This section is from the book "A Manual Of Practical Therapeutics", by Edward John Waring. Also available from Amazon: A Manual of Practical Therapeutics.
(A green extract prepared from the juice.) Dose, gr. 1/6 - gr. j.
j.; Proof Spirit Oj. Prepared by maceration and percolation). Dose, ev. - xxx. About half the strength of the Tinct. Bellad., Ph. Lond. and Dub.
of Belladonna gr. lxxx.; Prepared Lard oz. j.).
Of the root. 1. Atropia. The Alkaloid prepared from the root. (See art. Atropia.)
* Essentials of Mat. Med. and Therap., 2nd edit. p. 258.
British Med. Journ., May 20, 1860.
xx.; Camphor oz j.; Rect. Sp. fl. oz. xxx., or enough to make a pint after macerating the root seven days and percolation). Dr. Garrod has arrived, by experiment, at the conclusion that the liniment is ten times stronger as an external application than the tincture. Each fl. oz. of the liniment represents the activity of oz. j. of the root.
Dose of the dried leaves powdered, gr. j., gradually increased to gr. ij. or more. Incompatible*. Alkalies and astringent decoctions and infusions.
Therapeutic Uses. Spasmodic, Convulsive, and Nervous Diseases.
Dr. Debreyne* speaks highly of its efficacy, and advises the following formula: -
InulAe Elecamp. ss., Flor. Sulph. ss., Pulv. Rad. Belladonnae gr. lxxx., Pulv. ScillAe Rad. 3j., Antim. Sulph. Praecip. gr. xx., M. et div. in pulv. xc. sumat j. ter in die. During a paroxysm, the extract, in doses of from 1/8 to 1/4 of a grain, repeated every hour, is often effectual in controlling the severity of the attack. Smoking a small portion of the leaves occasionally affords relief.
Joy states that a Belladonna plaster over the prAecordial region, renewed every seven or ten days, often procures a very considerable alleviation of the attacks.
458. In Hooping Cough, Belladonna has been strongly recommended by Wetzler, Guersent, Auberle, Debreyne, Hufeland, and others. Dr. Williams states that it often signally diminishes the violence and the frequency of the paroxysms of cough; but, as it is liable to lose its efficacy by constant use, it is better to intermit it for a few days, and then to resume it. He states that he has given it, in doses of gr. 1/4, thrice daily, to a child of two years old; gr. 1/2 to one of four years; and gr. j. to one of eight years of age; and has increased these quantities to double when they ceased to relieve. These doses, generally, cause dilatation of the pupil; this, and any other symptoms which arise from the medicine, cease as soon as it is discontinued. He considers it more safe and more effectual than Prussic acid. Mr. Garraway§ has lately recommended the administration of Belladonna, in combination with Sulphate of Zinc, in Hooping Cough. He treated between fifty and sixty cases with the best results. The supervention of bronchitic or pulmonary congestion required the administration of emetics, but in only two cases had he to suspend the Belladonna treatment. He gave gr. 1/6 to \ of Ext. of Belladonna, with from gr. 1/2 to gr. j. of Sulphate of Zinc, three or four times a day, steadily increasing the dose until children of five or six years were taking from gr. iv. to gr.vj. of Belladonna, and twice that quantity of Sulphate of Zinc daily. He found that the tolerance of the medicine and the subsidence of the disease were in inverse proportion to the age of the subject, a child of eight or ten weeks bearing a larger proportionate dose than one of eight or ten years.
* Therapeutique Applique, 8vo, Lond 1844 Lib. of Medicine, vol. iii. p 305.
Ibid., p. 99.
§ Lancet, Oct. 17, 1S63.
 
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