The same is true even to a greater extent with theocin. This is a powerful diuretic. If given by mouth it should be well diluted as it is most irritating to the stomach. It is best given intravenously in doses of two and a half to three grains dissolved in five to six cubic centimeters of distilled water. One must be reasonably sure that the kidneys are not the subject of chronic disease and are functionally, therefore, below par. The intravenous dose should not be given oftener than once in four days. For the pain in aneurysm, nothing (except, of course, morphine) is so valuable as iodide of potassium. Patients who are suffering agony, when put to bed and given KI grs. x. three times a day, soon lose all the distressing symptoms. This applies particularly to aneurysms of the arch of the aorta. When the sclerosis has affected the cerebral arteries to such an extent that symptoms result, the case is, as a rule, exceedingly grave. Not much can be done except to relieve the headaches and keep down the blood pressure, if this is high, by means of rest in bed, the iodides, aconite, or the nitrites. The cases of transient monoplegias or hemiplegias can be much relieved by careful hygienic measures and judicious administration of drugs. Much ingenuity is sometimes required to overcome the idiosyncrasies of patients, but care and patience will succeed in surmounting all such difficulties. The treatment of intermittent claudication is the treatment of arteriosclerosis in general. Sometimes the circulation in the affected leg or legs is much helped by daily warm foot baths. Light massage might be tried and the galvanic current may be used once or twice daily. There are a few distressing symptoms that occur usually late in the disease, when complications have already occurred, which frequently baffle the therapeutic skill of the physician. The chief of these--insomnia, dyspnea, and headache--may not be late manifestations, but insomnia and headache are frequently associated with the moderately advanced stages of arteriosclerosis. At times all the symptoms seem to be due to the high tension, the relief of which causes them to disappear. There are, unfortunately, times when high tension is not responsible for the headache and insomnia. Under these circumstances such drugs as trional, veronal, amylene hydrate, ammonol, etc., may be tried until one is found which produces sleep. For the headaches, phenacetin, alone or in combination with caffein and bromide of sodium, may be tried. Acetanilid, cautiously used, is at times of value. There have been cases of arteriosclerosis with low blood pressure, accompanied by severe headaches, that have been relieved by ergot. Codeine should be used with care, and morphine only as a very last resource. Great care must always be exercised in giving drugs that depress the circulation, for it is easily conceivable that more harm than good can come from injudicious drugging. CHAPTER XIV