Some Good Points Obtained at the National.

Dr. Gemmill of Forest, Ohio, has frequently made the observation in epilepsy, that oenanthe crocata in the proportion of five drops in four ounces of water, given in teaspoonful dose every four hours, is specific in those cases where there is a tendency to failure of the mind, increasing mental weakness or threatened idiocy or imbecility. When this condition is present in even extreme cases, he has obtained complete and satisfactory results from the use of this remedy alone. He has not found it of much benefit in other forms of epilepsy.

In the treatment of chorea Dr. Gemmill depends upon the use of specific scullcap and macrotys in unusually large doses. He gives from ten to twenty drops of the first and from five to twenty drops of the last every four hours, provided the latter remedy does not induce cerebral engorgement and a hyperemic headache, in which case smaller doses of that remedy are used.

In severe cases of measles where the symptoms are stubborn and persistent and especially where there is a recession of the eruption, one of the physicians suggested the persistent use of jaborandi in frequent doses with macrotys.

He gave these two remedies, also, with excellent results, in acute nephritis.

In obstinate cases of hysteria he gave a, small hypodermic injection of apomorphia and sometimes of pilocarpin.

In the treatment of uremic headache, whatever the cause, but more especially where there was renal disturbance or puerperal nephritis, hypodermic injections of pilocarpin were given frequently. Jaborandi is used for the same purpose. This hastens elimination through' the skin, carries off the urea and relieves the renal congestion.

In the treatment of small pox, especially in that stage in which the headache is severe, Doctor Mulholland suggested the free use of macrotys in full doses. While this remedy is especially valuable in a general way for small pox, the doctor considers jaborandi as exercising a more specific influence. This treatment has been very successful with him in thirty-six cases. Later when the eruption appears, echinacea is given internally, and a lotion prepared with this remedy and applied externally. In every case where this treatment is used the toxins which caused the secondary fever are destroyed, and the secondary fever does not occur, the disease terminating in a mild and uncomplicated manner.

The doctor considers the action of jaborandi upon the skin to be very important in the manner as above suggested. The specific indication for this remedy, under which circumstances it seems to, work better than under other circumstances, is where the sclerotic coat of the eye is yellowish. When it is of a brownish tinge this remedy is not so beneficial.

Ellingwood's Therapeutist, Vol. 2, 1908, was edited by Finley Ellingwood M.D.