(Dr. T. C. Duncan contributes the following illustrative cases):
Mrs. A., a printer, came to me complaining of some pain in the side as if it would take her life. She did not have it all the time, only at times, usually the last of the week, when tired. I prescribed Bryonia, then Belladonna, without prompt relief. One Saturday she came with a severe attack, locating the pain with her right hand above and to the left of the stomach. The pulse was strong and forcible. On careful examination I found the heart beat below the normal, indicating hypertrophy. I examined the spine, and to the left of the vertebra about two inches I found a very tender spot (spinal hyperæmia). She told me that when a girl she had several attacks, and that her own family physician (Dr. Patchen) gave her a remedy that relieved her at once. She had tried several physicians, among them an allopath, who gave hypodermic injections of morphia, without relief. Hot applications sometimes relieved.
I now recognized that I had a case of angina pectoris, and that her early attacks were due, I thought, to carrying her heavy brother. Now the attacks come when she becomes tired holding her composing stick; at the same time she became very much flurried, so much so that she had to stop work because she was so confused.
I now gave her a prescription for Cactus, but told her I would like to try first a new remedy, giving her Cratægus, saturating some disks with the tincture (B. & T.). I directed her to take two disks every hour until relieved, and then less often. If not relieved to take the Cactus.
She returned in a week reporting that she was relieved after the first dose of Cratægus. More, that hurried, flurried feeling had not troubled her this week. Her face has a parchment skin, and the expression of anxiety so significant of heart disease was certainly relieved. I have not seen her since.
In my proving of this drug it produced a flurried feeling due, I thought, to the rapid action of the stimulated heart. One prover, a nervous lady medical student, gives to-day in her report "a feeling of quiet and calmness, mentally." This is a secondary effect, for it was preceded by "an unusual rush of blood to the head with a confused feeling."
"One swallow does not make a summer," neither does one case establish a remedy; but I think that as Cactus has a clearly defined therapeutic range, so it seems that Cratægus may prove a valuable addition to our meagre array of heart remedies.
CUPHEA VISCOSISSIMA.
Nat. Ord., Lythraceæ.
Common Names, Clammy cuphea. Tar-weed.
Preparation.—The fresh plant is pounded to a pulp and macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol.