The best plan is always to give an emetic during the
46 THOMSONIAN SYSTEM
paroxysm to shorten its duration and afterwards treat the cause which will usually be found to have its seat in the uterus. It may be an irritated or ulcerated womb, which directly affects the nervous system and brings about the paroxysm. Lobelia is of immense value in preventing the tension of the nervous system. The uterus, in the meantime, must be treated for the cause. That removed, the effect will cease.
Apoplexy brought on, as it so frequently is, by a mass of undigested food in the stomach, calls for a free exhibition of emetics, of which the third preparation of Lobelia is appropriate. Lobelia should also be administered by injection and allowed to be retained in the bowels, to assist in exciting vomiting, relax the system, and equalize the nervous system. Even if the seat of apoplexy should be in the brain, and considered incurable, the treatment indicated will be of benefit and it is always harmless. Many forms of Mania are frequently the result of a disordered condition of the stomach, and many cases have been permanently cured by first freely prescribing emetics and then restoring the tone and functions of the digestive organism.
In chronic dyspepsia, as in other forms of deeply-seated diseases, the mucous membrane of the stomach becomes more or less coated with a false and morbid membrane; a general torpor then pervades the system, the nervous energy is protracted, and the activity of the mind is greatly depressed. In such cases there is no plan of treatment which offers equal success comparable with that of the frequent use of the pack bath and stimulating emetics. This plan will prove the most effectual in restoring the secretions, and bringing about the detachment and removal of false membranes lining the stomach. Without effecting this in some manner the functions of the stomach cannot be permanently restored. It has been observed, and this should be borne in mind, that patients who have long
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