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ON THE
HOMCEOPATHIC  TREATMENT
c:
ABOETION,
ITS CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES; WITH SOME SUGGESTIONS, AND
             INDICATIONS FOR THE USE OF

       THE NEW  REMEDIES.
                       V
          BY EDWIN M. HALE,, M D.,  ""
Associate Editor op the Noutii American Journal of Homceopathy, Etc,
          WITH A PREFATORY LETTER,
                    V
            BY R. LUDLAM, \\. I).,
Prof, of Physiolosy and Pathology, in the Hahnemann Med. College, Etc,
              (1 II T C A G O :
HALSEY A KING, HOMCEOPATHIC PHARMACY, IfiS CLARK STREET
                 18G0. 
MO
HI5fc
 \2(oO 
PREFACE
     The practicing physician of our  School must have felt the need of a
multiplication of monographs upon particular remedies, which shall afford
in detail the especial indications for the employment of those remedies in
particular diseases.  This, we apprehend, is the great desideratum in the
Homoeopathic medical  literature of the present day ;  and furthermore, it
is certainly  true that through  this species of  practical  contributions
mainly, may we hope to construct a permanent literature, which shall set
forth the established  principles,  as  well as the  real resources  of the
Medical  Art.
     The province of Therapeutics  especially, would appear to have  been
left for us to cultivate.  Physiology and Pathology, Chemistry and Toxi-
cology, have each been laid under  contribution, and developed in a great
measure through such memoirs as have never been furnished, and could
not be by any other School, for the illustration of the science of Thera-
peutics.   It is to this source, therefore, that the world  appeals for informa-
tion upon topics the most vitally important to the health and the welfare
of the species.
     Every practical monograph which falls  into the physician's hands,
adds so many pages to a  mutual experience, and  furnishes a chapter for
the great work which all of us are writing upon the Practice of Medicine,
for the use of our Fellows and the future.   And he, who  in this manner
unfolds the resources of a new and valuable remedy for the relief of human
suffering, is doing a great and an incalculable service to  Medicine and to
mankind.
     As  in other regards, so is it here.  We  have been in  the habit of
looking abroad  for almost  the  entire  list of  our curative  agents.   In-
digenous remedies, which have promised at the least  an  equal efficacy, if
carefully investigated and  proven, have been overlooked ;  much as the low
and  richer prairies were  passed  over  by the  earlier pioneers of  this
Western world, for the higher but shallower soil  beyond.  The first rep-
resentatives of Homoeopathy preferred a parallel course ; but as advancing
civilization is settling up and making  available the less desirable low-lands
nearer home, so, with  the  specification and more intimate acquaintance
with the properties and the limited value of the drugs we have long known,
comes the absolute need that we familiarize us with those which have once
been voted as quite beneath our notice.   And  happily for us, there  are
those in our  profession, who for the  mere lack of under-draining  and a
little tillage, will not be content with neglecting so fruitful a soil.
     Among the foremost in this laudable enterprise, is our friend Dr. E. M.
Hai.e.   Confident of the healing resources which are hidden away in what
have been  styled the  " New Remedies," he is  determined to develope
them.  Hence the origin of the following pages.   Based upon ample ex-
perience, running through years of trial and confirmation, our  author's
conclusions are neither hasty nor  unreliable.  Many of them have been
verified in our own sphere of practice, and if, with others, we could have
wished them a sounder and more enduring foundation in the pathogenesy 
4
of particular remedies, we have not refused  the  former, while the latter
was still wanting.  To those who are disposed to style these Therapeutical
deductions as  " crude" and unsatisfactory,  we recommend the propriety
of addressing themselves to a more careful analysis of these "New Reme-
dies" than is here given, in preference to a criticism of this praiseworthy
attempt to map out the field for future and indefinite development.   Per-
fection in the matter of drug-proving, is not  the work of a day, neither of
a generation.
  As pointing  to the  relief of a prominent series of infirmities, we are
emphatically of opinion that the accompanying memoir is destined to a
useful mission among  the medical brethren.   Once they  were obliged to
combat these disorders  with but a limited  number of  remedies in hand.
Belladonna, Secale Cornutum, Sabina and Crocus, were almost the sole
reliance.   But here we have the practical indications which may demand
a dozen other  equally  valuable remedies.   Aletrin, Asclepin, Baptisin
Caulophyllin,  Gelseminum,  Ilelonin, Ilydrastin,  Macrotin, Podophyllin,
Sanguinaria, Scnecin,  Trillin  and Yiburnin, are  introduced to the notice
of the profession in this  new capacity, and  as explicitly  as  possible, in
order that their  patients may reap a  proportionate  benefit  from their
prescription.
     In this manner, it is hoped that sufficient  attention will be elicited to
stimulate to the production of " provings " of  each and all the foregoing
remedies.   By this  means, if found worthy, we may soon be  competent
to prescribe them  with that precision  and efficacy with which we are
accustomed to employ the more familiar polychrests of our School.
     Of the growing demand for professional  interference in the removal
of that great and crying evil, with its more serious sequelae, of which our
author has  treated, no one  physician of our laid is supposed to be quite
ignorant.   Of the need of a multiplication of means for its more success-
ful medical treatment, every practitioner  of  enlarged  experience  is
abundantly satisfied.
  In so far as a knowledge of the virtues of the  " New Remedies "  may
be drawn from clinical sources, it must be confessed that they promise to
become of very essential service.  For ourselves, we have no doubt but
experience will ultimately  determine them  to be equally, if not indeed
more efficacious, in the higher than in the lower potencies, and in smaller
than in larger doses.  In a private letter to the undersigned, Dr. Hale says:
" Regarding the material doses I advise, I do  not do so to bias the judg-
ment of other physicians.  I simply teach the results  of my experience.
I believe that if we had correct provings of the Macrotin, Gelseminum,
and a few other of the remedies before-mentioned, we might with advan-
tage use the medium,  and perhaps the higher potencies.   I have employed
the Sanguinaria 30, and Gelseminum 6,  with good effect."
     Once mark out the sphere and detail the  proving of a remedy, how-
ever, and  the remainder is self-regulating.   However desirable a patho-
genetic chart of a remedy, we must be content with the first introduction
of a majority of our curative agents into notice through their well known
clinical virtues.
     Henceforth, this little brochure will  throw a grateful side-light upon
resources which are adapted to the relief of at the least one train of morbid
phenomena; and we cannot but hope that it may prove initiative to kindred
developments with regard to the Therapeutics of yet other and very differ-
ent diseases,
                                                           R. L. 
INTRODUCTION.
     Before  entering  upon  the  special consideration of the  subject of
Abortion, I wish to state the reasons which have impelled me to write the
following monograph  :
     1st.  Our Homceop>athic  literature is exceedingly meagre of anything
like a complete treatise on the subject.   We find the treatment of Abortion
mentioned in "Hull's Laurie's Practice;" "Jahr on Diseases of Females;"
Leadam, and Peters ;  which authorities, while they may be good so far as
they go, do not satisfy the needs of the physician, nor fill the hiatus caused
by the absence of a practical monograph.
     2nd.   Tyler  Smith, in  his  "Lectures on  Obstetrics" says:   This
(Abortion)  is one  of the  subjects  open to  the greatest  improvement in
obstetric practice."  In this emphatic remark I fully concur, for not only
is there a wide field open to  investigations into its nature and treatment,
but never perhaps in the history of the  world has Abortion been so common
and  so frequent as in  this century.  The statistics which I shall give in
the following pages, as taken from " Whitehead on Abortion," will prove
this  assertion correct.  While in most countries and in all times previous
to this century, it has been deemed honorable to bear many children, the
contrary seems now  to obtain.   Mothers once prided themselves upon
their numerous and healthy offspring  ; now they deem themselves lucky
if they bear children  few and far between.
     Every physician  of experience will bear me out in the above assertion.
