Mrs. ----, aged 70 years. A lady frequently afflicted with the gout,
and an asthmatical cough. After a long continuance of the latter, she
had a great diminution of urine, and considerable difficulty of
breathing, particularly on motion, or when lying. Her body was much
bound. There was, however, no apparent swelling. She took three
spoonfuls of an aperient decoction of forty-five grains in six ounces
and a half, every other morning. The urine was plentiful those days,
and her breathing much relieved. In two or three weeks after the use
of it she was perfectly restored. The purgative medicine neither
increased the urine, nor relieved the breathing, till the Foxglove was
added.
This spring she long laboured with the gout in her stomach, which
terminated in a fit in her hand. During the whole of this tedious
illness, of nearly three months, she passed little urine, and her
breathing was again short.
She took the same preparation of Foxglove without any diuretic effect,
and afterwards two and three grains of the powder twice a day with as
little. The dulcified spirits of vitriol, however, quickly promoted
the urinary secretion.