was used in my opinion, contrary to every scientific principle, and with fatal effects: A lady,' says Dr. Copland, had been several years afflicted with jaundice, and in the latter period of these years became paraplegic. The paraplegia (paralysis of the lower part of the body) was to a certain extent removed, so that she was able to drive out in her carriage. She had consulted several physicians before she came to me, and I had seen her repeatedly during the last few years. She had heard that a physician had cured the wife of a distinguished person of some very serious disease of the womb. When this was related to her, and that it was done in consequence of his employing a new method of examination, and that, by having recourse to this, he had not only cured the lady referred to, but was also better able than any other physician in London to find out the source of all diseases occurring in females, she went and consulted him, and at the same time informed him that she was under my care. This lady begged me to meet this practitioner in consultation, which I did, when he informed me what this new method of examination was. He stated, that, from the previous conversation he had had with the patient, he believed that all her illness arose from disease of the uterus, and he wished to demonstrate this with the speculum. To this I answered, that there could be no disease of the uterus or its appendages, because the uterine functions had been performed regularly up to the age of 49 years, and that she had never complained of leucorrhoea or of any uneasiness about the uterus. However, he succeeded in recommending, with the concurrence of the lady's married sister, who had accompanied her from the country, that an examination with the speculum should be made. I said it appeared to me wholly unnecessary, but I would leave the patient to her own discretion. The examination was commenced, and I remained some time, but was shocked with the proceedings, for the hymen was unbroken, and the doors were all obliged to be closed to prevent the people in the house from hearing her screams and being alarmed. The examination went on, and after having stopped the greater part of an hour, during which it continued, and was not completed, I left. About seven or eight days after this, I was informed that the paraplegic symptoms, which had previously been much mitigated, had become exasperated, and had extended so as to produce general paralysis, and, ultimately, delirium and coma. She died in eight days after the examination with the speculum, and I requested an examination of the body to be made. This was done in the presence of Dr. King, two surgeons from Woolwich, and myself. The operator with the speculum was also requested to attend, but he did not appear. The spine was opened, and as high as the first and second dorsal vertebræ lymph was effused between the membranes; but it was not recent, and was partially converted into a gelatinous adipose substance. But above this, and as high as the base of the brain, there were indications of recent inflammation, with a copious effusion of coagulated lymph observed. The uterus and all its appendages were perfectly healthy; the os cervix, and every part of the uterus was in a perfectly sound state, and the vagina also was perfectly healthy, except at its orifice, which presented appearances of recent violence. The hymen was completely torn.'

After reading this case, who will contend that the severe remarks we formerly made on the abuse of the speculum were not warranted? Whatever may have been the effect of the examination on the spinal disease, there can be no doubt that this unnecessary proceeding in a virgin who had no signs of uterine disease was most unjustifiable.

The Editor of The Medical Times, who has also noticed this case in his journal, says-" We wish we knew the name of the operator; we would gibbet him for the contempt of all honest practitioners."

PHARMACOLOGY.

No. XXVIII.

NARCOTICS-(continued from page 118.) Hyoscyami Folia et Semina,-Hyoscyamus,-Henbane Leaves and Seeds. The odour of henbane-leaves is narcotic and peculiar, not unlike tobacco when bruised; the taste, which it loses when dried, is insipid and mucilaginous. They are used in epilepsy, hysteria, palpitation, palsy, mania, and cancer, as a substitute for opium to procure sleep in persons of a nervous habit; externally they are applied as a poultice in cancer and glandular swellings; or in fine powder sprinkled on cancerous sores, to allay pain. The dose is from three Extractum Hyosciami,-The Extract of Hyosciamus,-Extract of Hento ten grains of the powder, but generally the extract is preferred. bane. This is the expressed juice of the leaves evaporated down to the consistence of an extract. The taste is nauseous and slightly bitter; the odour is fœtid: it is an excellent anodyne and antispasmodic, and possesses the advantage of not materially confining the bowels. It is prescribed in nervous affections, irritability of the system, rheumatism, gout, chordee, obstinate ulcerations, and whenever it is required to allay pain and avoid the costiveness which opium is apt to produce. The dose is from two grains to ten. It has been increased to the extent of a scruple twice a day. Tinctura Hyosciami,-Tincture of Henbane,-is prepared by macerating for fourteen days five ounces of the dried leaves in two pints of proof spirits. It is, of course, narcotic in its action, and is used in those cases in which laudanum is prohibited on account of constipation or pain in the head. The dose is from half a drachm to a drachm in water twice a day. The following forms a good anodyne draught:Take tincture of henbane, forty minims; water of the acetate of ammonia, one drachm; antimonial wine, ten minims; cinnamon water, Mix. To be taken at bed-time.

