A perusal of the symptoms above recited may suggest to some reader the cognate malady "fissure of the anus"; in which also Nitric acid, Platina and Plumbum have been of service in the treatBut I make particular mention

Ignatia is a valuable remedy. may be likewise indicated, and ment of "fissure of the anus." now of GRAPHITES, which I have several times used with success, and particularly in a recent and very painful case. The direct indications are found in the following symptoms. Burning and bleeding during stool, pressure and burning and sharp cutting stitches in the anus. Soreness at the anus, and smarting on contact; bleeding from the rectum, with sharp, stitching pain. Prolapsus ani, with sensation as though the sphincter had lost its contractile power, and were paralyzed.

The following cases illustrate the action of Ignatia and Graphites respectively:

1. Mrs. B., aged thirty-three years, mother of three children, the oldest of which was born six years ago. After her first confinement, she had hemorrhoids, which have been growing worse ever since. Tumors prolapse with every stool and have to be replaced; they are sore, as if excoriated. Much hemorrhage with every stool.

Both hemorrhage and pain are worse when the stool is loose. Dull, dragging pain all around the pelvis, constant tenseness and frequent spasmodic constrictions of the anus, followed by a sharp stitch from the anus upwards into the rectum. She is nursing a child thirteen months old.

May 12, 1860. I prescribed Ignatia 200 three powders; to dissolve a powder in four ounces of water, and take two drachms every four hours.

May 28. Bleeding has ceased; the tumors prolapse, but return themselves; no more pains; bowels regular. But she is very weak; perspires casily and always profusely when she sleeps. I ordered her to ceasc nursing her baby and to take a more nourishing diet, and gave China 200 eight powders; one every night and morning.

July 6. Is strong and well. No signs of hemorrhoids.

May 10, 1868. The hemorrhoidal trouble has not returned although Mrs. B. has since had another baby.

2. Mrs. H. T.; aged twenty-nine years; has two children; has been subject to hemorrhoids for several years. For the past year they have been very troublesome. Profuse bleeding with every stool. Tumors prolapse; are at first soft; but soon become hard; they have to be replaced, but prolapse again from exercise in walking. Sharp stitches from the anus upwards into the rectum.

Dec. 27, 1867. Ignatia.

Jan. 6, 1868. Decided improvement, in that pains have ceased. The bleeding is slight and infrequent, and the tumors return spontaneously.

Feb. 20. Entirely well.

There was no return of the hemorrhoids during pregnancy, although their first appearance had been during her first pregnancy. Two months after confinement, which occurred in May, Mrs. T. applied to me for relief from a trouble which her physician, after examination, pronounced to be "fissure of the anus "; and for which he recommended forcible dilatation. The pain during an evacuation was a very severe, sharp, cutting pain, which was followed by constriction and aching for several hours; especially severe at night, so that she could get but little sleep. By her physician's advice, she had been using small enemata of water; retaining them as long as possible, and then voiding them without effort. I recommended a continued use of these enemata and gave Graphites 200 in solution; a teaspoonful every four hours. I should state that I verified the diagnosis of "fissure." Within three days the pains had entirely ceased; an evacuation after enema was painless. The enemata were continued for a fortnight, and could then be dispensed with. There has been no return of this trouble.

Our French colleagues speak highly of Ratanhia in fissure of the anus; and, at a recent meeting of the French Homœopathic Society, Dr. Rafinesque, alluding to Dr. Ozanam's paper on Puconia, reports a case of fissure in which Paeonia3, used both internally and externally, effected a prompt and enduring cure. Atrocious pain accompanied and followed each defecation; after an hour or or two of relief, the pains would recur, and last twelve hours, preventing sleep or rest, and compelling him to walk the floor nearly all night. Dr. Cretin reports a similar, though less severe case, cured by Paeonia3.

EXPERIMENTS WITH THE HIGHEST DILUTIONS.

BY WM. H. HOLCOMBE, M.D., OF NEW ORLEANS, LA.

My practice has always been mixed; partly homoeopathic, partly empirical. I do not believe that the law "similia similibus" is the only law of cure. I do not always give the smallest dose first, but frequently give very material doses-I sometimes alternate remedies. I am called a mongrel by allopathists and by ultra-homœopaths. I accept the name I give all kinds of medicines in all kinds of doses. I look before and behind, to the right hand and to the left, welcoming everything, trying everything, retaining the useful regardless of its source.

I have been giving some of the highest dilutions, carefully watching the result. Sometimes I have seen no effect: sometimes relief, but I was doubtful of the causative influence of the drug: sometimes brilliant results. For the benefit of those unbelievers who are unwilling even to try the highest dilutions, I will give a few cases in which I felt compelled to attribute the result to the medicine.

