POWDER BURN.

Characteristics.—When it has been sufficient to produce rupture of the small vessels in the skin and subcutaneous tissue, an "ecchymosis" or bruise is present. The skin is darkened and discolored, and grains of powder are plainly discernible in the skin. When it so injures the deeper tissues as to cause effusion of blood from rupture of some of the larger vessels "extravasation of blood" is said to be present.

Symptoms.—Burns from powder produce an effusion of blood into the skin according to the force and distance employed, first as a livid red, deep blue or black patch, which in the course of twelve or eighteen hours becomes larger and lighter at its margins. About the third day it assumes a violet tint, on the fifth an olive brown, on the sixth a green, on the seventh or eighth it has a yellow aspect.

Consequences.—A severe burn may cause a rupture of a large artery or vein, under which circumstances a fatal extravasation may ensue. The effects also vary as regards locality. For instance, in an adult a burn of this character over the scalp may be followed by a local effusion of blood, and in a child this effusion may go on so as to form a swelling which in some portions of the body may give rise to enormous enlargement. In some cases the blood thus extravasated breaks down, as it were, and considerable suppuration takes place.

Treatment.—1. In the treatment a slight burn requires but mild treatment, cooling applications, and if advisable the grains of powder carefully removed. If extravasation of blood has taken place it is to be checked by a mixture of two parts common salt to three parts saltpetre applied to the surface, or the iced poultice made as follows:—Take of flaxseed meal a sufficient quantity to form a layer from three-quarters to an inch thick. Spread a cloth of proper size. Upon this at intervals of an inch or more place lumps of ice, the size of a marble. Then sprinkle them lightly over with the meal. Cover with another cloth, folding in the edges to prevent the escape of the mass, and apply the thick side to the surface of the wound.

2. A lotion of tincture of arnica, one ounce to a pint of water, appears to be beneficial in hastening the absorption of blood, removing pain, and so forth. Some of the stimulating liniments, such as the soap or opium, may likewise be employed. In more severe cases cotton, wool or lint soaked in oil and covered with oiled silk are the best dressings. Moist applications here rather do harm and should be avoided.

SOME HINTS FROM JAPANESE TREATMENT.

Taking the Pulse.—The little finger can be used in taking a delicate pulse when it would be impossible to readily recognize it with the fingers ordinarily used.

Curing Convulsions.—Convulsions may be frequently cut short like magic by turning the patient on his left side.

Increasing Warmth.—When chilly from exposure breathe very deeply and rapidly, and the increase in bodily warmth will be surprising.

A Cure for Burns.—Crude petroleum poured upon a burned surface and covered loosely with cotton will subdue the pain almost at once.

Poisonous Wounds.—Strong spirits of ammonia applied to the wounds of snake bites or rabid animals is better than caustic. It neutralizes the poison.

Carbolic Acid Poisoning.—Carbolic acid poisoning can be quickly cured by giving cider vinegar diluted with equal parts of water in half tumblerful doses every five or ten minutes for a few times.

Morphine Poison.—Permanganate of potash is an efficient antidote if taken while morphine is in the stomach. Grain for grain will completely decompose it.

Diet for Typhoid.—A typhoid fever patient will do well upon a diet of rice water.

Infant Foods.—In presenting infant foods rice is an astringent and farina a laxative.

Infantile Colic.—A towel dipped in boiling water, wrung out rapidly, folded to proper size and applied to the abdomen, with a dry flannel over the hot towel, acts like magic in infantile colic.

Pregnancy Nausea.—Vomiting and nausea of pregnancy, a 20 per cent. solution of menthol in sweet oil; use ten drops on sugar when nausea appears.

Removing Freckles.—Apply nitrate of potash to a freckled face night and morning and the freckles will soon disappear.

Cure for Sciatica.—Sciatica is effectually removed by enveloping the limb for one night with flowers of sulphur.

Mumps.—Turpentine is a specific for mumps.

Rheumatic Joints.—Wrap a swollen rheumatic joint in cloths wrung out of ice water and the pain will almost instantly cease.

Snake Bites.—Saltpetre is a specific for snake bites. The dose is a teaspoonful for a child and a tablespoonful for an adult in a glass of cold water, applying it also to the bite.

Cure of Opium Habit.—The most effective treatment and cure of the opium habit consists of the administration of bromide of soda. The drug is given one drachm every two hours for the first two days and one-half drachm on the third day. Two ounces seldom fail to effect a cure. See Index.

Coughs and Colds.—1. Three grains of camphor on sugar, taken every two hours, and the inhalation of spirits of camphor every half hour quickly relieves.

2. Flaxseed tea, made in the proportion of one ounce of grains of flaxseed to a pint and a half of water, boiled to a pint, with the addition of a little lemon peel, and a wineglassful taken every two or three hours is a most excellent remedy.