one ounce.

Conium Folia et Fructus; Conium Maculati.-Conium; hemlock leaves, and seeds.-The odour of this plant is heavy and disagreeable, the taste bitter and nauseous; the colour is a dull green; exposure to the light destroys its virtues, therefore the powder should be kept in opaque bottles, or bottles covered with blue paper, well corked. It is used as a palliative in cancer and schirrous, scrofulous and syphilitic ulcerations and swellings; and, in very minute doses, as a remedy for hooping-cough Applied externally, in the proportion of three ounces of the dried herb boiled in a pint of water, it may be applied as a fomentation, to open scrofulous and cancerous ulcers; or as a poultice, by adding linseed meal or oatmeal. The dose of the powdered leaves is from two grains to ten or fifteen; of the expressed juice, twelve minims very gradually increased to thirty or thirty-five. In an over dose it is a powerful poison.

Extractum Conii,-Extract of Hemlock,-Is the expressed juice of hemlock leaves, evaporated, or inspissated, as it is technically called, to the consistence of an extract. It is a valuable remedy in allaying pain in uterine cancer, without producing costiveness, as opium does. The dose is from three grains to fifteen, cautiously and gradually increased. In doses of five grains taken every eight hours, and gradually increased to the same quantity every four hours, until headache or sense of constriction across the forehead supervene, it has been successfully employed in cases of acute rheumatism. Tinctura Conii,-Tincture of Hemlock,-Possesses the same medicinal properties as the leaves and extract, and is prescribed in the same cases. The dose is from half a drachm to a drachm.

Belladonna; Atropa Belladonna,-Belladonna.-The leaves and root of the deadly nightshade. The name Belladonna is derived from bella donna," beautiful woman," the juice of its berries being used as a cosmetic by the Italian women, to make their faces pale. Belladonna is powerfully narcotic, and also has the property, when applied to the eyebrows, of producing a singular dilatation of the pupil of the eye,a circumstance of great importance in ophthalmic surgery. It is employed in intermittents, tic douloreux, palsy, epilepsy, and hoopingcough. (See page 109, No. 40.) Sprinkling the powdered leaves over cancerous sores has been found to allay the pain; and the leaves form a good poultice. The dose of the powdered leaves is from half s grain gradually increased to six grains: or a wine-glassful of an infusion thus prepared-take, a scruple of the leaves, and infuse in ten ounces of boiling water, when cool strain. The deleterious effects of a poisonous dose of belladonna are best counteracted by vinegar, Extractum Belladonna,-Extract of Deadly Nightshade,-Is prepared by after first freely evacuating the stomach. taking a pound of the fresh leaves, bruise them, sprinkled with a little water, in a stone mortar; then press out the juice, and evaporate it unrestrained, to a proper consistence. It is used in the same cases as the plant; the dose is from a quarter of a grain gradually increased to two grains, in pills.

(To be continued.)

CORRESPONDENTS.

ΤΟ NOTICE. All communications for the Editor must be addressed, pre-paid, to his house, No. 25, LLOYD-SQUARE.