1. A gentleman, far gone in consumption, came to the city to consult me. The most striking symptom was a profuse nightsweat. It had lasted for four or five months. He had taken quinine, tannin, and elixir vitriol- I gave him China, Phosphoric acid, and Veratrum, in succession, without the least effect. I then gave Silicia6,000th attenuation. The next night the sweat was much less. In two or three nights it disappeared. He staid in the city a month, and no sweating recurred. The consumption is progressing towards its usual end.

2. A case of chronic headache (coming in paroxysms) which has resisted every thing. The pain is intense, with vomiting and great sensitiveness of the whole nervous system. Iris (low) and Platina30 had done more good than any thing else. Never relieved under six or twelve hours. Sent her Belladonna2,000. Relieved entirely in an hour and a half. Same remedy acted promptly in a similar

case.

3. Nursing sore-mouth, very bad, of several weeks' standing,

with dryness, roughness, and burning sensations; cured in a week by Arsenic8,000th attenuation, without local application.

4. Bilious autumnal dysentery, severe case, one week duration; stools every half hour. Noticed a peculiar symptom. The least motion of the body, raising the arm or even bending the toes,— produced a disposition to go to stool. This is a characteristic of Bryonia. I gave the two-thousandth attenuation. When I called the next morning, I was amazed to find the whole disease gone.

5. A lady came from the country with total aphonia, and hoarse, smarting, suffocating cough. These symptoms followed pneumonia, and had lasted six weeks. I gave her Sulphur 10.000. In two days her voice was perfectly natural and her cough improved. Another case of aphonia from cold disappeared in two hours after Sulphur 10,000

Besides these cases, I have verified the efficacy of Lachesis 2,000 in tickling bronchial cough; of Arsenicum8,000 in chronic intermittent fever; of Veratrum2,000 in watery diarrhoea; of Pulsatilla 10,000 in flatulent dyspepsia; and of Rhus tox.2,000 in chronic rheumatic and paralytic conditions.

These experiments have convinced me that the attenuations. hitherto made have not exhausted the curative power of drugs used on the homoeopathic principle.

When these higher dilutions do act they seem to act very quickly and thoroughly.

I beseech my professional brethren to lay aside all prejudices and supply themselves with the highest dilutions, so that we may discover by combined observation the precise value and sphere of these preparations.

REPORT OF THE LEOPOLDSTADT HOMOEOPATHIC HOSPITAL, IN VIENNA, FOR THE YEAR 1867.

BY DR. M. EIDHERR.

Translated from the " Algemeine Homoop. Zeitung," by II. L. H. Hoffendahl, M. D., of Boston.

FROM the tabular statement, it appears that seven hundred and twenty-three patients were received during the year. Of this number, six hundred and eleven recovered, thirty-seven were relieved,

nine were transferred, twenty-eight died, and thirty-eight remained under treatment. The proportion of deaths was 4.3 per cent. Excluding those cases that in the present condition of medical science are considered incurable, such as phthisis, perforating ulcer of the stomach, acute yellow atrophy of the liver, cancer of the liver, etc., the ratio of mortality is reduced to 2.2 per cent.

The average mortality of tuberculosis, compared with the total of deaths, was 61.1 per cent; of typhoid fever, 10.3 per cent; of pneumonia, 4.5 per cent; of peritonitis, 6.4 per cent.

Report of treatment. Anæmia. In two cases, this disease was the result of repeated profuse uterine hemorrhage.

One case was cured with China alone, and the other with China and Ferrum met.6

The third case occurred in a woman of fifty, in very reduced circumstances, who had, during the previous four months, suffered from repeated attacks of intermittent fever. There was marked dropsical swelling of the lower extremities, of the hands, and of the abdomen; respiration short and difficult; auscultation showed that the lungs were intact; position and size of the heart normal, but the sounds were propagated to the jugular veins. The spleen was enormously enlarged, its lower border extending to the left ilium; the liver extended one inch below the margin of the ribs. Appetite good; moderate thirst; weakness, and sleeplessness.

The patient received nourishing diet and China; one drop was given every two hours. After three weeks' treatment, the patient demanded her discharge, as she was obliged to work to support her children. At this time the anasarca had disappeared, the size of the spleen had diminished by two fingers' breadth, and the liver scarcely protruded below the border of the ribs.

Apoplexy. Four cases were received. In two cases, death ensued speedily. In the other two cases, there was a slow recovery under the use of Arnica, Causticum and Cocculus.

Congestion, cerebral, occurred in young, robust girls. When there was oppressive headache, pulsation of the carotids, sparkling of the eyes, congestion of the skin, frequent pulse and restlessness, Gelseminum was given, with effect. In one case, where the meninges appeared to be affected, Apis was useful.