*CLINICAL NOTES ON GALLOGEN. 
H. S. Frazer, M. D., 
Instructor in Physiology and Assistant Demon- 
strator of Anatomy in the St. Louis College 
of Physicians and Surgeons. 
With the advent of hot weather, with its at- 
tendant severe ills, not only to children, but to 
adults as well, the thoughtful physician will be- 
gin to examine and test the remedies which have 
been recommended to him as able weapons to 
fight these serious summer complaints. And it is 
the purpose of this article to aid him in his search 
by writing my experience with one of the newer 
remedies. We have scarcely anything as un- 
satisfactory to treat during the summer months 
as those affections of the gastro-intestinal tract, 
from a simple gastritis to a dysentery or ileo-co- 
litis. We have all had our trials with calomel, 
followed by opium in some form, and we all know 
how poorly children in particular bear any form 
of opium. So I shall call attention to a remedy 
which in my hands has been followed by more 
than unusual success, and that is gallogen. By 
way of introduction to the cases, each a fair ex- 
ample of one form or another of those diseases 
broadly included under the name of "summer 
complaints," it may not be amiss to briefly describe 
some of the properties of this drug. 
stance, which is related to tannih and <ailc i^dJ 
*The Regular Medical Visitor, Juna 15, 1903, 
No. 2 is found associated with the two in nature, be- 
ing obtained from divi divi pods, which at one 
time were official. The formula of gallogen is 
CitHoOs, 2 H2 O 4- H2, the giving off of water 
and partial oxidation of gallic acid results in gal- 
logen. It is yellowish, tasteless (a valuable fact 
in the administration of this drug to children) 
and insoluble in all acid or neutral media, so I 
generally prescribe it in Na Cl solutions. Even 
in this solution in excess of 2 per cent, it crys- 
tallizes on cooling. Thus its advantages over 
tannic acid or its derivatives become apparent, 
also its harmlessness to the stomach, in whose 
acid media it is insoluble, but upon reaching the 
alkaline intestinal juices its action begins at once, 
gradually becoming soluble, thus meeting the re- 
quirements for an ideal intestinal astringent. 
Too much will not be dissolved, and from experi- 
ments on animals large doses were borne without 
ill effects. It is an insoluble preparation of tannic 
acid, containing ioo per cent., which cannot be 
said of any other intestinal astringent. The dose 
for children is from 5 to 8 grains, for adults 
15 grains, administered from three to five times 
daily, depending on the urgency of the symptoms. 
It can be given, of course, with any acid or other 
drug which may be indicated, in a mucilaginous 
mixture, gum acacia, or in 10 per cent, chocolate 
coated tablets, but I prefer giving it as mentioned 
above. The following cases in which I have 
prescribed gallogen with signal success are typi- 
cal in their class : 
Mr. F., aged 55, was seized with a bronchial 
form of la grippe, and at the end of three days 
iwasisd fgr improved that he resumed work. His 
appetite had come back about fourfold, so he 
lost no time in indulging it; result was that in about six hours he was seized with an acute in- 
testinal indigestion, vomiting, purging, and severe 
colicky pains in his abdomen, slight rise in tem- 
perature. I at once administered i-io gr. doses 
of calomel to be given every ten minutes till 
he took 15. An hour after taking the last calomel 
soda tablet I began i-gram doses of gallogen, 
dissolved in a sufficient quantity of salt water, 
to be given every two hours until three doses had 
been taken; then I gave the same dose every four 
hours, with the result that in twelve hours he 
was himself again. I was able to control the pain 
with turpentine stupes. 
E. R., aged 5, girl, I found suffering with a 
catarrhal enteritis. Her mother had previously 
administered a good dose of castor oil. So, after 
restricting the diet to boiled milk, which was 
well borne, I began the use of 5-grain doses of 
gallogen in salt water. The diarrhoea, which in 
this case had been excessive, accompanied with 
some tenesmus, began to subside in twelve hours 
(her medicine was given during the night as 
well), and in five davs my patient had fully re- 
covered from a disease which I have often seen 
last a full summer and at other times develop 
a colitis or ileo-colitis. I used turpentine stupes 
in this case also to allay pain. 
E. S., aged 4% months, came under my notice 
after another physician had had the case for a 
week. I found the little girl with a soft, slow 
pulse, cold extremities, generally depressed, pain 
on moving the bowels, the stools being passed 
every hour or so were streaked with blood, com- 
posed of mucus, epithelium, and undigested food. 
Pain on pressure over right side; great thirst. 
The case looked hopeless, for she was one of those bottle-fed infants who had always been del- 
icate. I stopped all food, allowed plenty of water 
and ordered brandy in half-teaspoonful doses in 
water every two and a half hours. I depended 
on irrigating the colon for success, and for this 
purpose used I gallon of warm salt water, in 
which had previously been dissolved 2 grams, 
30 grains of gallogen; this was used twice daily. 
Internally I administered 3-grain doses of gal- 
logen every two hours and at night unless asleep. 
On the morning after I found her but little im- 
proved, all medication was continued, and when 
I called that night I was gratified to learn that 
her bowels had only moved four times and with 
less pain; her general condition remained about 
the same. I now began to give her modified 
milk, sterilized, every three hours, in connection 
with my other treatment. With the exception of 
an inability to pass her water, about two days 
later she gradually mended so that in three weeks 
I had the pleasure of bidding a little patient 
good-bye at the station, off for the rest of the 
season to the country, that a short while before 
I thought was doomed. I attribute my success 
to gallogen. Starch water with opium I do not 
think would have been effectual as an enema, 
while silver nitrate would have been too severe. 
I wanted the soothing but astringent effects of 
gallogen on this turgid mucous membrane, so 
I got it there from both ends. These are only 
examples of three typical cases in which I have 
had pronounced success with gallogen. 
C. BISCHOFF & CO., 
88 Park Place, 
New York.