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any other bad effect; but, with regard to the external use of the drug,
a mere handling of it during the preparation of its oil, &c., or exposure
to its smoke is often attended with injurious results as already ex
-plained under the heading of " Preparations " Some care and caution,
however, such as those I have mentioned under the same heading, are
sufficient to prevent the injurious effects of the marking-nut in pre
-paring its oil and electuary, and this is a very important circumstance
in favor of not giving up the employment of so useful, active and
effectual an internal remedy as the drug under discussion.
Marking-nut is one of the few drugs which I have found more or
less useful in all the diseases for which it is recommended in native
and other medical works. These works, however, speak of the useful
-ness of the drug in rheumatism in a very casual manner and only as
a local application; but according to my own experience it is, as an
internal remedy, so useful in the acute form of that disease that it
deserves a special attention. Used in full and repeated medicinal
doses, the relief it affords is very great and satisfactory, and I do not
hesitate in calling it a sovereign remedy in acute rheumatism. It is
certainly more sure and speedy in its action than Salicylic acid, Salicyl
-ate of Soda, Colchicum, &c., and therefore the best drug for the
above complaint. The more recent and acute the disease is, the more
speedy and successful this medicine proves. Many of the patients
suffering from acute rheumatism, who were brought to me in doolies
or other vehicles, and who were quite unable to sit or move without
assistance, were able from the use of the Electuary or the Acrid-oil of
this drug to return to me walking on the 6th or 7th day after their
first visit. On a few occasions, again, I was pleasantly surprised to
see them walking lamely and coming to me on the very next or 3rd
morning to say that they were much better. In the latter case, the
patients were all youths or very young men.
With regard to the preparations of the marking-nut I have des
-cribed (Electuary and Acrid oil), there is no difference between the
therapeutic uses of them, particularly in the treatment of acute
rheumatism; but the patients generally prefer the former on account
of its very pleasant taste. The number of the doses of these prepara
-tions I have generally used in the 24 hours is 4, and the dose of both
is the same, viz., from one and a half drachms to two drachms and a
half. In some very severe cases, when the patients were very strong
and robust, the dose was increased to three drachms, but the average
dose is two drachms, which is the one I have most frequently employed
in my practice. As soon as the patients are much relieved and able
to walk about to some extent without assistance, I generally omit the
drug and complete the cure with milder or less active medicines,
such as Salicylate of Soda, Colchicum, alkalines, and with stimulant
embrocations.
In chronic and muscular forms of rheumatism, however, the mark
-ing-nut is not half as useful as it is in its acute variety, and I am
therefore unable to speak much in its favor in the treatment of the
former diseases.
Marking-nut is also a good therapeutic agent in asthma, but the
relief it affords in so small doses as those mentioned in some books is