486 ATONIC DISEASES. 



lemon, which seems to increase its power. Like Indian pink and 

 turpentine, , it. sometimes, acts prejudicially, or even fatally, though 

 it is generally quite innocent. , The dose is from two drachms to 

 four, in half a pint of boiling water, which should be repeated two 

 or three times at intervals of a week. 



Pomegranate bark is ah admirable remedy, but it is not often to 

 be obtained genuine, it being little used in this country. The 

 dose is from half an ourice to an ounce of the bark, which, after 

 standing for twenty-four hours in a pint and a half of water, is to 

 be boiled down to one half and filtered. This quantity is then to 

 be divided into three portions, one of which is to be given every 

 half-hour, till the whole is taken. 



The leaves and oil of the male fern&ve both very efficacious reme- 

 dies, when obtained in a state of purity, in which there is some 

 difficulty, though the plant is common enough. It should be dug 

 up in the summer, and the top powdered and carefully preserved 

 in stoppered bottles. The dose is from twenty grains to two 

 drachms, made into a bolus, arid followed by a jalap purge, or 

 eastor oil, in two or three hours. Of the oil, from ten to twenty 

 drops are the dose, mixed up with linseed meal and water, and one 

 half given at night, the remainder next morning, followed in an 

 hour by a dose of castor oil. 



GENERAL DEOPSY (Anasarca). 



General Dropsy consists in serum infiltrated into the cellular 

 membrane, beneath the skin of the whole body, as shown by swell- 

 ing without redness, and " pitting " on the , pressure of the finger 

 being removed. The immediate cause is to be looked for either in 

 general debility, by which the serum is not absorbed in due course, 



