SKOOk.u.m CHUCK.

(Some readers may be startled at this name, applied to a remedy, but under that name it came before the profession and the name has stuck. It is the Western Indian's designation of the waters of what is now known as "Medical Lake." The following by Dr. W. D. Gentry appeared in the _U. S. Med. Investigator_, 1889:)

The water is of a deep amber and almost red in the sunlight. The following is an a.n.a.lysis of the salts, obtained by evaporation of the water; the proportion being in grains per U. S. gallon 231 cubic inches:

Sodic chloride, 16.370 Pota.s.sic chloride, 9.241 Sodic carbonate, 63.543 Magnesic carbonate, .233 Ferrous carbonate, .526 Calcic carbonate, .186 Aluminic oxide, .175 Sodic silicate, 10.638 Organic matter, .551 ------ 101.463 Lithic carbonate, } Pota.s.sic sulphate, }Each a trace.

Sodic bi-borate, }

The lake has no outlet, but is fed by two enormous springs. It contains no living things with the exception of axolotl, a kind of salamander, such as are found in the lakes of the Mexican Cordilleras.

The medical and curative properties of this remarkable lake was known to the Indians of the northwest as far back as they have any legends or tribal history, and it was held in such reverence by them that the country around this lake was called 'Sahala Lyee Illihe,' or 'Sacred Grounds,' and no matter how hostile the tribes were to each other no Indians journeying to or from the 'Skook.u.m Limechen Chuck,' or 'strong medicine water,' were ever molested.

When the Indians were considering the transfer of their lands to the government, many years ago, it is recorded as a matter of history, that old Quetahlguin, father of the present Chief Moses, and 'Old Joseph,'

father of Chief Joseph, lately a prisoner of war, with the broken remnants of his band, after weeks of deliberation and consideration, with the 'Sahala Lyee,' or Great Spirit, through their medicine-men, or prophets, firmly said: 'We have talked with the Great Spirit and we have slept with his words in our ears. The Great Spirit is our father and the earth is our mother. We have a good home and it was made for us by the Great Spirit; it is a part of us; it is our mother. In Wallowa Lake are an abundance of fish created especially for our tribe. None other of his red children have such fish. In the 'Skook.u.m Chuck' we have a remedy for all our ailments. We only have to bathe in and drink its water and we are made well. If we sign the treaty we will forever offend the Great Spirit; we will sign away our mother and she will cry. Her tears will dry up these lakes and we will be hungry and sick. We will go to the Skook.u.m Chuck only to find that its waters have disappeared.'

The story is told of a Frenchman pa.s.sing the lake many years ago, before the properties of the water became known to the whites, with a drove of sheep afflicted with a skin disease called 'the scab.' As soon as the sheep saw the water they ran to it, but would not drink. They stood in the water for some time, and in a few days they were well of the 'scab.'

The Frenchman was suffering with rheumatism. He concluded to try the water of the lake for his disease. He was speedily cured. The whites were soon attracted to this lake by the stories of marvellous cures reported by the Indians, and by seeing Indians return in health and vigor from the lake, who had been taken there on litters, appearing at the point of death. It is estimated that over 20,000 people have visited this lake since 'Joseph's Band' were driven from that section of the country, and it is fast becoming as popular as any other of our great health resorts.

My attention was called to _Skook.u.m chuck_ some time since, and I procured some of the salts and triturated a quant.i.ty, making the first, second, third and sixth potencies. I partially proved the first potency by taking two grains every two hours. The first effect produced was a profuse coryza with constant sneezing, as in hay fever. This continued until the medicine was antidoted by tobacco. My appet.i.te was greatly increased. Some rheumatic pains in limbs, and heaviness about the sacrum. The catarrhal effects were so severe I could not continue the remedy. I have used the third and sixth potency in my practice and have cured a number of cases of catarrh, and am confident that the remedy will be curative in hay fever.

(Later investigation, however, demonstrated that the chief curative action of the salts was in skin diseases.

Dr. D. De Forest Cole, of Albion, N. Y., wrote the following to the firm from whom he procured the remedy:)

Some time since I received from you one bottle _Skook.u.m chuck_ 3x trit.

I had a very bad case of urticaria which resisted the usual remedies as _Apis_, _Urtica ur._, etc., and I gave her (a girl twelve years old) four powders of about four grains each of the _Skook.u.m chuck_, instructing her to take one powder in one-half gla.s.s water, one teaspoonful every two hours, and she returned in a week free from any urticaria. I gave her four powders more, and no appearance of urticaria since. Besides curing the urticaria the patient's health is in every way improving. I write this thinking you might desire to know of its value in urticaria, as well as eczema.

