Issue 10, pp. 753-832, October 1861, SMSJ

796 Diphtheria. [October,tongue. \)\\ Bigelow has found this remedy valuable inthe disease as it prevails at Park ;and Mr. Thompson wasequally successful with it at Launcestown, England. Dr.Anderson, oi* New Vork, and Dr. Briggs, of Richmond,have employed calomel with marked benefit. It is a question,when calomel and chlorate of potassa are administeredconjointly, whether the effects of the potassa do not entiretyannul those of the calomel. Dr. Bigelow, as the result ofsome recent observations, says that although it may retardor prevent the specific effects on the salivary glands, it doesnot in any way modify its action upon the secretions. Itmay be well, however, when the effect of the calomel isimportant, to intermit the use of chlorate of potassa fortwenty-four hours, or to alternate the use of these medicinesat wide intervals between the administration of the two.Emetics are serviceable when portions of the detachedmembrane are lodged in the throat, without being expelled,or when the disease is making rapid progress, and threatensto invade the larynx. The action of the emetic in this instanceis frequently to detach the pellicle and dislodge thepseudo-membrane. At the same time that the membraneis thus ejected, the throat is relieved of the foul secretionswhich might otherwise be received into the stomach, to thegreat detriment of the patient.But, whatever treatment may be adopted, the fact shouldnever be lost sight of, that the system is laboring under theinfluence of a powerful and most depressing poison ; and itmatters but little, so far as the constitutional treatment isconcerned, whether this poison be at first local, and afterwardsdisseminated through the system, or is from the beginningof a general character, and -incidentally developedm the mucous membranes of the air-passages. In the performanceof her functions in the eliminations of this poison,Nature requires to be sustained, not only by the free use ofthe tonics already indicated, but by a liberal allowance ofthe most concentrated and nutritious articles of diet, inwhich beef tea, milk, cj;'j;>, brandy, wine and coffee standprominent. W"hen there is difficulty in swallowing, notonly these articles of diet, but quinine may be introducedby means of injections ; a resort to which should not bedeferred until it is impossible to administer medicines bythe mouth, but whenever the difficulty of swallowing becomesat all a prominent feature in the complaint. Injectionsshould not be administered in greater quantities than