External Stimulus in Cholera.—The resources of professional judge-
ment in the treatment of Cholera are not so numerous and efficient
as to render a somewhat novel remedy unacceptable to those whose lot it
may be to undertake the charge of many cases. I am indebted to a
lady of heroic mind and great intelligence for the hints which led me to
adopt in the collapse of cholera the powerful external stimulus which I
shall presently describe. It appears that in the most desperate cases,
even when life has appeared extinct, the native Indians are accustomed
to apply the actual cautery freely to the abdomen, not unfrequently with
the happy result of restored vitality. The remedy, based on the same
principle, which I have employed in three cases with complete success in
the Borough Jail of Newcastle, is precisely similar in kind, though some-
what less harsh and formidable in degree. A piece of linen dipped in
brandy is placed over the epigastrium or abdomen, and ignited ; the
brandy burns away in a minute or so, producing a considerable feeling of
pain, which renders it necessary to secure the hands of the patient.
Slight vesication will probably follow, and, if successful, in a short time
heart and pulse begin to return, and the feelings of the patient are great-
ly improved ; vomiting will also generally be put a stop to. It is pro-
bable that the application may soon require repetition, the situation be-
ing somewhat varied. In one case, now convalescent, in which death
was apparently close at hand, the most complete effect was produced by
a third application along the spine in the lumbar region. Time will not
permit me to give details of cases, but having now tried the “brandy
blister ” in seven or eight cases of total collapse, I repeat that in three it
has been entirely successful, and in others has had the effect of tem-
porarily rousing the patients; and if, as experience has taught me, in
some of these it had been repeated with more energy, greater success
might possibly have resulted. The patients now convalescent say that
it is a severe remedy, but are quite conscious of its beneficial effects, and
attribute to its use, without any hesitation, their restoration from im-
pending death.—Mr. Greenliow in Lancet.