422 GENERAL NEUROSES, OF UNKNOWN ANATOMICAL ORIGIN. 



oiir object are, first, remedies which have an active influence upon tbe 

 general nutrition of the system. Secondly, those which seem to act 

 specifically upon the nervous system the so-called nervines. The 

 success in the relief of hysteria, of which the hydropaths justly boast, 

 is due to the effect of the so-called hydropathic treatment. When the 

 cause has been removed without benefit to the patient, or if it be im- 

 practicable to allay the cause of the hysteria, the cold-water cure is, in 

 many cases, strongly to be recommended. We must warn the patient 

 from the very first, that the " cure " cannot have the desired effect in 

 a few weeks, and that their abode at the water-cure establishment 

 must be continued for several months at least. Nor is it advisable to 

 allow a patient to undertake the water-cure at her own house, as it is 

 of the utmost importance that the treatment should not be conducted 

 by halves. The use of sea-baths also is often of remarkable benefit in 

 hysteria. When the patient is vigorous and well-nourished, the 

 springs of Marienbad, Kissingen, and Franzenbad, are often of great 

 service. The action of these springs is to be ascribed to the modifica- 

 tion which they exert upon nutrition. The nervines which have the 

 greatest reputation as remedies against hysterics are castor, valerian, 

 hartshorn, assafcetida, and other evil-smelling and ill-tasting articles. 

 The greatest skeptic cannot deny that a cup of valerian tea, a few 

 drops of the tincture of valerian, or a tincture of castor, taken by the 

 mouth, or an injection of the infusion of valerian, or an emulsion of 

 assafcetida, often act admirably as palliatives, although no radical 

 relief can be effected by such articles. I have accidentally hit upon a 

 nervine of great efficacy in hysteria, and have made use of it with 

 signal effect in many cases where there was no indication for the local 

 treatment of uterine disease, or else, where the hysteric symptoms per- 

 sisted although the local uterine affection had been cured. I mean the 

 chloride of sodium and gold. I had read that Dr. Martini, of Bibe- 

 rach, regarded this article as an efficient remedy against the various 

 diseases of the womb and ovaries. As the diseases which this gentle- 

 man (a much-respected gynecologist in his district) claims to have 

 cured by this drug, for the most part, belong to that class of disorders 

 which are incapable of resolution, and which are incurable, in the 

 strictest sense of the word, and as I had no reason to doubt the 

 veracity of Dr. Martini, I could only infer that the cases had been 

 imperfectly observed. My suspicion that the chloride of gold and 

 sodium, like other metallic articles, was an active nervine, and that the 

 improvement effected upon Dr. Martin? s patients was probably due 

 to this property, was fully confirmed by what followed. After having 

 employed the medicine in question for several years, and in a great 

 number of cases, and. encouraged by my success, having recommended 



