The Diseases of Women: Homoeopathically Treated

Front matter

Google to make the world's books discoverable online.

Il has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one thai was never subject

to copy right or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books

Preface To The Second Edition

More than twenty years' constant practice at the London Homoeopathic Hospital has given me the opportunity of thoroughly revising and amending a great portion of the First Edition of this work ; much has been re- written, much compared and added to, partly from more elaborate and substantial works, especially that of Dr. Quernsey, of America, on which too much praise cannot be bestowed, and partly from a long continuance of practice, private and public. I therefore commit it to the press in the earnest hope that it may be useful in disseminating Homoeopathy among the public generally, and particularly with that class of patients to whom it more especially refers.

19, Dorset Square, N.W.

December y 1873.

L

Preface To The First Edition

With extreme diffidence the author has ventured upon the publication of the following work, which embraces a series of diseases of the greatest interest and importance, to which justice could scarcely be done in a much larger volume ; but he was induced to attempt this practical treatise upon the Homoeopathic treatment of Pregnancy, Labour, and the Puerperal State, and the various derangements and accidents to which they are liable, in conjunction with the Functional and Organic Diseases of the Womb, because it appeared to him that, as the progress of Homoeopathy is undeniably rapid, and its study daily becoming more extended, especially since the establishment of two Hospitals in the Metropolis, and of one in Manchester, a great hiatus would be found to exist in this department of Practical Medicine ; at least, it was an exigency which, some years back, pressed itself upon his own mind, when first studying and testing the novel and startling doctrines of Hahnemann.

This work is intended to answer the twofold purpose of a Manual for the Homoeopathic student and Volume of Reference for the experienced practitioner, who would refresh his memory in respect of the remedies which are most in correspondence with the symptomatology of the diseases treated of.

Preface To The First Edition. VII

The author, in attempting chis difficult task, has felt deeply the necessity of compressing his observations respecting the diseases and their symptoms into as concise a form as possible, in accordance with the scope and intention of the work ; and is therefore sensible of the limited nature of the physiological and pathological observations which accompany it.

On this point, however, he is somewhat relieved by the consideration, that so many excellent Treatises have been written on the diseases to which he refers, the pathological accounts of which leave so little to be desired, and with which all medical practitioners are supposed to be acquainted, that a simp!

quences and pathological cond: to give opportunity for an manual, of the Homoeopathic treatment.

The author has also to acknowledge, generally, the use he has made of the labours of others in preparing his work. He has diligently compared his own experience with theirs : and whilst he refers with gratitude and pleasure to the light thrown upon these diseases by the writings of Gooch, Clarke, Churchill, Montgomery, Burns, Simpson, Bennett, Ash well, and others, he is compelled to avow what experience has proved to him. — namely, that the Homceopathk Treatment has an immense superiority over the severe, local applications, in all the Diseases of the Womb. The next grand improvement in the management of these diseases is undoubtedly that introduced by Dr. Simpson, of Edinburgh, in the treatment of certain kinds of displacement of that organ.

known of each disease, — nd termination, its consens, is all that is necessary position, in

Vlll PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

The portions of the work devoted to Pregnancy, and the Diseases of Childhood, are written with the view of being also useful to mothers, who, having been accustomed to Homoeopathic treatment, and made sensible of its value, find themselves out of the reach of a practitioner of that school. A detailed exposition of the Symptoms of Pregnancy has been omitted, because it would involve only a physiological analysis, and have no therapeutical bearing.

The Obstetric Art being divided into three parts, viz., Manual, Instrumental, and Medical, has obtained only a partial consideration. The first two divisions are not here touched upon, because they have been so fully and elaborately treated of in the various manuals devoted to that subject ; and have been, and continue to be, ably taught from the academical chairs established for that purpose. It has not been thought necessary to recapitulate in this work what has been so perfectly studied and so frequently published, the more especially as it admits of little change, and does not affect the medical treatment.

The author has, therefore, confined himself to the third division, which pertains to the Medical Management, and has included whatever relates to the moral and physical well-being of the pregnant female.

In treating of the Pregnant State, the several conditions of Abortion, Haemorrhage, Labour, &c, come under consideration, and, as a natural consequence, the Treatment of the Infant. And, seeing that it would be incomplete, if the diseases to which women are most liable during the puerperal state were omitted, Mania, Convulsions, Puerperal Fever, &c, are arranged under that division.

