198 ACTION OF INDIAN HEMP IN PARALYSIS. 
about the normal state of parts subsequent to paralysis. All 
this, and perhaps much more, I am prepared to be told, and 
therefore I forestall it all. 
We know that paralysis is dependent upon many circum¬ 
stances, and that it arises often from a solution of nervous 
continuity, which may be either mechanical or idiopathic, if 
I may be allowed the use of the term. We also know that 
where mechanical pressure is the cause, and when it has 
existed any-.time, sensation may and does often return, but 
not always with it the motor power. In the case related, 
both sensation and motion were lost for days, and both 
returned simultaneously. It might, however, have not so 
terminated ; the motor power might have remained dormant, 
a state in which perhaps galvanism is indicated as the active 
agent towards restoration. When ee lining” is administered 
to the human subject, it primarily acts as a violent excitant, 
which is followed by sedative effects. I would not proclaim 
“ bhung ” as the restorer of power and sensation in this par¬ 
ticular case , or any case of like nature, and therefore I gave 
its action in a number of cases. I merely wish to introduce 
the agent to the notice of my professional brethren as an 
all-potent narcotic; one that acts powerfully upon the sen- 
sorium and nervous tissues generally, without inducing 
constipation or any of the ill effects following the exhibition 
of opium, and to induce them, in their practice, to ascertain 
how 7 far it is a speciiic in tetanus and nervous affections 
generally, and having done this, I am content to leave the 
solution of the question in their hands. 
Since I wrote to you in July last, I w 7 as called in to see a 
charger, the property of an officer of the Dragoon Guards, 
suffering from distension of the stomach, accompanied with 
tympanitic colic. 
On my first approaching the animal, I made a remark re¬ 
specting a discharge of a dark colour from both nostrils, but 
the owner attributed it to a drench he had given the horse 
previous to calling me in. I told him I hoped it w 7 as not 
vomition, as if so, the case might prove fatal. 
The animal had had several faecal evacuations, but had not 
urinated. 
When colic and tympany are coexistent to any serious 
extent, I am in the habit of prescribing, in the absence of a 
better remedy, the sesquicarbonate of ammonia in a ball, 
followed by a go-down or two of w r ater. I was compelled to 
do so in this instance, though I am inclined to think the 
spiritus ammonias aromaticus a belter compound. 
It was with some trouble, however, that the sesquicar- 
