According to my observation, we may regard Apis as a specific remedy for spontaneous limping; every new trial confirms me in this statement. Apis may be depended upon as a capital remedy in every stage of this disease, as long as the psoric miasm is kept in the background; but as soon as the psoric taint is fully developed, a suitable anti-psoric has to be given in alternation with Apis. My experience has led me to prefer Kali carbonicum to all other anti-psoric remedies in this disease. But inasmuch as the keenest observer may overlook the right moment when the psoric poison begins to operate, it is well to forestall the enemy at the very commencement, which may be done with the more propriety, the more certainly we know that these two remedies, Apis and the anti-psoric, not only not counteract, but mutually support each other from the beginning to the end of the treatment. After many experiments, I have hit upon the following course as the most proper:

If the limping, as is often the case in the severest forms of the disease, sets in gradually, almost imperceptibly and without much pain, I give at once a globule of Kali carbonicum 30. As a general rule, this one dose is sufficient to arrest the further development of the disease, and to award all danger so completely, that one, who is unacquainted with the nature of the malady, feels disposed to assert that it never existed. But if the pains continue, and are accompanied with fever, I resort to Apis 3, after Kali had been allowed to act for a day or two, mixing a drop in twelve tablespoonfuls of water, and giving a dose every hour, or every two or three hours, according as the pains come on more or less frequently. This treatment is continued until the patient is quieted, after which the two remedies are permitted to act without any further repetition of the medicine.

If the inflammation of the joint sets in suddenly and with a violent fever, as is often the case after violent commotions, castigations, etc., we prepare a solution of Aconite in the same manner as the Apis, and give these two medicines in alternate tablespoonful doses every hour. After these two solutions are finished, and the first assault of the disease has been controlled, we give a globule of Kali 30, and permit it to act for twenty-four hours. After this period we again give Apis every hour, two or three hours, as above, until the pains cease, after which Kali is allowed to act until the disease is entirely cured.

If suppuration and caries of the joint have already set in, no matter whether the pus has found an outlet in the region of the joint itself, or burrows down the thigh to find an outlet somewhere else, Kali is no longer sufficient, Silicea has to be exhibited; it is more hom[oe]opathic to caries than other anti-psorics. We give a globule of Silicea 30, and allow it to act for two or three days, after which a drop of Apis 3, is repeated morning and night, until the pains—which may require a more frequent exhibition of the drug—cease, and a healthy pus is secreted. After this change is accomplished, Silicea is sufficient to complete the healing of the osseous disorganization, and should be left undisturbed to the end of the treatment.

I have found this simple proceeding so perfectly efficient in this dreadful malady that the fever was speedily controlled, and rendered harmless, the inflammation was scattered without leaving a trace behind, the secretion ichor was transformed into that of healthy pus, and the disorganization of the joint was prevented; the limb, even after it had become elongated, again assumed its normal shape, the carious masses were expelled, the various channels of suppuration were stopped, and the danger of a fatal consumptive fever was averted. If our aid is not sought until the head of the femur is destroyed, and the bone has completely slipt out of its socket, it is impossible to prevent shortening and stiffness of the limb. Another splendid triumph over a dreadful source of danger and disease!

WHITE SWELLING OF THE KNEE

is very similar to this affection of the hip-joint. Here too we observe the same insidious inflammatory beginning, the same irresistible tendency to ichorous suppuration and disorganization of the constituent parts of the joint, the same tendency to destroy the organism by gradual exhausting fever. We have unmistakeable proofs of the presence of a poisonous process pervading the whole organism. He who has had frequent opportunities of observing this disease, knows perfectly in what mysterious obscurity it is still enveloped, and how specifically different this affection of the knee sometimes appears to us from the hip disease. The hom[oe]opathic law teaches us more positively than any thing else could do, that every case of disease should be viewed as something specifically distinct from other cases, and should be treated with medicines that are specifically adapted to it. An experience of many years has taught me that iodine is the best remedy to meet the symptoms which generally characterize white swelling of the knee. Even at the present day Iodine is one of those remedies that require a good deal of elucidation. Hence we should not, carried away by analogy, conclude from those things which are not clear, concerning other things which are no more so. Nevertheless the observations which have been made so far, have led to some highly important, more or less positive conclusions, and have shown us with a certain degree of satisfaction and certainty, that iodine is an inestimable gift of God, by means of which we are enabled to free mankind from one of the most frightful complications, the psoric, sycosic and mercurial miasms. I have been induced by various signs to believe that, in white swelling of the knee such a complication exists.

