88 



INFLAMMATORY RHEUMATISM, (S,'C. 



]nok straight forward. — Curtis on the 

 Eye. 



Injiamviatory Rheumatism, Sciati- 

 ca, Neuralgia, and Croup. — Dr. F. 

 W. Adams, of Maine, speaks in decided 

 terms of the vinous tincture of Llic White 

 Helebore ( Veratrwm JllbuTrt) in tlie cure 

 of the aforesaid diseases, and recommends 

 that it be prepared by digesting the sliced 

 recent bulbous root in Spanish white wine 

 for six or eight days, in a temperature of 

 eighty or ninety degrees, to its fullest sa- 

 .turation. Of this tincture, when filtrated, 

 ,an active dose is from a half to one and a 

 half drachms^ .according to the age and 

 strength of constitution, from twelve years 

 upwards. 'I'he preparation on which (he 

 says) I have mostly, though not exclu- 

 sively depended, is three parts of the 

 above, in combination with one part of the 

 aromatic vinous tincture, or Sydenham's 

 wine of opium, which I have commonly 

 administered in doses as above, commenc- 

 ing with the least, repeating with the pro- 

 portional increase of one half of the pre- 

 ceding dose every eight hours, until its 

 specific and eflicient effects have been pro- 

 cured. These are a peculiar sensation of 

 warmth or heat at the epigastrium, ascend- 

 ing from thence to the fauces, appearing, 

 meanwhile, to penetrate the pulmonary 

 Jace of the sternum with fullness and slow- 

 ^■jess of pulse, which latter symptom goes 

 Oil increasing until the number of pulsa- 

 ^ tions is reduced, in most cases, to thirty 

 or thirty-five in a minute, and they not 

 unfrequently become extinct at the wrist. 

 The sensation of heat at the sternum is 

 soon followed by a different one in the 

 fauces, resembling entirely that denomi- 

 nated globus hystericus, and accompanied 

 by the same anxiety and sense of suffoca- 

 tion. This again is immediately succeed- 

 ed by nausea and vomiting, which relieve 

 in a great degree the foregoing peculiarly 

 distressing sensation. The vomiting when 

 once excited commonly continues almost 

 incessantly, from three-fourtiis of an hour 

 to an hour and a half, unloading the sto- 

 mach effectually of its alimentary, and, 

 mostly, of its mucous contents. Nearly 

 simultaneous with the commencement of 

 ■vomiting a free perspiration occurs, which 

 continues, with a rapid increase, until the 

 patient is literally drenched, the disease 



seeming to have been totally dissolved, 

 and eliminated, by cutaneous transpira- 

 tion, for a state of the most delicious com- 

 posure succeeds, accompanied by a per- 

 fectly quiet and refreshing sleep, which 

 in a few hours enables the subject of a long 

 and painful decrepitude to present himself 

 to his family and friends, in a pleasing 

 contrast of a happy and healthy man. 



I have been in the habit of directing 

 the patient to drink freely of a weak and 

 warm ginger lea during the continuance 

 of vomiting. 



I have administered the above medicine 

 in cases of croup, which had resisted the 

 effect of almost every popular remedy, to 

 that of full doses of turpeth mineral, and 

 after apparently fatal symptoms had su- 

 pervened, with the most surprisingly hap- 

 py result. 



I have also prescribed it in several cases 

 of sciatica, or inflammation of the sciatic 

 nerve, with the most complete success. In 

 two cases a perfect recovery was effected 

 in less than four hours, from a tedious and 

 excruciatingly painful disease. In other 

 cases, where the prescription was embar- 

 rassed by the timidity of the patient, as in 

 the cases of several females, the medicine 

 was prescribed in undisturbing doses, and 

 yet a peiseverance in its use was attended 

 with perfectly satisfactory results. 



The above offers no slight suggestion of 

 its probable efficacy in the whole class of 

 acute neuralgia. 



I have been Induced to try its efficacy 

 as a diuretic in several unpromising cases 

 of general dropsy, and in combination 

 with cantharides, with nitric ether, and 

 with digitalis, assisted by external friction 

 and pressure. I have lound it to exceed 

 any expectation I had imbibed of its effi- 

 cacy. I think it a medicine of very act- 

 ive and efficient powers, and one which 

 promises much to the profession, when- 

 ever those powers can be judiciously ap- 

 plied. 



I would remark, that I have derived 

 much advantage from its external use, in 

 the form of decoction or infusion, both in 

 local inflammation and in dropsies, for 

 which I suppose veratria will be more than 

 a substitute. 



I have found a decoction or infusion of 

 the root of iiellebore, in combination with 

 one drachm of opium to the pint, and used 