THE EDITOR is at home every day until One o'clock; and on the evenings of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from Seven till Nine.

The following subjects have already appeared in THE PEOPLE'S MEDICAL JOURNAL:

Indigestion; its Causes, Symptoms, and Rational Treatment; Nos. 1 to 7 inclusive.

Coughs, Colds, Influenza, and Bronchitis; Nos. 1 to 11.

The Diseases and Management of the Teeth; Nos. 5 to 9.
Rheumatism; Nos. 8 and 9.

Gout; Nos. 10, 11, 12, 13.

Headaches; Nos. 12, 13, and 14.

Intestinal Worms; Nos. 13 to 17

Diseases of the Heart; Nos. 15 to 26.

Pleurisy; Nos. 17 and 18.

The Physiology of the Senses; Nos. 20 to 24.

Consumption of the Lungs, or Decline; Nos. 27 to 37.

Melancholy; Nos. 27 to 30.

The Prevention of Cholera; Nos. 19, 31, and 32.

The Physiology of the Nervous System; Nos. 33. 34, 35, 36.

The Diseases of Women and Children; Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 16, 34, 41.

Exposure of Quack Advertising Consulting Surgeons; Nos. 2, 4, 5, 24, 33. The Influence of the Passions on the Health; Nos. 37, 38, 39, 40, and in continuation.

Inflammation of the Lungs, 39, 40, 41, and in continuation.

Back Numbers of the Journal are always on Sale; should they be required of any local agent who may not have them in stock, he can readily procure them, through his London agent, from our Publisher.

The Index and title page of Vol. I. was published with No. 26. Volume I. strongly and elegantly bound in cloth, is now on sale, price 4s.— also covers for binding, price 1s. 3d.

THE DISEASES OF ERROR.-This small work is now published. The preface runs thus: "It is with much reluctance I publish this little book. My position, however, as editor of the PEOPLE'S MEDICAL JOURNAL renders the task imperative. The world can form no conception of the thousands of sufferers who seek for such counsel as I have endeavoured to give in the following pages: the world can form no conception of the thousands who, lured by the specious advertisements of empirics who profess to make certain infirmities their special study, have been wrecked in health, peace, and purse. The daily receipt of letters, addressed to me in my Editorial capacity, from victims to this heartless assumption and fraud, convinced me that I might do the state some service' by giving a plain exposition of those diseases which have hitherto been a golden harvest to ignorant charlatans." AN ANXIOUS INQUIRER (Chapel Street, Chelsea).-To a person subject to rheumatism, washing and folding damp clothes cannot be otherwise than injurious. The pain and numbness in your hands merit your best attention at the present time. Will you refer to the answer given to HENRY DOUGLAS, in No. 39.

V. B. (Bethnal Green). The prescription referred to might be beneficial, it cannot be injurious. Dr. Yeoman now restricts his consultations to patients attending at his own house, or, in urgent cases, at their own residences.

KAPPA (Birmingham).—Communicate privately. A SHOPMAN (Whitechapel).-A warm bath, a flesh brush, clean linen; diet of animal food, little beer, out-of-door exercise whenever practicable; and as you can't remedy your position, learn to bear it with contentment. An ill-conditioned, dissatisfied mind sooner or later impairs the health. You appear to be free from disease at present. A SUBSCRIBER (?) (Nottingham) Yes: But not without the usual fee-a guinea.

J. JONES.-Wear "eye-preservers" of a dark blue colour; do not use "magnifiers" or pebbles. You must desist from reading by lamp, candle, or gas-light. Whitehouse, in Cranbourne Street, Leicester Square, is a good optician-apply to him..

PAUL JOSE (Landegle, near Mold).-Repeat the blister, and keep up the discharge by means of irritative ointment, for two or three weeks. Take four grains of the compound rhubarb pill every night, and two grains of the iodide of potassium in water, twice a day. JANE (Limehouse).—We do not profess to answer such questions. You will find an article on HAIR DYES in page 62 vol. i., (No. 8.) INQUISITOR REDIVIVUS (Bristol).-The prescription forwarded to us is dangerous and poisonous.

