Introduction

Introduction

Ignorance and superstition have attributed extraordinary medical virtues to almost every production of nature. That such virtues were often imaginary, time and experience have sufficiently shewn. Physicians, however, from a veneration for antiquity, still retain in their lists of medicine many things which owe their reputation entirely to the superstition and credulity of our ancestors.

The instruments of medicine will always be multiplied, in proportion to men’s ignorance of the nature and cause of diseases: when these are sufficiently understood, the method of cure will be simple and obvious.

Ignorance of the real nature and permanent properties of those substances employed in the cure of diseases, is another reason why they have been so greatly multiplied. Physicians thought they could effect by a number of ingredients, what could not be done by any one of them. Hence arose those amazing farragos which have so long disgraced the medical art, and which were esteemed powerful in proportion to the number of simples that entered their composition.

The great variety of forms into which almost every article of medicine has been manufactured, affords another proof of the imperfection of the medical art. A drug which is perhaps most efficacious in the simplest form in which it can be administered, has been nevertheless served up in so many different shapes, that one would be induced to think the whole art of physic lay in exhibiting medicine under as many different modes as possible.

Different forms of medicine, no doubt, have their use; but they ought never to be wantonly increased. They are by no means so necessary as is generally imagined. A few grains of powdered rhubarb, jalap, or ipecacuanha, will actually perform all that can be done by the different preparations of these roots, and may also be exhibited in as safe and agreeable a manner. The same observation holds with regard to the Peruvian bark, and many other simples of which the preparations are very numerous.

Multiplying the ingredients of a medicine, not only renders it more expensive, but also less certain, both in its dose and operation. Nor is this all. The compound, when kept, is apt to spoil, or acquire qualities of a different nature. When a medicine is rendered more safe, efficacious, or agreeable, by the addition of another, they ought, no doubt, to be joined; in all other cases, they are better kept asunder. The combination of medicines embarrasses the physician, and retards the progress of medical knowledge. It is impossible to ascertain the precise effect of any one medicine, as long as it is combined with others, either of a similar or dissimilar nature.

In the exhibition of medicine, regard should not only be had to simplicity, but likewise to elegance. Patients seldom reap much benefit from things that are highly disagreeable to their senses. To taste or smell like a drug, is become a proverb; and to say truth, there is too much ground for it. Indeed no art can take away the disagreeable taste and flavour of some drugs, without entirely destroying their efficacy: it is possible, however, to render many medicines less disgustful, and others even agreeable; an object highly deserving the attention of all who administer medicine.

The design of the following pages is, to exhibit such a list of drugs and medicines as may be necessary for private practice. They are considerably more numerous indeed than those recommended in the former part of the Book, but are still greatly within the number contained in the most reformed dispensatories. The same medicine is seldom exhibited under different forms; and where different medicines answer nearly the same intention, there is commonly no more than one of them retained. Multiplying forms of medicine for the same intention tends rather to bewilder than assist the young practitioner, and the experienced physician can never be at a loss to vary his prescriptions as occasion requires.

The chemical and other difficult preparations are for the most part omitted. All of them that are used by any private practitioner are not worth preparing. He will buy them much cheaper than he can make them. Great care however is necessary to obtain them genuine. They are often adulterated, and ought never to be purchased unless from persons of known veracity. Such of them as are in common use are inserted in the list of drugs and medicines. Their proper doses and manner of application, are mentioned in the practical part of the Book, wherever they are prescribed.

Such articles of medicine as are to be found in the house or garden of almost every peasant, as barley, eggs, onions, &c. are likewise, for the most part, omitted. It is needless to swell a list of medicines with such things as can be obtained whenever they are wanted, and which spoil by being kept.

The preparations made and sold by distillers and confectioners are also generally left out. These people, by operating upon a larger plan, generally make things better, while it is in their power to afford them much cheaper, than they can be prepared by any private hand.

The quantity ordered of every medicine is as small as could well be prepared, both to prevent unnecessary expence, and that the medicine might not spoil by keeping. Almost every medicine suffers by being kept, and should be used as soon after it has been prepared as possible. Even simple drugs are apt to spoil, and should therefore be laid in in small quantities; they either rot, are consumed by insects, or evaporate so as to lose their peculiar taste or flavour, and often become quite insignificant.

In the preparation of medicines, I have generally followed the most improved dispensatories; but have taken the liberty to differ from them wherever my own observations, or those of other practical writers, on whose judgment I could depend, suggested an improvement.

In several compositions, the ingredient on which the efficacy of the medicine principally depends is increased, while the auxiliaries, which are generally ordered in such trifling quantities as to be of no importance, are left out, or only such of them retained as are necessary to give the medicine a proper consistence, or the like.

The colouring ingredients are likewise for the most part omitted. They increase the bulk and price of the medicine; without adding any thing to its value. It would be well if they were never used at all. Medicines are often adulterated for the sake of a colour. Acrid and even poisonous substances are, for this purpose, sometimes introduced into those medicines which ought to be most bland and emollient. Ointment of elder, for example, is often mixed with verdegrise to give it a fine green colour, which entirely frustrates the intention of that mild ointment. Those who wish to obtain genuine medicines should pay no regard to their colour.

Some regard is likewise paid to expence. Such ingredients as greatly increase the price of any composition, without adding considerably to its virtue, are generally either omitted, or somewhat less expensive substituted in their place. Medicines are by no means powerful in proportion to their price. The cheapest are often the best; besides, they are the least apt to be adulterated, and are always most readily obtained.

With regard to the method of compounding medicines, I have generally followed that which seemed to be the most simple and natural, mentioning the different steps of the process in the same order in which they ought to be taken, without paying an implicit regard to the method of other dispensatories.

For many of the remarks concerning the preparation, &c. of medicines, I have been obliged to the author of the New Dispensatory. The other observations are either such as have occurred to myself in practice, or have been suggested in the course of reading, by authors whose names I am not able distinctly to recollect.

I have followed the alphabetical order, both with regard to the simples and preparations. A more scientific method would have been agreeable to some persons, but less useful to the generality of readers. The different classes of medicine have no great dependance upon one another; and, where they have, it is hard to say which should stand first or last; no doubt the simple preparations ought to precede the more compound. But all the advantages arising from this method of arrangement do not appear equal to that single one, of being able, on the first opening of the book, to find out any article, which, by the alphabetical order, is rendered quite easy.

The dose of every medicine is mentioned whenever it appeared necessary. When this is omitted it is to be understood that the medicine may be used at discretion. The dose mentioned is always for an adult, unless when the contrary is expressed. It is not an easy matter to proportion the doses of medicine exactly to the different ages, constitutions, &c. of patients; but, happily for mankind, mathematical exactness here is by no means necessary.

Several attempts have been made to ascertain the proportional doses for the different ages and constitutions of patients; but, after all that can be said upon this subject, a great deal must be left to the judgment and skill of the person who administers the medicine. The following general proportions may be observed; but they are by no means intended for exact rules. A patient between twenty and fourteen may take two thirds of the dose ordered for an adult; from fourteen to nine, one half; from nine to six, one-third; from six to four, one-fourth; from four to two, one-sixth; from two to one, a tenth; and below one, a twelfth.

Dispensatories are usually written in the Latin language. Even authors who write in English, generally give their prescriptions in Latin; and some of them shew so great an attachment to that language, as first to write their recipes in it, and afterwards translate them; while others, to compromise the matter, write the one half in Latin and the other in English. What peculiar charm a medical prescription, when written in Latin, may have, I shall not pretend to say; but have ventured to make use of the plainest English I could, and hope my prescriptions will succeed no worse for it.

N. B. The Apothecary’s weights, and the English wine measures, are used throughout the whole book, the different denominations of which will appear from the following Table:

A pound contains twelve ounces. An ounce − − eight drachms. A drachm − − three scruples. A scruple − − twenty grains.

A gallon contains eight pints. A pint − − sixteen ounces. An ounce − − eight drachms.

A spoonful is the measure of half an ounce.

A LIST of SIMPLES, and of such MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS, as ought to be kept in readiness for private Practice.

Agaric Alum Antimony, crude —— cinnabar of —— sulphur of Balsam of Capivi —— of Peru —— of Tolu Bark, cascarilla —— cinnamon —— mezereon —— Peruvian —— Winter’s, or canella alba Borax Calamine stone, levigated Castor, Russian Caustic, common —— lunar Earth, Fuller’s —— Japan —— Armenian bole —— French ditto Extracts of gentian —— of guaiacum —— of hellebore, black —— of hemlock —— of jalap —— of liquorice —— of Peruvian bark —— of poppies —— of wormwood Flowers of camomile —— colt’s foot —— elder —— rosemary —— damask roses —— red ditto Fruits, almonds —— bitter apple —— cassia fistularis —— Curassao oranges —— figs, dried —— French prunes —— Jamaica pepper —— juniper berries —— nutmegs —— tamarinds Gums, aloes —— ammoniac, in tears —— arabic —— asafœtida —— camphor —— galbanum —— gamboge —— guaiacum —— kino —— myrrh —— opium Hartshorn, calcined —— shavings of Herbs, lesser centaury —— peppermint —— spearmint —— penny-royal —— savin —— trefoil —— uva ursi —— wormwood Lead, Litharge —— white —— sugar of Lemon-peel Mace Magnesia alba Manna Mercury, crude —— calcinated —— Æthiop’s mineral —— calomel —— corrosive sublimate —— red precipitate —— white ditto Musk Oil, essential, of amber —— —— of annise —— —— of cinnamon —— —— of juniper —— —— of lemon-peel —— —— of peppermint —— expressed, of almonds —— —— of linseed Oil of olives, or Florence oil —— of palms —— of turpentine Orange-peel Oyster-shells prepared Poppy-heads Resins, benzoin —— —— flowers of —— Burgundy pitch —— dragon’s blood —— frankincense —— liquid storax —— white, or rosin —— scammony Roots, birthwort —— calamus aromaticus —— contrayerva —— garlic —— gentian —— ginger —— hellebore, black, white —— jalap —— ipecacuanha —— lily, white —— liquorice —— marsh-mallow —— mezerion —— rhubarb —— sarsaparilla —— seneka —— squills —— tormentil —— turmeric —— Virginian snake —— wild valerian —— zedoary Saffron Sal ammoniac, crude —— volatile Salt, Epsom —— of Glauber —— of hartshorn —— nitre, purified, or prunel —— Polychrest —— Rochel —— of tartar Seeds, anise —— carraway —— cardamom —— coriander —— cummin —— mustard —— sweet fennel —— wild carrot Senna Spanish flies Sperma ceti Spirits, æthereal, or æther —— of hartshorn —— of lavender, compound —— of nitre —— ditto dulcified —— of sal ammoniac —— of sea salt —— of vinegar —— of vitriol —— of wine rectified —— volatile aromatic Steel, filings of —— rust of, prepared —— soluble salt of Sulphur vivum —— balsam of Sulphur, flowers of Tar —— Barbadoes Tartar, cream of —— emetic —— soluble —— vitriolated Tin prepared Tutty, levigated Turpentine, Venice Verdegrise Vitriol, green —— blue —— white Wax, white —— yellow Woods, guaiacum —— logwood —— sassafras —— saunders, red Zinc, flowers of

MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS.

BALSAMS.

The subject of this section is not the natural balsams, but certain compositions, which, from their being supposed to possess balsamic qualities, generally go by that name.

This class of medicines was formerly very numerous, and held in great esteem: modern practice, however, has justly reduced it to a very narrow compass.

Anodyne Balsam.

Take of white Spanish soap, one ounce; opium, unprepared, two drachms; rectified spirit of wine, nine ounces. Digest them together in a gentle heat for three days; then strain off the liquor, and add to it three drachms of camphor.

This balsam, as its title expresses, is intended to ease pain. It is of service in violent strains and rheumatic complaints, when not attended with inflammation. It must be rubbed with a warm hand on the part affected; or a linen rag moistened with it may be applied to the part, and renewed every third or fourth hour, till the pain abates. If the opium is left out, this will be the saponacious balsam.

Locatelli’s Balsam.

Take of olive oil, one pint; Strasburg turpentine and yellow wax, of each half a pound; red saunders, six drachms. Melt the wax with some part of the oil over a gentle fire; then adding the remaining part of the oil and the turpentine; afterwards mix in the saunders, previously reduced to a powder, and keep them stirring together till the balsam is cold.

This balsam is recommended in erosions of the intestines, the dysentery, hæmorrhages, internal bruises, and in some complaints of the breast. Outwardly it is used for healing and cleansing wounds and ulcers. The dose, when taken internally, is from two scruples to two drachms.

The vulnerary Balsam.

Take of benzoin, powdered, three ounces; balsam of Peru, two ounces; hepatic aloes, in powder, half an ounce; rectified spirit of wine, two pints. Digest them in a gentle heat for three days, and then strain the balsam.

This balsam, or rather tincture, is applied externally to heal recent wounds and bruises. It is likewise employed internally to remove coughs, asthmas, and other complaints of the breast. It is said to ease the colic, cleanse the kidnies, and to heal internal ulcers, &c.

The dose is from twenty to sixty drops.

This, though a medicine of some value, does not deserve the extravagant encomiums which have been bestowed on it. It has been celebrated under the different names of The Commander’s Balsam, Persian Balsam, Balsam of Berne, Wade’s Balsam, Friar’s Balsam, Jesuit’s Drops, Turlington’s Drops, &c.

BOLUSES.

As boluses are intended for immediate use, volatile salts and other ingredients improper for being kept, are admitted into their composition. They are generally composed of powders, with a proper quantity of syrup, conserve, or mucilage. The lighter powders are commonly made up with syrup, and the more ponderous, as mercury, &c. with conserve; but those of the lighter kind would be more conveniently made up with mucilage, as it increases their bulk less than the other additions, and likewise occasions the medicine to pass down more easily.

Astringent Bolus.

Take of alum, in powder, fifteen grains; gum kino, five grains; syrup, a sufficient quantity to make a bolus.

In an excessive flow of the menses, and other violent discharges of blood, proceeding from relaxation, this bolus may be given every four or five hours, till the discharge abates.

Diaphoretic Bolus.

Take of gum guaiacum, in powder, ten grains; flowers of sulphur and cream of tartar, of each one scruple; simple syrup, a sufficient quantity.

In rheumatic complaints, and disorders of the skin, this bolus may be taken twice a day. It will also be of service in the inflammatory quinsey.

Mercurial Bolus.

Take of calomel, six grains; conserve of roses, half a drachm. Make a bolus.

Where mercury is necessary, this bolus may be taken twice or thrice a week. It may be taken over night; and if it does not operate, a few grains of jalap will be proper next day to carry it off.

Bolus of Rhubarb and Mercury.

Take of the best rhubarb, in powder, from a scruple to half a drachm; of calomel, from four to six grains; simple syrup, a sufficient quantity to make a bolus.

This is a proper purge in hypochondriac constitutions; but its principal intention is to expel worms. Where a stronger purge is necessary, jalap may be used instead of the rhubarb.

Pectoral Bolus.

Take of sperma-ceti, a scruple; gum ammoniac, ten grains; salt of hartshorn, six grains; simple syrup, as much as will make them into a bolus.

This bolus is given in colds and coughs of long standing, asthmas, and beginning consumptions of the lungs. It is generally proper to bleed the patient before he begins to use it.

Purging Bolus.

Take of jalap, in powder, a scruple; cream of tartar, two scruples. Let them be rubbed together, and formed into a bolus, with simple syrup.

Where a mild purge is wanted, this will answer the purpose very well. If a stronger dose is necessary, the jalap may be increased to half a drachm or upwards.

CATAPLASMS AND SINAPISMS.

Cataplasms possess few or no virtues superior to a poultice, which may be so made, as, in most cases, to supply their place. They are chiefly intended either to act as discutients, or to promote suppuration; and as they may be of service in some cases, we shall give a specimen of each kind.

Discutient Cataplasm.

Take of barley-meal, six ounces; fresh hemlock leaves, bruised; two ounces; vinegar, a sufficient quantity. Boil the meal and hemlock in the vinegar for a little, and then add two drachms of the sugar of lead.

Ripening Cataplasm.

Take of white lily root, four ounces; fat figs and raw onions, bruised, of each one ounce; yellow basilicum ointment, two ounces; gum galbanum, half an ounce; linseed meal, as much as necessary. Boil the roots along with the figs in a sufficient quantity of water; then bruise and add to them the other ingredients, so as to form the whole into a soft cataplasm. The galbanum must be previously dissolved with the yolk of an egg.

Where it is necessary to promote suppuration, this cataplasm may be used by those who chuse to be at the trouble and expence of making it. For my part, I have never found any application more proper for this purpose than a poultice of bread and milk, with a sufficient quantity of either boiled or raw onion in it, and softened with oil or fresh butter.

Sinapisms.

Sinapisms are employed to recal the blood and spirits to a weak part, as in the palsy and atrophy. They are also of service in deep-seated pains, as the sciatica, &c. When the gout seizes the head or the stomach, they are applied to the feet to bring the disorder to these parts. They are likewise applied to the patient’s soles in the low state of fevers. They should not be suffered to lie on, however, till they have raised blisters, but till the parts become red, and will continue so when pressed with the finger.

The sinapism is only a poultice made with vinegar instead of milk, and rendered warm and stimulating by the addition of mustard, horse-radish, or garlic.

The common sinapism is made by taking crumb of bread and mustard-seed in powder, of each equal quantities; strong vinegar, as much as is sufficient, and mixing them so as to make a poultice.

When sinapisms of a more stimulating nature are wanted, a little bruised garlic may be added to the above.

CLYSTERS.

This class of medicines is of more importance than is generally imagined. clysters serve, not only to evacuate the contents of the belly, but also to convey very active medicines into the system. Opium, for example, may be administered in this way when it will not sit upon the stomach, and also in larger doses than at any time it can be taken by the mouth. The Peruvian bark may likewise be, with good effect, administered in form of clyster to persons who cannot take it by the mouth.

A simple clyster can seldom do hurt, and there are many cases where it may do much good. A clyster even of warm water, by serving as a fomentation to the parts, may be of considerable service in inflammations of the bladder, and the lower intestines, &c.

