Clematis Erecta

[flammula j0vts, upright virgin's bower. nat. order, ranun-

culace^;.]

This climbing plant grows both wild and as an ornamental flower- ing bush in our gardens. Its white and delicate little flowers shed a very pleasant fragrance. We make a tincture of the fresh plant, having k dark brownish-green color and an acrid taste.

Hahnemann has recommended this drug as a remedy for mercurial affections complicated with psora ; for dangerous eruptions on the head and skin, and various kinds of troublesome inflammation of the eyes.

At a more remote period its virtues have been praised by Stcerck in cases of cancerous ulcers of the lips and mammae ; spongy excres- cences ; tophi ; inveterate eruptions ; peculiar kinds of chronic head- ache ; melancholia. A number of cures with this drug have been published by this experimenter, especially of old, foal ulcers where the medicine is given internally, in the shape of an infusion, and in the form of powder triturated with sugar ; at the same time it is applied externally, the powder being strewn upon the ulcer ; arthritis, resulting from mismanaged gonorrhoea ; neglected ulcerous scabies ; sores when symptomatic of secondary syphilis.

BERPES EXEDENS.— The following case which we find re- ported in the Prager Monatssclirift fuer Homoeopathic, illustrates the virtues of clematis in herpes exedens very beautifully.

A woman of fifty years, of a scrofulous habit, was afflicted with herpes exedens. The eruption covered both cheeks, the forehead, the upper and lower extremities, the nates, back and the abdomen ; it secreted an acrid, purulent fluid. The patient complained of itching and burning, especially at night, which disturbed her sleep a good deal, likewise her digestion. Clematis4 cured the patient completely within six weeks.

In one case, that of a man of thirty years, the face, extremities and the trunk were covered with bad, ichorous, spreading, fetid ulcers, the result of neglected secondary syphilis ; the lower lip was swollen, deeply ulcerated, cancerous ; the eyes were in- flamed, protruded, dim; the eyelids badly ulcerated, and secreting a quantity of acrid water; continued salivation. After using all sorts of remedies for two years without avail, the patient took clematis internally, an4 applied the pulverized leaves exter- nally ; in a few days the saliva was less ichorous and fetid, the ulcers looked better, and his strength improved. In about six weeks the patient was discharged cured.

The drug seems to be possessed of strong diuretic and diaphoretic properties.

STRICTURE OF THE URETHRA Dr. Desterne recommends

clematis for stricture of the urethra. Jahr places clematis in the

COCCIONELLA. 739

«.

first rank of remedies for organic strictures, that is, in strictures formed by the infiltration of the corpus spongiosum at some point by coagulable lymph, and formation of a submucous callosity. Sev- eral cases of this affection are reported in the Gallican Jour., that were successfully treated by himself and his brother.