(The following cases were contributed by Dr. D. W.

Ingalls, Bridgeport, to _N. Y. Med. Times_, 1894:)

CASE 1. Mrs. D., aged forty-eight years, suffered four years with eczema plantaris, fissured, red and painful, which gave forth a viscid secretion, drying into scales half an inch in thickness. For the past two years the patient had not been able to wear shoes nor walk any distance, owing to the excessive soreness of the feet.

Patient consulted me March 1st, and the following treatment was given: Two-grain powders of the 2x trituration of _Skook.u.m chuck_ every two hours, and an ointment applied nightly consisting of _Skook.u.m salt_, one drachm to the ounce of _Vaseline_. In the morning the feet were washed with _Skook.u.m chuck_ soap. April 1st the patient walked to the dispensary in felt shoes. The fissures and greenish tinge of the crusts had nearly disappeared. The two-grain powders were then given every four hours and the former treatment continued. On May 1st, patient walked to the dispensary wearing leather shoes for the first time, the ointment was stopped, the fissures and crevices being hardly perceptible. The patient was advised to wash the feet night and morning with the _Skook.u.m chuck_ soap.

June 1st patient presented herself, stating that she had very little trouble with her feet, except some tenderness upon a misstep. Appearance good.

A powder of the 3x was given every night, together with the continued washing of the feet night and morning. July 1st the patient was discharged cured.

CASE 2. Mrs. B., aged twenty-eight, eczema of the nose of one year's standing. The usual ointments were given, but without result. March 15th the following treatment was given: Five-grain powder of the 2x trituration _Skook.u.m chuck_ four times a day, together with the _Skook.u.m_ ointment applied nightly. This case was entirely cured in six weeks.

CASE 3. Mrs. H., aged twenty-three, benign growth in left breast about the size of a walnut; first noticed about eight months previously. Upon strict inquiry, no history of cancer or tuberculosis was given.

One-grain powders of the 1x were given, the first week every four hours.

Two-grain powders of the 2x were given every four hours the second week.

Five-grain powders of the 3x were given the third week and continued seven weeks, when the patient was discharged cured.

CASE 4. Mr. S. was afflicted with eczema of the scalp, which spread from back of the ears to the eyebrows, covering the entire scalp with a squamous or scabby eczema, accompanied with a constant itching and shedding of scales. On March 18th the following treatment was given: Head to be washed four times a day with _Skook.u.m chuck_ soap. A five-grain powder 2x trituration was given every hour during the first week, when _Sulphur_, third decimal, was given for three days, and _Skook.u.m chuck_, second decimal, was continued for one week. One-grain powder of the 1x was given in water four times a day for two weeks; then the third decimal trituration was used until June 1st, when patient was discharged cured.

CASE 5. Mr. J., nasal catarrh, of years' standing. A greenish-yellow discharge having the odor of a slight ozoena. The patient had been so much relieved that he is at present writing very comfortable, and believes that he will be permanently cured.

CASE 6. Mrs. D., aged thirty-six, prolonged suppuration due to abscess of the axilla; nine months' standing. June 20th the following treatment was given: The abscess was washed four times a day with the solution of _Skook.u.m_ salts, five grains to one quart of water, and the 2x given internally every two hours until July 10th, when the abscess was healed.

A two-grain powder was then continued, night and morning for one month, with no return of the abscess. To sum up, I have simply verified what Dr. Gentry and others have given us about the remedy. I have used it with gratifying success in all suppurating wounds. It evidently has a great sphere of action, and I hope some day to see a good proving.

(The following was contributed by Dr. B. F. Bailey, Lincoln, Neb.:)

We have many remedies brought to our notice in an empirical way, which soon lose their prominence, first because we have no provings, and second, having no provings, clinical study is not close enough. When _Skook.u.m chuck_ was first written up, I began to use it and watch its effects, that it might be possible to find its proper niche in practice.

The following two cases will, I think, give an idea of the cases in which it may always be depended upon:

Case No. 1.--A married woman of 40 years of age. History and present condition show a lithaemic diathesis. For years has never been free from eczematous troubles. At times suffers much from rheumatism, not infrequently, rheumatism disappears to be immediately followed by hordeoli upon eyelids. Has been treated long and faithfully by Allopaths, and now for some years by our own school. Prescribed _Skook.u.m_ 3x--one powder every 4 hours. Improvement was soon evident.

Persisted in this treatment for three months, and now for two years patient has been perfectly well.

