JACARANDA GUALANDAI.

7a.m., January 10, 1893. Thank God I began this day with more comfort and more control of myself; my limbs are easier to manage; a little giddiness and staggering, and stiff, bruised sensation in my back and lower limbs. My cervical vertebra is less sore and have little pain; and altogether feel very much better. My pulse rate is 80 thisa.m.; full and round; no jerks perceptible. Temperature 98 under the tongue, by the root. Mercury very slow in rising; had to keep the thermometer in a long time. I have a flushed, hot feeling in my face and head; no trembling, less staggering, and can manage my limbs fairly well. I feel as I dared not trifle with myself any further, for I am very weak. A very little exertion would make me feel very ill. I am feeling like a man who had just come from under a deadly risk; am very weak and prostrated, with every nerve on the jump. Oh, so very weak! A sinking feeling. A parched thirstiness in my throat and mouth. My tongue is clean; bowels regular; a good deal of flatus, very fetid; pale yellow, greenish urine(specific gravity 1008), smelling very fetid; same smell as the flatus; more like the smell of rotting sweet fruit or vegetables. * * *

January 14, 1893. Could not get out of bed at my usual time; very severe pain in head and back of neck, going down my back and right leg; twitches, with cold, stinging, ice-needle pricks. My right hand is feeling as if it were frozen. Pulse rate 64; full, round, but appears to have a pendulum motion or twitch. Temperature 96 3-5. Mind clear, but very weak in my body, and I can not get warm over a hot register or with hot fluids. This constant arctic cold is very hard to bear and makes me this morning feel as if I had a cake of ice on my back. My hands are blue with cold and my feet feel like lumps of ice. Headache and giddiness; could not keep from trembling while some patients were in my consulting room, and had a good deal of difficulty in steadying and controlling my voice; when excited could not get hold of the right words I wanted and dropped some when speaking, from a want of flexibility or a catch in my tongue. Pains in various parts of my body; the same locations and character. Quite a rush of business to-day and very ill-fitted to attend to it. My hands and feet blue and aching with cold, even while I was sitting over a hot register that scorched my boot leather, yet no feeling of warmth in hands or feet. A good deal of throbbing and aching in the upper part of my kidneys, the right one the sorest. Sharp pains in my bowels, near the cæcum; some trembling (when asleep it awoke me) in my right arm and left leg, with a sharp pain near the ankle joint. * * *

January 20. Awoke this morning in a shivering fit. Trembling, giddiness and headache, but not very severe. Cold arctic feeling. Pulse 68. Temperature 97 1-5. My feet, 8a.m., cold. Severe pain in left testicle, extending through to the back to anus. Bleed very much from old piles. An aching at end of penis, and no sexual desire. A feeling as if the testicles were swollen and painful, as inorchitis; this is only a transient pain, and comes and goes at infrequent periods, or remittent in their character. I notice my urine is taking on the greenish-yellow again, and my right arm is chilly from the arctic rays. My feet are cold, and the coldness creeps up higher in my legs. A great deal of arctic feeling in and around my heart. My breath is cold. Headache, but mind clear. Cold chills run over me in various parts of my body. My hands tremble very much at times, so that I can not write. Pain in testicles and coldness, as if they were frozen. Pass a large quantity of urine. * *

January 21. 8a.m.Did not get up before, owing to the pressure in my skull, as if it were too full; dropsy or some swelling of my brain; giddiness, and a numbness down my left leg, and a jerking upward in both of them. Some trembling and coldness around my heart, and in my lungs and down my arms. My feet were very hot in the night until 5a.m., when they became cold, numb and jerky, upwards. My pulse rate is very slow this morning, only 56 beats. Temperature is slowly forced up to 98. I have a sensation as if my left cheek were swollen, but it is not so. Trembling very much in my hands.

2:30p.m.Have not been warm yet to-day; very intense arctic sensation in my body and heart and lungs. Slight cough. Numbness in my right arm. Much trembling, and a sensation of inward trembling in all parts of my body. Generative organs frozen cold, and this coldness extends up my back. My feet so cold that I have burned my boots, and yet cannot get them warm. Coldness extends up to my knees. Stiffness and pain in left thigh. Cold arctic band round my head, with fulness in skull. Pulse 60. Temperature 97 4-5. Good appetite. Mentally clear, although very weak; very tired and discouraged that these feelings last so long. They seem to be all beginning over again; worse now than they were a week ago. I feel more like giving up and going to bed sick, but I cannot afford to do so, so I braceup and resist this temptation to try and find an antidote for these recurring series of feelings. * * *

