\s. >v a3w jo Aavaan ivnouvn 1 ^ 3noiq3w jo Aavaan ivnouvn 1 ^ jNOiasw jo Aavaan tvnow 'g? S EbSEOTOO WIN aNioioaw jo Advaan ivnouvn NLM001035935 NATIONAL IIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ME IATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL HBRART OF ME PLAIN TALK TO THE SICK. WITH Directions for Homoeopatliic Treatment and General Eules for the Preservation of Health. ALSO AN APPENDIX ON TUE DISEASES OF WOMEN, Containing an Expose of the Impositions Practiced upon Innocent Sufferers by Men in High Places. By Adam Miller, M. D., Author of "Life in Other Worlds" "A New Theory of Solar Heat," Etc., Etc. * JVo. CHICAGO: V: ^ Published for the Author. 1879. ff *' __„^ I twos' ArwlX W8K Entered according: to Act of Congress, in the year 1379, by ADAM MILLEK, M. D., In the Office of the Libmrian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. C. H. HANCHETT, Printer, 155 Dearborn St., Chicnjro. PREFACE. The inquisitive mind of man has baenona stretch through the past ages to discover many of tho 6ecret operations of nature*, but man has strangely neglected to inquire into the best methods to pre- serve his own health, and to prolong his own existence in the present life. This, in part, arises from the fact that life is in itself a mystery beyond our comprehension; and in part from another fact, that those who have professedly had the care of tho life and health of their fellow men have often shrouded this subject under mysterious symbols and unintelligible technicalities—from the "medicine man" of the rude savage up to the professor in a medical college anions the most reiined and civilized nations. In view of this fact, the celebrated Dr. "W. W. Hall, in his book, "Fun Better than Physic," p. 19J-, says: "It is a bad plan for un- professional men to read medical books, it lirst befogs and then bcfool3." Eut who is to blame for the fog that has been raised over this subject, and why have people been made fools of while Striving to look into the mysteries ot the healing art ? This has been done by the men who profess to livo by trying to relieve tho su{Tering3 of their fellow beings. 4 PREFACE. If this befooling process had always been as harmless as the Abracadabra of the ancient Syrians, men might have smiled at the harmless supersti- tion. "This word," says the late Professor Dun- glison, " when pronounced and repeated in a certain form, and a certain number of times, was supposed to have the power of curing fevers and preventing many diseases. It was figured on amulets and worn suspended around the neck." The following is the order in which the letters were placed: ABRACADABRA BRACADABRA RACADABRA A C A D A B R A C A D A B R A A D A B R A D A B R A A B R A BRA R A A If the prescriptions of physicians were always as harmless as this magical word, with its supposed talismanic properties, there would be much less suffering in the world, as I shall show in the follow- ing pages from the writings of some of these tor- mentors of the human race. Adam Milleb. Chicaoo, September, 1879. INTRODUCTION. And shall we have another book on domestic treatment of disease? Yes, another one ; but dif- ferent from all that have gone before in this field. Without ambition to gain a reputation by any attempt at a display of learning in the technicalities and mysteries of the medical profession, I will make a plain statement of facts that have come under my notice in a practice of between thirty and forty years. The work is not a theory of probabilities, and a suggestion that certain remedies might pos- sibly cure certain diseases; but a narrative of facts demonstrated by careful observation in a long and extensive practice. It is a statement of a theory carried into practice, and will afford additional evidence of the truth of the Homoeopathic law of curing disease. In these days of progress people demand a reason for their faith in medicine, as well as in any other subject of ethics, science, and religion. Men are less inclined to take poisonous com- pounds into their stomachs and submit to severe treatment from the heroic men of the medical pro- fession than they were thirty years ago. Why do you want me to take this medicine, and what do 3rou expect to accomplish by it? are questions that come up much oftener now than they did in the past generation. As general intelligence and knowledge 6 INTRODUCTION.. have become more diffused, and the comforts of life have been multiplied, life has been more duly appre- ciated, and the means to avert disease and to secure good health have been more eagerly sought. To many who are now suffering severely mem- ory brings up the sad record of the past, and as the massive doses of poisons and nauseating drugs they have swallowed pass in review before them, they now wish they had known a better way. Surgery as v/ell as the practice of medicine has left its fear- ful marks upon suffering humanity. Some have been made invalids for life by overdosing with poisonous drugs. Others are compelled to drag out a miserable existence, through the reck less operations of thesurgeon's knife, by being minus a leg or arm that often might have been cured with proper attention and the application of suitable remedies. The case of Miss Horn, mentioned under the head of Cancer, is only one among many others that might be added in proof of these state- ments. To thousands of our race, life has become a bur- den because they are constant sufferers from disease, and would, if they had it in their power, exchange any amount of earthly possession for permanent good health. Some can trace the origin of their sufferings to injudicious medical treatment, others to a careless violation of the laws of life and health. No vain regrets for past mistakes will bring back to us the happy days of youth and restore the glow of health to an emaciated form. INTRODUCTION. 7 But while we cannot recall tho past we may guard against the future, and learn to protect our- selves from the dangers that threaten us in our journey through life. If I were to approach my friends with the assur- ance that I could give them information by which they could soon amass a fortune, I would most likely gain the attention of every one; especially if I could convince them that I myself had made the experiment and could speak from personal observa- tion. Now I say to the sick and suffering of all classes that I have traveled over these fields of physical desolation—have been a sufferer myself and witness- ed disease in its multiplied and complicated forms, and have made it the business of the greater part of my life to relieve human suffering. I now come to tell you in plain language how to take care of your health, and how to treat yourself and those dependent on you in the absence of a physician. These directions are not intended to render the employment of a physician always un- necessary. Cases will often occur when the skill of the educated physician will be called into requisition. On the other hand cases very fre- quently occur when the aid of a physician cannot be immediately obtained. Many of these cases are of such a nature as to demand prompt and immediate attention. A few hours' delay will often put tho case beyond the reach of the most skillful physician. 8 INTRODUCTION. Nearly every family keeps something on hand to depend on in an emergency. Patent medicines, pills, tinctures, potions and lotions stored away in the closet for years may have undergone such chemical changes and deterioration as to make them virulent poisons instead of safe mediomes. If people will keep medicines on hand and take them in the absence of a physician, homoeopathy offers to them safe and reliable remedies without the danger of inflicting serious injury upon the patient. (See chapter on Homoeopathy.) When you have a road to travel, beset with dan- gerous snares and pitfalls, you would most likely consult with one who had been along the road and could tell you something from personal observation of the dangers to be encountered. A man might sit in his study and write some things from the reports of others and guess at many things that are not true of a distant country, but the actual traveler alone can give a correct description of a country he has passed through. I will talk from personal experience to the invalid pining in solitude, to the sick upon a bed of an- guish, and to the anxious mother watching by the bed side of a sick child, and will endeavor to direct all such in the way to health and strength. The book is especially intended as a help in timo of need, and as such I submit it to the scrutiny of a generous public. HOMOEOPATHY. Homoeopathy, like every new theory that antag- onizes old, established customs, has had its opposition, and like all new systems that finally triumph—whether of an ethical, scientific, social, or religious nature—has had to meet its enemies by an appeal to matters of fact. Homoeopathy has done this, not only in reference to the reasonableness of its claim to public favor, but also in reference to its success in relieving human suffering. The opposers of new systems are not alwaj-s care- ful to confine themselves to sound arguments, but will often create men of straw, and then pitch into the creations of their own fancy and overthrow that which does not belong to the system. The motto similia siinillbus curantur has often been perverted, and represented to be something very different from what its advocates claim for it. Many of the early opponeTits of Homoeopathy, either intentionally or through ignorance, made no distinction between identity and similarity, and represented homoeopathists as teaching that the same medicine that produced the disease would cure 10 HOMOEOPATHY. it. With this misrepresentation of the subject they could easily get up a laugh by stating that this new system taught that if a person brought on cholera-morbus, or any other disease, by eating unwholesome food, all that would be necessary to cure the disease, thus produced, would be to eat a small quantity of the same food. This, as every candid man knows, is not a fair statement of the homoeopathic law of cure. Every possible expe- dient has been resorted to, to make the system ap- pear ridiculous, but the arrows of derision hurled at Homoeopathy have fallen harmless at the feet of its advocates, and its .success in practice has often forced the reluctant confession that it has had a wonderful t ffect in modifying the harsher features of tho Old School. It now appears before the world, not as an hum- ble suppliant for popular favor, but with an inscrip- tion of triumph upon its banners, and an offer of re- lief to the suffering without the danger of breaking down the delicate structure of the human organism. Many of its warmest supporters and most success- ful practitioners were educated in the Old School of medicine, and after a thoughtiul examination and a careful comparison of the two systems, as to their scientific value and their success in practice, they adopted tho homoeopathic as preferable to tho old system. Such is the increasing demand for homoeopathic medicine that druggists now keep it on hand to supply the wants ot their customers. UOMOSOPATnT. 11 The sublime philosophy of this new system num- bers its practitioners by the thousands and its adherents and supporters by the millions. One of the professors in the New York Medical College, where I attended lectures, said to his class one day: "Homoeopathy has been the means of saving mill- ions of lives by putting a check upon the reckless overdosing of our practice." If an enemy were to enter into our house we would seek to expel hi in without tearing down the house or even marring its wall and breaking its furniture; so we seek to expel disease from this temple of our higher nature without opening the way "for seven other" diseases "worse than the first to enter in." Homoeopathic physicians have not always acted wisely by trying to conceal from their patients the fact that the attenuated homoeopathic medicines are harmless to the healthy human system. Such medicines, given under proper conditions for some time would affect the health of a person; but the accidental taking of a small vial full of saturated pellets would do no harm when taken into the healthy stomach, yet a few pellets might act as an import- ant curative if the medicine had a homoeopathic re- lation to the disease. An Allopathic doctor once thought he had a good argument against me by say- ing, "I can take all the little pills in your pocket- case at one dose and not hurt mo." To this I re- plied that I could not take half of the contents of 12 DOSES AND APPLICATION. his pocket-case without killing me. The erroneous idea has long prevailed that medicine must make one sick before it can cure. A brighter day is dawning upon suffering human- ity, and the noble and honorable men of the profes- sion, of all classes, will become more liberal in their views, and seek only to use such remedies as will relieve human suffering, without any regard to the narrow gauge of anjr dogmatic school. Doses and External Applications. In order to avo'd a repetition of the same thing under the different diseases, I have given general directions which will be referred to in the directions for treatment as well as for external applications. The following will be easily remembered, and should guide us in the administration of medicines. 1. When different attenuations are recommended always procure them if convenient. If not, then use such as you have on hand. 2. When no mention is made of different atten- uations use ordinary remedies, generally rano-ino- from the third to the sixth attenuation. 3. When medicines are ordered to be given at certain times and intervals, always lengthen the time when there is a marked improvement. 4. If the patient feels worse after taking any one remedy, always discontinue it and use another one. DOSES AND APPLICATION. 13 5. When directed to use a wash of permangenate of potassa where there are no other specific direc- tions, use it as follows: Put as much as a grain or two of wheat in a tea- cup-full of water for external application, or for a gargle in diphtheria and such diseases. 6. When you have the saturated pellets in vials, pour from 6 to S pills on the hand and take imme- diately. 7. Physicians who have recommended either 4 pills or 2 drops of the liquid to be put into a half glass of water, perhaps never stopped to think of the difference there is between these two prescrip- tions. Two drops will saturate from 50 to 100 pills. As an ordinary rule, a child should take from 3 to 5 pellets, while an adult may take from 8 to 10. It is not the number of pills that effects the cure, but the homoeopatliic relation existing between the remedy and the disease. The effects of the satur- ated pellets are soon destroyed by taking out of the vial more than are wanted and then counting and handling, and putting them back into the vial again. The medicines, to be effective, must be perfectly pure. 14 I1IE NERVES. Nervous System. As the nerves play such an important part in ani- mal life, and as this fact will frequently bo referred to in the following pages, I have thought it proper to commence my plain talk to the sick, and to tho healthy as well, with a brief sketch of this marvel- ous arrangement of infinite wisdom. These h:gh- waj-s of our thoughts and feelings, and these secret springs of motion are not the outgrowth of trans- muted bread and beef-steak and other nutritious substances alone. These channels of our vital forces have been laid with a master hand, and their operations are left to our guardian care ; and wo are, to a certain extent, responsible for this trust. Nothing in the whole animal economy is so com- plex and so wonderful in its operations as the nerv- ous system. All animals, except perhaps some of the lowest forms, are supplied with nerves of mo- tion and sensation ; but complication increases as we ascend from the lower to tho higher forms of living organism, and with this increases the sus- ceptibility to impressions from external surround- ings, as well as from internal disturbances of tho regular operations of nature in the support of ani- mal life. It is only in the higher and more refined classes of animals that tho nerve power can gain such complete control of the muscular fibers as to force them from their natural position and functions, and produce the distressing condition called spasms TU.E NERVES. 15 or convulsions. Who ever heard of spasms in a pig, or convulsions in a goose, with its small brain! The cat and the dog, and other animals of a finer nervous development, are more or less subject to these afflictions. The more cultivated of the human race are more susceptible to nervous impressions, and also to dis- eases and derangements of the nervous system, than the uneducated laboring classes. This arises from the fact that the brain and spinal column—tho great centers of the nervous system—arc often over- taxed, or are not allowed sufficient time for rcposo after severe exertion or mental labor. These repeated strains without rest soon produco a disturbance of this wonderful system of minuto lines of intercommunication through the wholo body. This is immediately reported back to tho nerve centers, and the whole nervous system sym- pathizes with the suffering part. By a reflex ac- tion on the vascular system an extra amount of blood is thrown into the disturbed part. This often results in pain and inflammation, more or less severe, according to the strain put upon the affected local- ity. If, however, the breaking down is primarily in the nerve centers, then the whole nervous system will suffer. It must be remembered, however, that nervous sufferings are not a necessary attendant npon intellectual culture and refinement. They aro tho result of exhausted energies. When the com- plicated network of the nervous system is consid-' 16 THE NERVES. ered, instead of wondering why we suffer so much from nervous diseases, the great surprise should be that we suffer so little. If telegraph and telephone operators were as care- less about their apparatus as many are about the healthy condition of their nervous system, all lines of communication would soon be thrown into con- fusion. The human body is compared to a house—a dwelling-place for our higher nature, and as such, it has various compartments with marvelous means of instant communication from the center to the re- motest parts of the habitation. How carefully do men handle delicately constructed machinery to keep it in good running order! Every cog and wheel and spring must be kept in its place. To neglect repairs would soon ruin the best constructed mechanical contrivance; but how roughly do many treat the finely attenuated nerve fibers! These, pro- ceeding from the brain and spinal column, meet at way-stations called ganglia, distributed over differ- ent parts of the body, and from these meeting-places —the distributing offices of the nervous system— the finer branches pass out to the parts for which they were intended, from their original roots, re- taining their peculiar functions to their minutest ramifications. Among the marvelous things connected with the nervous system is its action along the different branches, in accordance with impressions made upon THE NERVES. 17 nerve centers through mental emotions. Our own experience and observation have taught us import- ant lessons on this subject. A fit of anger may sometimes arouse the entire nervous force and stimu- late the whole vascular system to such an extent that reason becomes dethroned, and a man for a moment is a mere furious animal, beyond accounta- bility for his action; hence legal enactments make provision for this uncontrollable excitement. On the other hand, a pleasant remark or a very trifling expression may cause the sensitive nerves to act on the small bloodvessels and send a beautiful blush to a young lady's face. Joy causes a nervous action on the heart, and kindles the eye into a glow of love and affection. Excessive grief will start a message along the line leading to the lachrymal glands and open the little flood-gates through which tears flow out. Hunger, in the presence of good things to eat, will immediately dispatch a message to the glands in the mouth, and the water flows, and mysterious nature says to the tempting food, Come on, I am ready for you. A dread of some approaching ca- lamity will often act upon the kidneys and urinary \ organs, or cause the sweat to flow from every pore. All parts of the body are under the influence of the nervous system, and so completely does it ramify every part that if every other part and tissue of the body could be removed, and the nervous system left entire, we would still have a complete form of a human being. 18 ABSCESS. We cannot touch the point of a needle to any part without pricking some sensitive nerve and pro- ducing pain. No one can enjoy good health with a broken-down nervous system, and no one can re- tain the strength and proper play of his nerves with his bodily health neglected. Abscess. An abscess is preceded by a painful swelling and redness indicating an inflammation. In this early stage the treatment should be with a view to subdue the local inflammation as well as the general febrile excitement in the system. For this give aconite and belladonna, alternately, every four hours, es- pecially to persons of a plethoric (full of blood) habit. Cold wet-cloth applications are sometimes agreeable to the patient, and relieve the pain. If the cold applications cause a chill over the whole body, and afford no relief, discontinue them, and apply hot fomentations, frequently repeated. If it is evident that pus is forming by the swell- ing coming to a point and softening at, or near the center, apply flax-seed or slippery-elm poultice. If it does not break soon after the softening com- mences it should be opened and the pus allowed to discharge. Abscesses are also liable to form on the liver and other internal organs, as well as on deep-seated AIR. 19 muscles, and should be treated by a skillful physi- cian. Treatment.—Silicea and Phosphorus are espe- cially indicated, to be given alternately every six hours. Poultices should be frequently changed as long as matter continues to discharge. A solution of the Permanganate of Potassa, 3 grains to a tea- cupful of water, frequently changed, will soon re- store the parts to a healthy condition. Air. Nothing in the whole economy of nature is so essential to animal life as pure air, and nothing is more abundant. It is the atmosphere that sur- rounds our earth to the extent of some forty miles; and is essentially composed of two gases, oxygen and nitrogen, in proportion of about 20 parts of the former and 80 of the latter. Here we see the marvel- ous operations of nature's chemical laboratory. Oxygen, although the supporter of life, is too fierce and fiery to be taken into the system in an un- diluted form, and hence this bulky substance, ni- trogen, is added to make it both agreeable and health-sustaining. These elementary substances in themselves are always pure, and the impurities we find in the atmosphere are caused from un- healthy exhalations from the earth. Some of these, such as miasma from decaying vegetable matter or impurities arising from decomposing animal mat- 20 AIR. ter, are the cause of various forms of disease. There are other gases connected with the atmos- phere, such as ammonia, and carbonic acid; the latter resulting from a union of the oxygen with the blood in the act of breathing or any other form of com- bustion. This is consumed by the growing plants, which in turn throw off the oxygen to be used again for the support of animal life. Flowers and plants contribute to the purity of the atmosphere in the house or out of doors. Vegetable growth is nature's great conservator to keep the air pure, and hence, house plants should be cultivated. Sleeping apartments should be large and well ventilated, and young children should never be al- lowed to sleep with old persons, especially when there is lung disease in the aged. The air respired from diseased lungs will deposite the seeds for con- sumption in any one, and more especially in chil- dren. Much reliance has been placed in disinfectants in case of contagions in the atmosphere, especially in chloride of lime and carbolic acid; but the results have not been satisfactory. Here it is wisdom to follow the voice of nature. In Cincinnati and other places, during the prevalence of the cholera, all sorts of disinfectants were tried, and still the cholera raged among all classes, excepting among livery- stable men, and these were protected by the am- monia arising from deposits of manure. An un- corked bottle of liquid ammonia in a room will purify AMAUROSIS. 21 the atmosphere more effectually than any other dis- infectant. One of the safeguards to the poor, labor- ing classes in the suburbs of the large cities is the proximity of their crowded dwellings to their sta- bles, where ammonia is constantly arising from ma- nure deposits. This will likely be disputed by ' some who form their theories and afterward ignore any facts that contradict them. Amaurosis. This is an affection of the optic nerve, causing a diminution and sometimes a complete loss of sight, without any perceptible change in the struc- ture of the eye. In an acute form, especially when it can be traced to some disturbing cause, there is hope for a recovery, and the treatment should not be neglected. When it assumes a chronic form there is scarcely any hope for recov- ery. This fact is mentioned here to caution those who are threatened with this disease not to neg- lect the proper treatment. TkExVt.ment.—Aconite and Belladonna should be given alternately every 4 hours, followed the third day with Gelseminum night and morning, in 3-drop doses of the 3d attenuation, to be continued one week. 22 ANGER. Anger. Anger, though not a disease in itself, is often the result of a diseased nervous condition, and if improperly indulged in, will finally result in seri- ous diseases. It is, in its milder forms, common to human nature, and the best of men may be placed in situations where they will feel the risings of this, so often an ungovernable passion. If feelings of anger are indulged in from trifling causes, they will gain an ascendency over our moral nature. There are many who first allowed anger to rankle in their bosoms in a melancholy mood, and endured the corroding passion in silence, " Gathering their brows like gathering storm, Nursing their wrath to keep it warm." But this, like many other injurious habits, is lia- ble to increase and gain the mastery over us. So that, instead of silent mutterings over real or sup- posed wrongs, there will be a flash, betokening rage, a flushed countenance, and a violent agitation of the whole body; sometimes an uncontrollable ex- citement of the muscles, producing an unusual de- gree of physical energy. All this is very injurious to health, and has often brought on violent forms of disease, such as convulsions, fainting, apoplexy, and in some instances, sudden death. To guard against this evil passion, a person, on its first approach, should pause a moment and ask this question of himself: "Am I a human being APTHA, THRUSH. 23 endowed with reason, or a mere brute to be gov- erned by brute force ? where will this end if I ex- change my manly reason for a tiger's fierceness?" To overcome this debasing passion we must keep a constant watch over our propensities, and as far as possible avoid all things which will cause an ex- citement of angry feelings. For bad effects, arising from a sudden fit of anger, if there is fever, give Aconite; if nervous disturbances predominate, give Chamomilla. Aptha, Thrush. This is a disease common to infants, and is well- known to mothers and nurses who have had the charge of children. It not only affects the linings of the mouth, the tongue, and the gums, but may extend down into the stomach and the lining of the small intestines, and become a very serious disease to nursing infants. Numerous remedies have been recommended by various classes of physicians, and while some have done no good, others have done much harm to the little sufferers. The following treatment will uniformly relieve the suffering and soon cure the patient: Get a little Permanganate of Potassa. Dissolve as much as a common pin's head in a teacup half full of water, and wash the child's mouth once every 4 hours, and the two hours between give, as a pow- der, as much as would cover a ten-cent piece of Mercurious viv., 3d trituration. The mother should 24 APOPLEXY. wash the nipples with the same solution every time just before the child nurses. The Potassa will act chemically upon the diseased condition of the mouth and bowels, and as one of the numerous preparations of caustic potash it is homoeopathic to this condition, as in massive doses it would produce a similar disease. (See chapter on Potassa.) Apoplexy. Apoplexy comes on very suddenly and with symptoms that may well give rise to fears for the life of the patient. As a general thing, however, there are premonitory symptoms from which an attack may be apprehended and which should cause persons liable to this disease to guard against it. Drowsiness and a sense of fullness in the head, in- distinct vision, dizziness, and a ringing in the ears are often forerunners of the attack. Persons with a short neck, flushed face, large head, and given to habits of high living and the use of stimulating food and drinks are most liable to apoplexy. Excessive mental labor and overtaxing of the nervous system may become exciting causes of this disease when there is a predisposition to it. Treatment.—For premonitory symptoms, if they result from over-exertion, take JVux vomica, 3d, every 2 hours, keep quiet, and avoid all stimulating food. When it occurs, and the patient is prostrate and unconscious, do not allow bleeding. This has often been resorted to with fatal results. Keep APPETITE. 25 the patient as quiet as possible, where there is an abundance of pure, fresh air, and give him cold water to drink, sponging the head frequently with moderately cold water. The principal homoeopathic remedies are Aconite and Belladonna in alternation every hour, and with returning consciousness and increase of strength lengthen the intervals between the medi- cine. (Dose, see p. 12.) Appetite, {Loss of.) There is a difference between appetite and hun- ger, although these terms are often used to express the same sensation. Hunger is a strong desire for food, and this may exist where the appetite is want- ing, and can only be satisfied by eating. Appetite can sometimes be excited by eating, even when it is absent at the commencement of a meal; hence 'we often hear people say that they eat with a com- ing appetite. The want of it is often caused by a de- rangement of the stomach or other disturbing causes, which should be removed instead of resort- ing to stimulants to increase the appetite. Alcohol will not assimilate, Tike water, with the saliva se- creted from the glands of the mouth ; it enters the stomach and acts on its delicate linings as an irri- tating poison, and as such, passes into the system until expelled by the natural scavengers of the ani- mal economv. The patent medicines usually sold 26 ASTHMA. to increase the appetite are often gotten np for speculation by persons ignorant of the laws of life and health, and although they may produce a mo- mentary excitement by their stimulating effects, yet in a great majority of cases, the difficulty is in- creased, and no permanent relief is obtained. For loss of appetite, where there is no other dis- turbance, give Nux vomica, 3d, three times a day, and if no better after a few days, give Nux, 3d, at night and Sulphur, 30th, in the morning. Asthma. This disease is so well known from the distress and suffering it causes to the patient that a descrip- tion of it here is unnecessary. It may be heredi- tary or caused from some other disease. Numer- ous remedies have been resorted to, but very few have afforded permanent relief. One class of medi- cines may do well for a time and soon lose their effect. The most reliable homoeopathic remedies are Nux vomica, Ipecac and Lobelia in low atten- uations. Inhalation of Saltpeter burnt on brown paper has often afforded temporary relief. A change of climate affords the only sure remedy. From a resi- dence of several years in Colorado I became ac- quainted with many who had suffered untold ago- nies for years in the Eastern and Middle States from asthma, and found entire relief in the pure mountain air. atrophy or nervous consumption. 27 Atrophy or Nervous Consumption. This may be known from a wasting of the whole system from defective nutrition. The nervous sys- tem, which is so intimately connected with the whole animal economy, becomes exhausted, and with this all the organs are disturbed in their nat- ural operations, and finally there is a breaking down of the physical and mental powers. If the disease can be traced to any particular cause, that cause should be removed. If it results from some other disease, treatment should be di- rected to that disease. If it results from some bad habits, they must be abandoned. If massive doses of medicine are administered the difficulty will be increased. Homoeopathic remedies, such as Arseni- cum and Nux vomica, given in alternation every 4 hours, may have a good effect, but the principal reliance should be placed in friction on the surface with a wet towel. Active rubbing with cold, salt water will be all important. This should be done, and on alternate days the patient should be thoroughly rubbed over with olive oil, and where this cannot be obtained, take common lard, and with the rubbing pat the patient over with the hand so as to produce a redness on the skin, and then allow him to remain half an hour in the hot sun, changing positions so that the rays of the sun in turn strike every part of the body. This will require considerable care and labor, but in a matter 28 BATHING. of life or death we should be willing to perform this labor. I have restored some by this process where doctors of different classes have pronounced the case hopeless. Bathing. This is one of the most important appliances, both for the preservation and the restoration of health, and, like all other restorative agents, it should be used with discretion, and in accordance with the indications for the different kinds of baths resorted to. Cold water acts as a tonic and with all its benefi- cial effects it must be used with caution. All can- not endure an equal amount of cold water applica- tions. A sudden plunge into a cold bath may pro- duce an injurious shock to the nervous system. An application of a cold, wet towel with considera- ble friction is always agreeable, and any person, after repeated experiments, will soon find what tem- perature is most agreeable and beneficial. A hand- bath, by dipping the hand in cold water and rubbing over the whole body is conducive to good health. It invigorates the system and gives tone to the hair- like net-work of nerves over the surface. A full bath should never be taken in less than two hours after a full meal; the feet should be warm and the bowels evacuated. First wet the head and face with cold water. On first going into BATHING. 29 the water have it a temperature perfectly comfort- able, then turn on the hot water until as hot as can be borne, and remain quiet for a few minutes; then turn on cold water until agreeably cold, and rub the body thoroughly; then cool the water as cold as can be borne, and come out of it. Instead of standing shivering while drying your- self with a towel, have a sheet ready to throw around your person as soon as you come out of the water and dry yourself with that. When given tepio) and cold, this bath is excellent in fevers and inflammation, and can be given quickly as often as once or twice a day. If the water is made so warm as to produce excessive perspiration, and the patient kept in it from thirty minutes to two hours, it is in- valuable in the treatment of rheumatism, ague, and like diseases. For such cases it can be given once or twice a day. In all baths the water should be cooled before com- ing out, as this closes the pores and prevents colds. Public bathing establishments in large cities should be encouraged, and if pleasure-seekers were to resort to them oftener, instead of to places of amusement in crowded and illy-ventilated rooms, they would add many years to their lives and avoid much suffering that results from a want of attention to these laws of life and health. 