promptly and permanently after a few doses of the homoeopathic remedy in a case considered hopeless under other methods of ' treatment, but that it offers so strong a claim for the superiority of potentized remedies given internally over the same remedy applied in its crude form locally. Here vaseline (a product of petroleum) failed absolutely to give anything but transient relief, while the same remedy, developed by potentization and given through the absorbents of the mouth and stomach, accomplished the result with speed and satisfaction.

GOITRE: A CASE.

BY G. J. SEARLE, M. D.

[Read before the Worcester County Homeopathic Medical Society.]

It is not my intention to present an elaborate paper upon this disease, but to relate the course and treatment of a case which came under my care.

Was called Jan. 18th, 1891, to see Mrs. O., a married lady, aged 70, who was suffering from epistaxis, indeed had had it for a week, not steadily, but a day or two at a time. Sometimes the blood seemed to come in a stream, then gradually growing less, would finally stop. During the hemorrhage she seemed to be very nervous, and her face became very red, eyes sparkled and hands were cold. Head ached, with throbbing in temples and over eyes.

I bathed her face with cold solution of hamamelis, and gave bell. 3x, twenty drops in half glass water, one teaspoonful every ten minutes. In half an hour the hemorrhage ceased As I was about to drive off, Mr. O., the lady's husband, came to the door and shouted, "She is at it again!" I caught up a handful of snow and applied it to her nose, and in a few minutes this seemed to work well.

January 21. Mrs. O. had severe hemorrhage; was awakened at night with choking, coughing and vomiting of blood, some fresh, some partly digested. Gave bry. 3x, twenty drops in half glass water, one teaspoonful every ten minutes, and applied cold hamamelis to back of neck, which gave relief.

January 22. Epistaxis returned this afternoon, and continued by fits and starts; when it did stop, the presence of the bloodclot would cause her to sneeze, and so start the bleeding. This attack was so severe and obstinate, that I used persulphate of iron in solution, which I applied with a glass syringe. This seemed to have the desired effect. Left china 3x, ten drops in half glass of water, one teaspoonful every hour.

May, 1891. Mrs. O. had been feeling nicely since having recovered, but at present had, as she expressed it, a "queer cold" with a lump in the throat, and hoarseness. On examination could not discover anything unusual but the deep voice and peculiar effort in swallowing. I left her bell. 3x and hepar sulph. 3x trit.

July. Hoarseness no better, lump in throat still there. Found enlargement of thyroid gland, voice changed in pitch, sometimes it was cracked.

I obtained the following history. Father died, aged 63; cause of death, "Fever." Sick, one week.

Mother, 76; cause of death, unknown.

Had two sisters. One died of kidney disease, supposed to have been dependent upon paralysis; the other sister still living. Has one brother who is in good health.

Mrs. O. was married when twenty years old. Had one child. Change of life began about fifty.

At the age of fifty.eight, or in 1878, noticed an increase in size of her neck, and sought the advice of her family physician, a reputable doctor of Boston, who said he could not cure, but might relieve her worst symptoms.

She then sought the advice of a clairvoyant physician, after the enlargement was six or nine months old, and through her treatment, or by some means, it disappeared after two years. I should judge that at this time the enlargement was of the soft variety, as from the description given, it was more anterior and pendulous.

The symptoms now presented: There was a bilateral enlargement of the thyroid gland, which ascended and descended during deglutition, was firm, hard and smooth. No enlargement of the lymphatic glands. There was flushing of face at times, and throbbing of the carotids. Expression of eyes was somewhat staring, but no protusion of eyeballs, and no pain of any kind. Slight, dry cough, and sense of oppression in the larynx. Could not swallow her food as easily as before. Sometimes her throat filled up, and she then raised a thin, semitransparent, gelatinus mucus. Appetite poor. Does not rest well. Slight headache, sometimes throbbing. Left bell. 3x, one teaspoonful every hour for twenty-four hours, followed by spongia 3x, night and morning.

September. Symptoms somewhat worse, although she was able to be about the house. Felt better when not thinking of herself. Enlargement increased until each lobe was size of small egg. Pulse, 90. Temperature normal.

Remedy, iod. 3x, and since she wished for an application of some kind, I left.

R. Iodine tinct.

Chloroform

Spiritus vini rect.

3ij.

3iij.

3iij.

M. Sig., keep cloth wet with solution about the neck. December. Inspiration labored, thirst frequent, probably because breathing through her mouth caused rapid evaporation of the moisture. Awakens at night oppressed for breath. Gave arsen. 3x trit., one powder morning, noon and night, and left calc. carb. 3x trit. t. i. d. as an intercurrent remedy.

I saw my patient again in January. Appetite fair; and beef, milk, eggs, rice, and other nutritious foods formed her principle articles of diet. The gland gave a hard, firm sensation to the examining fingers, and had extended bilaterally to and beneath the anterior border of the sterno-mastoid, upward to the hyoid bone and below to the clavicle. Pulse, 88. Temperature, normal. Heart beating regularly, but somewhat labored. Slight flushing of face, no headache, except when having palpitation, and this occurs about once in two days, sometimes not so often. Left bell. 3x, teaspoonful every half hour when troubled with headache, and an ointment of

Biniodide of Mercury
Lard ..

To be rubbed upon the growth twice a day. sun, allowing its rays to fall upon her neck.

