SQUIRTING CUCUMBER.

1087

°fler •

by j. ln favour of the affirmative of this question than that mentioned^’Ppocrates (EiriCriyiov, lib. vi. sect. 5) that the milk of women andti v . e S vv ^° have eaten elaterium, or the wild cucumber, possesses purga-b^operties. Furthermore, the accident which occurred to Dr. Robertabso So «, Lecturer on Botany at St. George’s Hospital, seems to prove thati v must have taken place by the skin (see Journ. de Chim. Med.

l 0( j • '• Dr. Dickson earned a specimen of the plant in his hat to hisin Paris , from the Jardin-du-lloi. In half ane "ced violent headache, which was followed

V H

i>y

hour hecolicky pain,

'Ji em .- . ,->

p 1 purging, vomiting, and fever.

^hlered with respect to other cathartics, we find it pre-eminently^V'shed by the violence of its purgative effect. Croton oil alone^jdmates to it. Its hydragogue operation exceeds that of most, ifjj 1 ot her, ordinarily used drastics.

in —The principal use of elaterium is to excite watery evacuations

by which a two-fold effect is to be hoped for; viz. first, ab->U l0n °f the effused fluid ; secondly, the stoppage of any further effusion( W? nset l uence °f the metastasis of vital action from the seat of the

to the intestinal membrane. In dropsies dependent on, or accom-is m " itli, disease of the kidney, the evacuation of water by the bowelsiw C l to be preferred to the employment of stimulating diuretics whichPQur '■ t° the severity of the renal malady. Of the violent hydragoguetives, elaterium I believe to be the most useful in dropsy. It eva-ti Qr . es wiore watery fluid than the others; wdiile, if it be good, its opera-

a^ n ' a y be relied on. It is objectionable where there is great debility,ha Ve ''* lere any inflammatory or other disease of the bowels exists. 1U Se of 6f>n f ata l termination of dropsy apparently accelerated by theof jj- 1 elaterium. A dropsical patient, much debilitated, took, by orderPhysician, a dose of elaterium, which caused excessive alvineations, great exhaustion, sinking of the pulse, syncope and death.110 contra-indication to the use of elaterium exists, one or twotony s h°uld be given every other day, for a week or ten days. Ift° ri( j. t ) l ! J(: ‘ ( l longer than this, it might perhaps bring on an inflammatoryVq] j 1 1011 of the bowels. Dr. Darwall ( Cyclop . Pract. Med. art. Anasarca,fiiHy' P- 79) mentions a case in which hypercatharsis and maniacal deli-bo^'ere produced by the prolonged use of elaterium; the delirium,iUo n j went off' in a few hours. Some tonic (usually gentian) is com-e Xtr J Coll joined with elaterium. Thus a pill composed of elaterium andg(*no 1 gentian is frequently employed; or we may exhibit infusion ofc °Udit’ 1 011 a Lernate days with the elaterium. Where there is a febrile°f system, and also where there is an irritable or inflam-It c °ndition of the alimentary canal, elaterium is inadmissible,by ]p adapted for cold phlegmatic constitutions. Sydenham ( WorksAf terw ; f echey, p.393, 4th ed. 1705) recommended elaterium in dropsy,fiat i i^ r< ^ s Lister (De hydrope), Heberden (Comment, art. Dropsy ), Fer-S et M ex - \ 0] - iv.), Clutterbuck (Lectures in Lancet forUlony p. 170), and other experienced practitioners, bore testi-

1 ^ s exceeding great efficacy. But judging by the doses recom-a Ua\ Var ’ a ^| °f them, except the last-mentioned writer, seem to have been2 j e the great activity of the medicine when pure.fest e( j , cere bral affections, such as apoplexy, or a tendency to it (mani-y sleepiness, stupor, or giddiness), mania, &c., elaterium, as a

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