The author has also consulted the works of Hahnemann,

Preface To The First Edition. [x

Jahr, Laurie, Bcenmnghausen, Hartmann, Croserio, Teste, and others.

In recording the application of the remedies to the several forms of Diseases, he has carefully compared the characteristic symptoms of the remedy with those of the disease, and given the special indications. In some instances, it has been only necessary to refer to the names of the medicines, either because the sympathetic symptoms of the disease are vague and uncertain, or so similar to those attendant upon other diseases of an analogous character, as to render the repetition useless or tiresome.

Again, it not unfrequently happens, that a single symptom affords the clue to the selection of a particular remedy, whose curative effect confirms the propriety of the choice. This usually depends upon an idiosyncrasy in the individual, which has exalted the sympathetic symptom into a commanding influence over the rest. As these examples are not a part of the natural history of the disease, but rather of that of the individual, it is scarcely possible to present so complete a list of the remedies, as should include every peculiarity of this kind. The practitioner must therefore consult Bcenninghausen's 'Manual of Therapeutics,' with Jahr's, in order to select the most appropriate medicine. A list of the remedies most approved, from their relations with the disease, or " ab uiu in morbis," is also added in many instances which may assist the memory of the more experienced practitioner.

It is presumed that a certain insight into the mode of applying the remedies has been attained by the student of Homoeopathy before he can advantageously use this work ; all detail on that head, whether as descriptive c£ \.V«. t«Mt

X PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

dies themselves, or of their application, has therefore been omitted.

With these prefatory observations the author commits his work to the public, with the earnest and sincere hope that those members of the profession who are still blinded by prejudice, or whose analytic tone of mind is opposed to the reception of a curative fact, the modus operandi of which cannot be palpably demonstrated, and stand aghast at the very threshold of Homoeopathy, awed by the simplicity of nature, which is its characteristic, may ere long find the scales fall from their eyes, and be able to see the many blessings which this method of cure is capable of conferring upon humanity.

But he exhorts inquirers, whether of the Homoeopathic or Allopathic school, not to neglect the study of the Materia Medica pura, and to use this volume, if it should be thought worthy, only as a guide to that admirable compendium of the pathogenetic relations of the remedies.

June iStky 1851.

Table Of Contents

Preface . ' .

Introduction Table of Medicines

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS

PAGE V

PART I. Functional Diseases of the Womb

MENSTRUATION

DISORDERS OF MENSTRUATION, AMENORRHEA, DYSMENORRHCEA, AND MENORRHAGIA .

CHLOROSIS, OR GREEN-SICKNESS LEUCORRHCEA .

DYSMENORRHCEA

Neuralgic dysmenorrhea .

Inflammatory dysmenorrhea Mechanical dysmenorrhea

MENORRHAGIA .

MENSTRUAL CLIMACTERIC ib.

34 41

50 54

Xll CONTENTS.

PAGE

HYSTERIA . . .

. 67

The hysteric fit .

• 75

The hysteric diathesis .

Hysteric headache .

Hysterical affection of the spinal marrow

Hysterical states of the mind

Hysterical mania .

HYSTERALGIA, OR IRRITABLE UTERUS .

PART II. Pregnancy, Parturition, and the Puerperal State

GENERAL REMARKS ON PREGNANCY .

HYGIENIC RULES TO BE OBSERVED DURING PREGNANCY

Disturbance consequent upon incipient pregnancy Febrile action .

Sickness Heartburn

Cravings or longings Spasms of the stomach Constipation Diarrhoea

Haemorrhoids (Piles) Colic .

Pains m the loins Urinary difficulties Jaundice >" Palpitation of the heart

Syncope Dyspnoea and oppression

93 96

103 104

ib.

ib.

Contents

Xlll

PAGE

DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY {continued)—

PART III. Methods of investigation . . . .251

INFLAMMATION OF THE VAGINA (Simple, Pustular,

and Papular) . . . . • 255

CONGESTION OF THE WOMB . .259

METRITIS (Inflammation of the Womb) . . .265

Uterine phlebitis .... 267

Chronic metritis .... 272

A nti version, Anteflexion, Retroversion, and Retroflexion of the Uterus . . . . .286

PROLAPSUS OF THE VAGINA . . . 296

SIMPLE INDURATION AND ULCERATION OF THE

OS AND CERVIX UTERI . .298

Corroding ulcer of the uterus . . . 308

CONTENTS. XV

PAGE

CARCINOMA, OR SCIRRHO-CANCER OF THE UTERUS ....

