Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
Mar.,  1883.  f 
Varieties. 
153 
J*edigree  of  Wheqt,^^  6^/ Professor  Grant  Alleu,  m  Popular  Science  Month- 
ly for  March. 
Therapeutic  Effects  of  Hyoscyamine. — The  following  formula  for 
its  administration  was  brought  into  use,  and  has  been  found  to  meet  every 
requirement  as  to  strength,  but  lacks  stability:  Hyoscyamine  (Merck's 
crystalline),  four  grains ;  glycerin,  distilled  water,  of  each  half  an  ounce; 
carbolic  acid,  two  minims ;  dissolve  without  heat.  Dose,  four  to  eight 
minims,  given  hypodermically. 
It  is  very  important  to  make  the  solution  without  heat,  as  heat  renders 
the  alkaloid  nearly  inert.  Hyoscyamine  is  a  most  unstable  alkaloid,  and 
soon  decomposes ;  so  that  the  strength  of  any  solution  yet  devised  cannot 
be  depended  on  for  more  than  one  month  after  its  preparation. 
1.  The  observations  show  the  uncertainty  of  the  action  of  hyoscyamine 
when  given  by  the  mouth,  and  the  danger  of  large  doses. 
2.  They  also  show  the  marked  superiority  of  the  hypodermic  method, 
and  the  confidence  with  which,  in  some  cases,  its  effects  could  be  calculated 
on,  and  the  dose  increased  or  diminished  in  accordance  with  the  violence 
of  the  patient. 
3.  In  hyoscyamine,  we  have  a  drug  which  is  often  capable  of  controlling 
the  violence  of  a  furious  maniac,  and,  it  may  be,  checking  the  torrent  of 
rushing  ideas  on  which  he  is  borne  along,  soothing  without  putting  him  to 
sleep,  and,  in  these  respects,  differing  from  morphia  or  chloral.  In  noisy 
a,nd  destructive  general  paralytics,  the  quiet  air  of  comfort  and  repose 
following  a  moderate  dose  was  such  a  contrast  with  the  previous  condition 
as  to  strongly  impress  ever^^  one  with  the  feeling  that,  by  the  introduction 
of  hyoscyamine,  another  valuable  aid  had  been  secured  in  the  care  and 
treatment  of  such  cases. 
4.  No  curative  action  can  be  claimed  for  the  drug.  Even  in  acute  mania 
it  did  nothing  more  than  moderate  or  check,  for  a  time,  the  violence  of 
action,  and,  perhaps,  render  less  vivid  and  overwhelming  the  terrifying 
whirlwind  of  delusion  of  the  frantic  patient. 
Previously  to  procuring  a  supply  of  hyoscyamine,  the  ordinary  tincture 
of  hyoscyamus  was  given  in  large  doses,  sometimes  as  much  as  one  ounce 
at  a  time,  without  much  effect,  except  that  of  dilating  the  pupils  ;  but  it  had 
no  controlling  power  in  cases  which  afterwards  yielded  to  the  more  powerful 
alkaloid. —  Thomas  Browne,  M.  Z>.,  in  British  Med.  Journal ;  Atlanta  Med. 
Register,  Jan.  1883. 
SUIiPHO-CARBOLATE  OF  SODIUM  IN  VOMITING. — The  USC  of  the  SUlpho- 
carbolate  of  sodium  in  flatulent  dyspei^sia  is  well  known.  It  is  not,  per- 
haps, so  generally  known  as  a  remedy  for  the  vomiting  of  pregnancy.  I 
have  used  it  in  this  affection  for  years,  and  find  it  rarely  fails  to  give  some 
relief.  I  give  it  in  doses  of  seven  grains  in  half  an  ounce  of  water.  Though 
sometimes  decidedly  useful  in  the  vomiting  of  displaced  or  abnormal  con- 
ditions of  the  uterus,  it  is  less  uniformly  so  than  in  pregnancy,  probably 
because  flatulence  is  a  less  constant  factor  in  the  former  cases.  Where  deep 
nerve  disturbance  exists,  we  must  trust  to  more  powerful  remedies,  hypo- 