Some substances, as the smoke of tobacco, may be thrown into the bowels in this way, which cannot by any other means whatever. This may be easily effected by means of a pair of hand-bellows, with an apparatus fitted to them for that purpose.

Nor is the use of clysters confined to medicines. Aliment may also be conveyed in this way. Persons unable to swallow, have been, for a considerable time, supported by clysters.

Emollient Clyster.

Take of linseed-tea and new milk, each six ounces. Mix them.

If fifty or sixty drops of laudanum be added to this, it will supply the place of the Anodyne Clyster.

Laxative Clyster.

Take of milk and water, each six ounces; sweet oil or fresh butter, and brown sugar, of each two ounces. Mix them.

If an ounce of Glauber’s salt, or two table-spoonfuls of common salt, be added to this, it will be the Purging Clyster.

Carminative Clyster.

Take of camomile flowers, an ounce; anise-seeds, half an ounce. Boil in a pint and a half of water to one pint.

In hysteric and hypochondriac complaints this may be administered instead of the Fœtid Clyster, the smell of which is so disagreeable to most patients.

Oily Clyster.

To four ounces of the infusion of camomile flowers, add an equal quantity of Florence oil.

This clyster is beneficial in bringing off the small worms lodged in the lower parts of the alimentary canal. When given to children the quantity must be proportionably lessened.

Starch Clyster.

Take jelly of starch, four ounces; linseed oil, half an ounce. Liquify the jelly over a gentle fire, and then mix in the oil.

In the dysentery or bloody flux, this clyster may be administered after every loose stool, to heal the ulcerated intestines and blunt the sharpness of corroding humours. Forty or fifty drops of laudanum may be occasionally added; in which case, it will generally supply the place of the Astringent Clyster.

Turpentine Clyster.

Take of common decoction, ten ounces; Venice turpentine, dissolved with the yolk of an egg, half an ounce; Florence oil, one ounce. Mix them.

This diuretic clyster is proper in obstructions of the urinary passages, and in colicky complaints, proceeding from gravel.

Vinegar Clyster.

This clyster is made by mixing three ounces of vinegar with five of water-gruel.

It answers all the purposes of a common clyster, with the peculiar advantage of being proper either in inflammatory or putrid disorders, especially in the latter.

☞ We think it unnecessary to give more examples of this class of medicines, as ingredients adapted to any particular intention may be occasionally added to one or other of the above forms.

COLLYRIA, or EYE-WATERS.

Eye-waters have been multiplied without number, almost every person pretending to be possessed of some secret preparation for the cure of sore eyes. I have examined many of them, and find that they are pretty much alike, the basis of most of them being either alum, vitriol, or lead. Their effects evidently are, to brace and restore the tone of the parts; hence they are principally of service in slight inflammations; and in that relaxed state of the parts which is induced by obstinate ones.

Camphor is commonly added to these compositions; but as it seldom incorporates properly with the water, it can be of little use. Boles and other earthy substances, as they do not dissolve in water, are likewise unfit for this purpose.

Collyrium of Alum.

Take of alum, half a drachm; agitate it well together with the white of one egg.

This is the Collyrium of Riverius. It is used in inflammation of the eyes, to allay heat, and restrain the flux of humours. It must be spread upon linen, and applied to the eyes; but should not be kept on above three or four hours at a time.

Vitriolic Collyrium.

Take of white vitriol, half a drachm; rose-water, six ounces. Dissolve the vitriol in the water, and filter the liquor.

This, though simple, is perhaps equal in virtue to most of the celebrated collyria. It is an useful application in weak, watery, and inflamed eyes. Though the slighter inflammations will generally yield to it, yet in those of a more obstinate nature the assistance of bleeding and blistering will often be necessary.

When a strong astringent is judged proper, a double or triple quantity of the vitriol may be used. I have seen a solution of four times the strength of the above used with manifest advantage.

Collyrium of Lead.

Take sugar of lead, and crude sal ammoniac, of each four grains. Dissolve them in eight ounces of common water.

Forty or fifty drops of laudanum may be occasionally added to this collyrium.

Those who chuse may substitute instead of this the collyrium of lead recommended by Goulard; which is made by putting twenty-five drops of his Extract of Lead to eight ounces of water, and adding a tea-spoonful of brandy.

Indeed, common water and brandy, without any other addition, will in many cases answer very well as a collyrium. An ounce of the latter may be added to five or six ounces of the former; and the eyes, if weak, bathed with it night and morning.

CONFECTIONS.

Confections containing above sixty ingredients are still to be found in some of the most reformed dispensatories. As most of their intentions, however, may be more certainly, and as effectually answered by a few glasses of wine or grains of opium, we shall pass over this class of medicines very slightly.

Japonic Confection.

Take of Japan earth, three ounces; tormentil root, nutmeg, olibanum, of each two ounces; opium dissolved in a sufficient quantity of Lisbon wine, a drachm and a half; simple syrup and conserve of roles, of each fourteen ounces. Mix and make them into an electuary.

This supplies the place of the Diascordium.

The dose of this electuary is from a scruple to a drachm.

CONSERVES AND PRESERVES.

Every Apothecary’s shop was formerly so full of these preparations, that it might have passed for a confectioner’s warehouse. They possess very few medicinal properties, and may rather be classed among sweetmeats than medicines. They are sometimes, however, of use, for reducing into boluses or pills some of the more ponderous powders, as the preparations of iron, mercury, and tin.

Conserves are compositions of fresh vegetables and sugar, beaten together into an uniform mass. In making these preparations, the leaves of vegetables must be freed from their stalks, the flowers from their cups, and the yellow part of orange-peel taken off with a rasp. They are then to be pounded in a marble mortar, with a wooden pestle, into a smooth mass; after which, thrice their weight of fine sugar is commonly added by degrees, and the beating continued till they are uniformly mixed; but the conserve will be better if only twice its weight of sugar be added.

Those who prepare large quantities of conserve generally reduce the vegetables to a pulp by the means of a mill, and afterwards beat them up with the sugar.

Conserve of Red Roses.

Take a pound of red rose buds, cleared of their heels; beat them well in a mortar, and, adding by degrees two pounds of double-refined sugar, in powder, make a conserve.

After the same manner are prepared the conserves of orange-peel, rosemary flowers, sea-wormwood, of the leaves of wood-sorrel, &c.

The conserve of roses is one of the most agreeable and useful preparations belonging to this class. A drachm or two of it, dissolved in warm milk, is ordered to be given as a gentle restringent in weakness of the stomach, and likewise in phthisical coughs, and spitting of blood. To have any considerable effects, however, it must be taken in larger quantities.

Conserve of Sloes.

This may be made by boiling the sloes gently in water, being careful to take them out before they burst; afterwards expressing the juice, and beating it up with three times its weight of fine sugar.

In relaxations of the uvula and glands of the throat, this makes an excellent gargle, and may be used at discretion.

Preserves are made by steeping or boiling fresh vegetables first in water, and afterwards in syrup, or a solution of sugar. The subject is either preserved moist in the syrup, or taken out and dried, that the sugar may candy upon it. The last is the most useful method.

Candied Orange Peel.

Soak Seville orange-peel in several waters, till it loses its bitterness; then boil it in a solution of double-refined sugar in water, till it becomes tender and transparent.

Candied lemon-peel is prepared in the same manner.

It is needless to add more of these preparations, as they belong rather to the art of the confectioner than that of the apothecary.

DECOCTIONS.

Water readily extracts the gummy and saline parts of vegetables; and though its action is chiefly confined to these, yet the resinous and oily being intimately blended with the gummy and saline, are in great part taken up along with them. Hence watery decoctions and infusions of vegetables, constitute a large, and not unuseful, class of medicines. Although most vegetables yield their virtues to water, as well by infusion as decoction, yet the latter is often necessary, as it saves time, and does in a few minutes what the other would require hours, and sometimes days, to effect.

The medicines of this class are all intended for immediate use.

Decoction of Althæa.

Take of the roots of marsh-mallows, moderately dried, three ounces; raisins of the sun, one ounce; water, three pints.

Boil the ingredients in the water till one-third of it is consumed; afterwards strain the decoction and let it stand for some time to settle. If the roots be thoroughly dried, they must be boiled till one half the water be consumed.

In coughs, and sharp defluctions upon the lungs, this decoction may be used for ordinary drink.

The Common Decoction.

Take of camomile flowers, one ounce; elder flowers, and sweet fennel seeds, of each half an ounce; water, two quarts. Boil them for a little, and then strain the decoction.

A medicine equally good may be prepared by infusing the ingredients for some hours in boiling water.

This decoction is chiefly intended as the basis of clysters, to which other ingredients may be occasionally added. It will likewise serve as a common fomentation, spirit of wine or other things being added in such quantity as the case may require.

Decoction of Logwood.

Boil three ounces of the shavings, or chips, of logwood, in four pints of water, till one half the liquor is wasted. Two or three ounces of simple cinnamon-water may be added to this decoction.

In fluxes of the belly, where the stronger astringents are improper, a tea-cupful of this decoction may be taken with advantage three or four times a-day.

Decoction of the Bark.

Boil an ounce of the Peruvian bark, grossly powdered, in a pint and a half of water to one pint; then strain the decoction. If a tea-spoonful of the weak spirit of vitriol be added to this medicine, it will render it both more agreeable and efficacious.

Compound Decoction of the Bark.

Take of Peruvian bark and Virginian snake-root, grossly powdered, each three drachms. Boil them in a pint of water to one half. To the strained liquor add an ounce and a half of aromatic water.

Sir John Pringle recommends this as a proper medicine towards the decline of malignant fevers, when the pulse is low, the voice weak, and the head affected with a stupor but with little delirium.

The dose is four spoonfuls every fourth or sixth hour.

Decoction of Sarsaparilla.

Take of fresh sarsaparilla root, sliced and bruised, two ounces; shavings of guaiacum wood, one ounce. Boil over a slow fire, in three quarts of water, to one; adding towards the end, half an ounce of sassafras wood, and three drachms of liquorice. Strain the decoction.

This may either be employed as an assistant to a course of mercurial alteratives, or taken after the mercury has been used for some time. It strengthens the stomach, and restores flesh and vigour to habits emaciated by the venereal disease. It may also be taken in the rheumatism, and cutaneous disorders proceeding from foulness of the blood and juices. For all these intentions it is greatly preferable to the Decoction of Woods.

This decoction may be taken, from a pint and a half to two quarts in the day.

The following decoction is said to be similar to that used by Kennedy, in the cure of the venereal disease, and may supply the place of Lisbon diet drink:

Take of sarsaparilla, three ounces; liquorice and mezereon root, of each half an ounce; shavings of guaiacum and sassafras wood, of each one ounce; crude antimony, powdered, an ounce and a half. Infuse these ingredients in eight pints of boiling water for twenty-four hours, then boil them till one half of the water is consumed; afterwards strain the decoction.

This decoction may be used in the same manner as the preceding.

Decoction of Seneka.

Take of seneka rattle-snake root, one ounce; water, a pint and a half. Boil to one pint, and strain.

This decoction is recommended in the pleurisy, dropsy, rheumatism, and some obstinate disorders of the skin. The dose is two ounces, three or four times a-day, or oftner, if the stomach will bear it.

White Decoction.

Take of the purest chalk, in powder, two ounces; gum arabic, half an ounce; water, three pints. Boil to one quart, and strain the decoction.

This is a proper drink in acute diseases, attended with, or inclining to, a looseness, and where acidities abound in the stomach or bowels. It is peculiarly proper for children when afflicted with sourness of the stomach, and for persons who are subject to the heart-burn. It may be sweetened with sugar, as it is used, and two or three ounces of simple cinnamon-water added to it.

An ounce of powdered chalk, mixed with two pints of water, will occasionally supply the place of this decoction, and also of the chalk julep.

DRAUGHTS.

This is a proper form for exhibiting such medicines as are intended to operate immediately, and which do not need to be frequently repeated; as purges, vomits, and a few others, which are to be taken at one dose. Where a medicine requires to be used for any length of time, it is better to make up a larger quantity of it at once, which saves both trouble and expence.

Anodyne Draught.

Take of liquid laudanum, twenty-five drops; simple cinnamon water, an ounce; common syrup, two drachms. Mix them.

In excessive pain, where bleeding is not necessary, and in great restlessness, this composing draught may be taken and repeated occasionally.

Diuretic Draught.

Take of the diuretic salt, two scruples; syrup of poppies, two drachms; simple cinnamon-water and common water, of each an ounce.

This draught is of service in an obstruction or deficiency of urine.

Purging Draughts.

Take of manna, an ounce; soluble tartar, or Rochel salt, from three to four drachms. Dissolve in three ounces of boiling water; to which add Jamaica pepper water, half an ounce.

As manna sometimes will not sit upon the stomach, an ounce or ten drachms of the bitter purging salts, dissolved in four ounces of water, may be taken instead of the above.

Those who cannot take salts may use the following draught:

Take of jalap in powder, a scruple; common water, an ounce; aromatic tincture, six drachms. Rub the jalap with twice its weight of sugar, and add to it the other ingredients.

Sweating Draught.

Take spirit of Mindererus, two ounces; salt of hartshorn, five grains; simple cinnamon-water, and syrup of poppies, of each half an ounce. Make them into a draught.

In recent colds and rheumatic complaints, this draught is of service. To promote its effects, however, the patient ought to drink freely of warm water-gruel, or of some other weak diluting liquor.

Vomiting Draughts.

Take of ipecacuanha, in powder, a scruple; water, an ounce; simple syrup, a drachm. Mix them.

Persons who require a stronger vomit may add to the above half a grain, or a grain, of emetic tartar.

Those who do not chuse the powder, may take ten drachms of the ipecacuanha wine; or half an ounce of the wine, and an equal quantity of the syrup of squills.

ELECTUARIES.

Electuaries are generally composed of the lighter powders, mixed with syrup, honey, conserve, or mucilage, into such a consistence, that the powders may neither separate by keeping, nor the mass prove too stiff for swallowing. They receive chiefly the milder alterative medicines, and such as are not ungrateful to the palate.

Astringent electuaries, and such as have pulps of fruit in them, should be prepared only in small quantities; as astringent medicines lose their virtues by being kept in this form, and the pulps of fruits are apt to ferment.

For the extraction of pulps it will be necessary to boil unripe fruits, and ripe ones if they are dried, in a small quantity of water till they become soft. The pulp is then to be pressed out through a strong hair sieve, or thin cloth, and afterwards boiled to a due consistence, in an earthen vessel, over a gentle fire, taking care to prevent the matter from burning by continually stirring it. The pulps of fruit that are both ripe and fresh may be pressed out without any previous boiling.

Lenitive Electuary.

Take of senna, in fine powder, eight ounces; coriander seed, also in powder, four ounces; pulp of tamarinds and of French prunes, each a pound. Mix the pulps and powders together, and with a sufficient quantity of simple syrup, reduce the whole into an electuary.

A tea-spoonful of this electuary, taken two or three times a day, generally proves an agreeable laxative. It likewise serves as a convenient vehicle for exhibiting more active medicines, as jalaps, scammony, and such like.

This may supply the place of the electuary of Cassia.

Electuary for the Dysentery.

Take of the Japonic confection, two ounces; Locatelli’s balsam, one ounce; rhubarb in powder, half an ounce; syrup of marsh-mallows, enough to make an electuary.

It is often dangerous in dysenteries to give opiates and astringents, without interposing purgatives. The purgative is here joined with these ingredients, which renders this a very safe and useful medicine for the purposes expressed in the title.

About the bulk of a nutmeg should be taken twice or thrice a-day, as the symptoms and constitution may require.

Electuary for the Epilepsy.

Take of Peruvian bark, in powder, an ounce; of powdered tin, and wild valerian-root, each half an ounce; simple syrup, enough to make an electuary.

Dr. Mead directs a drachm of an electuary similar to this to be taken evening and morning, in the epilepsy, for the space of three months. It will be proper, however, to discontinue the use of it for a few days every now and then. I have added the powdered tin, because the epilepsy often proceeds from worms.

Electuary for the Gonorrhœa.

Take of lenitive electuary, three ounces; jalap and rhubarb, in powder, of each two drachms; nitre, half an ounce; simple syrup, enough to make an electuary.

During the inflammation and tension of the urinary passages, which accompany a virulent gonorrhœa, this cooling laxative may be used with advantage.

The dose is a drachm, or about the bulk of a nutmeg, two or three times a-day; more or less, as may be necessary to keep the body gently open.

An electuary made of cream of tartar and simple syrup will occasionally supply the place of this.

After the inflammation is gone off, the following electuary may be used:

Take of lenitive electuary, two ounces; balsam of capivi, one ounce; gum guaiacum and rhubarb, in powder, of each two drachms; simple syrup, enough to make an electuary. The dose is the same as of the preceding.

Electuary of the Bark.

Take of Peruvian bark, in powder, three ounces; cascarilla, half an ounce; syrup of ginger, enough to make an electuary.

In the cure of obstinate intermitting fevers, the bark is assisted by the cascarilla. In hectic habits, however, it will be better to leave out the cascarilla, and put three drachms of crude sal ammoniac in its stead.

Electuary for the Piles.

Take flowers of sulphur, one ounce; cream of tartar, half an ounce; treacle, a sufficient quantity to form an electuary.

A tea-spoonful of this may be taken three or four times a-day.

Electuary for the Palsy.

Take of powdered mustard-seed, and conserve of roses, each an ounce; syrup of ginger, enough to make an electuary.

A tea-spoonful of this may be taken three or four times a-day.

Electuary for the Rheumatism.

Take of conserve of roses, two ounces; cinnabar of antimony, levigated, an ounce and a half; gum guaiacum, in powder, an ounce; syrup of ginger, a sufficient quantity to make an electuary.

In obstinate rheumatisms, which are not accompanied with a fever, a tea-spoonful of this electuary may be taken twice a-day with considerable advantage.

EMULSIONS.

Emulsions, beside their use as medicines, are also proper vehicles for certain substances, which could not otherwise be conveniently taken in a liquid form. Thus camphor, triturated with almonds, readily unites with water into an emulsion. Pure oils, balsams, resins, and other similar substances, are likewise rendered miscible with water by the intervention of mucilages.

Common Emulsion.

Take of sweet almonds, an ounce; bitter almonds, a drachm; water, two pints.

