674 CV RARE IN HYDROPHOBIA. 



communities, conducted upon the principles of total abstinence, is a hope- 

 less one to embark upon. It is sinijDly to fight the air. Little can, in the 

 nature of thing, come of it. A crusade against our greivously prevalent 

 intemperance, * .^- ^- conducted on principles of true moderation and 

 sobriety, is a very different matter. ^ >i< * I flatlj^ refuse to believe that 

 the broad stream of common sense and legitimate freedom in this, or any 

 other like matter, has flowed for centuries in a wrong channel, and that we 

 alone in our day are called upon not only to divert but to dam it up for all 

 future time." 



Dr. Duckworth, however,- does not decry but applauds "the noble exam- 

 ple of total abstention from strong drink, set by the clergy and others in 

 conspicuous positions." "We as a body," he says, "are at all events unable 

 to resist the evidence they bear to the effect that their principles alone in 

 many cases enable them to reclaim drunkards and achieve results that 

 would otherwise be impossible. 



CURARE IN HYDROPHOBIA. 



John Moss, r. C. S., gave in the Pharmaceutical Journal of last month, a 

 eomplete summary of the history, description and chemical composition of 

 Carare, now again proposed in England as a remedy for hydrophobia. 



In regard to the administration of the drug, he says : 



'The properties of curare preclude its medicinal use in any other form 

 than that of a solution for hypodermic injection. For such a solution to be 

 ready for use at all times, certain characteristics are essential, or at least 

 kigkly desirable. It must be of convenient strength, so that the dose fixed 

 upon may bear a simple relation to the -number of minims, yet not so strong 

 thafc the injection of a quantity slightly in excess of w^iat was intended may 

 be of too great importance, and not so diluted that the maximum dose is in- 

 conveniently large. The solution should produce as little pain as possible 

 wh.en injected; having regard to the fact that rabies patients have an in- 

 tcffiSilfied dread of pain, this characteristic is perhaps more important in the 

 particular solution now under consideration than in any other. The solution 

 should not only be at all times prepared of the strength that it professes to 

 be, but should keep well, and remain of that strength. To prepare a uni- 

 form solution of a drug so deadly and variable as curare, one should always 

 Lave recourse to the same parcel, of which the strength has been proved. 

 Curarine or one of its salts might be used, but independently of the grave 

 risks incurred in preparing them, we are as yet without trustworthy data 

 upon which to frame a formula. 



The keeping power of a solution will depend in a great measure on the 

 m.cn.struum. Water would produce a solution giving^the minimum of pain 

 when injected, and Taylor's statement that Bernard preserved curare in so- 

 lution of water for two years without any loss of its power is confirmed by 

 the experience of Dr. Lauder Brunton, who informs me that he has kept a 