From my own experience, and the  observations of others with whom I
have conversed, I am  satisfied that it can be safely asserted that  there is
not one married femede in  ten, who lias not had an abortion,  or  at least
attempted one!  For  not  only  have the  generally enumerated causes
become more prevalent, but  the intentional  production of  abortion is
especially noticeable.   Now-a-days,  if a married woman happens to go a
few days beyond the menstrual period, she either swallows some domestic
emmenagogue at that  time, or with the recurrence of the  next menstrual
period, procures some one of the many  nostrums so shamelessly advertised
as "  warranted to regulate the menses," with the especial  caution  that it
" must not be taken during the first  three months of pregnancy, as it will
invariably produce miscarriage."   Or  what is worse still, resort is had to
the use of some one of the many  instruments which are sold for the pur-
pose of mechanically inducing abortion.   Such  instruments I regret to
say are found in families of high standing in the  community.  They are
all fashioned upon the principle of the bougie, and are cither  sold by
rascals in great cities,  who advertise them through all our newspapers, or
peddled about the country by creatures in the shape of women, who travel
under the guise of " female doctors," lecturers on  physiology,  " women's
rights," etc.  This depraved and  abominable habit is not confined to the
cities and larger towns, but the extremest recesses of the quiet country are
contaminated with it.   Much of  this  is owing to the thousands of quasi
physiological works, generally vulgar and obscene,  which flood  every State
in our Union. They  are advertised in all the  popular and  local  news-
papers, and are thus paraded before the curious eyes of youth, and made 
6
 to attract the attention of men and women of mature age.  I will venture
 to assert that ninety per cent, of the youth of both  sexes, who can read,
 have perused one of these  " physiological" books.   If a complete  and
 healthy course of physiological study was introduced into our schools, it
 would do much towards destroying the  prurient  curiosity which leads to
 so many grave moral and physiological evils.  Nearly every physician of
 any practice will testify  that there is not a week  during which he is not
 solicited by one or  more persons, from all grades of society, to produce
 abortion, either upon themselves, or upon some person  in whom they are
 particularly interested.   Not, perhaps, openly, for at first  many of them
 declare, " it is only a suppression, but it must be brought on at all hazards."
 In fact, abortion, both from unavoidable and intentional causes, is becoming
 so alarmingly  prevalent, that it must  soon  attract the open attention of
 all philantropists and law-makers.   Some  great physical and moral  im-
 provement must be opposed to the onward progress of this evil, or it will
 undermine the very  foundations of all domestic morals, and  reduce mar-
 riage to a false and degraded position.
     3rd.   The major part of the allopathic  treatment  of abortion, is ex-
 tremely unscientific and unreliable.  With  very little if any  belief in the
 specific action of drugs, they grope in the  misty  mazes of "  general indi-
 cations."   True, there are  occasional cases where some local lesion  has
 been discovered, and the physician has acumen  enough to  use  specific
 means with excellent effect.   But when there is functional disorder, this
 routine treatment avails but little.  I would not be so bigoted as to  detract
 from the excellent labors of Smith, Whitehead,  Tilt, Meigs  or Gardner.
 Their works are invaluable to us, as results of patient and learned investi-
 gation, and many of their  suggestions  are worthy of  all  praise ; but I
 allude to the allopathic masses, than whom a more blundering class of
 practitioners never existed.
     Nor is the homoeopathic treatment,  as laid down in our text books,
 and  adopted by many of our brethren, by any means perfect.   But few of
 the remedies enumerated have any specific value, either in preventing or
 treating abortion, while  the total disuse of all local applications, is to be
 regarded as a great error. The treatment of the so-called Eclectic  school
 is greatly superior to the Allopathic, and often equal to our own, from  the
 fact  that they  use certain remedial agents, selected  from our indigenous
 plants, which exercise a profound and specifically homoeopathic  relation
 to the female  generative organs, and  consequently on the malady in
 question.
     It is the object of this paper to call  the attention of  my Homoeopathic
brethren to these valuable and but little  known remedies.  If the doctrine
 taught by Teste is a true one—that the plants indigenous to a country arc
 best suited to treat the diseases of that country—then we should feel bound
 to test them in  the crucible of experience, and see if the Pulsatilla which so
 often disappoints us, cannot be replaced by Senecin or some other remedy.
     Although  I  cannot present the profession with  provings ©f these
 remedies, I  feel justified in  taking a course  sanctioned and  adopted  by
 Hahnemann, who used and  advised  many unproven drugs, because  he
 thought he could  mark  out their characteristic  peculiarities, and under-
 stand  their general  sphere of action.  At the close of this paper  I shall
 give such pathogenetic and curative symptoms belonging to each most
important drug, and  delineate  the pathological states to which they cor-
respond.  For these data I shall draw upon the experience of myself and
a few colleagues, and also the writings of King, Jones and Coe, (Eclectics.) 
ABORTION.
     Statistics of Abortion.—" Two thousand married women in a state
 of pregnancy, admitted for treatment at the Manchester Lying-in Hospital,
 during parts of the years 1845-6, were interrogated in rotation respecting
 their existing condition and previous history.  The sum of their pregnancies
 was 8,681;  of which, rather less than one  in seven had terminated abor-
 tively."  ( Whitehead.)  These women were all under thirty years of age,
 and as abortion occurs more frequently after that age, the real average will
 be much more—say one in five.  Whitehead states that " more than thirty-
 seven out of every hundred mothers experience abortion before they attain
 the age of thirty years."  This is probably much under the real average,
 for reasons  above  stated.  In my  own  investigations I have met with
 women who have had respectively, eight, ten and  thirteen children, and
 as many abortions !
     Period op Abortion.—In my experience, the last week of the third
 month is the most usual  period of abortion.  Out of 602 cases given by
 Whitehead, there were  35 at  two months ; 275 at three months ; 147 at
 four months; 30 at five months ; 32  at six  months ;  55 at seven months;
 28 at eight months.
     Fatality of Abortion,  to the mother,  does not seem to be very great.
 Out of the above cases, only three proved fatal to the  mother, and those
 were at the  seventh month.  I have attended over 300 cases of abortion ;
 278 were at the third month, the rest at the second and fifth.  Out of
 these not one proved fatal to the mother.  Under judicious treatment, I
 consider abortion to be attended with but little danger.
     Causes of Abortion.—These may be divided best into predisposing
 and exciting.  " By predisposing causes are  meant certain  morbid condi-
 tions, local or constitutional, already  in  the system ; or a particular sus-
 ceptibility to morbid action during pregnancy, by the operation of which
 the process  is liable to be prematurely arrested.  They have been sub-
 divided into two orders; those  which originate  entirely in the maternal
 system, and those which appear to depend  upon some  defect in the pro-
 duct of gestation."   ( Whitehead.)   I propose  to take  up the causes, as
 enumerated by Whitehead, Tyler, Smith and others, and append to each
 such  treatment  as experience  has shown  to be most efficient,  always
 adhering to the law of similia viewed rationally.

                 treatment of predisposing causes.

    Debility and Exhaustion.—If from loss of  blood  or excessive dis-
 charges—China, Hydrastin, Phos. ac, Manganese, Ferrum andHelonin.
    Debility from Exhausting Disease,—with deficiency of muscular and
nervous tone.  Nux v., Ign., Syrup of Phosphates, Macrotin and Hydrastin.
     Genered plethora and  obesity.—This has been known to produce abor-
tion, and many women grow very  plethoric during pregnancy.   Aconite,
Verat.  v. and Bell, should be used palliatively; and abstinence  from oily 
s
food, with vegetable diet and copious acid drinks, aided by Kali. carb. or
Kali, hyd., in  appreciable doses, should be advised to lower the accumu-
lation of adipose matter.
   General IVervous Irritation.—In extremely sensitive women, the nervous
system becomes so irritable as to be acted on by the most trivial causes.
This extreme irritability  is  often an  indirect  cause of abortion.   The
remedies best calculated to soothe and strengthen the nerves, are Macrotin
Scutellaria, Ignatia, Nux v., Cypripedium, Coffea and Cham.
    Scrofula is considered a prominent cause.   Besides our anti-psorics, I
use Stillingia, Kali, hyd., Kali. brom. and Podoph.
