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left, but could hardly be said to be flattened. Nothing else abnormal. Nitric acid 1x, 2 drops three times a day.

She came back in ten days, feeling much better and stronger. The cough was almost gone, as also the chest pain. Bowels acting more regularly. Tongue cleaner. Appetite not yet good. Continue acid. She soon after this got quite free of the cough, and became quite well. I omitted to say that for the dysmenorrhoeal pain I ordered gelseminum 1x, which relieved it very much.

CASE IV.-M. B., æt. 15. A delicate looking girl. There was a history of a pulmonic attack the previous summer, which probably had been pneumonia of the left apex. When I saw

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her she was very thin and pale, and had for some weeks been getting thinner, and sweating at night. The appetite was poor; the tongue clean and rather red, and she had feeling of fulness in stomach after eating. The bowels were regular, and catamenia had been present several times. She was thirsty. Pulse quick; temperature high. She had a bad cough, with a good deal of muco-purulent expectoration. The cough came in paroxysms, was worst in the morning and at night. quick breathing, and shortness of breath on any exertion. examination of the chest the left apex was found flattened ; there was dulness on percussion on this side, with tubular breathing, prolonged expiration, increase of vocal resonance, and dry creaking sounds. I had her put to bed, treated with aconite and ipecacuan, and poultice to chest. Subsequently I changed the medicine to arsenic, and afterwards to phosphorus, under which treatment, by the end of a couple of months, she was immensely improved. The cough had ceased to come in paroxysms, and only in the morning was she troubled with it. Through the day it was only occasional, and at night there was none of it. The expectoration was now slight, and more mucous. She slept well, and was almost free of night sweats. The appetite was good, the pulse quiet, and the temperature normal. She had gained very greatly in flesh. The physical signs were improved. There was rather less dulness, but still the creaking sounds were present. I then put her on nitric acid. After a fortnight of this the cough was almost entirely gone, the expectoration also reduced to a minimum, the creaking sounds almost entirely gone.

I continued the acid for another fortnight, at the end of which she was going about, and so well that I left off seeing her.

CASE V.-Miss R., æt. 13, had had for one or two winters during the coldest weather, and in spring, been with a cough. When I first treated her she had a dry, tickling cough, which began in the morning, continued all day, and on lying down at night, but left her after she fell asleep. She was in good

general health in every way, and would have been quite well, were it not for the cough. There was no pain in the chest, nor soreness in the larynx on coughing, nor was there any tenderness on the larynx. On examination of the chest nothing unusual was found, except a slight prolongation of the expiration on the right side, and the expiratory sound very slightly blowing. Medicine after medicine, including the usual laryngeal ones, were tried, but with little effect, till at last she said she was tired of taking anything more. I at last thought of nitric acid. Under this the cough disappeared altogether in a week or ten days. Since then she has had a return of the same cough two or three times, when I at once gave the acid, with the same agreeable result.

CASE VI.-A brother of the foregoing, a year and a half younger. He had a cough of precisely the same character. His general health was excellent, but this cough gave considerable uneasiness to his parents. His chest was perfectly sound, and there was no pain either there or in the larynx. Until I gave the acid to him the cough continued, in spite of other medicines, but under the use of the acid it disappeared in a few days. In his case also, I have had occasion once or twice since the first time to prescribe the acid for a return of the cough, which has each time disappeared very quickly.

These are the two cases which I referred to in the first part of this paper, and which I considered not as laryngeal coughs, but as due to a constitutional susceptibility of the bronchial mucous membrane to atmospheric influences.

CASE VII.—Mrs. B., æt. 33, came to me complaining of attacks of shortness of breathing, which came on early in the morning with a cough, which came at that time in paroxysms, and which obliged her to sit up in bed. Very little expectoration was coughed up. Her breathing did not become free till after her breakfast, the cup of tea seeming to have the effect of relieving her. Through the rest of the day she had no trouble with her breathing, and no cough, and in fact was easy till the same time the next morning. This was not the first time she had been attacked in this way, but had been liable to it occasionally for years. She was in every other respect quite well, except that she was feeling rather weak, from having nursed her baby too long, and the bowels had become very costive. On examining the chest, the only abnormal signs present were an increased resonance of both fronts, with feeble breathing. There were no bronchitic sounds. I at first gave her arsenic, which for some time relieved her. It then lost its effect, and I prescribed nitric acid. Had this failed, or had there been bronchitic sounds, I should have given ipecacuan. When I next saw her, about a week after, she said the medicine had acted

like a charm, and that for the last three or four mornings she had been perfectly free of cough and shortness of breathing. I then told her to stop the medicine, which she had begun to do that day of her own accord. I also must not forget to notice that the bowels had become quite regular and easy.

