Baptisia During Labor.

I wonder if any of the readers of this journal, during the approach of, or during the period of parturition, have observed that the mucous membrane assumes that peculiar color which we claim indicates baptisia. I have found this indication very strongly marked. In some of these patients, when present, I have given this remedy, and have obtained excellent results on the entire condition. It especially acts as a relaxant, promoting normal uterine action, and thus greatly facilitating the progress of the labor. There are some cases in which its action is promoted by a combination with pulsatilla. To four ounces of water I add twenty drops of baptisia and fifteen drops of pulsatilla, and give in teaspoonful doses every twenty or thirty minutes.

MRS. A. E. LAYDE.

COMMENT:—To those who allow themselves to be guided positively by the precise indications, it becomes a habit to prescribe the indicated remedy, whether it is commonly used for that condition or not. All close observers have marveled at the results obtained at times from remedies which they would hardly have thought to be useful in the condition in hand. I have no doubt at all that the above suggestion will prove to be a useful one and in addition to the benefits described by the writer, I believe that in many cases it would retard sepsis.

Ellingwood's Therapeutist, Vol. 2, 1908, was edited by Finley Ellingwood M.D.