534 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



TREATMENT OF ASTHMA. 



It is generally supposed that an antagonism exists between 

 atrophia and morphine, by which the one neutralizes the 

 other, and this may possibly be the case where either is ad- 

 ministered separately, and is followed by the application of 

 the other at some interval. According to Dr. Oliver, how- 

 ever, when the two are combined in the form of a hypoder- 

 mic injection, some of the more uncomfortable effects are re- 

 lieved in certain cases, if not entirely removed. This writer 

 insists that the general result is a more rapid action, and al- 

 most entire absence of disturbance of the stomach in the 

 production of nausea, so distressing to patients who have 

 been treated hypodermically with morphine alone. 



The treatment of the physician referred to is more partic- 

 ularly applied in cases of attack of spasmodic asthma. At 

 tirst the injections were administered after the attack itself; 

 subsequently, however, the friends of the patient were in- 

 structed in the use of the instrument, and used it immediate- 

 ly on the first indication of the trouble. This was continued 

 lor a period of three years, during which every one of the at- 

 tacks, previously so distressing, was entirely prevented. The 

 injections were made in the morning for several days in suc- 

 cession. The continued employment of these injections did 

 not appear to be at all injurious to the general health. A 

 prompt relief was usually produced in five minutes, result- 

 ing in a calm slumber. The most severe attack disappeared 

 in from fifteen to twenty minutes. A similar good effect from 

 the combination of the two substances has been found in the 

 treatment of dyspnoea. 12 B^Fehruary 29, 1876, 184. 



FRENCH INVESTIGATION OF HAY-FEVER. 



The Bulletin Sclent Ifiqiie, of Paris, refers approvingly to 

 the opinion expressed by M. Decaisne concerning hay-fever. 

 He does not think the annual periodicity, which is usually 

 sciven as one of the characteristics of the disease, to be well 

 established, many persons being sometimes free for years in 

 succession, and others experiencing several attacks at irreg- 

 ular intervals. The difiiculty of breathing, w^hich is some- 

 times considered an inseparable condition of hay-fever, is, 

 according to this authority, simply the result of a more de- 



