BELLADONNA (Atropa belladonna)^ATROP
   The (1) dried root and the (2) dried leaves and tops of Atropa Belladonna, Linné (Nat. Ord. Solanaceae). Europe and Central Asia; also cultivated. Dose, (1) 1/4 to 1 grain; (2) 1/4 to 2 grains. Common Names: Deadly Nightshade, Dwale. (1) Belladonna Root (Belladonnae Radix); (2) Belladonna Leaves (Belladonnae Folia). Principal Constituents.—The poisonous alkaloids atropine, hyoscyamine, belladonnine, and hyoscine. There is much confusion concerning the constituents of belladonna, hyoscyamine, with conversion products, probably being the chief alkaloid. This is readily convertible in atropine. The alkaloids probably exist as malates. Preparations.—1. Specific Medicine Belladonna (prepared from the root). Dose, 1/20 to 1 drop. Usual method of administration: Rx Specific Medicine Belladonna, 5- 10 drops; Water, 4 fluidounces. Mix. Sig.: One teaspoonful every 1 to 3 hours. 2. Unguentum Belladonnae. Ointment of Belladonna. (This is prepared from the Extract of Belladonna, which in turn is prepared from Belladonna leaves. Tincture of Belladonna is also prepared from the leaves, while the fluidextract is prepared from the root.) Specific Indications.—Dull expressionless face, with dilated or immobile pupils, dullness of intellect, drowsiness with inability to sleep well whether there is pain or not; impaired capillary circulation either in skin or mucous membranes; dusky, deep-red or bluish face and extremities, the color being effaced by drawing the finger over the parts, the blood slowly returning in the whitish streak so produced; circulation sluggish, with soft, oppressed, and compressible pulse; cold extremities; breathing slow, labored, and imperfect; hebetude; the patient sleeps with eyes partially open; coma; urinal incontinence; free and large passages of limpid urine; fullness and deep aching in loins or back; spasm of the involuntary muscles. In 3x dilution the indications are: Pallid countenance, with frequent urination; nervous excitation, with wild and furious delirium. Large doses: mydriatic. Action.—The action of Belladonna depends largely upon its chief alkaloid Atropine. Therapy.—External. Belladonna, and more rarely atropine, may be applied for the relief of pain and spasm, and especially for spasmodic pain. A lotion of belladonna (5 to 10 per cent) may be used to allay itching in general pruritus, eczema, and urticaria. The tincture, painted upon the feet, controls local bromidrosis. A weak lotion is effectual in general hyperhydrosis and in the colliquative sweating of phthisis and other debilitating diseases. The ointment and liniment may serve a similar purpose. This use of belladonna is less desirable, however, than other medication on account of the dryness of the throat and mouth, and the ocular disturbance it is likely to occasion. Ointment of belladonna and the liniment are extremely useful in local inflammations and swellings, having a wide range of efficiency. Thus they may be applied to painful and swollen joints, forming abscesses, incipient and recurrent boils, buboes, hemorrhoids and fissures, inflamed glands, and in neuralgia, chronic rheumatism, lumbago, myalgia, pleurodynia, the chest pains of pulmonary tuberculosis, and in acute mastitis. In many of the surface conditions mentioned the plaster may prove most effectual. The liniment is especially useful to alleviate cramps in the calf of the leg. The ointment is effectual in relaxing rigid os during labor, and carried into the urethral canal of male or female it relaxes spasmodic constriction of that canal and cystic spasm and relieves pain. Rubbed on the under surface of the penis it has given marked relief in chordee. A suppository of belladonna relieves spasmodic dysmenorrhea and may be applied either in the vagina or the rectum. A similar application, with or without tannin or geranium, may be inserted into the vagina for painful menstruation, with leucorrhoea. The liniment and the ointment may be used as antigalactagogues and are especially serviceable after weaning the child or when mastitis threatens. All local applications of belladonna should be made with judgment and carefully watched lest poisonous absorption take place. In many of the conditions mentioned the conjoint internal use is advisable—provided the specific indications for the drug are present. Therapy.