January 23. Slept well until 5a.m.; then awoke with pains in head and burning in my feet, with some trembling and stiff feeling in my lungs and heart, as if they were tied or unable to move. As I lay awake I could hear my heart pounding away, but, oh! so slow. Felt very weak and wanted to stay in bed, but after some hard thinking I got up. 7a.m.Very weak; staggered about while dressing. Pains in the base of the brain. Pulse 64 and irregular in its beats, some of them failing altogether to declare themselves only by their absence to respond. Temperature, after being held under my tongue ten minutes, 97 2-5. Very cold in my back and over my shoulders; hands and feet are blue with cold. Itching all over my body, and as if I was bitten with fleas or bugs were crawling over me. Skin of my hands very rough and cracks are in them. My ears have a feeling as if wax were running out of them. * * *

January 26, 10p.m.It has required a mighty effort to keep up this day. My pulse 56, slow and irregular; temperature 98. Headache, yet mind clear; backache. Weakness in all my body; my limbs so weak in walking that it was difficult to keep going, and felt as if I could lay down or drop down anywhere. What heart failure symptoms are I do not know, but fear I came very near it and yet I have resisted this feeling, and kept awake and about. Have felt very ill all the day, and am so now on retiring, 11p.m.* * *

January 29. 9a.m.Just after breakfast, pulse 68, temperature 99; slept very heavy, but dreamed of treating many cases of black diphtheria. Awoke, slept, dreamed the same dream again, and again the same dream, three separate times. How very singular! During these provings, I have done this three separate times. Three dreams in one night—the same dream, the same disease, the same families in my dream. This singularity caused me to lay awake wondering what this can mean. I have not any patients suffering from this disease,and I do not know of any in the town, and nothing that I know of to bring this disease to my mind. Awoke feeling very stiff and sore. * * *

January 30. Head pains again, the same old character. Sensation of swelling in my face and pain in nerves of teeth, molars. Hot feeling. Pulse, 68. Temperature, 99. Very weak, but my mind clear. Much trembling and the oppression round my heart and chest producing a suffocating feeling that makes me afraid, and I must now seek some means to arrest this difficulty and give me some relief. I know it looks cowardly to give up, but my family compels me to do something to enable me to keep about. I cannot do any more; this heart oppression makes me think of heart failure. Pulse, 56, and temperature 96. Very weak. I hope it will wear away and this trembling improve. They have been caused by this drug, one of the most powerful. I gave up and went to bed very ill. I had to keep it from my family, but I was afraid my heart would stop beating and had a very restless night. I took acetic acid, as vinegar I had in some pickles I thought changed or relieved the first class or effort of provings and caused me to stop and begin again. I think it did help me. Next day very prostrated but did not take any note of my pulse or temperature, because I had began to try to find an antidote, and this vinegar and lemon juice has relieved many of them. I fear sometimes that the trembling in my hands may never fully leave me now.

February 12, 1893. Copying my notes has brought so vividly to my memory that I can almost feel the old arctic rays through my body, and the giddiness and staggering gait of theHeloderma hor.days. I hope that you may have many others more courageous than I have been, whose provings will compare or improve upon this poor effort of mine.

Clinical.

The case of paralysis that I spoke of, whose staggering gait was called to my mind by my feelings, is now takingHeloderma.

In the following case, Mrs. Ford, eighty-one years of age, has been my patient several times during the last four years. She suffered from erysipelas and dropsy in the legs. In September I was again called in for the same old trouble; the usual remedies were effectual. In October she caught cold, and had also a bad fall; her symptoms were those of pneumonia, fever, delirium and cough, pain in chest and hard work to breathe, blueness of lips, tongue and cheeks, cold extremities and was very low in appetite, and appeared to be sinking. Pulse, fifty; temperature, ninety, and to all human appearance was rapidly dying; all said so, and I fully believed so, but leftHeloderma horridus, one powder in water, and ordered her tongue to be moistened with a feather dipped in this every half hour. I did not call the next day until evening. I was waiting to be notified of her death, but no such notice coming called to see, and, to my surprise, found everything changed. I then gaveHelo. hor.200, every four hours, with placebos. All the bad symptoms gradually disappeared, breathing became natural, heart gained strength, pulse increased to seventy, temperature to ninety-eight and appetite became better, asking frequently for food. This continued so long as she was taking this medicine. She was so well that I ceased to attend, she having no aches or pains, was eating and sleeping well, bowels moved regularly and night watching was given up. All who saw the recovery were pleasingly surprised, and so was I, and have frequently asked myself could anything else have done this.Lachesishas changed a slate colored tongue, and has aroused those who appeared to be dying for a short time, but to extend the life of one as good as dead for thirty days is a triumph for theHelo. hor.

