AmMJa°rch,?S'm"}      On  New  Pulmonary  Medicaments.  141 
ON  NEW  PULMONARY  MEDICAMENTS.1 
By  Prof.  Dujardin-Beaumetz,  op  Paris,  France. 
(A  ( liuical  Lecture  delivered  in  Cochin  Hospital.) 
Gentlemen  : — I  shall  occupy  this  lecture  with  a  brief  considera- 
tion of  three  new  pulmonary  medicaments :  Euphorbia  pilulifera, 
terpin,  and  terpinol. 
The  best  antiasthmatic  medication  is  surely  that  of  which  the  basis 
is  iodide  of  potassium,  and  when  Green  in  i860,  Aubree  in  1864, 
Trousseau  in  1869,  and,  more  emphatically  still,  Germain  See  in  1878, 
made  known  the  happy  effects  of  this  remedy  in  the  treatment  of 
asthma,  they  rendered  to  medicine  a  signal  service ;  you  can,  in  fact, 
see  any  day  in  our  wards  cases  illustrating  the  truth  of  this  affirmation. 
You  know  very  well  how  we  formulate  this  treatment;  we  begin 
by  moderate  doses  of  seven  or  eight  grains  and  gradually  increase 
them  to  thirty,  forty  and  even  sixty  grains  a  day.  I  am  in  the  habit 
of  ordering  the  iodide  of  potassium  to  be  taken 'in  milk,  directing 
my  patients  at  the  same  time  to  drink  a  great  deal  of  milk  during 
the  day.  We  must,  in  fact,  to  prevent  accumulation  of  the  medica- 
ment favor  its  elimination  by  the  urine.  While  continuing  the  usage 
of  milk,  I  think  that  the  best  vehicle  for  the  administration  of  iodide 
of  potassium  is  ale,  which,  in  my  opinion,  disguises  its  taste  better 
than  anything  else.  We  are  in  the  habit,  then,  of  ordering  the  patient 
to  take  at  meal-time,  in  a  tumblerful  of  bitter  ale,  a  dessertspoonful 
or  a  tables poonful  of  the  following  solution  : 
— Iodidi  potassii,        -  5iij, 
Aquae,       -  gvj. — M. 
I  sometimes  add  to  the  above  tincture  of  lobelia,  in  the  proportion 
of  two  or  three  fluidrachms  to  the  entire  quantity ;  if,  however,  the 
lobelia  causes  nausea,  it  must  be  omitted  from  the  prescription. 
Despite  all  your  precautions  and  all  your  endeavors  to  make  the 
iodide  palatable  and  well  tolerated,  there  will  be  persons  who  cannot 
support  it,  and  who  cannot  take  it  in  the  smallest  doses  without  suf- 
fering many  of  the  symptoms  of  iodism.  Therefore  succedanea  to 
iodide  of  potassium  have  been  sought  for,  and  among  these  I  must 
make  special  mention  of  Euphorbia  pilulifera.  This  plant  has  been 
especially  studied  in  our  hospital  service  by  Dr.  Marsset.2  Euphorbia 
pilulifera  belongs  to  the  great  family  of  Euphorbiacese,  which  has 
1  Translated,  from  advance  sheets,  byE.  P.Hurd,  M.  D.,  of  Newburyport,Mass. 
2  Marsset:  On  Euphorbia  Pilulifera,  Therapeutic  Gazette,  Feb.,  1885,  p.  92* 
These  de  Paris,  1884. 