Considering the paucity of our observations bearing upon this important point, it seems impracticable to make any positive statements with reference to the assistance that we might possibly derive from the use of Apis in this disease. My own opportunities for observation having been very few, I recommend the use of Apis in white swelling of the knee, to my professional brethren. The following symptoms in "Hering's American Provings," seem to indicate it; No.'s 828, 829 and 931, "violent pain in the left knee, externally, above and below the knee, particularly above, somewhat in front; painful [oe]dematous swelling of the knee; burning stinging about the knee." In white swelling of the knee, where no all[oe]opathic treatment has yet been pursued, I recommend Iodine 30, one globule, in six dessert-spoonfuls of water, a dessert-spoonful morning and evening, until the whole is finished; after this wait three days, and then give Apis 3, as before mentioned, a tablespoonful every hour or three hours, or a drop morning and evening, according as the pain or danger is more or less pressing. Apis is more especially useful in removing pain, in changing the secretion of ichor to that of healthy pus, and in arresting the consumptive fever. After these results have been accomplished, we permit the previously given Iodine to achieve the cure. If Iodine had been abused under all[oe]opathic treatment, before the hom[oe]opathic treatment commenced, we give Iodine 5000, one globule, in order to subdue the Iodine diathesis, and thus remove the most powerful obstacle to a cure. Any one who knows more about this point, will please mention it.

Although Apis acts well in white swelling of the knee, which is comparatively a rare disease, yet it is far more useful in

DYSENTERY.

It is undoubtedly true that Hahnemann has revealed to us the means of surpassing in this disease the all[oe]opathic wisdom of a thousand years, by a far more successful, safe and expeditious treatment. Nevertheless, much remains to be desired in this dreaded disease. Who does not know that medicinal aggravations are particularly to be dreaded in this malady? Who has not often felt embarrassed to select the right remedy among three or four that seemed indicated by the symptoms, and where it was nevertheless important, in view of the threatening danger, to select at once the right remedy? Who has not been struck by the strange irregularity that in a disease which generally sets in as an epidemic, different remedies are often indicated by different groups of symptoms? Who has not become convinced after a careful observation of the course of the disease, that nothing is more deceptive than the pretended curative virtues of corrosive sublimate in dysentery, and that it is a matter of duty to be mindful, in this very particular, of the warning words of the master who, having himself been deceived at one time by the delusive palliation of mercury, addresses to us the remarkable warning that "mercury, so far from responding to all non-venereal maladies, on the contrary is one of the most deceitful palliatives the temporary action of which is not only soon followed by a return of the original symptoms of disease, but even by a return of these symptoms in an aggravated form." (See Hahnemann's Chronic Diseases, Vol. II.)

This delusive palliation is more particularly one of the effects of corrosive sublimate in Dysentery; and is exceedingly dangerous in this disease. Hence we warn practitioners against this danger.

We feel so much the more grateful to the principle Similia Similibus, which, even though it did not protect its discoverer from faulty applications, yet finally led us to the discovery of the right remedy for dysentery.

No.'s 590 and 599 in the American Provings, read as follows: "Violent tenesmus; nausea, vomiting and diarrh[oe]a, first lumpy and not fetid, afterwards watery and fetid, lastly papescent, mixed with blood and mucus, and attended with tenesmus; afterwards dysenteric stools, with tenesmus and sensation as if the bowels were crushed;" combining these symptoms with the general character of Apis, particularly the circumstance that not only the ordinary precursors and first symptoms of dysentery, but also its terminations and its sequelae, and its most important complications find their approved remedy in Apis; all this shows us that Apis is a natural remedy for dysentery. This truth is abundantly confirmed by experience. All my previously obtained results in practice, testify to the correctness of this statement.

At the very commencement of the disease, a globule of Apis 3 is sufficient to cut short the disease so that the patient feels easy, and sleeps quietly. During this slumber, fever, pain and tenesmus disappear, and the patient wakes with a feeling of health. If this should not take place in three hours, owing to the more advanced state of the disease, another dose of Apis is required, after which the patient soon feels well.

If the dysenteric disease has had a chance to localize itself, and to assume a higher degree of intensity, it becomes necessary to excite the organic reaction all the more frequently. Under these circumstances we repeat the medicine every hour, or every two or three hours, one globule at a time, until all further medication has become unnecessary.