(To the foregoing we may add that some have thought that the proving was too sensational, but other evidence that has not appeared in print leads to the conclusion that it is essentially true, and that the proving was made by one peculiarly susceptible to the remedy. We know of one gentleman who laughed at it and in bravado took a number of doses during an afternoon. He felt no immediate effects, but during the night awoke with somevery peculiar feelings that he could attribute to nothing but theHeloderma, and they were of such a character that he refused to take any more. It would be well to use the remedy with caution until the practitioner has gauged its powers.)

(Dr. Charles E. Johnson wrote as follows to Dr. Boocock concerning the remedy):

"I have had under treatment a case that has been pronounced incurable by many physicians. She has had most of the symptoms developed in your proving, that awful coldness being most pronounced. She has had two doses of the 200th. I learn through a neighbor that she is delighted with the result of the last medicine. The coldness has nearly disappeared, leaving a comfortable glow upon the body. She tells her neighbors this without having been informed by me what results I expected from the medicine."

(Dr. Erastus E. Case contributed the following detailed clinical case to theMedical Advance, July, 1897):

An auburn haired woman, 55 years of age, had numbness in the feet two years ago. It has gradually extended upward until it now includes the lower part of the abdomen.

Tingling, creeping sensation on the legs as if from insects.

Worse when lying in bed at night.

Worse from exposure to cold air.

Worse from touch; she cannot endure to place her bare feet together.

Legs insensible to an electric battery.

Legs wasting away, skin very dry and inelastic.

Ankles turn easily when trying to walk.

Numbness of the arms from the hands to the elbows.

Forgetfulness.

Melancholy with weeping.

Worse in stormy weather.

Worse when thinking of her ailments, cheered by company.

Pain in the forehead in the morning, aggravated by turning the eyes.

Tongue dry and cracked in the morning.

Swallowing difficult.

Empty eructations, especially before breakfast.

Empty, gone sensation in the stomach.

Dislikes sweet things and worse from taking them.

Sensation of constriction about the whole abdomen.

Constipation from torpor of the rectum.

Hemorrhoids and itching of the anus.

Burning in the urethra during and after micturition.

Burning and dryness of the vagina.

Palpitation and dyspnœa from slight exertion.

Drawing sensation in all the extremities.

Yellow skin.

April 11, 1895.Heloderma horridusfour powders, one every four hours.

April 23, 1895. Decidedly more cheerful and memory is better.

Bowels more active.

Legs more reliable, with the numbness and tingling.

No medicine.

April 26, 1895. Alarmed because the palms and soles are swollen and itching.

No medicine.

May 22, 1895. She gained rapidly in both flesh and strength, until a week ago.

Heloderma horridusone powder.

Soon after this an itching eruption came all over her, which subsided without any further medication. She was restored to a fair degree of health so that she has taken care of her house and family up to the present time.

(The following arrangement of Dr. Boocock's proving was made by Dr. Lilienthal):

Mind.—No inclination for exertion in any way.

Difficulty in remembering the spelling of simple words.

Depressed, feels blue.

Head.—Sensation of heat in head; heat on vertex.

Headache over right eyebrow.

Pressure in head and scalp; pressure in skull as if too full.

Soreness and stiffness in occiput, extending down neck; sore spot in various parts of head.

Intense pain over left eyebrow, through eye to base of brain and down back.

Aching at base of brain.

Sharp, digging pains.

Benumbed feeling all over head.

Burning feeling in brain.

Throbbing on top of head; head sore and bruised.

Sensation of band around head.

Cold band around head.

Sensation as if scalp was drawn tight over skull.

Bores head in pillow.

Vertigo and weakness when moving quickly.

Dizziness, with inclination to fall backward.

Eyes.—Itching of eyelids, lachrymation.

Weight of eyelids, difficult to keep them open.

Ears.—Pressure behind left ear; pressure in ear from within outward.

Copious flow of wax.

Ears dry and scurfy.

Nose.—Left nostril sore; ulcerated.

Dry, itching scurfs in nostrils.

Severe attack of sneezing. Fluent discharge.

Face.—Sensation of heat. Flushes of heat.

Cold, crawling feeling from temple down right cheek.

Sensation as if pricked with points of ice.

Sensation as if facial muscles were drawn tight over bones.

Stiffness of jaw.

Mouth.—Dryness of lips.

Soreness.

Very thirsty.

Tongue tender and dry.

Throat.—Dryness; parched sensation.

Tingling.

Soreness, tenderness to touch.

Stinging, sore feeling in right tonsil.

Stomach.—Acid burning in stomach.

Hypochondria.—Gurgling in region of spleen.

Abdomen.—Sharp shooting pain in bowels, more on left side.

Pain across pubic bones, extending down into left testicle.

Stitching pains in bowels.

Throbbing in bowels.

Rumbling in bowels.

Stool.—Loose, copious stool, lumpy, preceded by stitches in abdomen.

Stool loose, mushy with considerable flatus.

Stool soft, dark, difficult to expel.

