In mercurial ptyalism, and the ptyalism of the pregnant state, a few drops (five to ten) of the tincture of belladonna, given every four to six hours, or a corresponding quantity of atropine, will cause the excessive secretion to diminish, and even dry up, and will thus relieve a very disagreeable symptom. Gastralgia, as well as the pain which accompanies gastric ulcer, is often happily relieved by atropine. Rx Atropinae sulphatis, gr. j; zinci sulphatis, 3 ss; aquae destil., oz j. M. Sig.: From three to five drops twice or thrice a day. A similar combination is very effective in pyrosis, chronic gastric catarrh, and irritative dyspepsia. Atropine is frequently effective in relieving the vomiting of pregnancy. Rx Atropinae sulphat., gr. ij; aquae destil., oz j. M. Sig.: Two drops in water before meals. It is often more useful when applied to the rectum in the form of suppository. It sometimes gives great relief when applied to the epigastrium in chloroformic solution. Rx Atropinae, gr. v; chloroformi, oz j. M. Sig.: A piece of lint to be moistened with the solution and laid on the epigastrium.

The extract of belladonna is a useful addition to purgatives, to diminish the harshness and at the same time to increase the effectiveness of their operation. Belladonna has the power to increase the peristaltic movements and to allay irregular or spasmodic movements. It is, therefore, used to overcome habitual constipation. A pill containing a half-grain of extract, taken at night, will sometimes succeed, but it is generally better to combine it as follows: Rx, Ext. belladonnae, ext. nucis vomicae, ext. physostigmatis, āā gr. iij. M. Ft. pil. no. vj. Sig.: One at bed-hour. An addition of a half-grain of aloin will, of course, increase the action of this pill, and may be added when there are great torpor and inaction of the intestines.

When, in affections of the gastro-intestinal apparatus, acids are indicated with atropine, they may be combined as follows: Rx Acid. muriat. dil., oz j; atropinae, gr. ss. M. Sig.: Five drops in water before meals. Such a prescription is useful in heart-burn, water-brash, etc.

Harley advises the use of atropine as a cardiac stimulant; but the fact that this agent exhausts the irritability of the cardiac ganglia after a period of excitement requires discrimination in its use. Notwithstanding this objection, atropine may be given to counteract a sudden and temporary depression in the heart's action—as, for example, in the collapse of cholera, in which it has been employed successfully by the hypodermatic method.

Belladonna is a remedy of great efficacy in certain acute inflammations of the air-passages. No remedy gives such prompt and sustained relief in acute nasal catarrh with profuse watery secretion. To adults, the best method of administration consists in giving a first dose of five drops of the tincture, and repeating a drop or two drops every hour until atropinism is produced. This remedy is also very admirably adapted to the treatment of ordinary sore-throat. As a constant physiological action of belladonna is redness and dryness of the fauces, its therapeutical action, in sore-throat with increased secretion, is antipathic or substitutive; or, as it may be more scientifically expressed, the action of belladonna is the physiological antagonist of the disease-action. When there is much fever it is useful to combine aconite with belladonna. Rx Tinct. aconiti rad., 3 j; tinct. belladonna, 3 ij. M. Sig.: Four drops in water every hour or two. That form of aphonia which is due to fatigue of the vocal cords may be removed very speedily by a morning and evening dose (1/120—1/80 of a grain) of atropine. Not infrequently hysterical aphonia may be quickly cured in the same way.

There is much to be expected from the use of belladonna preparations in whooping-cough. The best form for administration is a solution of the sulphate of atropine (gr. j— oz j of water. Dose, τη ij— τη iv). This remedy is not adapted to all cases, and is most effective in the spasmodic stage. In order to be curative, physiological effects must be produced. The good results of atropine in whooping-cough are most obvious in those cases characterized by profuse bronchial secretion.

Belladonna gives great relief in paroxysms of asthma, and in the spasmodic difficulty of breathing which accompanies emphysema. According to the author's observation, when the bronchial mucous membrane is deficient in secretion, the pulse much accelerated, the skin dry and hot, belladonna rather adds to the distress; and its good effects are most conspicuous when there are abundant expectoration, a cool and moist skin, and a quiet pulse of low tension. In asthma, atropine may be injected subcutaneously, or the belladonna-leaves be used by the method of fumigation. Belladonna-leaves, dipped in a saturated solution of niter and then dried, may be burned in a close apartment, the patient breathing the fumes until relief is obtained. Pastiles are made of belladonna, stramonium, poppy, tobacco, etc. A good formula for cigarettes is the following (Trousseau): Belladonna, grs. v; stramonium and hyoscyamus, of each grs. iij; extract of opium, 1/5 of a grain; cherry-laurel water, a sufficient quantity. The leaves are moistened with a solution of the opium in the cherry-laurel water, and when dry made into a cigarette. Two to four of such cigarettes may be smoked daily. When the paroxysms of asthma occur in the morning, they may sometimes be prevented by the one sixtieth of a grain of atropine at bedtime.

The remarkable similarity in the symptoms of atropinism and of scarlatina has led to the use, by homoeopathic practitioners, of belladonna as a prophylactic against this disease. The points of resemblance are so superficial, and the differences so wide, that no more striking instance could be adduced of the uncertainty in the application of the homoeopathic dogma, even admitting its truth. The author is convinced that the so-called prophylactic power of belladonna against scarlatina has no real existence. He has seen too many cases of scarlatina occur in subjects who had been given the remedy freely, to permit him to come to any other conclusion. Belladonna is a useful remedy to relieve some of the symptoms in scarlatina. During the stage of eruption it is indicated when the pulse is feeble, the bodily powers are depressed, and the rash is imperfectly evolved. In this condition of things—in which carbonate of ammonia is so much used— belladonna also renders most important service; but it should not be forgotten that these agents are chemically incompatible, and should not, therefore, be prescribed together.

In diphtheria, when there is much depression, belladonna is a most excellent remedy. If given before the exudation has spread and consolidated into membranous plaques, and when a few patches only have appeared on the tonsils, or soft-palate, it seems to have the power to hinder the formation of the exudation.

There is no doubt that belladonna has a real curative power in erysipelas. It is especially adapted to idiopathic erysipelas, notably to facial erysipelas, and is less serviceable in traumatic erysipelas. Homoeopathists explain this on the doctrine of similars, but the action is really one of antagonism, or substitution. When there is much fever, digitalis or aconite may be combined with belladonna with advantage, and when there is much depression, quinine. Rx Quininae sulph., 3 ss; belladonnae extract., grs. iij. M. Ft. pil. no. x. Sig.: One every four or six hours.

Excellent results have been obtained from the use of belladonna in typhus and typhoid fevers. Graves originally suggested an indication for its use in fevers, which is doubtless serviceable, viz., contracted pupils; but belladonna has been used, irrespective of this sign, by other practitioners with great success. The tincture is a suitable preparation, and of this from five to ten drops every four hours is a proper dose. According to the author's observation, belladonna is indicated when there is much low, muttering delirium, subsultus, and stupor, and is contraindicated in the condition of delirium ferox.