—Internal. Belladonna is employed in Eclectic Therapeutics in doses which produce exactly the opposite effects from the gross or physiologic and toxic action. Large doses paralyze; small doses stimulate. While employed for its physiological effects in some instances, the chief use of the drug with us is in conditions showing impairment of the capillary circulation in any part of the body with congestion or tendency to blood stasis. The size of the dose is of great importance in administering belladonna. Ordinary drachm doses of a dilution of 5 to 10 drops of the specific medicine in four ounces of water meet conditions of dullness, hebetude, and congestion, as first pointed out by Scudder. Others claim that the use of infinitesimal doses, of the 3x dilution, acts promptly in conditions of nervous exaltation, with great irritability and impressionability of all the senses; in some cases the hyperaesthesia amounts to delirium and it is then claimed to be most efficient to control both mild and furious outbreaks of delirium. Others again (and this agrees with our personal experience) find marked pallor of the surface, with contracted pupils, the indication, for minute doses of the drug. Following a law which appears to be commonly borne out in therapeutics, that opposite effects are produced by large or by minute doses respectively, belladonna seems a possible therapeutic agent in many varied conditions. The cases, however, in which belladonna appears to have rendered the best service are in those in what might be called medium doses, as advised by Scudder, in which the drug is employed to overcome dullness, hebetude, expressionless countenance¹

CAMPHORA
   A stearopten (having the nature of a ketone) derived from Cinnamomum Camphora. (Linné), Nees et Ebermeier (Nat. Ord. Lauraceae). China and Japan. Common Names: Camphor, Laurel Camphor, Gum Camphor (it is not a gum). Description.—Tough, translucent white lumps or granules, having the pungent taste known as camphoraceous, and an aromatic penetrating odor. It dissolves freely in alcohol, chloroform, ether, and fixed and volatile oils; very slightly in water. Camphor is readily pulverized by triturating it with a few drops of alcohol, chloroform, or ether. Dose (by mouth), 1 to 5 grains; (hypodermatically) 1 to 3 grains. Preparations.—1. Spiritus Camphorae (10 per cent), Spirit of Camphor. Dose, 1 to 30 drops. 2. Aqua Camphorae. Camphor Water. Dose, 1 to 4 fluidrachms. 3. Linimentum Camphorae. Camphor Liniment (Camphorated Oil) (Composed Of Camphor, 200 parts; Cottonseed Oil, 800 parts). Dose, 10 to 30 drops. For external use chiefly. 4. Ceratum Camphorae. Camphor Cerate. (Composed of Camphor Liniment, White Wax, White Petrolatum, and Benzoinated Lard.) For external use. Action.—Camphor causes a local dilation of the capillaries of the skin, producing warmth, redness, and sometimes itching. Slight anesthesia follows. It causes smarting and hyperaemia of the mucosa, and if applied strong may cause considerable irritation. In this manner it has produced gastric ulceration. In small doses camphor warms the stomach, stimulates secretion, increases peristalsis, and expels flatus. Large doses may induce vomiting. Camphor is readily absorbed, both from application and inhalation. It is largely changed in the body and is eliminated in the urine as campho-glycuronic acid. In moderate doses camphor directly stimulates the heart-muscle, causing slower and stronger contractions and increased arterial pressure, but after large doses the pressure falls. Respiration is slightly stimulated by it, large doses causing slower and deeper breathing. In general it may be said that small doses of camphor stimulate, while large quantities depress, or even paralyze. This is true of all the functions it affects. The action of small doses upon the nervous system is to produce a feeling of slight exhilaration or contentment. Large doses excite the higher cerebral and medullary centers and then paralyze them; poisonous doses occasioning more or less of the following symptoms: esophageal and gastric pain, vomiting, headache, dizziness, mental confusion, drowsiness, delirium, and stupor; feeble, running, or intermittent pulse, cold skin, cold sweat, and muscular weakness followed by rigidity and epileptiform. convulsions, collapse and death. The type of convulsions shows its effects to be chiefly upon the cerebral cortex, though it acts also progressively on the medulla, causing death by respiratory paralysis. Camphor does not affect all persons alike. Some may pass directly into drowsiness, insensibility, and stupor, followed by death. If taken for long periods, even in moderate doses, camphor gives rise to a state of mental confusion. Opium and repeated small doses of alcohol are the best antagonists of the untoward effects of camphor. Therapy.