Let the almonds be blanched, and beat up in a marble mortar; adding the water by little and little, so as to make an emulsion; afterwards let it be strained.

Arabic Emulsion.

This is made in the same manner as the above, adding to the almonds while beating, two ounces and a half of the mucilage of gum arabic.

Where soft cooling liquors are necessary, these emulsions may be used as ordinary drink.

Camphorated Emulsion.

Take of camphor, half a drachm; sweet almonds, half a dozen; white sugar, half an ounce; mint-water, eight ounces. Grind the camphor and almonds well together in a stone mortar, and add by degrees the mint water; then strain the liquor, and dissolve in it the sugar.

In fevers, and other disorders which require the use of camphor, a table-spoonful of this emulsion may be taken every two or three hours.

Emulsion of Gum Ammoniac.

Take of gum ammoniac, two drachms; water, eight ounces. Grind the gum with the water poured upon it by little and little, till it is dissolved.

This emulsion is used for attenuating tough, viscid phlegm, and promoting expectoration. In obstinate coughs, two ounces of the syrup of poppies may be added to it. The dose is two table-spoonfuls three or four times a-day.

Oily Emulsion.

Take of soft water, six ounces; volatile aromatic spirit, two drachms; Florence oil, an ounce; shake them well together, and add, of simple syrup, half an ounce.

In recent colds and coughs, this emulsion is generally of service; but if the cough proves obstinate, it will succeed better when made with the paregoric elixir of the Edinburgh Dispensatory, instead of the volatile aromatic spirit. A table-spoonful of it may be taken every two or three hours.

EXTRACTS.

Extracts are prepared by boiling the subject in water, and evaporating the strained decoction to a due consistence. By this process some of the more active parts of plants are freed from the useless, indissoluble earthy matter, which makes the larger share of their bulk. Water, however, is not the only menstruum used in the preparation of extracts; sometimes it is joined with spirits, and at other times rectified spirit alone is employed for that purpose.

Extracts are prepared from a variety of different drugs, as the bark, gentian, jalap, &c.; but as they require a troublesome and tedious operation, it will be more convenient for a private practitioner to purchase what he needs of them from a professed druggist, than to prepare them himself. Such of them as are generally used are inserted in our list of such drugs and medicines as are to be kept for private practice.

FOMENTATIONS.

Fomentations are generally intended either to ease pain, by taking off tension and spasm; or to brace and restore the tone and vigour of those parts to which they are applied. The first of these intentions may generally be answered by warm water, and the second by cold. Certain substances, however, are usually added to water, with a view to heighten its effects, as anodynes, aromatics, astringents, &c. We shall therefore subjoin a few of the most useful medicated fomentations, that people may have it in their power to make use of them if they chuse.

Anodyne Fomentation.

Take of white poppy-heads, two ounces; elder flowers, half an ounce; water, three pints. Boil till one pint is evaporated, and strain out the liquor.

This fomentation, as its title expresses, is used for relieving acute pain.

Aromatic Fomentation.

Take of Jamaica pepper, half an ounce; red wine, a pint. Boil them for a little, and then strain the liquor.

This is intended, not only as a topical application for external complaints, but also for relieving the internal parts. Pains of the bowels, which accompany dysenteries and diarrhœas, flatulent colics, uneasiness of the stomach, and reachings to vomit, are frequently abated by fomenting the abdomen and region of the stomach with the warm liquor.

Common Fomentation.

Take tops of wormwood and camomile flowers, dried, of each two ounces; water, two quarts. After a slight boiling, pour off the liquor.

Brandy or spirit of wine may be added to this fomentation, in such quantity as the particular circumstances of the case shall require; but these are not always necessary.

Emollient Fomentation.

This is the same as the common decoction.

Strengthening Fomentation.

Take of oak bark, one ounce; granate peel, half an ounce; alum, two drachms; smith’s forge water, three pints. Boil the water with the bark and peel to the consumption of one-third; then strain the remaining decoction, and dissolve it in alum.

This astringent liquor is employed as an external fomentation to weak parts; it may also be used internally.

GARGLES.

However trifling this class of medicines may appear, they are by no means without their use. They seldom indeed cure diseases, but they often alleviate very disagreeable symptoms; as parchedness of the mouth, foulness of the tongue and fauces, &c. they are peculiarly useful in fevers and sore throats. In the latter, a gargle will sometimes remove the disorder; and in the former, few things are more refreshing or agreeable to the patient, than to have his mouth frequently washed with some soft detergent gargle.

One advantage of these medicines is, that they are easily prepared. A little barley-water and honey may be had any where; and if to these be added as much vinegar as will give them an agreeable sharpness, they will make a very useful gargle for softening and cleansing the mouth.

Gargles have the best effect when injected with a syringe.

Attenuating Gargle.

Take of water, six ounces; honey, one ounce; nitre, a drachm and a half. Mix them.

This cooling gargle may be used either in the inflammatory quinsey, or in fevers, for cleaning the tongue and fauces.

Common Gargle.

Take of rose-water, six ounces; syrup of clove July-flowers, half an ounce; spirit of vitriol, a sufficient quantity to give it an agreeable sharpness. Mix them.

This gargle, besides cleansing the tongue and fauces, acts as a gentle repellent, and will sometimes remove a slight quinsey.

Detergent Gargle.

Take of the emollient gargle, a pint; tincture of myrrh, an ounce; honey, two ounces. Mix them.

When exulcerations require to be cleansed, or the excretion of tough viscid saliva promoted, this gargle will be of service.

Emollient Gargle.

Take an ounce of marsh-mallow roots, and two or three figs; boil them in a quart of water till near one half of it be consumed; then strain out the liquor.

If an ounce of honey, and half an ounce of spirit of sal ammoniac, be added to the above, it will then be an exceeding good attenuating gargle.

This gargle is beneficial in fevers, where the tongue and fauces are rough and parched, to soften these parts, and promote the discharge of saliva.

The learned and accurate Sir John Pringle observes, that in the inflammatory quinsey, or strangulation of the fauces, little benefit arises from the common gargles; that such as are of an acid nature do more harm than good, by contracting the emunctories of the saliva and mucus, and thickening those humours; that a decoction of figs in milk and water has a contrary effect, especially if some sal ammoniac be added; by which the saliva is made thinner, and the glands brought to secrete more freely; a circumstance always conducive to the cure.

INFUSIONS.

Vegetables yield nearly the same properties to water by infusion as by decoction; and though they may require a longer time to give out their virtues in this way, yet it has several advantages over the other; since boiling is found to dissipate the finer parts of many bitter and aromatic substances, without more fully extracting their medicinal principles.

The author of the New Dispensatory observes, that even from those vegetables which are weak in virtue, rich infusions may be obtained, by returning the liquor upon fresh quantities of the subject, the water loading itself more and more with the active parts; and that these loaded infusions are applicable to valuable purposes in medicine, as they contain in a small compass the finer, more subtile, and active principles of vegetables, in a form readily miscible with the fluids of the human body.

Bitter Infusion.

Take tops of the lesser centaury and camomile flowers, of each half an ounce; yellow rind of lemon and orange peel, carefully freed from the inner white part, of each two drachms. Cut them in small pieces, and infuse them in a quart of boiling water.

For indigestion, weakness of the stomach, or want of appetite, a tea-cupful of this infusion may be taken twice or thrice a day.

Infusion of the Bark.

To an ounce of the bark, in powder, add four or five table-spoonfuls of brandy, and a pint of boiling water. Let them infuse for two or three days.

This is one of the best preparations of the bark for weak stomachs. In disorders where the corroborating virtues of that medicine are required, a tea-cupful of it may be taken two or three times a-day.

Infusion of Carduus.

Infuse an ounce of the dried leaves of carduus benedictus, or blessed thistle, in a pint of common water, for six hours, without heat; then filter the liquor through paper.

This light infusion may be given, with great benefit, in weakness of the stomach, where the common bitters do not agree. It may be flavoured at pleasure with cinnamon, or other aromatic materials.

Infusion of Linseed.

Take of linseed, two spoonfuls; liquorice root, sliced, half an ounce; boiling water, three pints. Let them stand to infuse by the fire for some hours, and then strain off the liquor.

If an ounce of the leaves of colt’s foot be added to these ingredients, it will then be the pectoral infusion. Both these are emollient mucilaginous liquors, and may be taken with advantage as ordinary drink in difficulty of making water; and in coughs and other complaints of the breast.

Infusion of Roses.

Take of red roses, dried, half an ounce; boiling water, a quart; vitriolic acid, commonly called oil of vitriol, half a drachm; loaf sugar, an ounce.

Infuse the roses in the water for four hours, in an unglazed earthen vessel; afterwards pour in the acid, and having strained the liquor, add to it the sugar.

In an excessive flow of the menses, vomiting of blood, and other hæmorrhages, a tea-cupful of this gently astringent infusion may be taken every three or four hours. It likewise makes an exceeding good gargle.

As the quantity of roses used here can have little or no effect, an equally valuable medicine may be prepared by mixing the acid and water without infusion.

Infusion of Tamarinds and Senna.

Take of tamarinds, one ounce; senna, and crystals of tartar, each two drachms. Let these ingredients be infused four or five hours in a pint of boiling water; afterwards let the liquor be strained, and an ounce or two of the aromatic tincture added to it. Persons who are easily purged may leave out either the tamarinds or the crystals of tartar.

This is an agreeable cooling purge. A tea-cupful may be given every half hour till it operates.

This supplies the place of the decoction of tamarinds and senna.

Spanish Infusion.

Take of Spanish juice, cut into small pieces, an ounce; salt of tartar, three drachms. Infuse in a quart of boiling water for a night. To the drained liquor add an ounce and a half of the syrup of poppies.

In recent colds, coughs, and obstructions of the breast, a tea-cupful of this infusion may be taken with advantage three or four times a-day.

Infusion for the Palsy.

Take of horse-radish root shaved, mustard-seed bruised, each four ounces; outer rind of orange-peel, one ounce. Infuse them in two quarts of boiling water, in a close vessel, for twenty-four hours.

In paralytic complaints, a tea-cupful of this warm stimulating medicine may be taken three or four times a-day. It excites the action of the solids, proves diuretic, and, if the patient be kept warm, promotes perspiration.

If two or three ounces of the dried leaves of marsh-trefoil be used instead of the mustard, it will make the antiscorbutic infusion.

JULEPS.

The basis of juleps is generally common water, or some simple distilled water, with one-third or one-fourth its quantity of distilled spirituous water, and as much sugar or syrup as is sufficient to render the mixture agreeable. This is sharpened with vegetable or mineral acids, or impregnated with other medicines suitable to the intention.

Camphorated Julep.

Take of camphor, one drachm; rectified spirit of wine, ten drops; double refined sugar, half an ounce; boiling distilled water, one pint. Rub the camphor first with the spirit of wine, then with the sugar; lastly, add the water by degrees, and strain the liquor.

In hysterical and other complaints where camphor is proper, this julep may be taken in the dose of a spoonful or two as often as the stomach will bear it.

Cordial Julep.

Take of simple cinnamon-water, four ounces; Jamaica pepper water, two ounces; volatile aromatic spirit, and compound spirit of lavender, of each two drachms; syrup of orange-peel, an ounce. Mix them.

This is given in the dose of two spoonfuls three or four times a day, in disorders accompanied with great weakness and depression of spirits.

Expectorating Julep.

Take of the emulsion of gum ammoniac, six ounces; syrup of squills, two ounces. Mix them.

In coughs, asthmas, and obstructions of the breast, two table-spoonfuls of this julep may be taken every three or four hours.

Musk Julep.

Rub half a drachm of musk well together with half an ounce of sugar, and add to it, gradually, of simple cinnamon and peppermint water, each two ounces; of the volatile aromatic spirit, two drachms.

In the low state of nervous fevers, hiccuping, convulsions, and other spasmodic affections, two table-spoonfuls of this julep may be taken every two or three hours.

Saline Julep.

Dissolve two drachms of salt of tartar in three ounces of fresh lemon-juice, strained; when the effervescence is over, add, of mint-water, and common water, each two ounces; of simple syrup, one ounce.

This removes sickness at the stomach, relieves vomiting, promotes perspiration, and may be of some service in fevers, especially of the inflammatory kind.

Vomiting Julep.

Dissolve four grains of emetic tartar in eight ounces of water; and add to it half an ounce of the syrup of clove July flowers.

In the beginning of fevers, where there is no topical inflammation, this julep may be given in the dose of one table-spoonful every quarter of an hour till it operates. Antimonial vomits serve not only to evacuate the contents of the stomach, but likewise to promote the different excretions. Hence they are found in fevers to have nearly the same effects as Dr. James’s Powder.

MIXTURES.

A mixture differs from a julep in this respect, that it receives into its composition not only salts, extracts, and other substances dissoluble in water, but also earths, powders, and such substances as cannot be dissolved. A mixture is seldom either an elegant or agreeable medicine. It is nevertheless necessary. Many persons can take a mixture, who are not able to swallow a bolus or an electuary: besides, there are medicines which act better in this than in any other form.

Astringent Mixture.

Take simple cinnamon-water and common water, of each three ounces; spirituous cinnamon-water, an ounce and a half; Japonic confection, half an ounce. Mix them.

In dysenteries which are not of long standing, after the necessary evacuations, a spoonful or two of this mixture may be taken every four hours, interposing every second or third day a dose of rhubarb.

Diuretic Mixture.

Take of mint-water, five ounces; vinegar of squills, six drachms; sweet spirit of nitre, half an ounce; syrup of ginger, an ounce and a half. Mix them.

In obstructions of the urinary passages, two spoonfuls of this mixture may be taken twice or thrice a-day.

Laxative Absorbent Mixture.

Rub one drachm of magnesia alba in a mortar with ten or twelve grains of the best Turkey rhubarb, and add to them three ounces of common water; simple cinnamon-water, and syrup of sugar, of each one ounce.

As most diseases of infants are accompanied with acidities, this mixture may either be given with a view to correct these, or to open the body. A table-spoonful may be taken for a dose, and repeated three times a-day. To a very young child half a spoonful will be sufficient.

When the mixture is intended to purge, the dose may either be increased, or the quantity of rhubarb doubled.

This is one of the most generally useful medicines for children with which I am acquainted.

Saline Mixture.

Dissolve a drachm of the salt of tartar in four ounces of boiling water; and, when cold, drop into it spirit of vitriol till the effervescence ceases; then add, of peppermint-water, two ounces, simple syrup, one ounce.

Where fresh lemons cannot be had, this mixture may occasionally supply the place of the saline julep.

Squill Mixture.

Take of simple cinnamon-water, five ounces; vinegar of squills, one ounce; syrup of marsh-mallows, an ounce and a half. Mix them.

This mixture, by promoting expectoration, and the secretion of urine, proves serviceable in asthmatic and dropsical habits. A table-spoonful of it may be taken frequently.

OINTMENTS, LINIMENTS, and CERATES.

Notwithstanding the extravagant encomiums which have been bestowed on different preparations of this kind, with regard to their efficacy in the cure of wounds, sores, &c. it is beyond a doubt, that the most proper application to a green wound is dry lint. But though ointments do not heal wounds and sores, yet they serve to defend them from the external air, and to retain such substances as may be necessary for drying, deterging, destroying proud flesh, and such like. For these purposes, however, it will be sufficient to insert only a few of the most simple forms, as ingredients of a more active nature can occasionally be added to them.

Yellow Basilicum Ointment.

Take of yellow wax, white resin, and frankincense, each a quarter of a pound; melt them together over a gentle fire; then add, of hogs’ lard prepared, one pound. Strain the ointment while warm.

This ointment is employed for cleansing and healing wounds and ulcers.

Ointment of Calamine.

Take of olive oil, a pint and a half; white wax, and calamine stone levigated, of each half a pound. Let the calamine stone, reduced into a fine powder, be rubbed with some part of the oil, and afterwards added to the rest of the oil and wax, previously melted together, continually stirring them till quite cold.

This ointment, which is commonly known by the name of Turner’s Cerate, is an exceeding good application in burns and excoriations, from whatever cause.

Emollient Ointment.

Take of palm oil, two pounds; olive oil, a pint and a half; yellow wax, half a pound; Venice turpentine, a quarter of a pound. Melt the wax in the oils over a gentle fire; then mix in the turpentine, and strain the ointment.

This supplies the place of Althæ Ointment. It may be used for anointing inflamed parts, &c.

Eye Ointment.

Take of hogs’ lard prepared, four ounces; white wax, two drachms; tutty prepared, one ounce; melt the wax with the lard over a gentle fire, and then sprinkle in the tutty, continually stirring them till the ointment is cold.

This ointment will be more efficacious, and of a better confidence, if two or three drachms of camphor be rubbed up with a little oil, and intimately mixed with it.

Another.

Take of camphor, and calamine stone levigated, each six drachms; verdegrise well prepared, two drachms; hogs’ lard, and mutton suet prepared, of each two ounces. Rub the camphor well with the powder; afterwards mix in the lard and suet, continuing the triture till they be perfectly united.

This ointment has been long in esteem for diseases of the eyes. It ought, however, to be used with caution, when the eyes are much inflamed or very tender.

Issue Ointment.

Mix half an ounce of Spanish flies, finely powdered, in six ounces of yellow basilicum ointment.

This ointment is chiefly intended for dressing blisters, in order to keep them open during pleasure.

Ointment of Lead.

Take of olive oil, half a pint; white wax, two ounces; sugar of lead, three drachms. Let the sugar of lead, reduced into a fine powder, be rubbed up with some part of the oil, and afterwards added to the other ingredients, previously melted together, continually stirring them till quite cold.

This cooling and gently astringent ointment may be used in all cases where the intention is to dry and skin over the part, as in scalding, &c.

Mercurial Ointment.

Take of quicksilver, two ounces; hogs’ lard, three ounces; mutton suet, one ounce. Rub the quicksilver with an ounce of the hogs’ lard in a warm mortar, till the globules be perfectly extinguished; then rub it up with the rest of the lard and suet, previously melted together.

The principal intention of this ointment is to convey mercury into the body by being rubbed upon the skin.

Ointment of Sulphur.

