure sperm oil, into the ear, and repeat it
two or three times a day for several days, until it is so far softened
as to be easily removed with the probe end of common small tweezers,
having a spoon-bowl point.
When there is dryness, moisten the surface with oil. In either case, it
is best, for a while, to protect the delicate surface from the air, by
putting oiled wool into the external ear.
If the ear was filled, give Mercurius once a day until there appears a
natural secretion. If dry, use Belladonna.
Toothache.
It is difficult to determine the cause of toothache, and more difficult
to select the remedy. It often depends upon decay of the tooth, and
exposure of the nerve to air, and contact with food or drinks, or even
saliva, which irritate and produce pain.
Pulsatilla will as often relieve such cases as any other remedy, yet
if it has been aggravated by a recent cold, Bell. and Nux V. may be
better. If the nerve is not exposed, and there is a disposition to a
return of the pain on exposure to cold air, or a change of weather, the
pain being of a rheumatic character, give Rhus and Macrotin in
alternation. These will relieve many cases. For decayed teeth, the pain
being dull aching, with soreness, use Chamomilla. The body of the
tooth, that is the dentine, sometimes becomes very sensitive when there
is no decay or cavity, the pain being experienced when some hard
substance hits, or the air or water, either cold or hot, comes in
contact with the tooth. The temporary pain will generally yield to
Arnica, and in most instances, the daily use of Arnica at the first
decimal dilution, applied to the surface, and upon the jaws, will effect
a cure.
The chloride of Zinc applied to the surface of such teeth for a few
moments will destroy the sensitiveness of the dentine.
Teeth that are ulcerated at the roots, or have ulcerated gums around
them, the teeth being decayed, should be extracted at once, for, besides
the pain and inconvenience they cause, they are a very prolific source
of disturbance to the digestive organs, from the positive poison
generated by the decaying process.
If people will use soft brushes upon the teeth with soap and water,
followed by rinsing with simple water only, after each meal, brushing
both inside and out and crossways, so as to clean between them, they
will be saved much pain and decay, and disease of other parts, arising
from foul and diseased teeth.
Teething of Children.
Affections arising from teething of children, are often of a serious
character. The most prominent of which is Diarrhoea. Fever
frequently accompanies the diarrhoea, and convulsions occasionally
occur. Aconite and Chamomilla should be used in alternation, every
one or two hours, according to the violence of the fever, and if
convulsions occur, or are threatened, as will be known by twitching,
starting, and screaming, use Nux and Bell. These may be given in
rotation with the others, following the remedies, one after the other,
every hour. I have relieved the most alarming cases in a day by this
method of procedure, that had not yielded to either of the single
remedies for several days, given as directed in the books; the patient
growing worse continually. If the gums over the teeth look white and the
teeth, (one or more,) are near the surface, the gums should, by all
means, be cut. Press the point of a lancet or penknife down upon the top
of the gum, until the tooth is plainly felt, and be sure to make the cut
as wide as the tooth. Rub the gums with Arnicated water once or twice
a day. Pulsatilla should be given at night and Chamomilla in the
morning, during the whole summer while the child is teething, as a
prophylactic against the fever and diarrhoea that is likely to occur.
It will generally save all trouble.
If the diarrhoea is profuse, watery and light colored or brown, give
Phos. acid and Veratrum alternately, as often as the discharges
occur. For the restlessness of infants at night, Coffea is the
specific.
Apthæ--Thrush.
This is a disease peculiar to nursing children. The mouth becomes sore,
and the tongue, lips, and fauces are covered with a white crust, looking
like milk curds, which, when removed, leaves the surface red, inflamed
and very tender. It sooner or later, extends to the stomach and bowels,
producing severe and dangerous diarrhoea.
TREATMENT.
Of all the medicines known to our Materia Medica, none, according to my
experience, will in the least, compare with the Eupatorium aromaticum.
It is almost, if not quite certain to relieve speedily in all cases. I
say this, not only from my own experience and observation, but from the
testimony of several other Homoeopathic Physicians, who have, within
the last year, used it.
It should be given at the first or second dilution, once in four or six
hours, and three or four drops of the tincture put into a teaspoonful of
water, and the mouth occasionally washed with the mixture.
In summer, where agues prevail, and the child is feverish and restless,
China will aid in the cure, to be given once in six hours between the
doses of the Eupatorium. If the diarrhoea is obstinate, the
discharges colored, and the child is sick at the stomach, give
Podophyllin with the other remedies.
Inflammation of the Eyes--Ophthalmia.
For common Ophthalmia, in the early stages, while there is more or less
fever and headache, with flushed face, bloodshot eyes and throbbing of
the temporal arteries, Bell. and Aconite should be used alternately
every two hours, and a wash made with ten drops of tincture of Aconite
to one gill of pure water, applied to the eyes as hot as the patient can
bear. This application should be repeated every two hours, in a violent
case, until the eyes are easy, and then about twice a day until all
inflammation and redness pass off. This will relieve a large proportion
of cases in from one to four days.
If, however, the case continues obstinate for a longer time, or has been
of a week or more standing before the treatment is commenced, in the
place of Bell., or after using it one or two days, use Hydrastus with
the Aconite, giving them alternately at intervals of two to six hours,
according to the stage of the case--more frequently as the symptoms are
more urgent, using washes prepared of each separately, as directed for
Aconite, except that the Hydrastus wash may be twice as strong; and
apply each about half as often as the same medicine is taken internally.
The wash should, in all cases of acute inflammation of the eyes, be as
hot as it can be borne. Let it be put into the eyes so as to come
directly in contact with the inflamed surface.
Simple hot water applied to inflamed eyes for hours together, allowing
short intervals between the applications, will often cure most painful
cases.
Never apply cold to inflamed eyes. It always aggravates. When the
inflammation is in a scrofulous person, especially in infants, it
assumes a purulent character, and may leave the cornea in clouded
(nebulous) condition, and the sight more or less obliterated. For this
condition use Conium first, and apply it in tinct., half water, to
the eyes every four hours.
Wounds and Bruises.
On this subject, I must necessarily be very brief. When a wound is
inflicted, the first and most important thing to be done is to _arrest
the flow of blood_. Every one should know how to do this. The bleeding
is to be stopped, and the wounded vessels to be secured, so that no
further flow can take place.
First, then, to stop the bleeding, pressure is to be made upon the
artery leading to the wound. If the wound is in the leg or foot,
pressure is to be made, either on the vessel above and near the wound,
or, where that cannot be easily found and compressed, make firm pressure
with the thumb or some hard substance, in the groin, about two and a
half inches at one side of the center of the pelvis, (wounded side) just
below the lower margin of the belly, towards the inner side of the
thigh, where the great artery (Femoral artery) can be felt pulsating. By
pressing firmly upon this artery, the blood is arrested in its flow into
the limb, and of course the bleeding from the wound soon ceases. If the
wound is in the arm or hand, pressure is to be made, either just above
the wound, or on the inside of the arm, about one-third of the way from
the shoulder to the elbow, where the artery (Brachial) can be felt. To
secure the parts from further bleeding, the wounded artery must be taken
up and tied. Let it be seized by forceps, or the point of a needle may
be thrust into it, and the vessel stretched out a little, a thread put
round it and tied; cut off one end of the tie, and let the other hang
out of the wound, until it comes out by the vessel sloughing off. Bring
the lips of the wound together, and if it is large, put in stitches
enough to hold them, and put on an adhesive plaster, compress of cloths,
and bandages to keep it from straining the stitches, and protect it from
the air. The Arnica plaster, made by JOHN HALL, of Cleveland, is the
best adhesive plaster of which I have any knowledge. Give the patient
Aconite once in two hours, for a day after the accident.
Slight Cuts about the joints, especially the knee, are dangerous, from
their liability to affect the ligaments, inflame, and produce Lockjaw.
Therefore, such wounds, ever so slight, are of great importance. They
should be at once closed up, whether they bleed or not, and covered with
an adhesive plaster, (Arnica plaster is the best) a bandage, and the
knee should not be bent, even when walking or sitting, until the wound
is healed. It is best to apply a splint from the hip to the heel, and
bandage the limb to it, so as to prevent bending of the joint.
Bruises are to be treated with Arnica, applied to the part affected,
by putting twenty drops of the tincture into a gill of water, if the
skin is not ruptured, or three drops into the same if it is, and
bathing freely. The Arnica is to be taken internally at a higher
dilution. Keep the parts covered with cloths and wet in Arnica water.
If a blow is received upon the head, by a fall, or in any other way,
producing a "stunning" effect, (concussion of the brain) so that the
patient appears lifeless for a time, and delirious when he begins to
come to, there is great danger of inflammation of the brain, and death
from the re-action, or in some cases, the shock is so great that the
patient will never revive unless he has the proper aid.
Arnica is the great remedy to bring on reaction, arouse the patient,
and prevent dangerous inflammation or congestion of the brain.
When a patient is "stunned" by a blow or fall, he should be conveyed
soon as possible, to some quiet place, and as little noise as
practicable made about him, and the room kept darkened. Arnica 3d
should be given immediately, and the nostrils wet with strongly
arnicated water.
If fever arise after he comes to, Aconite should be given with
Arnica, and if the head aches, or becomes hot, Bell. is to be used.
This will prevent or arrest all symptoms of inflammation.
Torn and Mangled wounds should not be handled much. If they bleed, the
blood must be stopped as in any other case. If they are dirty, warm
water may be gently applied to cleanse them. The wound should be covered
with some soft cloths, and kept constantly wet in Arnicated water of the
strength of four drops of the tincture to a pint of water.