Hæmorrhoids swollen, itch and bleed.

Urinary Organs.—Bladder irritable, frequent urging to pass urine.

Tenderness in urethra, with sensation of discharge.

Urine not as free as usual, muddy.

Intermittent flow.

Urine, specific gravity, 1010; greenish-yellow, fetid (decaying fruit).

Sexual Organs.—Erections.

Cold penis and testicle, with gluey discharge.

Pain and enlargement of left testicle.

Female.—

Respiratory Organs.—Slight, hacking cough, with pain in left scapulæ.

Fulness in chest, requiring an effort to inflate the lungs.

Oppressed for breath from least exertion.

Chest.—Sharp stitch through right nipple to inside of right arm.

Cold feeling in right lung.

Heart.—Pressure at heart.

Tingling around heart.

Trembling and coldness around heart.

Oppression around heart.

Sticking pains, shooting from left to right.

Stitches in heart.

Soreness in heart, more under left nipple.

Pulse, 56-72; full and jerky.

Back.—Stiff neck; aching in bones of neck.

Painfulness of upper neck.

Coldness across scapulæ.

Chill in back from base of brain downwards.

Pain in back; pain in lumbar muscles awakening him.

Aching in right kidney; stitch pain in right kidney.

Upper Extremities.—Numbness of right arm and hand with trembling.

Tingling in arms and hands.

Tingling in palm of left hand and along fingers.

Drawing in left hand, followed by tingling and prickling.

Pains in hands, if holding anything for some time.

Trembling of hands.

Hands blue, cracked and rough.

Lower Extremities.—Numb feeling around and down left thigh.

Pain in left thigh and calf as if bruised.

Numb feeling down right leg.

Coldness extending from knee to calf.

Coldness of legs and feet.

Boring sharp pain on tibia of right leg.

Sensation of tight hand around left ankle.

Trembling of limbs. Jerking of limbs.

Tingling and burning of feet as if recovering from being frozen.

Burning in feet, preventing sleep, had to put them out of bed.

Sensation as if walking on sponge and as if swollen.

Staggering gait.

Tendency to turn to right when walking.

When walking lift feet higher than usual and put down heel hard.

Skin.—Itching of skin as from insects.

Sleep.—Drowsiness, but inability to sleep.

Restless sleep; awakens at 3a.m.

Awakened from sleep by jerking in head; trembling of limbs; pain in lumbar muscles.

Fever.—Internal coldness.

Severe chill ran down back.

Cold rings around body.

Cold waves ascend from feet, or downward from base of brain.

Nerves.—Startled easily. Trembling.

Tired feeling; very weak and nervous.

Intense aching in bones and all parts of body.

Trembling of left side; hands shaky.

Trembling can be controlled by effort of will.

Generalities.—Stretching relieves pains in muscles and limbs.

Stitch pains going from left to right.

Weak, giddy, making it difficult to stand.

Unable to balance myself.

Movement does not increase the pain.

Throbbing all over body.

Bone pains.

Nat. Ord., Bignoniaceæ.Common Name, Carroba.Preparation.—The dried leaves are crushed and macerated in five parts by weight of alcohol.

(Of this South American remedy theDispensatorysays it is used in Brazil and other South American countries for syphilis; sometimes under the nameCarroba. Its value was also asserted inBritish Medical Journal, 1885. The following letter from Dr. J. F. Convers, of Bogota, to Messrs. Boericke & Tafel, throws some further light on its use; the letter is dated November 24, 1888):

Dear Gentlemen: Please to accept the leaves of a tree of the Bignoniacea family, calledJacaranda gualandai, that I send you with this, because it is very much used by our natives to cure illness of a syphilitic character. I have used the mother tincture (5 dropspro dosi), and the 3d dilution of it, in the treatment of blennorrhagia and chancroids with the greatest success. In my experience I have found that this medicine is a complementary and antidote toMerc. v.

Mr. José M. Reyes, who proved the θ and the 2x dilution during more than one month three times a day, found the following results:

Head.—Vertigo on rising after stooping, with momentary loss of sight, and sensation of heaviness in the forehead. Weakness of memory and inability to study.

Eyes.—Pains and inflammation of the eyes, with redness more marked in the left eye. Sensation of sand in both eyes.Ophthalmia, which begins in the left eye, with lachrymation and night agglutination of the eyelids. Weakness of sight. Syphilitic-like ophthalmia.

Stool.—Diarrhœa with dark mulberry-colored stools without pain or tenesmus, but with mucus.

Urinary and Sexual Organs.—Increased secretion of the urine. Pain in the penis.Blennorrhagiawith a discharge which stains the linen a dirty yellow color.Chancroids.

Throat.—Pain and burning of the larynx, when laughing or reading aloud, and small vesicles in the pharynx.