Take of hogs’ lard prepared, four ounces; flowers of sulphur, an ounce and a half; crude sal ammoniac, two drachms; essence of lemon, ten or twelve drops. Make them into an ointment.

This ointment, rubbed upon the parts affected, will generally cure the itch. It is both the safest and best application for that purpose, and, when made in this way, has no disagreeable smell.

White Ointment.

Take of olive oil, one pint; white wax and sperma-ceti, of each three ounces. Melt them with a gentle heat, and keep them constantly and briskly stirring together, till quite cold.

If two drachms of camphor, previously rubbed with a small quantity of oil, be added to the above, it will make the White camphorated Ointment.

Liniment for Burns.

Take equal parts of Florence oil, or of fresh drawn linseed oil, and lime-water; shake them well together in a wide mouthed bottle, so as to form a liniment.

This is found to be an exceeding proper application for recent scalds or burns. It may either be spread upon a cloth, or the parts affected may be anointed with it twice or thrice a-day.

White Liniment.

This is made in the same manner as the white ointment, two-thirds of the wax being left out.

This liniment may be applied in cases of excoriation, where, on account of the largeness of the surface, the ointments with lead or calamine might be improper.

Liniment for the Piles.

Take of emollient ointment, two ounces; liquid laudanum, half an ounce. Mix these ingredients with the yolk of an egg, and work them well together.

Volatile Liniment.

Take of Florence oil, an ounce; spirit of hartshorn, half an ounce. Shake them together.

This liniment, made with equal parts of the spirit and oil, will be more efficacious, where the patient’s skin is able to bear it.

Sir John Pringle observes, that in the inflammatory quinsey, a piece of flannel, moistened with this liniment, and applied to the throat, to be renewed every four or five hours, is one of the most efficacious remedies; and that it seldom fails, after bleeding, either to lessen or carry off the complaint. The truth of this observation I have often experienced.

Camphorated Oil.

Rub an ounce of camphor, with two ounces of Florence oil, in a mortar, till the camphor be entirely dissolved.

This antispasmodic liniment may be used in obstinate rheumatisms, and in some other cases accompanied with extreme pain and tension of the parts.

PILLS.

Medicines which operate in a small dose, and whose disagreeable taste, or smell, makes it necessary that they should be concealed from the palate, are most commodiously exhibited in this form. No medicine, however, that is intended to operate quickly, ought to be made into pills, as they often lie for a considerable time on the stomach before they are dissolved, so as to produce any effect.

As the ingredients which enter the composition of pills are generally so contrived, that one pill of an ordinary size may contain about five grains of the compound, in mentioning the dose we shall only specify the number of pills to be taken; as one, two, three, &c.

Composing Pill.

Take of purified opium, ten grains; Castile soap, half a drachm. Beat them together, and form the whole into twenty pills.

When a quieting draught will not sit upon the stomach, one, two, or three of these pills may be taken, as occasion requires.

Fœtid Pill.

Take of asafœtida, half an ounce; simple syrup, as much as is necessary to form it into pills.

In hysteric complaints, four or five pills, of an ordinary size, may be taken twice or thrice a-day. They may likewise be of service to persons afflicted with the asthma.

When it is necessary to keep the body open, a proper quantity of rhubarb, aloes, or jalap, may occasionally be added to the above mass.

Hemlock Pill.

Take any quantity of the extract of hemlock, and adding to it about a fifth part its weight of the powder of the dried leaves, form it into pills of the ordinary size.

The extract of hemlock may be taken from one grain to several drachms in the day. The best method, however, of using these pills, is to begin with one or two, and to increase the dose gradually, as far as the patient can bear them, without any remarkable degree of stupor or giddiness.

Mercurial Pill.

Take of purified quicksilver and honey, each half an ounce. Rub them together in a mortar, till the globules of mercury are perfectly extinguished; then add, of Castile soap, two drachms, powdered liquorice, or crumb of bread, a sufficient quantity to give the mass a proper consistence for pills.

When stronger mercurial pills are wanted, the quantity of quicksilver may be doubled.

The dose of these pills is different, according to the intention with which they are given. As an alterant, two or three maybe taken daily. To raise a salivation, four or five will be necessary.

Equal parts of the above pill and powdered rhubarb made into a mass, with a sufficient quantity of simple syrup, will make a Mercurial purging Pill.

Mercurial sublimate Pill.

Dissolve fifteen grains of the corrosive sublimate of mercury in two drachms of the saturated solution of crude sal ammoniac, and make it into a paste, in a glass mortar, with a sufficient quantity of the crumb of bread. This mass must be formed into one hundred and twenty pills.

This pill, which is the most agreeable form of exhibiting the sublimate, has been found efficacious, not only in curing the venereal disease, but also in killing and expelling worms, after other powerful medicines had failed[209].

For the venereal disease, four of these pills may be taken twice a-day, as an alterant three, and for worms two.

Plummer’s Pill.

Take of calomel, or sweet mercury, and precipitated sulphur of antimony, each three drachms; extract of liquorice, two drachms. Rub the sulphur and mercury well together; afterwards add the extract, and, with a sufficient quantity of the mucilage of gum arabic, make them into pills.

This pill has been found a powerful, yet safe, alterative in obstinate cutaneous disorders; and has completed a cure after salivation had failed. In venereal cases it has likewise produced excellent effects. Two or three pills of an ordinary size may be taken night and morning, the patient keeping moderately warm, and drinking after each dose a draught of decoction of the woods, or of sarsaparilla.

Purging Pills.

Take of succotorine aloes, and Castile soap, each two drachms; of simple syrup, a sufficient quantity to make them into pills.

Four or five of these pills will generally prove a sufficient purge. For keeping the body gently open, one may be taken night and morning. They are reckoned both deobstruent and stomachic, and will be found to answer all the purposes of Dr. Anderson’s pills, the principal ingredient of which is aloes.

Where aloetic purges are improper, the following pills may be used:

Take extract of jalap, and vitriolated tartar, of each two drachms; syrup of ginger, as much as will make them of a proper consistence for pills.

These pills may be taken in the same quantity as the above.

Pill for the Jaundice.

Take of Castile soap, succotorine aloes, and rhubarb, of each one drachm. Make them into pills with a sufficient quantity of syrup or mucilage.

These pills, as their title expresses, are chiefly intended for the jaundice, which, with the assistance of proper diet, they will often cure. Five or six of them may be taken twice a-day, more or less, as is necessary to keep the body open. It will be proper, however, during their use, to interpose now and then a vomit of ipecacuanha or tartar emetic.

Stomachic Pill.

Take extract of gentian, two drachms; powdered rhubarb and vitriolated tartar, of each one drachm; oil of mint, thirty drops; simple syrup, a sufficient quantity.

Three or four of these pills may be taken twice a-day, for invigorating the stomach, and keeping the body gently open.

Squill Pills.

Take powder of dried squills, a drachm and a half; gum ammoniac, and cardamom seeds, in powder, of each three drachms; simple syrup, a sufficient quantity.

In dropsical and asthmatic complaints, two or three of these pills may be taken twice a-day, or oftner, if the stomach will bear them.

Strengthening Pill.

Take soft extract of the bark, and salt of steel, each a drachm. Make into pills.

In disorders arising from excessive debility, or relaxation of the solids, as the chlorosis, or green-sickness, two of these pills may be taken three times a-day.

PLASTERS.

Plasters ought to be of a different consistence, according to the purposes for which they are intended. Such as are to be applied to the breasts or stomach ought to be soft and yielding; while those designed for the limbs should be firm and adhesive.

It has been supposed, that plasters might be impregnated with the virtues of different vegetables, by boiling the recent vegetable with the oil employed for the composition of the plaster; but this treatment does not communicate to the oils any valuable qualities.

The calces of lead boiled with oils unite with them into a plaster of a proper consistence, which make the basis of several other plasters. In boiling these compositions, a quantity of hot water must be added from time to time to prevent the plaster from burning or growing black. This, however, should be done with care, lest it cause the matter to explode.

Common Plaster.

Take of common olive oil, six pints; litharge reduced to a fine powder, two pounds and a half. Boil the litharge and oil together over a gentle fire, continually stirring them, and keeping always about half a gallon of water in the vessel: after they have boiled about three hours, a little of the plaster may be taken out and put into cold water, to try if it be of a proper consistence: when that is the case, the whole may be suffered to cool, and the water well pressed out of it with the hands.

This plaster is generally applied in slight wounds and excoriations of the skin. It keeps the part soft and warm, and defends it from the air, which is all that is necessary in such cases. Its principal use, however, is to serve as a basis for other plasters.

Adhesive Plaster.

Take of common plaster, half a pound; of Burgundy pitch, a quarter of a pound. Melt them together.

This plaster is principally used for keeping on other dressings.

Anodyne Plaster.

Melt an ounce of adhesive plaster, and, when it is cooling, mix with it a drachm of powdered opium, and the same quantity of camphor, previously rubbed up with a little oil.

This plaster generally gives ease in acute pains, especially of the nervous kind.

Blistering Plaster.

Take of Venice turpentine, six ounces; yellow wax, two ounces; Spanish flies in fine powder, three ounces; powdered mustard, one ounce. Melt the wax, and while it is warm, add to it the turpentine, taking care not to evaporate it by too much heat. After the turpentine and wax are sufficiently incorporated, sprinkle in the powders, continually stirring the mass till it be cold.

Though this plaster is made in a variety of ways, one seldom meets with it of a proper consistence. When compounded with oils and other greasy substances, its effects are blunted, and it is apt to run; while pitch and resin render it too hard and very inconvenient.

When the blistering plaster is not at hand, its place may be supplied by mixing with any soft ointment a sufficient quantity of powdered flies; or by forming them into a paste with flour and vinegar.

Gum Plaster.

Take of the common plaster, four pounds; gum ammoniac and galbanum, strained, of each half a pound. Melt them together, and add, of Venice turpentine, six ounces.

This plaster is used as a digestive, and likewise for discussing indolent tumours.

Mercurial Plaster.

Take of common plaster, one pound; of gum ammoniac, strained, half a pound. Melt them together, and, when cooling, add eight ounces of quicksilver, previously extinguished by triture, with three ounces of hog’s lard.

This plaster is recommended in pains of the limbs arising from a venereal cause. Indurations of the glands, and other violent tumours, are likewise found sometimes to yield to it.

Stomach Plaster.

Take of gum plaster, half a pound; camphorated oil, an ounce and a half; black pepper, or capsicum, where it can be had, one ounce. Melt the plaster, and mix with it the oil; then sprinkle in the pepper, previously reduced to a fine powder.

An ounce or two of this plaster, spread upon soft leather, and applied to the region of the stomach, will be of service in flatulencies arising from hysteric and hypochondriac affections. A little of the expressed oil of mace, or a few drops of the essential oil of mint, may be rubbed upon it before it is applied.

This may supply the place of the Anti-hysteric Plaster.

Warm Plaster.

Take of gum plaster, one ounce; blistering plaster, two drachms. Melt them together over a gentle fire.

This plaster is useful in the sciatica and other fixed pains of the rheumatic kind: it ought, however, to be worn for some time, and to be renewed, at least, once a-week. If this is found to blister the part, which is sometimes the case, it must be made with a smaller proportion of the blistering plaster.

Wax Plaster.

Take of yellow wax, one pound; white resin, half a pound; mutton suet, three quarters of a pound. Melt them together.

This is generally used instead of the Melilot Plaster. It is a proper application after blisters, and in other cases where a gentle digestive is necessary.

POWDERS.

This is one of the most simple forms in which medicine can be administered. Many medicinal substances, however, cannot be reduced into powder, and others are too disagreeable to be taken in this form.

The lighter powders may be mixed in any agreeable thin liquor, as tea or water-gruel. The more ponderous will require a more consistent vehicle, as syrup, conserve, jelly, or honey.

Gums, and other substances which are difficult to powder, should be pounded along with the drier ones; but those which are too dry, especially aromatics, ought to be sprinkled during their pulverization with a few drops of any proper water.

Aromatic powders are to be prepared only in small quantities at a time, and kept in glass vessels closely stopped. Indeed, no powders ought to be exposed to the air or kept too long, otherwise their virtues will be in great measure destroyed.

Astringent Powder.

Take of alum and Japan earth, each two drachms. Pound them together, and divide the whole into ten or twelve doses.

In an immoderate flow of the menses, and other hæmorrhages, one of these powders may be taken every hour, or every half hour, if the discharge be violent.

Powder of Bole.

Take of bole armenic, or French bole, two ounces; cinnamon, one ounce; tormentil root and gum arabic, of each six drachms; long pepper, one drachm. Let all these ingredients be reduced into a powder.

This warm, glutinous astringent powder, is given in fluxes, and other disorders where medicines of that class are necessary, in the dose of a scruple, or half a drachm.

If a drachm of opium be added, it will make the Powder of Bole with Opium, which is a medicine of considerable efficacy. It may be taken in the same quantity as the former, but not above twice or thrice a day.

Carminative Powder.

Take of coriander-seed, half an ounce; ginger, one drachm; nutmegs, half a drachm; fine sugar, a drachm and a half. Reduce them into powder for twelve doses.

This powder is employed for expelling flatulencies arising from indigestion, particularly those to which hysteric and hypochondriac persons are so liable. It may likewise be given in small quantities to children in their food, when troubled with gripes.

Diuretic Powder.

Take of gum arabic, four ounces; purified nitre, one ounce. Pound them together, and divide the whole into twenty-four doses.

During the first stage of the venereal disease, one of these cooling powders may be taken three times a-day, with considerable advantage.

Aromatic Opening Powder.

Take of the best Turkey rhubarb, cinnamon, and fine sugar, each two drachms. Let the ingredients be pounded, and afterwards mixed well together.

Where flatulency is accompanied with costiveness, a tea-spoonful of this powder may be taken once or twice a-day, according to circumstances.

Saline Laxative Powder.

Take of soluble tartar, and cream of tartar, each one drachm; purified nitre, half a drachm. Make them into a powder.

In fevers, and other inflammatory disorders, where it is necessary to keep the body gently open, one of these cooling laxative powders may be taken in a little gruel, and repeated occasionally.

Steel Powder.

Take filings of steel, and loaf-sugar, of each two ounces; ginger, two drachms. Pound them together.

In obstructions of the menses, and other cases where steel is proper, a tea-spoonful of this powder may be taken twice a-day, and washed down with a little wine or water.

Sudorific Powder.

Take purified nitre and vitriolated tartar of each half an ounce; opium and ipecacuanha, of each one drachm. Mix the ingredients, and reduce them to a fine powder.

This is generally known by the name of Dover’s Powder. It is a powerful sudorific. In obstinate rheumatisms, and other cases where it is necessary to excite a copious sweat, this powder may be administered in the dose of a scruple or half a drachm. Some patients will require two scruples. It ought to be accompanied with the plentiful use of some warm diluting liquor.

Worm-powders.

Take of tin reduced into a fine powder, an ounce; Æthiop’s mineral, two drachms. Mix them well together, and divide the whole into six doses.

One of these powders may be taken in a little syrup, honey, or treacle, twice a-day. After they have been all used, the following anthelmintic purge may be proper.

Purging Worm-powder.

Take of powdered rhubarb, a scruple; scammony and calomel, of each five grains. Rub them together in a mortar for one dose.

For children the above doses must be lessened according to their age.

If the powder of tin be given alone, its dose may be considerably increased. The late Dr. Alston gave it to the amount of two ounces in three days, and says, when thus administered, that it proved an egregious anthelmintic. He purged his patients both before they took the powder and afterwards.

Powder for the Tape-worm.

Early in the morning the patient is to take in any liquid, two or three drachms, according to his age and constitution, of the root of the male fern reduced into a fine powder. About two hours afterwards, he is to take of calomel and resin of scammony, each ten grains; gum gamboge, six grains. These ingredients must be finely powdered and given in a little syrup, honey, treacle, or any thing that is most agreeable to the patient. He is then to walk gently about, now and then drinking a dish of weak green tea, till the worm is passed. If the powder of the fern produces nausea, or sickness, it may be removed by sucking the juice of an orange or lemon.

This medicine, which had been long kept a secret abroad for the cure of the tape-worm, was some time ago purchased by the French King, and made public for the benefit of mankind. Not having had an opportunity of trying it, I can say nothing from experience concerning its efficacy. It seems, however, from its ingredients, to be an active medicine, and ought to be taken with care. The dose here prescribed is sufficient for the strongest patient; it must, therefore, be reduced according to the age and constitution.

SYRUPS.

Syrups were some time ago looked upon as medicines of considerable value. They are at present, however, regarded chiefly as vehicles for medicines of greater efficacy, and are used for sweetening draughts, juleps, or mixtures; and for reducing the lighter powders into boluses, pills, and electuaries. As all these purposes may be answered by the simple syrup alone, there is little occasion for any other; especially as they are seldom found but in a state of fermentation; and as the dose of any medicine given in this form is very uncertain. Persons who serve the public must keep whatever their customers call for; but to the private practitioner nine-tenths of the syrups usually kept in the shops are unnecessary.

Simple Syrup

Is made by dissolving in water, either with or without heat, about double its weight of fine sugar.

If twenty-five drops of laudanum be added to an ounce of the simple syrup, it will supply the place of diacodium, or the syrup of poppies, and will be found a more safe and certain medicine.

The lubricating virtues of the syrup of marsh-mallows may likewise be supplied, by adding to the common syrup a sufficient quantity of mucilage of gum arabic.

Those who chuse to preserve the juice of lemons in form of syrup, may dissolve in it, by the heat of a warm bath, nearly double its weight of fine sugar. The juice ought to be previously strained, and suffered to stand till it settles.

The syrup of ginger is sometimes of use as a warm vehicle for giving medicines to persons afflicted with flatulency. It may be made by infusing two ounces of bruised ginger in two pints of boiling water for twenty-four hours. After the liquor has been strained, and has stood to settle for some time, it may be poured off, and a little more than double its weight of fine powdered sugar dissolved in it.

TINCTURES, ELIXIRS, &c.

Rectified spirit is the direct menstruum of the resins and essential oils of vegetables, and totally extracts these active principles from sundry substances, which yield them to water, either not at all, or only in part.