  Reflex Nervous Irritation.—Tyler Smith is the especial champion of this
theory, and although he may be too sanguine, there is undoubtedly much
important truth in his teachings.   He arranges the reflex nervous actions
as follows:
    {a.) Trifacial.—Irritation of these nerves should be treated with Aeon.
Bell., Val. of Zinc, Coccionella, Mc-c, and even  extraction of a decayed
tooth,—which operation is not so much to be feared as the intense irrita-
tion of the pain—or plugging the tooth with a compound of Aconite tine.
Chloroform and Gum Copal.
    (b.) Mammary.—Lactation  should not be continued after  conception.
But if abortion threatens  from mammary  irritation, use Aletris, Sabina,
Bell, and Morphine with local anodyne applications to the breasts.
    (c.) Gastric.—Several cases have  come under  my  owTn observation,
where  excessive gastric irritation has caused  abortion.   Generally the
stomach can be quieted by Macrotin, Nux v., Ipecac or Kreosote.
    (d.) Rectal.—Dysentery, hemorrhoids, and the use of certain purgative
medicines which irritate the rectum. Aloes, Podoph., Ars., Merc, and Nux.,
aided by opiate injections  in severe cases, also  the Hammamelis, will be
found most useful.
    (e.) Vesical or Renal.—Stone in the  bladder,  albuminaria, and  in-
flammation of the  urinary organs, are best treated with Canth., Tereb.,
Apis., Apoc. and Eryngia aquat.
    (/.)  Ovarian.—Irritation of ovaries, swelling, neuralgia, etc., require
Zincum. val., Apis., Cauloph., Sabina and Helonin.  A  tendency to abort
at catamenial dates is generally due to such irritation ;  but if no local irri-
tation or tenderness of ovaries, or other perceptible cause for the accident
be apparent, and the abortion seems the result of habit, as some claim, the
steady use of Cauloph. and Helonin, for weeks and even months,  is the
best preventive  treatment that  can be adopted.  Six  cases of " habitual
abortion" which I have treated with the above two remedies, terminated
in healthy pregnancies and a safe delivery at full term.
    Case.—Dr. Bigelow of Toledo, 0., reports  the following case to me :
" A delicate lady who had had several abortions at about the third month,
had been sujected to the best Allopathic and Homoeopathic treatment, and
had nearly despaired of ever going her full time.  The usual remedies
having  failed, I procured some Caulophyllin of Dr. Hale, and gave the
patient one grain of the 1st dec. trit., three times a day during the third
and fourth month of pregnancy, with the happiest effect.   She was safely
confined with a healthy child at full term."   I  might record many similar
cases.   If the peculiar sphere of the two remedies were to be marked out,
I should decide Cauloph. to be most  appropriate when  the  abortion is
caused  by an  excess of  irritation of the uterus, with general nervous
irritability, while Helonin would be most appropriate in those  cases of real
atony of the uterus, with general debility. 
9
   . (<?■') Vaginal.—Any irritation or distention  of the vagina  should be
avoided.  Pessaries should not be worn.   If pruritus or apthaj be present,
use injections of Tincture of Cauloph. diluted, or the Borax and Morphine
solution.
    Certain functional and organic diseases of the  uterus  are prone to
cause abortion.  The following are most notable:
     Uterine Congestion, plethora or engorgement, should  be treated with
Aconitev Aletris  far, Bell., Aquaphobin. Plat.  Sepia, Macrotin, Senecin.
Aloes, Verat v. or Hammamelis.   For a congested or (edematous condition of
the cervix, Apis, Aquaphobin, Sepia  and Macrotin are most useful.
    _ Ulceration of the Os.— The patient use of  Arsenicum, Baptisia, Ma-
crotin or Hydrastin, with the invaluable  aid of such local applications as
injections of Aqua  Calendula,  Tincture of Hydrastis canad. or  Baptisia
diluted, or Chlorate of Potash, will in a reasonable time effect a cure.
The_  Chlorate especially,  I consider the most effectual application for
torpid, unhealthy  ulcerations, with  which I am acquainted.  I use it at a
strength of one drachm to a half pint of water
     Irritable  Uterus.—The peculiar,  spasmodic, painful affection thus
designated is readily controlled by Caulophyllin.  No other remedy com-
pares with it for equal efficacy ;  yet Plat. Stram. and Sabina may be used
with  benefit.  One case, the most painful and obstinate I ever saw, was
treated successfully with Aconite tine,  dil., externally,  and injections of
Gelseminum,  1  drachm to the  eight ounces  of warm  water.  Internal
remedies had all failed.
     Fissure  of the Os and Cervix Uteri, of which so much has been
written of late, although  it may require the use  of the knife or  other
surgical appliances, often  does  close up  under the  use  of milder means.
Injections of Arnica, Calendula, dilute Nitric Acid, or Chlorate of Potash,
are most useful, aided by the internal administration of Cauloph.
     Atony of the Uterus.—Caulophyllin, Helonin, and probably Gossipium,
are specific remedies in this condition.   They seem to restore the normal
tone of the uterine muscular fibre very promptly.    Secale is also a great
remedy.  Dr. Gardner in his edition o*f Tyler Smith's " Lectures on Ob-
stetrics," thus speaks of Ergot:  "If,  however, the  hemorrhage  was not
the primary symptom, or if the  abortion was threatened  in consequence of
some fatigue, great exertion, or some excitement, where there may be a
debilitated condition of the uterus, which in its relaxed state,  opens  theos,
or in some way diminishes the circulation and impairs its vital functions,
I have  found great benefit from the  tonic (?) effects produced by  small
doses of Secale corn.   The slight contraction  consequent upon its action,
closing the bleeding orifices, and frequently entirely arresting  all  further
discharge*"  This  is  what any Homceopathist would  expect from the
nature of the drug, and the character of its pathogenetic action upon the
uterus.  But Dr. Gardner being blind to the law of "simi/ia,"  reasons in
this wise :  " The judicious administration of Ergot improves its (the atonic
uterus) tone, invigorates and prevents the threatened miscarriage.  Ergot
is not a medicine of the cumulative order, neither is it confined to a single
action.  In small doses it does not produce  the convulsive evanescent con-
tractions which accompany labor, but a slow molecular  character, perma-
nent and prolonged.   If this local tonic is too freely administered, it passes
on still further and then a too high stimulation produces, from an opposite
cause, exactly the same result that was threatened by the previous debility.'"
Did the Doctor ever hear of Hahnemann, or his law of  cure?  Cauloph.,
Macro,  and Gossipium, have similar specific effects. 
10
    Metritis is almost certain to result in abortion, if not arrested promptly.
In most instances, this can be done by the liberal use of Aconite, Verat, v.
or Gelseminum.  Armed with either of these potent remedies, we need not
fear the result. By giving two or three drops of either every hour or two,
we  shall soon see the most intense  inflammation  subside.  The  external
application of  a poultice of Ulmus fulv., or of cloths wet in warm Aconite
water, (1 oz. to 1 pint,) will be of material aid.  For special symptoms, the
above remedies can be advantageously attended with Bell., Stram., Cauloph.
or Nux v.
    Prolapsus  Uteri.—Quiet in the recumbent posture, avoidance of severe
exercise,  lifting, riding, etc,  and the use of Asclepin, Podoph.,  Helonin,
Cauloph. or Bell., Aquaphobin, and Nux v., with the cool sitz-bath and
cool injections, will generally effect a cure.
    Retroversion.—I have sometimes thought that  this peculiar form of
displacement was growing more frequent every year.  In my practice  I
have frequently found it a cause  of abortion at the second or third month.
It requires all  the skill of the physician and patience of the female, to treat
it successfully.  It should be carefully replaced as often as it occurs, and
a position on the  side or face persevered in.   The remedies most useful
are  Ferrum Iod., Cauloph., Macro., Helonin, Thuja and Podoph.   In a few
cases, some temporary benefit is derived from a small soft pessary, inserted
in the cul de sac behind the os.