30 BILIOUSNESS. Biliousness. This is an indefinite, yet very convenient term to express a deranged condition of the digestive or- gans. In a great majority of cases where an attack of disease is called biliousness, it is simply a pros- tration of the nervous system. More harm has been done under the mistaken idea of exciting the action of the liver with strong purgative medicine, than by any other mode of treatment. The liver is one of the most abused organs in the whole body, and yet it is one of the most important. It is a kind of chemical laboratory where bile and other useful materials for the support of the animal econ- omy are manufactured. In many cases of nervous dyspepsia where the whole system is deranged, producing bad taste in the mouth, sleeplessness, nausea, vomiting, head- ache, and the whole train of nervous disorders, the liver gets the blame. What follows? Blue mass, calomel, liver pills, and a whole mass of nauseating compounds are forced into the stomach, the case is made worse from the severe medicines, and the unsuspecting victim of this heroic treatment con- cludes that the liver had got such a start on him that it was a hard matter to straighten it up. What an immense amount of suffering has been entailed upon our poor human nature under the mistaken notion of curing disease by purging and other violent measures, which pull down, instead of BILIOUSNESS. 31 building up and expelling disease by acting on it in accordance with the homoeopathic law of cure. So sure as a physician gives large doses of medi- cine for supposed biliousness, when the disease is in the nervous system, just so sure will he break down the remaining strength and lessen the chances for the patient's recovery. There are, however, honorable exceptions among all classes of physicians who are progressive and cautious, and no longer follow in the narrow groove of the old dogmatists in medicine. Treatment.—For a condition of the system that would properly come under the head of biliousness, give Aconite, in the commencement, 6 drops of the first attenuation in a glass half full of water, a tea- spoonful every hour for 12 hours. Follow this with Nux vomica and Mercurius every 2 hours alter- nately. If the attack is accompanied with sharp, darting pains through the chest, give Bryonia, 6th, and Rhus Tox., 3d, in alternation every 2 hours. (See chapter on doses, p. 12.) Should the nervous system be affected, the above treatment will guard against running into typhoid fever. My reasons for recommending the different attenuations are based upon long experience and careful observa- tions. 32 bites of dogs, snakes, ETC. Bilious Colic This painful disease is caused by an accumula- tion of bile in the intestines, which acts as a foreign substance on the sensitive nerves spread over the membrane of the bowels. When the pain is very severe a tablespoonful of Olive Oil will have a soothing effect on the irritated condition and will not interfere with the proper homoeopathic treat- ment. Treatment.—Give, first, Aconite, 1st dilution, 10 drops in a glass half full of water, a teaspoonful every hour. This should be followed with Colo- cynth, 1st attenuation, 10 drops in a glass half full of water and a teaspoonful every half hour. If the homoeopathic preparation cannot be obtained, get the Tincture of Colocynth from any drug store, and put 3 drops in a glass half full of water, and give as directed above. If relief is not obtained, give Nux vomica, 1st, and Cocculus Indicus, 3d, every half hour, alternately. Bites of Dogs, Snakes, and Insects. As soon as a person is bitten by a dog there are grounds for suspicion that the dog may be mad, and the inconsiderate habit of shooting him on the spot is wrong. It has caused much anxiety that might have been avoided if the animal had been allowed to live and give positive proof that he was BITES OF DOGS, SNAKES, ETC. 33 not affected with hydrophobia. If it is evident, however, that a dog, cat, or any other animal was mad when the person was bitten, the worst that can come should be guarded against. Dry cups should immediately be applied over the wound, and when these cannot be obtained the part should be immediately cut out, or if this is neglected, send a messenger to the nearest drug store and procure a Spanish-fly plaster and apply over the wound and leave it on till it draws a large blister, then open it and let it discharge, and do not heal it up sud- denly with salves. The longer it runs and dis- charges the better and safer. I had a patient, some fourteen years ago, bitten severely in the hand by a mad dog, and immediately ordered the fly plas- ter, and he is alive and well now and never had a disagreeable symptom from it. Yery little confi- dence can be placed in medicines. Belladonna and other vegetable poisons have been recom- mended, and these may have a tendency to quiet the nervous excitement of the patient. Nourish- ing diet and exercise in the open air will have a tendency to expel any remaining virus from the system. SNAKE BITES. These are not so fearful in their final results as hydrophobia, yet often prove fatal from the want of proper attention. 2 34 BLADDER. There are numerous cases recorded where heavy draughts of Whisky have counteracted poison, and to all appearance saved the life of the patient, Alcohol applied to the wound is also highly recom- mended. BITES OF INSECTS. There are poisonous insects the sting of which is very painful; among these are the hornet, wasp, and honey bee, for which Ammonia-water, Harts- horn, and Lye-water or any kind of strong alkali is the most appropriate remedy. Bladder, {Inflammation of the.) This may be known by a feverishness and pain- ful sensation in the region of the bladder. A de- scription of this organ is not necessary here. This inflammation is often brought on by cold or severe exertion. Treatment.—Qive Aconite and Cantharides in alternation every hour. If not relieved in twelve hours, give Pulsatilla and Mercurius the same way. (Dose, see p. 12.) bleeding. 35 Bleeding From the Lungs. This may come on suddenly from over-exertion or unusual strain on the small blood vessels ; but more generally it is preceded by a strange sensa- tion of warmth under the breast bone, with difficulty of breathing and a sense of weight and pain in the lungs. The constitutional symptoms so nearly re- semble many other forms of disease that the attack is only known to a certainty when the blood is raised by an effort to cough and hawking and spit- ting. Blood from the lungs may be known from its light red color and being mixed with minute air bubbles. The amount varies from a mere speck, staining the mucus raised from the lungs, to a quan- titv that becomes alarming. It is sometimes dark and clotted, on account of its remaining some time in the lungs before it is coughed up. Bleeding from the lungs is not so dangerous as many other forms of disease of this vital organ, but requires prompt attention and care. It is liable to occur where a physician cannot be obtained, and it is well to know what to do in an emergency. The first thing necessary is to keep the patient perfectly quiet. He should not speak a loud word, and sup- press the cough as much as possible. In the absence of a physician, first dissolve a half tea- spoonful of common table salt in a little water^and give it every 15 minutes for some time. If this does not afford relief, hold a little ice and alum in BLEEDING. the mouth and swallow slowly. The medical treat- ment should be, first, 3 drops of the Tincture of Aconite in a glass half full of water, to which add a teaspoonful of pure, white sugar, and give a tea- spoonful every half hour till the most violent symp- toms have passed away- The Aconite will control the action of the heart, and the addition of the sugar will quiet a tendency to cough. If there are darting pains through the lungs, give Bryonia every hour. (Dose, see p. 12.) If there remains a feverishness on the lungs after the bleeding and pain have subsided, give Nux vomica and Hepar Sulphur alternately every 2 hours. (Dose, see p. 12.) A cloth wrung out in cold water should be spread over the lungs and covered with dry flannel. Give the patient fresh air and nourishing diet and all the cold water he craves to drink. Bleeding at the Nose. This is an affection common to children and young people. It is not, properly speaking, a disease, as some of the most healthy children are subject to it. If it should be accompanied with a sense of fullness and pain in the head, give Aconite and Belladonna alternately. (Dose, see p. 12.) If there are no disagreeable symptoms connected with it, it will not be necessary to take any medi- cine. The head should be kept in an erect posi- tion and a little cold water applied to the back of bleeding. 37 the neck. A little alum dissolved in water and snuffed will act as an astringent. Pulverized gum arabic is also recommended; and as soon as a clot is formed it must not be disturbed until the small blood-vessels have resumed their natural channels. Bleeding from the Stomach. There are no symptoms that would unmistakably indicate hemorrhage of the stomach. It is the most important organ in the whole animal economy—the manufacturing establishment where the materials are prepared to supply the wants and wastes of the system. There is no vital organ in any living being in the whole animal creation so much imposed upon as the human stomach. Inferior animals seek food suited to their wants and capacity to work it into living tissues by an instinct which never misleads them. With them it is a matter of demand and supply in accordance with the laws of their being; and hence there is no laceration of the lining mem- brane of the stomach, and the current of life flows on smoothly, and death only comes when its weary wheels have run their rounds and come to a stand- still from natural exhaustion. Men would actually become frightened if they could see the condition of a human stomach as the result of injudicious diet and drink. The small blood-vessels in the inner coating of the stomach are often distended by stimulating drinks, such as 38 BLEEDING. alcohol in its various forms, so as to cause a rup- ture of these minute, hair-like veins, and the result is an oozing out of blood, mixing with the gastric secretions, vitiating the contents of the stomach so as to produce loss of appetite, nausea, chilliness, coldness of the extremities, with the. whole train of nervous symptoms that usually result from a deranged condition of this organ. Nothing in medical literature has given the pro- fession such correct views of the condition of the human stomach in the process of digestion as the observations of Dr. Beaumont on Alexis St. Mar- tin. Dr. Beaumont was surgeon of the United States Army, and in the year 1S22, while stationed on our northern frontier in the State of Michigan, this young Canadian, eighteen years of age, then in the service of the American Fur Company, was accidentally shot, receiving the whole charge of a musket in his left side from a distance of about one yard, fracturing two ribs and tearing away a part of his stomach. Notwithstanding the severity of the wound, by careful attention Dr. Beaumont succeeded in restoring him to his usual good health, leaving, however, an opening in the stomach cov- ered by a flap through which, in after years, the doctor made his numerous observations and experi- ments in reference to the condition of the stomach in the various stages of the digestive process, and the effects of different kinds of food and drink on the inner surface of the stomach. It was found BLEEDING. 39 that after St. Martin had indulged in drinking ar- dent spirits for some time the blood was seen to ooze from the thousands of small blood-vessels over the coating of the stomach, while inflamed grumous spots were formed in different parts, showing a high state of irritation of the membrane. After abstain- ing from alcoholic drinks and the use of nutritious diet, the stomach was restored to its' healthy con- dition, and the disagreeable symptoms consequent upon indulgence in these dissipations would pass away. These experiments go to show that the stomach may suffer and bear and for a time rally and resume its functions, and only break down after a long series of impositions and ill-treatment. When bleeding from the stomach occurs from improper food and alcoholic liquors, abstinence and careful diet are the surest means of restoring it to a healthy action. If it results from cold or ex- posure or other causes not immediately under the control of the patient, the ordinary remedies for hemorrhage should be resorted to. If there is fever, with an increased pulse, give Aconite. If it re- sults from an injury, give Arnica. The diet should consist of boiled milk with bread or soda crackers, and the patient should be kept perfectly quiet and drink slippery-elm water or some other cooling liquids. ">, 40 BOILS. Boils. These painful conical-shaped swellings, varying in size from a pea to a walnut, are so well-known and so easily distinguished that a further description here is unnecessary. From the fact that a boil sel- dom comes alone, but is followed or accompanied by others, either in the same locality or on differ- ent parts of the body, we infer that they are caused by some constitutional disturbance. They some- times follow fever or other diseases, and are looked on by some as favorable indications—a kind of miniature volcanoes to relieve the system of some unhealthy accumulation. This is a mistaken idea, but it may have a tendency to resign the sufferer to his inconvenience with a hope that they mav prevent other and worse forms of disease. When the whole system becomes feverish, Aconite and Belladonna may be given with advantage every 2 hours in alternation. Warm Slippery-elm or Flax- seed poultices should be applied, and to correct the constitutional disturbance favorable to their forma- tion give Sulphur at night and Silica in the morn- ing. BOWELS. 41 Bowels, {Inflammation of.) The bowels, as well as all the other organs of the abdominal viscera, bounded above by the dia- phragm and below by the pelvis, are subject to either acute or chronic inflammation, which often originate from similar causes, such as sudden ex- posure to cold when the body is heated, suddenly checked perspiration, or drinking large draughts of cold water immediately after severe exertion in warm weather ; eating too freely of unripe fruit in hot weather; drastic, poisonous, cathartic medi- cines, with many other disturbing influences that might be named. A good friend of mine who died in the prime of life told me that for a slight ailment, supposed to be a bilious attack, he went to a doctor who pre- scribed for him a heavy dose of tartar emetic. In- stead of operating as an emetic it produced a ca- thartic effect and caused such an irritation in his bowels that from the day he took that dose he never saw another day's health. He was trans- formed from a robust, healthy young man into an invalid for life, under the sanction of a diploma that allows a man to slay his neighbor and take pay for it. I say here, as one who has a right to speak on this subject from long experience and careful ob- servation, that two-thirds if not more of all the chronic inflammation of the bowels, have their ori- 42 BOWELS. gin in over-doses of poisonous drugs in compounds injudiciously mixed without a proper knowledge of chemical affinities or compatibilities. These com- pounds undergo changes in the system by chemical action, and often become averulent poison instead of a health-restoring medicine. It is amusing to one who understands the ac- tion of drugs, to see what strange compounds come from high medical authority; but the victim is to be pitied. I have now before me one of these pre- scriptions, written in June, 1874, by a professor of Materia Medica in a leading Medical University. It is as follows: R Tr. Guaiaei Am............................6 drams Tr. Cinch, fl................................8 drams Pot. Iod...................................20 grains Vin Oolchioi...............................40 drops Muc. Aeaciae................................9 drams Lithise Cit...................................1 scruple Aquae—ad..................................8 ounces Sig-.—Take an eighth part once a day, on alternate weeks, with a little water about noon. Here follow three initials. Here are six remedies thrown together, perhaps with the idea if one did not hit the disease the other would, but did it occur to the learned doctor that if the medicine did not act on the disease it might become a disturbing element to the healthy functions—an intruder into the sound precincts where disease had not yet entered ? I said there are six different drugs thrown to- gether, for the seventh, marked "Agues—ad., 8 ounces," means 8 ounces of water. BOWELS. 43 There are pills now manufactured, and sugar- coated to make them palatable, and recommended as a safe tonic, that will most assuredly undermine the stoutest constitution, if taken for some time. Here is a sample of one of them: QUININE COMPOUND AND STRYCHNINE, Quiniae Sulphus (Sulph. Quinine) ............. lgr. Ferrum Redactum, (Powder of Iron).............. 1 gr. Acid Arsenlosum, (Acid of Arsenic;............1-20 gr. Strychnia, (Strychnia)..................1-20 gr. See above. Dose, 1 pill, tWo or three times a day. The above is taken from a small pocket-book of formulas published by the manufacturers of pills for the greenhorns in the medical profession with defective memories. Now let a person in perfect health take one of these pills two or three times a day for some time, and chronic inflammation of the stomach and bow- els will be the result. One of the most melancholy reflections arising out of this subject is the fact that diseases produced by these poisonous compounds are more difficult to get rid of than those which come from other causes. In case of inflammation of the bowels from ordinary causes commence the Treatment.—With Aconite, 3 or 4 drops, third dilution, in 12 teaspoonfuls of pure water and give a teaspoonful every hour. If there is no marked improvement in 12 hours, give Bryonia, sixth attenuation, and Ilhus Tax, third attenuation, by putting about a dozen globules of each, separate, in a glass half full of water, and give a teaspoonful every 2 hours, alternately. Do not become impa- 44 BOWELS. tient; there is nothing gained in giving medicine oftener than every 2 hours unless the case is very severe. A cold, wet compress laid over the bow- els, well covered with a dry flannel bandage and renewed every time it gets dry, will greatly expe- dite the cure. A lady came to me in the year 1852 with a chronic inflammation of the bowels. She told me she had been given up by her physician as a hope- less case. In fact she was, like the woman men- tioned in the gospel, " She had suffered much from many physicians and got no better but rather grew worse." I gave her Sulphur and Phosphorus, sixth attenuation, and ordered her to wear a wet bandage around her bowels for two weeks, and at the end of that time an eruption appeared under the bandage with some pustules that discharged a thin, watery substance. I continued for some time to give her Nux vomica, sixth attenuation, at night, and Sulphur, sixth attenuation, in the morning. She soon regained her accustomed health and strength. Persons subject to inflammation of the bowels should be careful about their diet and habits of life, keep a regular temperature of the body, and exer- cise moderately. No medicine can act favorably on the system where other conditions of health are neglected. BRAIN. 45 Brain, {Inflammation of.) This is sometimes called "brain fever," and the alarming nature of this disease may be overlooked and viewed with indifference from the fact that some of the symptoms of brain fever are common with those of other forms of fever. If it comes on gradually there is generally a confusion of ideas, a dull pain in the head, with disturbed vision and de- fective hearing. As the disease advances, the pain and heat in the head increase, and this, through reflex action of the nervous system, soon produces chills, followed by general fever, dry skin, pulse quick and hard, and the pupil of the eye is con- tracted. The light is painful to the eye and noise' disturbs the patient, sometimes to such an extent that the opening of a door, or the most quiet move- ment through the room will aggravate the pain in the head. In case of an acute attack, all the symptoms are more violent from the commencement, and may soon be followed with stupor and delirium. The eyes lose their brightness and the pupils are dilated to more than twice their ordinary size and there is less sensibility to the light. The countenance be- comes pale, the pulse quick and wiry, the eyes half closed, and there is a loss of consciousness. The Cause.—Inflammation of the brain may be produced from various causes such as produce other constitutional disturbances, and frequently from 46 BRAIN. the bad management of other diseases. I have often met with severe cases of this kind, where heavy doses of astringent medicines were given to check or stop a diarrhea or dysentery. We often hear inexperienced physicians say, " I cured the diar- rhea, or dysentery, but a new disease set-in which I could not control." The truth is, the disease was not cured. It was only driven from a locality where it might have been controlled and cured, to the brain, where in many cases it could not be con- trolled. Thousands of patients are annually sacri- ficed to this injudicious method of treatment. No sooner do we hear of the approach of cholera or an epidemic form of dysentery or other forms of Bowel complaint than we see on fences and almost every place where an advertisement can be stuck up, placarded in conspicuous letters, "Sure Cure for Cholera." "Infallible Kemedy for Diarrhea and Dysentery," etc. These compounds are often gotten up by ignorant pretenders, and contain pow- erful astringents which will at once stop the dis- charges from the bowels, and in a majority of cases send the disease to the brain. There are other causes that will lead to this fearful disease, such as concussion or a blow struck on the head, or sudden exposure of the head to a draft of cold air when the body is heated. The inflammation may be in the substance of the brain or in the surrounding membranes. In either case the object should be to reduce the inflammation as soon as possible ; for BREAST. 47 which commence with Aconite and Belladonna al- ternately every hour. (Doses, see p. 12.) When the inflammatory symptoms have subsided, and the patient is in a half-conscious condition, with eyes partially closed, discontinue the Aconite and give Belladonna every 2 hours, and lengthen the inter- val as the patient improves. If there should still be severe pain in the back part of the head, extend- ing down the spinal column, causing the head to be thrown back with intense agony, almost or quite depriving the patient of reason and consciousness, then give Gelseminum,10 drops in a glass half full of water and give a teaspoonful every fifteen min- utes till these violent symptoms pass away. At the same time bathe the head and spinal column with strong Camphor^water. If the patient has cold extremities and there are indications of great exhaustion of the vital forces, give a teaspoonful of Brandy every 15 minutes until a glow of warmth is produced, at the same time rub the limbs briskly with the hand to get up a good circulation in the extremities. If the disease originated from a fall or blow on the head, Arnica will be an appropri- ate remedy. (Dose, see p. 12.) Breast, {Inflammation of.) This may take place at any time during the nurs- ing of an infant; but occurs most commonly in the earlier period, and may be caused from the inability of the new-born infant to empty the breast of the 4 s BREAST. secreting fluid, and this may produce what is called among nursing women, ague in the breast. It may occur at any time from exposure to cold or allow- ing the breasts to become too much distended with milk in consequence of sore nipples or prolonged absence from the child. This, like many other in- flammatory diseases, is generally ushered in with a chill, succeeded by fever, with sharp, darting pains through the breast. A painful swelling soon follows the fever, the skin assuming a red, glossy appearance, very sensitive to pressure, with throb- bing, and the pain extending to the arm-pits. The first and a very important thing in the treat- ment is to prevent the formation of matter, if pos- sible. Treatment.—Aconite and Belladonna every 2 hours, alternately, (dose, see p. 12), are among the most important remedies. As an external applica- tion 1 have found nothing better than a Carrot Poultice, applied as hot as it can be borne, and fre- quently repeated. The carrots should be boiled first in water and then mashed and an equal quan- tity of bread added to the carrots and again boiled in sweet milk, so as to make a soft and pliable poultice. If short, darting pains remain after 12 hours, give Bryonia every 2 hours. If, after all efforts to prevent it, an abscess is formed, and the breast breaks, the warm poultice must be continued and the opening washed several times a day with a solution of I\rmangenate of BREATH. 49 Potassa or Tincture of Calendula. (For this preparation see p. 12.) Breath, {Foul.) Foul breath may result from various causes, such as decayed teeth, bad condition of the stomach, diseased lungs, or it may be caused by large doses of mercury or other mineral poison. The food we eat often affects our breath, as in case of onions, garlic, and the like. The first step in an effort to free ourselves from this disagreeable affection will be to remove the cause. If decayed teeth and inflamed gums are the cause, have the teeth removed and the gums healed and the mouth made sweet and clean. If it arises from a deranged stomach, have that attended to; and if your stomach will bear it, drink a glass of fresh, cold water every night on going to bed. If your lungs are the cause, then they must be treated according to indications. (See Disease of the Lungs.) As homoeopathic remedies take Nux vomica at night and Sulphur in the morning, especially if there is habitual constipation and a tendency to dyspepsia, or where the stomach has been de- ranged by stimulating drink. Whatever will pro- mote the healthy action of the stomach will have a tendency to remove foul breath. 50 bright' s disease. Bright' s Disease. This alarming disease is introduced here, not so much with a view of telling how to cure a severe case, as how to avoid it and to check its progress in the incipient stage. There are many who have heard of the alarming, and often incurable charac- ter of this disease, and have some idea of its nature and progress, who often make themselves miserable with the thought that they have it, when they have no symptoms of it. This, like many other dis- eases that often terminate fatally, can be easily managed if attended to in the commencement. When the causes that have a tendency to pro- duce the disease are understood, it is the extreme of folly to indulge in things so dangerous to health as to expose ourselves unnecessarily to danger when it can be avoided. This disease is called Alhuminaria, from the secretion of albumen from the blood by the unhealthy action of the kidneys, and hence it is also called Bright's disease of the kidneys. The symptoms accompanying this disease are so similar to those of many other diseases brought on by exposure to cold or malarious influences, that it is impossible always to ascertain its real charac- ter. The presence of albumen in the urine is the only sure test, and even this may sometimes be deceptive. BRIGHT'S DISEASE. 51 There are other diseases where a certain amount of albumen may for a time exist in the urine, and pass away without serious injury. When, how- ever, there is disordered digestion, sickness of the stomach, and pain in the loins, a general languor and prostration, pain from pressure over the region of the kidneys, the skin dry, with change of color in the urine, and a continued presence of albumen in the urine, the evidence is strong that this disease is making inroads on the system. The urine should be submitted to chemical test by an expert, and the object of the treatment should be to restore the healthy action of the kidneys. I can do a better service to my readers by telling them how to avoid this troublesome disease than by telling how to cure it. By a careful attention to the laws of health we keep the different parts of the animal economy in good running order. The different functions of the body are not independent establishments, carry- ing on business on their own account, but there is a telegraphic connection, through nervous influence from one department to the other, and when one part suffers others become more or less affected. When the skin becomes dry and the sweat pores are closed, there is at once an extra amount of labor thrown on the kidneys. An eruption injudiciously treated with " healing ointment" may drive the disease to the kidneys. Excessive use of alcoholic liquors, neglect of proper exercise, external inju- ries, or anything that will injure the general 52 BRIGHT'S DISEASE. health may have a tendency to bring on this disease. When there are reasons to suspect the approach of kidney troubles, be careful to keep the skin in a good condition by bathing and friction with a coarse towel over the region of the kidneys. Take frequent exercise in the open air. To restore the blood to a healthy condition, I would recommend 10 drops of the Tincture of Muriate of Iron in a wineglass full of water, to be taken three times a day after each meal; this will act chemically on the blood and restore it to a healthy condition. If there is a tendency to dropsy, it is an evidence of the impoverished condition of the blood and an accumulation of its watery constituents in the cel- lular tissues and must be treated as such. (See Dropsy.) In recommending iron to act chemically on the blood I do not abandon homoeopathy, I make a distinction between the ordinary action of attenuate medicine on diseased conditions and the chemical action of crude substances on the blood, and I do that which many homoeopathic physicians would not dare do from a fear of losing caste with their brethren. I will only add here that I am not writ- ing to please men nor to gain favor, but to benefit suffering humanity by recommending what I have found, from long and repeated experience, to be successful in curing disease, regardless of any medical dogma. BRONCHITIS. 53 Bronchitis, {Acute.) This disease has often been mistaken for inflam- mation of the lungs, and others, again, have given this name to affections of the throat and wind-pipe. It must be remembered that this large air passage divides into two branches near the upper part of the lungs, called bronchi, one of which goes to the right and the other to the left lung. These branches divide and sub-divide through the entire substance of the lungs and finally terminate in the air-cells, outside of which and around which the blood circu- lates and is thrown into the lungs by the action of the heart. The delicate mucus membrane lining these cells and air-tubes is the seat of this disease. When, therefore, a public speaker has made him- self hoarse by speaking too long and too loud in the open air, and points to his throat and says he is suffering from bronchitis, you may be sure he is mistaken; bronchitis is always in the air-tubes of the lungs. Symptoms.—If the disease commences in the mi- nute bronchial ramifications, in the interior of the lungs, there is often severe pain with difficulty of breathing, and a dry, spasmodic cough, followed in a day or two with the expectoration of a clear, . tough mucus. If the disease is allowed to pro- gress, this mucus may soon be streaked with blood or assume a brick-dust color, in consequence of a rupture of some of the minute blood-vessels in the 54 BRONCHITIS. lungs. When there is such a collection of mucus as to render respiration difficult, the face becomes flushed, with an expression of distress, and a bluish color, from a want of a sufficient amount of air in the lungs to change the dark venous, to bright-red arterial blood. This disease, in persons previously healthy, with all its alarming symptoms, seldom terminates fa- tally when properly treated. Causes.—These are similar to those producing other affections of the respiratory organs, such as checked respiration, sudden exposure to cold, going out of a heated room, or sitting in a room where a cold current of air can strike the chest. One of the severest cases I ever witnessed, to re- cover, was that of a young married lady, in the year 1853. She had uniformly enjoyed good health, was quite fleshy and full-blooded, and had never had any trouble on her lungs. She stood a few minutes with her door partly open, the room inside quite warm, and the air outside very cold, and the wind blowing fiercely. There was no ex- cuse for her doing this; while some young ladies who have brought on some very severe lung dis- eases by this imprudent exposure, claim that they have to go to the door and stand for some time in the cold draft of air and bid their lovers good-night and talk about something they forgot to mention in the warm parlor. I have known many severe lung and bronchial affections brought on by thi* BRONCHITIS. 55 very inconsiderate habit, and young gentlemen are mostly to blame for it. They sit and talk in a warm room till a late hour and when they start for home, just as they get outside of the door, a crowd of new ideas rush to their minds, something they had not thought of while sitting in the warm room. Their lady friend must now stand in the cold draft of wind and hear it out. She retires to rest with a chill followed by a fever, and sometimes by a seri- ous bronchial affection, and all this because the young gentleman had not sense enough to tell all he knew while he was in the warm room, and had to expose his lady friend to a current of cold air at the risk of her health. This is not a fancy picture of an isolated case, but a very common occurrence every winter, in town and country. My advice to all young gentle- men is, on such occasions, to tell all they know while in the warm room, and get all the information the young lady is willing to give, up to that time, and then start immediately, and close the door. Treatment.—In nearly, if not in every instance of affections of the respiratory organs, brought on by an exposure to cold, the treatment should be commenced with Aconite, to subdue inflammatory action. Commence by putting 2 or 3 drops of the tincture in a glass half full of water and give the patient a teaspoonful every hour. If there is no marked improvement in six hours, give Tartar- emetic in alternation with Aconite every hour. I 56 bronchocele. prefer the first decimal trituration, ten grains to half a glass of water. Having been a severe suf- ferer myself from bronchial and throat affections, I have become satisfied with the great value of this remedy, not only in my own case, but in many others where I have used it with great success. I have also found Belladonna an excellent remedy in this affection, 5 drops of the first decimal to a glass half full of water, given in alternation with Tartar-emetic, as above directed, instead of the Aconite. Experience has taught me that Aconite and Belladonna, given on alternate days, often has a good effect, while I consider the Tartar emetic the most important remedy we have in throat and bronchial affection. I will most likely hear objec- tions to this by those who have had but a limited experience in practice, and take down everything they find in the books. All our knowledge of the action of medicines is the result of experiment, and an experience of some thirty-five years has con- vinced me of the immense value of this medicine for these affections. Bronchocele. This is a disagreeable, though not painful swell- ing of the fore part of the neck, and conies on so gradually that in its first appearance it is scarcely noticed. In England it is called Derbyshire neck, from the locality where it most prevails. In France and Switzerland it is called Goitre. The swelling bronchocele. 