BY DR. FRANZ MINNICHREITER.

Anna Walter, widow, 42 years old, brunette, of good constitution, the mother of two children born without accident, had fifteen years ago suffered from hepatitis attended with considerable enlargement of the liver. She was a long time recovering from this attack, and as a sequel she suffered from various gastric and flatulent disorders which after being treated allopathically for two years at last disappeared. In 1855, in consequence of a rheumatic affection of the right arm she visited the baths of Deutsch-Altenburg, and after taking ten baths returned much benefited. Four years later, when serving as child's nurse in Horpats, the pain returned in the month of December in consequence, as she supposed, of carrying the child so much, during the sleepless nights, upon the arm. Frictions with French brandy, which she employed of her own accord, were of little service. In February of the following year, the pain which, “sticking” in character, fixed itself in the right deltoid muscle, radiated thence to the scapula and to the elbow-joint, and was aggravated by lifting and by motion. The pains increasing daily and the patient being no longer able to raise the arm to the head, she applied to me for aid on the 17th of February.

On this day, after a walk, the patient had been seized with a sticking pain in the right side of the chest in the region of the fifth rib which was increased by moving the arm and the body, extended to the upper part of the ensiform cartilage and somewhat impeded respiration. I ordered Apis mellifica, third dilution, three drops in a half glass of water, a tea-spoonful to be taken every three hours. On the next day the pains in the chest and the difficulty of breathing had completely ceased.

On the 19th of February she took cold again, and towards evening was seized with a burning pressing pain in the region of the os coccygis, which was much aggravated by any attempt to sit down. On the morning of the 20th I was called to see her. In addition to the above mentioned symptoms which had become worse daring the night, she complained also of stiffness in the back and of sticking pains in the fore-arm, with a paralysed feeling. She also stated that before going to bed, the evening before, she had had a hard shivering fit The pulse was not feverish; she had but little appetite.

I had recourse again to Apis, and prescribed ten drops of the fifteenth dilution in a half glass of water, of which a tea-spoonful was to be taken every two hours. The next day the pains in the back and sacral region were not diminished; she felt burning pains in both lower extremities, from the thigh to the ankles, so that she could not move the feet — the least movement, even that of the hands, increased the pains. On the 21st, in the afternoon, headache and sleeplessness supervened. The pulse was not febrile, but the temperature of the skin had increased. I nevertheless continued the Apis, and on the 23d a profuse sweat occurred, after which improvement began and continued so that on the 1^st March she was free from pain and able to resume her work. As soon as she began to improve, I increased the interval between the doses and finally gave but one dose daily.

I was induced to use the bee-poison, in this case, by the number of symptoms which point to Rheumatism in the physiological proving of Dr. Const. Hering.

[Allg. Hom. Zeitung, 63, 195.]

Remarks. — Among the symptoms of Apis which resemble those of Rheumatism in general, and of this case in particular the following may be cited, Hering's Amerikanische Arzneiprufungen, Vol. I, p. 171 to 376.

866. Tensive pain in the left shoulder which extends up to the nape.

867. Pain in the right shoulder and fore-arm and pressure upon the chest.

868. Drawing pains through the arms, beginning in the shoulder.

874. Drawing pains in the arms, which begin in the shoulders and extend to the ends of the fingers.

876. Numbness and tingling in both arms, especially the left.

991. General feeling of lassitude.

993. All other symptoms are attended by a constant feeling of lassitude and depression.

998. General paralytic feeling especially in the limbs.

841. Stiffness in nape and sacral region.

842. Violent rheumatic stitches in muscles of the right side of the neck, aggravated by moving the head towards the right side.

866. Stiffness in sacral region.

852. Peculiar and great weakness of the whole back, on both sides of the spinal column — she could not lie on the back. Dunham.

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