    Leucorrha'a.—Whitehead, in his work on Abortion, places Leucorrhcea
among the most prominent causes of the accident.  For want of space to
elucidate the subject, I would refer the  reader to that valuable work, page
221, where he will find an extended treatise on this affection; also to Tyler
Smith's admirable monograph on Leucorrhcea.   The former divides the
discharge into   Mucous and  Purulent, and gives  the relative number of
abortions caused by each variety.  Of 2,000 women, 1,116 had Leucorrhcea-
Out of these, 180 had abortions caused by Mucous  Leucorrhcea, and 930
caused by the  Purulent variety.   Leucorrhcea depends of course upon a
variety of local causes.   Remedies appropriate to such causes must be
selected, but the most efficient among these are Copavia, Cauloph.,  Helonin
Hydrastin, Asclepin, Puis., Sepia, or Trillin.  I consider it essential to  a
speedy cure, to use the above remedies by injection per vaginum, at the
same time  as  we administer them  internally.  A strength  of about  the
1st. dec. dil., is generally appropriate.  For the Mucous variety,  Copavia,
Cauloph., Asclepin, and  Puis., are  best  suited;  with Hydrastin,  Sepia,
Baptisin or Trillin, for the Purulent.  But as a local application for Puru.
lent, sanious, foetid discharges, the Chlorate of Potash exceeds all others.
Besides the common vaginal  syringe, I would recommend a beautiful and
useful  instrument, which has been patented, and is to be had of Messrs
Halsey & King, Homoeopathic Pharmaceutists, Chicago.*
    Congestion and Inflammation of Placenta, is  considered by Professor
Simpson as a  frequent  cause of abortion.   One of his  most elaborate
memoirs is devoted chiefly to this subject.  " Its symptoms  are  obscure,
consisting of pain in the uterus, near the site of the placenta, pains in the
back and thighs, and general fever."  The treatment  should be the same
as for Metritis.
    Fatty  degeneration of the Chorion and Placenta, has  attracted some
attention of late, chiefly  through the  original researches of Dr. Robert
Barnes.  (See Tyler Smith's Obstetrics, page 185.)  In  such cases, the
strength of the mother should be kept  up if possible, (with Ferr., Phos.,
*Se6last page of cover. 
11
China, Hydrastin.)  Gardner recommends " Chlorate of Potash, Nitric ac,
mild preparations of Iron, and  above all, fresh air."   The treatment of
fatty placenta is at best obscure and uncertain.

  It will now be proper to consider the treatment of the actual symptoms
of  abortion,  after  the lumbar,, hypogastric and  coxal  pains  have ap-
peared, with or without a sanguineous discharge.   There are two symp-
toms which I have  found invariably to attend threatened or real abortion ;
rigors or severe shivering, and  tenderness of the  uterine region.  When
these occur, the practitioner may be sure that he  must put forth prompt
endeavors to arrest the progress of expulsion.
  The first consideration in such cases is, whether or not  the ovum can be
preserved.  If we imagine the symptoms can be  arrested, a strict main-
tainance in the recumbent posture should  be observed.   The  patient
should be kept in bed—not on feathers—in a cool apartment, lightly cov-
ered with clothing, so  long as any pain  or  colored discharge  continues,
and for  some days afterwards she should not be allowed to walk or stand
long at a time.  Warm food or  drink should be prohibited, and all ex-
citement, as from fear, but especially from  the croaking of old women,
who are apt to flock around the patient,  should be imperatively silenced.
If no sanguineous  discharge has yet set in,  but we  have present some
fever and rigors, give Gelseminum or Verat v. in alternation with Helo-
nin or  Caulophyllin.  One drop of the former in  the mother tincture,
and one grain of one-tenth trit. of the latter,  an hour apart, will generally
relieve the heavy  pressing  down, the weight, the pain in  the back, ner-
vousness and  uterine congestion.   If  flooding  has  commenced,  with
intermitting pains, soreness of the  abdomen, and bearing down, there is
still some, possibility of arresting the  destruction  of the foetus  by the use
of  Cauloph., Secale,  Ipecac, Bell., Aletris  or Trillin.  In some cases,
Cinnamon, Arnica and Hammamelis are useful.
  If no pain or other severe disturbances attends the discharge, which is
mixed with mucus, it may exude from the os, which will be found abraded
and open.   In such cases I have known lint, wet with cool Hammamelis
water—giving Hamm. and Sabina at the same time internally—to check
the discharge permanently.
  If with the flooding and pain there is congestion  of blood to the head,
with throbbing of the carotids, great nervous agitation, slight delirium,
with a tendency to spasms, give Pell, and Cauloph., or Strain, and Scu-
tellaria or Sanguinaria and  Cannabis Ind.  (All  the above are Homoeop-
athic to this  condition, but there  may  be some  peculiar  assemblage of
symptoms which will decide the physician  in favor of one or the other.
A careful study of  our Materia Medica, and a rational appreciation of the
remedies, some account  of which I shall give at the end of  this paper,
will enable the physician to select an appropriate remedy.)   If we suc-
ceed in preventing the expulsion of the ovum, the patient should be cau-
tioned to avoid all exercise  or excitement at the next catamenial date.
In  the meantime give her one grain doses of  the 1st dec.  trit. of Cauloph.
and Helonin., each twice a day, during the succeeding weeks, until no
danger is to be apprehended.   Secale, Macrotin and  Gossipium are proba-
bly useful in similar cases.
  If we find the following symptoms occur during the progress ot  abor-
tion viz: great depression  of spirits, cramps in the  upper extremities,
also in the bowels  and uterus, with  a tendency  to general convulsions,
partlv hysterical, partly arising from reflex  action of an irritable uterus, 
12
we shall find an excellent remedy in Viburnin, one grain of the one-tenth
trit. every fifteen or thirty minutes.
  If with a somewhat similar assemblage of s3rmptoms, with the addition
of fever,  with heavy headache, dimness of vision, or double vision, in
persons of rigid fibre, use Gelseminum tincture, one drop every fifteen or
thirty minute*, until the  symptoms are alleviated.
  Sometimes a typhoid  (so  to  speak,) condition suddenly  sets in, and
with the  flooding  we find little or no pain,  but great  prostration, with
sensation of soreness over the whole body, trembling, heavy stupid head-
ache, hot clammy skin, fetor of the breath, with a previous cachetic state
of health; for which,  give Baptisia,  one-tenth dilut, a few  drops every
hour, alternated, if there is a tendency  to  fainting, with A mm. Carb. of
the same trit.
  If the  hemorrhage is severe, the strength of the patient failing, and the
abortion inevitable, we must take such a course as shall ensure the life of
the mother,  and at the same time cause  the expulsion of the  uterus in as
short a time as possible.
   There are two measures eminently favorable to this result,  and, in fact,
nearly infallible, which may be adopted  in such cases.
   (a.) The  Tampon.—The vagina should  should be  firmly plugged with
some soft material.   Some  recommend a  sponge, others lint,  but after
using them  both,  I prefer a, piece or  pieces of silk or linen,  six or eight
inches square.  Insert them, one after the  other, as long as any  can be
pushed up the vagina with moderate, careful force.   Sometimes one large
piece will answer, inserted by first introducing one corner.   The tampon
not only aids in preventing much hemorrhage, but by reflex  action, and
forcing the  blood  back into the cavity  of the womb, it increases the ex-
pulsive power of the uterus.  Therefore never use a tompon if  you wish
to save the  foetus.  Neither is it proper to use it after the sixth month of
pregnancy.   (An instrument has  lately been introduced which  is said to
be far superior to the tampon, as generally used.  The C'olpturynter,
invented and first used by  Dr. Carl Brain,  of Vienna.  This admirable
instrment is mentioned,  and its uses  pointed out very fully by  Dr. T. G.
Comstock,  of St. Louis, in No.  32  of the  North  American Journal of
Homceopathy, p. 566.  i have had but little personal experience with it,
but from the great  benefits T have always derived  from the Tampon, 1
have no hesitation in recommending it.
