576 
Varieties. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pharm' 
1      Nov.,  1883. 
VARIETIES. 
KoRONiKO. — Dr.  J.  Jardine,  writing  from  Kiukiang,  in  the  "  Ctiinese 
Imperial  Maritime  Customs  Medical  Reports,"  says  that  dysentery,  acute 
and  chronic,  was  very  prevalent  in  that  comnmnity  during  the  autumn  of 
1880.  Acute  dysentery  had  generally  become  sub-acute  or  chronic  before 
the  patients  applied  at  the  hospitals,  so  that  the  chronic  form  had  generally 
to  be  dealt  with.  "As  every  one  knows,  these  are  the  diflflcult  cases  to  influ- 
ence speedily  by  drugs,  and  with  the  Chinese  a  change  of  air  or  sea  voyage  is 
beside  the  question.  In  these  cases  I  was  induced  to  try  koroniko,  from 
the  Veronica  par vi flora ^  which  is  largely  used  in  ISew  Zealand  as  a  remedy 
in  dysentery  and  diarrhoea,  and  some  of  the  results  exceeded  my  most 
sanguine  expectations.  Many  who  received  the  drug  did  not  return  to 
report  themselves ;  but  I  have  notes  of  three  cases  of  chronic  dysentery, 
varying  in  duration  from  six  weeks  to  four  years,  and  voiding  from  twenty 
to  thirty  motions  containing  blood  and  mucus  daily.  Fifteen  doses  of  tincture 
of  koroniko  reduced  them  to  one-half,  other  fifteen  doses  reduced  them  to 
three  or  four  daily,  and  a  third  like  quantity  effected  a  complete  cure. 
Judging  from  the  few  cases  I  have  been  able  to  follow,  I  augur  a  brillant 
future  for  this  remedy  in  the  chronic  forms  of  the  disease." — Practitioner ^ 
Quarterly  Therap.  Rev.  July,  1883. 
Chamomile  in  Infantile  Diarrhcea. — Dr.  Christopher  Elliott,  Phy- 
sician to  the  British  Hospital  for  Sick  Children ("  Practitioner,"  December, 
1882,)  endorses  Ringer's  claim  for  the  great  value  of  infusion  of  chamomile 
in  infantile  diarrhoea  connected  with  dentition,  and  in  which  the  stools 
are  many  in  number,  green  in  color,  or  are  slimy  and  streaked  with  blood, 
and  accompanied  by  pain  and  cramp.  He  gives  ,^ss. — of  the  infusion 
to  a  child  under  one  year,  and  double  the  quantity  to  a  child  over  that  age, 
giving  it  three  times  a  day  or  oftener,  according  to  the  severity  of  the 
attack.  He  explains  the  rationale  of  this  treatment  by  the  power  which 
chamomile  flowers  possess  of  subduing  reflex  excitability,  a  power  residing 
in  the  volatile  oil  contained  in  them.  Grisan  was  unable  to  tetanize,  by 
means  of  strychnia,  a  decapitated  frog  which  had  been  fortified  with  a  dose 
of  chamomile  oil,  and  vice  versa,  when  reflex  excitability  had  been  arti- 
ficially produced  by  means  of  strychnia,  it  could  be  calmed  again  by  chamo- 
mile oil. — The  Medical  Age.  Ohstetr.  Oaz.  June,  1883. 
Sodium  Hyposulphite. — Dr.  W.  E.  Buck  writes  in  the  "British  Med- 
ical Journal"  on  the  inefficiency  of  disinfectants  in  allaying  the  fetor  of 
cancerous  ulcers.  The  disinfectants  tried  were  carbolic  acid,  sanitas,  tere- 
bene,  resorcin,  creasote,  boroglyceride,  chloride  of  zinc,  charcoal,  etc.  After 
failure  with  these,  he  tried  a  saturated  solution  of  hyposulphite  of  sodium 
added  to  an  equal  quantity  of  water,  and  found  it  exceedingly  efficacious. 
The  ulcerating  surface  was  well  syringed  and  washed  with  the  solution, 
and  then  covered  with  rags  steeped  in  the  solution.  The  granulations  were 
kept  clean,  and  the  fetor  was  well  kept  under.  This  disinfectant  is  cleanly, 
has  no  smell,  does  not  stain,  and  is  very  cheap. 