Back.—Weakness of the lumbar region.

These are not doubtful symptoms.

N. B.—This remedy acts on the head at first, afterwards on the intestines, and on the eyes last.

Please try it, and make it known to our colleagues. Should it prove to be there as good as here, I assure you it will be a valued remedy.

(Dr. J. S. Whittinghill contributed the following,Eclectic Medical Journal, concerningJacaranda):

Let me give the results of my experience withJacaranda. I believe it to be a true specific for certain kinds of rheumatism. Its first trial was given a patient suffering as follows: She had had rheumatism for about ten years—never became serious. Sometimes she was nearly relieved from it; again lost much rest and sleep from it. Her wrist would become painful and very weak from ordinary labor. She always suffered very much in the morning upon any motion, and complained of being stiff. Had to have assistance in dressing. Upon sudden motion, sensation in the muscles as of tearing and being bruised—even painful upon pressure.

I gave her different remedies as they seemed to be indicated, with no results towards removing the trouble. I thought there could be nothing lost by tryingJacaranda. It met with decided success. She was entirely relieved of muscular pains in a few days. Had the recurrence of some symptoms in about six weeks after; triedJacarandaagain with the same decided success. Some eight weeks have elapsed since, with no recurrence of muscular pains. I have tried it on three other patients with the same peculiar morning stiffness and soreness of muscles. All were relieved in a few days. They have no more muscular trouble. So I put morning soreness and stiffness of muscles as the guide in prescribingJacaranda.

Preparation.—The fresh milk from a bitch is triturated in the usual way.

(The late Dr. Sam. Swan had a proving of this remedy, dog milk, in the Materia Medica he attempted to publish, but of which only one volume appeared. The work is now very rare. The following clinical cases were contributed by Dr. Philip Rice to theMedical Century, Vol. IX, No. 24):

Lac caninumis a remedy of undoubted value, though not very thoroughly understood and consequently not very extensively used in this dread disease. And since a proving has never been made, and since we have to depend entirely upon clinical reports I feel it my duty to report a few cases in which a clear demonstration of the value of this remedy was made.

Case I.—Bruce McG., æt. 15, dark hair, gray eyes, spare habit, rigid fibre, nervous, quick, active, called at my office in the evening complaining of sore throat, worse on right side, and on swallowing. Headache dull and heavy, slight fever. Inspection revealed tonsils and fauces congested and angry looking. On right tonsil a patch of membrane the size of a split pea was seen.

Lycopodium30x was given. The next morning the entire trouble seemed to have gone to the left side; with it had come, also, stiff neck and tongue; profuse flow of saliva; temperature 101 F. Membrane somewhat larger.Mercurius ruber30x was given. In the evening the trouble was worse again on right side, the membrane now entirely covering both tonsils, temperature 102 F. Limbs ached, back ached, and patient was restless. Remembering the symptom, "membrane alternates between right and left sides," and this having beenso characteristic, I gaveLac caninumin the 30th potency. Improvement began immediately and at the end of the third day the membrane was entirely gone and case discharged as far as medicine was concerned.

Case II.—Louisa McG., æt. 13, in temperament exactly like her brother, the preceding case. Was irritable and listless for two days, but owing to the fact that the fair began in a few days, to which she was determined to go, she did not complain. The third day, however, her mother noticed that she was truly sick and, there being a number of cases of diphtheria in town, looked into her throat. She found both tonsils covered with a membrane. I was called and as no other symptoms could be elicited I gaveSulphur30x and told them I would call again in the evening, which I did and found symptoms rapidly developing. Aching in all the limbs; headache; pain in the throat on swallowing; worse on the right side; neck and tongue stiff; membrane just the same. Temperature 101.5; same remedy continued.

Next morning the membrane was the same, pain now in left side, throat internally and externally œdematous, fauces and uvula glossy or varnished in appearance. Temperature 102, urine scanty, no thirst.Apis30x was now given. In the evening pain back in right side again. Temperature 102.5. Membrane spreading; stiffness of neck and tongue more marked and saliva profuse. Not having seen the case till the membrane had quite generally formed, but the patient being in temperament like her brother and the pain shifting from side to side, as in his case, I decided to give herLac caninum. Improvement began immediately and at the end of four days the membrane was entirely gone.

Case III.—The servant girl in the family where cases one and two had been, Anna B., æt. 17. In temperament the very opposite to the other cases, being fat, fair and flabby. Complained of pain in right side of throat on swallowing, neck stiff, tonsil slightly congested. Felt as if she had a bad cold. Advised her to come to the office and get some medicine. She had, however, some "dope" on hand and said she guessed she would take that first. Next evening I was called and found her with throat much worse. Membrane covering left tonsil entirely, also a narrow strip of membrane on posterior wall of pharynx, pain in left tonsil on swallowing, neck and tongue stiff, saliva quite profuse. Temperature only slightly above normal.Lac caninum30x was given. Patient never went to bed and at the end of the second day no trace of membrane could be seen.