Piles--Hemorrhoids.
One important matter in all cases of habitual piles, is, to keep the
bowels regular. Much can be done for this purpose by diet and regimen.
On rising from bed in the morning drink freely, from a gill to half a
pint of cold water, at least half an hour before breakfast; use such
diet as is easily digested, and drink no alcoholic beverages. To relieve
the bowels when costive, take a dose of Nux Vomica at night, and
Podophyllin in the morning. This may be repeated from day to day until
the proper effect is produced.
To relieve from a severe attack of Piles, use Bell. and Podophyllin
in alternation every four hours, and apply to the tumors when inflamed,
cloths wrung out of hot water, or sit in hot water for a time.
A poultice made of fine-cut Tobacco wet in hot water and crowded
firmly up against the pile-tumors, secured by a T bandage, will relieve
the most desperate cases for the time, and is attended with no danger or
disagreeable symptoms except in rare cases, when it produces sickness at
the stomach, which soon subsides on the poultice being removed. _Oil of
Arnica_ is an excellent application for inflamed Piles.
A most important point in the management of Piles, and one often
neglected, is to replace the prolapsed tumors. The tumors will be
protruded from within the anus by the act of evacuating, and if left in
that condition, will be pressed upon by the external parts, chafed and
inflamed. In all such cases, the patient should take particular pains to
return the tumors into the rectum; and to aid in that process a little
oil may be applied when they will be easily pushed back, and the
sphincter of the bowel will close below them, preventing any chafing,
and the consequent inflammation.
For Bleeding Piles, Ipecac and Bell. are very efficient remedies.
They may be alternated every half hour, or oftener if the bleeding is
severe, or at longer intervals when it is only slight.
Hamamelis V., (Witch Hazel,) will in nearly all cases arrest the
bleeding at once. It should be applied to the parts and taken internally
at the same time. Drop doses to be put on the tongue once in fifteen or
twenty minutes.
An infusion of the Hamamelis may be taken internally in doses of half
a teaspoonful, and the same injected into the bowel with excellent
effect.
The most effectual way, and the best for obtaining permanent relief from
Piles when the tumors have become hard, and remain all the time so as to
pass out of the anus at every evacuation, being constantly more or less
tender and painful, and often becoming inflamed, is to have them taken
off. But never let that be done with a knife. The bleeding would, in
such a case, be very excessive, and most likely fatal. The history of
knife operations for the excision of Pile tumors is written in blood,
and the tombstone stands as a monument of condemnation of the practice.
No trustworthy surgeon will at this day attempt it.
But however dangerous may be the knife operation, there is no danger at
all to be apprehended from removing the tumors by a ligature. To
accomplish this, take a soft cork about three-fourths of an inch in
diameter, and one inch long--make a hole through the center from end to
end, about one-eighth of an inch in diameter--cut crucial grooves in the
top of the cork about an eighth of an inch deep, bevel down the lower
end nearly to an edge, make a cord of saddler's silk, three fold twisted
together and waxed, about eight or ten inches long, double this in the
middle and pass the loop down through the cork out at the sharp end, the
two loose ends of the string being out at the grooved end. Make a strong
hickory stick about three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, and just
long enough to pass across the square end of the cork. Now have the
patient protrude the Pile tumors as far out as possible, being placed on
his knees with the head bent to the floor, pressing out firmly as if to
evacuate the bowels. Let the tumors be dried as much as possible by
gently pressing a soft, dry cloth to them; then let the loop of the
string projecting from the flattened end of the cork, be pushed on over
the largest tumor, and held down at its base, while an assistant places
the stick in one of the grooves, ties the two ends of the cord firmly
down over the stick, or toggle, by a square bow knot; then turn the
stick round once, twice, or more, until the pressure upon the tumor is
sufficient to strangulate it perfectly, and prevent the string from
slipping off. Care should be taken to keep the cord down to the base of
the tumor while it is being tied and tightened, as in many cases the
base is much the larger part of the tumor, and the cord tends to slip
up. After the ligature is applied and tightened, apply arnicated water
to the parts, and a large, warm poultice of superfine slippery elm bark,
wet so as not to be too soft and slippery, on the face of which Arnica
may be put. Keep it on with a T bandage. The patient must be put to bed
and kept quiet until the ligature and tumor come off, which will be in
about six or seven days, sometimes sooner. Once a day the "toggle" must
be turned part, or the whole of a circle or more, to tighten the cord as
the patient can bear. This will be very painful from beginning to end of
the ligating, but any, even the most sensitive, patient can bear it. The
patient must have quite warm hip baths two, three, or more, times a day,
or as often as the pain is severe, the poultice being replaced after
each bath, and kept constantly on.
If there are several tumors protruding, apply ligatures to two of the
largest, when these are removed, the others will disappear.
Injections of mucillage of slippery elm should be carefully used to move
the bowels daily, or at least once in two days. Let the diet be of corn
or oat meal mush, or rice. As the tumor gradually sloughs off, the
surface heals, so that, though the base where the ligature was applied,
may have been an inch or more across it, there will not be a raw surface
of over an eighth of an inch in diameter, to which Calendula Cerate
should be applied. The patient must keep quiet for a few days longer.
Though this is a painful operation, it is not in the slightest degree
dangerous. I have effected complete and permanent cures by this mode in
numerous instances.
Sea-Sickness.
Nux Vomica should be used once in about four hours, for twelve hours
before sailing, as a preventive to sea-sickness.
If, however, symptoms, such as dizziness or blur before the eyes, and
headache, begin to come on, a dose of Nux should be taken, followed in
an hour with Pulsatilla.
If the nausea comes on, Ipecac and Arsenicum should be taken
alternately between the paroxysms of vomiting, should that symptom
appear.
If practicable, the patient should lay still upon the back until the
sickness passes off. I have removed sea-sickness immediately in several
instances with Pulsatilla alone, and the last time I had an
opportunity to prescribe for this affection I gave Podophyllin. It
removed all the symptoms in a few minutes. That is the only time I ever
tried it, but from the provings I am satisfied it is one of the best
remedies.
Asiatic Cholera.
I was practicing in Cincinnati during the prevalence of Cholera in the
years 1849, and 1850, and in Northern Ohio in 1854, and had abundant
opportunity to observe and treat it. The disease generally begins with a
diarrhoea, which may continue for several days, or only a few hours
before other symptoms set in, such as vomiting, then cramping in the
stomach and muscles of the legs, arms, hands and feet, followed by cold
sweats, great prostration, restlessness, excessive and burning thirst,
drinks being immediately rejected. These symptoms continue, the patient
sinking rapidly into collapse, when the skin looks blue and shriveled,
the eyes sunken, the surface covered with a cold, clammy sweat, the
extremities, nose, ears, tongue and breath cold, the voice hollow and
unnatural. This condition continues from two to eight or ten hours, the
patient regularly failing, sometimes becoming delirious before he dies.
In some cases the vomiting and diarrhoea set in simultaneously, and
the other symptoms follow, as above described, in rapid succession. In
others the cramping may be the first symptom, the others following it.
In a large proportion of cases, the disease takes the course first
described above, the diarrhoea, called the premonitory symptoms, or
sometimes cholerine, coming on several hours, if not a day or more,
before any other symptoms.
The diarrhoea is not usually painful, hence the patient may not be
alarmed so as to attend to it until the more dangerous symptoms appear.
It begins in some cases with pain and some griping, the discharges
rather consistent, having a bilious appearance, so that the patient
supposes it to be an ordinary bilious diarrhoea, which is not
dangerous, his fears being thus quieted. But however the diarrhoea
begins, it becomes sooner or later, copious, watery, and light colored,
(rice water) painless but rapidly prostrating.
TREATMENT.
In the early stages of the diarrhoea, Veratrum, taken about twice as
often as the evacuations occur, will frequently arrest it in a few
hours, especially if the patient lies down and keeps quiet. But if not,
and it increases in frequency, or becomes more copious, or any sickness
is felt at the stomach, the patient should, at once, be laid upon a bed
and strong tincture of Camphor should be given in drop doses, once in
five minutes, for one hour or more, and as the symptoms abate, once in
ten, fifteen or twenty minutes, for six or eight hours.
A teaspoonful of the Camphor tincture may be put into a tumbler of
cold water, ice water if at hand, and the water agitated until it
becomes clear, giving a teaspoonful of this camphorated cold water as
a dose, stirring the water each time. I think this is better than to
give the pure tincture. After the patient becomes quiet and easy,
Veratrum should be given in alternation with Camphor, a dose in four
to six hours for several days, or oftener if he feels any symptoms like
a threatened return of the disease. These two medicines serve as
prophylactics (preventives) of Cholera.
If, however, the disease continues in spite of the Camphor and Veratrum,
in the first instance, or later, (as the Camphor may be given in many
cases with success in the advance stage,) you must resort to other
remedies.
If vomiting comes on with burning in the stomach give Ipecac and
Arsenicum in alternation as often as the vomiting occurs, and if the
diarrhoea continues give Veratrum between the doses of the other
two, in a violent case, as often as every ten to fifteen minutes, and at
longer intervals when the disease is slow in its progress. If the
vomiting and diarrhoea, or either, occur with a kind of explosion, the
vomiting ceasing suddenly for the time, after the first gush, or the
discharges from the bowels are involuntary, Secale is the specific
remedy.
For the cramping, Cuprum and Veratrum are the remedies to be given
alternately.