3. An infusion of boneset tea, made with two ounces of boneset, boiled in a pint of water and given in tablespoonful doses every three hours speedily breaks up a cold.

4. The juice of one lemon sweetened to taste, to which has been added a teaspoonful of sweet spirits of nitre, is decidedly effective. Dose: Half teaspoonful every two or three hours.

ALCOHOLISM—ITS TREATMENT AND CURE.

Narcotics in General.—The most common narcotic in use is probably tobacco, but cases which demonstrate its injury to the morals are so few that no dogmatic opinion can be given, except that its excessive use in the cigarette form, as also in the ordinary ways of chewing, smoking and snuffing, has a tendency to foster in the young inclinations destructive of a high moral tone. Hasheesh, opium, chloral, when used habitually and excessively, have been known, so to injure the health and disarrange the mental action that the moral sense protests against their use. Under the prescription of a physician they may be used to allay pain or produce sleep in restless invalids, but the unprofessional use of them is extremely fatal to mind and morals, dulling and stupefying one and producing erratic action in the other. The excessive habitual use of these artificial stimulants creates a morbid moral state unfavorable to the promptings of duty, and promoting a condition unsuited to meditation on moral subjects, especially where the victim is deprived temporarily of the stimulus. The longing, the irrepressible sense of uneasiness, the restlessness, which the sufferer, deprived of his habitual ration, endures, indicates a moral as well as a mental state unhealthy and perverted.

Use of Alcohol.—The habitual and excessive use of alcoholic beverages is harmful in the extreme to the moral nature. Startling facts corroborate this opinion. They are historic. Scarcely a community is exempt from the evils of intemperance. One result most common is the loss of self-respect. Men addicted to this vice descend to the grossest immoralities. Before the taste and burning desire for liquor was acquired they were decorous and dignified; but, degraded by the demoralizing appetite, they present the most pitiable spectacle of self-humiliation, all moral excellence disowned or lost. Nor is this result common to men of moderate talents or low extraction.

Degrades Genius.—Some of the brightest geniuses have exiled themselves from the social circle of which they were ornaments, or have been banished therefrom, because of their violation of the courtesies and conventionalities of polite life. They have deliberately forfeited that conservative element in human nature on which are based true dignity and manliness.

Destroys Social Affections.—This baneful habit makes fearful inroads on the social affections. Friendships of long standing have been broken up because of the unreasonable exactions on patience and sympathy demanded by the inebriate. Drunken husbands have exercised a tyranny over refined, cultured and amiable wives till, after long years of endurance, the sufferer has gone down broken-hearted to the grave. These are not cases confined to a few families: they are numbered by the thousand.

Crushes Paternal Feeling.—The paternal relation has been made the occasion of untold pain to children who have become under the rule of an intemperate father the heirs of privation, cruelty and neglect. The paternal feeling has gradually been crushed out. There are records of feminine frailty of like character where the mother-instincts have been so far obliterated that one shudders to think of a degradation so abject being possible to the womanly nature.

Loss of Ambition.—Loss of manly ambition is one of the sad results of this habit. The foe has invaded the precincts of the bar, the senate-chamber, the sacred desk, and hurled down to the dust brilliant men, who sacrificed honor, purity, holiness, popular affection and flattering possibilities of wealth and fame at the shrine of this evil. This is a melancholy page in the history of many great names.

Stifles Conscience.—The great moral monitor, the conscience, often is made to hush its admonitions and become silent or dead. Acts the most abhorrent to men sober, by men drunk are committed without shame. Inflamed by a species of madness produced by drink, men perpetrate the darkest deeds. In fact, criminals have fortified their failing courage by repeated draughts of liquor to nerve them to the commission of some premeditated crime. Our civil tribunals are tortured with cases which would never be brought into court but for crime committed by men in a state of intoxication. So enormous, so brutal, have been some offences against the rights of society, and of individuals as well, that serious doubts arise whether the criminal has a conscientious scruple. The wreck of this high moral authority and guide is a sad monument of depravity.

Destroys the Will.—There is another great moral force which is not exempt from the ravages of intemperance—the will. This power is the crowning glory of human nature. It is a gift of imperial authority with which man is dowered. When that is enfeebled or destroyed, the creature is unmanned, the sceptre falls from his hands. This regal quality may be enslaved by the vice of intemperance, and then the fate of the unfortunate victim is sealed. There is then no prospect, no promise, of reformation. The farther the victim goes, the greater the momentum toward the inevitable doom. The facility of wrong-doing and the tendency grow in a fearful ratio, until he that was a strong man in will-power is enslaved, and is impelled along on the down grade to the last asylum, the grave.