Hard tumours of the uterus • Moles of the uterus

PHYSOMETRA, OR TYMPANITES UTERI .

HYDROMETRA, DROPSY OF THE WOMB.

FUNGUS H-flSMATODES UTERI

RAMOLLISEMENT OF THE UTERUS OVARITIS, INFLAMMATION OF THE OVARIES

HYDROPS OVARII, OVARIAN DROPSY

OVARIAN TUMOUR

Part IV. 3" 317 319

3*3

Chloroform, and its Adaptation to the Treatment of Difficult Parturition . . 354

PART V. Management of the Infant, and Diseases of

Early Childhood .... 362

ANTIPSORIC PROPHYLACTIC TREATMENT . 364

Asphyxia . . . . ib.

Ecchymosis, or blood-spots . % . . ib.

Deformities, or monstrosities . . ib «

XVI

CONTENTS.

PAGE

[continued)-

Maternal marks . . . .366

Cyanosis

. ib.

Hernias . . ,

. 3*7

Induration of the cellular tissue

. ib.

Swelling and hardness of the breasts ,

. ib.

Hiccough

. 368

Coryza, or cold in the head

. ib.

Ophthalmia of new-born infants

. ib.

* Constipation

. 369

Diarrhoea

, ib.

Sleeplessness

. 370

Cries of infants • ib.

Retention of urine

Profuse urination ib.

Intertrigo, or chafings ib.

Aphthae, or thrush

Jaundice

Spasms of infants ib.

Homceopathy being no longer a novelty, and having survived the contempt which is ever cast upon medical innovations, it may seem undignified, as well as unnecessary, to meet the assailants of that method with the language of defence ; because such language on the part of its advocates would imply a weakly or incomplete development of those principles which they believe to be true, and, therefore, worthy of universal acceptation. But it should be remembered that science is a plant of gradual though immortal growth. Homceopathy is now an established branch of medical science, the discovery of which marked an epoch in medical progress, and associated with Hahnemann the glories of a pure and imperishable renown. Like that of almost every other great discovery, its adoption has not been commensurate with its importance, — an unfortunate fact, we admit, but far from discouraging to the Homceopathist, who knows that science, in perfect analogy with the civilisation of which it is the outward and visible sign, must have its infancy before it can arrive at maturity, and pass from [he one to the other state by aim imperceptible degrees. Tha known to the ancients we ha; enunciated by Democritus, a and therefore, although the ge and applied the principle simi/ia simitibus curantur, and 1 Homceopathy and the Ancients ; ' Brit. Journal of HamttOfj.'iii ^ the Homceopathic law was ; conclusive evidence. 1 It was d recognised by Hippocrates ; lius of. Hahnemann elucidated proved it to be the expression of a general law in medicine, the principle existed just as much as that of gravitation did before its discovery by Newton. Had the discovery of Homoeopathy been shrouded in the mystery of Charlatanism, and imposed upon the world heralded by advertisements obviously intended to delude the ignorant and entrap the unwary, or paraded with pretensions the value of which could not be proved, it might well have provoked the scorn and contempt of the learned, the benevolent and the privileged. Homoeopathists appeal not to argument or theory alone, but to that practical observation by which they are anxious and ever have been anxious that their method should be tried. That the all-important principle of Homoeopathy should be scouted, rejected in toto^ and treated with insult by the so-called scientific part of a profession that deems itself liberal and enlightened, is truly lamentable, and may be quoted as an edifying example of those deflections of the human intellect which result from educational bias.

Has Homoeopathy any of the characteristics of Charlatanism ? Does faith in the principle — similia similibus curantur — involve contradiction or absurdity ? Is such faith confined to a few minds ? Are there no works in which the truths of Homoeopathy are made patent to the world, so that he who wills may study and appreciate ? Are the powerful (!) arguments dealt out against those truths the efforts of enlightened individuals, who have examined the Hahnemannic method of cure, and put it to the test in a fair and legitimate spirit, with sufficient knowledge of the principles involved, — or do they proceed from that wilfully blind class who will not condescend to make themselves acquainted with " the German conceit," as it has been called, which they think proper to abuse ?