If, however, the cramping comes on as the first symptom, which is
sometimes the case, the patient being suddenly seized with it before any
other alarming symptoms occur, Camphor is the great remedy, and in
this case it may be given in doses of double or treble the quantity
before directed.
If he sinks into the collapse and lies quiet, indifferent to
everything, the pulse sinking, or he is pulseless, Carbo Veg. will
sometimes arouse and restore him, hopeless as the case appears. It
should be given once in half an hour until the pulse begins to rise. If,
however, instead of being quiet he is restless and thirsty, give
Arsenicum in alternation with Carbo Veg., repeating the dose as
above directed. In some cases, after all the active symptoms cease, the
patient will become quiet and drop to sleep, and instead of the pulse
rising, as it will if he is recovering, it sinks, or does not appear if
he has been pulseless, and the breathing becomes irregular and
feeble--he is sinking. If aroused, he sinks back into the stupor in a
few moments as before. Laurocerasus is a specific for this condition.
It should be given once an hour until he is aroused.
If, however, besides the stupor, the head is hot, the face red, the
breathing oppressed, the pulse slow and sluggish, Opium is to be
used, and may be given in alternation with Laurocerasus.
For the irritation of the brain, and furious delirium that sometimes
sets in after the cessation of cholera symptoms, Secale and
Belladonna in alternation will prove specific.
Let the patient have warm or cold drink as he prefers, and let his
covering be light or plentiful as is most agreeable. As soon as he gets
easy, and the vomiting and purging cease, and his pulse begins to
return, keep him quiet as possible, let the room be darkened and
everything still, so that he may go to sleep, which he is inclined to
do, this being the surest restorer. I am quite sure I have known several
patients carried off by a return of the disease, after it had been
effectually arrested, in consequence of sleep being prevented by the
rejoicing officiousness and congratulations of friends, disturbing and
preventing that early and quiet slumber which nature so much needs, and
must have, or hopelessly sink. The diet for two or three days after
recovery, should be a little oat meal gruel or rice.
Small Pox--Variola.
This disease begins with pain in the head and back, chilly sensations,
followed by a high fever, so similar in all respects to a severe attack
of Bilious or "winter" fever, that it is difficult or impossible to
distinguish it with certainty, as Small Pox. The fact of the prevalence
of the disease at the time, and the exposure of the patient, may lead
the Physician and friends to suspect Small Pox. There is one very
striking symptom of Small Pox, however, that exists from the beginning,
which, though it may be present in fever simply, is not uniformly so.
This is a severe and constant aching pain in the small of the back.
The headache is also constant.
The Small Pox is of two varieties or degrees, distinct and
confluent. The distinct is when the pustules are separated from each
other, each one a distinct elevation, with more or less space between
them not affected by the eruption.
The confluent is where the pustules spread out from their sides and
run together, covering the whole surface as one sore.
It may be distinct on some parts, as on the body, and confluent on
others, as the arms, face, and parts most exposed to the air.
In the Distinct variety the fever continues without abatement until
the eruption appears, when it entirely subsides, and that quite
suddenly. The eruption comes out about the third day of the attack,
sometimes not discoverable until the end of the third or beginning of
the fourth day. The eruption is at first very slight, beginning with
small red pimples on the forehead, upper part of the cheeks, neck and
upper part of the breast, extending by degrees to the arms, and other
parts of the body and limbs. About the end of the fourth or forepart of
the fifth day, the eruption is complete.
There is a symptom, not mentioned in the books, which will often
determine the disease before the occurrence of any eruption. It is the
appearance of hard shot-like pimples, to be felt under the skin in the
palms of the hands, while there is, as yet, no trace of eruption to be
seen upon the surface.
On the eighth or ninth day, the eruptions become vessicular, have
flattened tops, and contain a limpid fluid. The parts continue to
swell, the eruptions to enlarge, and become filled with purulent matter,
having a dark color at the top, up to about the fourteenth or fifteenth
day, when they begin to flat down, to dry up, and some of the scabs
become loose. At this time, some fever arises, often quite severe, with
headache and other inflammatory symptoms. If the eruption is very
severe, fever will be of corresponding violence, and lighter or wanting
when the eruption is mild. This fever rarely lasts more than twenty-four
hours, from which time the patient rapidly recovers.
In the Confluent variety, all the symptoms are more violent, the fever
continuing after the eruption begins. The pustules burst early, and run
into each other, covering nearly or quite the whole skin; the surface
swells and turns black or dark brown, the lungs are more or less
irritated, producing cough, and not unfrequently the stomach is
nauseated, and vomiting ensues.
If the patient survives the irritation up to the fifteenth or sixteenth
day, when the secondary fever sets in, he is liable to be taken off
by an affection of the brain or lungs, during this fever. If he
recovers, his whole surface, especially that part exposed to air, is
deeply pitted.
TREATMENT.
As it is not often known for a certainty, in the early febrile stage,
that it is the small pox, the treatment will be first adopted that would
be proper for a like fever arising from other causes. But in all my
observations in this disease, and they extend to several hundred cases,
I have not found in a single instance, any of the ordinary fever
remedies, such as Aconite and Bell., which would be applicable for
such symptoms in an ordinary case, to do any good in small pox. They are
directed, however, for these symptoms by the authorities, in the febrile
stage of the small pox; but I am quite sure they are not the proper
remedies.
From the great similarity, the almost absolute identity of small pox
headache and backache, with the same symptoms developed by the
Macrotys racem. as well as the nausea and restlessness produced by the
drug, I was led several years ago to the conclusion that this, or the
Macrotin was valuable in small pox. Not only so, but during the
prevalence of small pox in Cincinnati, to an extraordinary degree in the
winter of 1849-50, I treated about one hundred cases, including both
sexes, and all ages, from infants a few weeks old, to very old persons,
giving the Macrotin to all, and had the good fortune to see all my
patients recover. Since that time I have prescribed it for every case
successfully.
Having then, been entirely successful in so many cases, with this
medicine, I am not inclined at this time to give any other the
preference. I must admit, however, that though my patients all
recovered, I was not able to greatly abridge the duration of the
disease, nor to prevent the development of all the stages in their
proper order, as is claimed by M. TESTE, for his use of _Mercurius
cor._ and Causticum. I was satisfied with so far modifying the
symptoms, as to enable my patients to live through, and come _out well
in the end_. I would then direct, if small pox is suspected, the patient
having been exposed to contract it, or from the peculiarity of the
symptoms, in the early stage, or when the disease is discovered after
the eruption, to give Macrotin at the first trituration, in one grain
doses, once in two hours, while the fever, headache and backache
continue, after which, during the whole course of the disease, give it
three times a day. This will prevent the development of a dangerous
secondary fever, as well as irritation of the lungs, stomach or bowels.
In addition to this medicine I give the patients daily, from half an
ounce to two ounces of pure (unrancid) Olive oil. This serves to
prevent the development of pustules in the throat, lungs and stomach; is
more or less nutritious, and keeps the bowels in a healthy condition.
Wash the surface once a day in weak soap suds, following it with a bath
of milk and water, and keep cloths moistened with warm milk and water,
constantly upon all parts that are exposed to the air, lubricating the
surface with Olive oil after the bath of milk and water. This keeps
the surface quite comfortable.
The best diet is corn or oat meal mush and molasses, to be taken in
small quantities. Cold water is the proper drink, though it should not
be very cold.
The room should, at all times, be well ventillated, but in cold or cool
weather, sufficient fire must be kept up, to keep the room warm and dry.
A temperature of about 65° is the best. Hardly any thing can be worse
for a small pox patient than to be in a cold or damp room, and to
breathe cold air. Uniform temperature is important.
If the eruption is tardy about appearing, or after it is out, a
recession takes place, the Alcoholic Vapor bath will soon bring it out.
(See Rheumatism **p. 30).
Occasionally the feet and limbs below the knees, will swell
prodigiously, and become extremely painful, causing the principal
suffering. For this, wrap the feet and legs in cloths wet in a strong
solution of Epsom salts, quite warm, and cover with flannels so as to
keep them warm. This will afford immediate relief, and reduce the
swelling in a day or two. The finely pulverized Epsom salts, dry,
sprinkled on the pustules, will very often prevent pitting. It is the
safest and surest remedy of which I have any knowledge.
Varioloid
is small pox modified by vaccination. It is to be treated as a mild case
of small pox. The Macrotin has been used with apparent success as a
prophylactic (preventive) to small pox, taken three times daily.
Painful Urination, Incontinence of Urine,
Involuntary Urination.
Where the discharge of urine produces smarting and burning of the
urethra, Cantharis is the remedy. Where there seems to be an over
secretion of acrid urine, producing inflammation of the neck of the
bladder, known by pain in the glans penis, Copaiva, and Apis mel.
are the remedies. If there appears to be a partial palsy of the neck of
the bladder, the discharge taking place in sleep, Podophyllin is the
surest remedy. I have cured some bad cases by the use of these three
remedies, given in rotation three or four hours apart.
Injections of a solution of borax into the bladder, have, in several
cases, been sufficient to effect a perfect cure, without any other
remedy. This may be used in connection with the other remedies. For
painful urination with a distressed feeling in the neck of the bladder,
causing a constant disposition to evacuate urine, the _Althoea
Officinalis_ is a certain remedy; it acts like a charm. It is an
important remedy for inflammation of the bladder. A good mode of using
it is in form of a warm infusion in doses of a table spoonful every half
hour or hour, according to the urgency of the symptoms. The _Althoea
Rosa_ (Hollyhock) may be used as a substitute, though it is not as good.