   (&.)  Caullophyllin and Ergot.—These remedies can be given single or
in alternation, but always in appreciable doses.  In severe cases I usually
give one or two grains of the former every 20 or 30 minutes, in Tilden's
sugar-coated pills.  The ethereal tincture of Ergot  is preferable to an-
other preparation of that drug.  One drachm may be put  in four ounces
of water, and a teaspoouful  given every quarter of an hour,   if the Gos-
sioiuni possesses only a  portion of the virtues  accredited to it in  such
cases, it will prove a most invaluable  aid.   The infusion of the fresh root
should be tried.   I think other  preparations are inert.
   As a general rule the  foetus is readily enough expelled, either by the
natural uterine efforts  or with the above mentioned   aids.   It  can be
grasped while yet in the os uteri, or after it has descended into the vagina,
by the fingers or a pair of curved forceps.   But the  expulsion or delivery
of the placenta is a much  more  difficult matter.   Indeed,  I consider it
about the only real difficulty we meet with in  conducting abortion to a
safe termination.   In the early  months it is so small that the uterus is
often quite  unable to expel  it,  when, by its irritation, it causes the most 
13
alarming and persistent flooding, unless prompt measures are adopted for
its removal.  The best of these are the blunt  hook, and a long, slender
curved forceps.  No time should be lost in seizing and extracting  the
placenta after we are satisfied it did not attend the discharge of the foetus.
In order to be positive, all the discharge  should be carefully examined.
After the foetus  and placenta are both expelled, the hemmorrhage gener-
ally ceases,  gradually  and properly.    But there are now and  then cases,
especially if the miscarriage has occurred after the third month, or if the
patient be of a hemorrhagic diathesis, in which the uterus refuses to con-
tract normally.  The  mouths of the  uterine  vessels  remain open, and
either  bleed continuously or upon  the slightest exercise.   One  of two
conditions are present in these cases:  atony or irritability.  For the for-
mer the remedies are China, Secale, Trillin,  Hydrastin  and Tereb., with a
nutritious diet of beef tea, mutton broth, cocoa,  &c.   For the latter, per-
fect quiet, low diet, and the use of Sabina, Crocus,  Cinnamon, Sanguina-
ria, Cauloph and Lycopin.  In some cases, Sulph. ac. acts like a charm.
   Two of the worst cases of severe flooding after late miscarriage I ever
saw, yielded to 10 grain doses of Cornu Cervinse Calcinatum, administered
every half hour.  This remedy was taken from  the practice of  the abo-
rigines ; the amount of testimony in its favor is unimpeachable.  It seems
to act with specific power on the uterus.  One other case, which resisted
other treatment, yielded promptly to Oil of  Erigenon, in doses of 3 drops
every half hour.  This  remedy  possesses  wonderful  power over active
arterial hemorrhage from any portion  of the body.   It acts when applied
locally as well as when given internally.  It is useful in dysentery, hemor-
rhoids,  tuemoptisis, etc.  It deserves a  careful proving.
   The use of ice-water in cases of severe flooding is undoubtedly of great
 benefit.   Yet I seldom  resort to  it.   I utterly  deny  that the so-called
 astringents, as astringents, have any real power over  hemorrhage.  Any
 drug, to have a  curative effect, must  act by virtue of  its homcepathicity.
 Tf we know that a drug will remove a given assemblage of symptoms, or
a certain pathological  state, we ought to use it, whether it has been regu-
larly proven or not.   I am aware that there are men in our ranks who
would "taboo"  us for such a course,  but such ultra conservatism is un-
worthy any true physician.  Our Materia Medica is cumbered with many
drugs which profess to have been well proven, but for all  practical pur-
poses  such provings are utterly worthless.  I much prefer the careful
conscientious records of the tangible effects of a drug, both pathogenetio
and curative, to a record of half-imaginary symptoms,  gotten from taking
the high  potencies, and writing down all  one's sensations-  Deliver us
from such provings.
     It  will perhaps be appropriate, in connection with this subject,  to
allude to  those  instances, in which, on account  of present or threatened
danger, it becomes right, proper and necessary, to induce  the premature
expulsion of the ovum by artificial means, with a view to the ultimate
safety of the mother.  Those cases where premature labor  is induced  to
save the life of the child, do  not  properly  come under the scope of this
paper.  Tyler Smith gives three classes of cases which require this opera-
tion.  The first  is the  only one which I  shall consider, viz:  " In which
the operation is  called for before  the date of tho vitality  of the foetus,  in
consequence of  diseased states of the  mother, and in which the  ovum has
to be sacrificed in order to preserve the life of the  mother from great risiy
     I need not enumerate all the variety of circumstances under which it
has been deemed proper to resort to this operation, (see  Tyler Smith's 
14
Obstetrics, page 657,) but they seem to be constantly on  the increase.
" It is probable that the practice of the induction of premature labor, will
be extended, from a greater knowledge or increasing appreciation of its
importance, and also from a real increase in the cases calling for it.  Among
the manufacturing population, deformities of the pelvis are probably  on
the increase; and amongst the educated classes, the size of the foetal head
and delicacy of constitution, will form impediments  to labor in an increased
number of cases."—T. Smith.  In view of these facts, every practitioner
should fully inform himself of the most safe, efficient, and least objection-
able manner of performing this operation.
    Many methods have been practiced, but I shall confine myself to the
consideration of four only ;  for I consider all other methods, such ai the
administration of drugs,  termed  abortive, as extremely  culpable, and the
douche, as recommended by Prof. Kiwish, as entirely  too tedious and com-
plicated.  Electricity is uncertain and painful, and dilating the os uteri  by
tents, objectionable.  I  prefer, after  much observation  and  considerable
experience—
    1st. The introduction of the Uterine Sound. This must be carried up
nearly to the fundus, then gently turned round two or three times.   Up to
the end of the third month, this is the easiest and safest method practiced.
If properly  done, no second operation is necessary.
    2nd.  Colpeurysis.  Mention has been already made of this instrument.
It is most applicable from the eighth to the twentieth week.   It should be
filled with warm  water and left in situ until contractions take place.   An
excellent substitute for the  Colpeurynter, very  cheap  and perhaps nearly
as efficient,  is an  India  rubber bladder  (about two inches in diameter),
ending  in a long, slender tube.   After  being introduced, it  is filled, not
with water,  but with air, by means of another bladder attached tempora-
rily to the tube, or any other ready means of inflation.  When the inner
bladder is sufficiently distended, the tube is securely tied and fastened to
the patient's clothing, or a band around the waist.  Since this paper was
begun, I have several  times  used  this simple instrument with  the  best
success.
    3rd. Injections.  This is a very safe and  efficient  method, and one
which I believe I am the first to recommend.  1 have used it for many years
and can earnestly advise  its use when necessary.  I have  generally  used
Parker's Glass Syringe, with  slender, slightly curved point, but an India-
rubber instrument is much preferable, from its strength and elasticity.  It
should have a tube four  or six  inches in length, slightly curved, and of
about one-fourth or one-sixth of an inch in diameter.   Tne  point should
not puncture the membranes, unless it be deemed advisable, but should be
carefully introduced between them and the  uterine  surface.  The tepid
water should then be injected with steady force.
  Its modus operandi is plain.  The water permeates between the mem-
branes and uterine surfaces, with the effect of detaching them throughout
the whole or a greater part of their extent.   When this is done, expulsive
contractions set in, and the foetus with  the placenta attached, is expelled
with little or no hemorrhage.   Even if the sound has been used, it is well
to use the syringe afterwards,  to expedite  the expulsion.   It has  been
considered hazardous  to inject  fluids into the  womb.   Whatever danger
there may b.e in the unimpregnated state, from  fluids passing through the
fallopian tubes into the  peritoneal cavity,  thereby causing inflammation,
that objection is not valid in the cases where I used it.  During preg- 
15
nancy those tubes are undoubtedly plugged up  with tenacious  mucus.
So far from fearing metritis from such  a cause,  I do not hesitate to use
medicated injections in uterine catarrh, and with the best results.
  (Since this paper first appeared in the N. A. Journal, I find that " this
method  was first described by Dr. Cohen of Hamburg, in  1846, and has
recently been introduced to the notice of American physicians by Drs.
Noeggarath and Jacobi of New York,"   " Contributions to Midwifery.'"'