—External. Camphor is stimulant, rubefacient, antipruritic, and feebly antiseptic. Owing to its agreeable odor and pleasant stimulating effects it is largely used, as a powder, in lotions, and ointments, or rubbed up with other solids to produce anodyne and antiseptic liquids. In this manner, when triturated with chloral hydrate, menthol, phenol, thymol, and similar bodies, ideal liquid antiseptics are obtained for use upon wounds, neuralgic and other painful areas. Powdered camphor is an ingredient of tooth powders and pastes and dusting powders for skin diseases. Alone or with zinc oxide, talc, or precipitated chalk it may be used upon bed-sores with decided relief. Such combinations are valuable in intertrigo, chronic eczema, urticaria, and zoster. Many snuffs contain powdered camphor, and it is useful to stimulate sluggish ulcers. Sprinkled upon the face it is used to control itching and to prevent pitting in small-pox. The spirit is a household embrocation for the relief of pain and itching, and it is used largely, alone, or in liniments and embrocations, for the relief of pain, stiffness, soreness and swelling, as in myalgia, facial and other neuralgias, and upon rheumatic joints, deep inflammations, chronic indurated glands and other indurations, sprains, contusions, and inflammatory swellings. An ethereal tincture of camphor is said to give relief in erysipelas. Inhaling the spirit, or camphor dropped into hot water, gives relief in nervous headache, and often aborts acute colds, coryza, and influenza, giving respite from the excessive secretion and the accompanying headache. A solution of camphor in liquid petrolatum (usually with menthol) is a popular spray for similar uses, and for laryngitis, pharyngitis, chronic nasal catarrh and hypertrophic rhinitis. The spirit, the liniment, or camphorated oil are favorite applications for tenderness and pain, chilblains, toothache, and acute mastitis: in the latter it tends to suppress the milk. The spirit is in common use as a lotion for headache in nervous individuals with feeble circulation, and tendency to fainting. The oil, by injection, is sometimes effectual in removing seatworms. So-called “camphor-ice” is a soothing, camphorated petrolatum preparation for labial herpes. Internal. Camphor is used to allay nervous excitement, subdue pain, arrest spasm, and sometimes to induce sleep. It is an important remedy in many disorders of neurotic women and children, being frequently most effective as a nerve sedative, antispasmodic, and carminative in nervous nausea and vomiting, flatulence, hiccough, and tendency to spasms or fainting. It is especially serviceable in palpitation of the heart due to gaseous distention of the stomach, or to nervous irritability. In occipital headache, from mental strain, or overstudy, small doses of ¹

COPAIBA^COOF2
   An oleoresin derived from species of Copaiba growing in South America. Dose, 5 to 30 drops. Description.—A viscid, pale-yellow or brownish-yellow liquid, without or with a faint fluorescence (green), and having a bitter, acrid, and persistent taste, and a distinctive aroma. Soluble in chloroform, ether, dehydrated alcohol, and volatile or fixed oils; partly soluble in alcohol; insoluble in water. Specific Indications.—Vesical pressure and tenesmus, frequent urging to urinate, the urine passing in drops; itching, burning or smarting in the urethra after urinating; urethral mucoid discharges; laryngeal irritation; cough, with thick tenacious sputum, accompanied by loud rales. Action.—Copaiba is a stimulating antiseptic when applied to the skin and mucosa. Small doses taken internally act as a stimulant and antiseptic diuretic. It restrains excessive mucous discharges. When swallowed it causes gastric warmth, unpleasant eructations, and sometimes nausea and vomiting. Continued use impairs the digestive processes. It is readily absorbed, imparting its odor and bitterness to the secretions. While apparently eliminated by all the emunctories, it is chiefly passed in the urine in company with glycouronic acid. Large doses occasion gastroenteritis and haematuria. A transient measleslike eruption on the skin, with unpleasant formication and itching, or an erythematous, urticarial or bullous outbreak may occur from its use. It is not determined whether this is due to elimination-irritation, or to gastric disturbances produced by the drug. Therapy.