Nitro-Glycerine.

Preparation.—One part of Nitro-Glycerine is dissolved in one hundred parts of Alcohol.

Dose.—Of this preparation the dose will vary from one to five drops, the small dose being advised.

Therapeutic Action.—In migraine one or two drops of a one-per-cent solution of nitro-glycerine produces, within a few minutes, a diminution of tension in the previously corded temporal artery and relief of the pain, which in some cases does not return, but in some others recure when the physiological effects of the drug have passed off. As individuals are affected differently by nitro-glycerine, I always begin with one minim of a one-per-cent solution, but sometimes find it necessary to increase the dose to three or four, to produce the desired effect. In some cases of asthma, it has relieved the breathing in a most remarkable manner: the cases in which it answers are such as would be relieved by amyl-nitrite, but its effects are more marked, and the relief is more durable.

In angina pectoris, the relief given by nitro-glycerine is almost complete; but as several cases have been reported in the journals, I need only mention it. The relief in these cases is not simply temporary ease from pain, but if the remedy be given thrice daily in gradually increasing doses, beginning with one minim of the one per-cent. solution and steadily advancing to eight minims, the attacks lessen both in frequency and intensity. One of my patients, who has suffered severely from angina, always carries a bottle of the medicine in his pocket, and he tells me that, by taking a dose of five drops, when he is threatened with an attack it is always prevented. —Mr. A. W. Mayo Robson, in British Med. Journal.

The American Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 1898, was written by John M. Scudder, M.D.