57 may take place on one or both sides of the wind- pipe, and it generally prevails in certain localities. its presence has been a puzzle to the doctors, and a mortification to man}^ a young lady whose form has been disfigured by this unsightly enlargement. On account of its prevalence to a great extent in certain districts, it has been attributed to local cli- matic influences. It is, however, not confined to any locality, but is found more or less in every country, yet not in such frightful forms as in many parts of Europe. Treatment.—I have had many cases under my care for treatment and have found nothing so suc- cessful as a weak solution of Corrosive Sublimate, made as follows : Dilute Alcohol, 4 ounces ; Cor- rosive Sublimate, 10 grains; to which may be added 10 grains of Muriate of Ammonia ; and this should be applied with the hand and rubbed briskly for some time, so as to produce a redness on the surface from the friction. Here, again, some nar- row-gauge doctor who moves in his track like a blind horse on a tread-wheel, will say, " This is not homoeopathy. It is not ' similia similibus curan- tur.'9 " To this I reply : This treatment can do no harm, and it has succeeded in my hands where others have failed. This whole system of servilely following the teach- ing of books, often written by men of limited ex- perience in practice, reminds me of the man of very benevolent intentions who purchased a prayer- 58 BURNS AND SCALDS. book with prayers for a great variety of cases, which he was always willing to read to the afflicted to console them in their troubles. He was sent for, once upon a time—so the story goes—to see a very sick man. With his prayer-book in hand, he hast- ened to visit the sick man in order to read the ap- propriate prayer. When he came to the house he found that the man had been bitten by a snake. The index to the different prayers was hastily glanced over, and to his horror and surprise he found there was no prayer in his book suitable for the bite of a snake, and had to inform his neighbor that he could do nothing for him. This illustrates the character and conduct of some physicians. A young doctor told me once that he had lost a very interesting patient. "But," said he, "I went as far as the books would take me, and you know no one can go beyond the books ! " I say to all, read your books with attention and care, and then exercise your common sense and judgment in the case. Our first great aim and ob- ject should be to relieve human suffering, regardless of the opinions of dogmatists and narrow-minded men. In these cases, give Spongia at night and Hepar Sulphur in the morning, in addition to the above-named application. Burns and Scalds. There is no pain in human flesh so severe as that produced by a burn or scald. Some writers have BURNS AND SCALDS. 59 treated this with comparative indifference, and rec- ommended the treatment of sores produced by burning and scalding like any other sore. This af- fords another evidence of the recklessness with which some writers theorize without a practical knowledge of the results of their theories, applied and carried out. . All burns are painful, from the inflammation on the surface to the deep and ex- tensive destruction of the flesh under the skin. None but those who have endured this pain them- selves, or waited and watched by the bedside of one who had been severely burnt or scalded, and witnessed their agonizing cries, can have any idea of the amount of suffering endured by the unfortu- nate subject of this affliction. Burns are only dan- gerous in proportion to their severity. Where it is on the surface of the body or limbs there is good ground to hope that the patient will soon recover. Where it is deep-seated, involving some of the vital organs, death may soon follow, which may be known from the rapid pulse, difficult breathing, and cold- ness of the extremities. I have recently examined a number of different authors on this subject, and find some of the treatments actually injurious and * such as would very much increase the suffering of the patient. One extensive writer says: "There is nothing peculiar in the treatment of burns and scalds, although from the many agents which have been recommended from time to time, it might be supposed that these accidents require some specific 60 BURNS AND SCALDS. methods or agents different from ordinary ulcers and inflammations." On the same page this author says: '' When the burn is severe, the following has been used with much advantage : Add slacked lime to linseed oil, and apply, renewing it twice a day." This is absolutely barbarous. The lime- water of the druggists, which is comparatively a mild preparation, has sometimes been recom- mended, with sweet oil; this is severe enough, but the application of slacked lime to a burnt surface would only increase the pain and the inflammation. The importance of knowing how to act promptly and properly arises from the fact that burns are generally sudden and unexpected and, very often, where medical advice cannot be had immediately. there is no time for cool calculation and delibera- tion. Persons should have their minds made up before the accident occurs and be ready to act at a moment's notice. If human life is worth an v thing it is well for us to acquaint ourselves with the slen- der threads on which it often hangs, and rush to the rescue when occasion requires it. Want of a correct knowledge and presence of mind often en- dangers the life of a friend. Now let us have a little plain talk on this subject. If a female, young or old, accidentally finds her dress on fire, instead of running through the house crying for help, she should immediately throw herself on the floor and commence rolling over and cover herself over with any garment within her reach, and in this way BURNS AND SCALDS. 61 smother and extinguish the flames. Cold water should be applied to a burn as soon as possible, and in very severe cases, instead of tearing off the clothes, especially stockings, they should be cut with scissors, and thus avoid tearing off the skin with the clothing. The object of applying cold w^ater immediately is to stop the progress of the injury and to afford momentary relief, but a reac- tion soon follows, with intense pain and inflamma- tion. A medical writer whose work of 1088 pages is now before me, recommends the application of cotton saturated with alcohol. This severe appli- cation would cause an increase of the pain so as to throw a child into convulsions in a few minutes. The application of cotton is an old remedy, and is in itself a very severe one, from the heat that it keeps up over the parts affected by it. Common Wheat Flour spread over the sore and bound up with cloths to keep the flour in its place, is much preferable to raw cotton. This is nearly always at hand, and should be immediately ap- plied on removing the cold water application or taking the burnt hands or limbs out of the water. The following is, however, the best application I have ever known, and will afford almost immedi- ate relief to the patient: Take-^e^potato^and grate or scrape, *fe and add a sufficient quantity of sweet milk, and boil until the potatoes are soft and pliable, then let it get 62 CANCER. lukewarm and apply to the sore. Penew this every hour, making a little warmer each time, until the pain subsides. Not long since, I was called to a child that had accidentally fallen into a bath-tub of hot water. Yarious applications had been tried without relief, and under the above application it soon dropped to sleep, and had no further pain nor trouble, and the sores soon healed under the application of the Permanganate of Potassa wash. (See page 12 for mode of preparation.) A slight burn may often be relieved by the application of common soap, scraped and pressed into a paste and applied over the sore. Medical Treatment.—When there is great rest- lessness and twitching of the muscles and sleepless- ness, give Chamomilla and Aconite, alternately. (Dose, see p. 12.) Cancer. The very name of this disease strikes terror into the hearts of those who have the slightest grounds to suspect that they are afflicted with it. A mistake in diagnosis has often given rise to needless fears, for there are many forms of tumors, ulcers, and sores that may resemble cancer, and yet have nothing of a cancerous nature about them. That cancers can be cured by external applications and proper constitutional treatment, I have no doubt, but many of the cures claimed to have been cancer 63 cancerous have undoubtedly been only indolent ulcers or scrofulous affections, when the attending physician or the "cancer doctor" pronounced them cancer. It is a very difficult matter with the most experienced physician to distinguish a true cancer from other corroding ulcers. It has been thought, of late years, that the microscope gave unmistaka- ble tests of the existence of cancer, but facts have come to me in the past few years, that prove that either doctors and professors of medical colleges have made great mistakes in their diagnosis, or I have found some remedies that will cure cancer by external application. Some twelve years ago a lady came to my office with a corroding ulcer on one side of her nose, extending fully half way up, and near to the ridge, with fiery looking spider-leg- like branches extending in every direction. I used, as an external application, touching very carefully, stippelling the elevated points, a so- lution of the Chloride of Gold in Nitromuriatic Acid, (the agua regia of the earlier chemists), so- called on account of its power to dissolve gold. This mixture must be handled with care and ap- plied very cautiously, and repeated every day until the surface turns black and sluffs off, and the little rootlets, extending from the center in every direc- tion, also disappear. In the case of the lady above referred to, after the black coating sluffed off, the ordinary applica- tions for sores soon produced a healthy action, and 64 cancer. in a few weeks all traces of the disease disappeared. The principle application was the Permanganate of Potassa wash. (For application, see p. 12.) She has had no symptoms of a return of the disease, although at the time she was very much alarmed, and told me it had been pronounced cancer by some doctors, and that amputation of the nose would be her only remedy. A number of cases of this kind have come to me where the attending physicians had given an opin- ion that cutting off the affected part would be the only chance to save the life of the patient, and I have uniformly succeeded, by varying the treat- ment according to the symptoms; always commenc- ing with the solution of the Nitromuriatic Acid and Chloride of Gold. The most remarkable case of this kind was that of Miss Lucy Horn, the daughter of a widow, then living at 1047 West Madison street. She had a sore on one of her feet for more than a year, and a number of doctors had examined it and pronounced it cancer. Finally, Mrs. Horn took her daughter to---- Medical College, and, upon careful exam- ination by the Professor of Surgery, after cutting off parts from the sore at different times and exam- ining it under the microscope, he pronounced it cancer, and said that the foot must be cut off, and on one occasion had everything ready to perform the operation, and appeared to manifest considera- ble feeling because Mrs. Horn would not consent CANCER. 65 to have the operation performed then and there, for the benefit of the students. Mrs. Horn was at that time doing the washing for my family, and told me the sad condition of her daughter. I im- mediately went to see her daughter and commenced the treatment with my ordinary method, and in about six weeks the foot was well, and the girl threw away her crutches, and when her mother took her to the college the professor tried to make her beKeve that it was not the same girl whose foot he wanted to cut off, but she assured him that she was the identical Lucy Horn, and that he would have made a sad mistake if he had been allowed to have his own way in the matter. I might mention a number of similar cases to prove that limbs are often amputated that, with proper care, might be cured, and this is very often done to show medical students how the operation is performed. Miss Horn is now an interesting young lady with two good feet, and lives with her mother at 1121 West Lake street. If it had not been for the interference of her mother, and her prompt and positive refusal to allow these inconsiderate diplomatized pretend- ers to science, to have their own way, this young lady would now be dragging herself through life on crutches. The dictates of our common humanity should prompt us to give the same attention to the poor that we give to the wealthy. But facts prove to us that the poor are often made the victims of the 66 CANKER OF THE MOUTH. grossest imposition for the benefit of medical stu- dents. But the wealthy do not always escape the cupidity of the avaricious M. D., as I shall show in another article in this work. There are many noble and self-sacrificing men in the medical profession who conscientiously de- vote their time and their best energies to the care of the sick and pay especial attention to the poor. There are, however, a number of doctors who se- cure a practice by guile, and retain it by fraud, and amass wealth by inflicting untold and unnecessary suffering on their unsuspecting patients. Canker of the Mouth. This is a disease more common in childhood than in adult age, yet it may occur among all classes, and at any period in life. It is more difficult to treat and more dangerous in its results in young children than among those of advanced years, and I will especially call attention to that disagreeable form of the disease called thrush. This is known from the small, whitish patches over the mouth and on the tongue, while the edges of the tongue are unusually red, indicating a fever bordering on inflammation. This is often connected with chronic diarrhea or dysentery, and the disease extends along the passage to the stomach, or, more prop- erly, the appearance of the mouth is an index to the condition of the stomach. When it is evident CARBUNCLE. 67 that the disease arises from a deranged condition of the stomach and bowels it is useless to attempt to cure it by local applications, without attending to the constitutional symptoms. If there is watery diarrhea with great prostration, give Arsenicum every hour, and if there is no change for the better soon, give Mercurius viv. in alternation with Ar- senicum every hour. To counteract the poison that collects in the mouth from the secretion of the dis- eased glands, apply a weak solution of the Per- manganate of Potassa. (For preparation, see p. 12.) If the child is too young to gargle and wa?h the mouth, it should be washed with a soft, fine piece of cotton cloth, and as the poison will be swallowed, it is well to allow the child to take a few drops at each application, which should be every two hours, till there is a marked improve- ment. The Chlorate of Potassa has been highly recommended in these cases, but from long experi- ence I have found the Permanganate far superior in case of adults as well as children. These affec- tions are often cau>ed by a derangement of the di- gestive organs, and strict attention should be given to diet, avoiding everything that does not agree with the stomach. (See Digestion.) Carbuncle. This painful swelling has some resemblance to a boil, yet is of a different character, and may be 68 CARBUNCLE. distinguished by the vessicated spots over the swell- ing, with burning fever, and severe itching of the affected part. This painful affection has its origin in the cellular tissue, immediately under the skin, and as the inflammation progresses, the blisters formed on the tumor discharge a mixture of blood and watery matter. Anything that has a tendency to impoverish the blood and break down the general health, such as unwholesome diet, debaucheries, intemperance, mental depression, irregular habits of living, may be mentioned as causes of carbuncles. Every act by which the laws of health are interrupted is an invi- tation to this unwelcome guest to come and prey upon the system, prepared for it by our own im- prudence. Treatment.—From the commencement apply the Permanganate of Potassa wash as directed on page 12. This will at once destroy the poison that is diffusing itself through the adjacent parts, and prevent the spreading and deepening of the inflam- mation. Among the numerous things recom- mended, this is the best application I have ever found, and cases that are ordinarily liable to run from ten to twelve days will be cut short in two or three days. In case of a high state of inflammation in the tumor, a hot Slippery-elm or ground Flax-seed poultice may be applied and frequently repeated until the swelling subsides. Should matter form CATALEPSY. 69 and it become necessary to open it with the lancet, as soon as the matter is discharged wash the open- ing frequently with the Permanganate of Potassa solution. Medical Treatment.—This should be with a view of building up the constitution. Among the most important remedies are Nux vomica, Sulphur, and Phosphorus. Give Nux vomica at night, and Sulphur in the morning, followed in a few days with Phosphorus. (Doses, see p. 12.) Catalepsy. This very singular condition, in which the patient loses all power of motion, but to a certain extent retains consciousness, is of rare occurrence, yet on account of some of its peculiarities it is import- ant that we should understand its effects, so as not to be unnecessarily alarmed, nor to act unadvisedly when it does occur. There are usually no pre- monitory symptoms to give warning of its ap- proach, but the attack is sudden, the patient being unable to move from the position he was in when taken. There may be a partial or complete sus- pension of the five senses; there are, however, cases on record where persons in this condition knew what was going on around them and yet were un- able to move a limb or to make any manifestation of life to their friends. Catalepsy is not a danger- ous disease, if it may be called a disease at all. It 70 catarrh. undoubtedly has its seat in the nervous system, and its primal cause will be found in some derange- ment of the brain or spinal column, while the sec- ondary cause may be found in indigestion or im- proper nutrition, or anything else that has a tend- ency to prostrate the physical energy. If there is a perceptible febrile tendency in the system about the time the attack comes on, Aconite will be the most appropriate remedy. If there is a derange- ment of the stomach and nervous prostration, give Nux vomica every night. During the attack a few pellets of Nux vomica should be placed on the tongue every half hour. Catarrh. In this disease we have another battle-ground where uneducated quacks and pretenders to medi- cal knowledge have made sad havoc upon the sensi- tive mucus membrane of the air-passage, often reaping a rich pecuniary harvest, and rendering nothing in return but disappointment and an ag- gravated form of the disease. The deception, from the nature of the disease, and from its location, cannot be so gross as in uterine diseases, and the field is occupied, as a general thing, by a difterent class of men. Here we find the uneducated, with their astringent or pungent applications. In the other case we find the learned professor of some medical college, moving on in his work of destruc- CATARRH. 71 tion, and no one dares to call him to an account, because he is shielded by a diploma and backed by a professorship in a medical college, and coolly says, " It will take a year to cure you." Catarrh is a term used to express any unhealthy discharge from a mucus membrane, whether it be from the air-passage, from the urinary organs, or from the vagina or womb of the female. These catarrhal affections are often only the effect of some constitutional disturbances, and to use astringents with a view of curing, is like stop- ping up the mouth of a muddy, filthy stream to purify the waters at the fountain head. Such treat- ment may often afford temporary relief, but the case becomes complicated by throwing the disease back into the system, instead of allowing the un- healthy secretions to flow out through their natural channels. On yesterday (July 16, 1879), I was met by a man on Clark street. Chicago, with an armful of pamphlets, handing them to every passer-by. I took one. It was entitled, " Observations on Nasal Catarrh." The first page has a picture of a sleepy- looking dandy, with a stream of water running in at his mouth and out at the nostrils, and the vessel from which the water is pumped is marked "Trade," and the other into which it flows has the letters, "Mark," making a "trade mark. " This means business. The fellow intends to carry on the trade of curing catarrh, and this picture is the 72 CATARRH. gull-trap to catch the unsuspecting snuffler. It ap- pears that this adventurer has made a new discov- ery, for he says, on page 10 of his pamphlet: "The naso pharyngeal cavity is the seat of the disease, and to this spot our efforts must be directed." No wonder Dr. Hall says that "he who reads a medi- cal book will first be befogged and then be be- fooled." My object in this book is to talk plainly on the subject of disease and health, and to expose fraud and deception wherever I find them. Now, think for a moment! A man afflicted with catarrh gets one of these pamphlets, and, on going home, tells his wife that the doctors have all been mis- taken. The catarrh is not in the nose, not in the throat, not in the wind-pipe, not in the head,—it is in the '' na-so-pha-ryn-ge-al cavity.'' The wife asks, with amazement, "Where on earth is that?" to which the bewildered man replies, "I don't know, but it must be somewhere, for the doctor says so.'' In all sober honesty, gentlemen of the medical profession, have we not mystified and befogged our patients long enough, and acted as if every disease had a Latin or Greek origin, and could only be treated by calling diseases and the reme- dies we employ by some outlandish name. Catarrh is generally the effect of cold from ex- posure to sudden changes of weather or change of clothing. This may often be relieved by taking Aconite in the first, or febrile stage, to be followed the second day with Nux vomica and Mercwrius CHANGE OF LIFE. 73 viv., alternately every 3. hours. (Dose, seep. 12.) Should the case become chronic, then give Aurum met. in the morning and Sulphur at night. The best external remedy, and one with which I have had great success, is the first trituration of Mercu- rius Duls, or, in plain English, common Calomel. I take 10 grains of Calomel to 100 grains of Sugar of Milk, or common white sugar, and grind it for at least half an hour, and then direct a little to be snuffed three or four times a day. This will not act as an astringent, but will produce a healthy ac- tion on the mucus membrane, and can do no pos- sible harm. Change of Life. There are many diseases peculiar to women that demand especial attention, and a superficial ob- server might readily conclude that their chances of long life were not equal to that of men; yet statistics show that the woman has an equal chance with the man for a prolonged existence in this life, and so far as our destiny in the future is connected with our character and conduct in this life, women stand a better chance than the sterner sex. For pure love, true devotion, sublime heroism in the hour of danger, patience in suffering, and steadfastness in her purpose, she stands far above man in the moral scale. Her physical organization is subject to numer- 74 CHANGE OF LIFE. ous changes, so well known that they need not be named here. I will only notice the final change, which, on account of its attendant infirmities, is sometimes called the "critical period." This pe- riod is looked to with anxiety on account of the organic changes that are produced by it, and also from the well-known fact that when this change is safely passed through it is frequently the case that women become more healthy—the lean sometim s become corpulent and some who have been life- long sufferers enjoy a tranquil old age. As this is a natural process, medicine is not often called for. Doctors have done much harm by prescribing strong medicine where a proper at- tention to the laws of life and health would have done much better. If there is feverishness, take Aconite occasion- ally. If restless at night, take Nux vomica on going to bed. If there is mental disturbance, take Aurum met. Seek cheerful society and avoid over-exertion of body or mind. As to the precise time when this change shall commence or close, no one can tell. It is gener- ally between the age of forty and forty-five, although often later. Dr. R. Ludlam has a very appropriate chapter on this subject in his very able work enti- tled, "Diseases of Women." If doctors were to follow the advice of Professor Ludlam much suffer- ing might be avoided that is now inflicted by im- proper treatment. chapped hands--chilblains. 75 Chapped Hands. This annoying affection is more common in cold than in warm weather. Persons who are afflicted in this way should keep their hands dry as much as possible, and protected from the cold wind. As this is mostly a local affection, remedies inter- nally administered are useless. The hands should be washed once a day with a solution of Perman- genate of Potassa, (for preparation, see p. 1*2), and at night on going to bed they should be rubbed thoroughly with the Mercurial Poioder recom- mended for catarrh. This will soon relieve all pain and heal the cracks, and make the skin smooth and healthy. Chilblains. This is another of those affections where the con- stitution may be in good condition, and the hands and feet may be very seriously affected with in- flammatory swellings which often become very painful. If the inflammation results in suppuration, and matter is formed under the skin, it should be treated with ground Flax-seed or Slippery-elm poultice, and when the matter has discharged it will soon heal, under the application of the Per- mangenate of Potassa wash. (For preparation, see P- 12.) 76 chlorosis. Chlorosis. This, though not a dangerous disease, if properly treated, will, if neglected, finally result in compli- cations with a disease of some of the vital organs, and break down the constitution, and in this way terminate fatally. It may be readily recognized by the pale yellowish, or green complexion. From this peculiar color of the skin, it is called "green sickness." My old preceptor, Professor Bedford, of the New York University, says of patients afflicted with this disease: "The digestion is much impaired; no ap- petite; sometimes a longing for unnatural food; con- stipation; the tongue is white and coated; some- times there is great thirst ; as a general rule the urinary secretion is diminished; the. circulation is more or less disturbed; palpitation of the heart and intermittent pulse often accompany this disorder; there is occasionally cough; the nervous system is always more or less deeply involved, as is exhibited in the sleep by night; depression of spirit; head- ache; vertigo; throbbing of the temples and ears; and, not unfrequently, many of the hysteric phe- nomena." All of these symptoms may not occur in any one case, but may be found in different cases with more or less prominence, according to constitutional peculiarities. Any irregularity in habits of living, or want of exercise, and mental depression will have a tendency to bring on the CHOLERA. 77 debilitated condition. In a great measure, the cure must be sought in removing the cause. Cheerful company, nourishing diet, and exercise in the open air will be of the greatest importance. The medical treatment must be directed to the impoverished condition of the blood, and nothing will do this so well as some preparation of iron. I prefer the Tincture of the Muriate of Iron. Put a teaspoonful in a teacup half full of water and take a teaspoonful every time at the close of your regular meals. Some homoeopathic writers have recommended the attenuated doses for this impoverished condition of the blood. By this, time is lost and nothing gained for the patient. Some homoeopathic writers recommend Aconite, Pulsatilla, China, etc., and wind up by recommending Iron. Let us take the Iron at once and be cured. Cholera, {Asiatic.) There is no disease, with perhaps the exception of yellow fever, that visits our country periodically, so much dreaded as is the Asiatic cholera; and there are are few diseases that yield more readily to proper treatment. I have seen this disease in some of its most fearful epidemic forms, at differ- ent times and in different places, since the year 1832, when it first appeared in our country. From the different methods of treating it, as well as from 78 CHOLERA. the different results as reported by practitioners, it is very evident that great mistakes have been made and many valuable lives have been lost that might have been saved under proper treatment. Many writers on cholera have entirely misapprehended the nature of the disease, and consequently made mistakes in their prescriptions. The calomel and opium treatment, so highly rec- ommended by some of the Old School physicians, have been failures. The various mixtures and compounds usually advertised as, "A Sure Cure for Cholera," seldom do any good, and often do harm to the unsuspecting victim of this imposition. I have carefully examined a number of works con- taining directions for the treatment of cholera, and in most of them the descriptions of the disease, as well as the prescriptions for the cure, are so com- plicated, and such a variety of symptoms are named as to confuse the1 patient and his attendants, so as to make it very difficult for a non-professional person to decide what to do in an emergency. In my Plain Talk to the Sick, I have thought it best to give a simple account of the disease in lan- guage so that all can understand it, and then only recommend a few well-tried remedies, such as I have found from observation and experience to be successful. The Asiatic cholera—so-called from having its home in Asia—is a well-marked disease, and in its advanced stage, can scarcely be mistaken for any CHOLERA. 79 other. It commences with a painless, watery diar- rhea, and here is the deceptive character of the disease. Many have thrown their lives away by a pretended courage—a determination not to be scared nor to be laughed at by pretending to be sick, when, as they vainly thought, there was noth- ing serious about their case. They would show their friends that they were no cowards, and would go about their business. This diarrhea is at the same time insiduously draining the watery part from the blood. It is simply a bleeding from the bowels, and requires absolute quiet, as much as though a bullet had passed through the body and cut an artery and the blood was pouring out as long as the person kept moving about. The small ves- sels that are constantly carrying nutritious particles to the blood have now reversed their action, and are pouring out their contents into the bowels. This condition may continue for several days, or it may run a rapid course and a state of collapse may come on in a few hours from the commence- ment. It often happens in epidemic cholera that a person may become the instrument of the death of his best and nearest friend. Cases of this kind have often come under my notice. For instance, a good friend of mine had a wife he loved dearly. She had this painless diarrhea. He laughed at her and told her not to be cowardly, but go about her business ; no use to be frightened for nothing. He left the house in the morning, and when he re- 80 CHOLERA. turned at noon he found her in the cold, damp em- brace of death—a complete collapse, speechless, pulseless, and cold. If he had told her to lie down and keep quiet and take some appropriate reme- dies there would have been no danger. On the other hand, many a woman has been the means, unconsciously, of the death of a husband or child by laughing at them when they commenced com- plaining of diarrhea during the prevalence of cholera. The primary cause of cholera is undoubtedly to be found in a peculiar atmospheric condition, and when this exists, then improper diet or the neg- lect of sanitary regularities, etc., in large cities, will become exciting causes, and it will be severe and spread in proportion as it is fed by the natural fuel on which it preys. Treatment.—If the case can be seen in its early stage, give Arsenicum and Veratrum, from the third to the sixth attenuation, every half hour in alterna- tion. If the diarrhea has been running long enough to cause a coldness and bluish cast over the extremities, give about a dozen of the saturated Camphor pills as strong as they can be made with the Spirits of Camphor. If the pellets cannot be had, put 5 drops of the Spirits of Camphor in a glass half full of cold water and give, in either case, every 10 minutes a teaspoonful or a dozen pills. If there is much thirst and calling for water, give the patient a teaspoonful of Pounded Ice and let him CHOLERA. SI swallow it every 10 minutes. As soon as a reac- tion sets in and the extremities become warm, and the diarrhea continues, give Arsenicum and Ver- atrum again, lengthening the intervals as the im- provement progresses. Allow no warm or hot ap- plications to be made to the surface. It will only relax the already exhausted blood-vessels near the surface; but, on the contrary, apply cold water freely and active rubbing with cold, wet cloths, especially if the cramps are severe. One of the worst cases I have ever known to recover was that of a drayman in the city of Quincy, Illinois, in the year 1851. He was a man of dissipated habits, and when I was first called to see him his extremi- ties were cold, his eyes sunken, his lips blue, his voice gone to a mere faint, husky whisper. All hope appeared gone, and yet I was unwilling to o-ive him up without a desperate effort in his be- half. I immediately gave him Camphor and got two strong men to take all his clothes off and had him held up on his feet by a man at each arm, and then dashed cold water on him and commenced ac- tive rubbing with coarse cloths. He was a robust man of unusually bad temper, and as soon as he revived a little he made an effort to get away from us, but I told my men to hold on to him, and we continued the rubbing for over three hours, and by that time he had come to his senses so as to feel very unpleasantly under the operation, and he got air'rv and ripped and swore, and declared that the c " B 82 CHOLERA. treatment was actually too bad for a mule to un- dergo. His rage caused the blood to rush to the extremities, and that was just what I wished to accomplish. I once knew a case in Cincinnati, in 1850, where a doctor told his patient he could do no more for him, and this aroused the patient's anger and he declared in very profane language that if he was able to get up he would kick him (the doctor) out of the house, and this fit of anger started the blood to the extremities, and the man began to get better, and in a few days was out on his beat again. (He was a policeman.) Anything to bring on a reaction and send the blood to the surface will contribute to the recovery. From what I have seen, and I have attended hun- dreds of cases, if I were to meet a case of cholera and had no medicine with me, I would dash cold water on the patient and rub him, and if I were out in the woods where I could not get cold water, I would get a bundle of fine switches and I would switch him severely, and the sooner he got his tem- per up the better it would be for him. By this fric- tion we send the blood to the extremities, but by the ordinary business exercise, spoken against above, the blood is allowed to retire from the ex- tremities. This difference being understood, there is no contradiction in the plan recommended. When cholera patients commence getting better the recovery is generally very rapid unless they CHOLERA INFANTUM. 