PAIN IN THE MUSCLES, OR MYALGIA. 445 



of oil and laudanum well rubbed into the part often proves more successful than any 

 other mode of treatment. The frequent application of hot poultices may do good, 

 but they are, as a rule, inferior to the methods we have already mentioned. In 

 chronic cases, freezing the part by means of the ether spray may be tried ; some- 

 times the pain is removed by a single application. The use of iodine ointment 

 is indicated in obstinate cases where there is tenderness of the muscles, but the skin 

 can be pinched without causing any unusual pain. It should be remembered that 

 this is a mild application, and that' it should therefore be nibbed into the part two 

 or three times a day. Chloride of ammonium, in twenty-grain doses, dissolved in 

 water and mixed with an equal quantity of milk, often does good. 



The stiffness and aching of the muscles which commonly follow an unusually 

 long walk may in the majority of cases be prevented by at once wrapping oneself in 

 a dripping wet sheet, and then getting a thoroughly good rub down. When the 

 stiffness has already set in it may be removed by taking a drop of tincture of arnica 

 every ten minutes for the first hour, and subsequently hourly, in a little water. 



Sufferers from myalgia often derive great benefit from a temporary residence in a 

 hydropathic establishment. This mode of treatment is especially to be recommended 

 in the case of the man of pleasure accustomed to lead an irregular, luxurious, or 

 indolent life. The system is full of enjoyment, and the simple diet of the water- 

 cure patient is relished with a gusto unknown to the pampered slave of calipash and 

 calipee to those comfortable gourmets who begin dinner with soup, fish, and pate, 

 washed down with two or three glasses of sherry. The post-prandial lightness of 

 spirits more than compensates for any amount of abstinence. 



In pleurodynia the importance of rest of the affected part is as great as in any 

 other form of muscular pain. There are, however, certain accessory modes of treat- 

 ment, which, in addition to those which we have mentioned when speaking of mus- 

 cular pain generally, may be employed with advantage. Thus, in obstinate cases, a 

 mixture of chloral and camphor may be used as a local application. When equal 

 parts of these two substances are pounded up in a mortar they form a syrupy liquid 

 which, when painted on the painful part, or gently rubbed in, often affords speedy 

 relief. A blister applied over the seat of the pain often does good, although from 

 its weakening effect on the patient it may increase the pain for a day or two. It is 

 just possible that the blister makes the part so painful that the patient carefully 

 abstains from using his muscles, and thus, by giving them s, rest, derives benefit. 

 Belladonna liniment often affords marked relief in pleurodynia. It should be rubbed 

 over the tender and painful part several times a day, according to the severity of the 

 pain. Sometimes a belladonna plaster, from the support which it affords, succeeds 

 where the liniment has failed. When pleurodynia is associated with some derange- 

 ment of the womb, actsea racemosa is the appropriate remedy. It is especially 

 indicated in pain under the left breast occurring in women. Small doses taken 

 frequently of a tincture prepared from the common buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus) 

 have been know to succeed in cases of pleurodynia where other remedies have been 

 tried in vain. 