General Evil Effects.—Thus we trace the effects of a habit that has been a problem to physician, philosopher, jurist and minister. It is a question interesting to all students of human nature. The humanitarian is startled at the ruin the evil entails on the moral nature. The philanthropist cannot contemplate unmoved the arena of disaster on which scenes so terrible transpire. The ravages of the monster are universal in their extent and complete in their character. The keenest moral sense is deadened, ennobling aspirations are extinguished, moral beauty is eclipsed. Chastity is ridiculed, virtue defamed, honesty despised, honor debased. Passions reign, selfishness is supreme. All excellence loses its lustre. These and many others are the bitter fruits of this appalling evil.

Growth of the Habit.—Young and brilliant minds, noble and generous natures, yield most easily to the pressure of high artificial stimulation. At the beginning of the formation of the habit the effect on body and mind is invigorating and inspiring for a season. Life becomes during the delusive inflation a delirium of delight. The victim feels richer, more generous, more genial. The present is radiant and rosy, the future aflame with an aureole of glory. To these ignitable souls drink seems the elixir of life, the fabled nectar of the gods. But at the last, when the chains of habit are riveted, the victim, no longer free, but a slave, experiences all the horrors of remorse and self-condemnation. But his will is too enfeebled to break the shackles or resist the wand of the enchantress. He is numbered with that vast army, nearly one hundred thousand strong, who annually hasten to that dreary domain where the drunkard's journey ends.

Hereditary Effects.—These unfortunates often leave behind to their offspring a legacy of mental and moral derangement. In a work entitled A Physician's Problems the history of four generations of a family is given to illustrate this theory of heredity. The facts are related as corroborative of the opinion that mental and moral tendencies and characteristics of the offspring are in a large measure affected by the vicious habits of intemperate parents. Homicidal and suicidal inclinations, melancholy, disordered affections, gross impulses, were tracked along down to the fourth generation, when, fortunately, the race terminated. The reader is referred to the collection of facts in the book named as of great scientific import on this subject.

Other Food Sufficient.—There are those who have never experienced in themselves the dreadful effects of intemperance, having never used intoxicating liquors. The abstinence in these persons—and they are numerous—appears to favor the impression that except in disease no other stimulus is needed for a full mental, moral and physical manhood than that which food, rest, occupation and pure air supply. The moral well-being of the human race would no doubt be best subserved by plain diet, pure emotion and high thought.

THE KEELY GOLD CURE FOR DRUNKENNESS.

Formula of the Cure.—While the treatment of nervous exhaustion, alcoholism and so forth, is more particularly hygienic and dietetic, yet it is often impossible to dispense entirely with drugs. Recently the following formula has been widely recommended in such cases:

FORMULA.

        Arsenious Acid ......................... 19 grains
        Tribromide of Gold ..................... 14 grains
        Bromine Water .......................... sufficient
        Distilled Water ........................ sufficient

    Ten minims of this solution for injection, which equals
one-thirty-second grain of gold tribromide.

The physiological action of this remedy is most remarkable. It is an active tonic, powerful sedative and destroys the appetite or cravings for alcoholic stimulants.

Its Effects on the System.—In those forms of dyspepsia caused by indulgence in alcoholic stimulants, which are associated with the formation of gases, acid eructations and fermentative action in the contents of the stomach, in fact, where there is a retention or over-production of noxious products, the indications are to prevent the absorption of poisonous material or to destroy this poison within the organism by stimulating the liver and to eliminate the poison through the skin, kidneys and intestines. This the cure accomplishes in a most marked degree, and will give entire relief.

Combating the Evil.—Our knowledge of the method in which drugs remove the cause of disease and counteract its effects greatly increase our power of lessening suffering, but we require something more. We must combat the evils produced by disease at all points of attack.

Administration of the Cure.—The more full our knowledge of the mode of action of the new agents, the better our information about their effects upon the organs and tissues, the less likely our judgment concerning them goes astray. Knowledge of the action of drugs must be combined with careful observation of their curative influence. Therefore, having secured the right drug it must be administered as the old painter mixed his colors, "with brains." The question of age, sex, constitution, dosage, and so forth, must all be considered. Individuals of susceptible nervous temperament will require minute doses, frequently repeated. If we are treating a local lesion we apply our remedies right to the spot. So drugs have their affinities, and given in the proper indications, go straight to the diseased area. So with the cure, in nervous prostration from excesses it relieves because it is a diffusible, non-reactive stimulant, keeping the threadbare areas constantly bathed in fresh blood and giving them an opportunity to recuperate.

Effect of Alcohol.—We know that the presence of alcohol in the blood directly lessens the efficacy of respiration in proportion to the quantity present. In other words, it produces that condition in which we have a congested state of the brain. It is manifested by headache, delusions, mania, and so forth.

Accessory Treatment.—For the persistent retching and vomiting, or for the headache and wakefulness following a debauch, teaspoonful doses of fluid extract of coco, with a little elixir valerianate of ammonia, in conjunction with the cure, will be found a palatable, prompt and uniform restorative.

