244  Resin  of  Podophyllum  and  Podophyllin.  {Xm'^;I^™' 
and  become  burnt,  or  injured  by  the  heat  during  the  distillation  of 
the  previous  day.  While  pondering  over  the  matter,  and  still  unde- 
termined as  to  the  nature  of  this  deposit,  I  decided  to  investigate  its 
action  as  a  purgative,  and  accordingly  administered  about  twelve 
grains  to  a  patient,  not  supposing  it  to  have  much  of  any  medicinal 
action.  But  I  was  soon  brought  to  know  the  reverse.  In  an  hour 
or  two  after  having  taken  it,  the  lady  was  attacked  with  hyper- 
catharsis  and  excessive  vomitings,  which  continued  for  two  or  three 
hours  before  I  was  notified.  I  was  truly  alarmed  at  her  condition, 
fully  recognized  the  nature  and  remedial  power  of  the  resin,  as  well 
as  my  responsibility  in  having  permitted  her  to  take  a  substance 
concerning  the  action  of  which  I  knew  nothing.  It  was  a  serious 
lesson  to  me  which  I  have  never  forgotten. 
I  found  her  in  severe  pain  and  distress,  cramps  in  the  stomach 
and  extremities,  with  coldness,  and  slight  lividity  of  the  surface, 
pulse  small  and  weak,  almost  incessant  vomiting  and  purging,  her 
condition  greatly  resembling  that  of  one  in  the  latter  stage  of  a 
fatal  attack  of  Asiatic  cholera — she  was  apparently  sinking  rapidly. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  occupy  time  and  space  with  the  treatment  pur- 
sued, suffice  it  to  state  that  by  a  careful  and  persistent  course  of 
medication  and  nursing  for  three  or  four  days,  she  recovered ;  but, 
unfortunately,  was  left  with  a  chronic  malady  of  the  digestive 
organs,  which,  as  far  as  I  know,  was  never  removed. 
These  serious  effects,  together  with  many  unpleasant  surround- 
ings at  the  time  naturally  associated  with  the  event,  produced  a 
very  unfavorable  impression  concerning  the  resin,  and  several  years 
passed  before  I  mustered  courage  to  try  it  again  in  smaller  doses, 
and  which  attempt  was  greatly  owing  to  a  conversation  with  Prof. 
W.  Tully,  M.D.,  of  Yale  College,  New  Haven,  Conn.,  who,  upon 
having  related  to  him  my  fearful  initiation  in  the  use  and  action  of 
resin  of  podophyllum,  advised  me  to  test  it  in  much  smaller  doses; 
during  this  conversation  he  informed  me  that  Cimicifuga  likewise 
contained  a  resin,  and  which  I  subsequently  succeeded  in  obtaining. 
After  having  successfully  tested  podophyllum  resin  in  several 
varieties  of  disease,  I  called  attention  to  it  in  The  Philosophical 
Medical  Journal,  of  New  York,  vol.  i,  p.  160,  1844,  and  subse- 
quently, in  connection  with  other  preparations,  in  The  Western 
Medical  Reformer,  of  Cincinnati,  vol.  v,  pp.  175,  176,  1846.  About 
a  year  after  this  latter  publication,  being  in  the  drug  store  of  the 
