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No. 80.]

Tic Douloureux.

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233 rhubarb was reduced to one grain ;" but, says the Doctor, "I have several times remarked in the exhibition of rhubarb, that after it has been taken for a time in small doses, it appears to accumulate in the colon; (although the bowels shall be moved once daily) and to cause griping with stools, and if you wish," observes the minute observer, "to go on with the rhubarb, from any cause for which you may have prescribed it, it is necessary to give some mildly opening medicine before the resumption of the rhubarb. This," says he, "is a PRACTICAL FACT, with which experience has made me acquainted. The infusion produces much less of this effect than the powder; the reason is obvious."!! To us the reason is very far from being obvious. Probably the learned physician supposes that the extract of rhubarb, held in solution by water, is not so readily separated from the faces, so as to collect in the colon, as the powder!! The idea is indeed a brilliant one-rhubarb powder, after passing through digestion in the stomach, and becoming intimately blended with the contents of the small intestines, should separate and collect in the colon!!

Had an apothecary broached such an idea, we should have termed it stark nonsense; but coming from a Fellow of the College of Physicians, a tribe who boldly declare themselves to possess a knowledge of medicine, superior to Licenciates and Surgeon Apothecaries, it, no doubt, comprises more than we can discover.

The result of his scientific routine practice, in this solitary case of tic douloureux, has furnished him with another important fact, viz. that "it is from a want of discrimination as to the cause, that such a variety of remedies have taken their rise."!! Thus admitting his incapability of discriminating "as to the cause," when he commenced the medical treatment of Mrs. Y. The learned Doctor seriously states that he is a friend to the "gastric considerations of very many diseases, and to the advantages we derive from keeping the condition of the digestive organs in view;" and, says he, "I do not recollect at any time more decisive good in any case, than in this (Mrs. Y.'s) by soothing and comforting the stomach in the way I have mentioned, and by giving regular movements; although they may not have also been evacuating ones to the intestinal actions." Abernethy, no doubt, will feel sensibly the honor this Fellow of the College has done him, by this short, but elegantly expressed testimony in favor of his chylo-poietic system.

The Doctor, notwithstanding his admiration of the Abernethian system, thinks, "it is not impossible that some irritation of the sensorium affects the sentient extremities of the nerves, which by reflex action increases the mischief in the brain, in a way not YET understood, but somewhat after the manner that irritation of the sentient extremities of the nerves of the digestive organs, injures the brain of young people, producing effusion of fluid there, and ultimately palsy."!!

To this ingenious piece of theory, is added, "see the Author's pamphlet on Water in the Brain,' with the Appendix, published by Burgess and Hill, Windmill street."!!! After this brilliant idea, the doctor met with a curious coincidence," viz. of learning, on seeing the Bedell (college orthography) at the College of Physicians, (whom he terms our Bedell;) that about three weeks ago, when endeavouring to rise from his chair one afternoon, he was unable to do so from a powerless

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state of his lower limbs. He had suffered from tic douloureux for fourteen years, and the Doctor had never heard of it. This fact of a servant to the College of Physicians having been afflicted with a disease, for fourteen years, certainly does not redound to the credit of the fellows, nor confirm their pretensions to a superior knowledge of medicine. The learned Doctor does not condescend to acquaint his readers with the treatment he suggested, but he concludes his notice of the case with the following observation, with which we most cordially agree. "He will sink under it."!!

The Doctor has certainly displayed much ingenuity in extending his remarks and theories to a two-and-sixpenny pamphlet. If his object were to add his testimony to that of others, in favor of the plan of treatment recommended by Surgeon Hutchinson, he might have done it in a very few words in a periodical medical work. The Doctor was. probably desirous to give publicity to his appointment of "Physician to their Graces the Duke and Duchess of Bedford," and to his Treatise on "Water in the Brain;" a work which, to the great disgrace of the medical profession of this country, has yet proved useful only, by filling some shelves in the publisher's shop. It is the first time we have heard of a regular appointment of physician being given by a non-Royal Duke, and of a physician making a parade of such an appointment. If the Duke has given the appointment to the learned Doctor, why has his able assistance not been solicited during the present indisposition of his patron, which is (in his own language) "purely medical"? That the Duke is a man of discernment, is acknowledged by all who have the honor of his acquaintance; his having consigned the medical management of his malady to men acquainted with surgery, and who have no watery fancies floating in their brains, is a proof of his good sense. Under such care, we may venture to predict, serious as his affliction is, that he "will not sink under it." The Doctor's work is, however, a pretty specimen of medical bombast, regular puff, and of the beauty the English language is capable of receiving, from the pen of a classic, or an English University Physician.