—External. Copaiba is sometimes applied to frost-bites and chilblains, sore nipples, old ulcers, and anal fissures, and to fistulous tracts to soften hardened edges and surfaces; also in sluggish chronic skin affections when a stimulating antiseptic action is desired. Internal. Copaiba is a remedy for excessive mucous discharges after the subsidence of acute inflammation. For this purpose it is rarely used in chronic bronchitis, especially when coincident with a catarrhal condition of the bladder. It is of much value in intractable gonorrhea in the male to reawaken a dormant infection and recreate the active symptoms, after which the smaller doses are used to restrain the discharge and antisepticize the membranes. It should never be used in the acute inflammatory stage of gonorrhea, with pronounced urethral irritation and profuse secretion. This stage should be treated with Rx. Specific Medicine Aconite, 10 drops; Specific Medicines Gelsemium and Cannabis, one fluidrachm each; Simple Syrup, enough to make 4 fluidounces. Mix. Sig.: One teaspoonful every 3 hours. Having used the required local application, and rendered the urine bland by the use of small doses of sodium bicarbonate well diluted, employ the following after the acute phase has subsided: Rx Copaiba, 1 fluidrachm; Alcohol, 1 fluidounce. Mix. Dose, 5 to 10 drops in sugar and water 4 times a day. If chronic or unduly prolonged use the following: Rx. Copaiba and Spirit of Nitrous Ether, 1/2 fluidounce each; Liquor Potassae and Essence of Cinnamon, 1 fluidrachm each; Mucilage of Acacia and Simple Syrup, 1 fluidounce each. Mix. Sig.: One teaspoonful after each meal. Copaiba only helps gonorrhea when brought in direct contact with the parts affected, as it does when passed in the urine. For this reason it is more effectual in the male than the female in whom at least a part of the infection is vaginal. It is also less valuable by injection than when used internally. The foregoing treatment is Locke’s method, and is adapted to otherwise unconquerable cases. Most cases of gonorrhea are now readily cured by more modern means.¹

ECHINACEA
   The dried root of Brauneria angustifolia, Linné (Echinacea angustifolia [DeCandolle], Heller). (Nat. Ord. Compositae.) In rich prairie soils of western United States, from Illinois westward through Nebraska and southward through Missouri to Texas. Common Names: Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower, Purple Coneflower, Coneflower. Principal Constituents.—Minute traces of an unimportant alkaloid and an acrid body (1/2 to 1 per cent), probably of a resinous character linked with an organic acid. The latter is the chief active principle of the drug. Preparations.—1. Specific Medicine Echinacea. Dose, 1 to 60 drops, the smaller doses being preferred. Usual method of administration: Rx. Specific Medicine Echinacea, 1-2 fluidrachms; Water, enough for 4 fluidounces. Mix. Sig.: One teaspoonful every 1 to 3 hours. 2. Echafolta. (A preparation of Echinacea freed from extractive and most of the coloring matter. It also contains a small added quantity of tincture of iodine. The label states that is iodized). Dose, 1 to 60 drops. Usually administered the same as the specific medicine; except when iodine is contraindicated, or is undesired. 3. Echafolta Cream. An ointment for external use. Specific Indications.—”Bad blood”; to correct fluid depravation, with tendency to sepsis and malignancy, best shown in its power in gangrene, carbuncles, boils, sloughing and phagedenic ulcerations, and the various forms of septicemia; tendency to formation of multiple cellular abscesses of a semi-active character and with pronounced asthenia; foul discharges with emaciation and great debility; dirtybrownish tongue; jet-black tongue; dusky, bluish or purplish color of the skin or mucous tissues, with a low form of inflammation. It is of special value in typhoid states, in which it is indicated by the prominent typhoid symptoms—dry tongue, sordes on tongue and teeth, mental disturbances, tympanites and diarrheal discharges—and in malignant carbuncle, pyosalpinx, and thecal abscesses. Action.—The physiological action of echinacea has never been satisfactorily determined. It has been held to increase phagocytosis and to improve both leukopenia and hyperleucocytosis. That it stimulates and hastens the elimination of waste is certain, and that it possesses some antibacterial power seems more than probable. Upon the mucous tissues echinacea causes a quite persistent disagreeable tingling sensation somewhat allied to, but less severe, than that of prickly ash and aconite. It increases the salivary and the urinary flow, but sometimes under diseased conditions anuria results while it is being administered. In the doses usually given no decided unpleasant symptoms have been produced; and no reliable cases of fatal poisoning in human beings have been recorded from its use. Occasionally bursting headache, joint pains, dry tongue, reduced temperature and gastro-intestinal disturbances with diarrhea are said to have resulted from large doses of the drug. Therapy.