Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
Jan.,  1883.  | 
Varieties. 
51 
•of  the  delphinium  possess  an  insecticide  action.  They  are  to  be  preferred 
to  other  remedies  of  similar  action  on  account  of  cheapness  and  absence  of 
smell.  They  have  a  marked  anesthetic  action,  are  excitant,  rubefacient, 
astringent,  and  antizymotic.  The  author  thinks  this  remedy  has  many 
points  of  resemblance  to  carbolic  acid  and  iodoform. — Oiorn.  Ital.  delle 
mal.  Ven.  e  della  JPelle  ;  Louisv.  Med.  News. 
Proper  Way  to  Give  Aconite. — In  the  "  London  Medical  Record  " 
Dr.  William  Murrell  makes  some  judicious  observations  on  the  correct  plan 
for  administering  aconite  so  as  to  secure  its  most  advantageous  action.  He 
observes  that  aconite  does  act  best  in  small  doses  frequently  repeated. 
Many  practitioners  get  no  good  from  aconite  because  they  do  not  know  how 
to  use  it.  The  dose  of  th6  tincture  recommended  in  the  British  Pharma- 
copoeia—from five  to  fifteen  minims— is  absurdly  large,  and  fno  one  with 
any  regard  for  his  patient's  safety  or  his  own  reputation  would  ever  think 
•of  giving  it.  The  best  way  is  to  put  half  a  drachm  of  the  tincture  in  a  four- 
ounce  bottle  of  water,  and  to^tell  the  patient  to  take  a  teaspoonful  of  this 
^very  ten  minutes  for  the  first  hour,  and  after  this  hourly  for  some  hours. 
Even  smaller  doses  may  be  given  in  the  case  of  children.  The  great  indi- 
cation for  the  use  of  aconite  is  elevation  of  temperature  ;  the  clinical  ther- 
mometer and  aconite  bottle  should  go  hand  in  hand.  If  proi^erly  used, 
aconite  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  and  indispensable  drugs  in  the  phar- 
macopoeia.— Louisville  Medical  Review^  Dec.  16,  1882. 
Propylamine  in  Chorea. — Every  few  months  some  new  drug  is 
brought  forward  as  a  cure  for  chorea.  Dr.  J.  PI.  Carstens,  in  the  "  Detroit 
Clinic,"  claims  good  results  from  propylamine  given  in  teaspoonful  doses 
of  a  mixture  of  one  dram  of  propylamine  to  the  ounce.  Several  cases  of 
rapid  cure  are  mentioned,  cases  which  had  resisted  other  forms  of  treat- 
ment. Dr.  Cartens  does  not  claim  that  his  treatment  is  new  at  all,  but 
simply  calls  attention  to  his  success  with  the  above  drug. — Chicago  Medi- 
cal Review^  vi  534. 
Iodide  of  Potassium  in  Frontal  Headache. — Dr.  Haley,  Australian 
"  Medical  Journal,"  claims  that  minimum  doses  of  iodide  of  potassium  are 
of  great  service  in  frontal  headache.  A  two-grain  dose  dissolved  in  half  a 
wineglass  of  water  will  often  cure  a  dull  headache  which  is  situated  Over 
the  eyebrow.  The  action  of  the  drug  is  quite  rapid. — Chicago  Med.  Be- 
view,  vi,  p.  530. 
Bichromate  of  Potassium  in  Syphilis.— The  "Journal  of  Cutaneous 
and  Venereal  Diseases,"  Nov.,  1882,  calls  attention  to  the  recent  mono- 
graph by  Dr.  J.  Edmund  Guentz,  on  the  treatment  of  syphilis  without 
mercury.  The  bichromate  was  recommended  many  years  ago  in  this  dis- 
ease, but  it  must  be  given  in  very  minute  doses,  as  it  readily  induces  vom- 