R. THOMPSON. We cannot devote space in this column to the instructions you require. A whole number would scarcely be sufficient. You must apply privately, either in person, or by letter.

BENJAMIN WESLEY.-You have described your case too indefinitely. There are several institutions for the cure of deafness in London, and a quack who professes to do so in every street.

LAUDANUM GIVEN TO INFANTS.-The fearful disclosures recently made at Manchester, in reference to the practice of administering laudanum, syrup of poppies, and other narcotic preparations to infants whose mothers are engaged in factory labour, have led to a movement for the establishment of public nurseries, at which the children may be deposited during the day-time. A meeting for the promotion of this object, held last week, was attended by the Bishop of Manchester and several of the clergy of that town.

POISONING BY DENTISTS.-It has come to our knowledge that certain dentists are in the habit of "stopping" teeth with arsenical paste! We beg to caution our readers who may require the assistance of a dentist to be careful whom they select. "Stopping the teeth" with arsenic (!) means stopping the breath also.

PANTENUS.-First. the Solomons and Jordans of the last generation have legitimate successors to their illegitimate pursuits in the present day. Arcades omnes.-Second, One guinea.

WILLIAM BULWER.-You say you have "no means of obtaining regular advice." We do not give irregular advice, therefore your application to us was very ridiculous.

FEMALE QUACKS.-At the Stirling Court of Justiciary, last week, a female medical practitioner was sentenced to ten years' transportation for inflicting injuries upon a pregnant woman, which terminated in her death.

A PILOT (Whitby).-Take, five grains of the compound squill pill every night. Do not touch beer. A small quantity of weak Hollands-andwater may be taken once during the day.

D. (Piccadilly).-You will only act with common prudence if you pursue the inquiry you suggest. It was Miss Martineau who said "Love, like the plague, is often communicated by clothes and money." The health of the woman that is to become your wife, and the mother of your children, should interest you more than her worldly goods. A sick wife and a doctor's long bill are fearful odds to contend against. We published a short article on this subject in No. 21, which the Weekly Times, Oct. 13, has done us the honour to reprint. RICHARD HARRIS (York).-During the asthmatic paroxysms, take the two following pills, and repeat them every eight or ten hours. Take, opium, half a grain; powdered digitalis, one grain; castor, six grains; syrup sufficient to make a mass, which divide into two pills. Continue to smoke your one or two pipes of tobacco, and avoid damps and fogs.

ORLANDO (Bradford).—In all the prescriptions published in our journal, the dose, unless expressed otherwise, is intended for a male adult. Women require smaller doses than men, especially of purgative remedies, and the conditions of the uterine organs should never be overlooked.

D.

A

BROWN (Maidstone).—In nine cases out of every ten, ulcers that do not depend on some specific cause, as cancer, scrofula, or syphilis, depend on derangement of the digestive organs, and until the condition of the stomach, liver and intestines be improved, local treatment to the ulcer, except palliatives, is, in our opinion, nearly useless. Read the latter part of the Editor's little work on Indigestion, and then write again.

SHOPMAN (Regent Street).-On Sunday at twelve o'clock. M.D.-We are obliged by your offer, which we respectfully decline. All our literary arrangements are complete. The ill-health of the Editor alone would necessitate him to avail himself of such services as you kindly proffer.

O. Z. (Kensington).-We must see you.

A

MARINER (Liverpool).—The crystallised citric acid is an excellent substitute for recent lemon or lime juice, and, in the absence of either vegetables is an admirable preventive of scurvy. Stow away half a pound in your sea-chest; keep it dry.

MARIANNE (Sheffield).-You have described your case with much delicacy and apparent accuracy: nevertheless we cannot give you the information you ask for otherwise than privately.

