Nov. 7.-Poor night. Breathing difficult. Passed a very dark motion. Lump less large and less hard. Every now and then a croupy noise in throat. Is brighter, and takes a little food. He screams if laid on left side.
Rx Calcarea phos. 30 every hour.
Nov. 9.-Yesterday vomited undigested food twice. Swelling is larger; has extended lower down. Does not make so much noise in breathing. Tongue and roof of mouth white. I gave one dose of Bacil. 200, and followed it with Phytolac. 30.
Nov. 14.-One hour after taking the Bacil. he seemed altogether different, and has been steadily progressing ever since. On the 10th an abscess which formed over the two upper incisors burst, and he has been better since. Has a cough, and is p73 unable to lie down. The cough is in fits, coming on almost every hour. I found slight dulness and some moist sounds at base of right lung. There was a case of influenza in the house at the time, and I attributed this cough to that cause.
Rx Sanguinaria c. 30 every hour.
Nov. 16.-Has been better. Not coughing so much. Breathing better. Mattery discharge from nose in night. Not eating so well. Repeat Sanguinaria, and one dose of Bacil.
Nov. 18.-The cough has been very bad; worse between II and 12 at night. Vomited phlegm. Wheezing and rattling in chest. Nostrils sore. Has a fit of coughing every quarter of an hour. Has difficulty with solid food. Glands much better. He is very cross.
Rx Cina 30 every hour.
Nov. 21.-Very much better. Brighter; appetite better. More discharge from nose. No longer picks nose or lips.
Right side of the neck is a little swollen, but not at all sore. Still has a cough in fits, worse in the night or on lying down, but there is less rattling of phlegm in the chest.
NOv.-27.-Has got quite well in all generals respects; runs about, eats and sleeps. Has no cough. Cold almost well, but he still talks thick. He lies on his face, and sometimes seems as if he would choke in his sleep. On looking into his throat I found still a large swelling at the back. The glands externally were insignificant in size. He has cut three teeth during the illness.
Rx Bacil. gl. iv.; Calcarea sul. 3, 2 grains three times a day.
I saw him for the last time on Dec. 4th when he was practically well. I gave another dose of Bacil., and ordered Calcarea phos., leaving instructions with the parents to send for me in the event of his not getting perfectly well.
I will now give two other cases of a similar kind.
CASE VIII.-ENLARGED SUPPURATING GLAND ALLOWED TO OPEN SPONTANEOUSLY. INSIGNIFICANT SCAR.
K. G., 10, subject to enlarged glands and sore throat, had an acute attack of sore throat about the beginning of May 1892. He came of a rather scrofulous family, his elder brother having had painful abscesses in the glands, leaving scars.
Two years before, he had had influenza. He had also had severe bleeding from nose, and had never been quite well since. He was rather short of breath, and I found the mitral valve of the heart defective. When the acute attack was over, the gland, previously enlarged, became inflamed. Under Bacillin, Silica, and Baryta carb., he made good progress, the cardiac bruit disappeared, and the inflammation of the gland limited itself. I did not allow any p73 poulticing, but had it bathed with hot Calendula lotion. On June 30 it opened spontaneously by a very small opening, and healed without leaving a conspicuous scar.
CASE IX.-ENLARGED GLAND AFTER CHICKEN-POX. SUPPURATION IMMINENT, BUT AVERTED.
Robert M., aged 5, had chicken-pox in October 1893. There was a history of consumption on both sides of the family, and one of his father’s sisters had suffered from enlarged and suppurating glands after chicken-pox. Whilst the eruption was out the boy had been exposed to a draught which played upon the left side, and on the same side a gland under the angle of the ear swelled to a considerable size and threatened to suppurate. A certain amount of softening took place, and any indiscretion in the way of poulticing would undoubtedly have precipitated that result.
At one time during convalescence he caught influenza, which aggravated matters, but in the end, after persistent treatment, the gland disappeared without leaving any trace behind. Bacil. 200 and 30, Calcarea phos. 30, Arum triphyllum 30, Hippozaenin 30, Arsen. sulph. rub. 30, and Calcarea carb. 30, were the principal remedies. The treatment lasted several months, but the result left the patient with a whole skin and an organism sufficiently strong to overcome the disease by its own efforts.
I will now give a few cases from what I may call the pre- Bacillin times.
CASE X.-POST-SCARLATINAL SCROFULOUS GLANDS OF THREE YEAR’S DURATION.
Mary A., 9 of large growth, sanguine temperament, was brought to me at the London Homoeopathic Hospital on the 19th of April 1881. For three years had suffered from enlarged and suppurating glands in the neck, which first began to appear after an attack of scarlatina. The father is strong, but has a depressed bridge of the nose; the mother is strong, and all the children are healthy except this one. Tongue rather white; appetite poor; cannot take milk; sleep good; is nervous has had worms. Calcarea was first given, with improvement in general health; the suppurating gland had discharged.
May 28-.Silicea 6, pil. i. ter die.
June 16.-Complains that the pilules “made her sick and gave her diarrhoea.” The neck, however, was much better; swelling much reduced.
Silicea 30, one pilule night and morning.
July 23.-Upper gland very much swollen lower gland still discharging; general health good.
Sept. 3.-Neck very much better; discharge ceased; health very much better. This was her last attendance.
Here is a case of less duration.
CASE XI.-ENLARGED GLANDS, WITH ERUPTION ON THE SKIN. Daniel W., 12, a thin, delicate, nervous subject, was brought to me on Feb. 25th, 1882, with enlarged cervical glands and an eruption of sores on the back of the neck. The condition had lasted two months.
Bellad. 3., one drop in water three times a day.
Mar. 11.-Better. Repeat.
Mar. 25.-Better; once had some bad sores on back of neck, but now better; glands better.
He was now practically well.
CASE XII.-ABSCESS OF NECK AND INFLAMED GLANDS. ACTION OF ACONITE.
Annie D., 22, pale nervous, and low, came to the Hospital on Oct. 11th, 1884.
She had had an abscess in the neck, which was opened at St. Thomas’s Hospital, where she had been for five weeks. Under the right jaw is an enlarged gland. Over the vessels of the neck there is heard the venous bruit indicative of anaemia.
Barytac. 6, one pilule three times a day.
Oct. 18.-Gland the same; has a very bad cold in the head.
Mercurius sol. 6, one drop four times a day.
Nov. 15.-Has been absent, and for three weeks has had no medicine. Cold better; face about the same.
Repeat.
Nov. 29.-Cold in the head is better, but has a cough, worse during the day; raises much phlegm.
Mercurius s. 6, Bryonia 3, every alternate three hours.
Dec. 13.-Cough better; general health better; gland the same.
Repeat.
Jan. 17, 1885.-Gland same.
Aconite 6, one pilule four times day.
This completed the cure. Under Aconite the gland soon disappeared, and I quote this case in full to show the affinity of this drug for indurated glands.