It is well known that epidemic diarrh[oe]a, viz., a diarrh[oe]a resulting from peculiar alterations of the normal condition of the atmosphere, earth, water, indispensable food, or from other still unknown elementary influences inevitably acting upon every body, commences in the form of a simple, apparently unimportant diarrh[oe]a; that it gradually increases in intensity as the processes of nutrition and sanguification become more deeply disturbed, and that it finally terminates in life-destroying cholera. All these different stages of diarrh[oe]a, whether with or without vomiting, watery or papescent, of one color or another, with or without pain, with or without fever, have yielded readily, safely and thoroughly to Apis in my hands. I must except, however, cholera of the epidemic form, where I have not yet been able to try Apis for want of opportunity. As far as my personal observations go, I am disposed to affirm that the best mode of effecting a good result, is to give Apis 3 and Aconite 3, in alternation, one drop of each preparation well shaken in a bottle containing twelve tablespoonfuls of water, and giving a tablespoonful every hour or three hours, if the danger is great, and in milder cases a full drop alternately morning and evening. This treatment is continued until an improvement sets in, after which the organic reaction is permitted to develope itself, which will terminate in a few hours or days, according as the disease is more or less violent, and assistance was sought more or less early, in the perfect recovery of the patient.

This end is not always attained with equal certainty and rapidity, if Apis is not given in alternation with Aconite. In such a case, Apis alone often develops a powerful reaction, which is avoided by the alternate use of Aconite. Wherever the case is urgent, and it is important to shorten the durations of the organic reaction, the two remedies should be given in alternation. In most cases I have seen a few alternate doses give rise to a pleasant perspiration, speedily followed by quiet sleep and recovery on waking. May we not expect the same result at the commencement of Asiatic cholera, and thus arrest the further development of the disease?

Apis is no less effectual against chronic diarrh[oe]a, more particularly if resulting, not from any deep-seated disorganizations, but from some permanent inflammatory irritation of the intestinal mucous membrane, and which causes and fosters so much distress, by rendering all normal digestion impossible and finally bringing on its inseparable companion, the last degree of hypochondria. This misery is so much more lamentable, as it is, so to say, forced upon mankind from the cradle to the grave by the still prevailing and almost ineradicable delusion of cathartic medication.

Scarcely has the little being seen the light of the world, when the process of purgation begins. Nurse, aunt, grandmamma, everybody, hasten to hush the cries which the rough contact of the outer world extorts from the little being, by forcing down its throat a little laxative mixture, and the family-physician, who goes by fashion, approves of all this. It is his habit, in after-life, to combat every little costiveness, every digestive derangement, every incipient disease, by means of his cathartic mixture, and his skill is considered proportionate to the quantity of stuff which the bowels expel under the operation of his drugs. Laxative pills, rhubarb, glauber-salts, bitter-waters, aloes, gin, etc., etc., are in every body's hands, and become an increasing necessity for millions. An ancient prejudice decrees that, to permit a single day to pass by without stool, would be to expose one's life to the greatest danger. Every year we see thousands rush to warm and cold springs that have the reputation of being possessed with dissolvent and cathartic properties. Those who cannot afford to go to the springs, use artificial mineral water in order to accomplish similar purposes. Very seldom a disease is met with, that is permitted to run its course without dissolvent or cathartic means. It is still a profitable business to sell patent purgatives, such as cider in which a little magnesia has been dissolved.

Everybody feels how offensive these things are to nature; how they attack the stomach and bowels; how they derange digestion and nutrition; how slowly patients recover from the effects of such drugs; how chronic abdominal affections, after having been eased for a while by such drugs, soon return again with redoubled vigor; how the dose has to be increased in order to obtain the same result; how the intervals of relief becomes shorter and shorter, and how, in the end, the stomach is totally ruined, and the abnormal irritation and paralysis of this viscus, with the diarrh[oe]a and constipation, corresponding to these conditions, gradually lead to the complete derangement of the reproductive process.

In spite of all this, long habit has secured to these pernicious customs a sort of prescriptive right. The distress consequent upon them, increases in proportion as the reactive powers of the organism decrease, which is more particularly the case in the present generation. The suppression of these abuses has never been more necessary than in our age. Indeed, the old proverb is again verified: "Where need is greatest, there help is nearest."

