The drugs which I have found the most useful and which I believe to have a decided influence in checking the number and diminishing the se verity of the attacks are strychnia, belladonna, and the bromides' of ammo nium and potassium. For a child five years of age I begin with two drops of liq. strychnice (P. B.) and twenty drops of tinct. belladonna twice a day, and give at night half a drachm of bromide of potassium with camphor water sweetened with simple syrup. This treatment should be continued for months together, increasing the dose of the strychnia solution by one drop and of the belladonna tincture by three drops every two weeks. In this way large doses of the drugs may be administered without danger. little boy, four years of age, under my care took for a long time seventeen drops of the strychnia solution (or about one-seventh of a grain of the al kaloid) twice a day with great benefit. Another child—a little girl nine years of age—by gradual addition to the strength of her medicine, reached one-fourth of a grain of strychnia twice in the day. An important part of the treatment consists in the administration of a weekly or biweekly aperient, for it is essential that the bowels be regularly relieved. Accu mulation of faecal matter is a powerful excitant of convulsive seizures in a child of epileptic tendencies. Moreover, the continued use of the bromide salts tends in many children to produce constipation which may assume an obstinate character. In such cases it is useful to combine the strychnia
mixture with one or two drachms of infusion of senna, so as to maintain a continued gentle action upon the bowels. The addition of chloral to the bromide is said to increase the efficacy of this treatment, and it has been stated that used in this combination a smaller proportion of the bromide is required to produce an equal effect.
Besides the above remedies, other drugs have been employed in the treatment of this disease, such as the bromide and other salts of arsenic ; the sulphate, bromide, and oxide of zinc ; the oxide and nitrate of silver ; and ergot of rye. Very good results are sometimes obtained from the use of borax. This salt may be given in doses of one grain for each year of the child's life. Borax is best administered directly after food, for if given on an empty stomach it may excite vomiting. There is one disadvantage connected with the use of the remedy. In certain subjects the drug has a tendency to cause psoriasis which may prove obstinate. • The attack may be sometimes arrested by the inhalation of chloroform. Any sudden shock is occasionally useful to attain the same object, such as applying ammonia to the nose or pouring cold water upon the head. Dr. Creighton Browne advocates the inhalation of nitrite of amyl.