The Most Modern Cure.—This system is the most modern, scientific and rational, and the meet eminently satisfactory method of destroying the craving and appetite for alcoholic stimulants which has yet been discovered. It permanently reinvigorates the functions, and, in fact, all the functions of the body.

The Cure Permanent.—Some treatments for the cure of the liquor craving during the past few years possessed some merit, but none of them possessed the power to effect a permanent cure of what may be termed hopeless cases. Many were benefited for a short time, but others were irretrievably injured for life by the poisonous drugs which were administered to or injected into them. None of these treatments produced lasting benefit. All of them were subject to relapses. The cause was most simple and logical, and had we the space it could be argued at length most convincingly. But in the Gold Cure treatment we have one which has never lost a patient, which has never had a relapse and which has cured every person who has taken the medicine faithfully.

Cures Even Last Stages.—This treatment takes a person suffering with the drink crave or habit, even if he has reached the stage of delirium tremens, and within three or four weeks restores him to perfect health without loss of time from business or work, and effectually destroys all appetite for liquor to which he was a slave before commencing the treatment.

Take Regularly.—We wish to particularly emphasize that the medicine is to be taken regularly four or five times a day. After a few days' use an improvement in the general health is noticeable. The medicine is absolutely harmless under all circumstances and produces no ill effects. On the contrary, it builds up the system, tones up the nerves, improves the appetite and strengthens every function of the body.

What Experience Proves.—Experience and experiments have proven that this is the only reliable, safe and permanent remedy for drunkenness. It will destroy the diseased appetite for alcoholic stimulants, whether the patient is a confirmed drunkard or a "tippler"—or a social drinker.

Perseverance Necessary.—One of the greatest obstacles in using this remedy is the over-confidence of the patient who discontinues the medicine when he begins to feel all right. It is a fatal mistake to imagine he is cured then. His system is by no means free from alcohol. If he were to die at this stage of the treatment—that is, a couple of weeks after using the medicine—and his brain be removed, it would be found so saturated with alcohol that it would burn with a blue flame, as an alcohol lamp does when a lighted match is applied. Not only is the body still impregnated with alcohol, but the nervous organism is not sufficiently restored to withstand the temptation which is sure to rise up as an evil spirit before him and lure him again to destruction.

Benefits from the Start.—The benefit of the medicine is felt from the beginning, and the patient is afforded relief at once. After three days he refuses liquor voluntarily, and each day the desire decreases until a complete cure is effected.

LIVER COMPLAINT.

Causes.—A congested state of the liver which may depend on an obstruction in the portal and hepatic venous system, in which there is a deficiency of tone in the veins which prevents the normal ascent of the blood from the lower parts of the body, thereby distending the vessels and causing an accumulation of blood. This inability of the blood to ascend against gravity is found in a great variety of chronic diseases. A very frequent cause of disease of the liver is the indulgence in alcoholic stimulants and the eating of too highly seasoned food.

Symptoms.—1. Perhaps there is no disease in the whole human frame in which symptoms assist less. In some of the more acute forms of the disease the symptoms are urgent, but except in a few instances they convey little or no information with respect to the nature or progress of the disease, and in the more chronic forms irreparable mischief is often established before the patient even suspects that there is anything wrong. There are, however, certain general symptoms which, when present, enable us to pronounce pretty positively as to the existence of liver disease, though they will not assist in determining its nature. These are dropsy, indigestion and jaundice. The tongue is generally coated and commonly furred. A disagreeable, bitterish taste is felt in the mouth, and eructations take place, sometimes bitter, cutting, acrid and even excoriating the lining of the throat. The skin may be hot and dry-parched and rough, or it may be too relaxed, giving rise to cold, clammy sweats.

2. There is no excretion, not even excepting the bowel evacuations, which is more frequently deranged in diseases of the liver than the urine. Thus, bile may be detected in the urine when no other irregularity is present by the application of muriatic acid.

3. Not unfrequently a patient has lost the power of assimilation, not from any well defined organic lesion of the liver or alimentary canal, but rather because of a stagnation of want of proper secretion through the ducts of the liver. When these become deficient in secretion the healthy action of the liver is arrested and various disorders immediately begin to be manifested. The bowels do not move freely; the bile, instead of being excreted by the intestines, is taken up by the blood. In consequence the internal organs suffer and you have a bilious attack. After frequent attacks the skin becomes sallow, rough and yellowish, and you are affected with headache. Constipated bowels, coated tongue, pain in the right shoulder and side from the poison left behind in the blood. Here is the first seat-origin of pulmonary consumption.

4. The so-called biliousness, indigestion, capricious appetite, pain after food, eructations, acidity, flatulence, irregularity in the bowels whether as constipation or diarrhoea, point almost always to this disturbance, and it is a most potent factor in causing and inviting other diseases.