I could give a larger selection of cases, but I do not wish to weary my hearers; and I think the cases I have given are sufficient to illustrate the principal points I have taken up. I may be allowed, however, to add three cases, where the medicine was given specially to remove constipation.

CASE VIII.-A lady, of nervous temperament, and subject to frequent pains of a rheumatic gouty character. Complained to me of very troublesome constipation. She was not generally troubled in this way, as the bowels as a rule acted regularly. The only other symptoms she had at this time were a great tendency to acidity and flatulence in the stomach, necessitating very careful diet. The tongue was clean. All the usual remedies for constipation were tried, but without success. Even an enema failed to produce a satisfactory motion. I then ordered nitric acid in doses of 2 drops of 1x, three times a day. This at once had the desired effect, and after taking it for the best part of a week, the bowels required no further assistance.

CASE IX.-Mrs. D., æt. 69, came to me complaining of dyspepsia of long standing, the exact symptoms of which I need not waste time by enumerating. Along with this she had obstinate constipation, for which she had for a number of years taken purgative pills. Under treatment which it is unnecessary to enter on here, she completely got well of her dyspepsia, and the bowels improved, but not to such a degree as to give her comfort and satisfaction. I then prescribed nitric acid, 3 drops three times a day. After a week of this the bowels had begun to act quite easily and regularly, and she did not find it necessary to report herself again.

CASE X.-Mrs.

had been long confined to the house, and for a good part of this time to the sofa, on account of a tedious and chronic uterine affection. The bowels at first gave little trouble, being always relieved when necessary by an enema. After some time the constipation became such a troublesome complication, that it amounted to focal obstruction of the bowels. I had to give temporary relief by a full dose of castor oil, after which I tried every medicine I could think of as likely to be of service in preventing the same thing again happening. I was much disappointed at the failure of every one, the obstruction again recurring with much pain, while

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enemas of water, gruel, and oil came away as they were thrown up. In this state of matters, after having been obliged again to resort to the castor oil, I prescribed nitric acid; next day the bowels moved naturally, and continued to do so till I left off the acid, in order to return to the treatment specially directed to the uterine complaint. The constipation again returned, but the action of the acid, when all other homoeopathic remedies had failed, was very striking.

I must apologise for the length of this paper, but as it would not have been complete without illustrative cases, I hope I may be pardoned.

ON THE ACTION,

SELECTION & ADMINISTRATION OF DRUGS.*

By R. D. HALE, M.D.

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN,

Some apology or explanation seems necessary for bringing before the notice of the Congress a subject which, for its full consideration, would require at least an hour, but the subject having been dwelt upon at some length at the two last Congresses, the Congress being now assembled in London seemed a fitting opportunity to refer to the important communications of Drs. Madden and Sharp. Communications of the greatest possible importance, not only in relation to homœopathy, but to scientific medicine generally. For when we consider how rapidly knowledge is accumulating upon other subjects connected with the medical art, the discoveries in minute anatomy, micropathology, in experimental physiology, in electro-magnetic science in relation to physiology, especially as regards the functions of the various parts of the nervous system, in short in every department of medical knowledge, with one exception, namely, the discovery of a scientific basis upon which to found a rational system of therapeutics, it must be acknowledged that the questions raised by the essays of Drs. Drysdale, Sharp, and Madden, are questions which must sooner or later engage the attention of every thoughtful practitioner of homeopathy.

It may be said, perhaps, we homeopathists possess already a therapeutic basis; we have our law of similia similibus curantur, and far be it from me to undervalue that law which I have endeavoured myself to obey in practice loyally, but I ask myself, and I ask you, is it the summum bonum of our reformed system. Can a mere formula, however valuable, express all that nature has to reveal? do we not feel that there is some higher and deeper expression which is not only an empirical law, but an induction; not merely a formula, but a scientific fact? A firm conviction that it is especially our mission to carry out investigations to this end, assisted as we are by the labours of other explorers of another school,

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