A

BRAZIER.-The symptoms approach closely to paralysis. We must

see you.

THE HEALTH OF LONDON continues favourable. The deaths last week were 893. Amongst those registered was that of a boy aged twelve years, who committed suicide by hanging himself; and a child eight months old, who died from loss of blood consequent upon lancing the

gums.

London: Printed by CHARLES ADAMS, at his Printing Office, 8 St. James's Walk, Cierkenwell, and published, for the Proprietor, by GEORGE VICKERS, Strand.

No. 43.-VOL. II.]

2. The sex;

3. The temperament ;

4. The habit;

5. Idiosyncracy;

6. Situation in life; and

7. Effects of disease on the system before the dose can be properly determined upon, and as far as the medicine itself is concerned, the most agreeable form of administering it—whether it should be given alone, or combined with other ingredients, and how far these are likely to impede or facilitate its operation. Attention to all these circumstances is necessary to prevent the errors which so often occur in drawing up prescriptions. For nothing distinguishes the well-educated medical practitioner, or tends more to the future recovery and comfort of his patient, than the nature of his prescriptions. Doses of medicine are not reducible to any general rule, from their general similarity of operation, or any other circumstance; they are, therefore, specific with regard to each other."

We now proceed to make a few practical remarks upon each of the circumstances already alluded to, as affecting the action of medicines upon the animal economy, considering them in the order which we have laid down above.

AGE. We commence this section with the table originally drawn up by Gaubrus, and copied from him by all successive writers to the present day, and which possesses no equal for perspicuity and correctness.

For an adult suppose the dose (of any medicine) to be

[ONE PENNY.

From infancy to manhood a larger dose of any medicine is required to produce its effects in proportion to the advance in life. From manhood to old age there is a similar gradation with regard to diminution of dose, though in a much less proportion than that which regulates the increase. In the two extremes of life-childhood and old age-the animal economy is weak, and susceptible of all impressions; whilst during the intervening period, or what is termed adult age, it remains stationary. From infancy to adult age, therefore, the dose of medicine should gradually increase. During adult age it should remain the same, and this is what is given in all medical works as the standard dose; whilst from adult up to extreme old age it must again gradually diminish in quantity, but not in so rapid a ratio as it increased from infancy to adult age.

The

With regard to medicines, however, it is of consequence to observe, that there are many which do not act with greater violence in a large dose than in one comparatively small. Ipecacuanha, as an emetic, is more certain in its operation when given in a large dose than in a small, and is not more violent. same may be said of aloes and others. In fact, almost all the medicines included under the classes of emetics and purgatives come under this observation. In the action of an emetic or purgative upon the animal economy, it seems probable that that portion of the medicine which comes into immediate contact with the internal villous coat of the intestinal canal stimulates it to action, when the remainder will be thrown off or evacuated without producing any further effect. From a large dose of such medicines, therefore, disagreeable effects are not to be apprehended. Whereas, when too small a dose is given, no effect is produced; the remedy remains in the intestinal canal, acting as an extraneous body, aggravating the symptoms which it was intended to relieve, causing the loss of valuable time. This remark applies to the generality of medicines.

SEX affects to a considerable extent the operation of medicine upon the animal economy. Although some women possess nearly as much bodily strength and vigour of constitution as the majority of men, yet the greater general delicacy and sensibility of the female frame at every period of life require not only caution in apportioning the doses of active medicines, which should be less than those ordered for men of the same age, but the medicines themselves should be such as are likely to fulfil the indications required without much violence. The state of the uterine system must be attended to in prescribing for females. Drastic purgatives, aloetic ones, and astringents, may be avoided during the flow of the catamenia.

TEMPERAMENT in a great measure affects the operation of medicines upon the animal economy. (See page 5, Vol. I. No. 1.) By temperament is understood a predisposition, derived from original conformation, to be affected in a more pecu