Mr. Edward Thompson, an eminent surgeon of Whitehaven, has published two cases of tic douloureux, which were cured by the extract of the deadly nightshade, administered, as directed, a few years since, by Mr. Bailey. With respect to the dose of the extract, Mr. Thompson observes, "no less than two grains of the pure extract should be taken: oftentimes, when the pain is excessive, three or four grains repeated at the end of five or six hours, and again till its action is manifest, are requisite, watching minutely its progress."

The following case we have selected, on account of the disease being clearly tic douloureux, and of affording unquestionable proof of the specific operation of the remedy. In our own practice it has uniformly failed to afford even a mitigation of pain, and in every instance has greatly disordered the head and the stomach.

Mr. R had been seized in March with violent racking pains in the gum of the left side, which extended up to the side of the face. After suffering some time, he had a tooth removed by a person, who gave him a tincture to apply to the part. No abatement of pain taking place, be desired me to extract a small portion of the root that had broken off, far

No. 80.]

Suspended Animation.—Dropsy.

235

below the gum, being certain this was the source of the evil; and if that did not afford relief, that I should proceed to draw all the teeth on the afflicted side, situated in the lower jaw. Not wishing to bind myself to the fulfilment of so wild a scheme, other means were put in force, and he was at different times scarified, having the gums separated from back to front on both sides. He was leeched, blistered, and took large opiates, without any benefit. At his request I was prevailed on to draw a sound tooth, but with the like fortune, and I am certain he would have patiently sat till every tooth in his head had been removed, could I have assured him that, by so doing, the pain would have been in the least diminished. Pills of the extract of the deadly nightshade, each containing two grains, were ordered; a couple were only taken, when slight delirium and great vertigo prevented their continuance. These symptoms soon left him, and the pain returned no more.

SUSPENDED ANIMATION, &c.-SIRS, It has been long my wish to give, as a supplement to your popular Journal, a popular treatise on Suspended Animation, and its medical treatment; but, unfortunately, some of my correspondents on the subject, have not as yet transmitted to me the results of a repetition of my experiments, which they had undertaken to make. When I am able to bring the whole into a focus, I will lose no time in sending you the inanuscript for publication, agreeably to the promise I made you a few months ago. I herewith send you a drawing of the new Ligator, for applying a ligature to the basis of a polypus, or other excrescences of the uterus or vagina, and of a new instrument for scarifying the gums of infants, with instructions for their use.

I am, Sirs, your obedient servant,
B. DE SANCTIS.

London, July 20th, 1822. The Editors will give wood-cut representations of the Doctor's instru ments, with his directions for using them, in their next number. They are sorry they were not favored with his communication in time for them to appear in the present number.

DROPSY.-Messrs. Callow and Wilson, medical booksellers of London, have lately advertised a sixpenny pamphlet, under the title of "A Sovereign Remedy for the Dropsy," which was printed in the year 1805, by desire of the then Countess of Shaftesbury, the sale of which has been suspended, in consequence of the failure of the proprietor. The recipe was given to the Countess by the Prior of the Maurus Benedictines of Corbie, in Picardy, who obtained it from Lemery's Choice Collection of Secrets, published in Paris, in 1740. The following is the Author's account of it.

"A Sovereign Remedy for the Dropsy.-Take of broomseed, well powdered and sifted, one drachm; let it steep twelve hours in a glass and half of good rich white wine, and take it in the morning fasting, having first shaken it, so that the whole may be swallowed. Walk after it, if you are able, or use what exercise you can without fatigue, for an hour and half; after which you must be sure to take two ounces of olive oil; and you must not eat or drink any thing in less than half an hour after taking the oil. Repeat this every day, or once in three days, and not oftener, till cured; and do not let blood, or use any other remedy during the course.

"Nothing can be more gentle and safe than the operation of this remedy, and it often has little or no sensible one. If the dropsy is in the body, it discharges it by urine, without any inconvenience: if it is between the skin and flesh, it causes blisters to arise on the legs, by which it will run off; but this does not happen to more than one in thirty; and in this case no plasters must be used, for they would hinder the discharge; but you must apply red cabbage leaves. If the disorder is caused by wind, it dispels the phlegm that detains the wind. It cures the dropsy in pregnant women, without injury to the mother or the infant. It also cures the asthma, consumption, and disorders of the liver. It is good for the bleeding at the nose, and for venemous bites and poisons.

"The efficacy of the above remedy has been proved by the cure of upwards of fifty dropsical women with child, and by that of more than three hundred other people."

