ETIOLOGY.—Paralysis of the oesoph agus is usually due to extensive bulbar paralysis and other central nervous dis orders. But it may also occur in a com plication of peripheral disorders, espe cially diphtheria, enlarged lymphatic glands, and of syphilis, alcoholism, plumbism, etc.
— The treatment indi cated is that of the causative disorder. In diphtheritic paralysis arsenic is most effective. After a course of this remedy hypodermic injections of strychnine are often effective. Faradism, the nega tive pole in the sulcus directly in front of the sterno-mastoid and the positive back of the neck, may be simultaneously employed.
OLIVE-OIL.—Olive-oil (oleum U. S. P.) is a fixed oil expressed from the ripe fruit of Olea Europa'a (nat. ord., Oleacece), or olive-tree, indigenous to the countries bordering upon the Mediter ranean, but cultivated in all the semi tropical countries of the world. It is yellow or greenish-yellow in color, has a sweetish taste, and is almost devoid of odor. The greenish-yellow-colored oil is considered the most delicate, and is rarely an article of export. The best, or virgin, oil is obtained from the crushed, ripe fruit. by expression without heat; a second grade is obtained by the addition of hot water to the same crushed fruit and a second expression. From the residue, after boiling, an inferior grade is made by means of very strong pressure. The best is nearly tasteless, and without color, the second has more taste and color, and the third is dark and more or less rancid, with strong odor. Olive oil is one of the ingredients of lead ter and of diachylon ointment, and is also used in the preparation of liniments and cerates. Olive-oil is soluble in ether, chloroform, and carbon disulphide, and partly in water.
Therapeutics. — Olive-oil is a lubri cant, laxative, and nutrient. Internally and by enema it is given for constipa tion, in doses of from V, to 6 ounces. It is a useful remedy in all forms of irritant poisoning, except that by phorus. In increasing doses from to 3 ounces it has caused the disappearance of obstructive jaundice. It has been used in the treatment of gall-stone, hepatic, and lead colic in doses of 3 to 6 ounces.
Twenty-one cases collected from litera ture in which gall-stones were treated by the use of oil. Of this number, 19 were improved or cured; in the other 2 the treatment failed. Three personal cases added in which the administration of repeated doses of 3 LA to 6 ounces of olive-oil, combined with a little menthol, produced the best results. S. Rosenberg (They. Monats., Dec., '89).
Two cases of hepatic colic treated with large quantities of olive-oil. Pain was relieved at once and the calculi were rapidly discharged. It is believed that the oil not only soothes the irritated mucous membrane and relieves spasm in this way, but may even enter the com mon duct when this is blocked and there is no descending current of bile, and may thus reach the stone and aid in its passage by its local action on the mu cous membrane. Barth (Med. Week.,
Dec. 17, '97).
Olive-oil is.a useful application to the skin in scarlatina and other eruptive diseases, as it seems to assist tion and prevents the dissemination of the scales.
Olive-oil has been used by inunction.
or as an article of diet, in wasting dis eases. For this purpose it is much in ferior to codliver-oil. It has recently been used hypodermically as a nutrient to supplement or replace codliver-oil in case of needed rectal alimentation.
Five cases experimented upon with hypodermic injections of olive-oil (one half ounce at a time) to test its value as a nutrient. In all the cases there was more or less marked saving in the nitro gen eliminated, and a notable increase in weight and improvement in the gen eral condition.
In one case after thirty injections small nodules containing a drop of oil were found in the lymphatics at the site of injection. The nutritive value of these hypodermic injections is higher than that of rectal or vaginal nutritive enemata. No inconveniences followed the use of the olive-oil injections. For nace and iNficheli (Rif. Med., July 14 and 15, '97).
More than five hundred subcutaneous injections of olive-oil, all made in twenty-eight patients, with never any unfavorable results, the oil being always carefully sterilized and injected with an instrument which could be fully steril ized. injections should be made very slowly, always using a very low- press ure. Amount used varied from 1 drachm up to ounces. Conclusions that the fat was absorbed and was made use of in the body-economy, it was not excreted by the urine, and it seems to have prevented loss of nitrogen. This subcutaneous administration of fat should be used when there is great loss of body-fat. Du Mesnil de Rochemont (Dent. Arch. f. lain. Med., Apr. 7, '98).
Externally olive-oil is a soothing ap plication to burns, wounds, and raw sur faces. Dropped into the ear, it is a use ful means for expelling insects that may have found their war thence.
Subcutaneous injections of olive-oil successfully employed in eases in which food could not be taken by the mouth. The apparatus should be such that it can be thoroughly sterilized. The injections should be under as low a pressure as pos sible in order to avoid pain, and into a part covered with loose skin. The oil is taken up slowly, but in emaciated sub jects absorption is complete within two or three days. lioehemont (Deutsche Arehiv f. klinisehe Mediein, B. GO, II. 4 5, '99).