3iij

lbj

Is to sit in the

Feb. 3. Cannot lie down; must keep the mouth open. Stertorous breathing. Pulse 144, often higher. Respiration rapid, Cough hard, sometimes expectoration of thick, tenacious, yellowish mucus. Very thirsty. Face red, eyes bright. Wants to be fanned. Rattling of mucus in the throat.

Laurocerasus, in drop doses every ten minutes seemed to give her relief, so that she slept a little that night, and ant. tart. 3x trit. relieved the cough. From this time until Feb. 20, her symptoms grew worse. Food was taken only in liquid form and by sips. Breathing grew more labored, and patient died from exhaustion, Feb. 26.

A decrease in the size of the gland was noticeable the day before she died, and the decrease was more marked just before death.

Query Did the epistaxis which occurred before the appearance of the tumor, have any relation to the goitre?

Treatment, Old School.

Flint says, R. Reduced Iron gr. ij. t. i. d., resulted in a cure. Pepper.

R. Ergotine
Aquæ dest.

gr. 96.

3 j.

Inject 6-10m weekly, was followed by reduction in size of the

gland.

Cardiac sedatives as Gels., Verat vir., Digit.

Reduced Iron
Acon. tinct.

Sig. To be taken daily, for three years. Cactus tinct. 3jss has been credited with tion, when Digitalis and Strophanthus failed. Potass. Iodide

Iodine tinct.

Aquae.

Also

gr. ij.
m j.

Result, cured. reducing the palpi

M. Sig. Apply night and morning, and five drops in water t. i. d. has been known to cure.

Homœopathic treatment.

Hughes suggests Fluoric acid, Calc. c., Iod., Spongia, Bell., Lycopus, Nat. mur., Amyl nit.

T. F. Allen reports a case cured by Ars. Nat. mur. has been credited with cures. Galvanization has been extolled. Ligating the arteries or starving the gland has met with poor results.

Gentlemen, in reviewing the case, I feel dissatisfied with the results of the treatment, for all I did was to palliate. Thirteen years ago, a reputable physician diagnosed her trouble as goitre, and said he could do nothing for it. After the existence of the enlargement for three years it totally disappeared, either under the treatment of the clairvoyant or of itself, but returned after ten years' absence to be the cause of her death.

FRACTURE OF THE FEMUR IN A CHILD TWELVE MONTHS OLD. BY N. R. PERKINS, M D., MILTON, MASS.

[Read before the Massachusetts Homœopathic Medical Society.]

June 20th, 1890, was called to see J. R., aged twelve months, a stout, well-nourished boy, when the following history was given One hour previous to my visit, while his nurse was giving him an airing, his carriage was overturned, and he was brought to the house crying.

On removing his clothing, there was found an oblique fracture of the middle third of the femur. I could not approach the child. without its crying and kicking, thereby tilting up the lower end of the fractured bone. How should I dress it? I had no authorities to guide me, never before having heard of such a case. The long splint, the weight and pulley with sand-bags, were of no account here. The plaster cast seemed to be the only way. Accordingly, with the assistance of Drs. A. E. Perkins and George H. Rhoads, the patient was etherized, the fracture reduced, and after securing strips of adhesive plaster to the leg reaching from a little below the knee to the sole of the foot,

leaving the ends to make extension, and to the trunk anteriorly and posteriorly for counter-extension, a plaster cast was put on reaching from the ankle to the arm-pit. The leg was held in position until the cast had hardened, when the adhesive straps were drwwn over either end of the cast and secured.

Eveyrthing seemed to go well for two or three days, when the severe strain brought to bear on the plaster over the hip joint, from carrying the patient on a pillow, caused the plaster to break down. I now fitted a shellac splint, covering the leg, abdomen and chest, making extension and counter-extension, as before. This seemed to be much better, as I could easily open the splint and examine the seat of fracture, although I usually gave the patient a little ether.

July 10th, I left the care of the patient to my successor, Dr. George H. Rhoads, who informed me that the little fellow did finely, with no deformity and no shortening.

I have been unable to find on record a case of fracture of the femur in a child as young as this. I had no guiding rules of treatment, but improvised treatment which proved successful.

IN MEMORY OF DR. DRYSDALE.

Editor of N. E. Medical Gazette:

It has been one of the good fortunes of my life to have held for many years the personal acquaintance, and, I may believe," friendship of Dr. J. J. Drysdale. I first had letters of introduc tion to him from Dr. Hering, in 1854, and he gave me the most cordial reception, carefully advising and assisting me in my plans for study in England and on the Continent. He showed then, what continued to the last of his life, a warm interest in America, and a hopeful expectation of the progress which homœopathy would make in this country. "You have fewer difficulties," he said, “and more energy to overcome them than we have here in old England." In the nearly three years which I spent abroad between 1854 and '58, his house was always open to me with the most cordial welcome, and he was alert to every point of progress which science or homeopathy made in the New World. In 1881, I met him for the last time at the International Congress in London. The marks of age were beginning to be evident, yet he possessed the same gentle, genial spirit that had been characteristic of a long life. His interest in what he believed to be the true progress of medicine was unabated, and I shall never forget the earnest, longing look when I told him how much his friends in America would appreciate a visit from him; but he shook his head, and said, "I'm