Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1882-08-10
No. So.
NOVEL CURE FOR NEURALGIA.
A Tennessee Physicians Experience
with Ether Spray.

with Ether Spray.
[Dr. J. T. McColganan in Southern Practitioner.
In the spring of 1869 we had the most
severe attack OF facial neuralgia which 1t
has been our lot to witness in more than
eighteen years of practice; for two weeks we
had contine ourselves to a darkened cham
Der, and the lightest football on the floor
caused us the most excruciating agony. All
the remedies, local, general, regular, and IL
regular, were tried without any abatement
of the trouble. One side of our face was
terribly swollen, so much so that it was i'm
possible to extract decayed molar, to which
we charged all our suffering, and it seemed
as if we were destined to shuttle off this
mortal coil by exhaustion from pain and
want of sleep. We finally concluded to incise
the swollen jaw, thinking there was an alb
cess about the root of the decayed tooth, and
as the parts were so extremely sensitive, and,
moreover, having a vague dread of chloro-
form we thought we would try local anes-
thesia by evaporating either on the surface
until the part was frozen. Our attendant
complied with our instruction, and the spray
was turned on. The first sensation was one
of cutting pain, gradually subsiding until
when congelation took place we felt per-
fectly easy and ordered the cutting operation
deferred. Then for fifteen hours we slept the
sleep of the righteous, and when we awoke
found the rub0r ct tumOr, c0l0re. cum dOlOre
entirely vanished, and we arose and went
about our business, and to this good day,
although we carry perfect cabinet of car
iOus teeth in our mouth have never had a
neuralgia twinge or touch of that hell O.
disease" toothache. Well, to be honest
about it, we did not at the time give the
freezing process any credit for the cure; we
thought the attack had about spent its force
and was going to act well anyway, and we
paid but little attention to the matter for
year or more, when relative, Captain Harris,
was visiting u.s. and took spell of neuralgia,
which he had for over year been period
ically afflicted with, rarely passing month
without an attack To give him present
ease, for we did not think of any permanent
benefit, we tried the spray all along the track
of the affected nerve, until it turned the skin
white. The relief was immediate, and he
has since informed me, permanent
Since then we have used it in fifteen or
twenty cases with uniform success, never
having to make more than two applications,
and it came to be stock remedy, and we
thought that in all probability it was so with
most physicians, for we remember that when
Richardson first introduced it Clike all new
things in medicine, it was vaunted for every
thing,) and would probably have thought so
if gentleman hadn't called on us some time
ago to know if we hadn't a new treatment
for neuralgia, and stated that a couple of
years ago he was on a steamboat and was
suffering with that disease, when Captain
Harris informed him that he was cured by
some sort of freezing process, and advised
him to try it. When the boat reached Louis
vile he called on two or three of the most
distinguished surgeons of the city, and they
told him they knew of no such remedy for
neuralgia, and advised him not to have any
thing of the kind done. On hearing his story
we looked over old volumes of medical Jour
nails and found not single allusion to local
anesthesia as remedy for neuralgia
Now we must confess that all this sounds
very much like the story of the superanuated
clergyman who accidentally, while in the
West Indies, discovered a cure for cOnsump-
tion, etc., only we don't want any one to
send stamp for particulars. Any physician
can purchase a hand ball atomizer for one
and half dollars, and try it for themselves
They may use either rhigolene or ether, and
it will only be necessary to let the spray
play upon the part until the skin turns white
We promised to offer no theory for its action,
but we will venture this opinion: That the
intense cold, by its revulsive effect, causes a
complete change in the nutrition of the
nerve; what this change is we will not at
present venture to assert. only hoping that
others who have better opportunities will
give the matter trial and fully test it's
merits.