434^ Miscellaneous Intelligence, 



but without effect. The gentleman then ran down stairs to a cut- 

 ler's shop, and plunged his hands into a quantity of mud; from this 

 he derived very little relief! After suffering in this manner much tor- 

 ture for half an hour, he ran to the house of Dr. Richard de Brus, 

 by whom the case is related. On the way, both he himself, and 

 the woman who accompanied him, observed distinctly the blue 

 flame surrounding the hands. The physician met him at the door, 

 and observed the hands to be red, swelled, and exhaling a kind of 

 smoke or vapour. He immediately directed his patient to plunge 

 his hands into a well which was opposite, and to keep them there, 

 until he experienced relief; on his doing so, the pain abated consi- 

 derably, and the flame ceased, but he had not gone more than 150 

 paces homewards, when it reappeared. On reaching his dwell- 

 ing, he emersed each of his hands in a bucket of water, which as it 

 got rapidly heated^ he had repeatedly renewed. As often as he 

 took them out of the water, he remarked a sort of unctuous matter 

 flow along his fingers, and the blue flame reappeared, the latter 

 was not however visible, except in a situation where the light of the 

 candle was shaded, as under the table. A young gentleman who 

 remained in the room with him, saw the blue flames several times 

 in the course of the night ; towards day-break only sparks were 

 visible. During the succeeding day the pain was very severe, and 

 large vesications filled with a reddish serum had formed on the 

 fingers in some places, indeed the cuticle was entirely removed, 

 and the cutis greyish and corroded. The vesications being opened, 

 cerate was applied to the denuded surfaces, and the whole covered 

 with poultices. The inflammation which followed was moderate, 

 the suppuration healthy, and in six weeks the ulcers caused by 

 the burning were entirely healed, but the cicatrices were very dis- 

 tinct, and several of the nails had dropped off. — Medical Journal, 

 Ixiii., 360. 



5. Use ofBelladonain cases of Frontal Neuralgia. — In 1826, Mr. 

 Henry, an English military surgeon, pointed out the efficacy of the 

 extract of belladona in cases of frontal neuralgia. Since that period, 

 M. Claret has frequently employed it with the greatest success in 

 frontal tic douloureux, and considers it a specific in such cases. In 

 the course of two years he has treated five cases with this remedy, 

 and completely cured them. Encouraged by this success, he tried 

 the belladona in other neuralgic affections, in sciatica, for example, 

 but without any benefit. He attributes the failure of the remedy in 

 such cases, to the difficulty of acting upon the deep seated nerve, 

 which is affected. In gastralgia and odontalgia, he has also pro- 

 cured temporary relief from frictions with the belladona. 



One lady had periodical attacks of an intense pain over the lefl 

 eye, affecting the eye also; the pain began about seven in the 

 morning, and continued until four or five o'clock in the afternoon : 10 

 grains of the extract mixed with water, to the consistency of poma- 

 tum, were rubbed in upon the part ; being imperfectly applied, this 



