Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The repetition of the same dose / by William Sharp. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![became less frequent. The skin was a little drier than usual. The action on the kidneys was also very noticeable, their secretion was greatly increased; on one day it was excessive, and, as it happened, singularly inconvenient. The effect of Bovista in this dose on the heart resem- bles that of the small dose of Digitalis, not that of Aconite ; but on the kidneys it is the reverse of Digi- talis. In the language of Orthodoxy—not Bovista—but this dose of Bovista, is a cardiac tonic, and a renal stimulant. Chamomilla—its action on the liver. In February I wrote to Dr. Applebe requesting him to be good enough to experiment with Matricaria Cha- momilla (Wild Chamomile). As the object was to learn the effect of the repetition of the same dose I asked him to take one drop of the first centesimal dilution night and morning for a week or more. I received from him the following interesting letter : 1891, March 2nd. I have been experimenting with Chamomilla for the past ten days, taking one drop night and morning in half a wine glass of cold water. I have also enlisted my pupil, Mr. Beverley, as a volun- teer to experiment on. In my case the first dose acted very much on my bowels; it seemed to stimulate the liver, and brought away a good deal of bile. Strange to say, since then, although taking the Chamomilla, I have been constipated, and that is the only effect I notice. Mr. Beverley, on the other hand, finds it acts as a slight laxative whenever he takes it. Though this effect is quite appreciable, if he leaves it off he does not become constipated, but just in his normal state. Neither he nor I notice any other effect of the drug.^' March 26th. On my return home this morning I found that Mr. Beverley had taken notes of the effects of Chamomilla 1 in one drop doses [in another experi- ment] . He is reading hard just now and does not in consequence take very much exercise, the result being that he has had constipation. I enclose you his own notes, which are really instructive and very interesting. I shall begin with half a drop to-morrow morning and continue for a week taking it. I shall then let you know the result of the smaller dose.''](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21970269_0018.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
