HICCUP, OH HICCOUGH. 331 



One sees it in men whose rule for years has been to consume at least tin ii 

 daily bottle of wine, in gro&s beer-drinkers, and in spirit-drinkers ; but it is almost 

 as frequently met with IK persons who have led a life not only of soberness, but 

 almost of abstinence. The symptoms to which fatty heart gives rise are by no 

 means characteristic. We would say that the fact of your thinking that you are 

 suffering from this complaint is to be regarded as presumptive evidence that you 

 are not. 



HICCUP, OR HICCOUGH. 



Hiccup is a complaint if it may be dignified by the name of complaint which 

 seldom gives rise to any anxiety, or calls for active treatment. It usually passes off 

 in a few minutes, or in the course of half an hour, even if nothing be done for it. 

 One of the commonest and most convenient modes of arresting it is to close the 

 mouth and hold the nose as long as possible. Some people prefer tossing off a 

 tumbler of water, whilst others run up-stairs as fast as they can. A sudden shock 

 will often stop it more effectually than anything ; a friend comes up and gives you 

 an unexpected dig in the ribs or slaps you on the back, and your hiccup is gone. 

 Sometimes in hysterical young women it persists for days, to the great annoyance of 

 everybody. The treatment in such cases should be directed to the hysteria rather 

 than to the hiccup. Occasionally it occurs in the course of acute illnesses such as 

 fevers, and is not to be regarded as a good sign, although, of course, too much import- 

 ance must not be attached to it. In the case of a corpulent man suffering from 

 typhus fever it continued for eighteen hours out of the twenty-four on several 

 consecutive days. 



We may mention a few remedies that might be resorted to in case of need. 

 Obstinate and even dangerous cases of hiccup are reported to have been cured by 

 drinking an infusion of mustard made with a tea-spoonful of mustard steeped in 

 four ounces of boiling water for an hour, and then strained. Camphor has been 

 recommended, and so has a mixture of chloroform and laudanum, but we are unable 

 to say in what doses they are most likely to do good. A hypodermic injection of 

 morphia sometimes succeeds when other measures have failed. Chloral often effects 

 a cure when given in ten-grain doses (Pr. 37), and a few drops of sweet spirits of 

 nitre on sugar have been known to arrest the spasm. Three or four drops of dilute 

 sulphuric acid in water every ten minutes or a quarter of an hour might be tried. 

 Gelseminum (Pr. 41) may sometimes be given with advantage. Musk is a remedy 

 which proves of value, especially in hysterical young women. A useful draught 

 may be made by mixing together a tea-spoonful of fetid spirit of ammonia, a table- 

 spoonful of lime-water, and a table-spoonful of peppermint-water. 



For the hiccup of drunkards, reliance may be placed on tincture of nux voniica 

 .given in five-drop doses every hour for three or four hours, or even longer. Ten- 

 minim doses of tincture of capsicum often succeed admirably in these cases. This 

 treatment not only cures the hiccup, but obviates the morning vomiting, and 

 removes the sinking at the pit of the stomach and the intense craving for stimulants, 

 from which these people so often suffer. The medicine may often be continued with 

 advantage to the general health after the hiccup has been relieved. 



