PILES, OR HAEMORRHOIDS. 455 



surgical operations, the use of the knife, the ligature, and acid, we have nothing to 

 say. They are in many cases of inestimable value, but it is undesirable to submit 

 to any operative procedure until it has been clearly demonstrated that medicinal 

 treatment has failed. 



There are many valuable remedies for piles, some of which ought, in every 

 instance, to afford relief. For bleeding piles nothing equals the tincture of 

 hamamelis virginica. It is almost a specific, and many doctors who have used it 

 extensively say they have never known it faiL It is to be used in those cases, and 

 in those cases only, in which the piles bleed. Its use is especially indicated when 

 there are, in addition to bleeding piles, enlarged or varicose veins of the legs. A 

 tea-spoonful of the tincture of hamamelis is to be put in an eight-ounce bottle of 

 water, and of this three tea-spoonfuls are to be taken every three hours. It is not 

 to be given with any flavouring agent, or with any other medicine. In addition to 

 taking the hamamelis it is necessary to apply it locally. A hamamelis lotion is made 

 by adding two tea-spoonfuls of the tincture to half a pint of water, and when the 

 piles are external this is to be applied to the part by means of two or three folds of 

 linen covered with oiled silk, and renewed several times daily. When the piles aro 

 internal some of the lotion is to be injected with a syringe or injection apparatus 

 into the back passage two or three times a day. We can almost guarantee that in 

 the cases we have indicated hamamelis will effect a cure. The best and cheapest 

 way is to buy a couple of ounces of tincture of hamamelis virginica from the 

 chemist, and make your own lotion. Mind you get the strong tincture, and not 

 any weaker preparation or dilution. All you have to do is to put two tea-spoonfuls 

 into half a pint of water, shake it up, and it is ready for use. Many chemists keep 

 an ointment or cerate of hamamelis, which for external piles is more convenient to 

 use than the lotion. It should be applied to the parts after the morning bath, and 

 again after each motion. If you have bleeding piles you may get rid of them 

 almost to a certainty by vising hamamelis as we have directed. We recently cured 

 with this drug a gentleman who had suffered from haemorrhoids for over thirty 

 years. He had been an officer in the army, and his complaint was attributable to 

 excessive riding. He was for ten years in India and China, and since his return 

 had lost blood almost daily. He had been operated on twice without any permanent 

 benefit, and had quite given up all hope of obtaining relief. He used the 

 hamamelis lotion every morning after his bath, and also after every motion, and in 

 less than a week the bleeding had ceased. 



Hydrastis canadensis is another remedy which enjoys a high reputation in the 

 treatment of piles. Internal piles, which cause great prostration of strength, and 

 are accompanied by various dyspeptic symptoms, giving rise to considerable pain 

 during defecation, and frequent attacks of bleeding with a little discharge of mucus 

 or matter, are cured, or at all events materially relieved, by the use of hydrastis. 

 A lotion is made by adding a tea-spoonful of the tincture of hydrastis to half a pint 

 of water, and some of this is injected into the back passage night and morning. In 

 addition five drops of tincture of hydrastis are to be taken in a wine-glassful of 

 water three times a day. In the case of external piles hydrastis is often of 

 great value, the lotion being used three or four times a day, just, in the same way 