5. The modern liver is a degenerate organ; the average digestion far below the standard of old, and its function abnormally feeble and slow. Gout and uric acid congeries prevail to a remarkable extent, and the ailments, directly or indirectly attributable to mal-nutrition, meet the busy practitioner at every turn. The bilious attack of olden time, for which mercury was a specific, and that of to-day are unlike. The former was almost always the invariable penalty of a "surfeit," brought on by inordinate indulgence in the pleasures of the table, in an age when the "three-bottle man" was a hero of every convivial gathering, and the appetite on the morning following a "night out" usually unequal to the most exacting demands of a bountifully-spread board, without the aid of the seductive but dyspepsia-breeding cocktail. The latter-day biliousness, on the other hand, comes on insidiously, often without apparent cause, and follows the most trifling indiscretion in diet. The digestive organs being weak to begin with, a slight excess of intestinal decomposition is easily provoked, and the whole system becomes gradually saturated with its poisonous products. This condition, therefore, is not amenable to the mercury treatment.

Treatment.—1. The successful treatment of the modern form of the disorder is but just begun when all putrescent elements of ingested food have been carried off by purgation. The condition remaining, in which there are large amounts of slowly accumulated deposits in the system which the unaided efforts of nature are impotent to remove.

A pill composed of aloin, may apple and nux vomica is a mild regulator and will not gripe or nauseate. They cure by restoring the liver to normal condition, and by their judicious use and the cultivation of regular habits digestion will be improved, also the general health, thereby avoiding those principal sequences which attend the constipated condition.

2. Medicines should be "arms of precision." The physician cannot push his remedies to the limit of safety unless he has perfect confidence in their purity and accuracy. This combination accomplishes this in a threefold manner. The may apple increases the healthy action and secretion in the ducts of the liver. The nux vomica, by its stimulating and tonic effect on the stomach, enables it to better assimilate and digest the food; while the aloin completely cleanses the walls of the alimentary canal.

Through their combined action the system is restored to its normal standard. This is the secret of their curative power in the treatment of liver disease. This secret is one of immense power. They not only stimulate the brain by their action in generating more gray matter, but in some mysterious manner vivify the great sympathetic nerve which covers the bowels and energizes the eighth pair of nerves which supplies the liver. They speedily affect the liver, restore the gland to its pristine activity, the bowels become regular, the complexion clear, the breath sweet and the whole body seems rejuvenated, proving that the liver has renewed its normal function.

When the bowels do not move freely the liver becomes congested and the bile, instead of being excreted by the intestines, is taken up by the blood. In consequence the internal organs suffer and you have a bilious attack. After frequent attacks the skin becomes sallow, rough and yellowish, and you are troubled with headache, constipated bowels, coated tongue, pains in side, and your whole system feels out of sorts. For this condition take three pills on retiring at night.

For an aggravated attack of biliousness or chronic liver disease take one pill three times a day for one week. Take one pill each night at bed-time for two weeks, after which take one pill twice a week for about three weeks.

For a slight attack of biliousness, indigestion, and so forth, take two pills on retiring and one pill each night afterward until five have been taken.

Auxiliary Treatment.—When suffering from this disease the diet should first be considered. Light gruel or toast water and buttermilk or skimmed milk can be taken. Light mutton or chicken broth, after removing the greasy portion from the top. Food should not be eaten between meals, of any kind. Alcohol or malt liquors, as also tobacco, are to be avoided. For the relief of pain in the side over region of liver apply a hot hop poultice, or, what is preferable, a hot-water bag should be placed over this region and replenished so as to keep up constant heat. In severe cases the tension may be relaxed by a mustard plaster or an application of spirits of turpentine well rubbed in. This acts as a counter-irritant and often gives speedy relief. If the patient continues to vomit, a little lime-water and milk—a teaspoonful of lime-water in a cup of milk—or a mustard plaster made with the white of egg and applied to pit of stomach will frequently give immediate relief. Regarding diet, it should consist of the most bland and unirritating. All unnecessary stimulation of the liver should be removed. Fermented liquors and all kinds of stimulating food must be prohibited. Nitro-muriatic acid is highly beneficial, particularly external application as follows: Make a mixture of eight ounces of water with four ounces each of nitric and muriatic acids. Of this solution from two to five ounces are to be mixed with about three gallons of water at the temperature of 96 degrees in a high and narrow vessel and the feet kept immersed in it for about half an hour before retiring each night. If the bath does not cause a prickling sensation in the parts the next is to be increased in strength. Advantage has also been obtained from sponging the body with a similar solution each night. The patient should wear warm clothing and carefully avoid any error in diet which may cause a return of the disease. It is scarcely necessary to observe that where the disease has supervened in a warm climate removal to a more temperate region will always be advisable.

NEW CURE FOR CONSUMPTION.

