MEDICAL HINTS. 177 
When the motions become yellow, then an astringent such as iron is 
indicated. 
Mercurial Treatment .—When the treatment by ipecacuanha or Epsom 
salts fails, then the administration of calomel may effect a cure. 
One grain of calomel should be given three times a day for four days; 
if no unpleasant symptoms arise, and if the patient is improving, this 
dose may be continued for a week or ten days. 
The addition of one grain each of ipecacuanha and opium to tbe 
calomel has been suggested by Dr. Man son. The objection to the calomel 
treatment is that mercurial poisoning may be produced if too large 
doses of the drug are given, or if its use is continued for too long a 
period; but with the doses mentioned here, this possibility is very 
unlikely. 
At the same time the patient must be watched for such symptoms as 
tenderness of the gums, salivation {i.e. } great increase of the saliva), and 
a metallic taste in the mouth. Should these symptoms arise the dose 
must be reduced, or the drug discontinued. 
Chronic Dysentery. 
The treatment is to remove the patient to a healthy climate, and, 
meanwhile, to keep him as far as possible on a diet similar to that 
advised for acute dysentery. Opium and bismuth may be given to 
relieve pain, and tannin or sulphate of iron to check diarrhoea. Ipe¬ 
cacuanha, in ten-grain doses, three times a day, should be tried. An 
enema containing a teaspoonful of alum, or ten grains of sulphate of 
iron, to the pint, often does good. 
An enema, in which an enimol of ipecacuanha and opium is suspended 
often does more good than ipecacuanha given by the mouth. 
Cholera. 
Cholera is a serious acute disease, characterised by frequent watery 
motions, vomiting, cramp and collapse. 
Cause .—It is usually contracted by drinking contaminated water. 
Symptoms. —Giddiness, faintness, persistent vomiting and diarrhoea, 
great prostration, feeble pulse, cold perspiration, colic, intense thirst, and 
VOL. II. N 
* 
