Part 35 (1/2)

That was when I was a youngster. When I studied medicine, or when I was practicing, I wanted to know if it was h.o.m.oeopathic, and made a proving, and developed the symptoms of almost constant but slight involuntary urination, keeping my pants wet.

I did not make any this past season, and have divided till I have but a little, half-and-half alcohol, left. I could spare a little of that, and next season, if I live, will try and make a quant.i.ty.

(The next item is from a letter of Dr. H. C. Houghton's, of New York, addressed to Boericke & Tafel.)

I have been much interested in the clinical study of this remedy--new, yet not new--but I have not succeeded in demonstrating what the symptom--deafness means in this case. Dr. Cus.h.i.+ng does not claim to be an expert in this department, so time must help us out, and I am anxious to learn all I can of its effects on the ear.

In an old note-book of Dr. Hering's, _Hearing and Ears_, copied for me with the author's permission by my friend Dr. C. R. Norton, I noticed the following: ”In Germany, flowers of Verbasc.u.m thapsus put in a dark-colored bottle, hung up in the sunlight, give in two or three weeks an oily fluid which has cured many old people and children.” This method is impracticable, the amount produced being so small. Verbasc.u.m prepared in olive oil or fluid petroleum has the same effect as any oil; excellent in chronic disease of the integument; negative in middle ear disease. When your house brought out _Mullein oil_ under Dr. Cus.h.i.+ng's direction, I took it up again, and have prescribed it in a large number of cases. In chronic dermat.i.tis of the external meatus and drum-head, or exfoliation after furuncle, it is excellent; in chronic catarrhal inflammation of the tympanum I have not been able to see any effect, but in chronic suppurative disease of the tympanum, or in acc.u.mulations of detritus in cases of perforation, scarred drum-heads, etc., it acts to dislodge acc.u.mulations, free the ossicula from pressure, and thereby improves the hearing; this process goes on for months till the tympanum has thrown out an amount of _debris_ that is surprising. In a few cases it has caused soreness and increased muco-purulent discharge, due, I think, to excessive use.

My experience with it in chronic catarrh of the tympanum coincides with that of my friend, H. P. Bellows, M. D., of Boston, as published by him, but I purpose to continue the study of the drug, and hope for better results. In sub-acute or chronic disease after suppuration its effect is very gratifying; it aids exfoliation and checks irritation from exfoliated material.

I am able to confirm the symptoms noted of its effects in nocturnal enuresis in many instances. There is one effect I have not seen noticed by any observers: relief of night cough. More than ten years ago, Dr. H.

A. Tucker, Brooklyn, N. Y., told me of a _Glycerole of Mullein_ made by macerating the plant in Jamaica rum for two or three weeks, expressing it and adding to this product an equal quant.i.ty of glycerine. This led me to the use of the fluid extract of the plant, glycerine and water, equal parts, as a mollifier in cases where patients would resort to some popular remedy containing opium or similar opiate. The same effect can be produced by drop doses of _Mullein oil_, the teasing cough which comes on lying down, preventing the sleep usually yielding to a few doses.

(Dr. J. C. Wentz contributed the following bit of folk-lore):

The application of _Mullein oil_ is of more general application than anything I have found in print. I report to you some cases:

CASE I.--Mertie B., aged sixteen. Called to see her May 20, 1888. Found her suffering great pain in right ear. Parotid gland very much enlarged and painful. The right side of the head and face much swollen. Pulse about 100; tongue coated.

_Treatment._--_Mullein oil_ in the ear, and used as a liniment twice daily on the swollen parts. For the fever, _Aconite_. Great improvement during the first twenty-four hours, and on the 23d found the case convalescent.

CASE II.--Carrie H., aged twenty-two. Her second child four weeks old.

Called November 15, 1888. Right breast inflamed and sore. Two weeks previous it had been lanced by another physician, a little above the nipple, but now a place a little below and to the left of the nipple gives evidence of forming pus. I told her that in my judgment it had gone too far to check it then.

_Treatment._--_Mullein oil_, one-half ounce in four ounces of water. Wet cloths and apply. The inflammation and soreness disappeared in one week, and by the use of the same remedy occasionally has entirely recovered without breaking. Her husband, when he paid me, said: ”Well you have done better than any of the rest of the doctors.”

CASE III.--Linford S., aged sixty-four. Called to see him September 20, 1888. Has just recovered from typhoid fever, but is able to be around.

Taken with inflammation of the right t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e. Swollen to the size of a goose egg, and much pain. Red and s.h.i.+ning appearance of the skin. Cause unknown, unless it was in connection with chronic enlargement of prostate gland.

_Treatment._--_Mullein oil_ applied twice daily as a liniment.

_Mercurius sol._ internally. In three days the soreness and pain had entirely disappeared, but the enlargement continued several days. He walked around with ease three or four days before swelling had diminished any.

CASE IV.--F. C., aged thirty. Called November 16, 1888. Found inflammation of left kidney and of left t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e. Had been under treatment by another doctor and had recovered partially, but relapsed.

Suffering much with pain in t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e, which ran up the spermatic cord and through to the left kidney.

_Treatment._--_Cantharis_ and _Aconite_, as there was some fever.

_Mullein oil_ applied to the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e. Rapid improvement during the first twenty-four hours, and made a quick recovery.

I have also cured a case of chronic inflammation of the eyes, and a case of chilblains from which the patient had suffered, during the winter, for about six years. * * *

Every drug has its exact range. This one being new to the profession, we are just learning what it will do. In all these cases the _Mullein oil_ has had an outward application twice daily.

A short time ago I was in Dodge city and was talking with a friend about the use of various remedies in veterinary practice, and amongst them I mentioned an almost instant cure of earache in a boy and also the same in a cat by the use of _Mullein oil_. He said: ”Why do you h.o.m.oeopaths use that? I used to have the well sweep full of bottles of mullein blossoms when I was a boy. We used the oil as a dressing for burns, and it was the best thing we could get.” He also related to me the following case, which is of interest and may prove of great value: An old neighbor, a Mr. Kemmis, had spent a large amount of money treating with various physicians for what they p.r.o.nounced a rose cancer and without any relief. An Indian squaw told him to use _Mullein oil_. He distilled it (as it is now prepared, by sun exposure), and for a short time bathed the cancer with the oil. The growth of the cancer was permanently checked, but was not healed. Mr. K. lived, perhaps, forty years after the treatment was used, and the cancer never again bothered him.

MUCUNA URENS.

NAT. ORD., Leguminosae.