1859.  So says Dr. Hoffendahl, in the August No. of the North American
Journal, page 70, but I was not aware of any such  method  having been
used or described, although I have used it for nearly six years, and have
upon inquiry of other physicians, found the subject entirely new to them ;
nor have I ever seen any mention of it before, in any medical work.)
  5th. Puncturing the Memhmnes.  After the fourth month this operation
can be resorted to.   It can be done with  a stilleted catheter, manufactured
expressly for the purpose, and  great care taken  not to injure  the internal
cervix uteri.  I consider either of the former methods preferable, but now
and then we have cases which  ma}' resist milder means with a wonderful
tenacity.  After th.s operation the placenta and membranes are more apt
to be obstinate of removal, and give rise, as they sometimes do, to moles,
hydatids, and other abnormal  growths, which  may cause a vast amount
of trouble and danger to the female.  For the removal of such, there is no
remedy  so certain in its action as the Caulophyllin.
  I was once called to see a lady who had, in the hands of an Allopath,
taken enormous quantities of Ergot to expel a retained placenta, after an
abortion at the fourth month.  She had frequent attacks of flooding which
had  reduced her very low, and  suffered much from constant uterine pains.
Gave her two grains of  Caulophyllin crude, every two hours.   In six hours
the growth was expelled.   It was enormously large, and although retained
two months, had no fcetor!
           INDICATIONS FOR  THE  NEW  REMEDIES.

   I will briefly give such pathological and symptomatic indications for the
before mentioned remedies, as  will be required in the cases in which they
are herein recommended.  The indications are based upon known effects,
both upon the healthy organism and upon the sick.  A few of them have
been partially proven, others are almost unknown to Homceopathists.  To
give a clearer idea of their sphere of action, I have given the  analogues of
each, as far as  I am qualified,  also  a case appended to  each.

   Aletrin.   The Aletris farinosa has long been  known in domestic prac-
tice as a powerful tonic.  It seems to affect  specifically the stomach and
uterine system.   In large doses it causes prostration,  vomiting, catharsis
and considerable narcotism; also venous congestion of the uterus, bear-
ing down sensations, fullness  and  heaviness  of the uterine  region, with
suppressed or premature menses.   Used in small doses it removes similar
conditions.   It is lauded by  the  Eclectics  as a positive prevention of
Abortion, yet it has been used to  cause  abortion in the  first months of
pregnancy.   Its analogues are  Puis., Sabina, Sepia and Aloes.
   Case 1.  A young married lady,  pregnant  with her first child, at the
third month was taken with heavy, pressing pains in  the uterine region. 
16
soreness of the bowels, dullness of the head, vertigo and nausea.  Upon
examination, found the uterus low'in the pelvis, the os swollen and sensi-
tive, and much heat of the vagina/  Gave Puis, and Bell, for twelve hours
without benefit;  then Aletris, two drops of the  mother  tincture every
hour with the  effect of dispelling the symptoms.
  Asclepin.  The Asclepias tuberosa has quite a reputation in all febrile
and inflammatory affections of the uterus and appendages.  Its first effects
are increased heat and  excitement of the circulation, which are  followed
by profuse secretion of mucous from all the mucous surfaces, especially
the throat, bronchia, uterus and vagina.  It has  been  very successfully
employed in the  treatment of prolapsus uteri, with profuse mild mucous
leucorrhcea.   Its action on the pleura very much resembles Bryonia.   Its
sphere of action  compares with  Bry., Ipecac,  Dulc, Puis., Copaiva and
Hepar. S.
   Case 2.  A  young woman, unmarried, was attacked after a severe cold,
with fever, pain in the limbs, some oppression of the chest and dry cough,
sudden suppression of the menses, fullness and heaviness of the hypogas-
trium.  Aconite relieved the pain in a few hours.   The next day the cough
was moist, with some soreness of the chest, and a severe mucous leucor-
rhcea set in, with heat in the vagina, scalding when urinating, and drawing
in the uterine ligaments.   Asclepin, first trit., a grain every  three hours,
removed the symptoms in a few days.
   Biqrtixin  The Baptisin is taking high rank as  a remedy in congestive
and typhoid fevers, and in all low conditions of the system, when there is
a tendency to  putridity, or a vitiated state of the secretions. It has caused
abortion, attended by  great  nervous prostration, soreness of the whole
body, low type of fever,  putrid diarrhoea, bad smell from  the mouth  and
some stupor.  It is indicated in certain abnormal conditions of mucous
membranes, attended with unhealthy ulcerations and foetid discharges.
In torpid ulceration of  the os and vagina, with acrid  discharges, it is
specific, administered internally  and by injection.  I use the 1st dil. or
the  3rd trit.   Its action is similar to Ars., Carbo., Hydras., Kali chlor. and
Merc. cor.
   Caulophyllin.   This seems a remedy more generally  adapted to the
treatment of diseases of females, than any other with which I am acquaint-
ed.   It is a mild, unirritating remedy, in rational doses.  Its  action is
primarily upon the  uterine motor nerves, but it also  affects the  motor
nerves generally; secondarily it acts upon the nerves of sensation, causing
neuralgia and rheumatic pains.   It controls all spasmodic affections of the
 uterus_ and appendages, as well as those of the stomach, bowels, and also
 hysteria, when it assumes a spasmodic character.   In threatened abortion,
 with some spasmodic pains, if the ovum is not detached, it  will prevent
 the occurrence.  It will  expel the foetus and placenta, and  other foreign
 bodies, by aiding the motor power of the uterus.  In very large doses it
 has caused abortion.  It compares with Secale in  all  but the  poisonous
 effects of the latter.  Its immediate congenes are Macrotin, Cannabis  ind.
 Cham. Plat,  Ignatia, Asa. f. and Viburnin.
    Case 3.  A stout plethoric lady,  the mother of seven children,  with
 each of whom she had suffered all through pregnancy, with bearing down
 pains, soreness of the uterine region, lameness in the hips, and inability to
 stand long upon her feet.   She had tried Homoeopathic treatment before,
 but got no alleviation.  When  she applied to me she was  in  the sixth
 month.   Gave her Caulo., third trit., one grain, three or four times a day. 
17
 In a few days she was unusually free from pain, and  by continuing the
 remedy occasionally, remained comfortable and had an easy confinement.
 This is but one of a hundred or more  similar cases which I have relieved
 with the Caulo.   It can always be relied upon in such cases, to give prompt
 relief.   The aborigines  were accustomed, we are told, to  have the preg-
 nant squaws drink of a weak  infusion of this plant, for a few weeks pre-
 vious to confinement, in  order to cause a safe and easy labor.  The Eclectic
 practitioners use the Caulo. for the same purpose.   In several  instances,
 in females who suffered much at such  times, I have given the third trit.,
 one-tenth, for two or three weeks previous to the expected time of labor,
 and in each case with the most satisfactory results.  When we consider
 that the chief cause of painful and difficult labor,  is from uterine  sensi-
 tiveness and spasmodic pains, it will be seen that in the Cauloph. we have
 a remedy which by effectually controlling such  abnormal  conditions, will
 be of incalculable benefit to those  whose pregnancies and labor are one
 long scene of severe suffering.
    Case 4.   A lady in the seventh month of gestation, lifted some very
 heavy articles.  She was attacked with piercing, excruciating pains in the
 uterus, a little on the left side, and severe bearing  down pain.   On my
 arrival, I found upon examination, the os not at all dilated, but the uterus
 was low in the pelvis, and evidently highly congested.  The fundus of the
 womb contracted strongly upon the child, which meantime struggled very
 much.   Gave Bell, (for severe headache,) and Cauloph. 1st.   In six hours
 the pains had abated so  that she could sit up.  In a few dajrs she was
 about her usual avocations.   At the  eighth  month  the same symptoms
 again appeared, also at eight and a half months.   In both instances  the
 Cauloph. alone relieved  the pains in a few hours.  She was delivered at
 full time, and after  an easy labor, of a healthy  child.   The  somewhat
 severe spasmodic afterpains were relieved by this same remedy.