Case No. 2.--Patient, married woman of about 26 years, comes to me with urine, sp. grav. 1.030, marked uric acid deposits, flushed face upon a yellowish background--so often seen in lithaemic cases. Much difficulty of digestion. Great dryness of skin, especially of scalp, with great trouble from falling out of hair--in short a thoroughly lithaemic case.

_Skook.u.m chuck_ 3x every four hours. Satisfactory improvement. Has feared head will become entirely bald. Now no loss of hair, and a loss of the heated, congested feeling of face and head. In fact, a satisfactory recovery now of some weeks standing. These cases briefly stated ought to be of interest, in that they show it to be probable that we will find the sphere of action of _Skook.u.m_ to be in lithaemic cases, and for the treatment of these cases we have but a few clearly defined reliable remedies.

SOLANUM CAROLINENSE.

NAT. ORD., Solanaceae.

COMMON NAME, Horse-nettle.

PREPARATION.--The fresh, ripe berries are macerated in twice their weight of alcohol.

(In 1889 Dr. Napier called attention to _Solanum Carolinense_ as a remedy in the treatment of epilepsy, stating that it was used as a domestic remedy in the South for convulsions and "that he had successfully prescribed it in his practice." Dr. Charles S. Potts, of the University of Pennsylvania, contributes a paper _Therap. Gazette_, Dec., 1895, on the remedy, giving some new points, from which the following is condensed:)

At the clinic for nervous diseases of the University Hospital, _Solanum Carolinense_ was tried in a series of twenty-five cases, twenty-one of which were idiopathic, three organic, and one probably so. Of these, eight of the idiopathic cases either did not return after the first visit or else were not under observation sufficiently long to offer a fair test. In the remaining seventeen cases the following results were obtained--viz., five, two of them organic, were not improved. In the remaining twelve the results showed more or less benefit from the use of the drug. The five cases in which no improvement was noted were afterwards placed upon other treatment, either antipyrin and bromide of ammonium or the mixed bromides with amelioration of the symptoms in four; in the remaining one no drug seemed to be of service. The dose used at first was 10 drops. This dose was found to be useless, and after the first few cases they varied from 30 drops to teaspoonful three or four times daily. No unpleasant effects were observed, excepting a mild diarrhoea in some cases. This was also noticed by Dr. Herdman. He also noticed that in large doses the temperature was lowered and the pulse slowed.

In many epileptics diarrhoea is more of a benefit than otherwise.

The conclusions derived from the results obtained in seventeen cases are:--

1. That the drug has a decided influence for good upon the epileptic paroxysm.

2. That this influence is probably not so great or so sure as that obtained by the use of antipyrin and the bromide salts or even of the mixed bromides.

3. That in those cases in which it is of service it relieves the paroxysms, without causing any other unpleasant symptoms, such as are sometimes caused by the use of large doses of the bromides.

4. That the dose ordinarily recommended is too small, and that as much as a teaspoonful or more four times daily is often needed to secure results.

The following are some of the cases in which the remedy seemed to act beneficially:

H. T., male, aged thirteen years. Idiopathic epilepsy; had his first spell when five years of age; averages one paroxysm daily. The _Solanum_ was first given in 10 drop doses _t. i. d._ without effect. When increased to 25 drops the spells were lighter in severity, but occurred about as often. The dose was finally increased to a teaspoonful four times daily. After being put upon this dose he was under observation six weeks, during which time he had six seizures much lighter in severity.

T. H., male, aged twenty-eight years. He had epileptic seizures for the past three years. They followed an injury to the head which rendered him unconscious, but produced no other visible injury. Since this, however, has had almost constant headache. First spell six month after the injury, and have been very frequent since, averaging three to four weekly; they are of ordinary type. _Solanum_ in 40 drop doses three times daily was ordered. Spells at once decreased in frequency and severity. During the last six weeks he was under observation he only had three spells, very mild in type.

C. R., male, aged twenty-one years. Epileptic seizures for past three years following an injury. Had been trephined in right parietal region before coming under our observation. After trephining the symptom improved, but got worse again; when seen by us was having one daily.

40-drop doses of _Solanum_ caused diarrhoea, and dose was reduced to 30 drops _t. i. d._, when diarrhoea ceased. Under this treatment he had no spell for two weeks. In the following month he had three spells; was then lost to observation.

A. N., male, aged thirty years. First spell one year ago; have since occurred every two weeks; good deal of headache. Ordered _Solanum_ 30 drops _t. i. d._ No spells for one month and headache ceased. He then stopped attendance.