The powdered seeds increasing the secretion of urine, and with the oil, operating gently on the bowels (producing very watery motions) unload the system of serum, and thereby reduce dropsical swellings. The operation of the powdered seeds on the intestines without the oil, the Countess states as uncertain, sometimes producing constipation, and in others acting as an aperient. She has noticed a few cases of dropsy, in which the remedies succeeded. Dropsy is not a primary disease, being the sequel of diseases very opposite in their nature. Diuretic and aperient medicines will sometimes succeed in unloading the system of accumulated serum; but, unless the cause be removed it will return, for the debilitating effects of such remedies will not admit of their being continued. The benevolent Countess recommends auxiliary remedies when the seed and oil do not fully succeed, as friction with oil and flannel, &c. &c. which we need not particularize, as those who may be disposed to give the treatment a trial, will of course furnish themselves with the pamphlet, and attend to the most minute instruction. We candidly confess, that we are not disposed to place any confidence in the mode of treatment; but that the remedies may have a fair trial, we have ordered a quantity of the fresh seeds to be carefully dried and powdered, at the Medical Hall, 170, Piccadilly.

SCIRRHUS and SCROFULA.-We have witnessed the beneficial effects of the Tincture of Iodine in one case of scirrhus of the mammary gland of an elderly female, and several very bad ones of scrofula. After taking the tincture in the dose of twenty-five drops twice a day in a wine-glass full of the decoction of the Iceland moss, the tumour, which had been painful, became perfectly easy, and the general health, which had been very much reduced, greatly improved. In the course of a month the tumour was reduced from the size of a hen's egg to that of a pigeon's, and at this time is not larger than a small bean. In every case of scrofulous tumefications and ulcerations, in which we have known the tincture administered, it has uniformly succeeded in curing the local af fections, and in correcting the diathesis of the constitution. A gentleman of Dublin sent us, a few days since, a small quantity of Iodine, procured at the shop of a chemist in that city, which, on examination, we found to be mixed with burnt sponge. The Iodine made by some respectable chemists in this country, is very inferior to that we obtain from

No. 80.]

Sedlitz Salt.-Gravel, &c.

237

Germany. We should have stated, in our account of its effects in a case of scirrhus, that a prepared hare skin was constantly kept over the affected breast, with the hairy surface next the skin, and the bowels kept in a regular state by four grains of rhubarb powder and four grains of extract of henbane, (in two pills) taken every or every other night,as indicated by the state of the bowels.

SEDLITZ SALT.-Dr. Portier, of Paris, in a letter dated the 1st inst. expresses his astonishment that the British legislature should allow a set of unprincipled tradesmen to advertise a composition of carbonate of soda, tartaric acid, and dried sulphate of soda and of potass, as the genuine Sedlitz Salt. He states that he has examined the boxes of the Sedlitz Salt, sent to many chemists in Paris by the makers in England, and that he has not discovered one article which the Sedlitz water contains!! As this traffic will probably bring the celebrated alterative aperient water of Sedlitz into disrepute, he has made a formal complaint to the Chamber of Deputies, and he has no doubt, the legislature will not allow the English quacks to extend their infamous traffic over France, when Frenchmen are punished severely for dealing in nostrums of their own invention. He expresses a hope, that before the expiration of two months, he will have it in his power to send us a list of English patent and proprietary nostrums, which will be ordered to be burnt by the common executioner in Paris, among which, says he, you may expect to find the celebrated Sedlitz Salt, Dalby's Carminative, Godfrey's Cordial, Reynolds's Gout Specific, Welch's Female Pills, Hooper's Pills, Parson Carrington's Life Pills, Pearson's Syrup of Sarsaparilla, Dixon's Antibilious Pills, &c. We find the true Sedlitz Salt noticed in a late number, even in the small dose of a drachm dissolved in half a pint of water, to act more efficaciously on the intestinal canal than any other saline aperient, and so far as our observations go, we are inclined to give it a preference, in what are termed bilious affections, to the Cheltenham or any other aperient salt. The Sedlitz Salt is only proper in feverish constitutions, for in people of cold or phlegmatic habits, a saline purgative often proves injurious, unless combined with an aromatic. An aperient salt, taken in a state of effervescence, as an advertised pretended true Sedlitz Salt is directed, never operates on the bowels satisfactorily, the motions being very small and frequent, and attended with an unpleasant sensation of distention of the bowels from flatus. The addition of half a drachm of cream of tartar to a teaspoonful of the true Sedlitz Salt, renders it very pleasant to the palate, and promotes its aperient effect.

GRAVEL, IRRITATION OF THE BLADDER, FLUOR ALBUS, &c.-In many cases of gravel and morbid secretion of the kidneys, (transmitted to us from Dublin, York, Bristol, and Hadfield), the extract of the diosma crenata (buchu leaves) in the dose of ten grains (in two pills) twice a day, with three table spoonsful of the infusion, as recommended in our late Addition to the Appendix, has completely suc ceeded, after other diuretic remedies had failed to afford any relief. In irritative diseases of the bladder, the extract in the same dose, two or three times a day, with a wine-glass full of the decoction of marshimallow root, has been administered with the most happy effect; and in specific inflammation of the urethra, the powdered leaves, in the dose of fifteen grains, three times a day, in a glass of barley-water. For irritative fluor

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