EXTERNAL APPLICATION OF VERATRIA, ETC, 29 
It may notbe out of place to repeat here the caution already given, 
against allowing even the most minute quantity of the Veratria to 
come into contact with the conjunctiva, an accident which may easily 
happen during the application of the ointment in affections situated 
in the face; as such a circumstance, although it may not be fol- 
lowed by danger, is nevertheless productive of so much irritation 
as to make it an object to guard against its occurrence. 
_ The general instructions which have now been given regarding 
the plan to be pursued in the treatment of tic-douloureux, are 
equally applicable to cases of neuralgia, situated in other parts of 
the body. These last, however, are not so difficult of removal ; 
and do not, so far as has been hitherto observed, require the 
ointment made use of to contain more than twenty grains to an 
ounce of lard. There is a form of this affection occurring in the 
loins, and extending down the thighs of women during the men- 
strual period, in which the application of the Veratria is found of 
great service, as affording an easy and expeditious means of re- 
moving it, i 
CASE I. 
A apy, fifty-five years of age, has been affected for the last 
thirty-six years with tic-douloureux in the cheek, and in the fore- 
head above the eyebrow on the left side. From the commence- 
ment of the disease, she has had a paroxysm generally once a week, 
and at no time does she remember the interval to have been greater 
than fourteen days. Her sufferings during the continuance of the 
attack have been extreme, and have compelled her to confine her- 
self to bed until its termination, and it has never lasted a shorter 
time than two days. In the intervals, however, she has been per- 
fectly free from pain, and her general health has all along been 
tolerably good. 
It appeared from the history of the case given by the patient, that 
throughout the long course the disease had already run, almost every 
kind of medical treatment had been put in practice without giving 
rise to any permanently good result!; and in consequence of this cir- 
cumstance, and as the symptoms appeared to admit of nothing but 
slight alleviation, if even that could be procured, she was ordered to: 
keep the bowels open by the use of an aperient pill, and at the com- 
mencement of every paroxysm to take a small dose of acetate of 
morphia, and to repeat it every hour until the pain abated. She 
persevered in these means for two months, and experienced con- 
siderable relief ; but although the violence of the symptoms was 
moderated, neither any diminution of the length of the attack, nor 
any change in the duration of the interval, could be observed. 
Under these circumstances, and as the general health of the pa- 
tient was beginning to suffer from the employment of the morphia, 
it was ordered to be discontinued ; and she was directed to. take 
small doses of strychnia, for the purpose of removing, if possible, a 
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