83 have taken powerful astringents, and in this way thrown the disease into the system, which may re- sult in typhoid or brain fever. After recovery from the severe shock of the attack, and a healthy circulation is restored, great care must be exercised against a relapse. The diet should be simple and yet nourishing, avoiding everything that might have a tendency to produce diarrhea, or looseness of the bowels. Should typhoid symptoms appear, give Bryonia and Rhus Tox., every two hours, alternately. (Doses, see p. 12.) Cholera Infantum. This is the so-called summer complaint, affecting infants and children mostly under three years of age. It has carried away its thousands of helpless victims during the hot summer months, especially in large cities and poorly ventilated dwellings and sleeping apartments. The disease manifests itself by great restlessness and a feverish, dry skin, followed by loss of appe- tite, vomiting, and diarrhea. The discharges from the bowels are often greenish, watery, mixed with a bloody slime or white substance like curdled milk, with a very offensive smell. The strength of the little sufferer often sinks very rapidly and there is no time to be lost in the treatment. Strong as- tringent medicines will often check the diarrhea suddenly, transfer the disease to the brain, and pro- 84 cholera infantum. duce convulsions, which generally terminate fa- tally. Treatment.—In the commencement, give Ac- onite, 1 drop of the tincture in a glass half full of water, and give a teaspoonful every hour till the skin is moist and the fever subsides. If there is vomiting, give Ipecac with the Aconite, alter- nately, every half hour. The principal remedy, however, and the one most to be relied on is Mer- curius vivus, such as you get at the homoeopathic pharmacies, marked "second decimal trituration." Give from 6 to 10 grains of this at a dose every 4 hours, and the two hours between give 6 to 8 pellets of Arsenicum. If the discharges are very thin and watery, give Veratrum alb. occasionally, instead of the Arsenicum. The Mercurius should be given regularly every 4 hours, and Arsenicum. or Veratrum—or if there is sickness of the stomach with vomiting, Ipecac may be given instead of the two last-named remedies, in alternation with Mer- curius viv. If there is much thirst, stir a little Wheat Flour or Starch into cold water and allow the child to drink occasionally. Careful nursing and proper diet will soon restore the child to health. Cholera Morbus. This disease differs from the Asiatic cholera in several respects. It is not usually epidemic nor contagious and may occur in every country and at all seasons of the year, but is most common in cholera morbus. 85 warm climates and in hot weather. It generally commences with a burning pain in the stomach soon followed by vomiting and painful diarrhea, and cramps in the legs. The principal cause is a relaxed state of the sys- tem and consequent debility of the digestive organs, and overloading the stomach with unripe fruit or other indigestible substances. Treatment.—This, like many other diseases, is easily controlled if promptly met with the appro- priate remedies. Aconite is most appropriate to commence with. Put 3 drops of the first attenua- tion, or one drop of the tincture, in a glass half full of water and give a teaspoonful every fifteen minutes. If the vomiting does not cease in an hour give Ipecac, in alternation, every half hour. If there is watery diarrhea, give Veratrum alb., and if the burning pain continues in the stomach, give Arsenicum and Veratrum every hour alternately. A teaspoonful of Pounded Ice will often afford relief when there is great thirst, and the disease is aggravated by heavy draughts of cold water. The patient should be very careful about his diet for some time after the attack. So much has been said on this subject that patients generally know what to avoid in eating and drinking if they would only always follow the dictates of their knowledge instead of an ungovernable appetite. If we want to live long and be happy we should grasp the reins of our appetite and compel it to submit to our higher nature and our better judgment. 86 chorea—st. Vitus' dance.—cold. Chorea—St. Vitus' Dance. This singular affection of the nerves for the most part attacks children between the ages of five and fifteen years. It is seldom found in a person of advanced years. The symptoms are so well marked that it is readily recognized, especially by those who have once seen its effects. There is a nervous twitching of the limbs, sometimes more in one than in another, and in severe cases the whole body is thrown into a convulsive movement which makes the sight distressing, even where there is no severe bodily suffering. Treatment.—In the early stage of the disease, if it can be traced to any known cause, the treat- ment should be governed by the disturbing cause. For instance, if it results from a fright, Chamomilla would be an appropriate remedy. If from expos- ure to cold, give Aconite, and if from exhausted nerve power, give Nux vomica. But our main de- pendence mustbe in Gelsemi?innK giventhree times a day in one-fourth-drop doses, and occasionally a mild current of electricity along the spine. Cold in the Head. This maybe a very slight affair in the commence- ment, and arise from various causes, such as wet feet, sudden change of temperature from warm to cold without sufficient clothing, or exposure to a colic. 87 draft of cold air. This is very easy to cure if taken in time. Treatment.—First, when we are aware of hav- ing taken cold, we should lose no time in restoring the warmth and equalizing the circulation. We should especially warm the feet and spinal column by standing the back against a stove-pipe as hot as can be borne, or sit with the back against a fire or hot stove. At the same time put from 3 to 5 drops of the first attenuation of Aconite in a glass half full of water and take a teaspoonful every half hour. Should the throat be affected, Belladonna and Mercurius viv. may be given every hour, in alternation. If there are pains extending down into the lungs, give Bryonia alb., sixth attenua- tion, every two hours. Colic. This painful, and often alarming affection, may proceed from the same disturbing influences that produce cold in the head or any other derangement of the system. It is more apt to come on when the bowels are habitually constipated, and persons subject to attacks of this disease should be careful to keep their bowels and digestive organs in a healthy condition. It may be distinguished from inflammation of the bowels by the absence of fever, and by the pain being to some extent relieved on pressure. In inflammation the pain is always in- creased by pressure. 88 constipation. Treatment.—Hot fomentations will often afford temporary relief, and warm water injections into the bowels, as hot as can well be endured, should be repeated until a free evacuation from the bowels is obtained. Colocynth sometimes affords immediate relief, given as follows: Put 4 or 5 drops of the tincture in a glass half full of water and give a teaspoonful every ten minutes. If this does not afford relief in an hour, give Nux vomica and Cocculus Indicus every half hour, in alternation. In this case use the third attenuation, or even the first by putting 2 or 3 drops of each in a glass half full of water and give a teaspoonful at a dose. Constipation. This is often the result of a neglect to attend to the calls of nature. The unnecessary retention of the matter in the bowels, after all nutritious sub- stances have been taken up by the absorbents and carried into the circulation, always produces an in- jurious effect on the general health. Just think for a moment of the impropriety and the bad effect of making your bowels the repository of the dis- gusting accumulations that should be regularly ex- pelled from the system according to the demands of nature. A little carelessness and neglect will bring on constipation. To relieve this, pills or ca- thartic medicines of some kind are resorted to. Under this treatment the digestive organs are im- CONVULSTONS AND SPASMS. 89 paired and the constipation is made more obstinate, and the amount of cathartic medicine has to be in- creased until the healthy action of the stomach and bowels is broken down. Treatment.—For habitual constipation take Nux vomica and Sulphur in the morning, and inject as much as a teacupful of Warm Water with a tea- spoonful of Salt added, into the bowels night and morning, go to stool at regular hours once a day, and drink cold water on going to bed. This course faithfully pursued will soon cure the most inveter- ate constipation. The water injected may be cold if it does not disagree with the patient. Convulsions and Spasms. These are not independent diseases but always depend for their occurrence on some disturbance of the nervous system. Some sudden and terrible excitement of the passions or a deranged condition of the stomach from the use of unwholesome food, or a concussion or accidental injury to any part of the body may produce convulsions. Children are more liable to these spasmodic actions than adults. This is owing to the delicacy of the nervous struc- ture, and its extreme impressibility to any disturb- ing influence. Convulsions in children are fre- quently caused by a transfer of a disease from the stomach and bowels to the brain, and from the brain the impression is made on the whole nervous system by reflex action, sometimes manifesting 90 convulsions. itself in violent contortions of the whole body, and at other times inward fits often come on while the child is asleep. This may be recognized by the peculiar motions of the child's mouth, being drawn up as if smiling, and again compressing the corners of the mouth and turning up the eyes with the eye- lids half closed, with heavy breathing. Treatment.—If there is a disturbing cause, that should be removed as soon as possible, and the child should have a warm bath, and when taken out of the water should be wrapped in warm blank- ets. If the pulse indicates fever, give Aconite. If the face is flushed, give BrlJadonna. If there are violent contortions of the limbs, give Hyoscia- mus. If the limbs only are convulsed, give Coccu- lus. If there is at the same time a watery dis- charge from the bowels, give Arsenicum and Ver- atrum, alternately. (Doses, seep. 12.) Convulsions, {Puerperal, or Child-bed.) This is a very alarming disease, and if possible should be attended by a skillful physician, but in this absence, give Aconite and Belladonna, alter- nately, every half hour. If there is constipation of the bowels, give copious Warm Water injections, rub the feet and lower limbs with mustard water, using a coarse crash towel to incite the blood to the lower extremities as much as possible. This course persevered in will often relieve the most vio- lent attacks. cough. 91 Cough. There are so many different kinds of cough, de- pendent upon such a variety of causes, that we may regard them as the audible expressions of the dis- eases that give rise to them. Hence, we have a croupy cough, a hacking cough, measley cough, dry cough, catarrhal cough, bronchial cough, consump- tive cough, etc., and all these must be treated in ac- cordance with their origin and cause. A so-called "cough mixture," sold by men who aim to make a living by sporting with human life in recommend- ing their compounds for all these different coughs, and all forms of dyspepsia and liver complaints thrown in for good measure, often do more harm than good. They are often absolutely injurious. These different coughs are noticed under the dif- ferent diseases which cause them. Treatment.—For a common cough caused by a cold, take second dilution of Aconite, 5 drops, and the same of Belladonna, 5 drops, and put each separately in a glass half full of water and add to each a teaspoonful of white sugar and take a tea- spoonful every half hour, alternately, lengthening the intervals as the cough subsides. With this you will scarcely fail to break up a cough from common cold in its commencement. 92 CROUP. Croup. This is a very alarming disease and often rapid in its course, and if unchecked sometimes termin- ates fatally in a few hours. To one who has ob- served the course of this disease for many years, and carefully noted the numerous fatal cases re- ported by the practitioners of the different schools of medicine, it is a sad reflection to think that thou- sands of children have passed away from earth more frequently from the harsh and severe treat- ment they have received under pretence of curing than from the disease itself. Take a perfectly healthy child, and subject it to the cathartics, emetics, blisterings, leechings, narcotics, and the depressing effect of large doses of tartar emetic, lobelia, and a long list of other things too numerous to mention, and more than one-half of perfectly healthy children would die under such treatment. " I have killed many a patient," said an old pro- fessor where I attended college lectures. With all the obscurity and uncertainty thrown around this disease by calling it a variety of Latin names, and recommending a long list of medicines, it is after all a simple disease, generally commencing from an exposure to cold, or a moist south or southeast wind. Authors make a distinction between inflam- matory and spasmodic croup, but both originate in the same way, with more or less inflammation in the larynx from the commencement. The exist- CROUP. 93 ence of croup may be known from the peculiar, ringing metallic cough, sometimes resembling the barking of a little dog. This arises from the ex- udation from the mucous membrane of the wind- pipe, which, if not counteracted by proper treat- ment, will fill up the larynx and cause death by suffocation. Treatment.—If the pulse is rapid and there is considerable fever, commence with Aconite, 2 or 3 drops of the first attenuation in a glass half full of water, and give a teaspoonful every half hour. If the voice remains husky and the cough croupy do not trust long to this remedy alone. Take as much as a grain of wheat of the Permanganate of Potassa in a glass half full of water, and 5 grains of the first trituration of Tartar emetic in another glass half full of water, and give the child a teaspoonful alternately every half hour. I formerly used the bicromate of potassa, but since I have found out the superior virtues of the Permanganate I have uniformly used it, with complete success in every instance. If there remains a cough and sore throat after the violent symptoms have passed away, give Belladonna and Cliamomilla alternately every hour, and keep the child in the house for a few days. To mctfhers I would say, keep these medicines in the house and use them as directed, and dismiss all fear of the terrible consequences of an attack of croup. 94 CRUSTA LACT.E.—DELIRIUM TREMENS. Crusta Lact^:, {or Milk Crust.) This is a disease peculiar to children during the period of teething, and generally appears on the face and neck, and sometimes on the scalp. It causes extreme restlessness and the eruption con- tains small pustules, from which there is discharged a fluid of a whitish color. This, however, changes as the disease progresses, and these little eleva- tions flow together, and finally a crust is formed, which in time falls off and leaves a red surface, over which anotfcer crust will form, and so continue for a long time if proper remedies are not applied to check the progress of this annoying affection. It is very dangerous to apply "healing oint- ment," with a view of curing this disease. Treatment.—I have succeeded in curing this disease when all other remedies failed, by giving Arsenicum, sixth attenuation, in the morning and Sulphur at night, and applying a mild wash of 3 grains of Corrosive Sublimate in 2 ounces of water, night and morning. Delirium Tremens. The cause of this disease is so well known that a detailed account here is unnecessary. By a long- continued course in the use of alcoholic and intoxi- cating drinks, the nervous system finally breaks down, and leaves the helpless victim of his debauch- ery in a most pitiable condition. The outraged DENTITION. —DIARRHEA. 95 stomach and brain rebel against the encroachment upon their natural operations. Reason steps down from its throne and leaves before the frightened vision spectres of horrid forms—snakes in the boots, frightful dreams, fearful apprehensions; in a word, a mere wreck of a once noble structure. Treatment.—Instead of giving stimulants to add fuel to the fire, we should act upon the spinal column with tonics and friction, with cold water, and give Nux vomica, 3 drops to a glass half full of water, and Tincture Gelseminum 10 drops to the same quantity of water, and give a teaspoonful every half hour, alternately, till relief is obtained. Dentition, {or Teething.) During the progress of teething children are liable to become feverish and fretful. The whole system may be affected from the irritation produced in the mouth while the teeth are passing through the gums. The medicines usually recommended for fever and restlessness are appropriate here. If the child is subject to diarrhea to an extent that requires attention, give Chamomilla and Ccd- ca/ria, alternately, every four hours. If not better in a few days, give occasionally a dose of Mercu- rius VW. Diarrhea. This very common and sometimes very trouble- some disease is produced from various causes, such 96 DIET. as exposure to cold, indigestion, sudden emotion, eating too freely of unripe fruit in the heat of sum- mer, drinking sweet milk after eating acid fruits, etc. Treatment.—If there is fever the treatment may be commenced with Aconite, to be followed with Arsenicum, especially if great exhaustion and the discharges are greenish or brown, and mixed with blood. If the diarrhea is painless, and the dis- charges are watery, give Veratrum alb., in alterna- tion with Arsenicum. In all ordinary diarrhea, as well as in an attack of cholera, the patient will gain much by keeping quiet and by proper food. If persons affected with diarrhea would use boiled milk with bread and soda crackers for a few meals a majority of cases would get well without any medicine. But people often think they have not time to attend to this, and prefer some astringent compound, and in this way lay the foundation for other diseases. If the diarrhea should assume a chronic form, take PJwsphorus in the morning and Sulphur at night. If this does not relieve in a few days, follow with Mercurius vivus, night and morning. Diet, {Regulations of) No strict regulations for diet can be laid down as an inflexible rule, even among the sick. Tastes and appetites are so different, and the powers of DIET. 97 the stomach to digest so changeable that the food which would be perfectly agreeable and harmless to one, would be injurious to another. Every one, in order to preserve good health, should eat cau- tiously, and so soon as he finds any article of diet disagreeing with his stomach, it should be discon- tinued. If this rule were uniformly observed, there would be no dyspepsia with its horrible accompani- ment of nervous diseases. As a general rule the natural appetite is the best guide to the quantity and quality of our food. The sick, however, and especially those who are under homoeopathic treat- ment, should carefully abstain from everything that would interfere with the operation of the medi- cine, such as spices, strong acids, perfumery and tooth-powder containing medical substances. Cold water, in moderate quantities, is always allowable under homoeopathic treatment. Patients recover- ing from sickness should be well fed in order to repair the wastes that have resulted from dis- ease. Many patients in low forms of disease have been allowed to die from starvation. Nourishment in some form is essential to support the vital forces. Gentle rubbing over the whole body with a healthy hand, and beef tea and mutton broth, have helped many over tlie crisis, when, to all human appear- ance, the last hope of life had fled. A word to the healthy may be in place here. Many have brought on serious diseases by dieting themselves too severely for some supposed ailment. 98 DIPHTHERIA. There is danger from under-feeding as well as from over-feeding. Our physical organization has demands that must be met in proper time and place, or derangement of structure or waste of en- ergies will be the result. Diphtheria. This is not a new disease, as some have supposed. It has been known for centuries under different names and in different forms. This name was first given to this peculiar form of disease in 1827, and like many other diseases, it has of later years as- sumed a more distinct character, and requires dif- ferent treatment from the putrid sore throat of former times. In the form it has of late years assumed, it is one of the most alarming diseases of our country, mostly confined to children and young persons, although persons of advanced years are sometimes affected by it. This, with many other diseases, manifests itself under different symptoms, sometimes in a mild and at other times in a very severe form. In its commencement it may be regarded as nothing more than a common cold, and hence a proper treatment may be neglected. The following symptoms will indicate the pres- ence of diphtheria: Sore throat, swelling of the glands under the jaw, a choking sensation in the throat so as to make swallowing difficult, fever, DIPHTHERIA. 99 headache, rapid pulse, bad breath, and a thick, yellowish deposit on the tonsils and in the throat, and a thick, tenacious mucus over the tongue. Here is the origin of the blood poison and consti- tutional derangement so often referred to by medi- cal writers. This exudation above referred to con- tains the specific poison of the disease, and the great mistake in the treatment of diphtheria is a neglect te remove this poison as soon as possible, and to procure a healthy action in these secreting glands. It is strange that so little attention has been given to this by practitioners and medical writers. Here is the pivot on which the life of the child often hangs. If this poison is allowed to re- main in the mouth the child will, as a matter of course, swallow it, and from the stomach it is soon carried into the blood, and hence the blood poison so often witnessed in this disease. Now let me speak plainly, that there may be no misunderstanding here, and say to the mother or nurse, the life of a child will often hang on the ac- - tion of a few hours. As soon as this slimy mucus collects on the tongue you must remove it at least every half hour. All the medicine you can give will be of no avail until this is done. It is strange that this very important precaution has been so uniformly neglected. No wonder that with all * this poison left in the mouth and passing into the stomach and taken up by the absorbents, that the blood should be poisoned and the whole system 100 DIPHTHERIA. become prostrated. To carry out this part of the treatment, make a little scraper with a piece of bent whalebone or a stick that you can bend two ends together and leave a loop with the edges cut sharp; or, if this cannot be had, use a common teaspoon, and scrape the tongue as clean as possi- ble at least every half hour, and have on hand a solution of the Permanganateof Potassa, and make the child wash and gargle the mouth and throat every time the tongue is scraped, and if the child is too young to gargle, wash the mouth with a soft rag, and in every case allow the child to swallow a few drops after garghng. After having removed this poison from the mouth, allow the child to drink sweet cream, all it will take. This will have a good effect on the mouth and throat and give nourishment and strength to the child. Keep all other children out of the room, and let the apart- ment where the sick child is be well ventilated and moderately warm. A thin slice of fat pork stitched to a piece of cotton cloth, put around the neck, over the swelling, renewed every day, is also espe- cially important. In addition to the above, give the following: Medical Treatment.—In the commencement, when there is high fever, give Aconite and Bella- donna every hour in alternation. In this case, use 2 or 3 drops of the tincture or the first attenuation. Put each, separate, in a glass half full of water and add to each a teaspoonful of white sugar. This DIZZINESS. 101 should be followed in from six to eight hours with Tartar emetic, from 8 to 10 grains of the first tritu- ration, in a glass half full of water, with a teaspoon- ful of white sugar, and to be given in alternation with Belladonna, as above directed. As soon as the most violent symptoms disappear and there is an evident improvement, lengthen the intervals between the doses and the wash and gargle. Give the child all the nourishing food it craves, and es- pecially the sweet cream. If the nostrils fill up with mucus, they must be washed with the same Potassa solution by using a small syringe or an atomizer. To mothers I will say, follow this treatment and dismiss all fears about your child. To those who may feel disposed to criticise my treatment, I have only to say, try it before you condemn it, and you will be satisfied with the correctness of my advice. Dizziness. This is often only a symptom of some other dis- ease, such as derangement of the stomach, habitual constipation, or long-protracted mental exertion. The best way to get rid of the symptoms is to remove or avoid the cause. When, however, it becomes habitual without any known cause, we treat it as a disease, and among the most appropri- ate remedies are Aconite, if there is feverishness in the system; Belladonna, if there is a fullness 102 DROPSY. and rush of blood to the head. Where it becomes chronic, give Nux vomica at night and Sulphur in the morning, and avoid stimulating drinks and highly seasoned food, and sleep with your head to the north. This last advice may excite a smile of i incredulity in some who are wondrous wise, just I because they think themselves so. Those who have given any attention to the study of terrestrial magnetism will soon find abundant reason to be- Keve that our wondrously constructed nervous system may easily be affected by our position in reference to the poles of the earth during repose. Dropsy. This is an accumulation of water in the cellular tissues under the skin, or it may collect in the ab- dominal or thoracic cavities or other parts of the body, such as on the brain, especially in diseases of infants. This water is one of the constituents of the blood, and its separation from the vital fluid shows an unhealthy action in some part of the sys- ' tern. It often follows diseases that have left the blood in an impoverished condition, such as measles, scarlet fever, or affections of the luugs and liver. Organic disease of the heart and a want of proper action of its neatly adjusted valves will often produce dropsy. I discovered a remedy some years ago that will always remove these watery accumulations. > DYSENTERY. 103 The following is the prescription, which is not found in any of the medical books of any school: Gum Gamboge, 15 grains. Iodide of Potassa* 10 grains. Dilute Alcohol (one-half water), 3 ounces. Have this medicine put up by a druggist who understands compounding medicine, and give a dessert-spoonful, or more, if necessary, to produce an active movement of the bowels every four hours. After the dropsical swelling has passed away, con- tinue the medicine night and morning for some time. This treatment may be objected to by some strict homceopathist as not in accordance with the law of " Similia," to which I reply that it is only a means of getting the unhealthy accumulation out of the way, and thus to prepare the way for a rational cure of the disease which was the prime cause of the affection. If the lungs, liver, heart, or disease of any other organ caused the dropsy, give the remedies under their appropriate head';, and if possible cure the disease that caused the dropsy. Dysentery. This disease has often been a terror to the people and a dread to the doctors where it has prevailed. It is not only very painful but often dangerous and fatal in its results if not properly treated. Dysen- tery differs from diarrhea. Its seat is in the large intestines, where there is always more or less inflam- 104 DYSENTERY. mation, and in severe and protracted cases there is ulceration of the lower bowels, while in diarrhea the affection is along the whole line of the intes- tinal canal, with very little or no inflammatory ac- tion. It is most common and most violent in hot climates, although the dwellers in all countries are more or less subject to it. It sometimes prevails as an epidemic, in the latter part of Summer and Fall, especially in miasmatic countries, and is fre- quently complicated with derangement of the bil- iary organs or disease of the liver. The Causes—of dysentery are similar to those which produce many other diseases, such as sudden changes from heat to cold, checked perspiration, improper diet, unripe fruit, intemperance in eating and drinking, and insufficient clothing when ex- posed to wet and cold weather. It commences with frequent evacuations, accom- panied with severe pain and pressing down, and a great desire to strain while at stool, with a burning sensation in the rectum. The evacuations may be dark brown, green, or white and frothy, almost al- ways streaked with blood, and as the disease pro- gresses the discharges become slimy and bloody with a jelly-like appearance, and an entire absence of all natural evacuations. Treatment.—Instead of giving astringent injec- tions to check these unhealthy secretions—which is often done at the expense of the patient's life— we should give something to remove this poison DYSPEPSIA. 105 from the system as soon as possible, and the best remedy for this is to give Sweet Oil and Castor Oil, half of each, mixed, and to each spoonful add a few drops of the Spirits of Turpentine, and give enough of this to produce a copious evacuation from the upper or small intestines. For the fever and dry skin, give Aconite; for severe straining, give Mercurius viv. and Belladonna, alternately. The Mercurius should be the first trituration. For great prostration and cold extremities, give Ar- senicum audRAus Tox, alternately, every hour. For severe pains coming on periodically, give Colocynth, second attenuation, every hour till relieved. A compress wrung out of cold water, laid over the bowels, well covered with flannel, will be of great service. Great care should be exercised with re- gard to diet during convalescence. Dyspepsia. This has become a very common and also a very fashionable disease of our modern society. It as- sumes such manifold forms, and manifests its pres- ence by such a variety of symptoms that it would require many pages to give a minute account of them. Their name might be called legion, and their forms may be described as hideous monsters to torment the unhappy victim of this disease. I well remember when I was a young lad, more than sixty years ago, there was a fashionable man in our 106 DYSPEPSIA. neighborhood who frequently complained of illnesst and it was continually whispered around among the neighbors that he had dyspepsia. "But," said one to another, "don't let the thing be known, for he is a clever man and it might injure his stand- ing in society." I distinctly recollect how the young ladies in their private circles amused them- selves over the misfortunes of this young man. But times have changed; now it is a regular society disease, and often nursed—unconsciously—as a family pet, and retained by imprudence when it should be expelled by every member of respectable society. This disease has opened a wider field for the venders of quack nostrums than any other, and doctors of all schools and systems of practice have often increased the disease by overdosing and in- jurious advice in diet and hygienic rules. The in- nocent stomach has been nearly doctored to death or starved to death, while the seat of the disease is often in the nervous system, and results from over- work, too long confinement in badly ventilated rooms, overloading the stomach with unwholesome food, stimulating drinks, and narcotic medicines to quiet the outraged organs of nutrition and force sleep and hush the voice of nature that would cry out against such abuses. I knew a lady of refinement and culture many years ago, attended by a homoeopathic physician for dyspepsia. He put her on a low and scanty DYSPEPSIA. 107 diet, and the less she ate the more feeble her diges- tion. A post-mortem examination revealed the fact that her stomach contracted upon itself until there was not room in it to contain a small walnut. My advice in such cases is to eat a full meal occa- sionally to take the wrinkles out of the inside of your stomach. A pint or more of mush and milk or a pound of soft bread pudding or milk custard would answer excellently 4br this purpose. This will bring the whole inner surface of the stomach in contact with the food, and increase the secretion of the gastric fluid, which is essential to digestion. I do not wish to intimate that the stomach should be habitually overloaded with unwholesome and indigestible food. All the medicine anyone can take will be of no avail unless proper attention is paid to diet, taking into the stomach only such food as is known to agree with it from careful ob- servation. A new idea has recently struck the fertile brains of some shrewd business men. The hog eats all manner of filthy things, and digests them, too. This has suggested the grand idea that the hog must aid us to digest our food. Oh, for a pig's stomach! exclaims the confirmed dyspeptic, but as this cannot be had, the next best thing is to get the hog's stomach, and out of it manufacture pep- sin to aid in digesting our food. This is now largely carried on in Chicago. Another company has recently sprung up in Chicago, manufacturing 108 DYSPEPSIA. what they call "Cibarium," made from the stom- achs of hogs, cows, calves, oxen, sheep, goats, "and from the gizzards of all fowl, both tame and wild, obtainable." I suppose the idea of this combina- tion is the same as the compounding of numerous medicines into one dose, so that if one misses an- other will hit. What an interesting idea it must be to the gor- mandizer who overloads* his stomach to think the stomachs of all these slaughtered animals will help him out of his troubles, all of which arise out of a misunderstanding of the unemployed resources we have ourselves. Every human being carries within his own body a wonderful apparatus for the manu- facture of material to aid his own digestion, which is far superior to all the other preparations invented by the ingenuity of men or extracted from the filthy stomachs of lower animals. Many an emaciated dyspeptic spends his days in gloom, and suffers untold horrors from this disease, and pays out his money for advertised quack medicines, without ever suspecting that the God of nature has fur- nished him with some chemical contrivance from which he can draw material at his pleasure far supe- rior to the filthy stuff extracted from the half- decayed and putrid stomachs of hogs or the giz- zards of fowls. I admit that Nitrate of Bismuth and other medical substances are sometimes mixed with these preparations and give them some medical virtue, but it may well be doubted whether there DYSPEPSIA. 