The medicine of Hahnemann is the medicine of experience, and the logic of his disciples is the logic of facts : — Homoeopathy is no abstraction of the closet — no chimerical hypothesis — no fanciful influence of metaphysical agencies. By inexact writers it is called an invention and a system; — but it is neither an invention nor a system, but a discovery and a method. For all practical purposes Hahnemann was the discoverer of that heterodox truth similia simiiibus curantur ; to him, also, we are indebted for a method of cure at which the tyro laughs, and the accomplished physician launches his sarcasms, but which experience has shown to be both simple and efficient.

Dishonest men, loud in their deprecation of a science of which they have just enough knowledge to misunderstand it, often commit themselves most egregiously in their statements concerning Homceopathy. Their excessive anxiety to confound the disciples of Hahnemann makes them regardless of such trifling matters as sense and consistency.

For some time past these opponents have seriously set themselves to the task of proving that dangerous poisons are used in the globules administered by homceopathists, in utter obliviousness of their own oft-repeated declaration, that Homrcopathic doses are doses of nothing. How can they reconcile these two assertions ? Would it not be far better to confess their entire ignorance of those principles in opposing which they contradict themselves. Poisons indeed ! What are Calomel, Corrosive Sublimate, Arsenic, Digitalis, Prussic Acid, Laudanum &c, which the Allopaths so freely prescribe, and in poisonous doses too ?- — Are not all the most valuable medicines potent poisons ? We know that poisons are most liberally dealt out by the old school of medicine, hut we do not know that infinitesimal doses of those poisons when prescribed upon the admirable principle of similia simiiibus curantur, ever did or ever can produce the terrible results ascribed to them by these imaginative defenders of Allopathy.

It is in Homoeopathic therapeutics alone that we obvam any positive and accurate knowledge of *he ca^^iX.-*} *& medicines to affect the different organs of the animal economy, as well as the special structures of which those organs are composed. From the same source we derive experience as to the mode in which medicinal substances influence individual and associated organs. Moreover, we have in Homoeopathic therapeutics proofs of the temperaments in which different remedies develop their peculiar action ; — for example, on referring to the pathogenetic properties of Pulsatilla^ we find that it has been proved to exert its action particularly upon the venous system and the mucous membranes, producing increased excretions, — on the fibrous tissues of the joints and fasciae, — on the nervous system, disturbing the general sensibility, — on the skin and stomach in their separate or associated functions, — on the brain and nerves, producing wakefulness, fever, delirium, dreams, a form of intermittent fever, also fever of a typhoid character, attended with nervousness, irregular circulation, the peculiar irregularities and perturbations of the nervous system which often accompany pregnancy, affections of the senses, toothache, catarrhal affections of different organs, congestions of the viscera, diarrhoea, disorders of the pelvic organs, especially of the female, and during pregnancy, menstrual difficulties, suppression of the uterine and mammary secretions, haemoptysis, biliary disorders, nervous debility, and dropsical effusions.

In this Category we possess a mirror of the remedy, positive and unchangeable, which no theory can subvert, no experiments contradict. In this mirror we have reflected the pathological condition, the morbid effects, and the express features of various diseases. Here is a chart which directs us in the track of morbid action so often manifested in the animal economy ; and, if the pathogenesis of Pulsatilla be taken up by the student of any disease for which it is the remedy, and he should compare the symptoms developed by both, the least that can happen will be that it will excite i were told tha

