70 Dr. Nimmo on the 



active principles of the croton seeds over the inner coat of the 

 stomach and abdominal -"iscera when the above formula was 

 employed ; while, on the coutrary, it must unavoidably happen 

 that the oil, taken merely mixed with any fluid, made up into 

 the form of pill with any substance, or diffused with sugar or 

 starch, may, at times, be applied, in a concentrated form, to a 

 particular part of the stomach or intestines, and excite an 

 action such as to occasion nausea and vomiting in the former 

 case, and spasmodic action, with pain and hypercatharsis, in 

 the latter. When the unfavourable circumstances last men- 

 tioned occur, there is no doubt much reason to fear that this 

 purgative may excite inflammation or induce a state of greater 

 or less debility. Among the cases I have had to treat was 

 one of a lady, who, after using diuretic medicines of the most 

 powerful kind, and undergone a course of mercurial inunction 

 for the cure of abdominal dropsy, was rapidly sinking under an 

 accumulation of the dropsical fluid, and nearly a total loss of 

 appetite and strength ; her state being almost hopeless, the 

 mixture of alcoholic solution of the croton was administered 

 at first with extreme caution, and afterwards, when it was 

 found she could bear it, in augmented doses, so as to cause 

 three or four evacuations of the bowels daily, with the most 

 beneficial consequences ; by augmenting the appetite and the 

 strength, and by the discharge of watery stools, the speedy 

 reduction of the size of the abdomen became apparent. After 

 two weeks' use, the irritability of the stomach made it necessary 

 to stop the use of it: — the complaint shewed strong symptoms 

 of returning ; — diuretics were then employed, but the effect 

 which they had upon the appetite and in inducing debility, 

 soon made it necessary to desist : — the croton mixture was 

 again used, and by employing opiates and carminatives, she 

 was enabled to continue its use until a cure was accomplished. 

 In the cure of delirium tremens, I have found it a powerful 

 auxiliary to opium ; in one case of this disease, arising from 

 excessive intemperance in the use of ardent spirits, in which 

 the most distressing phantasms appeared, the wildest imagi- 

 nations were produced, and sounds heard, the immediate effects 



