The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-29 00:00:00

TREATMENT' OF NEURALGIA.

The Lancet, of Saturday last, in its report of the London
hospitals, states that "the following cases of neuralgia, ex-
tracted frem the case book of Dr. O'Connor, arc representa-
tives of a large class of a similar character, which have come
under his care at the Royal Free Hospital. They illus-
trate the success attending the use of the valerianate of am-
monia as a remedy in the severer forms of this malady.
Dr. O'Connor informs us that this drug, if retained in a
state of crystallisation, rapidly decomposes, and is uncer-
tain in its action. It should be kept in solution ; and the
smallest dose he is in the habit of giving of the latter is
equal to 20 grains of the crystal.
" Case I—J. R—, a man aged 46 years, a porter, un-
married, was admitted Nov. 9th, complaining of excruciat-
ing pain in the right side of the face, commencing near
the malar bone, from thence extending to the nose, over
the whole of the upper, and then to the lower jaw.
Ho has been subject to the pain for ten years; it is gene.
rally most severe about eight o'clock at night ; but ho is
never totally free from it. For the last week it has been
most excruciating, and ho has had scarcely any sleep. He
has been under the care of many medical men, and sought
advice at' various institutions, without benefit. Dr.
O'Connor ordered him a dose of compound powder of
jalap to bo taken directly, and a draught of three drachms of
Bastick's solution of the valerianate of ammonia in infusion
of calumba every three hours.
" On Nov. 16th he again presented himself at tho hospi-
tal, when he said that after taking two doses of the medi-
cine the pain was considerably relieved, and that ho had no
occasion to have recourse to the remedy after the sixth
dose. He is pow well and free from pain.
" Case 2.—P. B.—, a married woman, aged 31, ad-
mitted on the same day as the foregoing; has two chil-
dren. For a number of years she has been subject to at-
tacks of neuralgia, which come on generally about five
o'clock of an afternoon, and continuo with great severity
for five hours. The pain seizes her first behind the right
ear, extends to the nape of the neck and back of the head,
and frequently shoots with groat rapidity along to the
malar bone, then to the lower jaw; and she is suddenly
seized with pain at the region of the heart. She is suffer-
ing from aortio valvular disease. At times the pains
are so severe that she cannot bear the slightest blast of
wind, and is obliged to roll herself on the floor. She was
ordered three drachms of the solution of the valerianate of
ammonia in infusion of calumba every three hours.
"On Nov. 13th she was very much better; has had only
three attacks since the 9th. The medicine to be continued.
" 23d.—Has had no pain since the 18th.
(4 Case 3.—R. a married woman, aged 42 ; has
had eight children; works as a laundress; has suffered
from neuralgia of the fifth pair on the left side for nearly 20
years, and has sought advice at many hospitals with only
temporary relief. When the paroxysm is most severe, tho
pain extends to the side of the neck and shoulder—it also
causes deafness. She is obliged to go to bed, and cannot
take any food, the slightest motion causing intense agony.
For ten years back the paroxysms have been more severe
and of longer duration. She was admitted, under the care
of Dr. O'Connor, on the 13th of November, whilst in se-
vere agony ; had no sleep the previous night; her health
is otherwise good ; and the teeth perfectly sound. She was
ordered four drachms of the solution of valerianate of am-
monia, in infusion of calumba, to bo taken every three
hours; a dose of compound powder of jalap directly.
On the 27th she states that after a few doses of the me-
dicine the pain diminished, and on the following day it
entirely disappeared.

Jan. 8, 1862—This woman became an out-patient from
an attack of influenza. Sho states that since the 28th No-. vember she has not had any return of pain.
" Case 4—L. aged 49, a married woman, admitted
on the 20th November. She has had nine children; has
been tbr nearly ten years subject to severe attacks of neu-
ralgia of the right side of the face, right eye, and the
tongue, These paroxysms came on generally at 8 o'clock
in the morning, and 4 in the afternoon, and as soon as she
puts anything into her mouth she describes the pain as
insufferable. Her health is otherwise good, and her teeth
are all sound, Sho was ordered a draught composed of four
drachms of the solution of valerianate of ammonia, in in-
fusion of valerian,.to be taken every two hours, and to be
repeated oftener if the pain continued in its severity.
"Nov. 30—She states that since the 27th she has had
sound sleep every night, and the paroxyhms of pain only
come on once a day, and then of much milder character.
The medicine to be taken every six hours.
"Dee. 14—Has had no return of pain since the Ist, and
now feels quite well."

A deputation from Pontefract, consisting of Mr.
Dr. Longstaff, J.P., Mr. Joseph Walker, and Mr. Q S.
Robson, and accompanied by Mr. Milnes, M.P., anti Mr.
Childers, M.P., had an interview with the Right Hon. C.
P. Villiers yesterday, at the office of the Poor-law Board,
Whitehall.