BY PROF. HOFF, OF VIENNA.

The New Remedy.—From extensive experiments with this compound we have evidently discovered a new and most powerful remedy for the relief of pulmonary consumption.

A Safe and Pleasant Cure.—With it thousands have been cured who had suffered from lung troubles in their worst form; coughs, sore throat, irritated tonsils and hoarseness are immediately benefited by its use. It is pleasant to the taste and never nauseates or disagrees with the stomach in any manner. Young and old may take it with safety.

Danger of the Iron Remedy.—Among some of the remedies employed at the present time for pulmonary complaints, iron holds a prominent place. But never was ignorance more lamentably displayed in their treatment than by its use. It has swept thousands to premature graves. Iron in any form given to patients in whom the consumptive diathesis exists invariably fixes the condition and hastens the development of tubercles. The iron may induce a false appearance of health, and the physician may flatter himself that he has corrected the state of his patient, but to his surprise he will soon find the invalid relapsing into hopeless, incurable phthisis. In this condition iron seems to produce a fever in the system, which aggravates every evil symptom and proves rapidly fatal.

Cod-liver Oil a Food Only.—Cod-liver oil, once so extensively vaunted, has fallen into disrepute, and the more enlightened physicians now regard it exclusively as food.

A New Remedy Demanded.—In the management of bronchial catarrh the indication is for some remedy that will allay the irritable, dry and persistent cough, which is often the chief discomfort complained of. In this condition the cure renders the secretion fluid and it is consequently expelled with a less degree of effort. It produces a decrease of the congestion and a return of the bronchioles to their normal size. The action of the remedy is that of a sedative to the sensory nerve endings in the broncho-pulmonary structure.

Action of the New Cure.—The physiological action of the cure is peculiar, in that it does not arrest secretion in the respiratory or intestinal tract, while it has marked power to control inflammation and irritation. It stops all unnecessary and injurious coughs, relieves the soreness, quiets the irritation and brings rest.

Satisfactory Effects.—In consumption it has had a very satisfactory effect; the cough has diminished more or less rapidly, dreamless sleep followed, the sputum became looser and the appetite increased.

Supersedes all Other Cures.—It supersedes cod-liver oil in more ways than one, not the least of which is that it is palatable; consequently does not disorder digestion or produce nausea. By its use the cough is at once ameliorated, the perspiration is diminished, the patient is strengthened, thereby enabling him to expectorate the loosened mucus with greater ease, and frequently the consumptive steadily improves and regains health. In the first stages of this disease it is certainly curative, as can be verified by any practitioner giving it a faithful trial. In the preparation of the remedy the beacon light has been, namely, to prepare it for the disease.

Number of Cases Cured.—The remedy has been tried on over two hundred patients from the lowest classes, who had long been under observation. Mild cases were quickly cured and partial cures were soon brought about in severe cases. The appetite and weight were increased steadily, the fever lowered, night sweats, insomnia and asthmatic symptoms lessened, cough decreased and rattle stopped. The patients are asked only to keep the kidneys in order. The duration of the treatment depends entirely upon the condition of the patient. Mild cases are cured in two months, but the more severe require a year or two. Hoff says he does not claim for the solution the power of a magic wand, which cures at touch; but he can state this, that one of his patients had cavities in the lungs big enough to put one's fist into, yet he was cured in about two years. It is absolutely necessary that the solution should be taken after eating, when the stomach is full. The treatment must not be forced by increasing doses. As long as the patient shows signs of improvement the dose should not he increased. It is sometimes beneficial to reduce the dose.

FORMULA.

        Arsenic acid ........................... 1 part
        Carbonate of potash .................... 2 parts
        Cinnamyllic acid ....................... 3 parts

    Heat this until a perfect solution is obtained, then add
twenty-five parts cognac and three parts of watery extract of
opium which has been dissolved in twenty-five parts of water
and filtered.

    Dose: At first take six drops after dinner and supper,
gradually increasing to twenty-two drops.

PAINLESS CHILDBIRTH.

Pain is Abnormal.—In the beginning of his career the obstetrician is confronted with the question as to whether pain during labor is a natural phenomenon or not. Looking over the animal kingdom in a general way we are obliged to admit that there is more or less natural pain at this time. The question thus resolves itself into what is normal and what is abnormal amount of pain. Depending upon the individual, a normal amount of pain in one case would be abnormal in another, or vice versa. We must admit that pain at this period is of a much, more abnormal character in the higher classes of human beings than in the lower. For instance, the active housewife is less apt to have the amount of pain during labor that the lady of leisure is prone to have. In both cases, however, in comparison with the lower orders of animal life, the amount of pain suffered appears to be abnormal.