The world is not only indebted to Hahnemann for a knowledge, but also for a natural corrective of this serious abuse. His provings on healthy persons show this beyond a doubt. Few men, if their attention has once been directed to this abuse, will feel disposed to deny its extent. Nor has a favorable change in this respect been looked for in vain, since hom[oe]opathy has now, for half a century at least, shown the uselessness of all regular methods of purgation, and the superiority of the means with which this new system accomplishes most effectually all that those pernicious methods promised to do. It should be considered a duty by every physician, to be acquainted with the new means of cure. The continued use of purgatives should be considered a crime against health. They will soon cease to exist as regular means of treatment, and their pernicious consequences will no longer have to be relieved by remedial means. But until their use is abolished, we shall have to counteract them by adequate means of cure, more particularly the abnormal irritation and the paralytic debility, which are the most common consequences of the abuse of cathartics.

It is a most fortunate thing that we have in Apis one of the most reliable means of removing the evil effects of cathartic medicines. A single globule of Apis 30 is sufficient to this end. It is best to use it as follows: dissolve the globule in five tablespoonfuls of water by shaking the mixture well in a well closed vial, and let the patient take a tablespoonful of this solution. If this dose acts well, no repetition is necessary for the present. If this dose should not be sufficient, we prepare a new potence by throwing away three tablespoonfuls of the former solution and substituting four tablespoonfuls of fresh water, shaking the mixture well. We give a spoonful of this second solution, twenty-four hours after the first had been given, and, if necessary, a third spoonful prepared in the same way, and even a fourth and fifth, after which we await the result, without thinking either of improvement or exacerbation.

Generally, a feeling of ease is experienced shortly after taking Apis. The painful sensitiveness of the pit of the stomach and of the abdomen, together with the troublesome, disagreeable and oppressive distention and weight, soon disappear; the tongue gradually loses its swollen and cracked appearance, its dirty redness, its slimy coating, its sore spots, tardy indentations along its edges, the burnt feeling at its tip, which is dotted with very fine vesicles, that cause a good deal of soreness; the pappy, sour, bitter, metallic, foul taste disappears; the appetite is again normal; both the previous aversion to food and the excessive craving disappear; the absence of thirst, which is so common in this condition, again gives place to a natural desire for drink, the bluish-red color and swelling of the palate and throat, and the incessant urging to hawk, decrease visibly: the distress after eating; the sour stomach with or without nausea or heartburn; the excessive rising of air; the regurgitation of the ingesta; the eructations which taste of the food that had been eaten long before; the yawning; the irresistible drowsiness when sitting; the general loss of strength; the vacuity of mind, the aversion to talking and to company, decrease more and more every day; the whole abdomen feels easier and softer: the excessive and irresistible urging to urinate, especially after rising from a chair or from bed, and accompanied by a distressing nervousness, abates; the diarrh[oe]ic and abnormally colored evacuations, together with the frequent and irresistible urging, increased after eating, early in the morning and after sour and flatulent food, and accompanied by various sore pains in the rectum, diminish more and more, and give place to normal evacuations, first for days, next for weeks, although they continue to alternate more or less with constipation, or painful, insufficient, hard stool, until they terminate sooner or later, according as the disease is more or less deep-seated, and had lasted more or less long, in permanent restoration of the normal secretions and excretions of the digestive organs. At the same time the many distresses which the abnormal condition of the bowels and stomach had occasioned in the head and heart, disappear; the poor patient who had been a prey to so many sufferings, feels like one born again.

This is the general result, unless psoric, sycosic, syphilitic or vaccinine complications should be present. Unfortunately the abuse of cathartics excites these miasms if they exist in the organism, and at the same time prostrates the reactive powers of the organism, and enables its enemies to rise against it. The distress becomes more and more complicated; disorganizations, alterations of the fluids, disturbances of the assimilative sphere, nervous derangements from simple illusions of the sentient sphere, and occasional trembling and twitching, to spasmodic and convulsive movements, and final extinction of nervous power, marasmus of the spinal marrow or a ramollissement of the brain; these are the consequences of such miasmatic complications.

In such a case Apis alone is not sufficient. We have to employ such antidotes as Sulphur, our most powerful anti-psoric which, unless it had been abused previously, never leaves us in the lurch in the presence of psora; iodine which, under similar circumstances, becomes indispensable wherever psora and sycosis are combined; bichromate of potash or fluoric acid, if psora, syphilis and mercurial poisoning are united; and lastly, tartar emetic, or again fluoric acid, if the vaccine poison alone, or in combination with the other poisons, occupies the foreground.

