HO TURNBULL-ON RANUNCULACES. 
Cases in which the Veratria Ointment has been employed, com- 
municated by Edward MacGowan, Esq., M.D., Exeter. 
CASE I. 
Tux first case happened in a farmer, about thirty years of age, 
who had been many weeks suffering from severe rheumatism in the 
articulations generally, but especially of the knees and feet. He 
presented the rheumatic diathesis in a marked degree, and there was © 
a great tendency to leuco-phlegmatic anasarca. I gave him the sub- 
carb. ammon. internally, with guaiacum, and ordered frictions on the 
joints to be made with the ointment of Veratria. In the course of 
a week, he rode into Exeter, a distance of five miles, and told me 
he was quite recovered. | 3 
_ To my surprise the swellings and pain in the joints had subsided, 
and the general health was much restored. He had been almost a 
cripple previously ; and has not had since, to my knowledge, any 
return of his former complaint. : 
CASE If. 
Aw elderly lady of gouty diathesis, and subject to frequent attacks 
of gout in the feet, suffered much from a swelled leg and foot, which 
presented an appearance precisely similar to the Barbadoes leg. 
There was besides, a chronic inflammation in the toes of the same 
limb, around the nail of the large toe particularly, which had often 
been attacked by gout, and which was accompanied with a fungous 
kind of ulceration. The whole limb was greatly enlarged, and the 
cellular tissue extremely hard, with now and then an erythematous 
inflammation over the surface. After poppy-head fomentations, &c., 
T used the Veratria ointment, which reduced the swelling, and 
abated the pain beyond my hopes. At first it produced a slight 
irritation, which obliged me occasionally to suspend the frictions, 
but that was the only inconvenience that resulted from it. The 
limb is still considerably enlarged but much reduced and less pain- 
ful than before, which I certainly think is owing to the Veratria. 
I have some other instances of the advantageous exhibition of 
Veratria externally, which confirm me in the persuasion of its effi- 
cacy in rheumatic and gouty swellings, particularly in debilitated 
constitutions. In such cases, it seems to stimulate the capillary and 
absorbent systems, and bring back a vigorous and healthy action. 
April 12th, 1834. 
Case of Tic-Douloureux cured by Frictions with Veratria Oint- 
ment, communicated by John Spence, Esqg., Surgeon, Otley, 
Yorkshire. 
A LApy, about twenty-four years of age, has been affected for the 
-ast eight or ten years with a most painful neuralgic affection, situ- 
