18 TURNBULL ON RANUNCULACE. 
relief which it may give, can at best be only temporary; it has, 
nevertheless, given relief, and if it should do no good it will at least 
do no mischief. | 
The application best adapted for this class of affections, consists 
of fifteen or twenty grains of Veratria, made into an ointment with 
an ounce of lard, and of this a piece the size of a nut, should be 
rubbed over the region of the heart for five minutes every night, 
and it may be continued according to the effect produced. 
CASE I. 
A apy, fifty-five years of age, was attacked seven years ago 
with what her medical attendants considered to be an inflammatory 
affection of the lungs, and for which she was profusely bled, and 
otherwise actively treated. The violent symptoms were by these 
means removed ; but there still remained a degree of weakness and 
affection of the chest, sufficient to confine her almost constantly to 
her room for nine months afterwards. Since that time, she has 
_ recovered considerably, but has been under the necessity of remain- 
ing in an apartment, kept at an equable temperature, during the 
winter; and with the prospect of being obliged to continue the same 
regimen for the remainder of her life. i 
Throughout the whole seven years she has had constant cough, 
attended with scanty mucous expectoration: a difficulty of breath- 
ing so great, as to prevent her sleeping at night, or even remaining 
in the recumbent posture for any length of time without bringing 
on distressing fits of coughing: respiration very much hurried, and 
the lips of a purplish hue: pulse so small, rapid, and irregular, as to 
render it difficult to ascertain the number of its beats. Over the 
region of the heart, and over a great part of the anterior surface of 
the thorax, there was a very perceptible undulatory motion, al- 
together different from ordinary pulsation; and the ear, applied to 
the chest over the same region, distinguished the heart’s action to 
be extended, indistinct, and undefined in character. Along the 
whole length of the left arm, from the shoulder to the points of the 
fingers, she complained of pain and a feeling of numbness, which 
rendered the extremity almost useless: this symptom had lasted 
about four years. There was no very marked derangement in the 
digestive organs. The bowels were regular, the appetite pretty 
good; but there existed a slight degree of flatulence, not however 
$0 great as to occasion much inconvenience, and there was nothing 
very particular in the appearance of the tongue. 
The patient had previously been under almost every variety of 
treatment, but without receiving any benefit. Upon the supposi- 
tion that there might be some accumulation in the bowels sufficient 
to aggravate the symptoms, she was directed to use aperient medi- 
cine for a few days, but without producing any alleviation. She 
was then put under the influence of small and repeated doses of the 