Rules for Avoiding Pain.—The first duty of the obstetrician is, therefore, to lessen as much as possible the amount of pain suffered at this period. The measures to be taken must be primarily prophylactic in character, although much can be done at the period of confinement to relieve pain. During pregnancy the modern dress is to be condemned, if not at all times. The weight of both under and outer garments should fall upon the shoulders and not upon the hips and abdomen, and the waist should be left untrammeled. Corsets should not be worn at all, and, if needed, the bust should be supported by a band or girdle. Then, attention should be directed to the diet, which should be principally vegetable in character, the farinaceous foods and fruits being most freely used. Stewed and cooked fruits are especially to be recommended to the patient. Meat in small quantities should be allowed only once a day, and then well cooked.

An Easy Childbed.—There is always more or less congestion in the pelvic organs during pregnancy, which appears to increase as the time of confinement approaches. This is a natural accompaniment of the great changes which are taking place during this period, and is unquestionably the reason that in no animal life is birth unattended by pain. Here much can be done by the obstetrician to allay the possibility of pain, and, depending greatly upon his care and in the selection of his drugs, to allay this general inflammation, will be his principal success in insuring his patient a comparatively easy childbed.

Remedy Against Pain.—I know of no better remedy than the saw palmetto to come as nearly accomplishing what is expected. Its principal field of action is the pelvic organs, to which it is unquestionably an antiphlogistic tonic and anodyne. It allays the inflammation of the membranes of these organs and appears to have a soothing action on the nerve supply of the womb, ovaries and bladder. Hence, the beneficial results to be obtained by its use—in teaspoonful doses four times a day for the last eight weeks of pregnancy—is to place the organs in such a condition that pain will be reduced to a minimum.

Auxiliary Remedies.—As a prophylactic measure we would suggest daily oil massage of the abdominal and perineal muscular walls from the fifth month on, and the administration of teaspoonful doses of sweet oil, with the saw palmetto, during the last two months. If the above instructions are implicitly carried out during labor there will be little use for anything to relax the muscles and relieve pain. However, where pain to an excessive degree exists we administer chloroform in the second and sometimes in the third stage of labor. It should not be pushed to the full extent of unconsciousness. It is best administered by the patient herself. As soon as she begins to reach this stage the cone falls from her hand and is not used again until the patient fully recovers. In this way comparatively little chloroform is used and the best results obtained.

WHAT TO DO IF BIRTH OCCURS IN THE ABSENCE OF A PHYSICIAN.

In such an emergency and until a doctor arrives the midwife or attendant should know something of the nature of the presentation of the child. If a head presentation, and the birth be difficult by reason of a failure of the shoulders to pass, the forefinger may be inserted under the child's armpit, and gentle pulling exerted. This assistance overcomes the difficulty in most instances.

The Navel Cord.—Place the child to one side, beyond range of the mother's discharges, seeing, of course, that a possible wrapping of the navel cord about its neck does not interfere with its breathing, and that the mucus be removed from the mouth. As soon as the child has given signs of life by breathing and crying, and not before, tie a strong string tightly around the navel cord, some two inches from the belly, and knot it well. Do the same some four inches from the belly. Then cut the cord between the two tieings.

The Afterbirth.—Do not pull on the navel cord to help the expulsion of the afterbirth (placenta). Give time for its natural expulsion. If it prove tardy the abdomen in the region of the womb should be subjected to gentle friction and pressure by the hand. This will stimulate the womb to expel the afterbirth. When the afterbirth has passed a stout, broad bandage should be drawn firmly around the abdomen and fastened. A doctor might not use such a bandage at all, but it is well for a nurse in his absence to do so as a precaution against hemorrhage. It should be worn for several weeks.

Necessity for Rest.—The mother should not be allowed to move from her position or to exert herself for several hours after delivery. Every hour spent in perfect quiet reduces the chances of flooding. After this rest, and perhaps a little sleep with it, if a cup of warm tea has been given, the bed may be dressed, the mother not, however, changing posture. Or she may be moved to a clean bed.

The Infant.—Meanwhile the infant should have been well greased all over with lard or oil, and dressed; the next day thoroughly bathed in warm water. After being dressed, it should be placed with its mother, both to nourish itself and encourage the flow of milk. By this time a doctor should surely have arrived, and his business would naturally be to look after the further welfare of the mother and child. In this connection be sure to read the article "Labor," on page 575.

HOW TO MAKE TINCTURES.

Tinctures, in the pharmaceutical sense of the term, are solutions of medical substances in alcohol or diluted alcohol, prepared by maceration, digestion or percolation.

Only Dry Ingredients.—In the preparation of the tinctures the medicine should be in the dry state, and properly comminuted by being bruised, sliced or pulverized. It is usually better in the condition of a coarse than of a very fine powder, as in the latter it is apt to agglutinate, and this presents an impediment to the penetration, of the menstruum.

