Apiolin is best combined with iron. Iron should be given uninterruptedly until a few days before the expected ap pearance of the menses. Then, continu ing the iron, apiolin should be prescribed in 5-minini doses three times daily until the appearance of the menstrual IV. A. Newman Harland (Amer. Thera pist, July, '92).
Eurnencl, an extract made from the root of a plant called tang-kui, a Chinese remedy which contains nothing poison ous or capable of producing abortion, tried in 14 cases. In two of these there was no appreciable result. In all the others, although the medication was com bined with hydrotherapy, massage, and the administration of iron. The good effect of the drug appreciable. Acting as a general tonic, it brought on the flow at the correct period, besides increasing it and making less severa the pre menstrual pain. The refined extract as prepared by Merck is called eumenol. Birth (Munch. med. Koch., June 6, '99).
Electricity is of great value, faradism, static electricity, galvanism, and galvanic intra-uterine pessaries being applicable according to the nature of the case.
Besides general treatment, percutane ous electrical application, viz.: spinal and combined spinal and abdominal ap plications of the galvanic current. In the former the anode is applied im movably over the lumbar region, while stabile application of the cathode is male over cervical and dorsal regions for the space of one minute, the dose being 10 to 15 milliamperes; in the latter the anode is applied as before, and the ca thode over each ovarian region, for fifte,..,1 to thirty minutes.
In case of retarded development the faradic current is used. the anode over the back and hypogastric region; the cathode, a well-insulated sound, is intro duced into the uterus. The duration of the sitting is five to ten minutes, dose 5 to 25 milliamperes. In some cases Apostoli's bipolar electrode is best used when an electrolytic action on the mu cous membrane is sought for. In the majority of eases the ovaries must be included in the treatment by a cup shaped electrode to cervix (cathode) while the anode is placed over each ovarian region; the dose is 10 to 60 milliamperes for three minutes every third day. H. N. Hinton (Occidental
Med. Times, '90).
Series of eases treated by negative intra-uterine electrization. with currents of 30 to 40 milliamperes. for five minutes, the applications to be made about the time the menses are expected. These applications act by a complex action upon the uterus and ovaries, causing great congestion, and upon the nervous plexus presiding over the ovarian func tions.
It should be reserved for cases in which amenorrhoea is only transitory, depending either upon some fault of vitality in the ovary (obesity. premature menopause, retarded menstruation in young girls near the age of puberty) or upon a lesion of the ovaries (chronic selcrocystic ovaritis) or of the uterus (chronic interstitial metritis, destruction of the mucous membrane by chloride of zinc; or by curetting, with or without SchrOder's operation).
It is contra-indicated in cases of physi ological amenorrhuea dependent on preg nancy, the menopause, or lactation.
It is useless in cases following a severe disease of which it is but a symptom or sequel (chlorammnia, morphinomania, tuberculosis).
It constitutes the most efficacious treatment known for amenorrhoea not dependent upon an organic irremediable cause. Nitot (Jour. de Me'd., June 26, '92).
[We can only approve, in confirming it, of the author's conclusions- In rebell ious cases the action of galvanic currents may sometimes be powerfully aided and completed by sinusoidal currents, which favor the flow of blood, either during the menstrual period or outside of it. APOSTOLI and GRAND, Assoc. Eds., An nual, '93.] Extract of cows' ovaries has been used with success, but further trials with this agent are required to establish its actual value.
Experiments with three fresh cow ovary preparation (Merck's); the entire ovary, the canals, and a precipitate of the contents of the follicle-contents. The remedies were administered in form of tablet containing 4 grains each of the ovary preparation and common salt. The results obtained in eleven cases do not warrant any positive conclusion, although encouraging as to future trials.