Two  cases,  however  (recorded  by  Hauber),  which  had  resisted  other  treat-
ment, were  quickly  cured  by  a  course  of  chloroform  inhalation,  with  energetic
massage  during  the  narcosis.  The  local  application  of  stimulating  liniments
(especially  chloroform)  and  of  cold  to  the  extremities,  also  sometimes
arrests  the  spasm.  Trousseau  observed  benefit  from  the  application  of  ice
to  the  spine.  Electrical  treatment  has  been  followed  by  improvement  in
some  cases,  and  has  failed  in  others.  The  best  results  have  been  obtained
with  the  voltaic  current,  the  negative  pole  to  the  spine,  the  positive  on  the
irritable  nerves,  or  both  poles  on  the  spine.     Faradaism  is  contraindicated.
In  France,  tetany  was  once  invariably  treated  by  bleeding  ;  the  symptoms
rapidly  disappeared  in  some  cases,  especially  in  men,  occasionally,  also,  in
weakly  women.  The  procedure  often  failed,  however,  when  tonics  quickly
cured  the  patient.
The  treatment  of  tetany  in  children,  is,  in  the  main,  similar  to  that  in
adults.  Attention  to  the  underlying  diathesis  is  of  paramount  importance.
In  young  children,  symptoms  of  rickets  are  rarely  absent,  and  cod-liver  oil
and  iron  are  the  most  effectual  remedies,  the  continuous  tetany  of  early  life
being  less  amenable  to  sedatives  than  the  intermittent  tetany  of  older  chil-
dren and  adults.  Cheadle  found  bromide  and  chloral  useless  in  one  case,  in
which  the  extract  of  Calabar  bean  succeeded,  in  doses  of  one  thirty-sixth  of
a  grain  increased  gradually  to  a  third,  but  cod-liver  oil  and  iron  were  given
at  the  same  time.
For  noctural  tetany  I  have  found  no  remedy  so  useful  as  a  dose  of  digi-
talis given  at  bedtime.  Bromide  also  often  removes  the  symptom,  but
occasionally  fails.     Tonics  are  also  needed.
OCCUPATION   NEUROSES.  1059

TETANOID  CHOREA.