109 is anything in these stomachs and gizzards that will aid digestion in a human stomach. But now a few words about the secret of that hidden power of which so many remain ignorant. Nothing in the whole animal economy is more mar- velous than the process of digestion and nutrition. The action is mechanical and chemical. The divisr ion of the food by the teeth is mechanical. The saliva from the glands in the mouth and the gastric juice from the stomach, the fluid from the pancreas, the bile from the liver, have each a separate and specific chemical action on the different kinds of food, to carry on this beautiful process, and which is so often interrupted by imprudence and intem- perance, and when outraged nature can stand up no longer against an injurious and destructive pro- cess, then man will turn to beasts and birds to force the stomach into action. I say again, these secretions are the result of vital forces, and when life is withdrawn the action ceases, and a dead pig's stomach cannot produce this chemical action neces- sary to produce digestion. But as above stated, you can keep these chemical agents in running order by not forcing too much upon them. They will only work up what the system needs, and the balance forced into the stomach becomes a disturbing agent, and produces injurious effects. The saliva secreted by the glands in the mouth plays an important part in the process of digestion, 110 EAR. and by hurriedly swallowing our food we do not get enough of it into the stomach. To get an extra supply we should, after every meal, take a pine chip or shaving into the mouth and chew it fine, and swallow the saliva which flows out freely by this chewing. If our teeth are defective so that we cannot chew hard substances, we should take some- thing soft into the mouth that will cause the saliva to flow, and in this way we get a substance into the stomach worth more than all the medicine that can be taken for dyspepsia. For derangement of the stomach, take occasion- ally a dose of Nux vomica or Pulsatilla. But there is absolutely no cure for dyspepsia unless strict diet rules are observed. Ear, {Diseases of the.) Inflammation of the ear often commences in the throat and should be treated like any other inflam- mation. Aconite and Gelseminum, alternately, every hour, are especially indicated. If a foreign substance accidentally gets into the ear, no effort should be made to extract it by any but an experi- enced surgeon. Warm water may be carefully injected, which sometimes answers the purpose very well. For ulceration of the ear, resulting from measles or scarlet fever, put a few drops of a weak solution of the Permanganate of Potassa in the ear every three hours, and give Sulphur at ECZEMA.--ERYSIPELAS. Ill night, sixth attenuation, and Phosphorus in the morning. Eczema This is an eruption, consisting of small vesicles or blisters, and may generally be traced to a de- ranged condition of the stomach or exposure to ex- cessive heat. Treatment.—Abstinence from meat, and espe- cially pork and highly seasoned food, will be im- portant. Rhus Tox., third, and Arsenicum, sixth, should be given alternately, every four hours. If any disagreeable effects remain, after a few days, give Sulphur night and morning. Erysipelas. This is a painful swelling, with inflammation of the locality affected, sometimes with a red, smooth surface, and at other times with slight elevations, resembling small blisters. This disease may be known from the color of the inflamed part disap- pearing under pressure made by the finger, and immediately returning when the pressure is re- moved. It is frequently accompanied with a burn- ing, itching pain, and k more liable to occur in young, strong, and full-blooded persons, than in the lean and emaciated, and more frequently ap- pears on the limbs and face than any other part of tiie body. There is a simple form of this disease 112 ERUCTATION. that often terminates in two or three days, but fre-> quently when the system is in a bad condition from a derangement of the digestive organs, it assumes a more serious character, and if not properly treated may terminate fatally. Erysipelas may become epidemic and contagious, especially in hospitals or where large families are crowded into small apartments; it becomes con- tagious especially from contact. Treatment.—In the early stage, when there is fever with a dry skin and thirst, give Aconite every two hours, for six hours. If the swelling is smooth and red, give Belladonna in alternation with Ac- onite, every two hours. If the patient is thirsty, allow cold water to drink, but do not apply cold water externally with a view of cooling the fever. Cover the affected part with rye flour and cotton batting, to exclude the air. If there are blisters or vesicles on the surface, give Rhus Tox. and Arseni- cum, alternately, every two hours. Allow no rich nor highly seasoned diet, and keep the room well aired and of an even temperature. Eructation. This is what is commonly called belching wind from the stomach. It indicates a weak or dyspep- tic condition of the stomach, but it may also be- come a habit, and the more it is indulged in by thoughtless children, so much the more difficult will it be to control in after life. EXCORIATION. —EYES. 113 Persons who are subject to this disagreeable habit should seek to break themselves of it by eat- ing slowly and masticating their food well, and not drink much during their meals. For treatment of. this weakness of the stomach, see Dyspepsia, and take Pulsatilla night and morning. Excoriation, {Soreness.) This is a troublesome disease of infants, who be- come sore and inflamed around the neck and joints, especially in fleshy children. No matter how well a child may be cared for and how frequently it may be washed and powdered with starch, the dis- order will often make its appearance, to the great annoyance of mothers and nurses. Treatment.—Apply a little Mercurius dulcis, of the first trituration, three times a day, and give Chamomilla in the morning and Sulphur at night. Eyes, {Inflammation of the.) The eyes are among the most important organs of the body, and yet are subject to numerous and • severe affections. Many are of such a nature as to require the attention of a skillful physician who has made the diseases of the eye an especial study. Ordinary inflammation of the eye may be treated successfully with homoeopathic remedies. Treatment.—For inflammation of the eyes from exposure to cold, take Aconite and Belladonna, 114 FACE.—FEVER. alternately, every three hours. If it results from measles, take Sulphur at night and Belladonna in the morning. Never apply cold water to inflamed sore eyes. Warm water with a little sweet milk is far better. Face, {Inflammation of the.) If an inflammation of the face results from a de- cayed tooth, there is but little prospect of a cure until the tooth is removed. If there is swelling and the glands of the mouth become affected, give Aconite and Mercurius viv. every three hours, alternately, and keep the face warm by covering it with flannel or cotton batting. Should the glands in the mouth become affected, wash the mouth frequently with diluted Calendula Tincture, or a solution of Permanganate of Potassa, as directed ■ on page 12. Fever. There is no subject in the whole range of medi- cal literature, in reference to which there has been * so much said, and about which there have been more bitter and protracted controversies, than that of fever. To notice the different classifications and divisions and sub-divisions, and distinctions made by different writers would not be in accord- ance with my "Plain Talk to the Sick." I have fever. 115 not attempted to classify diseases, but have taken up the most common and prevailing disorders and talked plainly about their nature and treatment in alphabetical order, so as to enable the afflicted to help themselves in the absence of a good and hon- est physician, and to put them on their guard against those whose motives are not always as pure as they should be in dealing with the sick and suffering. If I were to notice the numerous classifi- cations of fevers and their proper homoeopathic treatment, I would have to repeat, in part at least, the same thing over again and again, because there are many symptoms common to all these different forms of fever, such as bilious fever, fever and ague, hectic, or lung fever, catarrhal fever, gastric fever, inflammatory fever, intermittent and remit- tent fever, milk fever, puerperal fever, typhoid fever, typhus fever, worm fever, and yellow fever. Under the different names there are other sub-di- visions too tedious to mention here. All these fevers are characterized by leading symptoms that are nearly, if not quite, common to all of them, such as the rapid pulse, coated tongue, loss of ap- petite, bad taste in the mouth, headache, dizziness, great thirst, dry skin, pain in the back, and a gen- v eral restlessness that often prevents sound sleep. In homoeopathic treatment we do not give medi- cines in any disease because it has a particular name, but the medicines are given to counteract unhealthy conditions which manifest themselves by 116 FEVER. certain symptoms, without any regard to the name of the disease. To make the matter as plain and as easily understood as possible, I will here name the medicines with the symptoms that indicate their employment in these different fevers, and when the symptoms occur to which the medicine corresponds, then give the medicines without any regard to the peculiar type or name of the fever. In my boyhood days, sixty years ago, it was very common for a doctor, on his first visit to a case of fever, to bleed, and then give a dose of calomel and jalap, and forbid the use of cold water to drink, and very often follow the bleeding with Spanish-fly blisters. On one occasion, when I bad the bilious fever, the doctor bled me and put a Spanish-fly blister on the back of my neck and one on each wrist, one on the inside of each leg just above the ankles, and then put a large seton in my left side, and gave me a large dose of calomel and jalap and left, with strict orders that under no circumstances to allow me to taste cold water ; and this was then called, "the regular practice." I got worse, of course, as the doctor expected, for in fevers, they uniformly told us, "It must run its course, and you must get a good deal worse before you can expect to get better." This was science of medicine with a ven- geance, and we now look back wTith surprise that men of sense and common intelligence practiced such things, and yet I am prepared to prove that FEVER. 117 in these days there are things done in the name of medical science more horrible to think of and more destructive to health than the barbarous treatment above referred to. If the so-called "regulars" charge us with giv- ing Aconite in all fevers, we reply that this is used by homoeopathists instead of the lancet of former times, and it is much more efficient and more harm- less than the old bleeding process. In every form of fever it is safe to commence the treatment with Aconite. Homoeopathists may well be proud of this discovery by the distinguished founder of the system. In reference to the efficacy of this remedy, Dr. Ruddock, in his " Stepping- Stone to Homoeopathy," says : '' The prominent uses of Aconitum are chiefly at the commencement, and often in the course, of all feverish and inflammatory affections. Its special indications are—thirst, and dry, hot skin; chills and shiverings, succeeded by burning heat; strong, rapid pulse; restlessness, anxiety, flushing of the face ; pain; quick or labored breathing; dry cough, with fever; deficient, hot, and high- colored urine ; first stage of a cold in the head, etc. It probably surpasses all other known remedies in its power of controlling the circulatory system, and triumphantly supersedes the lancet and the leech. 'To enumerate,' says Dudgeon, 'the diseases for which it is suitable would be to mention the acute inflammation of every possible order and tissue of 118 FEVER. the body; and if it be not for all of these the sole remedy, it is almost always useful either previous to, or in alternation with, another remedy which has perhaps a more specific relation to parts affectr ed.' Had Hahnemann's labors extended no fur- ther than the discovery and demonstration of the wide and inclusive curative power of this great remedy, they would have entitled him to the grati- tude of countless myriads of his fellow-creatures in every succeeding generation. He must appropri- ately rank it as first and foremost in his Materia Medica, not because its name begins with the first letter of the alphabet, but because of its transcend- ant power and extended sphere of action; he terms it a precious plant, whose efficacy almost amounts to a miracle." Nest in importance in subduing fever is Gelse- minum. This remedy was not used by the older homoeopathists. Its wonderful power to control fevers, especially those involving the brain and spinal column, is a comparatively recent discovery. So far as my experience goes, it acts better in the low than in the higher attenuations. I put from 4 to 6 drops of the tincture in a glass half full of water and give a teaspoonful every hour. This is an excellent remedy in the commencement of bil- ious fever and often breaks it up in from twelve to twenty-four hours. In the commencement of any fever where there is severe pain in the head with a sense of fullness, intolerance of light and sound FEVER. 119 with dilated pupils; sore throat and swelling of the glands of the neck, give Belladonna in alter- nation with Aconite, every two hours, and lengthen the intervals as soon as the patient commences to improve. Belladonna is especially indicated in brain fever, 3 or 4 drops in a glass half full of water, and give a teaspoonful every hour. Gastric Fever. Gastric fever may be treated successfully with Aconite and Bryonia, alternately, every three hours, always observing the rules laid down on page 12. In this disease great care should be exercised with regard to the diet. The patient should drink Slippery-elm Water, and carefully abstain irom everything that disagrees with the stomach. If there is considerable fever with a burning at the stomach, a cold, wet compress may be laid over the stomach, covered with flannel, and frequently repeated. Typhoid Fever. This often appears, in its commencement, with many of the symptoms of a remittent fever, with considerable disturbance of the nervous system. In this fever, instead of the white or yellowish coating over the tongue, as in bilious fever, we have the dark brown stripe in the center of the 120 FEVER. red edges, and as the fever progresses, the tongue becomes dry and hard, and the brown stripe in the center of the tongue changes to a smooth, glossy looking, red color, and either the lungs, the brain, or the bowels may be affected as a complica- tion of the disease. Treatment.—After many years' experience, I have found nothing equal to Bryonia and Rhus Tox., in the commencement of typhoid fever. I give Bryonia, sixth, and Rhus, third, in alternation, every two hours. This will almost invariably pro- duce free perspiration and break up the fever at once. These remedies are especially indicated where the lungs are affected in typhoid fever. If after these remedies there is difficult breathing, cough, with great prostration, and an accumulation of mucus in the bronchial tubes, give Phosphorus, third, and Tartar emetic, first, each in a glass half full of water, as much of the Tartar emetic as would cover a ten-cent piece, and 5 drops of the Phosphorus / to be given in alternation, every two hours. Should the brain be affected, Belladonna and Rhus Tox. should be given, alternately, every two hours through the day and from 6 to 8 pellets of the sixth, of Sulphur, should be given at night. Where tlie bowels become affected in typhoid fever and there is a diarrhea with watery dis- charges, give Arsenicum, in alternation with Rhus Tox. every two hours. These remedies may also be followed with Sulphur at night. FEVER. 121 With these remedies the most violent attacks of typhoid fever, with their threatening symptoms, will often pass away without leaving a trace of dis- ease upon the system. Fever and Ague. This is a type of intermittent fever that prevails in miasmatic districts mostly in the Fall of the year. Its effects in its different stages are so well known that a description of them is not necessary here. We should commence the treatment with Gelsemi- num, as directed in Bilious Fever. If this does not break up the fever, we may depend on such reme- dies as Arsenicum, Pulsatilla, Cinchona, or the first trituration of Sulp. Quinine, given about 10 to 12 grains every four hours. When the case be- comes chronic and defies all the ordinary remedies, Arsenicum and Pulsatilla, alternately, every four hours, sometimes act with promptness on this stubborn disease. Rheumatic Fever May be treated successfully with Aconite, Bry- onia, Rhus Tox. ; and when the pain changes from place to place, Pulsatilla is indicated through the day, and a dose of Sulphur at night (Dose, see p. 12.) In giving the different remedies above recom- mended, Aconite is always safe to commence with; 122 FEVER. Bryonia is indicated when there are sharp, shoot- ing pains, especially through the chest, increased by moving the body or limbs; Rhus Tox. is more especially indicated when moving or a change of position affords relief to the patient. Worm Fever. This is one of the diseases peculiar to childhood, and may be easily cured by giving Santonine, about 5 grains of the first decimal trituration, night and morning. Puerperal {or Child-Bed) Fever. This fever comes on with the usual symptoms of many other forms of fever, and if not checked, is often very rapid in its progress, and fatal in its results. No physician, with a proper sense of his responsibility to the family under his care for medi- cal treatment, can contemplate this fever with in- difference. The life of a mother—the most import- ant member of the whole family—may hang upon a very slender thread when the fever commences. Injudicious medical treatment and careless nursing will often send the fever from the locality where it commences, like a flash, to the remotest part of the body, until the brain and the whole nervous system becomes involved. I can safely say, and say it in truth, and with a clear conscience, that, in some thirty years of practice with homoeopathic FEVER. 123 medicines, I have not witnessed'a single fatal case of this fever, although I have seen many cases of severe attacks, and symptoms plainly indicating the approach of this fever. Treatment.—In the commencement I give Ac- onite every hour, for a few hours, to control the local inflammation, and then follow with Bryonia, sixth. This I consider a specific in this disease. It may be given in pellets, from 6 to 8 at a dose, every two hours, or a few drops of the dilution in a glass of water, and a teaspoonful to be given every two hours. Should the brain become af- fected, Belladonna should be given in alternation with Bryonia. These remedies, with careful nursing, will bridge every case of this fever safe over the fearful gulf, and bring joy and gladness to the whole family. Under the head of fever I have one more to notice. This is Yellow Fever. This fever has become a matter of interest to our whole country. Although we have no grounds to fear that it will ever become epidemic among ns in the North, yet we know not how soon, or when a friend or stranger may come to our neigh- borhood, or even to our dwelling, affected with the poison that kindles this fever into such a fearful form. 124 FEVER. I have never practiced in yellow-fever districts, and have never witnessed a case myself, and wish- ing to give my readers the best possible informa- tion, from a reliable source, I wrote to W. J. Mur- rell, A: M., M. D., of Mobile, Ala., who has had extensive practice and experience in this disease, and he sent me the following interesting communi- cation. This will occupy more space than I had intended for this disease, but I will not mar the ex- cellent article by extracts, and therefore give it en- tire: An Article on Yellow Fever, by W. J. Murrell, A. M., M. D., of Mobile, Ala. SYNONYMS. Febris Icterodes, Typhus Icterodes, Black Vomit (El Vomito.) DEFINITION. A specific malignant fever; epidemic, infectious, and contagious disease; endemic in the West Indies, introduced into the United States in the latter quar- ter of the eighteenth century; attacking the same person usually but once. Needing a temperature of 72° Fahr. of several weeks' continuance for its production and propagation. Confined chiefly to aggregations of human beings common to cities, garrisoned forts and ships ; independent of malaria, FEVER. 125 and capable of distant transmission, or lying dor- mant under the influence of frost, and regenerating into activity with the concurrences of causes which originally developed the disease. CHARACTER. Dr. Drake fixed a limit to the fever at 400 feet in the United States, but it reached 460 feet at Fort Smith, in 1823, in epidemic form, and has visited St. Louis, 475 feet; Louisville, 450 feet; Cincin- nati, 550 feet, though not in epidemic form. This, however was in times of slow transit, and wide dis- tance between populations. Since 1853, and more especially in IS78, with a largely increased popula- tion, brought in proximity by rapid travel and increased aggregation of causes generally, we find the yellow fever ignoring its former boundaries, and penetrating sections and elevations heretofore considered safe from its ravages, domiciling itself with all the privileges of nativity to wait the pecu. liar condition of the atmosphere and surrounding factors to propagate its poison anew. The whites have been considered much more lia- ble to contract the disease, and in a decreased ratio as the race approaches the negro, who previous to 1853, with the natives, were exempted. In latter years exemption has been purchased only at the expense of isolation, and natives now lose their acclimation, or exemption by absence, not only from the yellow-fever zone, but from their immedi- 126 FEVER. ate place of long residence for any length of time, as by change of residence from one city to another. I believe the negro, not a native to the yellow-fever district, is just as liable as the whites to the disease. Children formerly exempted are by no means so now. These facts would argue a greater severity in the character of the disease the past quarter of a cent- ury, but I think not, per se. The cause of the present severity is not in the disease, but in the more exciting aggregations of causes rendering all persons without distinction of color, age, or previ- ous condition more liable to the influence of the poison. Black vomit, formerly a fatal symptom, is not considered so now; on the contrary, recov- ery is common. No disease more correctly illustrates, by com- parison, the correctness of the homoeopathic law, * * Similia similibus curantur.'' Dr. Charles Belot, an allopath, of Havana, observes: "The febrile orgasm is nothing more than the energetic reaction of nature to eliminate the poison, the effects of which may be compared to those of the venom of the crotalus horridus." This venom in attenuated doses is one of the most potent antidotes to the marked symptoms of the disease. The Doctor again writes: "The only natural and safe medical treatment is by that of the symptoms." As epidemics offer special characteristics and types, variable with each visita- FEVER. 127 lion, sometimes sthenic, at others asthenic, some- times cerebral or gastro enteric; some continued from the mild ephemeral to the most severe ty- phoid, or even low forms of typhus; others remit- tent, or uniting these several characteristics in the same epidemic, varying as to individual cases, it argues more forcibly that the symptoms must be the guide to a successful treatment. Extremely mild cases must be recognized by their history, and surroundings, and the danger anticipated before thl temperature or urine gives us the pathogno- monic diagnosis. The disease at times is very in- sidious ; but as the introductory cases are almost invariably severe, and as the disease assumes the ■epidemic character all prevailing diseases don the yellow-fever garb, it is not difficult to reach a pru- dent conclusion, if not a positive diagnosis, and a prudent anticipation is necessary to the life of your patient. The symptoms should guide you to the homoeopathic remedy, but if you nurse, or other- wise treat yellow fever as you would a case of bilious, typhoid, or typhus fever, you will soon turn it over to the undertaker, or at the very least, convert a mild attack into one of the most severe and dangerous character. Not infrequently is it most unexpectedly sudden in its attack, and as sud- denly unexpected in its fatality. The late Dr. Richard Lee Fern, of Mobile, informed me «that, in 1853, he met a friend upon the street, who was •on his way to his place of bus.ness without the 128 FEVER. slightest feeling of indisposition, but the doctor perceiving otherwise, prevailed upon him to get into his buggy with a view of returning home and laying up for a few days to ward off an attack, the epidemic being at that time very severe. He cheerfully consented, having but a mile to drive, and was carried into the doorway dead. The late Dr. J. C. Nott related an instance of the same epi- demic. Being called out to Spring Hill, seven miles distant, where the disease had never spread before, to attend upon several sick of the fever in his own family, before leaving, playfully picked up his youngest child, and walked out upon the porch, where the child threw up black vomit, and died soon after, not having indicated previously any signs of the disease. In 1870 my attention was called to the algid type of the disease. Ushered in with only a general sick feeling, pulse at 40, per- haps a burning sensation with some pain at the stomach, and soon, vomiting of charcoal black vomit (like charcoal masticated), or with violent, and profuse hemorrhage from the stomach with numerous particles of black vomit—all the indica- tions of the collapse of the second stage, without any of the usual prodroma of the first or congestive stage of the disease. In the course of other types the patient would suddenly complain of coldness of t&e head, or of one foot, or one arm, and imme- diately indicate by pallor, a sigh, and long breath, the threatened collapse. FEVER. 129 Such symptoms are to be met immediately by stimulants. A sleep of over a half hour will often awaken exhaustion in yellow fever, and if not an- ticipated immediately with a supply of nourish- ment the patient will die with scarce a moment's notice. Medical treatment proves that yellow fever is not a malarial fever, but a fever sui generis, of a specific character, with characteristic symptoms, running its natural course, unlike the poison of malarial and not generated by the same agencies. Calomel and quinine prescribed as for the bilious remittent fevers, is sure death of every serious case of yellow fever, those surviving attributable alone to Herculean vitality. Of the 300 cases occurring in Mobile in 1878, the record of the Board of Health (allopathic) shows a loss of 27 per cent, and against those gentlemen who informed me that they treated their cases as malarial fever, there was a loss of 84 per cent, and in several in- stances, of 100 per cent. symptoms. First Period.—The premonitory symptom is usually a headache, which may continue several days, general lassitude setting in, and finally a chill announces the unmistakable attack of the disease, or the chill followed by severe headache, pains in the loins and limbs, burning fever, dry skin, and intense thirst, or the general pains, without chill, with fever gradually supervening, and moisture 130 FEVER. soon following, announcing a mild invasion, which, however, may illustrate the old proverb of "March coming in like a lamb, and going out like a lion." The attack may present, from the first, the cerebral form; first a chill, thence intensely hot fever with profuse sweat, florid countenance, bright, congested eyes, dilated pupils, and injected conjunctiva, pulse 140 to 150, temperature 106 to 107° Fahr., and death following the third to the fourth day, pre- ceded by convulsions or coma. The gastric form of attack, usually less intense in the first period, will begin with languor, headache, pains in the loins, uneasiness in the stomach, a burning pain, nausea, and vomiting of the injesta, then bile followed by fluid containing small, dark particles, like coffee grounds in suspension, while the fever, not intense but with considerable thirst, progresses to the sec- ond, third, or fourth day, when remission may follow; the pulse and temperature approach nor- mal, and if the vomiting has been stopped, the burning at the stomach less intense, with freedom from pain, and the burning moved down the bow- els, the remission will be complete, and the lethar- gic condition of the bowels characteristic of yellow fever in the first period, will give way to a stool of dark, gelatinous, and offensive character, espe- cially if aided by an enema of salt water. Your patient will declare himself comfortable. Again, these several features may be more or less united with only marked tendencies of favorable or un- FEVER. 131 favorable symptoms. The continued type with hemorrhagic symptoms, most usually announced by epistaxis—not a serious symptom in the first period, but may be fatal in the second and third, may present itself and close the first period, with less of a remission. But let us recapitulate and bring forward the characteristic symptoms of the disease of the first period, which are more or less striking in every defined case of yellow fever. Chills, violent fever, preceded, or immediately followed, by excruciating headache and pain in the loins and limbs; tongue clean, almost natural, or narrow red on the sides, and dark in the center, dry and parched or else large, heavily coated, with bitter or bad taste in the mouth; dry, or moist skin, vt sweat; great thirst and weakness ; photophobia, dilitation, suffused, watery, and injected appear- ance of the eye, very bright—pathognomonic of the disease; pulse strong, full, and frequent; ca- daveric odor of the breath, noticeable on entering the room ; the bowels confined, or less frequently a diarrhea of a dark character—if bilious, more favorable, provided it does not continue to the sec- ond period. By the second to the third day, in serious cases, all these symptoms become aggra- vated—the gums dry, hemorrhagic, the counte- nance dull—the patient sleeping profoundly or wakeful and restless ; the skin of a citron color— the bright red of the eyes penetrated by the yellow color, and the entire surface more or less jaundi- 132 FEVER. cated; the urine scant, mahogany color, and holtiV ing albumen—pathognomonic in this period. With these conditions we have the disease of yellow fever fully developed, and the decomposition of the blood pointing to the specific character of the poison. Two to four days is sufficient to exhaust nature by her severe energetic reaction to eliminate the poison from her invaded system. Like the noble ship, she has passed the first vortex of a fear- ful cyclone, and rests in the calm center of remis- sion, unexpecting and unsuspicious of the fearful last stage which awaits her, and too often fatal from the slightest indiscretion on the part of patient, nurse, or physician just at this period. With this remission we reach the Second Period.—As anticipated by the above remarks, the second period may or may not indi- cate the immediate damage of a mild or severe in- vasion. Following either, the patient may declare himself well and ask for a good allowance of food. But all the skill of the physician and watchful care over patient and nurse, is now demanded with even sleepless vigilance. Every unfavorable symp- tom must be anticipated if possible—the diet and motionless quiet of the patient, the atmosphere of the room, and the uncompromising denial to the removal of linen from the patient, or from the bed, to the very least degree disturbing, the entrance of unpleasant news, cold air, neglect of stimulant but for a moment; must all be watched and cheerfully FEVER. 133 and promptly met, for the life of the sick hangs by a thread ; yet he must not know that he is in dan- ger. The pulse and temperature, which should have been noted twice or thrice a day, is at this period pathognomonic of the disease. Having reached its acme, usually before or by the third day, the fever remits, and the pulse may gradually or rapidly approximate the normal,—the tempera- ture in concordance at this period,—the first about 100, and the latter registering about 102° Fahr., then to 80 and 100° Fahr., respectively. Conval- escence may date from this registration, and only care and prudent nursing accomplish complete res- toration to health; but generally the temperature rises again, while the pulse drops, and the third period must be met. Third Period.—If not before, in violent attacks, we certainly will meet those fearful symptoms, which, if our patient survives through the first in- vasion, and does not sink in the remission, now ac- companies this pathognomonic change of pulse and temperature. With jaundice more marked, local and general hemorrhage, black vomit, a'.d sup- pression of urine—the countenance stoical, even fated, the pulse may fall to 30 and 25 pulsations; while the temperature reaches its fatal point, 109- 110° F. and a fraction, and the patient dies como- tose or in convulsions. These periods are variably extended—the first as stated, and the third from one day to seven or more, when fatal, and when 134 FEVER. not, may be extended so several weeks, in conval- escence from very serious attacks. In less serious cases in two days from the time of remission, the temperature may reach its height of 102 to 104° F. and return slowly back to normal with the pulse, or the latter, remaining somewhat depressed, may mark with solemn beat some abdominal difficulty, and continue so several weeks after the patient is about. prognosis. Favorable—Drawn from personal observation, and the most reliable modern writers, and based upon homoeopathic treatment: "When the general symptoms are not serious, the disease will usually give way to convalescence before the seventh day. When with jaundice, the urine is of the color of a decoction of rhubarb, and there isfreedomfrom pain in the stomach, the disease will terminate favorably." When the fever con- tinues three days without jaundice or epigastric pains, and there is no cerebral symptoms of dan- ger, convalescence will date from the remission. Jaundice after the fifth day; disappearance of albumen; moderate moisture, moist tongue, free discharge from the bowels, not produced by laxa- tives ; free discharge of urine, and a miliary erup- tion on the skin, are favorable symptoms; accli- mation ; a previous attack; freedom from fear. Unfavorable.—Serious fear of the disease ; in- temperate habits ; early appearance of heavy albu- FEVER. 135 urinous urine. Intense headache, dry skin, with vomiting, and jaundice in the first period. When with burning fever, profuse sweat and delirium, the disease continues unabated, it will prove fatal by the third day. "When in the beginning there is vomiting, epi- gastric pain, with throbbing of the cceliac trunk, and jaundice appears, death is certain." " In sud- den remission with vomiting, black vomit is sure to appear, and when with great exhaustion, and irregular pulse, death is imminent." Sudden, se- vere pain during convalescence indicates gan- green, and wiil produce death within two days. Hiccoughs in the second or third period, or metror- rhagia in the second period are very critical, in the third almost surely fatal. Difficult and painful breathing indicates death. The pupil immobile and insensible to light indicates cerebral effusion, and a fatal termination. ''Photophobiaprolonged into the second period indicates danger of sudden death." Suppression of urine with stupor. Tefn- perature remainm/ long above 106°. At 109 to 110° F. treatment is considered useless. Below 90 F. extremely critical. Dr. E. A. Murphy, of New Orleans, calls attention to the recurrent pulse. He says: "While the fingers are feeling the radial artery, compress the vessel above, and if the beat is not felt, it is evidence of approaching death." Hunger in the third period. Dr. Falli- gant calls attention to purple lips as a fatal sign. 136 FEVER. INCUBATION Usually once to four days; sometimes ten to fourteen days. CAUSES. Predisposing.