Part 3 (2/2)

_a.r.s.en. brom._ is also a powerful remedy in diabetes mellitus and insipidus, for I cured cases with it where the patient had already been reduced from 138 pounds to 98, and where the urine could be condensed, by boiling, into syrupy consistency. Mixed diet may be allowed, though I insist upon large quant.i.ties of fresh meat during treatment with _Bromide of a.r.s.enic_. Let the patient take three drops thrice daily in a gla.s.s of water, and after a week the insatiable burning thirst will be quenched, and these doses must be continued till the quant.i.ty of sugar in the urine is reduced, when the drug might be taken twice a day and continued for a long time. A diabetic patient needs fresh pure air if he wishes to get well; confinement in a room or in the office prevents the action of any treatment, for it needs ozone to reduce the sugar of the blood into carbonic acid and water.

ASPIDOSPERMINE.[B]

[B] _Aspidospermine_ or _Quebrachine_ is derived from the Chilian ”white Quebracho” (_Aspidospermia Quebracho_). At Santigo de Chile the bark is used as a subst.i.tute for Cinchona as a febrifuge. The alkaloid forms salts with Citric, Hydrochloric and Sulphuric acids.

PREPARATION.--Trituration of the alkaloid.

(Dr. Edwin M. Hale communicated the following concerning this alkaloid to the _h.o.m.oeopathic Recorder_ for 1889):

_Dyspnoea._--This alkaloid is from the South American tree--_Quebracho_. The maximum dose, according to Merck, is 1/10th grain. I use the 1/500th trituration, which I find most efficient in doses of 2 to 5 grains.

CASE I.--A boy of ten. The attacks of spasmodic dyspnoea were a sequel of hay fever. The aggravation was at night, when lying down, or sleep was impossible. I tried _Ipecac_ and _a.r.s.enic_, but with no effect.

_Aralia_, also. (I never had any curative or palliative effects from _Aralia_.)

Prescribed _Aspidospermine_, 1/500th trituration, 2 grains every two hours, all day. The night was comfortable, could lie down and sleep.

Continued the remedy for four days, when he was so much better that the medicine was suspended.

CASE II.--Cardiac dyspnoea in a man of 60. Valvular disease, hypertrophy with dilatation. Distressing difficulty of breathing from the slightest exertion; had to sit upright day and night. Face livid from venous stasis. _Strophanthus_ regulated and strengthened the heart's action, but only slightly benefited the dyspnoea. Five grains of _Aspidospermine_, 1/500th trituration, every two hours effected a marvellous change. He could walk about the house and out to his carriage with but little discomfort. He has now continued it three weeks.

Observes no unpleasant symptoms. Can lie on his back and right side and is very grateful for the relief. It seems to act as well as an aid to _Digitalis_, or _Strophanthus_, in cardiac dyspnoea.

AURUM MURIATIc.u.m NATRONATUM.

COMMON NAME.--Chloride of Gold and Sodium.

PREPARATION.--A mixture composed of equal parts of dry chloride of Gold and chloride of Sodium, triturated in the usual way.

(The following is an extract from a paper by Dr. H.

Goullon in the _Allg. Hom. Zeit._, bd. 114, No. 12, on the therapeutics of this remedy):

Never have I observed gold so startling in its action as in the following case: The patient is a type of the scrofulous habit; reddish hair, pasty complexion, thick nose, coa.r.s.e features. About thirty years of age. He has had the misfortune of being infected by syphilis, and the still greater ill-luck of being treated by mercurial inunctions and iodine to excess. All these circ.u.mstances conjoined helped to produce a complication of morbid conditions which would put medical art to a severe test. Let us recall the region in which gold makes such brilliant cures, and we find it especially suitable in an uncommon swelling of the left t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e. In this case I do not exaggerate, when I say that the s.c.r.o.t.u.m was as large as a gourd of moderate size and the tumor was four or five times larger in circ.u.mference than the right t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e, which was also swollen. The entire ma.s.s simulated an oblong, heavy weight, like those one meets with in old-fas.h.i.+oned clocks, and could hardly find s.p.a.ce in the capacious suspensory.

The skin was also involved. On the elbow was a wide-spread herpetic eruption; on different parts of the body were gummy indurations; the ear discharged; in short, the many characteristic manifestations of the syphilitic poison were to be seen throughout the cutaneous and mucous systems. There were also ulcerous formations in the oral cavity and on the sides of the tongue.

After about four weeks the patient again set foot upon the floor, saying: 'The drops have done wonders.' And indeed the influence upon the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es was so striking that now the right, which was formerly the smaller, seemed the larger, without having actually at all increased in size. Not the less remarkable had been the action of gold on the general condition. The patient, formerly irritable and uneasy, is cheerful and comfortable; enjoys sound sleep, whereas before he was disturbed with morbid dreams; has lost his previous debility and disgust for everything; and says that his digestive power is quite a different thing. He a.s.similates articles of diet which he did not formerly dare to take, unless he wished to suffer with flatulence, gastric acidity and vomiting. Among other things punch, which he 'could not even smell,'

agrees well.

But, evidently, the mode of administering gold in such cases is not a matter of indifference. And although I have only recently published a cure with high potencies (in which I subsequently corrected the mistake of the 100th _Dec._ for the _Centes._, which was what I used of the _Natrum muriatic.u.m_), I cannot commit myself to high potencies in syphilitic complications. Experience in these cases is always in favor of substantial doses. But, as we shall soon see, these proportionally ma.s.sive and heavy doses are always quite out of the allopathic posological range, and even on this ground one must set boundaries, and seek for the conversion of the traditional school. By two or three clinical experiences of this sort many a Saul would become a Paul in spite of all former prejudices, _vis inertia_, and most tormenting skepticism. One-half grain _Aurum muriatic.u.m natronatum_ was dissolved in 6 grms. Spiritus vini, but of this first 6 drops are again put into a winegla.s.s of water, of which the patient takes a teaspoonful thrice daily.

(Dr. Tritschler, of the Gynaecological Clinic of Tubingen, furnishes the following on the use of this remedy in diseases of women. From _Allg. Hom. Zeit._, bd. 94. Nos.

17. 18, 19):

Permit me now to specify some practical instances of the curative powers of _Aurum_, and especially of _Aurum muriatic.u.m natronatum_, in reference to gynaecology.

CHRONIC METRITIS.

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