It dissolves likewise those parts of animal substances in which their peculiar smells and tastes reside. Hence the tinctures prepared with rectified spirits form an useful and elegant class of medicines, possessing many of the most essential virtues of simples, without being clogged with their inert or useless parts.

Water, however, being the proper menstruum of the gummy, saline, and saccharine parts of medicinal substances, it will be necessary, in the preparation of several tinctures, to make use of a weak spirit, or a composition of rectified spirit and water.

Aromatic Tincture.

Infuse two ounces of Jamaica pepper in two pints of brandy, without heat, for a few days; then strain off the tincture.

This simple tincture will sufficiently answer all the intentions of the more costly preparations of this kind. It is rather too hot to be taken by itself; but is very proper for mixing with such medicines as might otherwise prove too cold for the stomach.

Compound Tincture of the Bark.

Take of Peruvian bark, two ounces; Seville orange-peel and cinnamon, of each half an ounce. Let the bark be powdered, and the other ingredients bruised; then infuse the whole in a pint and a half of brandy, for five or six days, in a close vessel; afterwards strain off the tincture.

This tincture is not only beneficial in intermitting fevers, but also in the slow, nervous, and putrid kinds, especially towards their decline.

The dose is from one drachm to three or four, every fifth or sixth hour. It may be given in any suitable liquor, and occasionally sharpened with a few drops of the spirit of vitriol.

Volatile Fœtid Tincture.

Infuse two ounces of asafœtida in one pint of volatile aromatic spirit, for eight days, in a close bottle, frequently shaking it; then strain the tincture.

This medicine is beneficial in hysteric disorders, especially when attended with lowness of spirits, and faintings. A tea-spoonful of it may be taken in a glass of wine, or a cup of penny-royal tea.

Volatile Tincture of Gum Guaiacum.

Take of gum guaiacum, four ounces; volatile aromatic spirit, a pint. Infuse without heat, in a vessel well stopped, for a few days; then strain off the tincture[210].

In rheumatic complaints, a tea-spoonful of this tincture may be taken in a cup of the infusion of water-trefoil, twice or thrice a-day.

Tincture of Black Hellebore.

Infuse two ounces of the roots of black hellebore, bruised, in a pint of proof spirit, for seven or eight days; then filter the tincture through paper. A scruple of cochineal may be infused along with the roots, to give the tincture a colour.

In obstructions of the menses, a tea-spoonful of this tincture may be taken in a cup of camomile or penny-royal tea twice a-day.

Astringent Tincture.

Digest two ounces of gum kino, in a pint and a half of brandy, for eight days; afterwards strain it for use.

This tincture, though not generally known, is a good astringent medicine. With this view, an ounce, or more, of it may be taken three or four times a-day.

Tincture of Myrrh and Aloes.

Take of gum myrrh, an ounce and a half; hepatic aloes, one ounce. Let them be reduced to a powder, and infused in two pints of rectified spirits, for six days, in a gentle heat; then strain the tincture.

This is principally used by surgeons for cleansing foul ulcers, and restraining the progress of gangrenes. It is also, by some, recommended as a proper application to green wounds.

Tincture of Opium, or Liquid Laudanum.

Take of crude opium, two ounces; spirituous aromatic water, and mountain wine, of each ten ounces. Dissolve the opium, sliced, in the wine, with a gentle heat, frequently stirring it; afterwards add the spirit, and strain off the tincture.

As twenty-five drops of this tincture contain about a grain of opium, the common dose may be from twenty to thirty drops.

Sacred Tincture, or Tincture of Hiera Picra.

Take of succotorine aloes in powder, one ounce; Virginian snake-root and ginger, of each two drachms. Infuse in a pint of mountain wine, and half a pint of brandy, for a week, frequently shaking the bottle, then strain off the tincture.

This is a safe and useful purge for persons of a languid and phlegmatic habit; but is thought to have better effects, taken in small doses as a laxative.

The dose, as a purge, is from one to two ounces.

Compound Tincture of Senna.

Take of senna, one ounce; jalap, coriander seeds, and cream of tartar, of each half an ounce. Infuse them in a pint and a half of French brandy for a week; then strain the tincture, and add to it four ounces of fine sugar.

This is an agreeable purge, and answers all the purposes of the Elixir salutis, and of Daffy’s Elixir.

The dose is from one to two or three ounces.

Tincture of Spanish Flies.

Take of Spanish flies, reduced to a fine powder, two ounces; spirit of wine, one pint. Infuse for two or three days; then strain off the tincture.

This is intended as an acrid stimulant for external use. Parts affected with the palsy or chronic rheumatism may be frequently rubbed with it.

Tincture of the Balsam of Tolu.

Take of the balsam of Tolu, an ounce and a half; rectified spirit of wine, a pint. Infuse in a gentle heat until the balsam is dissolved; then strain the tincture.

This tincture possesses all the virtues of the balsam. In coughs, and other complaints of the breast, a tea-spoonful or two of it may be taken in a bit of loaf-sugar. But the best way of using it is in syrup. An ounce of the tincture, properly mixed with two pounds of simple syrup, will make what is commonly called the Balsamic Syrup.

Tincture of Rhubarb.

Take of rhubarb, two ounces and a half; lesser cardamom seeds, half an ounce; brandy, two pints. Digest for a week, and strain the tincture.

Those who chuse to have a vinous tincture of rhubarb may infuse the above ingredients in a bottle of Lisbon wine, adding to it about two ounces of proof spirits.

If half an ounce of gentian root, and a drachm of Virginian snake-root be added to the above ingredients, it will make the bitter tincture of rhubarb.

All these tinctures are designed as stomachics and corroborants as well as purgatives. In weakness of the stomach, indigestion, laxity of the intestines, fluxes, colicky and such like complaints, they are frequently of great service. The dose is from half a spoonful to three or four spoonfuls or more, according to the circumstances of the patient, and the purposes it is intended to answer.

Paregoric Elixir.

Take of flowers of benzoin, half an ounce; opium, two drachms. Infuse in one pound of the volatile aromatic spirit, for four or five days, frequently shaking the bottle; afterwards strain the elixir.

This is an agreeable and safe way of administering opium. It eases pain, allays tickling coughs, relieves difficult breathing, and is useful in many disorders of children, particularly the hooping cough.

The dose to an adult is from fifty to a hundred drops.

Sacred Elixir.

Take of rhubarb cut small, ten drachms; succotorine aloes, in powder, six drachms; lesser cardamom seeds, half an ounce; French brandy, two pints. Infuse for two or three days, and then strain the elixir.

This useful stomachic purge may be taken from one ounce to an ounce and a half.

Stomachic Elixir.

Take of gentian root, two ounces; Curassao oranges, one ounce; Virginian snake-root, half an ounce. Let the ingredients be bruised, and infused for three or four days in two pints of French brandy; afterwards, strain out the elixir.

This is an elegant stomachic bitter. In flatulencies, indigestion, want of appetite, and such like complaints, a small glass of it may be taken twice a-day. It likewise relieves the gout in the stomach, when taken in a large dose.

Acid Elixir of Vitriol.

Take of the aromatic tincture, one pint; oil of vitriol, three ounces. Mix them gradually, and after the fæces have subsided, filter the elixir through paper, in a glass funnel.

This is one of the best medicines which I know for hysteric and hypochondriac patients, afflicted with flatulencies arising from relaxation or debility of the stomach and intestines. It will succeed where the most celebrated stomachic bitters have no effect. The dose is from ten to forty drops, in a glass of wine or water, or a cup of any bitter infusion, twice or thrice a-day. It should be taken when the stomach is most empty.

Camphorated Spirit of Wine.

Dissolve an ounce of camphor in a pint of rectified spirits.

This solution is chiefly employed as an embrocation in bruises, palsies, the chronic rheumatism, and for preventing gangrenes.

The above quantity of camphor, dissolved in half a pound of the volatile aromatic spirit, makes Ward’s Essence.

Spirit of Mindererus.

Take of volatile sal ammoniac, any quantity. Pour on it gradually distilled vinegar, till the effervescence ceases.

This medicine is useful in promoting a discharge both by the skin and urinary passages. It is also a good external application in strains and bruises.

When intended to raise a sweat, half an ounce of it in a cup of warm gruel may be given to the patient in bed every hour till it has the desired effect.

VINEGARS.

Vinegar is an acid produced from vinous liquors by a second fermentation. It is an useful medicine both in inflammatory and putrid disorders. Its effects are, to cool the blood, quench thirst, counteract a tendency to putrefaction, and allay inordinate motions of the system. It likewise promotes the natural secretions, and in some cases excites a copious sweat, where the warm medicines, called alexipharmic, tend rather to prevent that salutary evacuation.

Weakness, faintings, vomitings, and other hysteric affections, are often relieved by vinegar applied to the mouth and nose, or received into the stomach. It is of excellent use also in correcting many poisonous substances, when taken into the stomach; and in promoting their expulsion, by the different emunctories, when received into the blood.

Vinegar is not only an useful medicine, but serves likewise to extract, in tolerable perfection, the virtues of several other medicinal substances. Most of the odoriferous flowers impart to it their fragrance, together with a beautiful purplish or red colour. It also assists or coincides with the intention of squills, garlic, gum ammoniac, and several other valuable medicines.

These effects, however, are not to be expected from every thing that is sold under the name of vinegar, but from such as is sound and well prepared.

The best vinegars are those prepared from French wines.

It is necessary for some purposes that the vinegar be distilled; but as this operation requires a particular chemical apparatus, we shall not insert it.

Vinegar of Litharge.

Take of litharge, half a pound; strong vinegar, two pints. Infuse them together in a moderate heat for three days, frequently shaking the vessel; then filter the liquor for use.

This medicine is little used, from a general notion of its being dangerous. There is reason, however, to believe, that the preparations of lead with vinegar are possessed of some valuable properties, and that they may be used in many cases with safety and success.

A preparation of a similar nature with the above has of late been extolled by Goulard, a French surgeon, as a safe and extensively useful medicine, which he calls the Extract of Saturn, and orders to be made in the following manner:

Take of litharge, one pound; vinegar made of French wine, two pints. Put them together into a glazed earthen pipkin, and let them boil, or rather simmer, for an hour, or an hour and a quarter, taking care to stir them all the while with a wooden spatula. After the whole has stood to settle, pour off the liquor which is upon the top into bottles for use.

With this extract Goulard makes his vegeto-mineral water[211], which he recommends in a great variety of external disorders, as inflammations, burns, bruises, sprains, ulcers, &c.

He likewise prepares with it a number of other forms of medicine, as poultices, plasters, ointments, powders, &c.

Vinegar of Roses.

Take of red roses, half a pound; strong vinegar, half a gallon. Infuse in a close vessel for several weeks, in a gentle heat; and then strain off the liquor.

This is principally used as an embrocation for head-achs, &c.

Vinegar of Squills.

Take of dried squills, two ounces; distilled vinegar, two pints. Infuse for ten days or a fortnight in a gentle degree of heat, afterwards strain off the liquor, and add to it about a twelfth part its quantity of proof spirits.

This medicine has good effects in disorders of the breast, occasioned by a load of viscid phlegm. It is also of use in hydropic cases for promoting a discharge of urine.

The dose is from two drachms to two ounces, according to the intention for which it is given. When intended to act as a vomit, the dose ought to be large. In other cases, it must not only be exhibited in small doses, but also mixed with cinnamon water, or some other agreeable aromatic liquor, to prevent the nausea it might otherwise occasion.

WATERS BY INFUSION, &c.

Lime-Water.

Pour two gallons of water gradually upon a pound of fresh burnt quicklime; and when the ebullition ceases, stir them well together; then suffer the whole to stand at rest, that the lime may settle, and afterwards filter the liquor through paper, which is to be kept in vessels closely stopt.

The lime-water from calcined oyster-shells, is prepared in the same manner.

Lime-water is principally used for the gravel; in which case, from a pint to two or more of it may be drunk daily. Externally it is used for washing foul ulcers, and removing the itch, and other diseases of the skin.

Compound Lime-Water.

Take shavings of guaiacum wood, half a pound; liquorice root, one ounce; sassafras bark, half an ounce; coriander seeds, three drachms; simple lime-water, six pints.

Infuse without heat for two days, and then strain off the liquor.

In the same manner may lime-water be impregnated with the virtues of other vegetable substances. Such impregnation not only renders the water more agreeable to the palate, but also a more efficacious medicine, especially in cutaneous disorders, and foulness of the blood and juices.

It may be taken in the same quantity as the simple water.

Sublimate Water.

Dissolve eight grains of the corrosive sublimate in a pint of cinnamon water.

If a stronger solution is wanted, a double or triple quantity of sublimate may be used.

The principal intention of this is to cleanse foul ulcers, and consume proud flesh.

Styptic Water.

Take of blue vitriol and alum, each an ounce and a half; water, one pint. Boil them until the salts are dissolved, then filter the liquor, and add to it a drachm of the oil of vitriol.

This water is used for stopping a bleeding at the nose, and other hæmorrhages; for which purpose cloths or dossils dipt in it must be applied to the part.

Tar Water.

Pour a gallon of water on two pounds of Norway tar, and stir them strongly together with a wooden rod: after they have stood to settle for two days, pour off the water for use.

Though tar-water falls greatly short of the character which has been given of it, yet it possesses some medicinal virtues. It sensibly raises the pulse, increases the secretions, and sometimes opens the body, or occasions vomiting.

A pint of it may be drank daily, or more, if the stomach can bear it. It is generally ordered to be taken on an empty stomach, viz. four ounces morning and evening, and the same quantity about two hours after breakfast and dinner.

SIMPLE DISTILLED WATERS.

A great number of distilled waters were formerly kept in the shops, and are still retained in some Dispensatories. But we consider them chiefly in the light of grateful diluents, suitable vehicles for medicines of greater efficacy, or for rendering disgustful ones more agreeable to the palate and stomach. We shall therefore insert only a few of those which are best adapted to these intentions.

The management of a still being now generally understood, it is needless to spend time in giving directions for that purpose.

Cinnamon Water.

Steep one pound of cinnamon bark, bruised, in a gallon and a half of water, and one pint of brandy, for two days; and then distil off one gallon.

This is an agreeable aromatic water, possessing in a high degree the fragrance and cordial virtues of the spice.

Pennyroyal Water.

Take of penny-royal leaves, dried, a pound and a half; water, from a gallon and a half to two gallons. Draw off by distillation one gallon.

This water possesses, in a considerable degree, the smell, taste, and virtues of the plant. It is given in mixtures and juleps to hysteric patients.

An infusion of the herb, in boiling water answers nearly the same purposes.

Peppermint Water.

This is made in the same manner as the preceding.

Spearmint Water.

This may also be prepared in the same way as the penny-royal water.

Both these are useful stomachic waters, and will sometimes relieve vomiting, especially when it proceeds from indigestion, or cold viscid phlegm. They are likewise useful in some colicky complaints, the gout in the stomach, &c. particularly the peppermint water.

An infusion of the fresh plant is frequently found to have the same effects as the distilled water.

Rose Water.

Take of roses fresh gathered, six pounds; water, two gallons. Distil off one gallon.

This water is principally valued on account of its fine flavour.

Jamaica Pepper Water.

Take of Jamaica pepper, half a pound; water, a gallon and a half. Distil off one gallon.

This is a very elegant distilled water, and may in most cases supply the place of the more costly spice waters.

SPIRITUOUS DISTILLED WATERS.

Spirituous Cinnamon Water.

Take of cinnamon bark, one pound; proof spirit, and common water, of each one gallon. Steep the cinnamon in the liquor for two days; then distil off one gallon.

Spirituous Jamaica Pepper Water.

Take of Jamaica pepper, half a pound; proof spirit, three gallons; water, two gallons. Distil off three gallons.

This is a sufficiently agreeable cordial, and may supply the place of the Aromatic Water.

WHEYS.

Alum Whey.

Boil two drachms of powdered alum in a pint of milk till it is curdled; then strain out the whey.

This whey is beneficial in an immoderate flow of the menses, and in a diabetes, or excessive discharge of urine.

The dose is two, three, or four ounces, according as the stomach will bear it, three times a-day. If it should occasion vomiting, it may be diluted.

Mustard-Whey.

Take milk and water, of each a pint; bruised mustard-seed, an ounce and a half. Boil them together till the curd is perfectly separated; afterwards strain the whey through a cloth.

This is the most elegant, and by no means the least efficacious method of exhibiting mustard. It warms and invigorates the habit, and promotes the different secretions. Hence, in the low state of nervous fevers, it will often supply the place of wine. It is also of use in the chronic rheumatism, palsy, dropsy, &c. The addition of a little sugar will render it more agreeable.

The dose is an ordinary tea-cupful four or five times a-day.

Scorbutic Whey.

This whey is made by boiling half a pint of the scorbutic juices in a quart of cow’s milk. More benefit, however, is to be expected from eating the plants, than from their expressed juices.

The scorbutic plants are, bitter oranges, brooklime, garden scurvy-grass, and water-cresses.

A number of other wheys may be prepared nearly in the same manner, as orange whey, cream of tartar whey, &c. These are cooling pleasant drinks in fevers, and may be rendered cordial, when necessary, by the addition of wine.

WINES.

The effects of wine are, to raise the pulse, promote perspiration, warm the habit, and exhilarate the spirits. The red wines, besides these effects, have an astringent quality, by which they strengthen the tone of the stomach and intestines, and by this means prove serviceable in restraining immoderate secretions.

The thin sharp wines have a different tendency. They pass off freely by the different emunctories, and gently open the body. The effects of the full bodied wines are, however, much more durable than those of the thinner.

All sweet wines contain a glutinous substance, and do not pass off freely. Hence they will heat the body more than an equal quantity of any other wine, though it should contain fully as much spirit.

From the obvious qualities of wine, it must appear to be an excellent cordial medicine. Indeed, to say the truth, it is worth all the rest put together.

But to answer this character, it must be sound and good. No benefit is to be expected from the common trash that is often sold by the name of wine, without possessing one drop of the juice of the grape. Perhaps no medicine is more rarely obtained genuine than wine.

Wine is not only used as a medicine, but is also employed as a menstruum for extracting the virtues of other medicinal substances; for which it is not ill adapted, being a compound of water, inflammable spirit, and acid; by which means it is enabled to act upon vegetable and animal substances, and also to dissolve some bodies of the metallic kind, so as to impregnate itself with their virtues, as steel, antimony, &c.

