1344

ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.

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and whose pupils underwent no change when the eve was eX P°^liogstrong day-liglit. In very minute doses it has caused heat and lot beupon the surface of the body, and sometimes diuresis; but it c^ 11 . gJl e'administered internally with safety. In one case (an elderly 1®'“J ’ 0 rit/fiftieth of a grain had nearly proved fatal. Satisfied that great in s j (oattends its internal use, Dr. Turnbull tells me he has long since ce jj 5 .employ it in this way, as the slightest inattention on the part of t* * 1penser may be attended with fatal results. liini^

The enormous cost (3s. 6d. per grain!) of Morson’s aconitine u(eits use. I believe that the alcoholic tincture is a perfect su q{for it; and the experience of others confirms my own observati 0 ' 1 ' p0the great efficacy of aconitina in neuralgic and rheumatic affectione can entertain any doubt who has submitted the remedy to tu jyDr. Turnbull, op. supra cit.; Mr. Skey, Land. Med. Gaz. vol. xix- P' j e r-The following are Dr. Turnbull’s formulae for using aconitinanally:—

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1. Unguentum Aconitines. Aconitine Ointment. (Aconitina, gr. xvj.; OhscLard, 5j. Mix).—It is employed by friction, with the finger, during several gpi-

2. Solutio Aconitina;. Aconitine Embrocation. (Aconitine, gr. viij. ; *^ eC11,115rit, Jij. Dissolve).—Used by friction-sponge (as a sponge tooth-brush).

be taken not to employ it where the skin is abraded. ^

Antidotes. —See the treatment for poisoning by tobacco, p- ° jyedMr. Sherwen’s case {Lancet, March 25, 1837) great benefit was oby the abstraction of ten ounces of blood from the jugular vein.

Other Medicinal or Poisonous Ramnculacete.

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The leaves of Helleborus feetidus are emetic and purgative. They haveployed as a vermifuge against the large round worm (Ascaris lumbricoides).

Helleborus viridis possesses similar properties. . It 1 ’

Aconitum ferox is, perhaps, the most violent of the ranunculaceous P 0,s ° ns ' ar s si 0 ^Nepal plant, and constitutes the Bish or Bikh poison of that country. Three V a>' 1

I undertook, at the request of Dr. Wallich, to examine the effects of this P‘ a V

mals. My experiments were made with plants which had been ten V ea getidftWallich’s possession, and which, therefore, had doubtless lost part of the 1 tt>yet their effects were most energetic (see Wallich’s Planter Asiaticce rarioreSjEd'rnb. Journ.of Nat. and Geogr. Science, July 1830, p. 235).