The discharge from the diseased surfaces, in an ordinary case without ulceration, is of a mucous or muco-purulent character, not unlike an ordinary catarrhal secretion. When ulceration exists it is dark, fetid or bloody, or sanious and purulent, sometimes it is acrid, excoriating the parts.
Inflammation or ulceration, either acute or chronic, in these parts does not differ essentially in its characteristics from the same affection in other mucous surfaces.
The proper treatment for a catarrh of other mucous surfaces will be applicable to these, though there is no doubt but that some medicines are more specifically adapted to these than to other organs.
In the early stage of the complaint, while the inflammation is acute, or sub-acute, the discharge thin or white, _Copaiva_ and _Macrotin_ are to be given once in 6 hours alternately. During the same time let injections into the vagina of warm soap and water be used twice a day, to cleanse the parts of the secretion, followed in half an hour by a wash of warm water, into which _tr. of Macrotys_ has been put in proportion of 40 drops to half a pint. The application should be made with an 8 ounce or at least 6 ounce curved pipe syringe, so as to throw it with considerable force. If there is a burning sensation, use the washes quite warm, until the heat of the parts is allayed. Avoid the use of _cold_ injections as long as any inflammation exists. If the bearing down is present with burning in the parts, _Bell._ is to be used in rotation with the two former remedies. If the sensation is that of smarting, _Cantharis_ is to be used in place of Bell.
Where the disease comes on soon after child-birth, _Podophyllin is the Specific_. It is to be given at the first attenuation three times daily in half gr. doses of the trituration. In this case let the parts be freely washed daily with a solution of borax, quite warm. In the _chronic_ form of the disease, especially where _barrenness_ exists, _Macrotin_, _Podophyllin_ and _Hydrastin_, given morning, noon and night, in the order named, will, in nearly all cases, afford relief.
For females who have never borne children, give _Phos. acid_, 2d and _Eryrgium Aquaticum_ 1, night and morning for a week, and then give them at the 3d dilution until the symptoms subside. If there are headache and derangement of the stomach, _Macrotin_ and _Podophyllin_ should be used, each once a day, between the latter remedies. When the discharge is colored and the pains darting, cutting or smarting, indicating ulceration, or if ulceration is discovered by examination, use _Macrotin_ and _Hydrastin_ internally, injecting the latter upon the affected parts freely. The ulcerated surfaces should be well washed off every day with soap and water, or a solution of borax, and the medicine (_Hydrastin_) in form of infusion, used half an hour after the other wash. If the neck of the womb looks dark, and is ulcerated, or is hard and painful to the touch, especially on probing the cavity, _Cornus Sericea_ must be used both as a wash to the parts, and at the first dilution internally, using them twice a day. This remedy will often cure malignant cases.