11 excite in his mind a feeling of astonishment. If he told that this correspondence indicates Pulsatilla to be the required remedy, he wouid naturally inquire what proof there is that, because its morbid action is shown uniformly to occupy a certain track in the healthy body, it is the remedy which ought to cure similar effects produced by other causes ? What evidence can there be but that of putting it to the test ? The possibility of such being a fact first startled the mind of Hahnemann, when he found that Bark, taken in a healthy state of the body, produced the kind of ague for which it was well known to be a cure. He then put this great idea to the test ; and having verified it by experience in thousands of cases, and the test being daily repeated in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, let those who glory in the title of " legitimate " as opposed to philosophical medicine also put it to the trial, and thus complete the link which, to their intelligence, is wanting, in the chain of evidence. But, in so doing, let sound philosophy prevail. If a remedy, such as Pulsatilla, is found to produce symptoms so closely resembling a certain disease as to lead to the inference that it might be a curative agent as regards that disease in putting it to the test, would it not be a natural supposition, that, if a dose were given powerful enough to produce any of the ascertained pathogenetic effects, an increase, and not a diminution of the symptoms ought to be expected ? and, consequently, would it not be wise to administer a small portion only of such dose, in order fairly to test its curative efficacy ? Here, then, is the whole theory of Homceopathic infinitesimals, exemplified in practice. And, if this small dose of such specific remedy should be found sufficient to produce a slight reaction in the organism, a curative effect is the result: — just as when a burnt finger is held at a certain distance from the fire the pain and inflammation are sooner removed —though at first rendered more acute — than if it be plunged into cold water. What can be plainer than this ? The action is pathologically and physiologically in harmony with the laws of nature : that is to say, in correspondence with, or having a clear relation to, the existing morbid state.

Disease is often only a derangement of the function of an organ, — an excess, or deficiency of the dynamic vital powers, or, in other words, of the moving powers of life.

Functional disease, long continued, induces organic disease, and may be either acute or chronic.

Altered nutrition (a most important function), combined with other functional irregularities, may be the cause of the worst form of organic disease ; so that we come at last to impairment of the moving powers of life, as the a fons et origo " of disease. Where, then, is the sound physiology which can sneer at Homoeopathy, and apply powerful disease-producing remedies to a healthy organ, in one part of the body, in order to cure a disease existing in an organ at a distant part ? Is the probably healthy liver to be punished because the kidneys have failed in their function, — or is a muco-gastritis to be engendered in order to get rid of a cutaneous eruption, — or is a Dysentery to be relieved — a feat the performance of which I have witnessed — at the expense of caries of the bones ?

Yet this is Allopathy. By a violent revulsive action upon one organ, or set of organs, it attempts the relief of others, forgetting that the end cannot be attained without diminishing the vitality, or deteriorating the tissues of the organ which is attacked by the pseudo-remedy.

Again, an organ under the influence of disease is rendered sensitive and irritable, so that a small, fractional dose will affect it when the remedy is selected in accordance with its proved relation to that organ ; while a large and potent dose, whose action is directed to a distant organ, will

INTRODUCTION. J

not affect it. Let us illustrate this. Light is the appropriate stimulus to the eye ; but if that organ be affected with ophthalmia, can it bear the same amount of light as when its healthy condition was unimpaired? or will not a single pencil of light aggravate the symptoms ?

If the auditory nerve be inflamed, or affected with a morbid sensibility, do not the ordinary wavelets of air, which are the ordinary vehicles of sound, strike upon the ear like the roaring of the sea ?

What would be more absurd than to cause the eye to weep, by the application of a morbid stimulus, because the organ of hearing was affected, or to drum the latter to deafness, because the former was diseased.

If it be said, there is no correlative action between the eye and the ear, — no correspondence of function from which we might infer that the one would be relieved at the expense of the other,— we ask, where is the greater correspondence between the liver and the mucous membrane of the intestines ? or between that organ and an erysipelatous leg I And yet, under the old system, the unfortunate Liver is made out to be an universal disturber of the peace, in the animal economy, who can only be kept in order by perpetual chastisement with calomel. This would be very amusing if it were not often followed by such direful results ; or, as a great opponent of Homosopathy has said, " if safety, life, and health, were not the stakes." 1

Caries of bone is the not unfrequent consequence of dosing delicate scrofulous children with calomel and grey powder, according to the rules of what is termed "legitimate medicine."

The professional mind has lately run riot in chemical philosophy, under the guidance of some clever but un-

ictical physicians. Because it is demonstrable that acid

' 'Observations in Medicine," by Dr. P. Ha\\. W&t^itvate.

secretions at times superabound in the body, and that an acid is neutralised by an alkali out of the body, it has been considered a curative indication — in the treatment of diseases in which the former condition prevails — for the administration of alkalies. But the acid secretion is only the effect of a perverted function. The imperfect organic vital action, which allowed of the formation of an excess of acid, is the disease which ought to be attacked. The cause, and not the effect, should be dealt with. As well might we attempt to interrupt the current of electricity passing along the wire to the positive side of a galvanic battery, by adding an alkali to the water in which its extremity was immersed, as to cure a dyspepsia by the administration of carbonate of soda. But we have been taunted by one who, though he has done good service in experimental physiology, sometimes writes with greater vehemence than wisdom, on what he is pleased to call the " disguised nothingness of Homoeopathy."