—Continued hot weather unbro- ken by thunder storms; great heat after prolonged rains ; excess in diet and intemperance during an epidemic; also irregular habits and exposure to night or early morning air; fear; unacclimation; lowering of the vital forces from any cause. A slight traumatic fever during an epidemic has re- sulted in yellow fever, with death following. Exciting.—Exposure to the influence of certain localities. The atmosphere being peculiarly charged, and deficient in ozone. Pestilential ex- halations from decaying vegetable and animal mat- ter ; sanitary deficiency. SEQUILJE. Organic disease of the liver, kidneys, and devel- opment of latent disease of the iungs. Spontane- ous recovery from phthisis ; long continued jaun- dice, disease of the bowels. PROPHYLAXIS. Isolation.—Acclimation by birth, or from a se- rious attack of the disease; residence out of the infected district at night; temperance in drink and diet; regular habits; freedom from fear; bath every day; Carbo veg. pure—a dose twice a day. Isolation alone being certain. FEVER. 137 diagnosis. Differential.—In mild cases, by its history and surroundings, and more or less tendency to exhaustion, not common to ephemeral or mild con- tinued fevers. Excruciating headache, and pains in the loins. Photophobia—the peculiar appear- ance of the eye (like the red-fish eye); cadaveric odor of the breath, and of the room ; al bumen in the earlier stage of the disease. The discordance of the pulse and temperature. Dengue assimilates yellow fever and may prevail late in the season, and upon the breaking out of yellow fever, but it may, as also from bilious fever, be distinguished by the early appearance of albumen, and the es- sential difference in the pulse and temperature. mortality. In the mild form of the disease in Mobile, in 1878, from August 16 to November 29, 290 cases were reported, with 81 deaths, a mortality of 27 9-10—the range was from 8 to 100 per cent. Of 18 physicians, one lost 8 per cent, a second 10 per cent, and the balance registered no loss under 25 per cent. The homoeopathic loss was none / in 1867, none/ in 1870, none/ while the least mortality of the old school in 1867 and 1870 was over 25 per cent. In 1870 the epidemic was very severe, and of the purer type, of asthenic character, and lasted from August 18 to December 1. I attended over 100 cases in this year. 138 FEVER. In 1878, in New Orleans, of the cases reported by the faculty, there was shown a loss of 17 2-10' per cent. The homoeopathic, in the same epi- demic, reported to the Commission a mortality of five-sixths per cent. In the same city, of the 4,056' fatal cases of yellow fever reported to the Board of Health, 2,344 of them (more than one-half) were children of 15 years and under—a loss of 57 per cent. In the same city, the same epidemic, the homoeopathic reported 1,089 children of 15 years and under, with 48 deaths, a mortality of 4 4-10 per cent. TREATMENT. General Directions.—Let the room be clean and well aired. If possible, place only one patient in the same room. Have, immediately next to the patient, and upon the sheet covering the mattress. a thin water-proof, and over this a sheet doubled several times, which can be removed and returned without disturbing the sick. Never move a yellow fever patient. Keep his head quietly and comfor- tably upon the pillow. If vomiting, aid him to turn his face over to the vessel—never to raise up. If a night-glass is unpleasant, use suitable cloths, and remove the excreta at once from the room— burn it. Keep the room of an even temperature. A fire must guard against changes of the weather. The effects of sudden north winds and storms are bad. Have beef tea (the Valentine or Richmond Extract)—not soup—always warm, and champagne FEVER. 139' or brandy, both in the room ready on a moment's call. Let the patient's covering be a sheet and a light blanket, not less, but more if needed. Notice the first symptom of suspicion—the headache, or any slight indisposition. A cup of hot orange-leaf tea, if not to be had, then black tea with milk, after getting to bed, and while being given a hot mustard foot bath, will check the force of the at- tack, or break up a light invasion of the disease, by moderating the chill and fever, head, and nerv- ous symptoms. Make everything cheerful for your patient. Never permit him to be left alone. If he turns over, readjust the covering over him and smooth down his pillow. Anticipate his every want, and watch his nurse and the carrying out of your directions with scrupulous attention. Do not consider these room instructions in any particu- lar superfluous. The slightest indiscretion, not only may, but almost assuredly will, cost the life of a yellow fever patient. I have known a very small piece of nicely toasted bread given out of time, to produce death in a few hours; likewise, getting out of bed or sleeping uncovered. One of the only two yellow fever patients I ever lost, met his death, after being convalescent from one of the most severe attacks of the disease, by the heartless refusal of his nurse to supply him with food and stimulants, in accordance with my order, and re- peated the evening previous, upon his waking in the morning after a long and salutary night's rest. 140 FEVER. I entered the room at 6 A. M., upon an inspection visit, in time to witness the painful scene, and only had to cross the room for the nourishment, but reached my patient as he looked up longingly and fainted—never to breathe again. First Period.—A review of the symptoms in the outbreak of the disease in any of the congestive types, will place Aconite, first, or tincture, and Bel- ladonna, first to sixth, with wonderful fitness at your disposal. They cover the chill, burning fever, in- tense thirst, delirium, red face, congested eyes, photophobia, dilitation, headache and general pains, restlessness, anxiety and fear of death, pres- sure in the stomach, nausea and vomiting. Tongue red, dry, redness of the edges, whitish coating; dis- position to get out of bed—a common symptom in the disease—bitter and bad taste. While these remedies respond to the congestive stage, they may demand your attention more or less in the continued and gastric types and bilious form of the disease, throughout the case. Bryonia and Gel- seminum rank next as febrifuges. The first will be indicated in the more bilious symptoms, the severe general pains,—worse on motion,—intense heat, sweat, irritability, nose-bleed, retching, burn- in the stomach, lips dry and cracked, tongue dry and yellow coated, and bowels confined. Aconite and Belladonna mostly cover these symptoms, yet, if you are not moderating the violence of the invasion, and guarding against the localization of FEVER. 141 the disease; if the .temperature is not being re- duced, the photophobia relieved, or the pains and burning in the stomach moderated, and vomiting stopped, or the urine free, it will necessitate a close comparison of all these remedies with the symp- toms, and a quick and intelligent choice. A cold, wet compress to the head, sponging the patient with a mixture of hot water and vinegar, under the covering, and if there is nausea or vomiting, a cold, wet compress applied over the stomach and across the throat will prove grateful and efficient auxil- iaries, and should not be neglected. The com- presses should be reapplied cold and wet, often, and always with a dry towel over them. The hot foot-bath maybe used occasionally if the skin re- mains dry, or the head symptoms predominate, or the patient is nervous and sleepless. Relieve the thirst with a little cold water, or more frequently with crushed ice, warm or cold orange-leaf tea, or orange-flower water, sweetened. These drinks quiet nervousness and assist sleep. A hot mustard foot- bath, and a cup of orange-leaf tea will put your patient to sleep when other means have failed. Colchicum and Sticta, tincture, are excellent inter- current remedies for the se"\ ere pains. Rhus, first, also, but Arsenicum, second, also good, may better cover the totality of symptoms, and especially meet the restlessness, anxiety, desire to move about the bed or get up {Arsenic, thirtieth), burning, with pain in the stomach, pulse irregular, quick, or 142 FEVER. weak and frequent, the eyes red, excessive photo- phobia, jaundice, scanty urine, bitter taste and un- quenchable thirst, dark or blackish diarrhea. Ar- senic is a faithful anchor, and may be strongly indicated from the first to the last. Arsenic, third to sixth, and Veratrum, first, have conducted every case of black vomit safely to convalescence for me thus far. But this fact should not tie us to these valuable remedies. Specific indications may call for other drugs yet to be considered in the second and third period of the disease. We men- tion these here because we may have them indi- cated in the first period for obstinate vomiting or even black vomit. Procure a free moisture and keep your patient in it to the last. Aconite, tinct- ure, if not contra indicated, will usually do this. Consult Gelseminum for fever with moisture, vio- lent pains, heaviness and prostration, drooping eyelids, dilitation, and vertigo; more suitable than Aconite in the remittent character of all diseases, and for fever without thirst. For sleeplessness, nervousness, the painful and obstinate pervigilium, we must have recourse to Belladonna, sixth to twelfth; Hyoscyamus, first; Coffea, third; Platina, thirtieth ; which used intercurrent^ will usually be sufficient, not forgetting the hot mustard foot-bath. Watch the strength of your patient, and support him with Beef-tea, (extract), Champagne or Bran- dy, as may be needed. In the first stage, with high fever and cerebral congestion, very little or FEVER. 143 no nourishment will be needed, especially if the stage is short. If the patient is attacked immedi- ately after a meal, the food must be gotten rid of —a little warm, salt water, or mild laxative will accomplish this—but this will be rarely needed, as the load will be almost certainly vomited. Otherwise, I have never administered a laxative, and for this purpose only twice; never an emetic, nor a dose of quinine, in the treatment of yellow fever. More than half the victory is to be won in the first period, and much depends upon the first prescription and management from the start. The moment the fever moderates, watch the pulse and temperature closely, and make sure you are by the side of your patient when he fully reaches the pe- riod of remission, if that is possible, and if not, instruct the nurse minutely what to do in your ab- sence. Second Period.—This is simply the period of re- mission, after the more acute form has subsided. The more sudden and complete the remission, the more danger there is; consequently, great caution should be exercised in the management of the first period in moderating the fever and supporting the patient. Aim, therefore, to equipoise the circula- tion, and as the fever declines, and with it the strength of the patient, supply food or stimulant ' prudently, that when the remission is reached, there will be less exhaustion; and with all if your reme- dies have protected every organ from the morbid 144 FEVER. effect of the poison which has been surging through the circulation, and threatening local inflammations, to the permanent destruction of vital tissues, then you have proved your science all that it should claim to be—an auxiliary to nature—and your- self master of the situation. The pulse, then, and the temperature will not widely diverge, and the danger be greatly lessened or entirely avoided. But if the violence of the attack, or imprudence, or ignorance, has left the patient to the mercy of the venom, just in its proportion will this remission find the patient exhausted and in danger. Just at this stage, if not before, Arsenicum should be used alternately with Lachesis, sixth; Veratrum, first; Ipecac, second; or Belladonna, as may be particu- larly indicated by the symptoms. Third Period.—The blood has been the unwiT- ing conductor of the poison, and while the tissues may yet remain sound, the blood may have become altered. Where we have had the vomiting of bile or its mixture with the secretions of the stomach and with mucous follicles, we will now have the coffee-ground, or charcoal vomit, or worse, the dark or black decomposed blood. It is in the second and third periods the old school meet with their heavy percentage of loss. Dr. Belot says 20 to 30 per cent in the second period, and 75 per cent in the third. Fortunately, with such remedies as Aconite, Belladonna, Gelsemi- num, and Bryonia, in the first stage, we have the FEVER. 145 advantage over the second and third not afforded by the irritating, nauseating and purgative 15 to 20 grains of calomel, and alike dose of brain and heart excitant—20 grains of quinine, which helps the disease in the first instance by dragging down nature to its mercy, exciting the heart's action in the second instance, and aiding the poison in its surging race of localizatioa and disintegration of the blood and tissues, so that when the second or more important third period is reached, the poor, afflicted patient is ready to die of exhaustion, sud- denly and easily, or linger a few hours or daj'S through fearful hemorrhages, delirium, convul- sions, coma, and black vomit, common to this fever when left to Nature alone, and incalculably worse when such men in the profession as Dr. Choppin and others, with years of experience under tho allopathic treatment, and 75 per cent of loss in the third period, will venture upon packing his patient in ice to freeze out—not the poison, surely—but the little life left. To meet the danger of exhaustion, we must be ready with Beef tea and Champagne, and sus- tain the flagging efforts of nature. Cheer your pa- tient by look and action—not pointedly, but nat- urally. Watch your nurse; instruct her minutely. y Food must be given with stimulants alternately, at intervals, as the exigency of the case demands, and one or two tablespoonfuls of Champagne or Brandy, properly diluted, immediately after each 146 FEVER. spell of vomiting. For these two symptoms,—■ exhaustion and vomiting,—with the above support, there are no better remedies than Arsenicum, third to sxth, and Veratrum alb., first, alternately, every hour, and food or stimulant in this half hour's interval. The cold, wet compresses over throat and stomach must not be forgotten, and after the first period, a towel wrung out in hot muslard- water may be substituted over the stomach, or an allspice bag steeped in common brandy or whisky. In more serious complications with local or gen- eral hemorrhage, dry, parched, red, or dark tongue, foul breath, burning in the stomach, jaundice, fetid diarrhea, Crotalus, third trituration, is called for, to be given alternately with Arsenic. Then you have, also, Sulphuric Acid, 0-2, and Argent nit. for particular conditions. Sulphuric Acid indi- cated for hemorrhages of the black blood, metror- rhagia,—profuse sweat with exhaustion,—fetid stools, and diminished secretion of urine. Argen- tum nit. covers more especially tiie vomiting. In fact Arsenic meets the symptoms of both almost entirely, and covers better the burning in the stomach and abdomen. Severe heat and burning in the precordial region, dyspnoea, the restlessness and the moral symptoms generally, and certainly the decomposition of the blood. For the delirium, convulsions, coma, and nervous symptoms, Bella- donna, first to sixth, Ilyoscyamus, first to third, Stramonium, first to third, must be consulted and FEVER. 147 may bo administered alternately with Arsenicum, or in the case of suppression of the ur ne, Canna- bis ind., which covers, also, important head symp- toms, especially if produced by the uraemic condi- tion of the blood, stupor, coma, or convulsions. If without hemorrhages and the severe complications mentioned as indicating Arsenic and Crotalus, you have the cerebral form, wi h renal complications, then either Belladonna or Stramonium might be alternated with Cannabis. Lachesis is an important remedy in yellow fever, and may be indicated in either of the periods. It has the chili and dry heat, worse at night, nervousness, hemorrhages from dif- ferent organs, yellow color of the skin, miliary erup- tion, prostration, and, like Arsenic, the feeble and quick intermittent pulse, headache, and moral symptoms. In the typhoid type, LacJiesis, Bella- donna, Rhus, Arsenic, and Uyoscyamus have great weight in their own characteristic indications. In the Algid type, Arsenic, Carbo veg., and Camp/iora or Veratrum will be indicated. After the remission stage, the pulse fallen to 90 and temperature risen to 101° Fahr., the case may follow the continued type with a typhoid tongue, slight irritation of the stomach, and relax condition of the bowels. Here you may continue the Aco- nite or Belladonna with Rhus, or if the bowels are confined, with Bryonia, first, and give an enema. The case may present all the symptoms of gas- tric fever, when Ipecac, third, Aconite, Nux vomica, 148 FEVER. second, and remedies of this class may be called for. Other remedies not yet mentioned may be indi- cated, for, like our rich materia medica, tho disease has a wide range of symptoms. For hemorrhages, in addition to the remedies named, Ilamamelis, 0; Mellefolium, 0-1; aud Trillium, 1, are special and efficient agents. For renal complications, albuminuria and sup- pression, Cantharides, 3-6; Apis met., 2-1; Gal- lic Acid, 1; and Terebinth, 2. For brain complications, stupor, coma, delirium, or convulsions, Opium, 3; Ilyoscyamus, 2; Bella- donna, 1-6 ; Stramonium, 2 ; Coffea, 3; Gelsem- inum, 01; and Cannabis ind. For debility, exhaustion, and sinking, Carbo veg.,2\ Camphora, 1; and China, Champagne, or Brandy. For the nervousness, restlessness, painful per- vigilium, Belladonna, 6-30; Ilyoscyamus, 2; Cof- fea, 3; Sticta, 0; and hot Mustard foot-bath. The diet should" be moderate and simple, throughout convalescence, during which Claret is an excellent help. FLOODING. —FRIGHT. 149 Flooding. By th's, we refer to those sudden and copious discharges of blood which sometimes occur imme- diately after the birth of a child. This may tako place so quick, and produce such an alarming state of things as to require immediate action. A delay to send for a doctor may prove fatal. I will, there- fore, tell what must immediately be done. As soon as it is known that blood is flowing in lanro quantities, a cloth should be wrung out of cold water and applied externally over the region of tho womb, and this should be renewed when it is quito warm, and should be kept up until the hemorrhage is slacked. Medical Treatment.—If the face is flushed and the fever is high, give a few doses of Aconite every half hour. If the paient is pale and strength fail- ing, give China and Ipecac, in attenuation, every two hours. (Dose, see p. 12.) Fright. This is often the cause of serious disease, and thoughtless children, as well as inconsiderate older persons, have often done great injury to the nervous system, and laid the foundation for affections that have been difficult to cure. The shock from a fright is received on the nerves connected with tho heart, and in many instances tho delicate littlo cords that hold the wonderfully arranged valves of 150 HEADACHE. the heart have been snapped asunder and persons have died suddenly of a broken heart, or at least of broken heart-strings. I could astonish you hero with obscure words in giving you an account of tho structure of the heart and the nerves connected with it, but I must talk plain and tell you, when you lay a plot to frighten some one, young or old, you may inflict an irreparable injury, or send your friend intw eternity Without a moment's warning. Treatment.—If fright produces fjver, give Ac- onite', if it produces grief and melancholy, give Ignatia; if anger, give Chamomilla. Iteep the patient quiet, and in good, cheerful company. Headache, {from various causes.) I will first notice headache as resulting from many and different diseases of the body, and there are as many different kinds of headache as there are different diseases that give risa to them. Head- ache seldom comes from a disease of the brain, but proceeds from the stomach, from the liver, from a deranged condition of the bowels, or from the nerv- ous system, or impure condition of the blood. There is, perhaps, no disease more common, and none more annoying than headache, in some of its multiplied forms. As a general rule, any medi- cine given for headache will do no good, unless the cause is ascertained, and proper treatment is di- rected to the cause. There is a form of headache called HEADACHE. 151 Sick Headache. This usually comes on periodically, and is often one of the most painful affections that falls to tho lot of our suffering humanity. When we view the human organism, a compound of the materials that compose the universe, and all these atoms as con- trolled and influenced by magnetic and electric forces, and remember that terrestrial magnetism and electricity cause atmospheric disturbances so as to raise the whirlwind and the storm, it will not require a great stretch of the imagination to look at the periodical sick headaches as the thunderstorm of the human system, and, as in our terrestrial 6torms and tempests, the atmosphere becomes more pure and clear when the storm is over, so will these terrible attacks of sick headache often leave the system in a better condition when they have passed away. Now, as science has taught us to hang out sig- nals to give notice of an approaching storm, so our researches in the structure of the human body should not only lead us to anticipate this nervous storm, but to meet its approach with counteracting currents, a:.d to cut short its effects. It is nervous affection, and when it is accompanied with sick- ness at the stomach, it may bj caused by a lack of bile, as well as from an overflow of it. The nausea and vomiting accompanying sick headache are fre- quently, like a pain in the head, the result of nerv- 152 HEADACHE. ous disturbances, and not the cause. Tho fact that it is a periodic disease has lead some to conclude that quinine, or some powerful anti-periodic medi- cine should cure it. But, alas, for the suffering! From a lack of a proper discrimination on the part of the physician, there is often a death blow struck to the nerve centers by too strong a stimulating influence of quinine upon these cerebral centers; and in this way the system is deprived of the sup- port of these brain centers, and the heart action is depressed, and the whole system sinks from exhaus- tion through the overwhelming stimulating influ- ence of this powerful drug. There is one consola- tion connected with these thunder-storm headaches. They will not kill the patient, neither will many other severe attacks involving the nervous system, unless paralysis of the nerves is produced by heavy doses of quinine and such-like stimulants. Many a loved one has found an early grave because tho doctor was anxious to do something, and did too much. Treatment.—When you have symptoms of tho approach of sick headache, put 10 drops of Gel- seminum into a glass half full of water, and take a teaspoonful every half hour, and as the symptoms abate, lengthen the intervals to om and two hours, and'bathe the back of your head with Camphor Water. This will cut short the attack, and ofLn relieve it entirely, especially if the pain is at tho base of the brain and back part of the head. If EEALTH OF YOUNG WOMEN. 153 there is a sense of fullness of the head, give Bel- ladonna; if nausea at the stomach, and severe pain, give Ipecac and Nux vomica, alternately, every hour. Health of Young Women. If the physical development of women should become deteriorated in our country tho cause will readily be traced to the injudicious management of mothers, anal teachers in our institutions of learn- in"". Rush and impatient haste are characteristic of American life. The luxuries of the table, with- out an especial regard to systematic diet and cloth- ing, on the one side, and overtaxing the brain with too great a variety of branches of study on tho other side, with irregular hours for healthy recrea- tion and sleep, will lay a sure foundation for a defective organism, and a long train of nervous diseases, resulting from dyspepsia and a defectivo nutrition of tho whole system, which may cause local diseases to become a source of affliction through life. There are many exceptions to the habits of our high civilization, but the most firm have often to yield to the inflexible laws of society. Custom dic- tates the course, and the young girl in the earlier part of her teens is quite willing to follow in the course that others are pursuing, and the mother is too often willing to have it so; and hero is tho com- 154 HEALTH OF YOUNG WOMEN. mencement of the trouble. The tender, blooming young girl that ought to romp and play out doors, and enjoy the benefits of sunshine and pure air, is suddenly transformed into a young lady of fashion. The shoulder-straps that hold her loosely-fitting short dress are laid aside, and her tender form is pressed out of shape by stays and corsets. The healthy action of the diaphragm is interfered with; the abdominal viscera are pressed out of their proper places ; the lungs are crowded so as to pre- vent their healthy action. The newly transformed young lady must now follow the custom of her older sisters. Parties, theaters, late hours, and irregular meals are among the first things she has to encounter in her new career. Instead of enjoy- ing the benefits of the warm sun and pure air, so essential to animal and vegetable life, she will not venture out without a parasol or a veil over her face, as if to bid defiance to that providence which causeth the sun to shine for our comfort and health. For the first two or three years of fashionable society life the young lady runs a fearful risk of being made an invalid for life. There are tributes we have to pay to fashion from which we nii^ht claim our exemption if we had the courage and independence to protect ourselves and those de- pendent on our care and counsel. If, by these suggestions, I can persuade some mother to prevent her young daughter from run- ning into the vortex of fashion in her tender years,. HEALTH OF YOUNG WOMEN. 155 she will, most likely, add years of happiness to that daughter in alter life. On this subject Dr. Beard says: "Young women should be early instructed in the care of their own health, with particular refer- ence to disorders of menstruation, since nothing is more common than serious and painful disease solely attributable to exposure, as to cold or wet, through carelessness, or ignorance of the dangerous consequences. "Keeping the feet always warm and dry would of itself prevent an incalculable amount of disease among young women, both married and single. But the simplest preventive measures are con- stantly neglected, at the expense of health and comfort. It seems almost superfluous to explain to women the many evils that result from tight lacin"-- but the reality and frequency of disease due to that cause are well known to every practitioner of any experience in the diseases of females. By this unnatural compression of the body not only are the lun^-s injuriously compressed, but all the organs below the waist are crowded down, and the womb must ultimately suffer from the violence to which it is subjected. The circulation, too, is necessarily deranged, and it would be altogether unreasonable to expect a healthy performance of tho uterine functions under such circumstances. "Errors in diet, by deranging the general health, 156 HEART. indirectly produce or aggravate many uterine dis- eases. "The abuse of purgatives, especially of the pop- ular quack medicines, is one of the abominations against which women cannot be too emphatically cautioned. Nearly all tho pills lauded as reme- dies for constipation are composed ot the cheapest aloes and other purgatives, and their habitual uso leads to a morbid condition of the bowels, and con- sequent uterine disturbances." For thefeverishness and disturbance of the gen- eral functions of the system, causing constipation and a long list of nervous disturbances, it will bo advisable and quite safe to take Nux vomica at night and Bryonia in the morning, occasionally, and regular habits of diet and exercise will keep the system in good running order without a resort to tho numerous quack medicines advertised lor female weakness. Every young lady has her des- tiny in her own hands to a certain extent, and a Little plain talk will likely do them some good. Heart. {Affections of the.) There is no part ot the human system where indications of disease cause so much dread and anxiety as an affection of tho heart. This is tho most important organ in the animal economy. It is to the body what the sun is to our solar system, or the engine in a large manutacturiug establish- ment to Uie machinery that works out the purposes HEART. 157 of an intelligence that contrives the whole. Or it may be compared to tho water-works of a groat city, throwing out its streams to the distant parts and returning the water to the fountain from whence it came. If the action of the sun ceases, then all is dark- ness and death on these planets. If the central engine stops its motion, every part of the establish- ment stands still. If the pumping apparatus breaks down, at the water-works, the city will suffer, and if the heart ceases to beat and throb, all the other parts of the body immediately cease their opera- tions, and dea'.h will soon follow. There are two classes of heart disease. The first to bo noticed is an actual diseased condition of tho heart, such as enlargement, fatty degeneration, inflammation of the lining membrane, inflammation of tho covering, and disease of the valves. The second class comes under the head of func- tional disease, which is not so much of a diseased condition of the heart as it is a disturbance of its action, caused by a reflex action from some other disease. There is a wide difference between these two con- ditions of the heart, yet tho symptoms indicating one or the other are often so similar that no one can tell the difference without a skillful and careful examination. Organic disease of the heart does not occur as often as some doctors have made their patients, or 158 HEART. the surviving friends of the deceased, believe. The disturbances of the heart's action from other dis- eases is often very alarming. There are many suf- fering from dyspepsia, or nervous prostration, or some other affections which produce sympathetic disturbance in the action of the heart, so that they live in constant dread that they may die any mo- ment, and yet they will live to a good old age, and finally pass away with some other disease and provo that their fears have been groundless, and their dread a delusion. Many who are suffering from a supposed heart disease would have their fears quieted by submitting to an examination by an honest, skillful physician. Prof. Austin Flint, a man of acknowledged ability, saj'S, in reference to this matter: "It is extremely desirable, in view of the com- fort and welfare of the patient, to determine with positiveness, in case of functional disorder, that structural lesions do not exist. Several points con- nected with the history and symptoms have a bear- ing on the diagnosis. The occurrence of the dis- turbance in paroxysms, the action at other times being regular; the paroxysms occurring at night rather than in the daytime, and frequently not be- ing occasioned by any obvious cause, such as mus- cular exertion or mental excitement; the ability of the patient to take active exercise without palpita- tion, or difficulty of breathing when not suffering from the disorder, and the intensity of mental HEART. 159 ^anxiety and apprehension, are points which render it probable that the difficulty is purely functional. These poin' s, however, are not conclusive. A posi- tive diagnosis is to bo based on the exclusion of lesions of structure, by the absence of the physical signs of the latter. If, on a careful examination of the chest, the heart be not found to be enlarged; if there bo no murmur present, or if an existing mur- mur be organic, and the hoait-sounds be normal, the affection may be confidently pronounced func- tional. Without the negative proof afforded by physical explorat'on, the mind cf the practitioner must be in doubt as to the diagnosis. If he give a decided opinion, it is a guoss which may prove to be either right or wrong. If he avoid giving a decided opinion, the inference which the patient usually draws is that organic disease exists, and the physician is reluctant to tell him the truth. I could cite from the cases which have come under my observation, not a few in which patients were, for many years, rendered unhappy, and deterred from engaging in the active duties of life, by either an erroneous medical opinion that they had organic dis- ease of the heart, or by a fixed belief that such was the fact, based on the indecision of their physicians." These affections can only be treated by the symptoms that to some extent point out their real character. Treatment.—Aconite is one of the principal remedies to control the action of the heart when ICO HEART-BURN. there is febrile excitement. Arnica maybe given when an affection of the heart results from an ex- ternal injury; Chamomilla, when it resu'ts from fright or sudden emotion. When there is slow, irregu'ar pulse, with frequent palpitation, give Digitalis. In low fevers, when the heart's action is irregular, give Ilyoscyamus and RAus, alter- nately. If there is diarrhea connected with heart troubles, give Arsenicum. If there is great ex- haustion of the vital forces, give China. These remedies may be given in the ordinary dose as di- rected on page 12. Heart-Burn. This is also called Water-brash, because it is ac- companied with rising of water from the stomach. This is sometimes tasteless, but more frequently of an acid, acrid, burning sensation. This results from debility of the stomach, and if left to go on without proper remedies and a suitable course of diet, will result in a confirmed dyspepsia. The relief sought in the use of soda, magnesia, chalk, and lime-water only affords temporary relief, and will finally break down tho healthy action of the stomach. Immediate relief is sometimes ob- tained by eating a raw apple, and persons afflicted in this way should eat a raw apple every night on going to bed. If this does not agree with the stomach, then commence with a small slice, and gradually increase until a whole apple can bo eaten HICCOUGH. 161 without inconvenience. If the stom.ich should re- ject the apple entirely, then take a drink of cold water every night, and the same early in the morn- ing. Persons afflicted with water-brash should keep as quiet as possible for two hours after each meal. It is absolutely useless to attempt to cure this condition of the stomach without a strict atten- tion to diet, carefully abstaining from all rich and highly seasoned food, and from everything that is found, by careful observation and experience, to disagree with the stomach. Treatment.—If it is caused by fat meats and pastry, give Pulsatilla; for sour eructations, give Calcarea carbonica; for burning at the stomach, give Kali bicrom., or a weak solution of Perman- ganate of Potassa. (Dose, see p. 12.) Hiccough. This is a spasmodic affection of the stomach, and sometimes comes on immediately after eating too rapidly, or drinking too much cold water. Ordinarily it does not amount to much, and soon passes away without any remedy. Should it, how- ever, become frequent and troublesome, it may be relieved by taking Nux vomica, third. For further treatment, see Dyspepsia, and follow the direc- tions given to improve the condition of the stomach. 