HOMOEOPATHIC TREATMENT. 117 



stages of the disease. As a preliminary to such treat- 

 ment, the entire DISUSE of all " alcoholic drinks, coffee, 

 curry, pepper, mustard, highly seasoned dishes, and all 

 other condiments of a like kind, which tend to irritate 

 the liver," must be strictly enforced. The pain, tender- 

 ness, and swelling of the liver should be combated by 

 Aconite, either alone or in alternation with the Bryonia 

 alba, and continued for some days, or until a marked 

 amelioration in the symptoms takes place. The region 

 of the liver should be covered with linseed meal poultices, 

 over the surface of which may be sprinkled the tincture 

 of Aconite or Belladonna ; or, better still, a wet compress, 

 sufficiently large to cover both the right and left lobes 

 of the liver, and kept on for some days, till pain, sensi- 

 tiveness, and swelling disappear, or until a thick 

 eruption of pustules crop out on the surface of the skin. 

 A Turkish bath should be taken at least three times 

 a week, and strict injunctions should be given that the 

 whole of the hypochondriac, splenic, and epigastric 

 regions be well shampooed. The functions of the stomach 

 should be regulated by Nux vomica, the lytiatia or Pulsa- 

 tilla. I, however, know of no medicine which more 

 quickly cleanses a coated tongue, or corrects a dis- 

 ordered stomach, than the strychnos nux vomica, adminis- 

 tered according to the following formula : Tinct. Nux 

 Vom. 12 drops ; distilled water a tumbler full : well mix. 

 A table- spoonful to be taken every one or two hours. 



The functions of the bowels should be regulated, and 

 indeed, even kept slightly relaxed, by means of the 

 podophyllum pel tat am, nux vomica, and the saline waters 

 of Cheltenham, Leamington, or the Llandrindod in Rad- 

 norshire; or, when circumstances may permit, the 