Anthelmintic Wine.

Take of rhubarb, half an ounce; worm-seed, an ounce. Bruise them, and infuse without heat in two pints of red port wine for a few days, then strain off the wine.

As the stomachs of persons afflicted with worms are always debilitated, red wine alone will often prove serviceable: it must, however, have still better effects when joined with bitter and purgative ingredients, as in the above form.

A glass of this wine may be taken twice or thrice a-day.

Antimonial Wine.

Take glass of antimony, reduced to a fine powder, half an ounce; Lisbon wine, eight ounces. Digest, without heat, for three or four days, now and then shaking the bottle; afterwards filter the wine through paper.

The dose of this wine varies according to the intention. As an alterative and diaphoretic, it may be taken from ten to fifty or sixty drops. In a larger dose it generally proves cathartic, or excites vomiting.

Bitter Wine.

Take of gentian root, yellow rind of lemon-peel, fresh, each one ounce; long pepper, two drachms; mountain wine, two pints. Infuse without heat for a week, and strain out the wine for use.

In complaints arising from weakness of the stomach, or indigestion, a glass of this wine may be taken an hour before dinner and supper.

Ipecacuanha Wine.

Take of ipecacuanha, in powder, one ounce; mountain wine, a pint. Infuse for three or four days; then filter the tincture.

This is a safe vomit, and answers extremely well for such persons as cannot swallow the powder, or whose stomachs are too irritable to bear it.

The dose is from one ounce to an ounce and a half.

Chalybeate or Steel Wine.

Take filings of iron, two ounces; cinnamon and mace, of each two drachms; Rhenish wine, two pints. Infuse for three or four weeks, frequently shaking the bottle; then pass the wine through a filter.

In obstructions of the menses, this preparation of iron may be taken, in the dose of half a wine-glass twice or thrice a-day.

The medicine would probably be as good if made with Lisbon wine, sharpened with half an ounce of the cream of tartar, or a small quantity of the vitriolic acid.

Stomach Wine.

Take of Peruvian bark, grossly powdered, an ounce; cardamom seeds, and orange peel, bruised, of each two drachms. Infuse in a bottle of white port or Lisbon wine for five or six days; then drain off the wine.

This wine is not only of service in debility of the stomach and intestines, but may also be taken as a preventive, by persons liable to the intermittent fever, or who reside in places where this disease prevails. It will be of use likewise to those who recover slowly after fevers of any kind, as it assists digestion, and helps to restore the tone and vigour of the system.

A glass of it may be taken two or three times a-day.

A GLOSSARY.

Although terms of art have been sedulously avoided in the composition of this treatise, it is impossible entirely to banish technical phrases when writing on medicine, a science that has been less generally attended to by mankind, and continues therefore to be more infected with the jargon of the schools, than perhaps any other. Several persons having expressed their opinion that a Glossary would make this work more generally intelligible, the following concise explanation of the few terms of art that occur, has been added in compliance with their sentiments, and to fulfil the original intention of this treatise, by rendering it intelligible and useful to all ranks and classes of mankind.

A.

Abdomen. The belly.

Absorbents. Vessels that convey the nourishment from the intestines, and the secreted fluids from the various cavities into the mass of blood.

Acrimony. Corrosive sharpness.

Acute. A disease, the symptoms of which are violent, and tend to a speedy termination, is called acute.

Adult. Of mature age.

Adust. Dry, warm.

Antispasmodic. Whatever tends to prevent or remove spasm.

Aphthæ. Small whitish ulcers appearing in the mouth.

Astriction. A tightening or lessening.

Atrabilarian. An epithet commonly applied to people of a certain temperament, marked by a dark complexion, black hair, spare habit, &c. which the ancients supposed to arise from the atra bilis, or the black bile.

B.

Bile, or Gall. A fluid which is secreted by the liver into the gall-bladder, and from thence passes into the intestines, in order to promote digestion.

C.

Cacochymie. An unhealthy state of the body.

Caries. A rottenness of a bone.

Chyle. A milky fluid separated from the aliment in the intestines, and conveyed by the absorbents into the blood to supply the waste of the animal body.

Chronic. A disease whose progress is slow, in opposition to acute.

Circulation. The motion of the blood, which is driven by the heart through the arteries, and returns by the veins.

Comatose. Sleepy.

Conglobate Gland. A simple gland.

Conglomerate. A compound gland.

Contagion. Infectious matter.

Cutis. The skin.

Cutaneous. Of or belonging to the skin.

Crisis. A certain period in the progress of a disease, from whence a decided alteration either for the better or the worse takes place.

Critical. Decisive or important.

Critical Days. The fourth, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, thirteenth, fourteenth, seventeenth, and twenty-first, are by some authors denominated critical days, because febrile complaints have been observed to take a decisive change at these periods.

D.

Debility. Weakness.

Delirium. A temporary disorder of the mental faculties.

Diaphragm. A membrane separating the cavity of the chest from that of the belly.

Diuretic. A medicine that promotes the secretion of urine.

Drastic. Is applied to such purgative medicines as are violent or harsh in their operation.

E.

Empyema. A collection of purulent matter in the cavity of the breast.

Endemic. A disease peculiar to a certain district of country.

Epidemic. A disease generally infectious.

Exacerbation. The increase of any disease.

F.

Fœces. Excrements.

Fœtid. Emitting an offensive smell.

Fœtus. The child before birth, or when born before the proper period, is thus termed.

Flatulent. Producing wind.

Fungus. Proud flesh.

G.

Gangrene. Mortification.

Gummata.│Venereal excrescences. Ganglia.│ „

Gymnastic. Exercise taken with a view to preserve or restore health.—The ancient physicians reckoned this an important branch of medicine.

H.

Hectic fever. A slow consuming fever, generally attending a bad habit of body, or some incurable and deep rooted disease.

Hæmorrhoids. The piles.

Hæmorrhage. Discharge of blood.

Hypochondriacism. Low spirits.

Hypochondriac viscera. The liver, spleen, &c. so termed from their situation in the hypochondriac or upper and lateral parts of the belly.

I.

Ichor. Thin bad matter.

Imposthume. A collection of purulent matter.

Inflammation. A surcharge of blood, and an increased action of the vessels, in any particular part of the body.

L.

Ligature. Bandage.

Lixivium. Ley.

M.

Miliary Eruption. Eruption of small pustules resembling the seeds of millet.

Morbific. Causing disease, or diseased.

Mucus. The matter discharged from the nose, lungs, &c.

Mysentery. A double membrane which connects the intestines to the back bone.

N.

Nervous. Irritable.

Nausea. An inclination to vomit.

Nodes. Enlargements of the bones produced by the venereal disease.

P.

Pectoral. Medicines adapted to cure diseases of the breast.

Pelvis. The bones situated at the lower part of the trunk; thus named from their resembling in some measure a bason.

Peritonæum. A membrane lining the cavity of the belly and covering the intestines.

Pericardium. Membrane containing the heart.

Perspiration. The matter discharged from the pores of the skin in form of vapour or sweat.

Phlogiston. Is here used to signify somewhat rendering the air unfit for the purposes of respiration.

Phlegmatic. Watery, relaxed.

Plethoric. Replete with blood.

Polypus. A diseased excrescence, or a substance formed of coagulable lymph, frequently found in the large blood vessels.

Pus. Matter contained in a boil.

R.

Regimen. Regulation of diet.

Rectum. The straight gut, in which the fœces are contained.

Respiration. The act of breathing.

S.

Saliva. The fluid secreted by the glands of the mouth.

Sanies. A thin bad matter, discharged from an ill conditioned sore.

Scirrhous. A state of diseased hardness.

Slough. A part separated and thrown off by suppuration.

Spasm. A diseased contraction.

Spine. The back bone.

Styptic. A medicine for stopping the discharge of blood.

Syncope. A fainting fit attended with a complete abolition of sensation and thought.

T.

Tabes. A species of consumption.

Temperament. A peculiar habit of body, of which there are generally reckoned four, viz. the sanguine, the bilious, the melancholic, and the phlegmatic.

U.

Vertigo. Giddiness.

Ulcer. An ill conditioned sore.

Ureters. Two long and small canals which convey the urine from the kidneys to the bladder.

Urethra. The canal which conveys the urine from the bladder.

INDEX.

A.

Ablutions, Jewish and Mahometan, well calculated for the preservation of health, 103.

Abortion, causes and symptoms of, 531. Means of prevention, 532. Proper treatment in the case of, ibid.

Abscesses, how to be treated, 308. 573.

Accidents. See Casualties.

Acids, of peculiar service in consumptions, 183. In putrid fevers, 199. Not suitable to the measles, 242.

Acidities in the bowels of infants, the origin of, 548. Method of cure, 549.

Ackworth, foundling hospital at, cause of the children there being afflicted with scabbed heads, and fatal consequences of their ill treatment, 555, note.

Addison, his remark on the luxury of the table, 95.

Æther, very serviceable in removing fits of the asthma, 409. Is excellent for flatulencies, 444.

Æthiops mineral, strongly recommended by Dr. Cheyne in inflammations of the eyes, 263.

Africans, their treatment of children, 11, note.

Agaric of the oak, its merit as a styptic, 577. Method of gathering, preparing, and applying it, ibid. note.

Agriculture, a healthful, constant, and profitable employment, 48. Is too much neglected in favour of manufactures, ibid. Gardening the most wholesome amusement for sedentary persons, 53.

Ague, a species of fever no person can mistake, and the proper medicine for, generally known, 147. Causes of, 148. Symptoms, ibid. Regimen for, ibid. Under a proper regimen will often go off, without medicine, 150. Medical treatment of, 151. Often degenerates into obstinate chronical diseases, if not radically cured, 154. Peruvian bark the only medicine to be relied on in, 155. Children how to be treated in, ibid. Preventive medicine for those who live in marshy countries, 156.

Air, confined, poisonous to children, 30. A free open air will sometimes cure the most obstinate disorders in children, 33. Occupations which injure the health by unwholesome air, 37. 49. The qualities of, act more sensibly on the body, than is generally imagined, 75. The several noxious qualities of, specified, ibid. In large cities, polluted by various circumstances, 76. The air in churches, how rendered unwholesome, ibid. Houses ought to be ventilated daily, 78. The danger attending small apartments, ibid. Persons whose business confines them to town ought to sleep in the country, ibid. High walls obstruct the free current of air, 79. Trees should not be planted too near to houses, ibid. Fresh air peculiarly necessary for the sick, 80. The sick in hospitals in more danger from the want of fresh air, than from their disorders, ibid. Wholesomeness of the morning air, 84. The changeableness of, one great cause of catching cold, 126. Those who keep most within doors, the most sensible of these changes, 127. Of the night, to be carefully guarded against, 128. Fresh air often of more efficacy in diseases than medicine, 139. Its importance in fevers, 145. 160. States of, liable to produce putrid fevers, 195. Must be kept cool and fresh in sick chambers under this disorder, 199. Change of, one of the most effectual remedies for the hooping-cough, 285. The qualities of, a material consideration for asthmatic patients, 408. The various ways by which it may be rendered noxious, 614. Confined, how to try, and purify, ibid. Method of recovering persons poisoned by foul air, 615. Fresh, of the greatest importance in fainting fits, 622.

Aitken, Mr. his treatise on the nature and cure of fractures, recommended, 594, note.

Alcali, caustic, recommended in the stone, 327. How to prepare it, ibid. note.

Aliment is capable of changing the whole constitution of the body, 62. Will in many cases answer every intention in the cure of diseases, ibid. The calls of hunger and thirst, sufficient for regulating the due quantity of, 63. The quality of, how injured, ibid. A due mixture of vegetables necessary with our animal food, 65. To what the bad effects of tea are principally owing, 65. Water, good and bad, distinguished, 66. Inquiry into the qualities of fermented liquors, with instructions for the due making of them, 69. The qualities of good bread, and why adulterated by bakers, 70. General rules for the choice of food, ibid. Ought not to be too uniform, 71. Meals ought to be taken at regular times, 72. Long fasting injurious both to old and young, 73. Breakfasts and suppers, ibid. Changes of diet ought to be gradually made, 74.

Amaurosis. See Gutta serena.

American Indians, their method of curing the venereal disease, 513.

Amusements, sedentary, improper for sedentary persons, 51. Ought always to be of an active kind, 85.

Anasarca. See Dropsy.

Anger, violent fits of, injurious to the constitution, 112. Tranquillity of mind essential to health, ibid.

Animal food, cautions in giving it to children, 18. Animals that die of themselves, unfit for food, 63. Overdriven cattle rendered unwholesome, 64. The artifices of butchers exposed, 65. Too great a quantity of, generates the scurvy, ibid.

Animals and plants, the analogy in the nourishment of, stated, 94.

Anthony’s Fire, St. See Erysipelas.

Aphthæ. See Thrush.

Apoplexy, who most liable to this disorder, 410. Causes, ibid. Symptoms and method of cure, 411. Cautions to persons of an apoplectic make, 413.

Apothecaries weights, a table of, 653.

Apparel, See Clothing.

Appetite, want of, causes and remedies for, 417.

Arbuthnot, Dr. his advice in the inflammation of the lungs, 172. His advice for persons troubled with costiveness, 415, note.

Arsenic, the effects of, on the stomach, 474. Medical treatment when the symptoms appear, ibid.

Arts. See Manufactures.

Ascites. See Dropsy.

Asses milk, why it seldom does any good, 179. Instructions for taking it, ibid.

Asthma, the different kinds of this disorder distinguished, with its causes, 406. Symptoms, 407. Regimen, ibid. Medical treatment, 408. Remedies proper in the moist asthma, 409.

Atmosphere. See Air.

B.

Ball’s purging vermifuge powder, preparation of, 369.

Balsams, how to prepare. Anodyne balsam, 657. Locatelli’s balsam, ibid. Vulnerary balsam, ibid.

Bandages, tight, produce most of the bad consequences attending fractured bones, 595.

Bark, Peruvian, the best antidote for sailors against disorders on a foreign coast, 47. How to be administered in the ague, 151. Distinction between the red bark and quill bark, ibid. note. A decoction or infusion of, may be taken by those who cannot swallow it in substance, 153. Is often adulterated, ibid. note. Is the only medicine to be depended on in agues, 155. How it may be rendered more palatable, ibid. May be administered by clyster, 156. Cold water the best menstruum for extracting the virtues of this drug, 185. How to be administered in the putrid fever, 202; and in the erysipelas, 252. In an inflammation of the eyes, 263. Its efficacy in a malignant quinsey, 274. In the hooping-cough, 288. A good medicine in vomiting, when it proceeds from weakness of the stomach, 317. Its efficacy in a diabetes, and how to take it, 321. Is good against the piles, 336; and worms, 368. Its use dangerous for preventing a fit of the gout, 385. A good remedy in the King’s evil, 401; and in the fluor albus, 529.

Barley water, how made, 165.

Barrenness in women, the general causes of, 542. Course of relief, 543. Dr. Cheyne’s observations on, ibid. note.

Bath waters, good in the gout, 386.

Bath, cold, the good effects of, on children, 29. Recommended to the studious, 62. Is peculiarly excellent for strengthening the nervous system, 425. Therefore should never be omitted in gleets, 501. Is good for rickety children, 564. Cautions concerning the improper use of, in adults, 633–639.

Bath, warm, of great service in an inflammation of the stomach, 291.

Bathing, a religious duty under the Judaic and Mahometan laws, 103. Is conducive to health, 104.

Bears foot, recommended as a powerful remedy against worms, 369.

Beds, instead of being made up again as soon as persons rise from them, ought to be turned down and exposed to the air, 77. Bad effects of too great indulgence in bed, 84. Damp, the danger of, 128. Soft, are injurious to the kidneys, 320. 324.

Beer, the ill consequences of making it too weak, 69. Pernicious artifices of the dealers in, ibid.

Bells, parish, the tolling them for the dead, a dangerous custom, 114.

Biles, 575.

Bilious colic, symptoms and treatment of, 298.

Bilious fever. See Fever.

Bite of a mad dog. See Dog.

Bitters, warm and astringent, antidotes to agues, 151. Are serviceable in vomiting when it proceeds from weakness in the stomach, 317.

Bladder, inflammation of, its general causes, 305. Medical treatment of, ibid.

Bladder, stone in. See Stone.

Blast. See Erysipelas.

Bleeding, cautions for the operation of, in fevers, 146. In the ague, 150. Its importance in the acute continual fever, 161. In the pleurisy, 166. When necessary in an inflammation of the lungs, 173. Caution against, in a nervous fever, 192. In the putrid fever, 201. In the miliary fever, 209. When necessary in the small-pox, 221. When useful in the measles, 243. When necessary in the bilious fever, 247. Under what circumstances proper in the erysipelas, 251. Mode of, proper in an inflammation of the brain, 257. Is always necessary in an inflammation of the eyes, 261. When proper, and improper, in a cough, 280. When proper in the hooping-cough, 285. Is almost the only thing to be depended on in an inflammation of the stomach, 290. And in an inflammation of the intestines, 292. Is necessary in an inflammation of the kidneys, 303. Its use in a suppression of urine, 323. Is proper in an asthma, 409. Is dangerous in fainting fits, without due caution, 442. Cautions proper in the puerperal fever, 539. Is an operation generally performed by persons who do not understand when it is proper, 570. In what case it ought to be had recourse to, ibid. The quantity taken away, how to be regulated, 571. General rules for the operation, ibid. Objections to bleeding by leeches, 572. Prevailing prejudices relating to bleeding, ibid. The arm the most commodious part to take blood from, 573.

Bleeding at the nose, spontaneous, is of more service, where bleeding is necessary, than the operation with the lancet, 321. Ought not to be stopped without due consideration, ibid. How to stop it when necessary, 332. Cautions to prevent frequent returns of, 334.

Blind persons, when born so, might be educated to employments suited to their capacity, 456, note.

Blisters, peculiarly advantageous in the nervous fever, 192. When only to be applied in the putrid fever, 201. When proper in the miliary fever, 209. Seldom fail to remove the most obstinate inflammation of the eyes, 262. A good remedy in the quinsey, 269. Proper for a violent hooping-cough, 288. Is one of the best remedies for an inflammation of the stomach, 291. Are efficacious in the tooth-ach, 359.

