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Show 992 HOP, HOP. 823 venience than comfort to the patient, for they occasioned headFrom Dr. Maton, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and Physician Extraordinary to her Majesty, Spring Gardens, Nov. 26, 1806, DearSir,—Though I had met with many accounts of medicinal properiies in the humulus, given by various writers on the materia medica, I had never been induced to make trial of it until I perused yourlate publication, which, from the precis of the experiments and cases contained in it, certainly merits the general attention of practitioners. Of the various forms of disease that come most frequently under our care, there is no one perhaps upon which we are, commonly, Jess able to produce any immediate impressio medicine than what maybe called articular rheumatism, or that species of painful affection of the joints which, under manycircumstances, exhibits a very near alliance to gout. Most suf. ferers under the last-mentioned disease are now so much accus. tou ee either to consider their cases as hopeless, or to. dread re. g to remedies, that 1 could not calculate on having many f putting the alleged virtues of the humulus that complaint. I therefore resolved ta begin the of it in the former ; and havehad thesatisfaction it has succeeded, at least better than anyother me- eof w hich [ have had experience, andcertainly to a degree thatheas surprised me. The only preparations ee are the extract of and ach and heat of skin, effects to be expected, indeed, from the quantity of spirit. My most common mode of exhibiting it, therefore, has been in the dose of 3i every four hours, or 3iss thrice a day ; and I have often advantageously combinedit with asaline draught. In removing arthritic pains, the humulus does not appear to me to operate by inducing diaphoresis merely, indeed any other external effect, for I have, in several instances, seen it conquer the complaint without obviously nnlosiog any part of the system. Notwithstandingit has been said to relax the bowels, such an effect has not come within myexperience : on the contrary, I have often been obliged to order some gentle purgative or other in the midst of a course of it. There is some nicety necessary in determining howfar thepulseis influenced by the use of the humulus; but, for my own part, I amled to believe that it is reduced in frequency, and increased in firmness, by this medicine in a very direct manner. In one patient I found the number of beats lessened from 96 to 60 within 24 hours, by only 3i ofthe tincture, and 4 oma of the pra (given once in six hours,) and a fulnes it was produced similar to that which is occasioned by a la lose of opium or hemlock. Whena Strongly marked inflammatory diathe , I believe the hu} i mulus to be hurt cirSeesee should it be resorted to as a popular anc pp the humulus which I have hitherto thetincture, and (as you already know) they were procured from your house. The former 1 have given xtent of ten grains thrice a day, beginning ue the dose of and afterwards gradually increasing ts out it has nev vithin my observation, produced such de effects as that neture, in which form it seems to me that the sedative properties the humulus are more completely secured than in the other; and it is, besides, a more elegant and grateful preparatior In a dose (given to an adult) smaller than 3i, the activity of the tinctura humuli is not considerable, but in that of r 3ij, it rarely fails to produce immediate relief from irritability, gently augment the secretions, and n one or two instances I have prescribedstill ch, however, were followed rather by incons meé powerful m 1 i ort 1edy, or without 1have no doubt th manyothe of pulse wel-h often attends geTh it may extend to 90 or 100 a minute, is the state of : panied by great heat orthirst, the circ on in which the humulus is here is reason to suppose a act that the exhibition dicine will be fhed |hemip raAD first made trial of the humulus, I fell into the error of discontinuingit in some cases soon after the comp os wa removed, and had the mortification to find that the symptoms shortly returned with as muchviolence as ever. HenceI feared that it was a merepalliative; but, after having taken the pres caution to continueit several days after my patient pronounced himself cured, I observed his security.to be complete. I would lay great stress, therefore, on the propriety of persevering with |