Every family should cultivate the Althoea Officinalis (Marsh
Mallow), so that the fresh green root, which is the best, can be
procured at any time. I have been able to relieve patients with it,
especially females, when all other remedies seemed unavailing. It is
particularly useful for urinary difficulties of pregnant females.
Neuralgia.
Aconite and Bell. are two important remedies in this affection. If
given low, and applied directly along the course of the affected nerves,
at full strength of the tincture, they will almost always effect a
cure. The proper way to use them is to give them internally at the
second dilution, at intervals of fifteen to thirty minutes, when the
pain is severe and nearly constant, and apply Aconite tincture as hot
as practicable over the course of the nerve, by means of wet cloths, for
an hour or two hours, and if the pain has not subsided use Bell.
locally in the same manner.
If the Neuralgia is periodical, coming on at regular intervals,
Arsenicum and China are the remedies, and they should be used
externally as directed for the others, both at the first dilution, and
given internally at intervals, in proportion to the violence of the
symptoms, the Arsen. at the 3d and the China at the first dilution.
If the patient has used alcoholic drinks to excess, Nux is to be used
in place of Arsenicum.
Periodical Neuralgia generally requires the same treatment as ague. In
females when there is uterine disease, Pulsatilla and Macrotin are
the remedies to be used, as directed above.
Jaundice.
This disease depends upon derangement of the liver. The skin and whites
of the eyes become yellow; the patient grows weak, loses his appetite,
is dull and sluggish in all his actions, melancholly and discouraged in
his moods.
TREATMENT.
Mercurius and Podophyllin given in alternation, each twice a day,
will nearly always effect a cure. If the patient is costive, Nux
should be taken at night, until his bowels become regular.
Bathing the surface daily, or oftener, is a very important measure in
the treatment of this affection. As often as once in two or three days,
an alkaline bath should be taken. If the patient has fever every day, or
once in two days, ever so slight, China should be used with
Podophyllin. If he has been drugged with Mercury in any form, in large
doses, even six months or a year before, give Hydrastin in place of
Mercurius.
Itch.
I shall say but little about this very common and very obstinate
affection. Everybody has a "cure for itch" yet nobody cures it short of
the use of Sulphur in some form. Though the attenuations of Sulphur
may sometimes cure itch, it must be acknowledged that such cures are so
rare in this country, and the time requisite to accomplish it is so
long, as a general rule, that few will trust them.
The most successful remedy, and the one that will always cure quickly,
if at all, is Hepar Sulphurus Potassium, the common Hepar Sulphur
(sulphuret of Potassa) of the shops. To succeed with it most certainly,
let the patient be thoroughly bathed with warm soap suds, _quite
strong_, in a room at the temperature of 90 to 100°, continuing the
bathing and rubbing for an hour or more, then dry off the surface with
soft cloths, and apply the Hepar sul. with water, at the strength of
thirty drops of the strong alcoholic solution, with a gill of water,
wetting every eruption on the whole surface and let it dry on. This
causes some smarting, but it is effectual; it kills the acarus, (itch
animalcule) and in a few days the sores heal, the itching all subsides
immediately. If every pustule has not been touched, those left may
continue to itch, in which case, a second application is necessary.
Hepar Sul. should be given internally at the third dilution, for a
month, once a day, after the baths. Avoid greasy food. For the
Scald Head
of children, where there is a discharge of yellow and watery pus from
the sores, and the eruption extends to the ears or face, like the
disease called the crusta lactea (milk crust), the same washes as for
itch, are the most effectual, while at the same time, and for a month or
two, the child should have Hepar Sul. 5th at night, and Petroleum 3d
in the morning. Daily ablutions of the head with warm soap suds, and
keeping it covered, are absolutely essential.
Carbuncle.
This affection, though it somewhat resembles a common boil, and is by
some writers considered only such, in an overgrown state, is,
nevertheless, far from being identical with it.
While a boil is only a sanitive effort of nature to eliminate the
cause of a morbid process, and tends to a spontaneous, healthy
termination, the carbuncle, on the contrary, is the very essence of
disease; its constant tendency being towards the dissemination of
diseased action, causing destruction of the parts affected. It, in fact,
appears like a parasite, living by the destruction of surrounding
tissues, literally absorbing them and "thriving on death." It begins
with a red, livid color, slight aching and burning pains, the part
swells and is elevated some like a boil, except that it does not
"point," but has a broad base rising like a cone and flattened at the
top. It feels soft and spongy, and will appear to fluctuate, but if
punctured, blood only flows. The pain and burning increases rapidly, and
sooner or later several openings appear upon the top, varying from three
or four to half a dozen or more, looking like the holes in a sponge, out
of which issues a fluid like thin gruel. Instead of becoming easier
after the suppuration begins, as is the case with a boil, the burning
increases to an alarming and unbearable extent; cold chills, loss of
appetite, great depression of spirits, general nervous and muscular
debility come on. The tumor continues to discharge, turns purple;
gangrene beginning in the carbuncle extends to other parts and death
follows.
The disease is nearly always confined to quite feeble persons and those
past the meridian of life; but I have seen it on younger though feeble
patients. It is generally located on the back, occasionally on the head,
where it is very dangerous from its liability to affect the brain.
TREATMENT.
If treated very early, strong tincture of Arnica applied to the
surface of the carbuncle, by cloths wet and laid over the tumor, will
often arrest it so that the swelling will not be developed to the
suppurative stage. However, to reap any benefit from Arnica, it must
be applied while the pain is not severe, and the parts only feel bruised
and tender to pressure, like a common bruise.
After the ulceration occurs, Arsenicum is the great remedy to be
relied on. It should be given at the second or third attenuation as
often as every three hours, when the pain is severe, and applied to the
surface of the carbuncle freely by cloths laid over it, wet in the
first dilution, or by sprinkling the first trituration of the oxyde
(1-10) freely upon the open surfaces, so that it may penetrate into the
open mouths or orifices. Over this powder apply an emolient poultice, or
soft cloths wet in water hot as can be endured. This will soon allay or
greatly lessen the pain. It should be repeated as often as any of the
burning pain peculiar to the carbuncle returns, until the tumor
suppurates in a tolerably healthy manner; then lessen the strength of
the Ars. applications, and continue them until it has the appearance
of a healthy abscess, when only simple dressings are necessary. Some may
suppose such strong applications injurious, but I can assure them from
abundant experience, that there is not the slightest danger. The
carbuncle should never be punctured or cut into. Such operations
always make them worse, and induce a more rapid approach to gangrene.
The patient should have nourishing food, and good native wine may be
taken in moderate quantities, by a very feeble person, with decided
advantage.
Though the knife operations for the removal of carbuncle are always
injurious, the chemical effect of Potash is frequently most
beneficial. I have, in repeated instances, applied to the ulcerated
surface, caustic potash freely, allowing the dissolved caustic to
penetrate to the very "core" by running into the orifices. At first it
would produce some smarting, but the pain is different from that of the
carbuncle, and the change is agreeable rather than otherwise. Soon after
the application all pain ceases, and the tumor, under the use of a
poultice, begins to slough off in a few days, leaving a raw surface,
disposed to heal kindly. Occasionally, however, the healing process is
tardy, when Arsenicum, at the third, applied and taken internally,
will soon effect a cure.
I have occasionally used Hepar Sul. with good effect in the latter
stage.
Felon--Whitlow.
For this disease, in the early stage, when the sensation is that of
sharp, sticking pain, feeling as though a brier or thistle was in the
finger, immerse the part in water as hot as possible, into which put
common salt as long as it will dissolve; hold it in this hot salt bath
for an hour or more at a time, and when removed, apply finely pulverized
salt, wet in Spirits of Turpentine; bind on the salt with several
thicknesses, and keep it constantly wet with the sp'ts turpt. for
twenty-four hours, when, if all symptoms of felon are gone, no further
treatment is necessary. As a general rule, the hot bath should be
repeated three times a day, especially if the symptoms have existed for
several days and there is much pain or swelling, and the dressings
should be kept on as above directed for several days, more or less,
until all symptoms disappear.
I am quite confident that a large majority, if not all, of the cases if
thus treated at any time before pus is formed, will be discussed and
cured. If pus has begun to form before the treatment is commenced, this
will not cure the felon, but it is good treatment, especially the hot
bath, as it will greatly lessen the pain.
By holding it in hot water for an hour or two each day, the suppurative
process will be hastened, and as soon as the pus can be felt at any
point, fluctuating, puncture and let it out; then continue the hot bath,
with Calendula (Marygold) flowers in the water, keeping the part all
the time warm and moist.
For the restless and nervous irritability that frequently occurs,
especially in females, Aconite is the best remedy. It should be given,
one drop of the tincture to a gill of water, in teaspoonful doses, once
in one or two hours, and the same applied to the sore.
DISEASES OF FEMALES
Suppression of the Menses, (Amenorrhoea.)
For sudden suppression from taking cold, as by wetting the feet, there
being headache, more or less fever, the pulse frequent and variable,
pains in the small of the back and cramp like pains in the pelvic
region, give, in alternation, Aconite and Pulsatilla, as often as
every fifteen or twenty minutes in a violent case, and at longer
intervals as the patient begins to get easy. Putting the feet into hot
water, or taking a hot Sitz bath is very useful. If the patient is sick
at the stomach, as is often the case, give lukewarm water freely and let
her vomit; after which let her drink freely of water as hot as it can be
safely swallowed, adding milk and sugar to make it palatable. The good
effects that are often attributed to and experienced from the use of
various hot teas in this affection, are, in my opinion, attributable
more to the hot fluid alone than to any specific medicinal virtue in the
substance of which tea is made. At all events, very hot drink with
nothing but water, milk and sugar, is equally efficacious, and my
medicine (a few grains of sugar of milk) put into the hot water,
seasoned as above, has often obtained great credit, when the hot water
was alone worthy. Rubbing the loins and abdomen briskly downwards with
the hands of a healthy and vigorous nurse, will often excite the
menstrual flow after a sudden suppression. If the head is hot, the face
full and red, and the arteries of the neck and temples beat violently,
give Bell. with Pulsatilla, and if the lungs are oppressed, use also
Bryonia, giving the three in rotation. If, after the menstrual flow
begins, there is still much pain in the pelvic region, give
Caulophyllin, which will immediately afford relief.