Now, the symptoms common to all three cases and the only ones characteristic in each case were, first, both pain and membrane shifting from side to side; second, stiffness of neck and tongue; third, profuse saliva; fourth, aching in limbs marked; fifth, entire absence of prostration; sixth, character of pain was "as if throat was burned raw." Now, the question will arise in the bacteria man's mind, was this real diphtheria; were the German's bacteria present? I will answer candidly, I don't know; I never looked for them.

Synonym.Silico-Fluoride of Calcium.Preparation.—The residue obtained by evaporation, from the waters of the mineral springs of Gastein, Germany, is triturated in the usual way.

(It was Von Grauvogl who first called attention to this drug, the product of certain mineral springs in Germany, that have reputation for curing ulcers, cancers, tumors, etc. In the Transactions of the American Institute of Homœopathy, 1896, will be found the following by Dr. W. A. Dewey):

My experience with this remedy, and I have been somewhat interested in it, dates from about 1876. At that time a member of my own family had an enlargement of one of the cervical glands. It was nearly as large as a hen's egg, and had a soft, doughy feel. UnderLapis albus6, prescribed, Ibelieve, by Dr. G. E. E. Sparhawk, now of Burlington, Vt., the swelling speedily and completely disappeared. A peculiar and unusual symptom noticed by this patient while taking the medicine was a marked increase in the appetite; it became ravenous.

Since that time I have used the remedy in many cases of scrofulous enlargement of the cervical glands, and find that it is almost specific where the glands have a certain amount of elasticity and pliability about them, rather than a stony hardness, such as might call forCalcarea fluorica,CistusorCarbo animalis.

One case in particular which I recall was a young lady, about twenty years of age, a natural blonde, skin fair, bluish white, showing prominent veins, who had a glandular enlargement in the right supra-clavicular region, nearly the size of a goose egg, and one somewhat smaller a little farther back in the interval between the sterno-cleido mastoid and trapezius muscles. These had a certain amount of hardness, but they were movable. Others of the cervical chain were also enlarged, the right side being the only one affected. As the young lady was engaged to be married, these unsightly lumps were very distressing.Lapis albus6, a powder four times a day, in a week caused a marked diminution of the size of the glands, and in three weeks they were not noticeable, and eventually entirely disappeared. This patient also had a ravenous appetite while taking the remedy, an unusual thing for her. Her anæmic color and complexion were also greatly improved.

The most remarkable effect of the use of the remedy I have had was in the case of goitre in a lady of about thirty-five, blonde, who had for over a year noticed a gradual increase in the size of the thyroid gland, until it was as large as a good-sized fist, when she came to me. Both halves of the gland seemed to be equally involved. It did not appear to be of the encapsulated variety. This patient had received previous homœopathic treatment, having hadSpongia,Iodine,Thuja, aswell as some other remedies.Lapis albus6 was prescribed, a dose every three hours. The swelling began to disappear at once, and continued to diminish in size until it completely disappeared, and at the present time over five years have passed with no return of the trouble.

Preparation.—The spiders are triturated in the usual way.

(The following paper by Dr. Samuel A. Jones appeared in theHomœopathic Recorder, July, 1889, under the title, "Latrodectus Mactans: a Suggested Remedy in Angina Pectoris"):

"The great result of the grim doctor's labor, so far as known to the public, was a certain preparation or extract of cobwebs, which, out of a great abundance of material, he was able to produce in any desirable quantity, and by the administration of which he professed to cure diseases of the inflammatory class, and to work very wonderful effects upon the human system."—Dr. Grimshawe's Secret.

I do not know that the doctor who is the direct occasion of this paper wasgrim, nor do I imagine he ever dreamed of such an application of his paper as I purpose to make. I never met him; though he wore the gray and I the blue during a struggle wherein fate might easily have thrown us together. It was not until the autumn of '76 that I became aware of his existence, and then by a contribution of his to a medical magazine—the special copy of which was found amongst the multifarious waifs of a bookstall. I could not "decline the article," although I was then entering upon a field of labor that would leave little time for such quiet research as the old doctor's paper so powerfully suggested, so I bought the odd number, and fourteen years later I am making such use of it as my sense of its significance enforces.

It is due Mr. A. J. Tafel to state that but for his most efficient services this paper of mine would never have beenwritten. To his endeavors, stretching through some years, I owe the identification of the remedy, without which I should not have put pen to paper; and having secured this, from unimpeachable authority, too, he never rested from his labors until he had put in my possession dilutions of the poison itself. If, then, thismagis venenumshall prove itselfmagis remedium, most assuredly thepars magnaof its introduction is his.

