42 TURNBULL ON RANUNCULACE, 
One evening he had a return of the affection, and when visited 
next day, he was lying in bed in great pain, and could not be 
moved in any direction. An ointment, made with twenty grains 
of Veratria to an ounce of lard, was immediately ordered to be 
rubbed across the loins for fifteen or twenty minutes, and to be 
repeated at night ; and in the event of the second friction failing to 
procure relief, he was directed to take fifteen grains of Dover’s 
powder, with thirty-eight drops of vinum colchici, at bed-time ; 
this last prescription, however, he did not find it requisite to make 
use of, and next day he could move himself about freely, and with- 
out experiencing any pain. To guard against a recurrence, he 
persevered in the use of frictions night and morning for a few days; 
he then discontinued them, and has since been quite free from the 
complaint. 
CASE VIII. » 
Tunis case was one of severe sciatica, occurring in a gentleman 
about thirty years of age, and bearing a considerable resemblance 
in its history to the foregoing : the previous treatment pursued was 
much the same, and in like manner freed the patient from the 
existing attack ; but did little towards establishing a permanent 
cure. The Veratria ointment in one application removed the pain, 
and in a few more completed the recovery of the patient. 
CASE IX. 
A GENTLEMAN, thirty-three years of age, had, about eight years 
ago, an attack of acute rheumatism, during which the larger joints 
became affected, and after the violence of the disease had been sub- 
dued, there still remained a degree of pain and swelling around the 
articulations of the tarsus and ankle, of both sides ; and to these symp- 
toms there has latterly supervened so much rigidity as to disable 
the patient almost entirely from walking. When an attempt at 
motion is made, he is compelled to raise the feet from the ground 
without bending the ankle joints, and he experiences great pain in 
pressing upon the ball of the great toe. 
In this case, the patient was directed to rub the Veratria ointment 
over the diseased parts twice a day ; at the end of a fortnight the 
pain was gone, and the attack’ completely removed. 
External Application of Veratria in Gout. 
In the treatment of gout, Veratria, both internally and in the 
form of friction, is a remedy of considerable power. When ad- 
ministered by the mouth, its action upon the disease is not at all 
unlike that of colchicum, but rather more mild ; and in cases where 