Apis mel. is very servicable in suppressed menses of several days, or
even weeks duration, where there is fever, redness of the face, and pain
in the head, and pains in the hips extending to the limbs, especially if
there is any tendency to bloating of the abdomen and swelling of the
limbs or feet. It acts promptly and efficiently.
If the suppression has been caused by sudden fright or any strong mental
emotion, Veratrum should be given in connection with the two former
medicines. Should there be great fullness of the vessels of the head, or
bleeding at the nose, Bryonia with Pulsatilla are to be used.
Bell. is also useful in this case if the pain in the head is
throbbing, especially if any delirium is present.
For suppression in young females, of several months duration, I have
used, with much success, Podophyllin and Macrotin, one at night, the
other in the morning, giving them for two or three weeks before the
proper time for a return, and a day or two prior to the time, give also
Pulsatilla, and give the three in rotation, a dose every six hours.
This practice has been successful with me in cases of long standing and
apparently obstinate character. Where there is other disease, as an
affection of the liver, lungs or stomach, this must be treated and
cured, or the menses will not probably return. Great care should be
exercised to keep the patient's feet and limbs warm, as upon this may
depend her future health.
Dysmenorrhoea.--Painful Menstruation.
For this disorder, I know of no one remedy so valuable as the
Caulophyllin, but Pulsatilla in many cases is efficacious, and as
they do not prevent each other's action, I prescribe them in
alternation, giving a dose every half hour, for a short time during the
paroxysm, or until the pain abates to some extent, then every hour.
If there is pain in the head, sickness at the stomach, a kind of sick
headache, as is often the case, with painful menstruation, Macrotin
should be used with the others; Ipecac is the Specific for an
excessive flow of the menses with great pain, especially if the stomach
is nauseated. It should be given as low as the first dilution, and the
tincture, in water, in the proportion of thirty drops to half a pint,
injected into the vagina quite warm.
The application of extract of Belladonna to the neck of the uterus
will often produce immediate and perfect relief. After the patient is
relieved from the painful paroxysm, she should be treated so as to
prevent a return of the pains at the next monthly period. Pulsatilla,
Caulophyllin and Podophyllin are the three medicines that are most
certain to effect this object. They are to be given, one medicine each
day, a dose at night for three weeks, then morning, noon and night,
until the time for the return of the menses, when they should be used
oftener if there is pain. If the patient is inclined to be costive,
Nux should be given at night for a few days before the menstrual
period, in place of Pulsatilla.
Menorrhagia--Profuse Menses--Flowing.
For this affection, Ipecac and Hamamelis are the specifics. They
should be taken alternately, at intervals of from half an hour to two
hours apart, according to the urgency of the symptoms, and the
Hamamelis injected into the vagina. These will nearly always arrest
the flooding immediately. Secale should be used either alone or with
the above medicines, if there are bearing down pains like labor pains,
and sickness at the stomach in spite of the Ipecac. Ipecac alone is
often sufficient.
Nursing Sore Mouth.
Sore mouth of nursing women, as the name of the disease indicates, is
peculiar to women who are suckling children. It is an inflammation of
the mouth, tongue and fauces, which sometimes comes on during pregnancy,
several months or but a few days before the birth of the child. It
generally, however, makes its first appearance when the child is a few
weeks old, and sometimes not till after the lapse of several months. In
some cases the tongue and inside of the mouth ulcerate, and the
irritation extends to the stomach and bowels, producing distressing and
dangerous inflammation of these parts, with severe and obstinate
diarrhoea.
For the sore mouth, before diarrhoea begins, give Eupatorium Aro.
and Hydrastin, in alternation, a dose once in three hours, and wash
the mouth with the same, each time. After the diarrhoea occurs, use
Podophyllin with the other medicines, giving them in rotation, three
hours apart. It is best to give a dose of Podophyllin night and
morning.
I have treated very bad cases of this disease that had been running for
more than a year, and been treated with the ordinary remedies directed
in the Homoeopathic authorities without any permanent benefit, curing
them perfectly in ten days with Podophyllin and Leptandrin, giving
them in alternation at the 1st attenuation in half grain doses, at
intervals of from four to eight hours according to the frequency of the
evacuations. These two remedies are almost certain to arrest _Chronic
Dysentery_ where there is ulceration of the lower portion of the rectum,
a peculiar distress felt at the stomach just before stool, with sudden
rush of the evacuations and inability to control the inclination even
for a few minutes, with a feeling of faintness after the stool.
Leptandrin is the specific for the Dysentery that often succeeds
cholera, and these two, Pod. and Lept., are almost certain to
relieve the "Mexican Diarrhoea," as well as that connected with the
fevers along the Mississippi river.
Mammary Abscess,
(Ague in the breast--Inflamed breast.)
This is a disease peculiar to nursing women. The first symptom is a
slight pain or soreness in some part of the "breast," which continues to
increase for a day or two, when a chill, more or less severe, sets in,
followed by high fever and quick pulse, headache and great restlessness.
The gland swells and becomes very painful. This is generally a disease
of rather slow progress, running eight or ten days and sometimes two or
three weeks before abscess forms and "points" to the surface.
TREATMENT.
Phosphorus is to be taken internally, and the first dilution put in
water, twenty drops to one gill, and applied to the surface by means of
cloths wet in the mixture, as hot as it can be borne, and laid over the
whole breast. If this is done and the medicine given internally every
hour, as early as the first and frequently as late as the second or
third day, it is quite sure to remove the disease and prevent an
abscess. It is best to use it even much later. In fact it often succeeds
as late as the fifth or sixth day, and if it does not prevent the
abscess, it so far palliates the severe symptoms as to render the pain
but slight and keep the patient comfortable.
An application of the Tincture of Cantharides diluted with water and
applied to the breast by cloths wet in it, to the extent of producing
considerable redness and even eruptions, and the second dilution of the
same taken in drop doses every three hours, has proved successful in
subduing the inflammation after Phos. had failed, and it was supposed
an abscess would form in spite of any treatment.
I recently succeeded in giving perfect relief with Apis Mel.
internally, applying it externally after the pain and swelling was very
great. I am of opinion that the Apis is a valuable remedy.
After abscess forms as soon as the pus can be felt at any point, soft
and fluctuating under the skin, puncture and let it out, then poultice
it for a few days until it heals, giving Phosphorus and applying it to
the sore. In puncturing, always be very particular to have the
lancet or knife enter so that the edge will look towards the point of
the nipple, so as not to cut across the milk ducts, which all run
toward that point, and if cut off will close up so that the milk which
may be secreted at any future time cannot get out, and swelling, pain
and severe inflammation, abscess and ulceration will be the consequence;
whereas, if the cut is made lengthwise of the ducts, very few, if any
will be cut off, and all future danger will be avoided. Apply an elm
poultice from the beginning to the end of treatment. For malignant
ulcers of the breasts, the Cornus Sericea is a most potent remedy. It
is to be taken internally at the first dilution, and applied in strong
infusion or diluted Tr. of the bark to the sore.
Sore Nipples.
This affection of nursing women frequently comes on before the birth of
the child, but generally does not make its appearance until after the
suckling has continued for a week or more. It seems in some cases to be
connected with the aphthæ (sore mouth) of the child, or at least to be
aggravated by contact with the sore mouth; on the other hand it
sometimes seems as though the sore nipples produced the sore mouth of
the child.
TREATMENT.
I treat both the nipple and the child's mouth with the same remedy
Eupatorium aro., applied at the strength of 6 drops of the tincture,
to a teaspoonful of water, the application being made by a soft cloth,
wet and laid over the nipple; give drop doses of the same strength
internally every three hours, which will, in nearly all cases effect a
cure in one or two days. The child's mouth should be wet with the same
each time just before nursing. The oil from the pit of the butter nut,
(Juglan's Cinerea,) obtained by heating the pit and pressing out the
oil, applied to the nipple, will generally cure it after 3 or 4
applications about six hours apart. The child may take hold when the oil
is on, without danger. This remedy is sufficient in nearly all cases.
Leucorrhoea and Prolapsus Uteri--Whites, Female Weakness.
The disease depends in all cases upon inflammation of the uterus, or
vagina, or both.
The inflammation may be simply in the neck of the uterus extending to
the posterior surface of the vagina, or the latter may not be affected;
or it may extend to the whole internal surface of the uterus, producing
swelling of that organ, both the fundus and neck.
The swelling may be confined mostly to the fundus, causing it to be too
large for the space it ordinarily fills, hence there will be more or
less displacement of the womb, and crowding upon other parts, as the
bladder or rectum. In some cases, the swelling is more on one side than
on the other, so that it will be crowded over to the opposite side.