-External. Echinacea is a local antiseptic, stimulant, deodorant, and anesthetic. Alcoholic preparations applied to denuded surfaces cause considerable burning discomfort, but as soon as the alcohol is evaporated a sense of comfort and lessening of previous pain is experienced. Its deodorant powers are remarkable, especially when applied to foul surfaces, carcinomatous ulcerations, fetid discharges from the ears, and in gangrene. While not wholly masking the odor of cancer and gangrene it reduces it greatly, much to the comfort of the sick and the attendants. Echinacea is useful as an application where decay is imminent or taking place, reparative power is poor, and the discharges saneous and unhealthy. It is especially valuable in sluggish ulcers, bed sores, stinking tibial ulcers, and ulcers of the nasal mucosa, due either to ozaena or to syphilis. The greater the tendency to lifelessness and dissolution of the tissues and the more pronounced the fetid character of the discharges, the more applicable is echinacea. Used by spray it is effective to remove stench and to stimulate repair in tonsillitis, the angina of scarlatina, and though not alone capable of curing diphtheria, either by external or internal use, it stimulates the near-necrosed tissue to activity and overcomes the fetid odor, thus contributing in a large measure to aid more specific agents. A 10 to 50 per cent solution may be used to cleanse abscess cavities, to apply to ragged wounds from barbed wire, tin, and glass, wounds which for some reason are very painful and heal sluggishly. For this purpose we prefer Rx. Echafolta (or Echinacea), 1 fluidounce; Asepsin, 15 grains; Tincture of Myrrh, 2 fluidrachms; Sterile Water, enough to make 4 fluidounces. Mix. Apply upon sterile gauze, renewing at reasonable periods. This also makes a good mouth wash for foul breath and to remove odor and stimulate repair in pyorrhea alveolaris, spongy and bleeding gums, and aphthous and herpetic eruptions. Echinacea is sometimes of value in eczema, with glutinous, sticky exudation, and general body depravity; to give relief to pain and swelling in erysipelas, mammitis, orchitis, and epididymitis; to allay pain and lessen tumefaction in phlegmonous swellings; and to dress syphilitic phagedena. As a local application to chilblains it has done good service, and in poisoning by Rhus Toxicodendron is relied upon by many as one of the best of local medicines. We have found it especially useful in dermatitis venenata after denudation of the cuticle when ulcers form and the neighboring glands swell. Echinacea has a greater record for success than any single medicine for snake bites and insect bites and stings, and it may be used full strength to relieve the intolerable itching of urticaria. Some have asserted that it will abort boils. For the treatment of carbuncle, after thoroughly incising, a 50 per cent solution to full strength echinacea or echafolta may be freely used, syringing the channels with it. This gives great relief from pain ¹

FARINA TRITICI
   The sifted flour of the grain of Triticum sativum, Lamarck (Nat. Ord. Graminaceae). Common Names: Wheat Flour, Common Flour. Principal Constituents.—Starch, vegetable albumin, and proteids of gluten, (glutenfibrin, mucedin, and gliadini), and a small amount of allantoin. Derivative.-Furfures Tritici, Bran. Action and Therapy.—External. Bread made of wheat flour is an excipient of some pills, and forms the basis of the bread and milk poultice. Wheat-flour paste well thinned is emollient and may be used per rectum for the administration of medicines in colitis. Rarely wheat flour is used as a dusting powder for burning and itching surfaces, as in urticaria, erysipelas, sunburn, and mixed with molasses promptly relieves the pain in burns and scalds. Infusion of bran is a useful emollient for rough skin, and assists in removing the odor of such agents as iodoform. Internal. A thinned paste of wheat flour is demulcent and may be used to protect an irritated stomach and esophagus in cases of irritant and corrosive poisons. In the absence of starch it may be used to antidote poisoning by iodine. Bran, mixed with stewed fruits or baked in a biscuit or cake, is a common mechanical laxative for habitual constipation, often proving more effective than medicines.¹

GLYCERINUM
   Glycerin, Glycerol. A liquid composed most largely of a trihydric alcohol (C3H5(OH)3) obtained by the processes of hydrolysis and distillation of fats, both animal and vegetable, or of fixed oils. Description.—A thick, syrupy, colorless liquid having a sweet and warming taste and a faint but agreeable odor. It has a great avidity for moisture, becoming appreciably thinner upon long exposure to the atmosphere. It mixes with water or alcohol; and is insoluble in ether, chloroform, and fixed and essential oils. Dose, 1/2 to 2 fluidrachms. Preparation.—Suppositoria Glycerini, Suppositories of Glycerin. Action.