If we object that our Aconite has a benign influence over the vascular and nervous systems, such as no bloodletting can have, — and that Bryonia can be satisfactorily shown so to reduce the heart's action as to render acute pleurisy a most tractable disease, — then it is charged upon us, as a heavy crime, that we use poisonous agents under the guise of homoeopathy ; on the other hand, should we declare that a hitherto unknown and inert substance has been proved to possess a most happy power in certain chronic affections — as, for instance, Sepia in diseases of the womb — then it is that we imagine a virtue which does not exist, and delude ourselves and our patients, by descanting upon effects which are attributable to the vis medicatrix natura. Nevertheless, we know these things to be facts, and are content to bear the obloquy. "Magna est Veritas et prevalebit."

One of the gravest errors, in the practice of the old school of medicine, is committed in the exhibition of purgatives in the puerperal state ; yet, strange to say, it is here where they declare the necessity of this approbium therapeulkum to be the most absolute.

It is unfortunately not uncommon for a woman to be attacked, on the fourth or fifth day after delivery, with inflammation of the bowels, immediately after the exhibition of the usual purgative, — whether this be senna and salts or simply castor oil. The patient is bled and purged still more, to overcome the resistance which the inflammatory condition of the muscular coat of the intestines offers to the the alvine contents. The result is from twenty-four to forty-eight houi mation and mortification of the co traced, with, now and then, a collec impacted in the tube, at the s o frequently fatal in After death, inflamof the intestine are in of feculent matter : of the disease. This is held up, with wonderful gravity, as a climax of proof that purgatives are imperative ; but we reason differently. The truth is, that faeces will occasionally become impacted in some part of the intestinal canal, during pregnancy, in spite of purgatives, in consequence of a loss of tonicity or contractile power in the gut, — induced by pressure of the gravid uterus, or by some other cause. When delivery has taken place, the gut does not necessarily recover its normal condition immediately; this depends upon the extent of the local paralysis. As nothing is done (allopathically) to remedy this condition by medicine,— -partly because it is not recognised, and partly because there are no allopathic means applicable to this purpose, — the condition continues until disturbed by the absolutely necessary purgative on the third day. This paralysed portion of the intestine, then, with its impacted scybala, is isolated, and resembles, as far as the action of purgatives is concerned, any inert tube or channel. They pass along it, but fail to excite its contractions, and the scybala therefore remain. But this is not si\ -, AtVowj^i. ^t purgative does not always excite the normal contractions of the temporarily paralysed portion of the canal, it does excite, irritate, and inflame that portion in immediate proximity, and the inflammation directly involves the portion whose vitality is already impaired ; mortification of this part is the consequence, — all of which is most unjustly laid to the presence of scybala, which had lain there, probably for weeks, without exciting inflammation or even irritation.

It may be asked, how does Homoeopathy propose to remedy this ? We answer, by a rational and physiological view of the actions of remedies, and of the organs upon which they operate.

Homoeopathy shuns remedies administered in doses capable of exciting disease.

Homoeopathy manifests the real virtues of medicines, by proving in the healthy individual upon what organs and tissues they are capable of exerting specific action.

Homoeopathy selects, in pursuing the curative intention, such remedies as are known to act upon the organ or tissue which is under morbid influence, and to develop in that symptoms similar to the disease. For example, Nux vomica is known to act upon the nerves of sensation and motion, in particular, and to paralyse muscular action, by exhausting the irritability. This is part of its general action. Its particular action, among other developments, operates upon the intestinal canal, in promoting venous congestion, and diminishing peristaltic action.

Veratrum is another remedy whose property is to diminish irritability, and to induce a paralytic state of parts of the muscular system. Now, we take these two remedies as illustrative of the point in question. In the puerperal state, the Homoeopathist, instead of applying an irritating drug to the sensitive intestine, administers, probably, — if relief from the bowels should not occur naturally, — a dose of Nux vomica, one property of which is to act upon the irritability, and,