As we design to made the REVIEW a practical as well as a theoretical organ of Homoeopathy, we select from our editorial correspondence the following interesting cases. They are good illustrations of the Homoeopathic Law, and as such, are very welcome to our pages. The authors will observe we have taken the liberty of a slight abridgement, on account of our limited space.

DR. C. H. MASON, CROSSWICKS, N. J., reports the following case occurring in his practice. It affords a good example of the curative effects of Cicuta, when that drug is indicated by the particular symptoms of trismus; and shows its superiority in such affections to Belladonna. The value of Cocculus in difficult deglutition is also shown, when used in alternation with Cicuta: both of which drugs have a strong corresponding relation to this symptom.

Dr. Mason was called on the 19th October last to visit a patient-Miss——, whom he found in great distress, from a spasmodic closure of the jaws, great difficulty in swallowing and considerable nervous excitability. She was a single woman, aged twenty eight, who had some years before given birth to an illegitimate child under circumstances of great mental anxiety, having been abandoned by her lover, and threatened with desertion by her family. Every monthly period since the birth of this child, the patient had suffered extremely, and indeed had often had convulsions from the intensity of her pain. She had never been very bright, and these monthly spasms seemed to render her still less intelligent. Dr. Mason was not able to inform himself of the precise character of these monthly convulsions. They were probably hysterical, but though classed under that name, were nevertheless evidences of a veritable diseased condition of the organs involved. The nervous system was always in a state of erythismus, and this in itself was sufficient evidence of serious trouble: all the more serious if allowed to continue uncured. Dr. M. found his patient with a sore, aching pain through the nape of the neck, shoulders and back; with great soreness in the muscles of the lower jaw, and with the jaws firmly clenched. She was walking about, very restless, in much pain and totally unable to open the jaws. Her menstrual flow had made its appearance on the day before the Doctor was called, and she had had one of her usual spasms in which she continued nearly all the night previous. She had complained during the forenoon of the day on the afternoon of which she was seen, of a soreness and a stiffness of the muscles of the lower jaw, when suddenly about noon the jaws became clenched, and most immovably fixed.

A spoonful of a solution of the third dilution of Belladonna was given the patient every three hours. On the 20th October patient having seemed to remain about the same, with the additional symptom of headache, Bell. 6th was given with hardly any better result. On the day after (the 21st.) Cicuta was administered in the 6th potency, a dose given once in three hours.

On the 22nd. A very marked improvement had occurred. Headache was better, and the spirits in some measure revived. The jaws however still remained firmly clinging together.

On the 23rd, the pains in the shoulders and arms, before alluded to, were intensely aggravated, as was also the soreness and pain in the lower jaw. Her headache was much worse again, and the deglutition which had very much improved since the first day, was now exceedingly troublesome.

Cicuta was continued, and Cocculus was also given, both in the 6th potency, in alternation with one another. A lotion of chloroform linement, which the Dr. thought would assist to palliate the distressing trismus, was once in three hours applied to the jaw. After twelve hours the patient was well enough to talk. In twelve hours more she could open her mouth an inch, and shortly after, all the soreness and stiffness in the jaw and the muscles attached to it entirely disappeared. The patient had been in the habit of using large doses of Opium and Asafetida during the height of her previous menstrual suffering.

By a reference to Cicuta and Cocculus, the reader will find “Trismus, Constrictive sensation in the gullet, which seems to be paralysed-Cramps in the masseters-Tension as from a wound in the muscles of the neck-etc., etc.,” put down in their Pathogenesis, thus justifying the prescription and ensuring the success of the remedies employed.