11114 Ile S' PLANFOR ARZOUR-CASED
SHIPS.

fur. William Fairbairn, F.R.S., has just com-
pleted for the Admiralty a target embodying the principles
which he considers will prove superior to those adopted in
any vessel yet constructed or commenced, for armour-cased
ships ; and, in a few days it will be sent to Woolwich,
preparatory to being submitted to the same tests as were
applied to the target representing an actual section of the
Warrior's side. It is known to those who have paid at-
tention to the discussions on the subject, that Mr. Fair-
bairn holds that the more solid the backing given to
the armour plates, the greater will Le the resistance
offered by the plates themselves, whether to the pene-
trating or crushing action of shot. The experiments with
tho Warrior target were not altogether satisfactory ; and
others made about the same time, with single plates,
strongly confirmed Mr, Fairbairn's views. Thus, a single
plate was fixed against a slab of iron, another on a block rf
granite, a third to 3ft. of solid oak, antra fourth to oak and
teak, with indiarubber between the plate and the timber.
The first was indented by the shot, bnt very slightly; the
second suffered more, but still stood well; the third
was penetrated and considerably bulged ; and int) and
through the fourth, as well as a good deal of its backing,
the shot penetrated with ease. The law seemed to
be established, in fact, that in proportion to the in-
creased elasticity of the substance behind the plate, was the
decrease of the resistance of the plate itself.
Mr. Fairbairn proposes, therefore, to use nothing but
iron in the construction of vessels of war ; and his opinions,
if verified, while not favourable to the plan adopted in
ships of the Warrior and Defence classes, and to be
adopted in the Achilles and others ordered, would amount
to a condemnation of such vessels as the Royal Oak,
Caledonia, &c., which are ordinary wood vessels protected
by armour plates. All of them are great improvements,
no doubt, over wooden vessels; but unless Mr. Fairbairn
is proved to be mistaken, none of them will equal, in
natural duration or in powers of resistance, vessels which
ought to be supplied as speedily as possible. The
Warrior, so far as she is armour-plated, has her sides
thus composed :—The armour plates, 41in. thick attached
to iron, forming a perfect skin, tin. thick, supported by
ribs of tin. iron, 11in. deep, and the whole backed by 9in. of
oak and 9in. of teak. The bolts fastening the armour plates
pass through the timber as well as the iron skin, and are
screwed inside ; they are thus necessarily about 2ft. 3in.
long—a long bolt being comparatively a weak one. Her
plates are grooved into each other, and experiments have
proved that the grooves aro points of weakness. Of course,
the weight of the plated portions of a ship is a matter of great
importance; and the Admiralty stipulated, before ordering
Mr. Fairbairn's new target, that it should not exceed, size
for size, the weight of that representing the side of the War-
rior. Increased weight might become a serious drawback
constructively; and it would not have allowed a fair com-
parison of results arrived at experimentally. Mr. Fair-
bairn's target is 20ft by 10ft, and weighs 31 tons, of which
the armour plates represent one half ; a target of the same
size cut from the Warrior would weigh 32 tons. Four
plates, 41in thick are used—the upper and the lower being
each 20ft long and 3ft 4in deep; between them being two
plates 9ft long, separated so as to leave an opening equal to
a port hole of the Warrior. The plates are affixed by tin
bolts to lin iron representing the skin of the ship; behind
it being ribs /in thick, with 4in angle-irons at each edge,
lin rivets being used in fastening the angle ,irons and affixing
the skin to them. The ribs are 18in deep and the same dis-
tanco from centre to centre ; and to the inner angle-irons
ordinary stringers are affixed, it being supposed that the
spaces between the ribs might very conveniently be used
on ship board as shot-racks. The sides and ends of the
plates are planed so as to fit exactly with an ordinary
jump joint; and the plate bolts are turned and counter-
sunk so as to fit with the utmost nicety, their length, with
the screw-thread, being between 7in and Bin. It is be-
lieved that if a shot strikes on the head of one of
these bolts (of which 46 aro used in the target) neither it
nor the surrounding edge of the plate will be fractured;
but that the simple result will be to drive the bolt some-
what closer home, and so cause it the more nearly to be-
come an integral part of the plate. In building a ship,
Mr. Fairbairn would give to the upper plates a peculiar al-
though simple claw joint, and would thus undoubtedly-
secure a large amount of additional constructive strength,
to resist any upward or downward strain while the vessel is
rising to a, sea, or supported mainly by two seas at the stem
and stern. The plates used in the target, it should be added,
have been supplied by Messrs. Brown, of Sheffield.
The armour plates will have to be removed, prior to the
sending of the target by rail to Woolwich, for Shoebury-
ness. At the latter place it will be, as the Warrior target
was, subjected to a round or two from a 100 lb Arm-
strong gun, a 120Ib. " shunt" by the same maker, and
a long 68-pounder smooth bore; these being followed by a
volley front the three weapons. The results, which we aro
sure will be awaited with the greatest interest, will be care-
fully compared with those upon the other target ; and
should Mr. Fairbairn's plan prove, as he anticipates, to be
by far the better, there is little doubt that we shall speedily
see it adopted for our future ironsides. The target will
probably be sent from the foundry, Back Mather-eirtet, in
this city, on Monday. During the firing, it will, of course,
have no " backing," beyond the timber support necessary
to keep it in proper position.