7o 
Guarana  in  Chronic  Diarrhoea. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I        Feb.,  1890. 
may  have  the  opportunity  of  making  with  it  in  case  of 
chronic  diarrhoea,  etc.  The  case  in  question  is  that  of  a  sol- 
dier of  Co.  F,  15th  U.  S.  Inft.,  who  for  two  (2)  years  has  been 
troubled  with  chronic  diarrhoea,  better  at  times,  at  others 
worse;  a  great  portion  of  his  time  in  hospital.  Has  been  in 
hospital  now  for  over  two  months,  becoming  much  worse, 
with  8  to  12  movements  in  24.  hours — all  of  them  very  offen- 
sive, containing  mucus,  blood,  pus,  etc.,  indeed  presenting  a 
dysenteric  character.  Nearly  all  the  vegetable  and  mineral 
astringents  were  tried  with  only  partial  and  temporary  relief. 
The  man  rapidly  lost  flesh,  became  discouraged  (so  did  I), 
when  I  happened  to  think  of  the  Guarana  which  I  had  sent 
for — not  for  this  case,  but  to  use  in  a  case  of  sick  headache. 
I  gave  the  man  one  powder  twice  daily  for  several  days,  and 
having  only  about  7  or  8 — afterwards  one  daily. 
From  the  time  of  taking  the  first  he  began  at  once  to 
improve,  the  number  of  passages  from  bowels  diminished 
rapidly,  and  by  the  time  the  7  or  8  powders  were  all  taken  he 
had  but  one  passage  in  j6  hours  or  longer.  To-day  he  is  per- 
fectly well  and  getting  stout — eats  fresh  vegetables  well 
cooked,  and  has  about  one  passage  in  j6  hours.  I  must 
attribute  his  sudden  change  for  the  better  to  the  Guarana, 
as  I  stopped  all  his  medicine  while  taking  it ;  since  I  have 
had  him  on  dilute  hydrochloric  acid.  The  patient  informs 
me  that  he  has  now  the  first  natural  movements  of  the 
bowels  he  has  had  for  several  years — nearly  all  of  them 
heretofore  being  diarrhcetic  in  character. 
I  wrote  the  Post  Surgeon  of  McKae,  the  next  post  to  us, 
and  suggested  a  trial  of  the  Guarana,  as  they  have  many 
cases  of  diarrhoea  there  during  the  summer. 
Very  respectfully, 
J.  Frazer  Boughter. 
Arteries  as  Drainage  Tubes. — Weeks  [Medical  Age,  1889,  380,)  uses  the 
arteries  of  oxen  for  the  preparation  of  drainage  tubes.  The  same  are  freed 
from  adhering  tissue,  cut  in  pieces  of  suitable  length,  boiled  with  water  for  five 
minutes  and  drawn  over  glass  rods  of  the  requisite  diameter. '  They  are  then 
laid  for  ten  minutes  in' a  1  per  cent,  solution  of  corrosive  sublimate  and  kept  in 
95  per  cent,  alcohol. 