From the days of Dioscorides and Pliny to the present a venomous quality has been ascribed to "the fluid emitted from the orifice in the fangs of the arancidæ." That this quality was even lethal has been both believed and questioned.Insect Life, Vol. I., No. 7, pp. 204-211, Washington, 1889, contains "A Contribution to the Literature of Fatal Spider Bites," in which the credulity of mere medical observers and the emphatic incredulity of professed "entomologists and arachnologists" are dwelt upon, and concerning which its author cautiously concludes as follows:

"It will possibly appear to the reader that after collecting this testimony we are as far from the solution of the question—'Do spider bites ever produce fatal results?'—as we were before; but it seems to us, after analyzing the evidence, that it must at least be admitted that certain spiders of the genus Latrodectus have the power to inflict poisonous bites which may (probably exceptionally and depending upon exceptional conditions) bring about the death of a human being. Admitting in its fullest force the argument that in reported cases the spider has seldom if ever been seen by a reliable observer to inflict the wound, we consider that the fact that species of the Latrodectus, occurring in such widely distant localities as South Europe, the Southern United States, and New Zealand, are uniformly set aside by the natives as poisonous species, when there is nothing especially dangerous in their appearance, is the strongest argument for believing that these statements have some verification in fact. It is no wonder that a popular fear should follow the ferocious-looking spiders of the family Theraphosoidæ; but considering the comparatively small size and modest coloring of the species of Latrodectus so wide-spread a prejudice, occurring in so many distinct localities, must be well founded." P. 211.

Is it indeed anargumentthat "in reported cases the spider has seldom if ever been seen by a reliable observer to inflict the wound?" How an Orfila, a Christison, and a Caspar would smile when asked if the evidence of a poisonous quality depended upon the administration of the poison being "seen by a reliable observer." Toxicology detects a poison by the physiological test as well as the chemical. Strychnia in quantity too small for the coarse chemical test is revealed by the tetanized muscles of a frog whether that "arch martyr to science" be in "South Europe, the Southern United States, or New Zealand," and that infinitesimal fractions of Strychnia will display its characteristics whether or not its administration is "seen" by a Christison, or a college janitor. Of course, a Christison would recognize Strychnia from and in the phenomena, while a college janitor (and here and there an over-scientific entomologist) might not.

It is neither the aim nor the purpose of this paper to establish the lethal property of spider poison; though I must acknowledge that, until I read the paper inInsect Life, I had no thought that its possession of such a property would be called in question. I shall content myself with calling attention to the pathogenetic quality of the poison ofLatrodectus mactans, leaving my reader to discern the resemblance of itstout ensembleto an attack of angina pectoris, and therefore to infer its homœopathic applicability in that dread disorder. I shall not enter upon the pathology—various and much confused—of that cardiac seizure, because, as I get older, I find the "like" more and more of a "pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night," whilst in my short life I have found "pathology" as changeable as a dying dolphin—and every one knows that a dead fish "stinks and shines, and shines and stinks."

BY G. WILLIAM SEMPLE, M. D., HAMPTON, VA.[J]

"Spider bites are of rare occurrence in this vicinity, but are generally productive of grave symptoms. [Isn't it bad taste for doctors to use the words grave symptoms?] I will report all that have occurred to me in a practice of forty years:

"Case I.September 4, 1853. I was called to see Mr. D., at Old Point, who had been bitten by a small, black spider on the prepuce, whilst on the privy seat, at 12:30 o'clock. The bite at first caused only itching of the prepuce, with a little redness of the part, but in less than half an hournausea, followed bysevere abdominal pains, ensued. A messenger was dispatched in haste for me to Hampton, three miles off. Before I reached the patient, at 2:30 o'clock,violent præcordial pains extending to the axilla, and down the[left]arm and forearm to the fingers, withnumbness of the extremity, had succeeded, attended byapnæa.

"In consequence of the violence of the symptoms, Dr. Stineca, surgeon of the post, had been sent for, who had given two doses ofLaudanumof ʒj each, and two of rectified whiskey of ǯij each, and, being in ill health and unable to remain, had ordered his steward to apply four dry cups over the præcordia. This had just been done when I arrived. I saw theblood, thin and florid, fill the cups like water oozing through the muslin. When the cups were removed, theblood, emptied into a basin,did not coagulate; and blood continued to ooze slightly from the surfaces to which the cups had been applied until the next morning, though a solution ofTanninwas applied.