Blood, involuntary discharges of, often salutary, and ought not to be rashly stopped, 329. The several kinds of these discharges, with their usual causes, ibid. Methods of cure, 330.

Blood, spitting of, who most subject to, and at what seasons, 337. Its causes, ibid. Symptoms, 339. Proper regimen in, ibid. Medical treatment, 340. Cautions for persons subject to it, 341.

Blood, vomiting of, its causes and symptoms, 341. Medical treatment, 342.

Blood-shot eye, how to cure, 450.

Bloody-flux. See Dysentery.

Boerhaave, his observation on dress, 93, note. His mechanical expedients to relieve an inflammation of the brain, 256.

Boluses, general rules for the preparing of, 658. The astringent bolus, ibid. Diaphoretic bolus, ibid. Mercurial bolus, ibid. Bolus of rhubarb and mercury, 659. Pectoral bolus, ibid. Purging bolus, ibid.

Bones, the exfoliation of, a very slow operation, 583. Bones, broken, often successfully undertaken by ignorant operators, 593. Regimen to be adopted after the accident, 594. Hints of conduct if the patient is confined to his bed, ibid. Cleanliness to be regarded during this confinement, 595. The limb not to be kept continually on the stretch, ibid. Cautions to be observed in setting a bone, ibid. Tight bandages condemned, 596. How to keep the limb steady by an easy method, ibid. Fractures of the ribs, ibid.

Bowels, inflammation of. See Stomach.

Boys, the military exercise proper for them, 26.

Braidwood, Mr. his skill in teaching the dumb to speak, 461, note.

Brain, inflammation of, who most liable to it, with its causes and symptoms, 254. Regimen, 256. Medical treatment, 257.

Bread, proper food for children, as soon as they can chew it, 17. A crust of, the best gum-stick, ibid. The best modes of preparing it in food for children, 18. Good, the qualities of, and for what purpose adulterated by the bakers, 70. Toasted, a decoction of, good to check the vomiting in a _cholera morbus_, 310.

Brimstone. See Sulphur.

Broth, gelatinous, recommended in the dysentery, how to make, 347.

Bruises, why of worse consequence than wounds, 582. Proper treatment of, ibid. The exfoliation of injured bones a very slow operation, 583. How to cure sores occasioned by, ibid.

Buboes, two kinds of, distinguished, with their proper treatment, 504.

Burdens, heavy, injurious to the lungs, 40.

Burgundy pitch, a plaster of, between the shoulders, an excellent remedy in a cough, 281. In a hooping-cough, 288. And for children in teething, 560.

Burials, the dangers attending their being allowed in the midst of populous towns, 76.

Burns, slight, how to cure, 580. Treatment of, when violent, ibid. Extraordinary case of, 581. Liniment for, 680.

Butchers, their professional artifices explained, and condemned, 65.

Butter ought to be very sparingly given to children, 21.

C.

Cabbage leaves, topical application of, in a pleurisy, 167.

Camphor, why of little use in eye-waters, 662.

Camphorated oil, preparation of, 684.

Camphorated spirit of wine, 699.

Camps, the greatest necessity of consulting cleanliness in, 103.

Cancer, its different stages described, with the producing causes, 460. Symptoms, 467. Regimen, and medical treatment, 468. Dr. Stork’s method of treating this disorder, 469. Cautions for avoiding it, 472.

Cancer scroti, a disorder peculiar to chimney-sweepers, owing to want of cleanliness, 100, note.

Carriages, the indulgence of, a sacrifice of health to vanity, 82.

Carrot, wild, recommended in the stone, 328.

Carrot poultice for cancers, how to prepare, 471.

Casualties, which apparently put an end to life, necessary cautions respecting, 600. 608. 613. 631.

—— substances stopped in the gullet, 602.

—— drowning, 609.

—— noxious vapours, 613.

—— extremity of cold, 616.

—— extreme heat, 618.

Cataplasms, their general intention, 659. Preparation of the discutient cataplasm, ibid. Ripening cataplasm, ibid.

Cataract, the disorder and its proper treatment described, 458.

Cattle, stall fed, are unwholesome food, 64. Overdriven, are killed in a high fever, ibid. The artifices of butchers exposed, 65.

Cellars, long shut, ought to be cautiously opened, 78. And sunk stories of houses, unhealthy to live in, 130. Of liquors in a state of fermentation, dangerous to enter, 614. How to purify the air in, ibid.

Celsus, his rules for the preservation of health, 134.

Chancres, described, 506. Primary, how to treat, ibid. Symptomatic, 507.

Charcoal fire, the danger of sleeping in the fume of, 613.

Charity, the proper exercise of, 43.

Cheyne, Dr. his persuasive to the use of exercise, 83. His judgment of the due quantity of urine, not to be relied on, 124. Strongly recommends Æthiops mineral in inflammations of the eyes, 263. His observations on barrenness, 543, note.

Chilblains, cause of, 556. How to cure, ibid.

Child-bed women, how to be treated under a miliary fever, 210.

Child-bed fever. See Fever.

Child-birth, the season of, requires due care after the labour pains are over, 533. Medical advice to women in labour, 534. Ill effects of collecting a number of women on such occasions, 535, note. How to guard against the miliary fever, 538. Symptoms of the puerperal fever, ibid. Proper treatment of this fever, 539. General cautions for women at this season, 541, 542.

Children, their diseases generally acute, and delay dangerous, 6. Their disorders less complicated, and easier cured, than those of adults, ibid. Are often the heirs of the diseases of their parents, 7. Those born of diseased parents, require peculiar care in the nursing, 8. Are often killed or deformed by injudicious clothing, ibid. How treated in Africa, 11, note. The usual causes of deformity in, explained, ibid. Their clothes ought to be fastened on with strings, 13. General rule for clothing them, 14. Cleanliness an important article in their dress, ibid. The milk of the mother the most natural food for, 15. Absurdity of giving them drugs as their first food, 16. The best method of expelling the meconium, ibid. How they ought to be weaned from the breast, 17. A crust of bread the best gum-stick for them, ibid. How to prepare bread in their food, 18. Cautions as to giving them animal food, ibid. Cautions as to the quantity of their food, ibid. Errors in the quality of their food more frequent than in the quantity, 19. The food of adults improper for children, ibid. Strong liquors expose them to inflammatory disorders, ibid. Ill effects of unripe fruit, 20. Butter, 21. Honey, a wholesome article of food for them, ibid. The importance of exercise to promote their growth and strength, ibid. Rules for their exercise, 22. Poverty of parents occasions their neglect of children, 23. The utility of exercise demonstrated from the organical structure of children, 24. Philosophical arguments shewing the necessity of exercise, ibid. Ought not to be sent to school too soon, 25. Nor be put too soon to labour, 28. Dancing an excellent exercise for them, 29. The cold bath, ibid. Want of wholesome air destructive to children, 30. To wrap them up close in cradles, pernicious, 32. Are treated like plants in a hot-house, ibid. The usual faulty conduct of nurses pointed out, 34. Are crammed with cordials by indolent nurses, 35. Eruptions ignorantly treated by nurses, ibid. Loose stools, the proper treatment of, ibid. Every method ought to be taken to make them strong and hardy, 37. Indications of the small-pox in, 214.

Chincough. See Cough.

Cholera morbus, the disorder defined, with its causes and symptoms, 309. Medical treatment, 310.

Churches, the several circumstances that render the air in, unwholesome, 76.

Churching of women after lying in, a dangerous custom, 542.

Church-yards, the bad consequences of having them in large towns, 76.

Cities, large, the air in, contaminated by various means, 76. The bad effects of burying the dead in, ibid. Houses ought to be ventilated daily, 77. The danger attending small apartments, 78. All who can ought to sleep in the country, ibid. Disorders that large towns are peculiarly hurtful to, 79. Cleanliness not sufficiently attended to in, 101. Should be supplied with plenty of water, 105, note. The best means to guard against infection in, 109.

Clare, Mr. his method of applying saline preparations of mercury in venereal cases, 512.

Cleanliness, an important article of attention in the dress of children, 14; and to sedentary artists, 52. Finery in dress often covers dirt, 93. Is necessary to health, 100. Disorders originating from the want of, ibid. Is not sufficiently attended to in large towns, 101. Nor by country peasants, 102. Great attention paid to, by the ancient Romans, ibid. note. Necessity of consulting cleanliness in camps, 103. Was the principal object of the whole system of the Jewish laws, ibid. Is a great part of the religion of the Eastern countries, ibid. Bathing and washing greatly conducive to health, 104. Cleanliness peculiarly necessary on board of ships, ibid. and to the sick, ibid. General remarks on, 105. Many disorders may be cured by cleanliness alone, 140. The want of, a very general cause of putrid fevers, 196. Is a great preservative against venereal infection, 517; and against galling in infants, 550.

Clergy, exhorted to remove popular prejudices against inoculation, 231. Might do great good by undertaking the practice of it themselves, 236.

Clothing, the only natural use of, 9. That of children, has become a secret art, 10. Ought to be fastened on infants with strings instead of pins, 13. Pernicious consequences of stays, 14. Importance of cleanliness to children, ibid. The due quantity of, dictated by the climate, 94. Should be increased in the decline of life, ibid. and adapted to the seasons, ibid. Is often hurtful by being made subservient to the purposes of vanity, 91. Pernicious consequences of attempting to mend the shape by dress, ibid. Stays, ibid. Shoes, ibid. Garters, buckles, and other bandages, 92. The perfection of, to be easy and clean, 93. General remarks on, ibid. Wet, the danger of, and how to guard against it, 127.

Clysters, a proper form of, for an inflammation of the stomach, 291. And for an inflammation of the intestines, 293. Of tobacco smoke, its efficacy in procuring a stool, 300, note. Of chicken broth salutary in the cholera morbus, 310. Their use in a suppression of urine, 323. Ought to be frequently administered in the puerperal fever, 539. Of tobacco, to excite a vomit, 606. Of tobacco fumes, to stimulate the intestines, 610. The general intention of, 660. Preparation of the emollient clyster, 661. Laxative clyster, ibid. Carminative clyster, ibid. Oily clyster, ibid. Starch clyster, 662. Turpentine clyster, ibid. Vinegar clyster, ibid.

Cœliac passion, proper treatment for, 351.

Coffee berries recommended in the stone, 328.

Cold, extreme, its effects on the human frame, 616. The sudden application of heat dangerous in such cases, ibid. How to recover frozen or benumbed limbs, 617.

Cold Bath. See Bath.

Colds, frequently occasioned by imprudent changes of clothes at the first approaches of summer, 90, note. Various causes of, specified, 126. Their general causes, 276. Proper regimen on the symptoms of, appearing, ibid. Danger of neglecting the disorder, 278. The chief secret for avoiding, 280.

Colic, different species of, 296. Medical treatment of, according to their species and causes, 297. Bilious colic, 298. Hysteric colic, 299. Nervous colic, ibid. Cautions necessary to guard against the nervous colic, 300. General advice in colics, 301.

Collyria. See Eye-waters.

Commerce often imports infectious disorders, 107. Means suggested to guard against this danger, 108, note.

Confections often very needlessly compounded, 663. Preparation of the Japonic confection, 664.

Conserves and preserves, general remarks on, and their composition, 664. Of red roses, ibid. Of sloes, 665. Candied orange-peel, ibid.

Constitution, good or bad, the foundation of, generally laid during infancy, 1.

Consumptions, the increase of this disorder may be attributed to hard drinking, 97. Who most liable to, and its causes, 174. Symptoms, 176. Regimen, 177. Riding, ibid. Much benefit to be expected from going a long voyage, 178. Travelling, ibid. Diet, 179. Great efficacy of milk in, ibid. Medical treatment, 182.

—— Nervous, defined, and the persons most liable to, 186. Proper treatment of, ibid.

—— Symptomatic, the treatment of, must be directed to the producing cause, 187.

Convulsions, why new-born infants are so liable to, 12. Those preceding the eruption in the small-pox favourable symptoms, 217. The general causes of, 565. Proper treatment of, 566. Extraordinary recovery of an infant seemingly killed by, 629. Farther instructions in like cases, 630.

Cook, Captain, the circumnavigator, his means of preserving the health of his men, 46, note.

Cookery, the arts of, render many things unwholesome, that are not naturally so, 67.

Cordials, ought not to be given to infants, 16. Are the common refuge of nurses who neglect their duty to children, 35. Are often fatal in an inflammation of the stomach, 290. When good in the colic, 297. Ought not to be given to a pregnant woman during labour, 534.

Corn, damaged, will produce the putrid fever, 195.

Corns in the feet are occasioned by wearing tight shoes, 91.

Cortex. See Bark.

Costiveness, a frequent recourse to medicines for the prevention of, injurious to the constitution, 122. Is rather to be removed by diet than by drugs, 123. Its general causes, and ill effects, 414. Regimen, ibid. Remedies for, 416.

Cough, the proper remedies for, 280. A plaster of Burgundy pitch laid between the shoulders an excellent remedy for, 281. The stomach cough, and cough of the lungs, distinguished, 282. Treatment for the nervous cough, 283.

Cough, hooping, who most liable to, with its disposing causes, 284. Remedies, 285. Is infectious, ibid. Vomits, their use, and how to administer them to children, 286. Garlic ointment a good remedy for, 287.

Cough, phthisical, incident to sedentary artificers, from their breathing confined air, 49.

Cradles, on many accounts hurtful to children, 32.

Cramp, proper remedies for, 451.

Cramp of the stomach, who most subject to, 438. Medical treatment of, ibid.

Crotchets, how to use for extracting substances detained in the gullet, 603.

Croup in children, described, 557. Its symptoms and proper treatment, ibid.

Cyder, the ill consequences of making it too weak, 69.

D.

Dancing, an excellent kind of exercise for young persons, 29.

Daucus sylvestris. See Carrot.

Deafness, when a favourable symptom in the putrid fever, 198, note. Methods of cure, according to its causes, 461.

Death, the evidences of, sometimes fallacious, and ought not to be too soon credited, 601. 608. 612. 631. The means to be used for the recovery of persons from, nearly the same in all cases, 632.

Decoctions, general remarks on, 665. Preparation of the decoction of althæa, ibid. Common decoction, 666. Of logwood, ibid. Of bark, ibid. Compound decoction of bark, ibid. Of sarsaparilla, 667. Of seneka, ibid. White decoction, ibid.

Deformity, often occasioned by the injudicious manner of dressing children, 9. Is seldom found among savage nations, 10. The usual causes of, explained, ibid.

Dews, night, dangerous to health, 128.

Diabetes, who most liable to this disorder, 319. Its causes and symptoms, ibid. Regimen, and medical treatment, 320. Distinguished from incontinency of urine, 322.

Diarrhœa. See Looseness.

Diet, will often answer all the indications of cure in diseases, 138. Illustrations, 139. See Aliment.

Digestion, the powers of, equally impaired by repletion or inanition, 72.

Diseases, hereditary, cautions to persons afflicted with, 8. Peculiar disorders attending particular occupations, 38. Many of them infectious, 106. The knowledge of, depends more upon experience and observation than upon scientifical principles, 135. Are to be distinguished by the most obvious and permanent symptoms, ibid. The differences of sex, age, and constitution, to be considered, 136. Of the mind, to be distinguished from those of the body, ibid. Climate, situation, and occupation, to be attended to, 137. Other collateral circumstances, ibid. Many indications of cure, to be answered by diet alone, 138. Cures often effected by fresh air, by exercise, or by cleanliness, 139. Nervous diseases, of a complicated nature, and difficult to cure, 420.

Dislocations, should be reduced before the swelling and inflammation come on, and how, 587. Of the jaw, 588. Of the neck, 589. Of the ribs, 590. Of the shoulder, ibid. Of the elbow, 591. Of the thigh, 592. Of the knees, ancles, and toes, ibid.

Diuretic infusion for the Dropsy, how to prepare, 377, 378.

Dog, symptoms of madness in, 477. Ought to be carefully preserved after biting any person, to ascertain whether he is mad or not, 478. Is often reputed mad when he is not so, ibid. Symptoms of the bite of a mad dog, 479. The poison cannot lie many years dormant in the body, as is supposed, ibid. Dr. Mead’s receipt for the bite, 480. The famous East Indian specific for, ibid. Other recipes, 481. Vinegar of considerable service in this disorder, ibid. Medical course of treatment recommended, ibid. Regimen, 481. Dipping in the sea not to be relied on, 483. Dr. Tissot’s medical course for the cure of the hydrophobia, 484. Remarks on the Ormskirk medicine, 485, note.

Doses of medicines, the relative proportions of, for different ages, 653.

Drams ought to be avoided by persons afflicted with nervous disorders, 423.

Draught, is the proper form for such medicines as are intended for immediate operation, 668. How to prepare the anodyne draught, ibid. Diuretic draught, ibid. Purging draught, ibid. Sweating draught, 669. Vomiting draught, ibid.

Dress. See Clothing.

Drinking, persons who are seldom intoxicated may nevertheless injure their constitutions by, 97. The habit of drinking frequently originates from misfortunes, 98. Frequently destroys the powers of the mind, 99. Persons often forced to it by mistaken hospitality, ibid. note. Leads to other vices, ibid.

Dropsy, the several distinctions of, with its causes, 374. Symptoms, 375. Regimen, 376. Medical treatment, 377. Tapping, a safe and simple operation, 379.

Dropsy of the brain. See Water in the head.

Drowned persons, ought not to be rashly given up for dead, 608. Proper trials for the recovery of, ibid. Endeavours ought not to be suspended upon the first returns of life, 612. Success of the Amsterdam society for the recovery of, 631.

Drunkenness. See Intoxication.

Dumb persons may be taught to read, write, and discourse, 461, note.

Dysentery, where and when most prevalent, 345. Its causes and symptoms, ibid. Regimen, 346. Fruit, one of the best remedies for, 348. Proper drink for, 349. Medical treatment, ibid. Cautions to prevent a relapse, 350.

E.

Ear, the several injuries it is liable to, 460. Deafness, medical treatment of, according to its causes, 461. Ought not to be tampered with, 462.

