Feb 15, 1896
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The Hospital
Abstract
no special action on the smooth muscle fibres of the uterus, and its value in cases of uterine haemorrhage cannot depend largely on the production of independent or active contraction of this organ. The base cotarnine is by no means a new discovery. Many years ago the chemist Wohler prepared it from narcotine, one of the alkaloids of opium, by treatment with oxidising agents in the presence of acids. The hydrochlorate of this base has, however, only recently been employed as a therapeutic agent, under the name of stypticen. Dr. Martin Freund suspecting, from its similarity to hydrastinine, that this body might have valuable styptic properties, entrusted its clinical investigation to Dr. Gottchalk, of Berlin. This gynaecologist, after a long series of practical experiments both on the lower animals and in female patients, has lately published an account of his researches in the pages of the " Therapeutische Monatshefte" for December, 1895. His list of cases includes examples of almost