162 HIVES. —HOARSENESS. Hives. This affection is also called Nettle Rash, be- cause the symptoms are similar to those produced by nettle stings. This eruption is frequently troublesome to children, especially to those of a fair skin and sanguine temperament, and is gener- ally worse at night, appearing and soon disappear- ing on different parts of the body with a burning, itching sensation. The elevations are sometimes white, and at other times there is a bright redness over a large surface of the body. Treatment.—Apply a little Sweet Oil or com- mon Ilog^s Lard over the parts affected, allow the child no highly seasoned food for several days, and give Apis mel. and Rhus every three hours, alter- nately. If it becomes chronic, especially in scrofu- lous children, give Calcarea in the morning and Sulphur at night. Hoarseness. This may arise from various causes, the most common of which is an exposure to cold and damp atmosphere without sufficient clothing. Some- times it comes from long and loud speaking on the part of politicians or preachers of the gospel. The former, in his zeal to save his country, and the latter, in his zeal to build up the institutions of religion, will often speak with a voice much above the ordinary pitch, and this often repeated, may HOARSENESS. 163 finally break down the voice entirely. I may serve my country and the cause of religion by a few plain hints to public speakers. The commencement of a discourse should always be in a low and easy tone of the voice, and the lungs should be well in- flated between sentences. Many start in on such a high pitch as to shatter their voice in fifteen minutes after they commence, and then drive through an hour or more in perfect agony to them- selves and to their hearers as well. The people soon lose interest in any subject if it is presented in a husk or hoarse voice, with agony depicted on the countenance of the speaker from an over-exer- tion. Many val uable lives have been cut off in the midst of a useful career by this unnatural strain on the voice, producing an irritation on the bronchial tubes which may finally extend to the substance of the lungs, and end in a hasty consumption. The inscription on the tombstones of such men should be, "Here lies the body of----, who screamed himself to death before he had finished his work." But I have long since learned, from personal ob- servation, that orators who injure themselves by long and loud speaking will pay about as much attention to what is said to them, as young ladies do, in reference to wearing thin-soled shoes in damp weather, and pressing their bodies out of shape and producing consumption from tight lac- ing. Both havo been the means of sending thou- 164 HOME-SICKNESS. sands to untimely graves. But I will now give some plain directions. Treatment.—For hoarseness from common cold, a compress wrung out of cold water containing several folds of cotton or linen cloth, put around the neck at night, carefully covered with flannel to exclude the air, will often relieve hoarseness and sore throat. The medical treatment should be commenced with Aconite. Put two or three drops of the tincture in a glass half full of water and add a large teaspoonful of pure, white sugar, and take a teaspoonful every hour. If this does not afford relief in twenty-four hours, take 6 drops of Bella- donna, second attenuation, in the same way. Have the medicine by your bedside to sip, and take every half hour, if there is feverishness and irritation in the throat. Give these medicines a thorough trial, as above directed, and you will not be disappointed. For a chronic hoarseness, take Sulphur at night and Phosphorus in the morning. Hepar Sulphur is a good remedy for cases of long standing, and even in these cases, I have found the Aconite pref- erable. HOME-SlCKNESS. This is not a disease in itself, but it may often result in a nervous prostration, or other unhealthy- conditions, which may be relieved by proper treat- ment, and in this way the mind may become more cheerful, and where the longing desire for home cannot be gratified, good health, reason, and a HYSTERIA, OR HYSTERICS. 165 sound mind, may reconcile to conditions that in their nature are calculated to produce home-sick- ness. On the other hand, these ungratified desires and longings for home and old friends may finally produce such an effect on the general health as to need medical attention. But, after all, either the gratification of one's desires, where it is possible, and when this cannot be, then cheerful company, change of scenery, and exercise in the open air, are all important in affording a permanent cure. Hysteria, or Hysterics. This strange spasmodic affection peculiar to fe- males, corresponding in some respects with the hypochondri of males, is not an imaginary nervous derangement, to be laid down and taken up at the pleasure or whim of those who are subject to it. It is caused by a serious disturbance of the nervous system, and can no more be controlled by the will of any one afflicted with it than can an attack of sick headache, or any other disease. Dr. John King gives the following symptoms of this affection of the nervous system, but we need not look for all of the symptoms in any one partic- ular case. This, like all other diseases, sometimes assumes a mild, or a modified type, yet its pecu- liar characteristics will easily be recognized. Dr. King says: "Usually, the female from a calm or excited con- dition, but in which no symptoms of uisease are 166 HYSTERIA, OR HYSTERICS. manifested, by an unlucky word, and often for no- apparent immediate reason, commences crying and laughing at intervals, perhaps also venting re- proaches ; peal upon peal of immoderate crying and laughter, sobs, floods of tears, stolid silence, wringing of hands, tearing of hair, clonic convul- sions, tonic spasms, and smiles are all wildly and irregularly combined, and followed by a profound calm of the constitution, and a feeling of compla- cency. During these symptoms the female, at the commencement, is attacked with a sense of tight- ness about the throat, with sobbing, or repeated attempts at swallowing. Sometimes a sensation as if a ball passed upward to the throat and lodged there, is expeiienced, and which is called the ' globus hystericus.' "She may roll about from side to side, or she may lay perfectly still and motionless. She fre- quently presses her breast with her hands, or car- ries them to the neck as if to remove some obstruc- tion. The face is usually pale, though not always, and is not distorted; no froth issues from the mouth, nor are there convulsive motions of the lower jaw, but the large muscles of the back are violently contracted, so as in many instances to cause the body to describe an arch backward. The trunk of the body is twisted forward and backward, the limbs are variously agitated, and the fists are firmly closed. Sometimes there is obstinate con- stipation and retention of urine, at others the urine HYSTERIA, OR HYSTERICS. 167 is copious and of a pale color. More or less flat- ulency, with a rumbling sound in the bowels, is very apt to be present. " The paroxysm continues for a longer or shorter time, the sobbing becomes more violent, or the patient screams and sheds tears, and thus the fit ends. Sometimes they will lie apparently insensi- ble and immovable for a longer or shorter time. The attack is often preceded by dejection of spirits, anxiety, yawning, effusion of tears, difficult breath- ing, nausea, palpitation of the heart, numbness of the extremities, etc. "It is not uncommon for hysterical patients to complain of dreadful and excruciating pain in the hips, knees, spine, etc., with excessive tenderness to the touch, and which are owing to severe mus- cular contraction, instead of any disease of the parts. I know of one female who was nearly de- stroyed by treatment for uterine inflammation, when the whole difficulty was hysterical contrac- tion of the muscles of the thigh and abdomen, caus- ing considerable soreness in the parts.* Some- times, a species of paralysis accompanies hysteria; and, occasionally, females will imagine many strange things, and even practice more or less de- ception, speaking in a whisper, pretending to vomit blood, meat, etc., etc." * This is not a singular case where women have been nearly destroyed by this mistake on the part of the doctor. 168 ITCH. In treating these cases our object should be to restore the general health and remove the diseases that are the remote or immediate cause of hysteria- Regularity in diet and hours of sleep, exercise in the open air, cheerful company, daily friction with cold water, and anything that has a tendency to strengthen the nervous system will be beneficial to the patient in these cases. The woman afflicted with hysteria should not be crossed nor contradicted. Her faults—if she has any—should be overlooked and nothing said about them. Everything about her should be as cheer- ful as possible. The medical treatment should be such as is recommended under different forms of nervous diseases. Nux vomica at night and Ig- natia in the morning will often be of great service. Our main dependence must be in restoring the gen- eral health by the course above suggested. Itch. This troublesome disease in the early settlement of our country was considered almost an inheri- tance of children, crowded in small and poorly- ventilated school-rooms, when it was not so com- mon to wash and bathe children as it is now. An unclean skin is a favorable soil for the spread of the itch. That it is contagious, and may be communi- cated from one to another by contact, is undoubt- edly true; and that it is caused by small insects is JAUNDICE. 169 also admitted by medical authority. Some have even pretended to measure this insect and count the eggs the female lays. Fortunately these pesti- lential little creeping things can neither jump nor fly, and it requires contact for some time either of persons or their clothing, to enable them to trans- fer themselves from one person to another. A clean, healthy skin is unfavorable to their existence, and if by accident they should find a lodgment, a good washing of the whole body with strong soap- suds, and brisk rubbing, followed with a little Lard and Sulphur every night for a week, will soon de- stroy them all. Take Sulphur, at might, for a few nights. Jaundice. This is a well-known disease, showing itself first by a yellow tinge in the white of the eyes, and as it progresses, the skin over the whole body be- comes yellow. Following these outward symptoms there will be a loss of appetite, impaired digestion, whitish colored stool, highly colored urine, nausea, and sickness at the stomach, often accompanied by bitter eructations. Treatment.—Mercurius viv., first trituration, and Podophyllin, first, given in 10-grain doses every six hours, alternately, will soon effect a cure. The numerous remedies in high attenuation have not met the expectations of their advocates. 170 KIDNEYS.—LIVER. Kidneys, {Inflammation of the.) This disease may be known by the following symptoms: Pain in the region of the kidneys, which sometimes is very severe, and is often in- creased by standing or walking, and a sharp pain often darts to the region of the bladder, and down the lower limb on the side where the kidney is affected, for the inflammation seldom extends to both kidneys at the same time. In this disease, as in many other local affections, the whole system is prostrated through nervous sympathy. The urinary organs suffer more especially. The urine is red and unusually hot, and sometimes mixed with blood and pus, in very severe cases. Treatment.—Aconite and Cantharides are the principal remedies to be depended on. Put 6 drops of each, of the third dilution, in separate glasses, half full of water, and give a teaspoonful every two hours, alternately, and lengthen the in- tervals as the case improves. Avoid all stimula- tive and highly seasoned food, and sponge the surface frequently with warm water. Liver, {Inflammation of the.) "The liver is situated in the right, upper side of the abdominal cavity, and Alls it almost en- tirely. The lower edge of the liver reaches as tar down as the last rib. The disease may affect the LIVER. 171 outer or convex sides of the liver, or the inner, concave surface and the substance of the organ. The former inflammation is distinguished by a burning and stitching pain in the right side; it is increased by drawing breath, and strikes to the sternum and the right shoulder-blade, and some- times extends as far as the right lower limb, also with numbness and tingling in the right arm; the patient cannot lie on the right side. An inflamma- tion of the concave surface is distinguished by a deep-seated, painful pressure, yellow color of the eyes, face, sometimes amounting to complete jaun- dice ; bitter taste, saffron-colored urine, vomiting, hiccough. The pain is increased by lying on the left side, but alleviated by lying on the right. Hepatitis is always accompanied with high inflam- matory fever, dryness of the skin, intense thirst, constipation, and sometimes a short and dry cough. The right side is painful to the touch, and swollen. —Hempel and Beakley. Treatment.—This should be commenced with Aconite, 6 drops, of the third dilution, in 12 table- spoonfuls of water, and a spoonful should be given every two hours, and the hour between give Mer- curius viv., third trituration, so as to alternate these medicines every hour until a marked im- provement takes place. Bryonia, sixth dilution, will be an important remedy given every two hours in alternation with Nux vomica, both in water, as above directed, so as to take one of these remedies 172 LUNGS. every hour until better. The application of Sweet Oil over the liver will be of great service. The diet in this case should be low and mild, with per- fect quiet and rest, until all unfavorable symptoms have passed away. Lungs, {Inflammation of the.) The lungs are liable to acute inflammation from sudden cold, checked perspiration, or exposure to a strong current of cold air in a warm room. (See my remarks on Bronchitis. They will be equally applicable here, and need not be repeated.) Treatment.—Aconite should be given every hour, the same as recommended for inflammation of the liver. If there is severe pain with difficult breathing, give Bryonia, and Rhus; the former the sixth attenuation, and the latter the second; put about a dozen pellets, or 2 drops of each, in a glass half full of water, and give a teaspoonful every two hours, alternately, for twelve hours. Keep the patient well under cover, as these remedies will soon produce a profuse perspiration, and the cold air must not be allowed to strike the patient while in this condition. In a great majority of cases this treatment will break up this alarming fever at once. Careful diet and nursing will soon restore the patient to health without the prostra- tion that often follows a harsh treatment magnetic treatment. 173 Magnetic Treatment. This method of treatment had its origin as far back as the middle of the eighteenth century, when the idea was conceived by several persons in dif- ferent parts of Europe, that men were sensible to the influence of magnetism. From the first idea of affecting the system by mineral magnetism, Dr. Fredric Anthony Mesmer advanced to the idea of curing the sick by animal magnetism. He claimed that there was a peculiar agent conducted to the patient by passes or manipulations. Of the adventures of this singular man, I have not time to speak here. His extravagant claims brought his system of practice into disrepute, and whatever was valuable in his discoveries went down in the general wreck with his follies, and for many years little attention was paid to this subject. Of late years magnetic physicians, or healers, as they are often called, have been multiplied, some of them enjoying a large practice, and if their reports are to be relied on—and I can't see why they should not—they have done much to relieve hu- man suffering. To a liberal and philosophical mind, there is nothing unreasonable in this. When we go out, in our thoughts, into the realm of in- visible forces, exerting a wonderful power over material nature everywhere, we need not be sur- prised at finding an invisible force in human organ- ism, or some hidden power that has an influence 174 MAGNETIC TREATMENT. over those around us. It is common in these days to say of a man who exerts a great influence over others: "He has wonderful magnetism." This is now said of preachers who draw large crowds; of politicians who lead the multitudes, and of men in general who exert a great influence over their fellow men. When I take up a common piece of paper, or a whole newspaper—as I have often done—and by rubbing it over a few times with my hand, I make that paper stick to the wall, and re- main there for some time, I must think that there is a latent force somewhere that only awaits friction to arouse it into acth ity ; and when I take hold of a sick child's hand while it has a high fever, and is nervous and sleepless, and it drops to sleep im- mediately, I must think there is some cause for this. I know that some of our most learned physi- cians sneer at the idea of magnetic healing. But whatever of truth and virtue there is in this method, will finally triumph. The laws of vital forces will be better understood, and men will live longer and happier because they have to come in magnetic contact with those who have in themselves a healthy magnetism. The Jewish physicians understood this law of vital magnetism, and kept King David alive a whole year by its application in the case of Abishag the Shumanite. David had been exhausted by many improper acts in his eventful life, " and this was the best remedy which, in his state, could be MAGNETIC TREATMENT. 175 prescribed, to trim and revive the flame of animal life." When a low sensualization is banished from the minds and thoughts of men and women, and they associate like flowers in one garden, and their constant aim shall be to help, and not debase, each other, and their acts of kindness shall be like the fragrance of the rose, and as pure as the whiteness of the lily, then a purer magnetism will pervade society, and the gloomy winters of old age shall be turned into the warmth and brightness of a sum- mer morning. The man that passes along our streets and sees nothing in playful children but "dirty little brats," will fan the flames that are consuming the last remnants of pure and invigor- ating emotion, while the man who looks at and talks kindly to these playful children, will receive impressions that will enkindle the glow of youth, and memory leads him back to live his earlier days over again. Here lies one of the secrets of a pleas- ant and cheerful old age. We should look at all human beings as friends until they have shown themselves otherwise ; and these feelings of kind- ness and sympathy will keep up healthy magnetic currents and vital forces that are " like the show- ers upon the grass and the small rain upon the tender herb." It must be remembered, however, that there are unhealthy as well as healthy currents of magnetism. These unhealthy influences emi- nate from low and debased natures, and act like the chilly blasts of winter upon a sensitive nature. 176 MEASLES. When men's lives shall all become pure, and then- actions all governed by principles of justice and right, then a bright day shall dawn upon humanity. Measles. Professor B. L. Hill, M. D., in his "Epitome of the Homoeopathic Healing Art," has the follow- ing judicious treatment for this disease, which co- incides with my views. "This is a contagious disease, and always be- gins with symptoms like a cold, with high fever, and severe dry cough, thirst and restlessness. Pulsatilla is the proper medicine to palliate and regulate the symptoms. If the fever is high, Aco- nite should be used every two hours, alternately with Pulsatilla. Should the eruption subside sud- denly, give Bryonia with Pulsatilla, until it reap- pears. Let the child drink freely of cold water, and avoid stimulants of every kind. If the erup- tion is tardy in its appearance, a hot bath may be administered, being careful to have the room quite warm, and to rub the patient dry, very suddenly, after the bath. Frictions by the healthy hand over the surface, will do much toward brino-ino" out measles. After the eruption is out, quiet, freedom from sudden exposure to cold, cold water and lio-ht diet, is all that is necessary, h\ some of the most obstinate cases, where the eruptions failed to ap- pear at the proper time, as well as where they had MENINGITIS. 177 receded too soon, I have been able to bring them out in a short time with Gelseminum tincture, 5 drops in a tumbler half full of water, a teaspoonful every half hour, will determine to the skin imme- diately and bring the eruption out naturally. It is a remedy for measles well worth attention." Meningitis, {or Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis.) "This," says Dr. Dunglison, "is an alarmingly fatal form of epidemic fever, which prevailed in dif- ferent countries of Europe, and also in certain por- tions of the United States, near the middle of the nineteenth century." This, like nearly all other diseases that appeared unmanageable, and defied the skill of the doctors, in its first appearance, is now considered under medical control, when prop- erly managed. It consists in an inflammation of the brain and spinal column. There is generally a high fever and rapid pulse, and a great prostra- tion of the nervous system amounting almost to a paralysis. The patient often becomes unconscious, and gives indications of severe pain, extending from the brain down the spinal column. Treatment.—The first thing should be to bathe the head and spine with Camphor-water. Put a tablespoonful of the Spirits of Camphor into a half pint of water, and apply it with the hand, gently rubbing from the head down the course of the spinal column. Put ten drops of the tincture 178 mumps.—pleurisy. of Gelseminum in a glass half full of water, and give a teaspoonful every half hour, or oftener at first, if the case is very severe. A little Camphor may be given internally every half hour. When the most violent symptoms have passed away, Nux vomica, and Belladonna may be given in al- ternation every two hours. (Dose, see p. 12.) Mumps. This is a contagious disease, and will run a regu- lar course. It consists of a swelling of the salivary glands, and the greatest possible caution must be exercised against taking cold during its progress. Terrible are the consequences of an exposure to cold or going out in damp or wet weather until the patient is entirely well. ' Treatment.—Belladonna and Mercurius are the only remedies necessary. These should be given in alternation every three hours, and the swelling should be rubbed with Lard once a day. Pleurisy. This is an inflammation of the membranous sac that surrounds the lungs. It is accompanied by high fever and severe pains in the chest. Breath- ing is short and painful, because the act of breath- ing produces an expansion of the chest and a stretch on this membrane or covering of the lunas, and hence the pain. T0TASH, OR POTASSA. 179 Treatment.—Aconite and Bryonia should be given every two hours, alternately, and a wet bandage may be laid over the pain, well covered with flannel, to protect it from the air. Potash, or Potassa. This drug enters into numerous combinations with other substances to make compounds for medical purposes. The United States Medical Dispensatory mentions upward of seventy of these combinations. Somo are intended for external ap- plication, but the most of them for internal use. The caustic potash is one of the severest applica- tions that can be made to human flesh. It is some- times used to cut or eat its way through the flesh to open an abscess. The U. S. Dispensatory says: " It is a powerful escharotic, quickly destroying the life of the part with which it comes in contact, and extending its action to a considerable depth be- neath the surface. In this latter respect it differs from the nitrate of silver or lunar caustic, to which it is, therefore, preferred, in forming issues and opening abscesses." There are cases on record where it has been used for removing strictures from the urinary passage, and where it has destroyed the lining membrane so as to open a passage for the urine into the cellular tissue. Among the numerous preparations of potassa, the permanganate is preferable to all others for a gargle or external application. (See p. 12.) 180 quinsy.—rheumatism. Quinsy. There are some who are periodically affected with this inflammation and swelling of the throat and tonsils, especially such as are of a scrofulous constitution. Its constitutional effects are similar to those produced by other forms of sore throat. Treatment.—This, as a general rule, should be commenced with Aconite and Belladonna, to be given every two hours, alternately. If this does not relieve the swelling and subdue the inflamma- tion in twenty-four hours, give Mercurius viv., second trituration, every two hours, and gargle the throat the hour between this medicine, with a so- lution of Permanganate of Potassa. (See p. 12.) Rheumatism. This painful affection is often caused by expos- ure to cold, damp weather, or sudden suppression of perspiration. In an acute form it is very pain- ful, and often very difficult to manage. It assumes- such a variety of forms, produced from so many different causes, that its treatment should be placed in the care of a skillful physician. Treatment.—The homoeopathic treatment for rheumatism should be commenced with Aconite especially if there is high fever, redness of the skin, and swelling. Bryonia may be given when there are severe muscular pains, increased with movement. Rhus tox is appropriate where pains- SCARLET FEVER. 181 are worse when the patient is quiet in bed. I have often found good results from giving Rhus and Bryonia in alternation, every two hours. The hot-water bath will afford great relief, and should be resorted to by all who have facilities for bathing. Pulsatilla will often relieve rheumatic pains that shift or move from one part to another. The ap- plication of Sweet Oil to the affected part often affords great relief. Scarlet Fever. This disease, so much dreaded and so often fatal in its results, commences like other fevers, and its true character can only be known to a certainty when the throat becomes sore and swollen, and the rash appears, first on the neck and then over the whole body. One reason why so many cases have been fatal, is the resort to cathartic medicine in the commencement of the fever. In scarlet fever, measles, and small-pox it is very dangerous to give cathartic medicines. It will prevent the eruption from coming to the surface by the counter-irrita- ting effect of the physic on the bowels. Thousands of children are annually destroyed by the delusion that the bowels must be moved freely to relieve the fever. In ordinary fevers this is comparatively harmless, but in these eruptial fevers it is a fatal mistake, and hence parents should be very cautious about giving cathartic medicines when scarlet fever 182 WHOOPING-COUGH. is prevailing. I cannot be too emphatic on this point. Treatment.—When you have reason to suspect your child has scarlet fever, immediately rub it all over with.Hog's Lard and put on its night-dress and keep it in bed, renewing the application of the Lard every day. Give Aconite in the commence- ment. If the throat is sore, give Belladonna, in alternation with Aconite every two hours. The second day, give Bryonia and Rhus, every two hours, alternately. If the throat is ulcerated and sore, gargle or wash the mouth frequently with a solution of Permanganate of Potassa. (Seep. 12.) Keep the room well aired, and feed the child all the sweet cream it will take. This course will bring your child safely through. I have made the directions brief, so you can remember them, and follow them without confusion. Whooping, or Hooping-Cough. When your child has a cough, if it has never had this troublesome disease, you may conclude that it is whooping-cough from the attacks comino-on reg- ularly, with the expectoration of a whitish, ropy mucus, while the child turns red, or a black or bluish color, in the face. Treatment.—Put 6 drops of Tinct. Aconite in a glass full of water and add as much Tartar- emetic, first trituration, as will lay on a dime, and WHOOriNG-COUGH. 183 add a teaspoonful of white sugar, and give a tea- spoonful every two hours, for two days; after which, substitute Tinct. Belladonna, and use it in the same way as the Aconite, for two days more; after which, give these two remedies alternately, every three hours, and every third day give 6 to 8 Camphor Pills every three hours, and the child, instead of coughing from e;ght to ten weeks, will often be reheved of the worst symptoms in two weeks. 184 DISEASES OF WOMEN. APPENDIX. DISEASES OF WOMEN. Before giving my views on the treatment of dis- eases peculiar to women, I will notice some of the different methods advocated to cure these diseases, and put the responsibility for the untold and un- necessary sufferings that have been caused by a barbarous treatment, where it belongs. Dr. Beard, a noted medical writer of New York, says: "Among American women, robust health is a rare exception, and disease in some form implicating the uterine system is the general rule." He also says: "The study of these diseases has been stimulated by their extraordinary prevalence among all classes of society, and in all civilized countries." This, I unhesitatingly pronounce an unwarranted exaggeration, and a misstatement of facts. The manifold diseases of the female organs of genera- tion often consist more in the fertile imagination of the doctor's brain than in a reality. When a woman is told—and this is often done—that nearly all the aches and pains, and nervous disturbances from which she suffers can be traced to a disease DISEASES of women. 185 in the womb, her fears will naturally become ex- cited, and the idea of such a disease preys upon her mind, and in this way a nervous prostration is often brought on that has been manufactured to order by the unwise and untrue suggestions of the doctor in whom she had placed confidence. Dr. Wm. H. Byford, in his "Treatise on Chronic In- flammation of the Uterus," page 27, traces nearly •every imaginable disease to an affection of the womb; for instance: " Diseases of the Bowels, Constipation, Diarrhea, Affection of the Liver, Affection of the Nervous System, Headache, Affec- tion of the Spinal Cord, Affection of the Sciatic Nerve," and many more too tedious to mention. here, he thinks, can be traced to uterine disease. There are no diseases that affect our common humanity, in the treatment of which such blun- ders have been made, and where patients have been so shamefully imposed upon, as in these supposed uterine diseases. In addition to the gross misrepresentations with regard to the nature of these diseases, by magnify- ing a slight irritation into inflammations, tumors, ulcers, and a long list of other diseases, some of these specialists have made their patients believe that not only months, but years, would be required to effect a cure. It is obvious to every one who has taken pains to inform himself on this subject, that diseases are multiplied, and often rendered more difficult to cure through the meddlesome inteffer- 186 DISEASES OF WOMEN. ence of doctors and specialists in this department, Some of the considerate and judicious and really honest men of the medical profession have often,. in private circles, expressed a disapproval of the course pursued and recommended by some of the professors in medical colleges, and have signifi- cantly asked the question, " How did our ancestors get along before the instruments of torture were invented by which it is now claimed these diseases can only be cured?" But no one appears to be will- ing to expose these men in high places. They may say in private, as one of our leading and most scholarly doctors of this city said, some time ago, .to another doctor, that Prof. ---- had ruined two hundred women for life on the South Side avenues. But no voice of warning is heard by the public ear. The time of my life has passed when human favors and friendship can stand against human suffering. Put the warmest friendship and the highest favors that mortal man can bestow against the sufferino-s of the poorest and most obscure of our racc>, and it shall have no weight nor influence with me. Al- ways and in all places, when by word or act I can ease the pains of the afflicted or put the healthy on their guard against the dangers that lurk alono- the pathway of life, I wiil do it, regardless of the opin- ions of friend or foe. That diseases of the womb sometimes do occur, there can be no doubt, but they do not occur one-half nor one-tenth as often as some doctors would make their, patients believe; DISEASES OF WOMEN. 187 neither rre they half as hard to cure as is usually represented. My sympathies have often been excited in behalf of these helpless victims who have the misfortune to fall into the hands of men who are reaping a rich pecuniary harvest out of the unnecessarily pro- longed sufferings of their patients. Many of these cases have come under my notice, of which the fol- lowing may be taken as a specimen: A lady in this city came to my office for medi- cine for a sick child. She was the wife of a laborer who depended on his daily toil for the support of his family. In the course of her conversation she mentioned her own affliction, and said she had been down to see Professor----, who had exam- ined her case and pronounced it inflammation of the womb, and promised to cure her if she would come to his office twice a week for six weeks, and pay him two dollars each time. Where, or how to get this amount for the six-weeks' treatmert she did not know, as her husband was a poor laboring man. After inquiring into her case, I told her I thought I could cure her in one week, and imme- diately prepared for her a bottle of medicine to be used as a wash, and ordered warm-water injections, and in a week afterward she came to my office and said she was well and entirely relieved of all dis- agreeable symptoms. There are cases of this kind without number, where learned doctors and pro- fessors of medical colleges, and specialists, have 188 DISEASES OF WOMEN. frightened their patients into a course of treatment through which they have endured months and years of intense suffering and anxiety, and in some instances have been made invalids for life, through an injudicious treatment. In answer to the question, "How long will it take to cure the inflammation ?" a learned professor of a Chicago Medical College says—and mark well his words : " For the removal of these general symp- toms, time is an item of the utmost importance, and we do not do justice to our own reputation, or to the patient, by fixing time too positively in which reiief may be expected." Again this same professor says: "From three to twelve months should be the latitude given in most instances." By latitude, I suppose he means length of time, although the word has an entirely different signifi- cation. That it is length, and not breadth or dis- tance he refers to, we may conclude from his further statement that, " a shorter time than three months is uncommon, and we might, in many instances, not reasonably expect a cure in "twelve." Ho con- tinues to say: "In order to fulfill the expecta- tion of the patient and of ourselves, we should take plenty of time, and we should not lead our patient positively to expect a removal of all the svmptoms when the treatment has terminated." The best interpretation I can make of this language is that he proposes to treat his patients from three to twelve months, and can give no assurance that DISEASES OF WOMEN. 