152 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
March,  1887. 
This  method  of  treatment  was  recommended  as  being  always 
successful  by  Dr.  J.  N.  Rust,  of  Berlin,  in  the  early  part  of  this 
century  ;  for  internal  use  he  ordered  : 
Cantharid  gr.  xij. 
Lapid.  cancror  
Sacchari  ,...aa  gjss. 
M.  ft.  pulv.  xij 
One  powder  to  be  taken  twice  or  thrice  daily. 
In  this  connection  it  may  be  mentioned  that  according  to  Les 
Nouveaux  Remedes,  1886,  p.  525,  Dr.  Keegan  has  treated  in  India, 
with  apparent  success,  several  cases  of  hydrophobia  by  the  local 
application  of  a  four  per  cent,  solution  of  cocaine  to  the  back  part  of 
the  throat ;  and  that  Dr.  Fernandez,  of  Barcelona  (Ibid.,  p.  521),  is 
experimenting  upon  dogs  by  inoculating  them  with  viper  poison  as  a 
preventive  of  rabies. 
Aesculus  Hippocastanum,  Lin. — In  medical  works,  including  those 
on  medical  botany,  in  which  the  horse  chestnut  tree  is  mentioned,  the 
discussion  of  the  medical  properties  is  usually  confined  to  the  use  of 
the  bark  as  an  antiperiodic,  and  of  the  fixed  oil  as  a  topical  remedy 
in  rheumatic  complaints.  Occasionally  the  sternutatory  properties  of 
the  powdered  seeds  are  mentioned,  and  in  works  from  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century  we  fiad  it  stated  that  a  paste  made  from  the 
seeds  is  useful  in  chilblains,  and  a  decoction  of  the  roasted  seeds  has 
been  recommended  in  atonic  uterine  hemorrhages.  A  still  older 
work  (Murray  appar.  IV.  p.  62),  which  is  stated  to  give  the  uses  of 
the  horse  chestnut  in  former  times,  could  not  be  consulted  by  us.  In 
only  one  of  the  modern  works  consulted  (National  Dispensatory,  3rd 
and  4th  edit.,  p.  765)  has  been  observed  a  reference  to  the  popular 
use  of  the  leaves  in  whooping  cough,  and  of  the  seeds  in  haemor- 
rhoids. 
That  this  popular  use  has  not  been  forgotten,  we  learned  from  Mr. 
Geo.  W.  Stoeckel,  of  Reading,  Pa.,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Pennsylva- 
nia Pharmaceutical  Association  in  1886.  More  recently  Mr.  Stoeckel 
has  informed  us  that  the  use  of  the  leaves  and  seeds  in  the  manner 
indicated  below  is  not  uncommon  in  the  southeastern  counties  of 
Pennsylvania.  A  decoction  of  the  leaves  is  regarded  as  a  remedy  in 
whooping  cough  and  is  given  in  small  doses  frequently  repeated, 
while  the  bruised  fresh  leaves,  sometimes  mixed  with  lard,  are  at  the 
same  time  employed  externally.  The  entire  seed  is  carried  in  the  pocket 