These displacements are often called prolapsus uteri, or "_falling of
the womb_," carrying the idea that the difficulty depends upon a morbid
relaxation of the ligaments that support the organ. Not one case in a
hundred is of this latter character, but nearly, if not all, depend upon
the inflammation and swelling above mentioned. How futile then, not to
say hurtful, must be all instruments for, and all attempts at
replacing and supporting it by force! All such mechanical meddling is
injurious, and should, with all the "supporters," be condemned and
discarded.
They may afford temporary relief, but this is at the expense of future
health. Cure the disease, relieve the inflammation, and nature will
replace the organ. Leucorrhoea is always present where there is
ulceration of the neck of the womb, and this ulcerated condition exists
to a greater or less extent, in many cases where it is not suspected by
the patient. It is vastly more prevalent than is generally supposed. The
symptoms are numerous. Among the more prominent are a sense of weight
and bearing down in the pelvis, pains extending down the limbs, aching
and weakness of the small of the back, headache, more or less gastric
disturbance, dyspepsia, the food souring on the stomach. There is often,
especially when there are ulcers on the parts, a distressing sense of
heat or a smarting sensation. The menstrual function is frequently
deranged, the bowels costive, the urethra, by being pressed, becomes
irritable and burns and smarts whenever the urine is evacuated. The
sleep is disturbed and unrefreshing, and the whole nervous system is
unstrung.
The discharge from the diseased surfaces, in an ordinary case without
ulceration, is of a mucous or muco-purulent character, not unlike an
ordinary catarrhal secretion. When ulceration exists it is dark, fetid
or bloody, or sanious and purulent, sometimes it is acrid, excoriating
the parts.
TREATMENT.
Inflammation or ulceration, either acute or chronic, in these parts does
not differ essentially in its characteristics from the same affection in
other mucous surfaces.
The proper treatment for a catarrh of other mucous surfaces will be
applicable to these, though there is no doubt but that some medicines
are more specifically adapted to these than to other organs.
In the early stage of the complaint, while the inflammation is acute, or
sub-acute, the discharge thin or white, Copaiva and Macrotin are to
be given once in 6 hours alternately. During the same time let
injections into the vagina of warm soap and water be used twice a day,
to cleanse the parts of the secretion, followed in half an hour by a
wash of warm water, into which tr. of Macrotys has been put in
proportion of 40 drops to half a pint. The application should be made
with an 8 ounce or at least 6 ounce curved pipe syringe, so as to throw
it with considerable force. If there is a burning sensation, use the
washes quite warm, until the heat of the parts is allayed. Avoid the use
of cold injections as long as any inflammation exists. If the bearing
down is present with burning in the parts, Bell. is to be used in
rotation with the two former remedies. If the sensation is that of
smarting, Cantharis is to be used in place of Bell.
Where the disease comes on soon after child-birth, _Podophyllin is the
Specific_. It is to be given at the first attenuation three times daily
in half gr. doses of the trituration. In this case let the parts be
freely washed daily with a solution of borax, quite warm. In the
chronic form of the disease, especially where barrenness exists,
Macrotin, Podophyllin and Hydrastin, given morning, noon and
night, in the order named, will, in nearly all cases, afford relief.
For females who have never borne children, give Phos. acid, 2d and
Eryrgium Aquaticum 1, night and morning for a week, and then give them
at the 3d dilution until the symptoms subside. If there are headache and
derangement of the stomach, Macrotin and Podophyllin should be
used, each once a day, between the latter remedies. When the discharge
is colored and the pains darting, cutting or smarting, indicating
ulceration, or if ulceration is discovered by examination, use
Macrotin and Hydrastin internally, injecting the latter upon the
affected parts freely. The ulcerated surfaces should be well washed off
every day with soap and water, or a solution of borax, and the medicine
(Hydrastin) in form of infusion, used half an hour after the other
wash. If the neck of the womb looks dark, and is ulcerated, or is hard
and painful to the touch, especially on probing the cavity, _Cornus
Sericea_ must be used both as a wash to the parts, and at the first
dilution internally, using them twice a day. This remedy will often cure
malignant cases.
It takes a long time in some instances to cure a chronic case, but if
persevered in, these remedies will not be likely to fail.[2]
[2] NOTE.--The late Prof. Morrow was remarkably successful, and became
justly celebrated for curing hard cases of Leucorrhoea ulceration and
"Prolapsus uteri."
Almost his entire reliance in their treatment were the Macrotys and
Caulophyllum, given internally and by injection upon the parts. He
gave the Macrotys in the form of tincture every day to the extent of
producing specific head symptoms when he discontinued it till the next
day, using the Caulophyllum in the meantime in small doses. He rarely if
ever failed.
Morning Sickness of Pregnant Females.
The most efficient and certain remedy for this symptom is Macrotin. It
should be taken at the first attenuation, a dose before rising in the
morning, and one every six hours during the day, as long as the sickness
is troublesome. It will generally relieve in a few days. If the stomach
is sour use Pulsatilla with the Macrotin.
As a preparation for labor, a dose (one grain) of Macrotin at the
first attenuation given in the morning, and the same of Caulophyllin
at evening, is of great service.
Whatever others may think or say in relation to any preparatory
treatment for labor, I have reason to know as well as anything in
medicine be known, that patients treated as here directed, pass through
labor much quicker, frequently in one-fourth the usual time. Their
sufferings are comparatively trifling, and the length of time for
recovery to ordinary health after labor is abridged from three-fourths
to nine-tenths that of former labors. I am quite confident that the
medicines produced this difference.
For irregularity of labor pains, and for distressing after pains,
the Caulophyllin is specific.
During labor it should be given at the 2d attentuation in about half
grain doses, every half hour, until the pains are regular. Two or three
doses at most, and generally one will suffice.
For the after pains it may be given in alternation with Ipecac or
Aconite if there is flooding, or with Pulsatilla when the flooding
is not troublesome, a dose once in half an hour, until the pains are
checked.
For Rigidity of the soft parts and severe, _retarded and long
protracted labor_, where the pains are strong and irregular, and great
pain and exhaustion is experienced on account of the unyielding
condition of the parts, Lobelia Inflata given in drop doses of the tr.
in water, once in twenty minutes, in alternation with Caulophyllin as
above directed, will in a short time produce the proper condition of the
parts, while they render the pains stronger, regular and progressive.
In urgent cases I have given the medicines every 5 or 10 minutes, with
decided benefit.
A Useful Hint to Mothers.
Children push beans, peas, corn, &c., into the nose and ear, causing
much alarm. To remove such a body take a syringe that works tightly, put
the end of the pipe against the bean, shot, or other substance, draw
back the piston so as to suck up the article firmly as the pipe is
withdrawn from the cavity.
LOCAL APPLICATIONS.
That medicines act locally, that is, manifest their symptoms by peculiar
derangement or disturbance of some particular part of the system, more
prominently than of any other part, for the time, no one will deny. That
each one has some particular locality or tissue upon which its action is
more perceptible than anywhere else, is equally undeniable, and that the
prominent symptoms are often external and local, is also true. Yet, with
these truths clearly demonstrated, there are those of our school who
discard the external or local application of all remedies except
Arnica.
Why this is done, is difficult to determine, unless we can believe that
such physicians suppose it to be heresy to make use of any remedy in a
different manner from what was recommended by the "Father of
Homoeopathy," and abjure all possibility of improvement in our
practice.
That nearly if not all medicines, may be applied externally with
advantage, when there are local manifestations similar to those produced
by the drugs, there can be no doubt in the mind of any sensible man.
That they will act favorably when so used is reasonable, as a matter
of theory, and that they do, as a matter of fact, has been proven to
my mind, by abundant experience in their use. Therefore, I hesitate not
to recommend the practice to others. Medicines must act either by
combination with the affected part, or by Catalysis, changing the
molecular action of the living tissues. In either case, they must come
directly in contact with the part to be affected. This must be done
through the circulation, when taken internally, or it may be done by
direct application of the remedy to the diseased tissue, when that is so
situated as to be reached. The difference is greatly in favor of the
latter mode when that is practicable, from the greater certainty of its
results. This assertion is based, not upon vague hypothesis, but upon
actual practice.
Entertaining these views, however heretical they may be pronounced, I
shall proceed to mention some of the remedies I have learned to use
thus, and the cases for which they are prescribed. I would remark that,
in selecting a remedy, it must be done with as much certainty of its
homoeopathic relation to the local or general symptoms for external as
for internal use. I have found, however, that much lower attenuations
are requisite and admissible.
ARNICA is highly applicable to bruises, and is valuable also when
applied to lacerated or mangled surfaces, to the surface of the limb
where a bone is fractured, also about the joint when it has been
dislocated. It is to be used in the form of Arnicated water, by
putting one or two drops to a gill of water for application where the
skin is ruptured or the surface raw, and ten to twenty drops to the
gill, upon parts where the skin is sound. It is useful also, for
boils, and carbuncles in the early stage, the strong tincture to
be applied when the surface is sound, and (to boils) when the surface is
open, one drop to a gill of water.
Aconite
Is applicable to inflamed eyes, in the early stage, where the disease is
in the conjunctiva, (that portion which lines the lids and covers the
front of the ball), especially if there is a sense of scratching, as
though some foreign substance is in the eye, great intolerance of light,
chilly sensations, with more or less fever, and quick pulse. Put three
or four drops to a gill of warm water, and apply it freely.
It is also very valuable for Neuralgia, applied strong and warm, along
the course, or at the origin of the affected nerve. In neuralgia of the
face, apply it upon the side of the face, also just behind and below the
ear of the affected side.