   Case 5.   Dr. Ludlam  records  a  happy  experience in  the  use  of the
 Caulophyllin, in  a species of hysteria, following miscarriage :  " This pa-
 tient, a lady of some thirty-eight years, while on a visit to  the  country,
 aborted at the third month, and being unable to secure  the services of a
 Homoeopathist, suffered  the immediate consequences  of terrible floodings,
 which so reduced her strength  and shattered her nervous  system, as to
 render her very miserable, and indeed to threaten her life.   On her return
 to the city, her pulse was feeble, thread-like, and at times quite impercep-
 tible ;  skin  cool; extremities, upper and lower, as well as her features and
 the cellular tissue generally, cedematous, and her nerves in the most piti-
 able condition imaginable; the most prominent feature of  which derange-
 ment consisted in complete insomnia.  She could not sleep.  Night after
 night passed, and not a wink of sleep.  All the usual remedies were tried,
 but without avail.  Apis mel. relieved the oedema, and under occasional
 doses of Arsenicum, her pulse approached a normal state ; but the insomnia
 yielded to nothing, save temporarily to a few doses of Moschus, low, after
 which it returned as before.  On the recommendation of  Dr. P. L. Hale,
 who was at that time visiting with  me, I gave her  Caulophyllin  in  the
 second decimal trituration.  A few  doses sufficed to break the spell, and
 I have never since failed to procure her the most refreshing sleep  by the
 same kind and harmless  agent.  She made a speedy and safe recovery."
   Still another indication for the use  of this  remedy will be found in
menstrual  irregularities,  occurring  subsequent to, and consequent upon
miscarriage.  There  are  frequent, and sometimes very perplexing cases, 
18
where  neither Puis., Sec.  Cor., Sabina, or other  remedies  appear to  be
especially indicated, and  we have  either of the  following symptoms:
Spasmodic, bearing-down  pains, with scanty flow; sympathetic cramps
and spasms of neighboring organs, as of the bladder, rectum and bowels;
or the motor power of the uterus  seems almost entirely gone, and where
we may reasonably suppose the menstrual flow is retarded from a simple
lack of the excito-motor force, either in the Fallopian tubes or the parietes
of the uterus itself; the Caulophyllin will sometimes produce  almost  in-
stantaneous relief.
  In a case of this  kind, post-abortive,  where the  spasmodic  pains were
located in the right lumbar region,  occupying a limited space, say about the
size of a silver dollar, and  there was almost a total suppression of the cat-
amenia, the Caulophyllin,  in  the  third decimal trituration, repeated once
in three hours, afforded prompt and permanent relief.  We know of  no
other remedy which is so efficacious under these circumstances.   It seems,
in general practice, to be  indicated in many examples of suppressio men-
sium, approaching dysmenorrhcea in some of its  features,  being always
accompanied by the above-named  characteristic pains and sufferings of a
spasmodic nature.   Our experience would render  us very loth to attempt
the treatment of these and kindred cases, without a frequent resort to the
use of  the Caulophyllin.                                    Ludlam.


   Gelseminum.  This remedy is  now  attracting  considerable attention.
Prof. Douglas has made a  partial proving of it, and recommends it highly
in all febrile affections.  Its effects upon the uterus, when given in large
doses, is to produce a condition of paralysis of the motor nerves.  When
given during severe labor, in  appreciable doses, it will nearly  or  quite
arrest its progress.   " Yet (says Coe,) it will in very small doses, gently
stimulate uterine contraction."   I  have previously given the indications
for its use, and would refer the reader to Douglas and Coe for further  in-
formation.  It is a remedy which  will prove one of our greatest polycrests.
It compares with  Cauloph., Aeon., Verat. v., and Secale.
   Helonin.  " No agent of the Materia Medica better deserves the name of
uterine tonic than Helonin.  The  remarkable success attending its admin-
istration in the diseases peculiar to females, has rendered it an indispensa-
ble remedy to those acquainted with its peculiar virtues. It will be found
most beneficial in those cases arising from or accompanied with a disor-
dered condition of the  digestive apparatus, and an anaemic habit."—Coe.
It much resembles Aletrin, to which it is botanically allied.  It resembles
Puis., and more particularly Ferrum.  In women  who  have been subject
to abortion, who are dyspeptic and of an anaemic habit—who suffer much
from prolapsus, leucorrhcea, heavy,  pressive, weary pains  in the uterine
region, and all those local  symptoms  which indicate seated uterine atony,
this remedy will be found invaluable.   It should generally  be alternated
with Ferrum.  Give one or two grains of Helonin, one-tenth trit., one hour
before meals, and the same amount of Iron (by  Hydrogen), first dec. trit.,
one hour after meals, so long as the system seems to require.
   Case 6.  A woman who had been married six  years, in  the first four
years had given birth to two children.  She had always been delicate, but
for the last few years had  suffered much from dyspepsia, chills and fever,
prolapsus uteri, leucorrhcea, irregular but  very  profuse menses, and had
several abortions in the last year.   Although not  very anaemic,  she was
extremely debilitated.  The whole muscular system had lost its tone, and 
19
great weariness ensued after the least labor or exertion.   China, Nux, Iron
and Hydrastin, were tried with but little effect over the extreme  debility.
I then gave her ten drops of the fluid extract  of Helonin-dec. every four
hours.  The effect was magical.   The appetite, before weak, now became
natural;  digestion became strong and normal, and the strength increased
rapidly.  In a few weeks  she ,was able to do all the labor of her family,
became pregnant, went her full time in excellent health, and was confined.
She has since been strong and robust.
  Ln all cases of muscular atony or chronic debility, when caused by any
organic disease, the Helonin will be found a remedy of great value.  Even
in otherwise incurable cases it will  give temporary muscular strength,
sooner than most any other drug.  Thus it will be seen why it is lauded
so highly by our Eclectic brethren, in all uterine displacements,  from re-
laxation of the uterine ligaments.   If there is much displacement, however,
some mechanical  support will have  to  be  used for a time.  In habitual
abortion  it has a great reputation.  It should not be used in any inflam-
matory state of the uterus, or  in those cases where the displacement is
caused by congestion.  Helonin has cured many cases of sterility.
  Hydrastin.   This remedy has no direct or specific effect on the uterus,
but it is  a tonic of great power.   The Eclectics use it much in place of
Quinine, Iron, &c.   Over the mucus membranes it exercises a profound
influence, curing many lesions which indicate such drugs as  Merc, Ars.,
Sil., Sulph., Kali., Chlor, and Sepia.   Given internally in small doses, and
used locally, it will cure many forms of stomatitis, ulcers of the throat,
ulceration of the os uteri and vagina, also profuse, thick, tenacious, foetid,
muco-purulent discharges from all mucous surfaces, especially  from the
nares, vagina,  uterus and rectum.   King, in his Dispensatory, says that
if given too long  or  in too large doses, "it will cause a psuedo-membra-
nous, very tenacious  exudation from the mouth, throat and nares."   In
this it resembles Iodine, Kali bic, Bromine, Hepar and Amm. Caust.
  Macrotin.  Several partial provings of this remedy have  appeared in
the N. A. Journal, but none show  its effects upon the uterine system.   It
is homoeopathic to nearly all rheumatic,  neuralgic, irritable  and conges-
tive states of those organs.  If, in  a pregnant woman, we  meet with the
following group of symptoms similar to those caused by Macrotin, viz :
great and general  nervous prostration  and irritability, neuralgic pains in
the head, back and uterine region, feeble, slow or quick pulse, palpitation
of the heart " sick headache," sensitiveness of the uterus, swollen, tender
and abraded condition of the  cervix, with aching, dragging pains at each
menstrual  period, we may give Macrotin, 2nd or 3rd trit., with confidence
that it will bring  about a  healthy condition.  It resembles  Aeon., Bry.,
Colch., Nux and Bell(V).
  Podophyllin.  Of this  drug  we have a pretty good  proving.  It is of
great value in  congestive and prolapsed state of the uterus.  Upon the liver
it acts in a similar manner to mercury.  Its  congeners are  Aloes, Nux,
Hamm.,  Aeon, and Sulphur.
