Medical Chemistry. 89 
little repose, and that much disturbed. Her physician hap- 
pened to come in (Jan. 26,) while she was in a violent par- 
oxysm of coughing, resembling croup, and with imminent 
danger of suffocation ; her pulse as before, the back part of 
the mouth very much inflamed, and furrowed, as it were, 
with large vessels, injected with blood. 
Having been purged, prussic acid was administered in 
the following prescription :-— 
R. Prussic acid, - = - - 12 drops. 
Rose water, ties - - half a fluid ounce. 
Syrup of popies, - - - 3 fluid drachms. 
Mix them, and take a large tea spoon full every two 
hours. 
The next day the patient was much better; had enjoy- 
ed a better night than for several months, without cough or | 
perception of heat or oppression in the breast, and the pulse 
were more regular, and more moderate and full. The 
- prussic acid was continued four days, each time augmenting 
the dose two drops. The fourth day nausea occurred, and 
the symptoms being much better, the remedy was discon- 
tmued. From that time she remained perfectly well, had. 
no relapse, and considered her restoration as almost a mir- 
racle, and believed herself perfectly cured. ‘The writer 
dates on the 26th of February, and says, that in his view 
she still needs much care, anda particular regimen, and 
that the disease, if not entirely removed, is arrested in its. 
progress. 
A military gentleman being affected every winter with a 
spasmodic cough, experienced effectual relief from the use 
of the prussic acid, and being called by the service to an- 
other country, took a phial of it with him, as his best re- 
source on a recurrence of the complaint. 
A gouty patient, troubled with a violent dyspepsia, was 
attacked by the epidemic catarrh, and was relieved by the 
prussic acid. 
Dr. Kerkaradec, of Paris, relates his experience in the 
use of the prussic acid. 
In one case of nervous cough, in a patient of forty years 
of age, it was ineffectual, probably because it was given in 
very trifling doses, and often omitted by the patient, but it 
does not appear that it did any harm. 
Vou. IL.....No. 1. 12 