189 they will feel much better at the end of the treat- ment than when they commenced. This is not surprising when we consider: First, that these inflammations, as a general rule, do not exist. They are the creations of the professor's fancy; and to prove this, I make the following quotation from Thomas Addis Emmett, M. D., Sur- geon to the Woman's Hospital of tlu State o: New York. His work on this subject, containing 855 pages and 130 illustrations, published this present year, is considered among the highest medical authorities. Dr. Emmett says, on page 130: "A whole generation of physicians have been misled by the delusion of chronic inflammation and ulcera- tion of the uterus, conditions which no one has yet been able to demonstrate." Again he says: "As the profession has for years been familiar with the after effects of the cautery and caustics on mucous membranes in other parts of the body, it is remarkable that their use should still be con- tinued in the treatment of the diseases of the female organs of generation." Now bear in mind the above statement, and then carefully follow me in a description of the treatment of a disease which Dr. Emmett says is a delusion. The second reason, then, why it is not surprising that a patient may not expect to be better at the end of a year's treatment than when it was com- menced, is the fearfully harsh and severe treatment recommended by this Chicago professor. And as he 190 DISEASES OF WOMEN. is a teacher in one of the old regular Medical Col- leges, it is to be feared that a young race of doctors receiving instruction from a chief tormenter, will follow in the same course, and tho end of these tor- tures may yet be in the dim distance. I shall make verbatim quotations from a work now before me on "The Chronic Inflammation of the Uterus," etc., by Wm. H. Byford, M. D., and no explanation or logic can divest the language of its harsh and horrible significance. It must be remembered that the parts referred to contain one of the most sensitive organs of the whole animal economy, and to subject any part of the human body to such treatment would be an outrage upon mucous tissues, and on this sensitive organ it is ten-fold worse. If the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals could reach these legal- ized tormenters who indulge in such a practice as is recommended in this book, here would be a grand field for their benevolent operations. This Professor first recommends astringent injec- tions, such as "alum-water, sulphate of zinc, sugar of lead, strong decoctions of oak-bark, rhatany, kino or a solution of pure tannic acid." Here are some of the strongest astringents known to the profession, thrown upon the mucous surface of this sensitive organ, not only to interfere with the healthy action of these parts, but if there should be any disease, these powerful astringents will pre- vent any unhealthy secretions from passing away DISEASES OF WOMEN. 191 that might be thrown off from a diseased condition, and then throw it back upon some adjacent healthy organ. The results of such a treatment are too horrible to contemplate. Ovarian tumors, cancers, and various other incurable diseases are liable to result from this treatment. I recollect a friend of mine who was advised to snuff strong astringents to cure catarrh. It drove the disease to his brain and he died soon after, although otherwise a robust, healthy man. The Professor suggests that these astringent in- jections should be "used twice a day" (p. 144), and says: "The same article ought not to be used more than twelve or fourteen consecutive days, and should then be alternated with another one of the same class." Now only think for a mo- ment. Among the seven different astringents above named, either of them will, most assuredly, make the patient worse, for the Professor himself says that these injections "will sometimes induce an increase of inflammation, and give our patient great inconvenience." But suppose the young doctor who receives this instruction from this popu- lar teacher, follows out the suggestion that each of the astringents should be used twelve consecu- tive days, then it will take eighty-four days to go. through the whole list. No wonder he says, " give yourself plenty of time." "Time isanitem of the utmost importance." And again: "We 192 DISEASES OF WOMEN. should not lead our patient positively to expect a removal of all these symptoms when the treatment has terminated.'' Now we will hear the Professor's own statement in reference to some of the results of these injec- tions. He says (p. 146): " There is a little acci- dent that occasionally occurs during the reception of an injection into the vagina. Suddenly, while injecting the fluid, she is seized with severe cramp- ing pain in the hypogastric region, which radiates to the back and hips, down the thighs, and some- times over the whole abdomen. She becomes sick at her stomach, is attacked with rigors, and her feet and hands often become cold." This he calls "a little accident.'" If I had a heart as cold as the grave-stone which only marks the spot where the loved ones sleep, but has no sympathy with the sorrowing, I might drop the curtain here and make an effort to throw the mantle of charity over these horrible blunders, but with a heart that throbs in response to human suffering, I cannot, neither do I desire to, control the thoughts that come to me on this subject, and will, therefore, speak them out. That the astringent injections above referred to will often aggravate cases, and lay the foundation for some severe forms of chronic disease, I can prove by the highest medical authority in the civ- ilized world. But this is, after all, not so bad as the following treatment recommended in the book DISEASES OF WOMEN. 193 already referred to. The doctor who will use these astringent injections will not only make a perma- nent cure—if there was really a disease in the com- mencement—more difficult and tedious, but will inflict much unnecessary suffering upon the patient. In other words, he has just commenced, not to cure the unsuspecting patient", but to make a long job for himself. No wonder the Professor says: "We should take plenty of time." As much as to say to the patient, "I will treat you from three to twelve months, and perhaps longer, and during this time you must submit to my disgusting opera- tions, in which I will inflict an untold amount of pain and suffering on you, but you must not posi- tively expect to be much better when the treat- ment has terminated." For this supposed inflammation, in reference to which Dr. Emmett says " a whole generation of doctors have been misled," our Chicago Professor recommends the nitrate of silver as a standing remedy. He recommends its application in a solid form to "be applied thoroughly once in six days," or soon after "all the perceptible influence of one application has subsided." "In most cases, " he says, " we will be able to make four applications a month ; but often, only three can b3 tolerated." On page 163, he says: " Some object to the introduction of nitrate of silver in solid form lest a piece of it accidentally be left in that cavity, and very bad results follow. I have had this accident J 13 194 DISEASES of women. occur to me repeatedly. ... I have in cer- tain cases intentionally passed some up the cervix and allowed it to dissolve in the fluid and distribute itself over the surface of that cavity." And yet, on page 163, he says: "I have known a number of cases in which the nitrate aggravated the inflam- mation every time it was applied." And adds: "To the inexperienced I wish to say, emphatically, be thorough in your application." Here is one source of the great harm of this teaching. Too many doctors blindly follow what is taught by a professor, regardless of the results that may follow. The most cruel and savage part of the perform- ance is, however, yet to be named. There is a distinguished professor connected with a "regular" Medical College in this city, who recommends a seton over the external parts, "made of one whole large skein of silk, or even larger," which should be allowed to remain for several months, occasionally turning it and impregnating it with some irritating powder, as cantharides, or savin-root. This, with the large dose of blue mass recommended at night, and the epsom-salts in the morning, will soon break down the strongest con- stitution. But the end of torture is not yet. Ho next recommends caustic potash, to be repeated "as soon as the effects of the first application have entirely subsided." This is to be followed by nitric acid and silver, and mercurial preparations DISEASES OF WOMEN. 195 too horrible to mention. A high state of inflam- mation is likely to result from this legalized course of torture. What next? Leeches must be applied, and when these cannot be had, he recommends a sharp knife, and instructs young doctors how to use it, to cut and slash in real butcher style, and to lacerate the womb to make it bleed freely. No wonder Professor Byford says in reference to this treatment: "The nervous excitement sometimes becomes so great that it is very alarming. A pa- tient upon whom I attended but a few months since was rendered entirely sleepless, and almost insane, by the exciting influence of those application^, and it was necessary to send her off to the country for tranquillity and recuperation." Now I say that any doctor that practices in this way on a feeble woman should make the experiment upon himself, and gargle his mouth and throat with caustic pot- ash, and then put a solid stick of nitrate of silver into any cavity in his body, and then see whether he had not better go to the " country for tran- quillity and recuperation." My limits will not allow me to follow these sickening details much further. I would gladly draw a veil over this horri- ble picture and bury it out of my sight, if it were not for a duty I owe to the suffering. That I am not talking about imaginary evils, I prove by another quotation from Dr. Emmett's great work. He says : "No portion of the human body has suffered more in consequence of inca- 196 DISEASES OF WOMEN. pacity on the part of the members of the profession than the female organs of generation. Under the guise of surgery, the uterus has been subjected to a degree of malpractice which would not have been tolerated in any other portion of the body. Its cavity has been made, and is still made, the recep- tacle for agents so destructive that no conscientious man would employ them for the treatment of disease in any other cavity of the body." "The women treated in this way," says Dr. Emmett, "are martyrs to neuralgia, and have often resorted to opium for relief." Dr. Charles West, of the Royal College of Physicians in London, in his work of o\er 500 pages, condemns this practice as "unnecessary and dangerous." Dr. R. Ludlam, in his very interesting lecture on Diseases of Women, says: "These villainous ap- pliances all act as irritants to the delicate structure of the ovary, tending to derango its circulation and nutrition, and this, directly or indirectly, to induce the inflammatory process." There is either a lack of conscience or a lack of knowledge in this department of practice. The man who will magnify a trifling complaint into something very serious, and then pursue a course of treatment that will inflict a vast amount of suf- fering upon the innocent victim of cupidity, is a disgrace to the profession. Without reference to any particular person, I say that any one who wil DISEASES OF WOMEN. 197 pursue this disreputable course, has not cnly bloody stains upon hands, but deeper moral stains and ulcerous spots upon his character. His rai- ment and his furniture are purchased through the tears and agonies of his victims. The pillow on which he lays his head at night should be thorns ; his bed should be thistles, and his blanket should be nettles; and his conscience should be lashed with the sting of a scorpion until he learns the difference between actual suffering himself, and causing need- less suffering to others for the sake of pecuniary gain. One of our Chicago professors says : " The boldness in the use of caustic necessary to cure, requires strong nerves." But what about the nerves of the patient? The poor woman may scream and cry imploringly for relief, while the doctor, with nerves of steel, cuts and burns and sears until the patient faints under his hands, and faints on her way home, and tells her neighbors that she can never think of the name of this Pro- fessor without a shudder of horror. This is not a fancy picture, but a true statement of facts. Dr. Emmett says (p. 133): "The continued use of the nitrate of silver is as certain to bring about a destruction of the mucous glands, as is the application of the cautery, and it has been product- ive of more harm than the latter." Now, in medi- cal language, the cautery means the application of a red hot iron to the affected part. He also says that he very seldom employs the nitrate of silver, 198 DISEASES OF WOMEN. and not more than a single application, and then carefully protects the surrounding tissues with suitable instruments. How does this compare with some of the hero practitioners who would drop a solid stick of nitrate of silver into the uterine cavity and let it dissolve and spread itself over the whole surface? And of this substance, Dr. Emmett says it has done more harm than the application of & red-hot iron. "It brings about a certain de- struction of the mucous glomds, a chronic enlarge- ment of the parts, and prevents all healthy reac- tion. This reminds me of a similar case of a woman spoken of in the Gospel of St. Mark, v: 26. Of her it was said: "She had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing better, but rather grew worse." And a miracle alone could restore her, and it will be miraculous if some of the women in our day who have suffered much from the physicians will ever be restored to health. The fortunes that are spent in the pretended treatment of these diseases are small items com- pared with the sufferings that are endured, and the final ruin of health. It does appear to me that if a man was deliberately bent on mischief, he could not do more than some doctors have done, and are doing, for I learn from personal conversation, that some of the younger doctors are bowing with sub- mission to this high (?) medical authority. One of them told me, some time ago, that Prof.____ DISEASES OF WOMEN. 199 had the medical profession at his feet, and all looked to him as a leader. Now, before I drop this, I will only say that I have said some hard things against the treatment of women, but the worst has not been told. I could tell of " Nitrate of silver dissolved in the strongest nitric acid, caustic potash, creosote, acid nitrate of mercury," applied until the healthy surface is eaten away, and, as a certain professor says, in one case the "application of the nitrate of silver caused the blood to flow so copiously that she lost fifteen or twenty ounces in eight or ten days," and she had to be " kept in bed and use cold applications and acid drinks," and the next month this same woman was treated "with caustic potassa and tannin;" and Doctor Emmett says that caustic potassa is more injurious then burning the parts with red-hot iron, and will finally result in the utter ruin and destruc- tion of this organ. I know what I am talking about when I say that the most tender conjugal ties have been broken asunder, and hopes have been blasted, and invalids have been made for life, by this outrageous procedure. Well might the dis- tinguished Dr. Emmett sav: "Let us hope that the days of heroic practice in this department are past." Finally, let me now tell you plainly, gentlemen of the medical profession, it is absolutely cruel to tell a nervous and sensitive woman, every time she complains a little, that she has a disease of the 200 DISEASES OF WOMEN. womb. I know of a case where a young woman was frightened into a two-years' sickness by her doctor telling her she had disease of the womb. It preyed on her mind night and day, and when she died of another disease, a post mortem exam- ination revealed the fact that she never had a trace or sign of disease of this organ. In a great majority of cases, when the doctor says: "Madame, I think, from your symptoms, you have disease of the womb," the woman may safely and promptly reply : "Sir, I do not believe what you sny." There are, however, cases where an examination will be necessary to ascertain the real condition of the womb, in case of discharges indicating ulcers, or other uuhealthy secretions, but these seldom occur. Treatment.—Under this head I will notice tho most rational and approved methods of distin- guished practitioners, as well as give the results ot my own observations and experience in the treat- ment of these diseases. I have long since been convinced of the advan- tages to be derived from warm-water injections, and in this I am supported by the high authority of Dr. Emmett, than whom there is no higher in the United States. Dr. Emmett mentions a number of cases brought to the Hospital of which he has cha ge, some so much prostrated that they had to be carried upon stretchers, and, by the hot-water treatment and some mild and soothing injections, DISEASES OF WOMEN. 201 they were able, in one month, to ride out on horse- back. This is very different from telling a patient it will take a year to cure her, "and at the end of the year she may not be much better than when the treatment commenced." To Dr. Emmett belongs the credit of having introduced a new system of treatment among the physicians he represents, and there are many noble and good men of the profession who approve of his course, and are heartily opposed to tho harsh measures that have been advocated by some of our Professors in Medical Colleges. By way of contrast, I will make some brief ex- tracts from Dr. Emmett's recent work. He says (p. 123): "From the earliest days of my study in this branch of surgery I have been skeptical as to the part inflammation was supposed to play in diseases of women. "I have never applied leeches in my life to the uterus, nor scarified the cervix with a view of re- ducing inflammation. . . . Hot water has proved a most important agent in my hands, in the treatment of diseases of women." It is to me unaccountable that teachers in Medi- cal Colleges should start out on a wrong basis, and fall into errors of so grave a character. The theory of arterial congestion preceding inflammation is wrong, and upon this error has been founded the terrible harsh treatment already referred to, to cure a condition that d d not exist. It is now admitted 202 DISEASES OF WOMEN. by the best medical authorities that the congestion in the pelvis consists in venous, and is due to a loss of tone in the vessels, from impaired nutrition, and this being an admitted fact, we can well under- stand how every measure to reduce inflammation resulting from arterial congestion would not only do no good, but actually do harm, and increase and prolong the suffering of the patient, and finally, to make all healthy reaction impossible. Would it not be a wise and prudent forethought on the part of men who haVe wives or daughters to be put under medical treatment, to ask where the doctor, into whose hands they are about to commit the destinies of their patient, was educated. The one school says nitrate of silver, nitric acid, caustic potash, powerful astringents, leeches, scari- fications, seton, calomel, blue mass, etc., and it will take a year or more to cure. The other says: "The use of hot-water injections is equally benefi- cial in all those conditions which constitute the va- rious forms of disease in the female organs of gen- eration which are amenable to any treatment, and equally so whether the congestion is venous or ar- terial. ... So beneficial is its use that I be- lieve more can be accomplished in the treatment of diseases of women by this agent than by all other means combined." (Emmett, p. 120.) He also says, in reference to the mode of appli- cation: "The temperature of the water must be varied according to circumstances; from 90° Farh. DISEASES OF WOMEN. 203 to 110°, or as high as can be borne, and should be equently repeated, in quantities from two quarts to a gallon at a time." The bed-pan must, of course, be so arranged as to receive the returning flow of water. This can only be done by a care'ul assistant. Caution must be exercised not to allow the nozzle of the syringe to come in contact with the mouth of the womb, and not to allow any water to pass into it. The water must only fill the pel- vic cavity outside of the uterus, and to do this the assistant must depress the nozzle of the syringe toward the back, while the hips of the patient are elevated on a pillow. Dr. Emmett says: "No plan of treatment could be more rational, or appeal more forcibly to the good judgment of every one." If it is once understood, and recognized as a fact, that the conditions which are treated as ulcers, supposed to result from arterial congestion and local inflammation, are nothing more than the re- sult of an impoverished condition of the blood, caused by a defective nutrition, then it will bd seen how terrible is the mistake in applying these strong caustics and astringents locally, when the main ef- fort should be to restore the general health by constitutional treatment and nourishing diet. The same causes may produce chlorosis, disease of the mesenteric glands, and affections of mucous membranes in any other part of the body, such as the throat, air passage, and stomach. Nothing is more important than a correct knowl- 204 DISEASES OF WOMEN. edge of the nature and cause of the disease we un- dertake to treat. A start in the wrong direction will lead us into innumerable blunders. Under all conditions, the constitutional treatment must not be neglected. A good, nourishing diet, consisting of beef steak, oyster soups, the white of eggs, milk and sweet cream, with frequent exercise in the open air, surrounded with pleasant company, will go far toward restoring the general health. Kind nature has provided vegetable acids in the differ- ent fruits, such as apples, peaches, grapes, oranges, lemons, cherries, and a great variety of smaller fruits, adapted to the tastes and wants of the sys- tem, and all calculated to furnish materials to build up and sustain the system. Above all, the nerv- ous system must be kept in the best possible con- dition. The nerves are not only the highways for our thoughts and feelings, but also exert a control- ing power over every fiber of our being. A sensi- tive woman, laboring under a disease of this kind, will not only watch and carefully consider every word the doctor says to her, but she will watch the expression of his countenance while he is speaking. If he puts on a long face and shakes his head sig- nificantly, and, like one of our Chicago Professors who wants "latitude," and "plenty of time" in these cases, tells her "it will take a year to cure her," she maybe frightened into a year's sickness, when there was not much ailing at the commence- ment. If, with the nervous excitement produced DISEASES of women. 205 by the announcement that "it will take a year to cure," the treatment is commenced by topical ap- plications of powerful astringents, such as tannic acid, alum, acetate of lead, etc., neither of which possesses any curative property in these cases, the disease will soon become complicated, and the fearful prediction of a year's treatment may come true from the improper course taken at the com- mencement. A doctor should always be hopeful and cheerful in the presence of an invalid or of one who fears she has some terrible disease where there is noth- ing serious in her case. To show that I have good grounds for the appar- ently severe reflection and censure expressed in the foregoing pages, I make the following quotation from Dr. R. Ludlam's lectures on diseases of women: " In the whole range of our art, I do not know of any temptation to compare with that which sometimes prompts and permits the physician to diagnosticate and to pretend to cure the most seri- ous uterine diseases when they have no real exist- ence. Patients not unfrequently declare themselves ill with some particular "weakness," and, wdiether they are mistaken or not, will insist upon being treated therefor, either at our hands or by another. The fashion is to gratify them, and to put a pre- mium upon every kind of local expedient especially. " Thousands of women have thus been cauterized 206 DISEASES OF WOMEN. for uterine ulceration which, before the application of the escharotic, had no existence. Multitudes of them have done penance by wearing pessaries, and supporters of every description for luxations of the womb that could not be found, except in their own imagination, or in that of the physician. They have been bed-ridden and abused until the weak- ness of the sex has become a by-word and a re- proach, mainly because the doctors have been too anxious to ' make out a case;' and afterward, because they have seen fit to persecute them with the most harmful appliances. "The doctor who treats a broken leg or a case of small-pox must be skilled in diagnosis, and meas- urably honest. His selfishness may prompt him to make his patients as many visits as possible, and to extort a fabulous fee for his services; but, concern- ing the nature of the accident, or of the ailment in question, there is little relative opportunity for him to deceive the sufferer or the friends. But when he is consulted in tho case of a woman who is supposed to be ill with a sexual infirmity, the conditions are changed. He makes his diagnosis in the dark, as it were, and who shall disprove it ? His professional opinion is not open to criticism, nor his skill to a healthful competition. And hence the peculiar temptation, in this department of our calling, to those members of the profession who have a bias toward dishonesty, and who seize upon every opportunity to make the most out of a class DISEASES of women. 207 ■of cases which are often obscure, intricate, and tedious at the best." The topical application should be such as not to interfere with the action of the remedies internally administered. They should be of a soothing, quiet- ing, and health-restoring nature, such as Pure Glycerine—common or inferior glycerine will often produce injurious effects. A tablespoonful to half a pint of suds, made of Castile Soap, will make an available injection in many cases. These injections should always be given warm, and they will be more effective by preceding them with copious in- jections of water, as hot as it can be borne. A weak solution of Carbolic Acid is favorably men- tioned, and well worthy of a trial. The same may be sa'd of Thuja, to be repeated three times daily. Calendula injections are also favorably mentioned by Prof. R. Ludlam, M. D. After having mentioned these different methods that have been resorted to by different practition- ers, I will give some specific directions for different forms of uterine disease. For unhealthy secretions, resembling diphtheria, nothing is equal to a solu- tion of Permanganate of Potassa, in the proportion of 5 grains to a pint of warm water, injected three or four times a day. The objection urged against the use of this remedy on account of its color, is a mere trifle compared with its superior medical ■qualities. The clothing and bedding can easilv be protected by cloths, and the success in the use of 208 DISEASES OF WOMEN. this remedy will compensate for any inconvenience in this direction. This treatment may be alternated with the fol- lowing: Put 20 drops of the first dilution of Mer- curius corros. in a pint of warm water and use as an injection, every eight hours; and the four hours between, use the Permanganate, as above directed, so as to use the two remedies every four hours, alternately. This may, by some, be considered a matter of inconvenience, but this is nothing com- pared with the suffering those have to undergo who submit to the severe treatment I have already re- ferred to. A woman suffering from an affection of this kind had better procure a faithful and compe- tent nurse to remain with her a week or two, and aid her in carrying out the treatment I am here recommending, than to submit to the harsh and painful treatment that will most likely be inflicted on her if she falls into the hands of some of the doctors who make it their boast that their principal income is from protracted cases of these diseases. In a practice of between thirty and forty years, I have become fully convinced that a great majority of these cases that have been the cause of so much suffering and anxiety can be cured in from one to two weeks. I repeat here what I have said before, and I can not be too emphatic in the statement that if the above injections were always preceded with water, DISEASES OF WOMEN. 209 as hot as can be borne, it would hasten the cure, and relieve any tendency to venous congestion. As an internal remedy, Mercurius corros., sec- ond dilution, should be given every four hours. After taking this twenty-four hours, it should be alternated with 10 drops of the tincture of Cimici- fuga (commonly called Black Snake Root) in a glass half full of water, and a teaspoonful to be taken every four hours, in alternation with Mercu- rius corros. Hydrastis is another valuable remedy to be used as an injection ; a tablespoonful of the tincture to a half pint of water, or in the form of an infusion, used an hour after the other washes above recommended. This is especially recom- mended for leucorrhoea, where there are unhealthy discharges. For internal remedy, take Macrotin, 5 drops to a glass half full of water, and take a tea- spoonful every two hours. A weak solution of Carbolic Acid is also a very good remedy in leucor- rhceal discharges. After all our remarks, no matter how well chosen and how faithfully applied, the success of our treat- ment will greatly depend on good, nourishing diet, cheerful company, and exercise in the open air when the weather is pleasant, the body being properly protected from cold winds, and the feet kept perfectly dry and warm. 14 INDEX. PAGE. Abscess................................................18 Air.................................................... 19 Amaurosis............................................21 Anger.................................................22 Aptha, Thrush........................................23 Apoplexy..............................................24 Appetite, (Loss of).....................................25 Asthma...............................................26 Atrophy, or Nervous Consumption....................27 Bathing................................................28 Biliousness............................................ 30 Bilious Colic...........................................32 Bites of Dogs..........................................32 Bites of Snakes........................................33 Bites of Insects..............................'.......... 34 Bladder, (Inflammation of)............................ 34 Bleeding from the Lungs.............................. 35 Bleeding at the Nose..................................36 Bleeding from the Stomach............................ 37 Boils...................................................40 Bowels, (Inflammation of)............................. 41 Brain, (Inflammation of)................................ 4,5 Breast, (Inflammation of).............................. 47 Breath, (Foul)..... ................................... 49 ' Bright's Disease....................................... 50 Bronchitis, (Acute)....................................53 Bronchocele........................................... 55 Burns and Scalds......................................58 'Cancer................................................. 62 Canker of the Mouth.................................. 66 Carbuncle............................................. 57 Catalepsy............................................. 69 Catarrh................................................ 70 INDEX. 211 PAGE. Change of Life.........................................73 Chapped Hands....................................... 75 Chilblains.............................................. 75 Chlorosis............................................... 76 Cholera, (Asiatic)...................................... 77 Cholera Infantum.....................................83 Cholera Morbus........................................ 84 Chorea—St. Vitus' Dance.............................. 86 Cold in the Head....................................86 Colic................................................... 87 Constipation...........................................88 Convulsions and Spasms..........................*---89 Convulsions—Puerperal, or Child-bed................90 Cough.................................................91 Croup................................................. 92 Crusta Lactse—or Milk Crust........................... 94 Delirium Tremens..................................... 94 Dentition—or Teething................................95 Diarrhea.............................................. 95 Diet, (Regulations of)................................. 96 Diphtheria............................................ 98 Dizziness.........................................•—101 Dropsy...............................................102 Doses and External Applications..................... 12 Dysentery.............................................103 Dyspepsia.............................................1°5 Ear, (Disease of)......................................110 Eczema.............................................. Ill Erysipelas.............................................HI Eructation.............................................112 Excoriation—Soreness.................................113 Eyes, (Inflammation of)...............................113 Face, (Inflammation of)...............................114 Fever.................................................114 Fever, (Gastric).......................................119 Fever, (Typhoid)......................................119 Fever and Ague......................................121 212 INDEX. PAGE. Fever, (Rheumatic)...................................121 Fever, (Worm)........................................122 Fever, (Puerperal, or Child-bed)......................122 Fever, (Yellow)......................................123 Flooding.............................................149 Fright................................................149 Headache.............................................150 Headache, (Sick).....................................151 Health of Young Women.............................153 Heart, (Affections of).................................156 Heartburn.............................................160 Hiccough............................................161 Hives.................................................162 Hoarseness............................................162 Homoeopathy......................................... 9 Homesickness........................................164 Hysteria..............................................165 Introduction.......................................... 5 Itch...................................................168 Jaundice..............................................169 Kidneys, (Inflammation of)...........................170 Liver, (Inflammation of)..............................170 Lungs, (Inflammation of).............................172 Magnetic Treatment................................173 Measles...............................................176 Meningitis—or Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis............177 Mumps...............................................178 Nervous System.....................................14 Pleurisy...............................,..............178 Potassa...............................................179 Quinsy................................................180 Rheumatism........................................180 Scarlet Fever.........................................181 Whooping Cough.....................................182 Women, (Diseases of—Appendix).....................184 NLM001035935