—Glycerin is a powerful hygroscopic. So great is its avidity for water that it will readily abstract moisture from the tissues to which it is applied. It is also slightly irritant to the skin and mucous surfaces, and considerably so to abraded surfaces. The discomfort quickly subsides, however, and it then acts as an antiseptic and protective emollient to the skin. It is a demulcent to mucous tissues. Applied to the rectum it provokes evacuation, both by its irritating and dehydrating effects. Glycerin kills parasites, both cutaneous and intestinal, and allays itching, probably by its protective, antiseptic, and hygroscopic powers. Glycerin is rapidly absorbed by the intestines and is mostly oxidized in the body. By some it is thought to be, in some measure at least, a food, and indirectly a conservator of fats through its effects of increasing the non-nitrogenous reserve of the body. It is also believed to increase energy. Upon the glycogenic function its effects are still in doubt, many contending that it reduces the sugar when in excess in the body. Glycerin is laxative and in very large amounts acts not unlike alcohol, producing a similar intoxication and like gastric effects. It is also said to favor the elimination of uric acid. Therapy.—External. The bland and practically unirritating character of pure glycerin, in the presence of a little water, its permanence when exposed to the air (except absorption of moisture), and the completeness with which it shields the parts make it the most largely used external application in a great variety of local disorders. Its protective unctuousness without being greasy, its splendid and extensive solvent powers, its ability to hold in close contact to the tissues powders and other medicines that would dry and fall off if applied with alcohol or water, its antiseptic and emollient properties, and its antipruritic qualities, make it an indispensable vehicle. It is freely miscible with water and most ointment bases, and dissolves or holds in suspension the most commonly used external medicines. It should never be applied full strength, however, except where its dehydrating effects chiefly are desired. Through its great greed for water it readily removes moisture from the tissues, leaving them hardened and more likely to crack. A little water should be added to it for local use, or the parts may be moistened and left wet before its application. Only pure glycerin should be used. Equal parts of glycerin and water, or preferably rose water, form an elegant and emollient cosmetic lotion for chapped hands, lips, and face cracked or sore nipples, excoriated and chafed surfaces, and swollen hemorrhoids. A few grains of borax sometimes add to its efficiency. Compound tincture of benzoin and glycerin is also a pleasant application. For those exposed to winds and storms, and who have their hands much in water, the following is splendidly effective: Rx Glycerin, 2 fluidounces; Carbolic Acid, 10 grains; Tincture of Arnica Flowers, 1/2 fluidounce; Rose Water, enough to make 4 fluidounces. Mix. Sig.: Apply after thoroughly washing and rinsing the hands, and while they are still wet. Sometimes lobelia may be used in place of the arnica. Glycerin, added to poultices, renders them soothing and keeps them moist. It forms a good application to boils, carbuncles, small abscesses, and to local edemas, as of the prepuce. Here it may be used pure for its antiseptic and dehydrating effects. Mixed with alcohol (1 part), glycerin (3 parts), it makes a useful and “drawing” application for boils, and an antiseptic stimulant for foul ulcerations. A mixture of glycerin and water in proportions to suit the case may be used as a toilet wash for the mouth in fevers, to keep the tongue and lips soft and pliable, and to remove sordes and other viscous secretions. It also reduces the thirst occasioned by the dryness of the mouth. Glycerin may be used as a vehicle for lime water for application to small burns, erythema, and slight excoriations; for menthol for the relief of itching in urticaria, chronic eczema, and other pruritic conditions; for boric acid in the mild forms of facial dermatitis; for lactic acid in freckles, sunburn, and other pigmentations; for bismuth, borax, salicylic acid, phenol, boric acid, or sodium or potassium bicarbonate when their long-continued local effects are desired, especially in ulcerations and various skin diseases. A small portion of liquor potassae (1/2 per cent) may be added to it for use upon rough skin and in chronic eczema. Among the skin disorders in which it is especially useful as a vehicle may be mentioned impetigo, lichen, porrigo, psoriasis, pityriasis, herpes, and tinea versicolor (with mercuric chloride) and other parasitic affections. Glycerin (diluted) is one of the best agents to soften hardened and impacted cerumen prior to removing it by gently syringing with warm water. Any irritation caused by the hardened mass or the means of removal may be overcome by the following: Rx Colorless Hydrastis (Lloyd's), 1 fluidrachm; Glycerin, 20 drops; Distillate of Hamamelis, enough to make 1/2 fluidounce. Mix. Sig.: Apply warm to the parts by means of cotton. Glycerin is sometimes useful in otorrhea. A 5 per cent solution of phenol in glycerin upon cotton may be used for insertion into the aural canal after rupture of the membrana tympani wh¹