It is of much value as a remedy for neuralgic affections of the womb. I
have relieved the most distressing symptoms of neuralgia of the womb, in
a few minutes, by injecting warm water containing twenty to forty drops
of tr. Aconite to the pint. By repeating this application at every
paroxysm, patients recover rapidly, each succeeding attack being
lighter, and the interval between being longer, until they cease
entirely. It may be used with much benefit in the same manner, for
Hysteritis, as well as recent cases of Leucorrhoea. It is the most
valuable remedy applied to the Eye for a wound of that organ.
In Gonorrhoea, it is more valuable as a local remedy, than most of
those now in use. It will frequently cure alone. In this case, it is to
be used with an equal part of the tr. and warm water.
Belladonna
has great power as a local remedy in Erysipelas, to be applied with
water in proportion of ten drops of the tr. to a gill of warm water.
It is also of much value applied to the surface of inflamed breasts;
also injected when there is inflammation of the uterus, with pressing
pains as though the bowels would be pressed out. Very valuable in
parturition where there is rigidity of the os uteri, with fullness of
the head and throbbing of the temples. It has the specific power to
relax circular fibres without affecting the longitudinal.
Calendula,
is applied to wounds, incised and lacerated, promoting healing by
the first intention. It is a valuable application for wounds in
scrofulous persons, which tend to suppurate rather than heal by the
first intention. It is also useful in old sores.
The Calendula Cerate is one of the best of dressings for any abraded
surface.
Conium
is valuable as a palliative upon cancerous tumors. As a _curative
remedy_ it is useful in chronic ophthalmia, especially the purulent of
children; useful also for indurated swellings.
Thuya
is a specific when locally used for Sycosis, also for fungoid
cancerous tumors. I have cured well-marked cases of Fungus Hæmatodes
with the tinct. Thuya applied to the surface of the tumor.
The Thuja Cerate is a valuable application for malignant ulcers.
Cornus Sericea
will often cure malignant ulcers both of the breast and uterus, used as
a wash.
Arsenicum
acts favorably on cancers, and is a specific when applied to the surface
of carbuncle.
Ipecac
acts very beneficially when applied to the surface where there is high
fever, with nausea and vomiting. Half an ounce of tr. Ipecac to two
quarts of tepid water, applied with a sponge to the whole surface, acts
like magic in yellow fever, allaying the nausea, producing free and
health-restoring perspiration.
Rhus Tox,
applied, with water at the strength of thirty drops of the tr. to a
gill, to parts affected with Rheumatism, acts very beneficially. It is
also a most valuable application at half the above strength upon parts
affected with Erysipelas, when the surface is swollen, and there are
vessicles filled with fluid like a blister in burns.
It is also useful for sores that exist as the chronic effects of burns
when the proper treatment had not been used in the beginning, and the
healing process was never perfected.
Rhus Cerate is a very useful application to irritable ulcers.
Hepar Sulphur
is a specific for Itch and Scald Head, applied in form of a wash with
twenty to thirty drops of tr. Hepar Sul. to a gill of water. Also for
ill-conditioned scrofulous ulcers, generally.
Cuprum Aceticum.
(Acetate of Copper Verdigris) applied to Cancerous ulcers of the
face, Lupus or Noli-me-tangere, in the early stage, will in most
cases effect a perfect cure, especially if for a week previously the
part has been wet daily with tr. Thuja. The best mode of applying the
acetate is to mix the impalpable powder, as prepared for paint, with
some substance to form a cerate, as equal parts of bees-wax and mutton
suet, with 1-50 to 1-100 part of the pure acetate as found in the
bottom of the can, when prepared in oil for paint; heat all together and
stir until cool. This forms a good plaster for covering and shielding
the sore while its medicinal property is in the Cuprum Aceticum
diluted as above. It is quite useful for any ill conditioned ulcer.
Acetic Acid
is a most efficient remedy applied to old irritable varicose ulcers on
the limbs of females who have suffered from Phlegmasia Dolens, (milk
leg.)
It may be applied as a wash to the part once or twice a day at the
strength of 1-20th of the acid with water, or in the form of good cider
vinegar.
The manufactured vinegar of the cities does not usually contain acetic
acid.
ARUM TRIPHYLLUM is a specific to allay the inflammation and excessive
pain in scrofulous swellings of the neck, (Kings Evil.) The pure
drug in powder, wet with warm water, or the green root bruised so as to
form a poultice, is to be applied over the swelling. It soon discusses
the swelling, or if pus has already formed, allays the the pain, and
brings the pus to the surface, and if continued, disposes it to heal
rapidly.
BAPTISIA TINCTORIA applied as a poultice either in the powdered drug, or
with some other substance wet with the infusion or tr., _arrests
gangrene_ in a short time. It is especially useful for threatened or
actual gangrene arising from lacerated wounds or scalds with wounds,
as in accidents connected with the explosion of steam boilers; when we
often have scalds and lacerations in the same wound.
HYDRASTUS CANADENSIS used as a gargler in a putrid state of the throat
in malignant Scarlet fever, arrests the destructive process at once.
It is also a most excellent application for inflamed eyes in the second
or sub-acute stage.
* * * * *
PROPHYLACTICS.
(Preventives of Disease.)
TO PREVENT SCARLET FEVER
Give Belladonna at the 3d attenuation, three to six pellets, according
to the age of the child, every morning, during the prevalence of the
epidemic. This is for the common or mild form of the disease. If the
prevailing epidemic is of the malignant kind, producing fatal
ulcerations of the throat, give Bell. once in two days and _Mercurius
Corrosivus_ at the 3d attenuation on the alternate day.
While Bell. is a very certain preventive of the common eruptive
Scarlatina, it is not as certain to prevent the malignant form. Though
it renders the latter much more mild, the Merc. Cor. is necessary to
ward it off entirely, or so modify as to divest it of the dangerous
features.
TO PREVENT YELLOW FEVER
Take Aconite, Belladonna and Macrotin, 1st in rotation one dose a
day. If there is any headache, or pains occur in other parts of the
body, or a languid feeling, take a dose twice or three times a day in
rotation.
TO PREVENT BILIOUS FEVER OR AGUE
Take Podophyllin, Baptisia and Gelseminum 1st in rotation, one
dose at night, and if symptoms of fever, as headache and loss of
appetite, or bad taste in the mouth in the morning appear, take a dose
three times a day, and refrain entirely from food for one or two days.
TO PREVENT TYPHOID FEVER
When exposed, as in nursing the sick, take Baptisia 2d, and Macrotin
2d, a dose three times a day.
TO PREVENT SMALL-POX
Use Macrotin 1st night and morning, and if nursing or exposed
frequently, use it every four hours.
TO PREVENT CHOLERA.
Camphor (pellets medicated with the pure tincture) Veratrum 3d,
and Arsenicum 3d, should be taken in rotation--a dose morning, noon
and night, in the order named; so as to take a dose of each every
twenty-four hours. If any sense of weakness or trembling comes on, use
the Camphor oftener; if pain or uneasiness in the bowels threatening
diarrhoea, use the Veratrum, and for increased thirst with
uneasiness at the stomach Arsenicum more frequently.
TO PREVENT DIARRHOEA
Where it is prevailing as an epidemic, Ipecac at night, and
Veratrum in the morning will often suffice. For teething children
give Ipecac and Chamomilla in the same manner.
TO PREVENT DYSENTERY
In hot weather when bilious diseases prevail, use Mercurius 3d,
Podophyllin 2d, and Leptandrin 1st in rotation, giving one dose a
day.
In the winter, or when Typhoid fevers prevail, use Mercurius and
Rhus tox. alternately a dose every day.
TO PREVENT ITCH.
A dose of Sulphur, or rubbing a little flour of sulphur on the hands,
will generally suffice.
TO PREVENT COLDS
Keep the arms, hands and chest well clothed and warm.
Affecting the head as catarrh, or the pelvic regions keep the
feet and ankles warm and dry. Affecting joints and muscles as
Rheumatism--protect the Spine (back) from colds and currents of air.
After an accidental exposure as by getting the feet wet, or being caught
in a shower, drink bountifully of cold water, and take a dose of
Nux; followed in an hour by Aconite, if any chilliness is felt, or
Copaiva if the head is "stuffed up."
In winter and spring when the weather is mild, but there is snow, or the
ground is damp, more clothes are necessary than when it is freezing hard
and the air is dry.
* * * * *
PREPARATION OF MEDICINE.
As it often becomes necessary for the practitioner to make more or less
of his own dilutions and attenuations, some brief instructions
especially to new beginners, may not come amiss.
Medicine is prepared by mixing it with distilled water, or purified 98
per cent. Alcohol; or if solid and dry, by reducing it to powder and
triturating (rubbing) it in a mortar with pure sugar or Sugar of Milk.
The liquid is called dilution, the powder trituration. The
attenuations are mostly made at the decimal (1-10,) or centecimal
(1-100) ratio and numbered 1, 2, 3, &c., by putting ten drops of the
liquid with ninety drops of Alcohol, or ten grains of the powder with
ninety grains of Sugar for the 1st, and ten grains or drops of the 1st
with ninety more of Alcohol or Sugar, as the case may be, for the 2nd,
and so on to any desirable extent.
If the centecimal attenuation is adopted, one grain or drop is used
instead of ten, as in the decimal.
I prefer the decimal to the centecimal ratio. Not that there can
possibly be any difference in the action of the medicines, at the same
attenuation, whether it was brought to that state through a series of
1-10, or 1-100; the 3d at the 1-100 ratio of dilution being _precisely
the same_ as the 6th at 1-10. My preference for the decimal ratio is
based upon the greater convenience and accuracy of measuring larger
quantities.