This is not the place to treat of these special forms of human distress, and to individualize their treatment; I shall endeavor to do this on a more suitable occasion. I shall have to limit myself here to a superficial sketch of the treatment, adding merely that a single dose of the specific antidote will act best if given highly potentized, and that the improvement should afterwards be allowed to progress as long as a trace of it remains visible. But as soon as the improvement stops and an exacerbation sets in, which is not speedily followed by another improvement, or which seems to require our aid, we use Apis 3, one drop every day, until the improvement is again perceived, after which we wait until another exacerbation demands our interference. One dose of Apis is often insufficient; if not, from three to five doses will be found sufficient to mitigate the pains, and to advance the cure which Apis will complete in conjunction with the high potency that should not be repeated, and which is not interfered with by the Apis. What more precious boon for the physician and patient in these serious moments? It is only a physician who has instituted provings upon himself, that is capable of comprehending this harmonious blending of the two therapeutic agents. He sees the well known effects of a well known cause go and come at alternate periods. What man of common sense would be willing to repudiate such evidence?

But even in a case where Sulphur and Iodine had been given to excess, and a sort of Sulphur and Iodine diathesis had been established in consequence, Apis is still the best remedy to meet this complicated derangement.

Although we may believe that the time is at hand when this kind of ignorance shall no longer be tolerated, it unfortunately is still a prevailing sin of the profession. Even if we should be unable to effect a perfect cure, yet we may afford essential relief to such patients; we may often arrest their sufferings for a longer or shorter period, and shorten the paroxysms until they become almost imperceptible. Apis is particularly instrumental in effecting this end. Diseases of the

RESPIRATORY ORGANS

are likewise successfully combated by Apis. The American Provings contain the following symptomatic indications:

1. No.'s 731, 733, 736, 742, 743, 749, 760: "Hoarseness and difficulty of breathing, roughness and sensitiveness in the larynx, each time after he smells of the poison; talking is painful, sensation as if the larynx were tired by talking; drawing pains in the larynx; cough when starting during sleep; rough cough during evening; heat; difficult breathing, every drop of liquid almost suffocates him; labored inspirations as during croup."

2. 737-740: "Violent paroxysms of cough, occasioned by a titillating irritation in the lower part of the larynx near the throat-pit, with increase of headache when coughing, on the left side, superiorly; in half an hour, some phlegm is detached, after which the coughing ceases; on the first day, when waked from his sleep before midnight, he had a violent cough, especially after lying down and sleeping, with titillation at a very small spot, deep down on the posterior wall of the thorax, which wakes him; he feels better as soon as the least little portion of mucous is detached; cough particularly during warmth, during rest, and rousing him from his first slumber for several evenings."

3. 1081, 746, 790: "Chilly every afternoon at three or four o'clock; she shudders, especially during warmth; chill across the back, the hands feel as if dead; in about an hour she felt hot and feverish, with rough cough, hot cheeks and hands, without thirst; this passes off gradually, she feels heavy and prostrate; cough and labored breathing as during croup, after violent feverish heat, with dry skin and full pulse; disturbed sleep, with muttering, timid and incoherent talk, whitish-yellow coating of the tongue, and painless, yellow-greenish, slimy diarrh[oe]a, in four days the breathing become labored, a violent abdominal respiration, red face, increasingly livid, pulse hard, cough, with barking resonance—pains in the chest, with labored breathing."

4. 754, 770, 772, 803: "Hurried, labored breathing, with heat and headache; chest oppressed; difficult labored breathing; sense of suffocation even when leaning against a thing; general debility; worse during cold weather, accompanied by asthmatic pains; cough; sense of suffocation; pains in the chest; coldness and deadness of the extremities, which looked bluish; sense of soreness; lameness; sense of bruising in the chest, as after recent contusions by a blow; jamming, etc."

These observations do not indeed show with characteristic certainty the diseases to which Apis might correspond. But if they are contrasted with the total character of Apis; if we consider that Apis develops a catarrhal irritation throughout the whole intestinal mucous membrane, affecting most deeply the nervous system and the normal constitution of the fluids, we have sufficient ground to experiment with Apis in those respiratory diseases which seem to be inherent in the prevailing genius of disease, and which are characterized by the very conditions which I have described. Who is not struck by the fact, that the same individual morbid process is reflected by different forms of disease, croup, whooping-cough, influenza, acute and chronic bronchial catarrh? The more essential the resemblance between these forms of disease and the medicinal power, the more certainly may we expect a cure. The medicinal power which seems to be most adequate to this end, is undoubtedly Apis. My observations in this respect are not sufficiently numerous to enable me to offer positive directions concerning the best mode of using the medicine in these diseases, or concerning the extent of the curative process or the complications that may exist. All I can do is to recommend Apis for further experiments in this range, and to remind my brethren of the insufficiency of other drugs, which has been a source of trouble to us in the past ten years. Every body who has watched the course of these diseases during this period, must have seen the difference existing between the present and the past character of the symptoms. It must, therefore, be a source of satisfaction to all of us, to have found in Apis an agent that is capable of filling up the gap.

My observations regarding the curative virtues of Apis in urinary, uterine and ovarian difficulties, and in rheumatism and gout, are not very extended. In the American Provings, symptoms 634 to 669, seem to point to urinary difficulties, and 685 to 695, to ovarian troubles; symptoms 697 to 727 to uterine derangements; and 837, 842, 867, 873, 874, 918, 919, 940, 942, 964, 969, to rheumatism and gout.

What little experience I have had in the employment of Apis in these diseases, is, however, sufficient to induce me to recommend the use of it for further and more enlarged knowledge.

I have had abundant opportunities of verifying the warning expressed in No. 721, "pregnant women should use the drug very cautiously." I am not acquainted with any drug which seems possessed of such reliable virtues regarding the prevention of miscarriage, more particularly during the first half of pregnancy, as Apis. I have often become an involuntary spectator of the power of Apis to effect miscarriage; for I had given it to honest women who did not know that they were pregnant, and where the fact of pregnancy was revealed to them by the subsequent miscarriage, which took place after one or two doses of Apis had been taken. Ever since I have made it a rule not to give Apis to females in whom the existence of pregnancy can be suspected in the remotest degree until the matter is reduced to a certainty, and the conduct of the physician can be determined upon in accordance with existing facts.

I am unable to say how far this power inherent in Apis, of producing miscarriage, may be serviceable to females who are prone to miscarriage.

I beg the privilege of adding a more general warning to this particular one. The more generally useful a thing is, the more liable is it to abuse. The most important and useful discoveries of hom[oe]opathy are abused in this manner by our age given to all sorts of excesses.

Not only are the records of hom[oe]opathy ransacked by speculative minds, who use her advantages for personal gain without giving due credit to the source whence the good things are obtained. This species of egotism may perhaps be excused in consideration of the use which this kind of plagiarism affords, even if whole volumes should be filled with it. But if the stolen property is paraded before the world as something belonging to one's self by right divine; if official influence is abused for the purpose of dressing up that which rightfully belongs to our science, as some original discovery, thus caricaturing and disfiguring the beauty of the genuine blessing; then good is changed to evil, and the evil is the greater, the more comprehensive the truth that is so shamefully abused. It is absurd and may entail sad consequences upon the world, if the rational use of Apis is to be converted to the irrational proceedings of the so-called specific method, which is often practised by men who, knowing better, purposely conceal the truth from the world. For years past, I have been called upon again and again, by patients who had been in the hands of these men, and who had been drenched with medicine, and had had all sorts of disastrous complications engendered in their poor bodies, to afford them some relief from these tortures inflicted by physicians who do not hesitate to assail the health of their patients by massive doses of drugs, of which they often know nothing but the name.

With these facts before me, nobody can find it strange that I should feel some misgivings in laying before the world a drug endowed with such extensive virtues. Apis is one of those drugs, the abuse of which may prove as destructive as the use of it is a source of saving good. It is no anti-psoric, nor is it capable of antidoting the three miasms, or of inflicting medicinal diseases for life. Nevertheless, it is a deeply and speedily-acting drug, for it affects the whole internal mucous membrane, the nervous system, and the process of sanguification, thus disturbing the health for a long time. Its primary aggravating action, its deeply penetrating interference with the existing morbid process, which may lead to errors in diagnosis, and its power to exhaust the reactive energies of the organism prematurely, render it a very dangerous agent. These circumstances go to show that such an agent, in the hands of the partizans of the Specific School, may be as dangerously and injuriously abused as other important drugs have been. I cannot sufficiently warn my readers against such distressing abuses. Only he is protected from the danger of imitating such shameful absurdities, who listens to the words of our master:

"Imitate this, but imitate this correctly!"

THE END