TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 85 



Harlan's plan of putting the fingers into the ears, and then "chew," the child 

 was cured. She has had no further attack as yet, a little over three years, while 

 before they had held her an hour or two, and sometimes longer, and it occurred 

 quite frequently. It seems to have been an absolute' cure. Mrs. Harlan in- 

 cluded in her letter what she calls a simple cure for nose-bleed, hiccough and 

 palpitation of the heart. I will give them in her own words, as follows: 



2. Nose-Bleed, Hiccough, and Palpitation of the Heart— 

 Itlrs. Harlan's Cure for. — I. A simple cure for nose-bleed is to crowd the 

 fingers tight into the ears and chew, pressing the teeth well together, as if chew- 

 ing food. 



II. It is said to be a cure also for a persistent hiccough. [This is what I 

 tried with the grandchild.] 



III. Palpitation of the Heart. — Hold the breath as long as possible and 

 repeatedly, I have found it an almost certain remedy. And when it failed to 

 stop the paroxysm at first it was relieved by it, and, after a time, stopped. 



Remarks. — Mrs. Harlan is undoubtedly correct in the matter of relief, or 

 cure, of " Palpitation; " for, in holding the breath, the blood is not invigorated 

 by the absorption of oxygen in the air by Its passage through the lungs, and 

 hence the blood does not pass so freely nor quickly to the heart, and, therefore, 

 its excessive action soon diminishes, and is finally quieted altogether. There is 

 certainly philosophy in this. Mrs. H. had used these plans in her own family 

 and among her friends, and sent them to me, as she expressed it, ' ' for the goo(5^ 

 of the world." 



3. Hiccough, French Remedy for Children— Instantaneous 

 Relief. — According to the Lyons (France) Medicale, Dr. Grellety says: 



" I have observed that hiccoughs in children are immediately stopped by giv- 

 ing them a lump of sugar saturated with table vinegar. The same remedy was 

 tried on adults with similar instantaneous success." 



The sugar plan is confirmed by the following from Henry Tucker, M. D.- 

 in the Smith Medical Record, under the heading of " A Specific for Singulturs" 

 (the physicians', or the Latin, name for hiccough): 



"This very common affection, of infants and children especially, has a sp& 

 eiflc remedy, at least one which I have never known to fail. Moisten granu- 

 lated sugar witli cider vinegar; give to an infant from a few grains to a tea- 

 spoonful. The effect is almost instantaneous, and the dose seldom needs to b» 

 repeated. I have used it for all ages, from infants of a few months old to peo- 

 ple on the down-hill side of life." 



4. Another writer puts it in the following manner: " Take 3 or 4 swal 

 lows of sweetened vinegar." 



Remarks.— ]^oi much different, except in quantity. I should try this il 

 Dr. Grellety's or Dr. Tucker's lump of sugar did not succeed. 



5. Hiccough, a Cure for by Pressure — French. — The latest 

 French discovery as to the cure of hiccoughs is given in La Scalpel, as follows: 

 A very easy cure for a continued hiccough, sometimes complicated with spj^sms 

 of the air-passage to the lungs, is introduced by Rostau, and highly recom- 

 mended by Deghillaye, of Mons, France. It consists in placing the hand <iat 