Ear-ach, its causes, and proper treatment for, 360. How to drive insects out of, ibid.

Education of children, should be begun at home by the parents, 25, note. That of girls hurtful to their constitution, 27.

Effluvia, putrid, will occasion the spotted fever, 195.

Electricity beneficial in the palsy, 431.

Electuaries, general rules for making, 669. Preparation of lenitive electuary, 670. Electuary for the dysentery, ibid. For the epilepsy, ibid. For the gonorrhœa, ibid. Of the bark, 671. For the piles, ibid. For the palsy, ibid. For the rheumatism, ibid.

Elixir, paregoric, how to prepare, 698. Sacred elixir, ibid. Stomachic elixir, ibid. Acid elixir of vitriol, 699.

Emulsions, their uses, 672. Preparation of the common emulsion, ibid. Arabic emulsion, ibid. Camphorated emulsion, ibid. Emulsion of gum ammoniac, ibid. Oily emulsion, 673.

Engleman, Dr. his account of the German method of recovering persons from fainting fits, 622.

Entrails. See Intestines.

Epilepsy, the disorder defined, 432. Its causes and symptoms, 433. Due regimen, 434. Medical treatment, ibid.

Eruption in children often free them from bad humours, but are mistaken and ill-treated by nurses, 35. Ought never to be stopped without proper advice, 36. In fevers, how to be treated, 193. 201. 207. 209. In the small-pox, 217. 221. In children, the causes of, 551. How to cure, 554.

Erysipelas, a disorder incident to the laborious, 41. Its causes explained, and who most subject to it, 249. Its symptoms, ibid. Regimen, 250. Medical treatment, 253. The scorbutic erysipelas, 253. Instructions for those who are subject to this disorder, ibid.

Evacuations of the human body, the principal, specified, 121. By stool, ibid. Urine, 123. Perspiration, 125.

Exercise, the importance of, to promote the growth and strength of children, 21. All young animals exert their organs of motion as soon as they are able, 22. The utility of, proved from anatomical considerations, 24. And from philosophical deductions, ibid. Military exercise recommended for boys, 26. Benefits of dancing, 29. Is better for sedentary persons under lowness of spirits than the tavern, 52. Gardening the best exercise for the sedentary, 53. Violent, ought not to be taken immediately after a full meal, 61. Is as necessary as food for the preservation of health, 81. Our love of activity, an evidence of its utility, 82. Indolence relaxes the solids, ibid. The indulgence of carriages as absurd as pernicious, ibid. Is almost the only cure for glandular obstructions, 83. Will prevent and remove those disorders that medicine can not cure, ibid. Is the best cure for complaints in the stomach, 84. How to be taken within doors, when not to be done in the open air, 85. Active sports better than sedentary amusements, ibid. The golf, a better exercise than cricket, ibid. note. Exercise should not be extended to fatigue, 86. Is as necessary for the mind as for the body, 118. Is often of more efficacy than any medicine whatever, 139. The best mode of taking it in a consumption, 177. Is of the greatest importance in a dropsy, 376. Muscular, for the gout, 385. Is necessary for the asthmatic, 408. Is superior to all medicine in nervous disorders, 423. And in the palsy, 432. Is proper for pregnant women, unless they are of a very delicate texture, 533. Want of, the occasion of rickets in children, 563.

Extracts, general rules for making; but are more conveniently purchased ready made, 673.

Eyes, inflammation of, its general causes, 258. Symptoms, 259. Medical treatment, 260. How to be treated when it proceeds from a scrophulous habit, 263. Advice to those who are subject to this complaint, 264. Are subject to many diseases which are difficult to cure, 456. The means by which they are frequently injured, 457. General means of prevention, ibid. The several disorders of, with their medical treatment, 458.

Eye-waters, general remarks on, and their principal intentions, 662. Collyrium of alum, 663. Vitriolic collyrium, ibid. Collyrium of lead, ibid.

F.

Fainting fits, how to cure, 441. 618. Cautions to persons subject to them, 623.

Falling sickness. See Epilepsy.

Fasting, long, injurious to those who labour hard, 43. Is hurtful both to old and young, 73.

Fathers, culpably inattentive to the management of their children, 5. Their irregular lives often injure the constitution of their children, 7.

Fear, the influence of, very great, in occasioning and aggravating diseases, 112. Its various operations, 113.

Feet, injured by wearing tight shoes, 91. The washing of, an agreeable article of cleanliness, 104. Wet, the danger of, 127. Bathing them in warm water, a good remedy in a cold, 279. And in the hooping-cough, 288.

Fermentation, the vapour of liquors in a state of, noxious, 614.

Fevers, of a bad kind, often occasioned among labourers by poor living, 43. Frequently attack sedentary persons after hard drinking, 52. Nervous, often the consequence of intense study, 57. Putrid and malignant, often occasioned by want of cleanliness, 100. The most general causes of, enumerated, 140. The distinguishing symptoms of, 141. The several species of, ibid. Is an effort of nature, which ought to be assisted, 142. How this is to be done, 143. Cordials and sweetmeats improper in, 144. Fresh air of great importance in, 145. The mind of the patient ought not to be alarmed with religious terrors, ibid. Cautions as to bleeding and sweating in, 146. Longings, the calls of nature, and deserve attention, ibid. Cautions to prevent a relapse, 147.

Fever, acute continual, who most liable to, 157. Causes, ibid. Symptoms, 158. Regimen, ibid. Medical treatment, 161. Symptoms favourable and unfavourable, ibid. Regimen to be observed during recovery, 162.

Fever, bilious, general time of its appearance, 247. Proper treatment of, according to its symptoms, 248.

Fever, intermitting. See Ague.

Fever, miliary, from what the name derived, and its general appearances, 205. Who most liable to it, ibid. Causes, ibid. Symptoms, 206. Regimen, 207. Account of a miliary fever at Strasburg, 208, note. Proper medical treatment, 209. Cautions for avoiding this disorder, 210. How to prevent, in child-bed-women, 538.

Fever, milk, how occasioned, 537. How to prevent, 541.

Fever, nervous, why more common now than formerly, and who most liable to it, 188. Its causes, ibid. Symptoms and proper regimen, 189. Medical treatment, 191.

Fever, puerperal, or child-bed, the time of its attack, and symptoms, 538. Medical treatment of, 539. Cautions for the prevention of this fever, 541.

Fever, putrid, is of a pestilential nature, and who most liable to it, 195. Its general causes, ibid. Symptoms of, 196. Other fevers may be converted to this, by improper treatment, 197. Favourable and unfavourable symptoms of, ibid. Regimen, 198. Medical treatment, 201. Cautions for the prevention of this disorder, 203.

Fever, remitting, derivation of its name, 210. Its causes and symptoms, 211. Proper regimen, 212. Medical treatment, 213. Cautions for avoiding this fever, ibid.

Fever, scarlet, why so named, and its usual season of attack, 245. Proper treatment of, 246. Is sometimes attended with putrid and malignant symptoms, ibid. Medicines adapted to this stage of the malady, ibid. History of a fever of this kind at Edinburgh, 247, note.

Fever, secondary, in the small-pox, proper treatment of, 224.

Flatulencies in the stomach, remedies against, 363. The several causes of, 443. Medical treatment of, 444.

Flatulent colic, its causes, and seat of the disorder, 296. Remedies for, ibid.

Flower-de-luce, the yellow water, the root of, recommended for the tooth-ach, 358.

Fluor albus described, with its proper treatment, 529.

Fomentations, how to make and apply, 673. General intentions of, ibid. Anodyne fomentation, 674. Aromatic fomentation, ibid. Common fomentation, ibid. Emollient fomentation, ibid. Strengthening fomentation, 675.

Food. See Aliment.

Forgiveness of injuries, ought to be practised from a regard to our own health, 112.

Fractures. See Bones, broken.

Frozen limbs, how to recover, 617.

Fruit, unripe, very hurtful to children, 20. One of the best medicines, both for the prevention and cure of a dysentery, 348.

Funerals, the great number of visitors attending them, dangerous to their health, 107.

G.

Galling, in infants, the cause and cure of, 550.

Gangrene, proper treatment of, 574.

Gardening, a wholesome amusement for sedentary persons, 52.

Gargles for the throat, how to make, 267. 270. 274. General intentions of, 675. Method of making the attenuating gargle, ibid. Common gargle, ibid. Detergent gargle, ibid. Emollient gargle, ibid. For the mouth of infants in the thrush, 548.

Garlic ointment, a North British remedy for the hooping-cough, how to apply it, 287.

Generals of armies, how they ought to consult the health of the men they command, 44.

Gilders. See Miners.

Ginger, syrup of, how to prepare, 694.

Girls, the common mode of education prejudicial to their constitution, 27. Means of rectifying it recommended, ibid.

Gleet, how occasioned, and its symptoms, 500. Method of cure, ibid. Regimen, 501. Obstinate gleets cured by mercurial inunctions, 502. How to apply bougies, ibid.

Glover, Mr. his course of treatment for the recovery of a hanged man, 628.

Gonorrhœa, virulent, the nature of, and its symptoms, 491. Regimen, 492. Medical treatment, 493. Is often cured by astringent injections, ibid. Cooling purges always proper in, 494. Mercury seldom necessary in a gonorrhœa, 496. How to administer it when needful, 497.

Goulard, M. preparation of his celebrated extract of Saturn, 700. His various applications of it, ibid.

Gout, the general causes of, 55. How to treat a looseness occasioned by repelling it from the extremities, 313. The sources of this disorder, and its symptoms, 380, 381. Regimen for, 382. Wool the best external application in, 383. Why there are so many nostrums for, 384. Proper medicines after the fit, ibid. Proper regimen in the intervals between fits to keep off their return, 385. How to remove it from the nobler parts to the extremities, 386. General cautions to prevent danger by mistaking it for other disorders, 387.

Gravel, how formed in the bladder, 125. How distinguished from the stone, 324. Causes and symptoms, ibid. Regimen, 325. Medical treatment, 326.

Green-sickness originates in indolence, 523.

Grief, its effects permanent, and often fatal, 116. Danger of the mind dwelling long upon one subject, especially if of a disagreeable nature, 117. The mind requires exercise as well as the body, 118. Innocent amusements not to be neglected, ibid. Is productive of nervous diseases, 421.

Gripes in infants, proper treatment of, 549.

Guaiacum, gum, a good remedy for the quinsey, 268; and rheumatism, 390.

Gullet, how to remove substances detained in, 603. Cautions for the use of crotchets with this intention, ibid. Other mechanical expedients, 604. Treatment if the obstruction cannot be removed, 607.

Gums of children, applications to, during teething, and how to cut them, 561.

Gutta serena, proper treatment of, 458.

H.

Hæmoptoe, spitting of blood. See Blood.

Hæmorrhages. See Blood.

Harrowgate water, an excellent medicine for expelling worms, 368. And for the jaundice, 373. In the scurvy, 391.

Head-ach, the species of, distinguished, 352. Causes of, 353. Regimen, 354. Medical treatment, 355.

Health of the people in general, a proper object of attention for the magistrates, xi. Ought to be attended to in matrimonial contracts, 8. Is often laboured for after it is destroyed, 61. Rules given by Celsus for the preservation of, 134.

Heart-burn, the nature of this disorder, with its causes, and remedies for, 418.

Heat, extreme, how to recover persons overcome by, 618.

Hemlock, a good remedy in the King’s evil, 402. Is recommended by Dr. Stork for the cure of cancers, 469.

Hemp-seed, a decoction of, good in the jaundice, and how to prepare it, 373.

Hiccup, its causes, and method of treatment, 436.

Hoffman, his rules for guarding child-bed women against the miliary fever, 538.

Honey, a wholesome article of food for children, 21. Is recommended in the stone, 328.

Hooping-cough. See Cough.

Hospitals, the want of fresh air in, more dangerous to the patients than their disorders, 81. Cleanliness peculiarly necessary in, 105. Often spread infection by being situated in the middle of populous towns, 108. How they might be rendered proper receptacles for the sick, 110. Particularly in infectious disorders, 111. The sick in, ought not to be crowded together, 219, note.

Horse-radish, the chewing of, will restore sensibility to the organs of taste when injured, 465.

Houses, instead of contrivances to make them close and warm, ought to be regularly ventilated, 78. In marshy situations unwholesome, 80. Ought to be built in a dry situation, 130. Danger of inhabiting new-built houses before thoroughly dry, ibid. Are often rendered damp by unseasonable cleanliness, ibid. Are dangerous when kept too close and hot, 133.

Husbandmen, the peculiar disorders they are exposed to, from the vicissitudes of the weather, 40.

Huxham, Dr. recommends the study of the dietetic part of medicine, xiii.

Hydrocephalus. See Dropsy.

Hydrophobia, Dr. Tissot’s method of curing, 484.

Hydrops pectoris. See Dropsy.

Hypochondriac affections, frequently produced by intense study, 58. Their causes, and who most subject to them, 452. The general intentions of cure, ibid. Regimen, 454.

Hysterics, a disorder produced by the habitual use of tea, 66. General causes of, 447. Symptoms, 448. Proper treatment of, ibid. Regimen, 449. Medicines adapted to, 450.

Hysteric colic, symptoms and treatment of, 299.

J.

Jails, why malignant fevers are often generated in them, 77. Often spread infection by being situated in the middle of populous towns, 108. Ought to be removed, 110.

Janin, M. his relation of the recovery of an overlaid infant, 627. And of a man who had hanged himself, 628.

Jaundice, the different stages of its appearance, with the causes of this disorder, 370, 371. Symptoms and regimen, 371. Medical treatment, 372.

Jesuits Bark. See Bark.

Jews, the whole system of their laws tending to promote cleanliness, 103. 107.

Iliac passion, a particular kind of inflammation of the intestines, 292.

Imposthume in the breast, in consumptions, how to make it break inwardly, when not to be discharged by other means, 185. Imposthumes after the small-pox, proper treatment of, 227.

Incontinency of urine, distinguished from a diabetes, 322. Expedient for relief, ibid.

Indigestion, is one consequence of intense study, 56. General causes, and remedies for, 416.

Indolence, its bad effects on the constitution, 82. Occasions glandular obstructions, 83. Ill consequences of too much indulgence in bed, 84. Is the parent of vice, 86. Is the general cause of most nervous disorders, 455.

Infancy, the foundation of a good or bad constitution, generally laid in this season of life, 1.

Infants, nearly one half of those born in Great Britain die under twelve years of age, 1. Perish mostly by art, 2. Ought not to be suckled by delicate women, 3. Importance of their being nursed by their mothers, 4. Often lose their lives, or become deformed, by errors in clothing them, 9. How the art of bandaging them became the province of the midwife, 10. How treated in Africa, 11, note. Philosophical observations on their organical structure, and on the causes of deformity, ibid. Why they so frequently die of convulsions, 12. Why exposed to fevers, 13. And colds, 14. Rules for their dress, ibid. Their food, 15. Reflections on the many evils they are exposed to, 544. Why their first disorders are in their bowels, ibid. How to cleanse their bowels, 545. The meconium, 546. Thrush, 547. Acidities, 548. Gripes, 549. Galling and excoriations, 550. Stoppage of the nose, ibid. Vomiting, 551. Looseness, 552. Eruptions, 553. Scabbed heads, 555. Chilblains, 556. The croup, 557. Teething, 559. Rickets, 562. Convulsions, 565. Water in the head, 567. How to recover infants seemingly dead, 622. Ought never to sleep in the same bed with their mothers or nurses, 626, note. Case of the recovery of an overlaid infant, 627. Case of an infant seemingly killed by a strong convulsion fit, and recovered, 629. See Children.

Infection, the danger of, incurred by injudicious or unnecessary attendance on the sick, 106. And on funerals, 107. Is often communicated by clothes, ibid. Is frequently imported, 108. Is spread by hospitals and jails being situated in the middle of populous towns, ibid. How to prevent infection in sick chambers, 109. Physicians liable to spread infection, ibid. note. In what respects the spreading of infection might be checked by the magistrate, 110. Bleeding and purging increase the danger of, by debilitating the body, 204. Small-pox, 214. Of the small-pox may be received again, 218, note.

Inflammations, how the laborious part of mankind expose themselves to, 42. Proper treatment of, 574.

Inflammation of the bladder. See Bladder.

—— of the brain. See Brain.

—— of the eyes. See Eyes.

—— of the intestines. See Intestines.

—— of the kidneys. See Kidneys.

—— of the liver. See Liver.

—— of the lungs. See Peripneumony.

—— of the stomach. See Stomach.

—— of the throat. See Quinsey.

—— of the womb. See Womb.

Infusions, advantages of, over decoctions, 676. How to obtain rich infusions from weak vegetables, ibid. Preparation of the bitter infusion, ibid. Infusion of the bark, ibid. Infusion of carduus, 677. Of linseed, ibid. Of roses, ibid. Of tamarinds, and senna, ibid. Spanish infusion, 678. For the palsy, ibid.

Inns, the great danger of meeting with damp beds in them, 128. The sheets in, how treated to save washing, 129.

Inoculation of the small-pox, more favourably received here than in neighbouring countries, 227. Cannot prove of general utility while kept in the hands of a few, 228. No mystery in the process, ibid. May safely be performed by parents or nurses, 229. Various methods of doing it, ibid. The clergy exhorted to remove the prejudices against the operation, 231. Arguments cited from Dr. Mackenzie in favour of inoculation, ibid. note. Ought to be rendered universal, 233. Means of extending the practice of, 234. Two obstacles to the progress of, stated, 235. Might be performed by clergymen, or by parents themselves, 236. The proper seasons and age for performing it, 239. Will often mend the habit of body, ibid. Necessary preparation and regimen for, ibid.

Insects, when they creep into the ear, how to force them out, 361. Poisonous, the bites of, how to be treated, 486.

Intemperance, one great cause of the diseases of seamen, 45. The danger of, argued from the constructions of the human body, 94. The analogy in the nourishment of plants and animals, ibid. Is the abuse of natural passions, ibid. In diet, 95. In liquor and carnal pleasures, ibid. The bad consequences of, involve whole families, 96. Effects of drunkenness on the constitution, ibid. Persons who seldom get drunk, may nevertheless injure their constitutions by drink, 97. The habit of drinking frequently acquired under misfortunes, 98. