Belladonna. Flushed face; red eyes; crying on account of pain from the hiccough.
Hyoscyamus. Twitching and jerking of the limbs as an accompanying symptom.
Ignatia. Frequent sighing, as an attendant symptom.
Ipecacuanha. Much and constant nausea with the hiccough.
Nux v. Constipation attends, or causes the hiccough.
Pulsatilla. Hiccough occurring mostly at night.
HEPATITIS. – CHRONIC DISEASES OF THE LIVER
The liver may become the seat of both acute and chronic disease in infancy and early childhood. Under the head of Icterus, page 715, mention has already been made of the temporary derangement of the function of this organ, to which new-born babes are often subject. Hepatitis, or acute inflammation of the liver, may be developed, especially in those constitutionally predisposed thereto, in connection with derangement in other portions of the digestive apparatus; or it may arise and assume the intermittent form in consequence of the miasm which develops chills and fever. Fever, restlessness, loss of appetite, constant nausea, constipation, and a yellowness of the sclerotic and skin, constitute some of the principal symptoms of this condition.
Chronic disease of the liver may be the result of the long- continued influence which causes the acute form. Or the liver may become enlarged, by fatty deposit in its substance, -fatty enlargement or degeneration; or it may become the subject of albuminoid enlargement. Such chronic diseases of the liver will always be found associated with and measurably dependent upon corresponding disorder in the stomach and intestines, -and especially the glandular and tubercular diseases of the latter organs.
Chills and Fever, Intermittent Fever, whose principal seat appears to be in the liver, may occur in young children, particularly after undue exposure to the night air in miasmatic regions. Under favorable circumstances, these affections will be speedily removed by a single dose of the remedy (not too low) which is suited to all the symptoms of the chill, of the fever; to the concomitant symptoms, -such as thirst, pains in limbs, perspiration, & c.; and to the attendant conditions, -such as the aggravations or ameliorations of time, place, circumstance, & c.
Aconite. Much fever; dry heat; restlessness and anguish.
Belladonna. Much moaning. Can’t bear to be moved. Short breath; flushed face; red eyes; if able to explain its sufferings, there will be much pain in the right shoulder.
Bryonia. Very short breath; cannot bear the least motion; dry lips and mouth; stools dark, dry and hard as if burnt.
Calcarea c. Leucophlegmatic temperament; perspiration about the head; stools like chalk.
China. The region of the liver swollen and hard; much flatulency; undigested stool.
Digitalis. Stools very light, almost white; much debility; nausea; slow or irregular pulse.
Lachesis. Always worse after sleeping, awakens in distress.
Lycopodium. Much flatulency and rattling in the abdomen, – this is a very characteristic symptom of this remedy in this, as also in other forms of disease.
Mercurius. Tenderness of the abdomen; it is hard and tense. Mucous stools; or stools too light and very offensive. Salivation. Strong-smelling urine.
Nux v. Constipation of large difficult stools; no appetite; sleeplessness, particularly after three A.M.
Pulsatilla. In children of mild, gentle dispositions; pale face; blond hair and blue eyes; no appetite. Or the case may be clearly traced to some gastric disturbance from rich to fat food.
Sulphur. The patient partially recovers, and then relapses; or there is a tendency to relapse without previous improvement.
INFANTILE REMITTENT FEVER.
Infantile Remittent Fever, Worm Fever, and Mesenteric Fever, are the names by which are designated the common continued fevers of infancy and childhood. This affection may take its origin in such irritation of the alimentary canal as frequently results from difficult dentition; and it may be complicated with more or less inflammation of the stomach and larger and smaller intestines. Compare diarrhoea, dysentery; and the other specially mentioned disorders of the digestive tract.
Infantile remittent fever occurs more frequently in autumn; is characterized by distinct remissions by day and exacerbations at night; and may remain for three or four or five weeks, and finally assume a true typhoid type, or terminate in a fatal disorder of the mesenteric glands, (phthisis intestinalis.) Sometimes it may run into a still more chronic form of scrofulosis (tabes mesenterica.) The principal exciting causes are teething and worms; but the constitutional predisposition which is developed in these cases must always be considered.
The exhibition of the appropriate remedy will, in most cases, remove the predisposing cause, diminish the force of the exciting cause, and thus cure the patient in the shortest time and simplest manner.
Aconite. Hot, dry skin; thirst, sleeplessness; restlessness and distress during the febrile stage.
Antimonium c. White tongue; frequent vomiting, and watery diarrhoea.
Apis. Red points scattered over the body here and there. (Absence of thirst.)
Arsenicum. Much restlessness and tossing after twelve at night; putrid, undigested stools.
Belladonna. Much moaning, starting and jumping; very flushed face; red eyes.
Bryonia. Parched lips; dry mouth; dry and burnt-looking stools, which are passed but seldom. Wants to be kept very still; cries if moved.
Calcarea c. Leucophlegmatic constitution; open fontanelles; swelling at the pit of the stomach like a saucer turned bottom
up.
Chamomilla. Wants to be carried all the time; one cheek red, the other pale. Cross and irritable. Stools smell like rotten eggs. Bilious vomiting.
China. Worse every other day.
Cina. Picks its nose; desires many things, which it refuses when they are offered to him; nothing pleases or satisfies the child. After standing awhile the urine turns like milk.
Colocynth. Spells of colic pain, – in which the child curls up double, and writhes and cries very hard.
Ipecacuanha. One constant nausea, not relieved by the vomiting.
Magnesia c. Constant, sour, rather whitish, watery diarrhoea.
Mercurius. Tenderness of the pit of the stomach and abdomen; slimy stools with tenesmus; is not much relieved by perspiration.
Nux v. Always worse towards morning, and in the morning; no appetite at any time; constipation of large, difficult stools.
Pulsatilla. Vomiting of mucus; stools variable in color; worse towards evening; no thirst; the child refuses the breast.
Phosphorus. When there is much cough and rather a typhoid type seems to threaten.
Rhus t. The tongue appears dry and brown, and the child seems very weak, and very restless through the night.
Sulphur. The fever seems to exacerbate in alternate flushes and paleness; the child has weak spells; the skin is scaly; intertrigo is easily provoked.
Tartar e. Much nausea and vomiting, day and night; with drowsiness; red, itching rash over the body developed by the fever.
DIPHTHERIA.
Diphtheria is an epidemic, and to some extent, infectious disease, which runs a very rapid course; is characterized by remarkable prostration, and the formation of a false membrane on the tonsils, uvula, palate, and even in the nares. In some epidemics of this disorder there is an equally characteristic external eruption, “Which appears in the form of a rash and is sometimes of a dark or purplish color; bearing a close resemblance to that of measles; at others, bright and scarlet, as in scarlet fever. (*Ludlam on Diphtheria) There may be considerable swelling in the external throat and sides of the neck; such cases are usually severe, if not malignant. Diphtheria is a disorder which may be very mild, or exceedingly malignant, and almost universally fatal. It partakes of the nature of scarlet fever, has with it, in fact, certain not perfectly determined relations; it may also be modified by a prevailing epidemic of measles; and may become complicated with croup. Diphtheritic croup, and diphtheria and scarlatina constitute the two most formidable diseases with which the physician is now called to contend. There may be very much, or very little fever; stupor, or excessive nervous restlessness; and as the disease extends into the larynx, loss of voice, hoarseness or huskiness; bronchial croup, with expectoration of tough, stringy mucus, (Kali bichromicum;) and in some cases the diphtheritic exudation may be observed in connection with the urinary mucous membrane, (Cantharis.)
Treatment. – Gargles are worse than useless; where food can be taken, sustain the strength with beef-tea, and other suitable nourishment; avoid fatiguing the patient; and selecting the remedy in accordance with all the symptoms, you may expect to save all except the most malignant cases.
(I do not propose to furnish a complete repertory on this disorder; but to give a few well-observed and prominent indications, viz.:)
Belladonna. The cough is spasmodic, rough, hollow, hacking, caused by a sensation of constriction of the larynx; worse from motion and talking, or when the child cries; when awaking from sleep. Concomitant symptoms; congestion to the head, aversion to the light, rattling in the chest, skin dry; – generally irritable in the beginning of the case.