Accuracy is very desirable, but the practice of guessing at the
amount as pursued by some, is anything but accurate. When one makes his
dilutions by putting the fluid into a vial and "pouring it all out,"
guessing that he has a drop left which is to medicate the
ninety-nine drops of Alcohol or water, he may put in by guess, I am
inclined to guess that he knows nothing, accurately as to what
dilution he is making. (See Hull's Laura, introduction, also Jahr &
Possart's Pharmacopoeia and Posology.) For if the vial is small and
quite smooth there may not be a drop left, or if it is rough, there may
be several drops.
Yet some physicians make their dilutions thus, and insist upon the
superiority of the centecimal over the decimal attenuations.
Whatever ratio is adopted, should be accurately followed. Have true
scales for weighing solids, and a graduated measure marked from ten
drops up to one hundred for liquids; then always weigh or measure
accurately the medicine, as well as the substance with which it is to
be attenuated.
The measure and mortar, after using them for one medicine, can be
cleaned preparatory for another, with scalding water, rinsing them with
purified Alcohol, then drying.
Never smoke or chew Tobacco in any place, but if you are such a slave
to habit, that you must do it despite your good sense and better
judgment, never do either, or have tobacco or any other odoriferous
substance about your person when you are preparing medicines, or they
are exposed to the air. Keep the medicines excluded from the light and
air as far as practicable.
Triturate the powders thoroughly for an hour or more upon each, and
shake the dilution from fifty to one hundred times, more for the higher
attenuations.
It is better to medicate pellets in large bottles, filling them half or
two-thirds full, put in just liquid enough to wet every one, but not so
as to dissolve any. Shake them until all are equally wet, and let them
stand for four or five days, if practicable, shaking them up two or
three times a day until all are dry.
INDEX.
Administration of Remedies, 11
Ague, 22
Ague, preventive treatment of, 153
Asthma, 57
Aphthæ, 90
Asiatic Cholera, 104
Amenorrhoea, 129
Ague in the breast, 135
Attenuation of medicines, 151
Bathing, 12
Bilious Fever, 26
Preventive treatment of, 153
Bronchitis, 51
Burns and Scalds, 64
Bilious Colic, 19
Brain Fever, 70
Bee stings, 75
Bite of Rattlesnake, 77
Bruises, 95
Cholera Case, 3
Colic, 18
Colic, Bilious, 19
Cholera Morbus, 21
Cholera, Asiatic, 104
Preventive treatment of, 153
Chill Fever, 22
Continued Fever, 28
Catarrhal Fever, 28
Cough, 52
Colds, 57
Colds, Preventive treatment of, 154
Croup, 55
Constipation, 62
Chilblains, 69
Convulsions of Children, 72
Crusta Lactea, 122
Carbuncle, 122
Diarrhoea, 14
Preventive treatment of, 154
Dysentery, 16
Preventive treatment of, 154
Diet, Rules for, 13
Dyspepsia, 58
Diseases of Females, 129
Dysmenorrhoea, 131
Enteritis, 53
Erysipelas, 62
Epistaxis, 81
Earache, 84
Foreign Substances in the Ear or Nose, 144
Fevers, 22
Intermittent, 22
Chill, 22
Fits of Children, 72
Felon, 126
Flowing, 132
Female weakness, 198
Gastritis, 54
Hooping Cough, 58
Heartburn, 62
Hoarseness, 70
Headache, 78
Sick, 80
Introduction, 5
Intermittent Fever, Ague, 22
Inflammation of the Lungs, 49
Inflammation of the Brain, 70
Inflammation of the Bowels, 53
Inflamed Eyes, 91
Incontinence of Urine, 117
Involuntary urination (nightly), 117
Itch, 120
Itch, preventive treatment of, 154
Inflamed Breast, 135
Inflammation of the Uterus, 140
Jaundice, 120
Local application of Remedies, 145
Leucorrhoea, 138
Mammary Abscess, 135
Menorrhagia, 132
Measles, 73
Mumps, 74
Morning sickness of pregnant females, 143
Nursing Sore-mouth, 133
Nosebleed, 81
Neuralgia, 118
Nightly urination of Children, 117
Otalgia, 84
Ophthalmia, 91
Preparation of medicine, 155
Pleurisy, 48
Prolapsus Uteri, 138
Pneumonia, 49
Piles, 97
Painful urination, 117
Painful menstruation, 131
Profuse menstruation, 132
Preventives of Disease, 151
Quinsy, 53
Rheumatism, 30
Rheumatic Fever, 29
Remitting Fever, 27
Rattlesnake bite, 77
Scarlet Fever, 35
Preventive treatment of, 151
Sore Throat, 52
Scalds, 64
Stings of Insects, 75
Sick Headache, 79
Sore-mouth of Children, 90
Sea Sickness, 103
Small-Pox, 110
Preventive treatment of, 153
Scald Head, 122
Suppression of the menses, 129
Sore Nipples, 139
Table of Remedies, 3
Traveler's Case, 3
Typhoid Fever, 31
Tonsillitis, 53
Toothache, 86
Teething of children, 88
Thrush, 90
Ulceration of the Uterus, 140
Urination painful, 117
Urination, Involuntary, 110
Variola, 117
Varioloid, 117
Worms, 82
Wounds, 93
Whitlow, 126
Yellow Fever, 38
Preventive treatment of, 153
APPENDIX
ON THE USE OF GELSEMINUM SEMP. IN FEVERS. BY J. S. DOUGLAS, A. M., M.
D., Prof. of Mat. Med. and Special Pathology, in the Western
Homoepathic College, Cleveland; author of "Treatment of
Intermittents," &c.
Such has been the general result of the treatment of the fevers of this
country, that most Homoeopathic physicians deny the possibility of
breaking up a fever when once established.
Those who labor under this impression, will be soon convinced of the
error by properly employing the Gelseminum semper virens, or yellow
Jasmine. Having proved this drug repeatedly on myself and seven or eight
others, it was impossible to avoid the conviction that it would be
homoeopathic to the ordinary fevers of this country.
The pathogenetic symptoms, almost uniformly experienced, are the
following, the dose being from one to five drops:
Within a few minutes, sometimes within two or three, a marked depression
of pulse, which becomes 10, 15 or 20 beats less in the minute, if quiet,
but greatly disturbed by movement. Chilliness, especially along the
back, pressive pain of the head, most generally of the temples,
sometimes in the occiput, at others, over the head. The chilliness is
soon followed by a glow of heat and prickling of the skin, and quickly
succeeded by perspiration which is sometimes profuse and disposed to be
persistent, continuing from twelve to twenty-four hours. As soon as the
re-action takes place after the chill, the pulse rises as much above the
normal standard, as it was before depressed below it. With these
symptoms is a puffy, swollen look and feeling of the eye-lids, slimy and
disagreeable or bitter taste in the mouth, languid feeling of the back
and limbs, and sleepiness.
As example affords the best illustration, we will give one to illustrate
the usual action of this drug in fevers:
P. W., aged 21, sanguine temperament, had been complaining of languor,
and want of appetite for three weeks. For a week has been unable to
attend to business. Took a cathartic, and was, of course, worse. For the
last thirty-six hours had been seriously sick. June 30, 1858, had the
following symptoms: Pulse rather full, but weak and vascillating, about
100 per minute. Tongue red and dry; hands tremulous when extending them;
tongue trembles when protruded; the mind wanders; he reaches after
imaginary objects; lips dry and parched; he is uneasy, restless. Now
this, all will recognize as a case which had been long in coming on,
and was fairly established, and was not likely to be broken up by
ordinary means. He took one drop of Gelseminum tincture to be repeated
every hour, if needed. The next morning he reported that he had been in
a perspiration ever since fifteen minutes after taking the first dose,
had slept quietly during the night, the tongue and lips were moist, mind
clear, pulse 80, and steady. The next day I found him dressed and down
stairs, with good appetite and free from disease. I could give sixty
cases of equally prompt results from this precious drug, in fevers which
make their attack rather suddenly, whether from cold or otherwise, and
attended with chilliness, pain in the limbs, head and back, variously
disordered taste of the mouth, with great restlessness. The almost
uniform effect, in these cases is, a cessation of the chills, within
from two to five minutes, quickly followed by a glow of heat and
prickling of the surface; and within from five to twenty minutes,
perspiration with progressive abatement of all the pains and
restlessness. The patient falls asleep, and after a longer or shorter
time, wakes with a consciousness that his disease is broken up--and
this proves to be the truth. Like all other drugs, the dose must be
various, generally one drop repeated every half hour, till the desired
effect is produced repeated afterwards as occasion may require.
In simple cases of fever, I regard it as the remedy, not only, but
the only remedy required. There are, of course, many cases of fever,
with local complications, as inflammation of the liver, &c., &c., where
other remedies will be necessary. Half a drop, or even a quarter, is
often sufficient. The largest I have yet given is five drops, and this
in only one case.
Several Homoeopathic physicians to whom I have recommended it, have
made equally favorable reports of it.
My experience has been, that not a few of our Western fevers, especially
if neglected beyond the incipient stages, are accompanied by such
gastric and bilious disorder, as to require Mercurius, China, or
Podophyllin, after the general febrile symptoms are removed by Gels.
But at an early stage, the Gels. alone will prevent the development of
these complications.
The drug seems to me to act specifically and energetically, not only
upon the circulatory system, but equally so upon the nervous system,
allaying nervous irritability more effectually in fevers, than Coff.,
Cham., Bell., Nux, or any other drug we possess. As it acts very
quickly, the first dose may be soon repeated and increased, if no effect
is observed.
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