HUMULUS
   The strobiles of Humulus Lupulus, Linné (Nat. Ord. Urticaceae). Europe and Asia; common in cultivation. Common Names: Hops, Hop. Principal Constituents.—Lupulin (see Lupulinum), hop-bitter acid, humulitannic acid, resins, volatile oil and asparagine, trimethylamine, and choline. Preparation.—Specific Medicine Humulus. Dose, 1 to 60 drops. Specific Indications.—(See Lupulinum.) Action and Therapy.—External. A “hop-pillow” is a favorite device for procuring sleep. The odor of the hop has a decidedly sedative influence upon some individuals, relieving headache and producing sleep; in others it produces intense headache, with nausea and vomiting. Probably the psychic effect has much to do with its value in insomnia. A hot "hop bag" applied to the face is a favorite domestic cure for neuralgic face ache, and a “hop poultice” has anodyne properties. Internal. This is a remedy to relieve nervous excitability in fevers and to induce sleep. It also checks fermentation of the stomach contents and thus proves useful in fermentative dyspepsia with acid eructations. For other uses see Lupulinum, which has superseded hops largely as an internal medicine.¹

MEL
   A saccharine substance deposited in the honey comb by the Apis mellifera, Linné or Honey Bee (Family Apidae). Common Name: Honey. Description.—A thick, viscous, syrupy, yellowish or yellow-brown fluid, clear when fresh, but losing its translucence with age and depositing crystals. It has an intensely sweet, feebly acrid taste, and a distinctive odor. Principal Constituents.—Laevulose (fruit sugar), dextrose (grape sugar or glucose), and sucrose (cane sugar), with the first named predominating; also a trace of formic acid. Preparations.—1. Mel Depuratum, Clarified Honey. 2. Mel Boracis, Borax Honey (Borax, Glycerin, Honey). 3. Mel Rosa, Rose Honey (Fluidextract of Rose mixed with Clarified Honey). Dose, 1-2 fluidrachms. Action and Therapy.—External. Honey is sometimes incorporated in poultices for mammitis, fissured nipples, boils and carbuncles, and is added to gargles for irritated conditions of the fauces. Honey of borax and honey of rose are preparations frequently recommended for aphthous ulcers of the mouth and female genitalia. Our experience has led us to regard honey as a barbarous application in sore mouth of infants and young children on account of the vicious smarting it causes. The borax, in weak solutions, is equally as efficient. Internal. Honey is nutritious, demulcent, diuretic and antiseptic; sometimes it proves laxative. Though extensively used as a food it sometimes occasions unpleasant symptoms, as pyrosis, a peculiar and persistent bellyache, flatulent colic, head symptoms and occasionally diarrhea and urticaria. It is sometimes incorporated in cough mixtures as an agreeable demulcent, and is occasionally used to allay irritation of the urinary passages.¹

URTICA
   The leaves and root of Urtica dioica, Linné (Nat. Ord. Urticaceae). Common in Europe and the United States. Dose, 20 to 40 grains. Common Names: Nettle, Stinging Nettle. Principal Constituents.—A volatile oil, tannic and gallic acids, and probably formic acid. Preparation.—Specific Medicine Urtica. Dose, 1/2 to 20 drops. Specific Indications.—Excessive mucous discharges; choleraic discharges; profuse gastric secretion, with eructations and vomiting; eczema of infants. Action and Therapy.—External. Contact with growing nettle produces an intense stinging, probably due to an unorganized ferment in the hairs of the plant, though by some formic acid is believed to be the irritating substance. A lotion of Specific Medicine Urtica, 2 fluidrachms; Rose Water, enough to make 2 fluidounces, is reported to have been effective in stubborn eczema of the face and scalp. The crusts should first be removed by means of olive oil and asepsin soap. Its internal use should accompany its external application. Internal. Profuse choleraic and excessive mucous discharges, as in cholera infantum and dysentery, are reputed to have been controlled by urtica, while it also has a restraining effect in gastric affections with excessive gastric secretion, and eructations, and vomiting. Chronic cystitis, with large mucous diuresis, is also asserted to have been benefited by it.¹