PALPITATION. 449 



the improvement of the general health. When the palpitation is due to a finely, 

 strung and over-susceptible nervous temperament, we cannot hope that medicine 

 will prove of much avail, but quiet, mental and bodily, and avoidance of all exciting 

 pursuits, are indicated, whilst any temporary derangement of the bowels and stomach 

 should be seen to without delay. When the occupations are chiefly sedentary, out- 

 door exercise, with plenty of fresh air, should be tried. Cold or tepid baths are of 

 essential service. As has been very truly said, " the excitement of modern fiction 

 is not without an effect on the emotional nature of its votaries, who become 

 as abandoned to this form of intemperance as others are to the use or abuse of 

 other stimulants." The enthralling plot which the victim to novel-reading demands 

 is allied to the cry for brandy of the toper ; slighter stimulants are inefficient and 

 powerless. The desirability of removal from the circulating library is obvious, and 

 exercise, other interests and occupations, and rational mental pabulum are necessary. 

 When there is more than ordinary disturbance of the nervous system, the administra- 

 tion of bromide of potassium (Pr. 31) may prove useful. Disturbed rest is better 

 met by early rising, active exercise, and light suppers, than by opiates or other 

 narcotics, or even by morning slumber. When the liver is sluggish, nothing acts 

 better than a blue-pill and black draught. When there is obvious derangement of 

 digestion, the gentian and soda mixture (Pr. 14) taken half an hour before meals 

 answers admirably. Attention must of course be paid to diet, mutton and beef 

 being taken in preference to pork and veal In some cases nothing agrees so well 

 as boiled mutton. Pastry is seldom admissible, and the same may be said of cheese, 

 nuts, and many other articles of diet that are ordinarily reputed to be indigestible. 

 For flatulence nothing succeeds better than three drops of oil of cajeput taken on a 

 piece of sugar when the wind is troublesome. 



Of the specific remedies for palpitation, digitalis is one of the best. Two table- 

 spoonfuls of the perchloride of iron mixtures (Pr. 1 or 2) may be taken three times a day 

 for a week, with the addition of ten drops of tincture of digitalis to each dose. The 

 infusion of digitalis often proves more effective than the tincture. A drachm may 

 be taken twice a day in the iron mixture, or, better still, alone. Tincture of aconite 

 often proves useful ; it should be given in from one to three-drop doses in water three 

 times a day. It will succeed admirably if added to the iron (Pr. 1 or 2) or gentian 

 mixture (Pr. 14). Five-drop doses of tincture of belladonna in water three times 

 a day sometimes succeed admirably. The belladonna plaster applied over the region 

 of the heart is a capital remedy. It should not be smaller than six inches by four. 

 We have ordered it in hundreds of cases with the greatest success. To make a 

 plaster adhere firmly, first wash the part with soap and warm water, then dry it 

 thoroughly with a soft towel. After waiting an hour, warm the plaster before the 

 fire and apply it smoothly. A plaster with creases in it is most uncomfortable, and 

 is worse than useless. If properly put on, a good plaster will last a month or more. 

 It matters not whether the palpitation be due to heart disease or the functional 

 derangement of the stomach, it will do good. It should be kept on. till it comes off 

 by itself, or until it gets wrinkled and uncomfortable, when it may be taken off. Its 

 only possible disadvantage is that it sometimes produces a little eruption of pimples, 

 or a rash not unlike that of scarlet fever. In that case the plaster will have to 



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