105 110 115 120 125 Quick pain in ring-finger of each hand, and corresponding toes, lasting a few seconds. S. LOWER EXTREMITIES. Severe, fleeting, circumscribed pain on inner side of left thigh. S. Sharp pain in left thigh, two inches below Poupart's liga- ment. Quick pains in lower limbs. S. Coldness of lower extremities, as from wind: cured. D. Weakness and pain in knees, particularly in ascending. S. Sharp, circumscribed pain in both knees, at the internal condyles. S. Pain in knees. S. Dull, heavy pain from knees to toes, shifting suddenly from place to place. S. Formication below the knees. S. Circumscribed shifting pains below the knees. S. Smarting of right leg: cured. D. Tingling in legs. G. Legs dull, heavy, and full. S. Coldness of outer side of left leg, as from wind. G. Pain in ankle-joints, worse when moving. S. Cold feet. T. Cold perspiration on feet. T. Pulsation in both feet. S. Dull, boring pain in top of left foot. S. Quick pain in fourth toe of each foot, lasting a few seconds. S. VI. IRIS VERSICOLOR. BY C. WESSELHOEFT, M.D. BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. The common Iris, or blue-flag, is a perennial herb with a one-angled stem, from two to three feet high, with two, ranked, equitant, sword-shaped leaves which are more than half an inch wide. It springs from a root-stock or subterranean stem, and is furnished with two-leaved spathes, and ephemeral, blue flowers, variegated with green, yellow, and white at the base, and veined with purple. These are followed by oblong pods, with three rounded angles and convex sides. The perianth consists of six parts: three outer, larger, reflexed; three inner, smaller, erect. Alternate with these last, and under the petaloid stigmas, are the three stamens. These parts are apparently seated upon the obtusely triangular, flat-sided ovary, which develops into oblong, three-celled pods, filled with flat seeds. This common plant can be confounded with no other indigenous species except the Iris Virginica, which has a round stem, leaves less than half an inch wide, and each side of the ovary deeply two grooved. The Iris lacustris, a dwarf species, grows on the shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan. Iris cristata, another dwarf species, may be found in the mountains of Pennsylvania, and several foreign species are common in cultivation. The rootstock has long been used as an emetic, cathartic, and diuretic. From it is prepared a resinoid, known as iridin. PROVINGS BY C. WESSELHOEFT, M.D. OBSERVATION I. June 19, 1867.— While preparing the tincture, he chewed a slice of the fresh root; the taste was at first sweetish, and rescmbled that of slippery-elm bark: he thought it quite insipid at first, but, after about five minutes, there began a smarting, burning, and scratching sensation in the soft palate, at first slight, but slowly increasing to a violent fiery heat, spreading over the whole extent of fauces, upward toward the nares, and far down into the œsophagus. The throat felt as if it were three times as large as usual, and like a fiery cavern. Drinking water alleviated the burning for a short time only. Many enlarged bright-red blood-vessels became visible on the uvula, palate, and posterior wall of fauces. The heat, redness, and painful burning lasted for two hours and a half, very gradually subsiding. He was suffering from severe (habitual) headache at the time; this headache disappeared entirely in half an hour, though hitherto it had invariably lasted till he went to bed. OBSERVATION II. Oct. 29, 1867, ten, A.M.-Took two drops, fifth dec. dil. Immediate dizziness, with pressure in forehead; pressure towards and out at the ears; stiffness in trapezius muscles; pinching at pit of stomach. After twelve hours, rattling of mucus in the chest, not to be raised by hawking. Awoke at night with severe tickling under the top of the sternum, and cough, dry and distressing, because nothing could be raised nor the tickling reached. Rattling of loose phlegm low down in the windpipe. Oct. 30, ten, A.M. Catarrhal mucus in a lump rattled up and down the trachea; at length it was expectorated with a sweetish offensive taste. Obstruction and catarrhal soreness of airpassages; frequent hawking. Cough, with soreness in trachea; also tickling, without further expectoration. In the morning, soreness of the chest, across from nipple to nipple, with a tender, painful spot on right border of sternum; pain on inspiration. Felt as if he had taken a cold, with lameness of trunk and lumbar region. Sudden rheumatic lameness of posterior femoral region while exercising in the morning, causing a limp (after twenty-two hours). In the course of the morning, the pain took the direction of left sciatic nerve; could not walk without limping; pain shooting from behind large trochanter, down posterior part of left thigh into the foot on every motion, particularly while walking, till four, P.M., when it passed off; marked sciatica of left side. Never had anything of this nature before; when he takes cold, it never assumes the form of rheumatism or neuralgia. Oct. 31. Had slept well all night, but immediately on rising had severe pain in left sciatic nerve, only in walking; pain more acute and with more soreness than yesterday. Pain only on motion, with weakness of the left leg; cannot walk without limping; yet violent exertion, running or jumping, does not increase the pain more than moderate exertion. Slight hacking cough in the morning without expectoration, with soreness in the larynx anteriorly. Appetite, stools, and urine, normal. OBSERVATION III. The prover had been suffering from sore throat for five days, with irritation of larynx in the evening, and dryness and burning along the edge of soft palate, which awoke him nights; the tonsils were swollen, and painful on swallowing. Dec. 1, 1867, ten, A.M. Took ten drops, fifth decimal dilution. The sore throat did not trouble him throughout the day. In the evening, painful drawing and lameness behind left trochanter, extending down to the popliteal space; it lasted for an hour, causing him to limp. Dec. 2, nine, A.M.-Ten drops; and a similar dose at ten, P.M. § II.-11* This was followed by slight sciatic pain. The sore throat has been decidedly better all day; no smarting at night. Dec. 3, ten, A.M. gone this forenoon. to reach the cars. Fifteen drops; throat symptoms entirely Had to run a long distance in the afternoon Got very much heated and into a profuse perspiration. Took cold in the cars. Sore throat again in the evening; burning, smarting, dryness of palate and fauces; feeling as if a horsehair were drawn tightly across the soft palate, with burning and smarting. Took ten drops in a tea-spoonful of water on going to bed. For half an hour the smarting increased. Slept two hours, and awoke without the smarting. Slept all the rest of the night, and in the morning raised some loose mucus without coughing. Never had these sore throats without subsequent severe coryza and catarrhal cough for several days; in this instance, the affection was decidedly arrested at the outset. Since taking the Iris, has had soreness of the roof of the mouth, with roughness of the hard palate, very painful on being touched with the tongue or solid food, for several days. This is aggravated by a defective, filled tooth, painful, feeling too long, and very tender when used. Soreness of hard palate. Urine scanty and of strong odor; very dark and thick in the morning; it passes without force, and only after some straining, but without pain. Stools costive, and absent altogether for two days. OBSERVATION IV. From December 13 to 18, he took daily a dose of the third dec. dil. of Iris at ten, A.M., and at bedtime; beginning with ten drops and ending with twenty-five. Dec. 16. In the morning, while writing, felt sciatic twinges behind left trochanter, several times, quite severe, with lame ness. Dec. 19 and 20.-Took the first dec. dil. night and morning, beginning with ten drops, and ending with twenty. |