The Mixing.—When several substances differing in solubility are employed they should be added successively to the splint; those least soluble first, those most so last, as otherwise the menstruum might become saturated with the ingredient for which it has the strongest affinity and thus be rendered incapable of dissolving a due portion of the others.

The Care Needed.—Care should always be taken to keep the vessels well stopped in order to prevent the evaporating of the alcohol. The materials should be frequently shaken during the digestion or maceration, and this caution is especially necessary when the substance acted on is in the state of powder. The tincture should not be used until the maceration is completed, when it should be separated from the dregs either by simply filtering it through paper, or, when force is requisite, by first expressing it through linen, and subsequently filtering.

Narcotic Tinctures.—Tinctures prepared by adding alcohol to the expressed juices of plants have been long in use. The tinctures of some of the narcotic plants, as those of conium, hyosciamus and belladonna, are prepared in this manner. To the expressed juice, after it has stood twenty-four hours and deposited its feculent matter, alcohol of .0838 is to be added in the proportion of one part by measure, to four of the juice, and after another period of twenty-four hours the liquor is to be filtered. This proportion of alcohol is sufficient for the preservation of the juice while it causes the precipitation of the mucilaginous matter. But, though these preserved juices are often energetic preparations, yet it is obvious the tinctures prepared from the fresh plant must be still more efficient, as they contain necessarily not only the soluble active matter of the juice but that also which is left in the solid residue of the plant.

Keeping of Tinctures.—Tinctures should be kept in bottles accurately stopped in order to prevent evaporation, which, in some instances, might be attended with serious inconvenience, by increasing their strength beyond the official standard.

Doses of Tinctures.—Medicines are most conveniently administered in tinctures which act in small doses, as the proportion of alcohol in which they are dissolved is insufficient to produce an appreciable effect. Those which must be given in large doses should be cautiously employed in this form lest the injury done by the menstruum should more than counterbalance their beneficial operation. This remark is particularly applicable to chronic cases, in which the use of tinctures is apt to lead to the formation of habits of intemperance.

HOW TO MAKE FOMENTATIONS.

A sort of partial bathing by the application of cloths which have been previously dipped in hot water or in some medicated decoction. They act chiefly by virtue of their warmth and moisture, except in the case of narcotic fomentations, where some additional effect is obtained.

A Dry Fomentation is a warm, dry application to a part, as a hot brick wrapped in flannel, a bag half filled with chamomile flowers made hot, and so forth.

Fomentation of Herbs.—The herbs ordinarily sold by the apothecary for this purpose are southernwood, poppy heads, chamomile flowers, each two parts; bay leaves, one part. Four ounces of these to six pints of water.

HOW TO MAKE COMPRESSES.

Folded pieces of lint or rag so contrived as, by the aid of a bandage, to make due pressure upon any part, according to their shape, direction and use. Compresses have been called long, square, triangular, split, uniting, cubiform, and so forth.

The compress of the hydropathists is a cloth well wetted with cold water, applied to the surface near the supposed seat of disease, securely covered with a dry cloth, and changed as often as it becomes dry. It is sometimes covered with a layer of oiled silk to prevent evaporation.

HOW TO MAKE DECOCTIONS.

Decoctions are solutions of vegetable principles obtained by boiling the substances containing these principles in water. Decoction is preferred to infusion as a mode of extracting the virtues of plants when the call for the remedy is urgent and the greatest possible activity in the preparation is desirable. The process should be conducted in a covered vessel, so as to confine the vapor over the surface of the liquid, and thus prevent the access of atmospheric air which sometimes exerts an injurious agency upon the active principle. The boiling, moreover, should not as a general rule be long continued, as the ingredients of the vegetable are apt to react on each other and thus lose to a greater or less extent their original character. The substance should, if dry, be either powdered or well bruised; if fresh, should be sliced, so that it may present an extensive surface to the action of the solvent.

All vegetable substances are not proper objects for decoction. In many the active principle is volatile at a boiling heat, in others it undergoes some change unfavorable to its activity, and in a third set is associated with inefficient or nauseous principles, which, though insoluble or but slightly soluble in cool water, are abundantly extracted by hot liquid at the boiling temperature, and thus injure the preparation. In such cases infusion is preferable to decoction. Besides, by the latter process, more matter is often dissolved than the water can retain, so that upon cooling a precipitation takes place and the liquid is rendered turbid. When the active principle is thus dissolved in excess, the decoction should always be strained while hot, so that the matter which separates on cooling may be mixed again with the fluid by agitation at the time of administering the remedy.

As a general rule glass or earthenware vessels should be preferred, as those made of metal are sometimes corroded by the ingredients of the decoction, which thus becomes contaminated. Decoctions, from the mutual reaction of their constituents as well as from the influence of the air, are apt to spoil in a short time. Hence they should be prepared only when wanted for use, and should not be kept in warm weather for a longer period than forty-eight hours.


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