I returned to my office, and in less than half an hour I was called to see a colored woman, much of a lady, mother of two children; on examination I found only a slight advancement of the child, mouth of the womb but little dilated. I learned that she had been just about the same for twelve hours. I prepared a mixture and ordered a teaspoonful every twenty minutes; this dose contained 30 drops of the Mistletoe. I was not well, and returned to my office, leaving instructions to notify me when labor was well on; my office was four blocks from her residence. I reclined on a lounge, intending to return in about an hour, but dropped into a doze, and in about one and a half hours the husband came on the run, notwithstanding they had sent a little girl for me. He reached my office panting, and exclaimed: 'For God's sake, hurry, for her insides have all come out.' On my arrival, I found the child and afterbirth all in a pile. The confusion was soon calmed down by the assurance that all was well.
Soon after this I was called to see Mrs. M., the mother of seven children. I had been with her in six of the seven confinements, and knowing that she had always been tedious I gave the messenger a small vial of the same mixture and same dose, labelled it teaspoonful every twenty minutes, stating that I would be there in an hour or two, and I was; but the child was born about fifteen minutes before.
On the 14th day of July of the present year I was called to attend Mrs. B. in her third labor, some two miles in the country. I left home at 3:30 a.m. When I arrived at the house I found nothing to indicate that I would be permitted to return home sooner than—I will say a number of hours. I found presentation all right, some dilatation, but there was but little advancement. The pains seemed to be of excruciating character, but not the kind to do more than wear the patient out. She told me that the same kind of pains had been on for a day and night, so I continued with the Mistletoe in half-teaspoonful doses every twenty minutes. Pains came on; in just one hour her extreme agony ceased. Labor came on, and in half an hour more the child was born.
In all these cases the placenta came readily and everything progressed well after birth. I said I left my office at 3:30 a.m., and I was at home again by 7 a.m. It may be that four cases are not sufficient to decide on the merits of a remedy, but the change was so decided and prompt that I am satisfactorily convinced that in Mistletoe we have an oxytocic that is superior to all remedies hitherto tried.
After the foregoing was compiled, Dr. George Black's exceedingly interesting brochure of 79 pages, Viscum album, the Common Mistletoe, etc., etc., appeared, and anyone wanting a complete history of the drug should procure a copy.
Dr. Black (Torquay, England) publishes all the known provings, and in addition some very thorough ones conducted by himself; from these we select the following striking symptoms:
Proll experienced a sensation as if a large spider were crawling over his hands; a glow rising from feet to head, and he seemed to be on fire, though his face was pale, this repeatedly; also violent aching pain in right foot recurring frequently. Proving with the tincture in increasing doses up to 40 drops.
Two women took the drug to produce abortion; every muscle of the body was paralyzed, including bowels, save those of the eye, and both died on the 8th and 9th day, starved to death.
The provings by Dr. Black. A well-built woman, aged twenty, took repeated doses of the drug from θ up to 30th. The most striking symptoms were: Sudden, severe thumps of the heart that then went on beating at a tremendous rate; it slowed down and was followed by trembling in the limbs; after this was very marked jerking of the limbs, and twitching; hot feeling, though not actually hot. "A feeling as if I should bite some one if I did not keep my teeth clenched. A wretched feeling as if I should do something awfully wrong if I did not keep myself under control." Several months later the effect of the drug was still strongly in evidence; "thinks she will go out of her mind, feels as if she would have an epileptic fit, says she would feel far happier in an asylum."