60 
MAT1CO LEAF IN H HEMORRHAGE, 
ART. XVIII.— EFFECT OF M ATI CO-LEAF IN A CASE OF 
OBSTINATE HEMORRHAGE. 
The patient was a boy between four and five years old, 
who, in falling had bit his tongue, the consequence of 
which was an oozing of blood which, when the child was 
brought to Mr. Hamilton, had continued for two days, to 
the great alarm of his family, as his brother had died from 
haemorrhage occasioned by a slight injury of the nose, and 
the boy himself had before nearly bled to death from some 
slight wound about the mouth. Actual cautery first, and 
then a ligature, applied by means of a sewing needle, had 
each but a temporary effect, and finally the haemorrhage 
was stopped by persuading the child to keep sucking a 
piece of alum for an hour or two. It was long before the 
child recovered his strength. 
The child was brought a second time to Mr. Hamilton, 
having again bit his tongue three days before, during which 
time a continual oozing of blood had gone on, causing a 
perfectly blanched appearance, notwithstanding that nitrate 
of silver had been applied, and a piece of alum had been 
sucked as before. After in vain trying pressure, Mr. 
Hamilton took a piece of matico-leaf (Piper angustifolium) 
and applied the lower surface to the bleeding point, and 
retaining it there as long as the child would keep the tongue 
quiet, which was not half a minute. He then found that 
the blood had ceased to flow, and that the small spangle of 
matico-leaf adhered to the tongue. It fell off in half an 
hour, when there was scarcely any appearance of bleeding; 
a second piece was applied, and the haemorrhage completely 
stopped. — lb id> from Dublin Hospital Gazette. 
