334 
Serum  Treatment  of  Hay  Fever. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1905. 
(4)  Hay-fever  patients  ought  to  sleep  with  closed  windows  during 
the  hay-fever  season. 
(5)  Pollantin  should  be  used,  both  for  eyes  and  nose,  regularly 
every  morning  a  few  minutes  before  rising.  Should  it  cause  sneez- 
ing or  reddening  of  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  eye,  the  prepara- 
tion should  be  again  used  after  the  lapse  of  one  or  two  minutes,  and 
if  the  sneezing  or  the  reddening  of  the  eye  does  not  then  disappear, 
the  instillation  should  be  repeated  a  third  or  even  a  fourth  time. 
By  this  morning  treatment  the  patient  will  generally  find  himself 
insensitive  to  the  hay-fever  poison  for  several  hours,  often  indeed 
for  the  whole  day. 
(6)  Those  patients  who  are  unable  to  keep  themselves  completely 
free  from  attacks — even  when  they  begin  serum  treatment  before 
the  commencement  of  the  hay-fever  season,  always  sleep  with  win- 
dows closed,  and  regularly  carry  out  the  above-described  morning 
treatment — are  recommended  .to  carry  pollantin  always  about  with 
them.  They  should  use  the  serum  during  the  course  of  the  day 
whenever  there  is  the  slightest  sign  of  irritation,  and  not  wait  until 
a  sharp  nasal  attack  sets  in,  when  the  nose  becomes  so  swollen  and 
blocked  that  pollantin  cannot  be  efficiently  applied  nor  properly  ab- 
sorbed from  the  altered  mucous  membrane. 
(7)  If  the  use  of  pollantin  at  the  correct  time,  as  described,  has 
been  neglected,  the  serum  may  sometimes  still  be  used  with  benefit 
in  the  early  stages  of  an  attack,  stopping  the  burning  in  the  eyes, 
the  excessive  flow  of  tears  and  the  sneezing.  Should,  however,  the 
hay-fever  poison  have  entered  the  body  in  such  amount  that  the 
eyes  have  become  strongly  inflamed  and  the  nose  swollen  and 
blocked  with  secretion,  or  that  asthma  has  appeared,  then  the 
patient  should  retire  to  rooms  with  doors  and  windows  closed  and 
remain  there  until  all  these  symptoms  have  disappeared.  By  using 
instillations  of  pollantin,  at  first  every  ten  minutes  and  later  at 
longer  intervals,  this  process  can  be  accelerated.  When  the  patient's 
condition  is  once  more  restored  to  the  normal,  he  should  endeavor 
to  prevent  any  further  attacks  by  the  careful  use  of  the  serum  as 
above  described. 
Although  for  certain  purposes  the  fluid  pollantin  cannot  be  well 
dispensed  with,  it  yet  suffers  from  many  disadvantages,  notably:  in- 
convenience in  handling,  limited  stability  and  the  at  times,  to  the 
very  sensitive  patient,  so  distressing  carbol  feature. 
