Indications for Staphisagria.

I have endeavored to encourage the study of this remedy but have not succeeded in bringing out very much from others concerning it. I have used it many times and have obtained results that could not be obtained from other remedies. Dr. Higgins, writing in the California Medical Journal, states the following important facts concerning the action of this drug. He says the remedy is contra-indicated by any active or acute inflammatory condition. It is a remedy for sub-acute and chronic conditions, some of which are of a most intractable character.

In therapeutic doses it is a permanent stimulant. In its effect upon the nervous system it resembles, somewhat, the action of nux vomica, increasing innervation, stimulating a free circulation, improving both appetite and digestion.

In chronic inflammatory conditions of the genitourinary tract, accompanied with irritation; in urinary incontinence of old men, in painful, scalding micturation; in prostatorrhea; in urethral irritation with a sensation of incomplete evacuation; in spermatorrhea in young men who are anemic or those who are depressed in spirits, who are melancholy or hypochondriacal; in young women who are suffering from menstrual derangements with long intervals and protracted flow; in hysterical patients with uterine or ovarian irritation, with violent outbursts of passion; in uterine disorders with a peculiar deep seated soreness, with dragging sensations in the groins or lower abdomen and bearing down pains in leucorrhea, accompanied with painful urination; all of which symptoms result in a draft upon the nervous system, with signs of nervous weakness, nervous irritability and restlessness, usually accompanied with floating specks before the eyes, this remedy can be given either alone or properly combined with nerve tonics with. very good results.

Professor Locke called attention to the fact that this remedy was indicated in those affections of the eyes which resulted from such blood disorders as scrofula, where black spots appeared before the eyes, and in amaurosis.

The dose of specific staphisagria is from one to five drops although the smaller dose is preferred. It should be well diluted with water and administered four or five times a day.

The writer says, "I have written these few paragraphs in the hope that I may call the attention of our readers to the valuable remedy which I believe occupies a peculiar and unique place in medicine and one deserving of closer study."

I would add that I have given this remedy in chronic prostatic irritation, in irritation of the vesiculae seminales and in intractable cases of gleet in five drop doses four or five times a day with only good results. In feeble cases it assists in improving the strength. After having written prescriptions for this amount I have been called up by the dispensing pharmacist to know if I had not made a mistake in the size of the dosehe had learned that the remedy was a poisonous one and should be given in much smaller doses. Only in one case have I thought there were any unpleasant effects from the medicine, and in that they were mild.

Ellingwood's Therapeutist, Vol. 2, 1908, was edited by Finley Ellingwood M.D.