"I found the patientsuffering extremely from the most violent præcordial pains and from apnæa, and alsoviolent pain in the leftarm, which was almostparalyzed. Hispulsewas 130and very feeble, hisskin coldas marble, and hiscountenance expressive of the deep anxietyhe felt and expressed in words. The laudanum and whiskey seemed to have produced no effect—the nausea and abdominal pains having subsided before they were administered. There was no pain, inflammation, or swelling where the bite was received. Even the itching of the part had subsided. I gave the patient every half hour for several hours ʒj of aromatic spirits of ammonia, and as much whiskey and water as he could be induced to take, and afterwards gave them every hour; also pediluvia of hot mustard and water, frequently repeated, until the next night.

"September 5th, 8a.m.—The symptoms continued unabated; indeed, the patient grew worse until 2:30 o'clock, twenty-six hours after he was bitten, for hispulsehad then becomeso frequent that it could not be counted, and so feeble that it could scarcely be felt. He thenvomited black vomitcopiously—a quart or more. Soon afterwards reaction set in, his pulse gradually gained force, and became less frequent, the pain subsided and the respiration improved. At 8p.m., the pulse had gained considerable force, and the patient slept until some minutes after 12; his pulse was pretty full at 1:10; his surface warm and perspirable, and he felt almost free of pain. After a short interval he again fell asleep, and slept quietly until morning, when he awoke—his respiration healthy, pulse 80, regular and with sufficient force, and entirely relieved of pain. He soon afterwards hadtwo pretty copious evacuations from the bowels, similar to the black vomit he had vomited. After this he said he felt quite well, and took a light breakfast and dinner, and returned that evening to his residence in Portsmouth, and in a few days went to work at his trade.

"In thirty-six hours from the time he was bitten, he tookthree and a half quart bottles of the best rectified whiskey—about three quarts without showing the least symptom of intoxication."

I have cited this case at full length in order to present theevolution of the symptoms, on which alone depends the resemblance of the action of the poison to the chief symptoms of an attack of angina pectoris—a closer resemblance than half a lifetime of somewhat wide reading has enabled me to find in the effect of any other noxious agent. In fact, after much searching, I find this case to be unique. In other cases of spider bite I can find evidence that assures me of its genuineness, but, to my knowledge, itsorder of symptom evolutionis as solitary as it is singular and significant. This feature ofuniquenesswill cause many to regard it with suspicion. I think they will do wrong; for some experience in proving work has taught me that one positive result from a drug out-weighs any number of negative.

In the case ofLatrodectus mactanswe shall find, from other poisonings, that, as a rule, it displays an affinity for the præcordial region as thelocusof its chief attack; and having assurance of that fact, we shall not find it difficult to accept a clue from even a solitary instance.

Of the remaining cases in Dr. Semple's paper I shall cite only the symptoms, and be it observed that in all the cases as here given the italics are my own.

Case 2.A man "was bitten in the groin, and complained of only a slight prickling and itching at the spot where he was bitten, but was complaining [when Dr. S. saw him] ofsevere abdominal pain, withnausea, and asinking sensation at the epigastrium; and hispulse, in a few minutes after the bite, had already becomequick and thready; and theskin very cold." The man soon recovered under ammonia and whiskey—two quarts of the latter produced no symptoms of intoxication.

Case III.A lad of eighteen years of age. "There was no pain, but only itching and redness at the part bitten at first;butviolent pain soon commenced there[on the back of the left hand]and extended in a short time up the forearm and arm to the shoulder and thence to the præcordial region."

Case IV."A tawny woman [daughter of a quadroon mulatto woman] about twenty-two years old, the mother of two children." "Found herapparently moribund; herskinascoldas marble;violent pain extending from the bite on the right wrist up the forearm and arm to the shoulder, and thence up the neck to the back of the head on the right side; moreviolent pain in the præcordia,extending thence to the shoulder and axilla on the left, and down the arm and forearm to the ends of the fingers, andthis extremity partially paralysed; added to this,apnæa was extreme; the respiration only occasional—gasping; thepulse could not be felt in the left radial, and I was not sure that I felt it in the right."

In about fifteen minutes after the intra-venous injection of 13 minims of undilutedAqua Ammoniæ, the doctor "was astonished at the calm and painless expression of hercountenance, so latelyexpressive of anxiety and pain."

Case V.A healthy young girl of 13. She felt a stinging sensation on the [right] wrist, accompanied by itching and redness at the spot [bitten]. For several minutes there was but little pain, but in half an hour apainful sensationbegan to be felt at the spot, which quicklyextended up the arm to the shoulder, and, in the course of an hour,along the neck to the back of the head. * * *Pain in the præcordial region, with apnæacoming on, I was sent for. When I arrived she was screaming fearfully withpain, and frequently exclaiming she wouldlose her breath and die. Thepulsehad becomethreadyand thesurface cold.

From thesedatathe poison ofLatrodectus mactansis suggested for trial inangina pectoris, in that its physiological action presents the closestsimilimumyet found.

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