The acute glandular affections of throat and neck— tonsillitis, parotitis, inflammation of the submaxillary and sublingual glands—are often speedily removed by mercurial preparations. The one twentieth of a grain of calomel, or the one fifth of mercury with chalk, may be given every two hours, or one minim of the following solution may be administered at the same interval: Rx Hydrarg. chlor. corrosiv., gr. j; aquae, 3 j. M. Sig.: Dose, τη j. Chronic affections of these organs are not benefited by these remedies, and the so-called scrofulous diseases of the cervical glands are made worse by them.

Corrosive sublimate is an effective remedy in gastric ulcer. The thirtieth to the sixtieth of a grain, three times a day before meals, is a proper quantity and occasion for this purpose. Certain kinds of vomiting are quickly cured by small doses of calomel. The vomiting of children, caused by indigestible food or by constipation, or by these causes combined, is often speedily relieved by one-twelfth-of-a-grain doses of calomel every half-hour or hour, dropped on the tongue. This remedy is the more efficacious when such vomiting is accompanied by great heat of head, restlessness, and fever. The vomiting of cholera infantum is often stopped by the same means.

It has long been held that mercurials are specially indicated in that catarrhal state of the intestinal mucous membrane and of the hepatic duct, manifested by nausea, anorexia, tympanites, whitish or clay-colored stools, and jaundice. The use of mercury in these cases is predicated on its supposed power to promote the flow of bile. It is true, no doubt, that calomel and blue-pill will remove these symptoms, but such mild salines as phosphate of soda, sulphate of magnesia, tartrate of soda and potassa. etc., will usually succeed quite as well and without detriment to the patient. The diarrhoea and dysentery of infants (ileo-colitis) is frequently treated by minute doses of calomel or hydrargyrum cum creta. When there are much straining and bloody mucus, it is said that small doses of corrosive chloride prove very effective, but the author is convinced that mercurials are much abused in these affections. Children are quickly poisoned by mercurials, although they are not easily salivated. The spinach-colored stools which so frequently occur in the summer complaint of children, and which are, by ignorant practitioners, supposed to be produced by the mercury administered, really belong to cases of ileo-colitis, and may, by their persistence and profuseness, signify an increased irritation of the intestinal mucous membrane due to the remedies given. While the author believes that other medicines are more useful than mercury in the ileo-colitis of children, he is convinced of the utility of minute doses of calomel (one twentieth to one twelfth of a grain every half-hour) when there is much irritability of the stomach. Mercurials are contraindicated in the diarrhoea and dysentery of adults, as a rule.

It was formerly an article of faith to hold that mercury was a sovereign remedy in hepatic disorders. The state known as biliousness, characterized by a yellowish-coated tongue, yellow conjunctivae, muddy skin, nausea, constipation, may be removed by a mercurial purge when these symptoms are due to catarrh of the duodenum, excesses of the table, sudden checking of the perspiration, etc. The blue-pill, or mercury with chalk, or calomel, succeeds in these cases by removing offending substances from the intestinal canal, by relieving a catarrhal state of the mucous membrane, or by causing elimination of waste products by the intestinal glandular apparatus. Less objectionable agents may be employed with equal success.

The experience of the India medical officers has shown conclusively that mercurials are harmful in acute hepatitis, hepatic abscess, jaundice from gall-stones, acute yellow atrophy, etc. As these affections are very rife in India, an experience which has led to such conclusions should be heeded. There is no evidence to show that mercurials render the least service in cirrhosis.

Calomel is a very efficient purgative. It will be retained when other purgatives are rejected by the stomach; it is free from taste, and may therefore be given easily to children. When it operates, nausea and tormina may be experienced. One grain of calomel at night will act in the morning, and not infrequently a half-grain will give satisfactory results. A full purgative dose of calomel (five grains) is an excellent vermifuge for the lumbricoid worms. It may be given with santonine. At the onset of acute febrile diseases, calomel is a useful purgative; it hastens waste, and causes the elimination of the products by the intestine.

Mercurials were formerly much esteemed in the treatment of acute inflammation, especially of serous membranes. As calomel—the mercurial preparation usually employed—was combined with opium, it was not known to which remedy the good results were due, but the mercurial was considered to have the larger share of merit. It is now admitted that opium was the effective agent. An apparent exception to this statement exists in the case of iritis, a disease in which the good effects of mercury are most conspicuous; but iritis, probably, is always of syphilitic origin, and, in syphilitic inflammation of serous membranes, it is not disputed that mercurials are extremely efficacious. In these days, however, although opium is considered indispensable in peritonitis, pleuritis, pericarditis, etc., mercury is no longer combined with it. No longer is it considered necessary to "touch the gums" in order to cure a serous inflammation, and only the most prejudiced and benighted practitioners insist in the use of mercurials in these inflammatory affections.

Large doses of calomel. five grains every four hours—are said to be very efficacious in true croup or membranous laryngitis. It is claimed that it allays spasm and checks the formation of the false membrane. The author is skeptical in regard to the utility of calomel in this affection. There is, however, no doubt as to the value of the yellow subsulphate (turpeth mineral) as an emetic in this disease. If given early, it is the doubtful statement of Dr. Fordyce Barker, of New York, that a fatal result will most certainly be averted. From two to four grains of the subsulphate may be given as an emetic for a child with croup. Serious results might be produced by this dose if emesis did not so promptly follow. The powder comes up with the contents of the stomach, in from five to fifteen minutes after being swallowed. But little depression follows the emesis produced by turpeth mineral, in which respect it has a decided advantage over sulphate of copper, tartar - emetic, and even ipecacuanha. As it is insoluble, this remedy should be rubbed up with sugar and placed on the base of the tongue.

Corrosive sublimate has lately been used with very distinct advantage in the treatment of diphtheria. Its remarkable germicide property is the motive for its employment, and clinical experience strongly supports the results of experiment. The dose administered in the treatment of diphtheria will range, according to the age of the subject, from 1/100 grain to 1/15 grain every four or six hours.

Liebermeister, following the lead of Traube, Wunderlich, and others, has obtained surprising results from the use of calomel in typhoid fever. By our German confréres this treatment is called the specific treatment of abdominal typhus. It consists in the administration of ten grains of calomel in a single dose the first day, and eight grains a day for three or four days thereafter. It is a curious fact that these large doses of calomel have an antipyretic effect. According to the statistics of Liebermeister, the "specific" calomel treatment shortens the duration and lessens the mortality from typhoid fever, as compared with the non-specific, expectant, or other plans of medication.

Calomel is one of the numerous remedies used in the treatment of cholera Asiatica. Two methods are pursued: large doses at considerable intervals; small doses frequently repeated. The latter method is nowadays much more usually practiced. In consists in giving every fifteen minutes, half-hour, or hour, the one sixth, one half, or one grain of calomel, combined with opium, chalk, piperine, etc. The author, who has had considerable experience in the treatment of cholera, can not express any degree of confidence in the efficacy of this treatment. Large doses (a scruple to a drachm) sometimes appear to arrest vomiting when other means fail, but there is danger of excessive ptyalism when reaction sets in.