Spigelia corresponds more particularly to the feeling of weakness in the reproductive organs, without, however, being an exclusive remedy for that condition. Characteristic indications for Spigelia are: great debility after the slightest exercise; sad and desponding mood, accompanied with a pressing pain in the forehead from within outwards, which extends deep into orbits especially when stooping forwards, and appears 11* with increased violence every other day; the acid taste in the mouth with painful fissures in the tongue; the complete aversion to smoking; excessive appetite and great thirst; the painful pressure in the pit of the stomach, which makes every least pressure from without unpleasant, and is accompanied with palpitation of the heart and anxious oppression of the chest; the feeling of fulness in the abdomen even after a moderate meal, with rumbling in the bowels and papescent stools.

§ 78. We shall conclude the chapter on typhus and typhoid diseases by a few cursory remarks on certain forms of typhus, which we have not yet had an opportunity to treat in our country (Germany), and the probable remedies of which we will point out with a few broad indications.

Before proceeding we will state, that it is exceedingly bad practice to change the remedies every six or twelve hours, as some physicians do, who get frightened, if they do not see an improvement in that time. Typhus, if it should have fully set in, cannot be cut short by a remedy, and all that the physician can do, is, to cure the patient. It is therefore advisable to repeat the remedy, provided it has been chosen with all possible care, until an improvement takes place in the symptoms; if the patient should get worse, this would be positive evidence that the remedy was not homoeopathic to the disease. If the symptoms do not get worse, this may be considered an improvement in typhus; it would be indiscreet to give another remedy under such circumstances with a view of hastening the cure; we might perhaps destroy the good effects which we had so far obtained by our treatment. A frequent change of remedies is only justifiable in case the symptoms should vary frequently, provided always that the changes in the symptoms are no medicinal aggravation. The physician who conducts the treatment has to decide about that. If he should not clearly recollect the physiological effects of the remedy, let him either refresh his memory, or else wait three or four hours before prescribing a new remedy. At the end of that period the disease will have taken such a turn as will either justify or condemn the selection of the last remedy. Should the frequent changes in the symptoms constitute regular paroxysms, the physician would then have to select among the following remedies, the principal of which we shall name first: Ars., Carbo veg., Veratrum, China, Nux, Cocculus.

A good deal is said about pneumo-typhus as a particular disease, without considering that the inflammatory process in the lungs frequently takes place in company with the typhoid, and that the known hypostasis, which is going on in the lower lobes of the lungs in every typhoid disease, sometimes increases to a real pneumonia, in which case the inflammatory symptoms are more marked than those which properly belong to the typhoid process. The treatment is the same as that of pneumonia typhosa, of which we shall treat hereafter.

As regards diet, the patient ought to live on thin gruel, soups made of salep, sago, oat-meal, etc, light and easily digested meat, such as pigeons, capons, chicken, etc, light vegetables, and even bread and a little butter, if the patient should have any desire for it. The patient may eat fruit, raw and boiled; his drink should be boiled milk, toast-water with a little mulberry, raspberry, althea or cherry-juice. The patient may likewise drink buttermilk, which will not injure him in the least. There is scarcely a disease, where the desire of the patient for one or the other kind of food ought to be regarded with more care, than in typhus, especially if the patient desire acid things. The temperature of the room should be the same at all times, rather cool, and the patient should not have too much covering. The room should be kept perfectly quiet, as every impression, which the patient receives from without, tends to irritate his brain and furnish new food to his ravings. It is of the utmost importance, that the patient should be kept clean, and the room should be aired from time to time, without, however, exposing the patient.*

* We recommend our readers never to allow recovering typhus patients any raw fruit; for a fortnight after the cessation of the fever, the diet should be extremely simple, although the patient need not starve; butchers' meat, stimulating drinks, potatoes, celery, radishes, and the like, should not be used. Some physicians, who are even very clever in other respects, are not sufficiently careful in regulating the diet of their patients. - Hempel.