24 TURNBULL ON RANUNCULACES. 
from inability to ascend or descend the stairs, and to refrain from 
walking, under the impression that the exertion might prove fatal. 
She has violent pulsation over the region of the heart, along with 
an irregular and intermittent pulse, and complains, at times, of severe 
pain across the chest, and stretching down the left arm: her lips are 
of a purplish colour ; her eyes dull; her countenance sallow ; and 
she labours under considerable nervous irritability, accompanied by 
impairment of the memory ! she has a degree of fulness in the right 
side, under the margin of the ribs, and her feet are generally cold, 
and a little swollen. For these symptoms she had previously been 
treated by bleeding, blistering, purgatives, and indeed, every thing 
possible appeared to have been done, without procuring any abate- 
ment of the disease. : | 
From the disordered state in which the digestive organs evident- 
ly were, she was put under a plan of treatment similar to the one 
pursued in the preceding case, for about three weeks, but no diminu- 
tion of the symptoms took place; and then the Veratria ointment 
of the usual strength, was ordered to be rubbed over the left side 
of the chest, and down the arm, every night. The first application 
afforded great relief to the palpitation and difficulty of breathing, 
and the pain in the arm was also considerably alleviated. In the 
course of a few days all the symptoms were nearly gone; the oint- 
ment was, however, directed to be applied occasionally, for about 
a month: and at the end of that time, the patient could walk with 
ease, three miles at a time, and returned home quite well, and has 
had no return of the disease since. 
CASE VII. 
Tux following case is given for the purpose of showing the effect 
which the Veratria has upon the circulation, in a disease attended 
by symptoms of great development of the heart’s action, occasioned 
by simple hypertrophy of the walls of fthe left ventricle. Every 
one must have remarked the difficulty which there exists of modera- 
ting the pulsation of the heart and arteries, in this disease, and that, 
in consequence, it 1s no easy matter to procure even a temporary 
relief from the distressing sensations experienced by those who are 
affected by it. The cases of this kind, in which the ointment has 
been resorted to, are not sufficiently numerous to warrant the as- 
sertion, that decidedly beneficial effects will result from its applica- 
tion In every instance; but it will, nevertheless, be allowed, that 
the subject is worthy of attention, from the fact of its having al- 
ready proved successful in doing so. ; 
Mrs. S., a lady about sixty years of age, has, during the last five 
years, suffered much from violent beating of the heart, attended by 
Strong pulsation in the neck, throbbing and giddiness in the head, 
and a continued whizzing noise in the left ear, along with feelings 
of anxiety, and considerable nervous irritability. 