  Where we discover a prolapsus uteri, in case of threatened abortion, it
may become very necessary to resort to constitutional rather than to local
measures for its relief.  The consequences might, otherwise, prove serious.
Both the parent and the  offspring would readily suffer  from wrong man-
agement at this period.   To treat such a prolapsus on " general principles," 
20
as the phrase is, would never do.  A pessary would be the worst possible
thing—the abdominal supporter is, in reality, abominable—and hence the
physician is compelled to rely upon the efficacy of internal  remedies.   It
is under precisely such circumstances that the Podophyllin promises more
than almost any other medicinal  agent.  To keep the patient as much  as
may be, without detriment to her general health, in a horizontal posture,
and administer the Podophyllin in about the third trituration, thrice daily,
is to give her the best possible chance of  recovery.
  There can be no question but that in many examples a threatened abortion
has been averted, and the woman  brought to full term by these very sim-
ple means, conjoined with the use of this single remedy.  Whatever may
be said of the Caulophyllin, as insuring a safe and easy labor, this is the
sphere of the Podophyllin—to avert  the dangers of prolapsus in pregnant
females.
  Another  indication for  this remedy,  in complicated  miscarriages,  is
sometimes found in the existence  of a leucorrhcea, which may or may not
have become chronic.  The damaging effects of this  species  of exhaust-
ing discharge from the vegetative  surfaces, has  already been  referred to.
It is a frequent cause both of sterility and of habitual abortions.   In our
experience, nine out of ten of those women in this western country who
are given to repeated abortions, may refer to the leucorrhcea as one of the
primary causes of the mischief.  A familiar illustration of the positively
injurious effects of such disease, over  the proper  performance of the ulti-
mate sexual functions in the female,  is found in the case of prostitutes,
who seldom conceive, and for this very reason.  A cause which is so fatal
to the first act  of conception, may readily be supposed to influence that
growth and development of the germ which marks the second and subse-
quent periods of intra-uterine life.
   We are decidedly of opinion that  this  fearfully frequent cause of abor-
tion has not received a due share  of attention from medical men.  It is so
much more satisfactory to refer,  in a scientific way, to the consequences
of reflex action, or something of that sort, than to seek for the cause in a
directly debilitating discharge, which drains away, it may be, the blastema
which is needed, or  the plastic force of modality  itself, from the incipient
organism which can so illy spare  it.
   In our hands, the Podophyllin  has effected very much for the  relief of
leucorrhceas during pregnancy.  Where the discharge of a thick, trans-
parent mucous is profuse, with symptoms of prolapsus, constipation, and
bearing down in the genital organs, it may prove of very essential service.
It appears  to  be  especially demanded  where the  foregoing symptoms
occur in females of a bilious temperament.                   Ludlam.

   Sanguinaria.  I would refer  the  reader to its  pathogenesis.  It has
caused abortion with dangerous  flooding.  It will arrest a threatened
miscarriage if indicated,  and the hemorrhage  which  sometimes follows
abortion.  Its analogues are Phos.,  Lach., Kali, carb., Bell, and Macrotin.
   Senccin.  Is known all over the west  as the " female regulator."  It
 seems to have a profoundly modifying power over  the female generative
 organs, but no definite indications can be given,  except a reference to the
 writings of King, Coe, et id.  It  will  cure cases  in which Puis.,  Sepia or
 Sulph. were indicated, but have failed.
   Case 7.  A delicate, middle aged  lady, subject to cough, bronchial irri-
 tation, profuse and premature  menses, and abundant leucorrhcea, caught
 a severe cold on the first day of the menses, which caused complete sup- 
21
pression.  The symptoms were, heat in the uterus, stitches  through the
vagina and ovaries, pain in  the back with  lameness, severe cough  with
mucous expectoration, some febrile symptoms  with  debility.   She took
Bry., Puis, and Macrotin, with no benefit.  Gave Senecin, first trit., dec,
one grain  every three hours.   On the second day  the menses appeared,
and in a few  hours the cough disappeared.  In many cases'of Amenor-
rhcea the menstrual  secretion would seem to be replaced by a vicarious
mucous secretion  from the lungs, bowels  or vagina.  By restoring the
secretive power of the uterus, we remove the irritation of distant mucous
surfaces, and even the ensemble of morbid symptoms.   It is in this manner
that Pulsatilla and Senecin act.  I consider the two remedies very much
alike in their general action.  Both are applicable  in  quite  similar states
of the  system;  they cause primarily  increased  secretion  from  all the
mucous surfaces, increased perspiratiou, and hemorrhage from the uterus
and hemorrhoidal vessels, probably from venous congestion.
   Trillin.   This is truly a great remedy  in uterine hemorrhage.  An
experience of many years enables me to recommend it in the most severe
hemorrhages, also in profuse,  exhausting leuchorrea, with atony, prolap-
sus and chronic engorgements of the  cervix.  Its analogues are Plat.,
Crocus, Sabina,  Secale, Erigenon and Lycopin.
   Verat. V.   The general action of this  drug is  pretty well understood,
but I wish to call attention to its use in a peculiar condition.  When the
menses or lochia are suppressed, we are apt to have severe and dangerous
congestion of some important organ, such as the brain, kidneys, or uterus,
or even inflammation of these organs.   In such  cases I have found the
Verat v. to be a prompt specific.  No other drug, save Aconite, can com-
pare with it.  Give, according to age, etc, from one  to  two drops of the
mother tincture every  hour  or  two, and  the  threatened danger will be
warded off.   It  may be  advantageous to alternate, it in  some  cases with
Senecin or  Macrotin.   In those intense congestive  headaches, or in the
spasms which sometimes attend  cases of abortion, or in puerperal fever,
it is my great " sheet anchor."


   The Veratrum Viride promises to be of considerable  service in two of
the many disorders of secretion to which lying-in  women are liable.  We
refer to a suppression of the milk and of the lochia.
   In a case of Puerperal Fever, already published,* we  have  referred  to
the property of this remedy to restore the mammary secretion.
   Its power over a suppressed lochia is even more positive.  Beside  re-
storing the flow, it has a marked effect over the lesions which characterize
the  puerperal peritonitis, whether  occurring  after premature or mature
confinement.  We have  twice employed it  in impending  fevers of this
kind, and at each time with the most satisfactory  evidence of  its wonder-
ful power to allay those angry and  alarming symptoms which character-
ize such attacks.  It may almost be called a specific for these symptoms.
   Cases of threatened miscarriage sometimes present analagous symptoms.
There may be a great erethism of the nervous system.  The vascular and
uterine systems sympathize in a very marked degree, and there is reason
to fear a rapid  abortion and  decline into the_ bona fide peritonitis before
named.  In anticipation of such a calamity, and as a pretty certain means
of its aversion,  we recommend the Verat. Viride.             Ludlam.
* Vide Proceedings Illinois Homoeopathic Medical Association for 1859. 
22
   Viburnin.  " When abortion is threatened  as the  result of over-exer-
tion or mental excitement, it will act as a preventive."—Coe. • No remedy
is so efficacious in the cramp, local spasms,  etc., which pregnant women
suffer from,  as this.  Its action upon the motor nerves of the uterus is
specific and thorough.  When Asaf., Plat., Ign., Chaim, Verat and Puis.
fail us, we may use the Yiburin with confidence.

   Note on the Dose.—As I have not given the special dose in connection with
the remedies mentioned, it may be proper for  me to add that I generally
use the 1st dec. trit., because they are given for their secondary pathogenetic
symptoms.  But should I give them for their primary symptoms, I should
go up to the 6th or even the 30th.                               _  _
   In explanation of this remark, I would call the attention of physicians
to my article on " Dose," in the next (November, 1860) number of the North
American Journal of Homoeopathy, where I have laid down  some new
and peculiar rules for guidance in the selection of the proper quantity for
a dose, in the different phases of disease.
   In conclusion let me  earnestly urge the physicans and students of our
school to aid me in  testing and proving the  valuable  remedies T  have
mentioned, and endeavored to elucidate to the best of my ability.
                                                            Hale. 
 
 
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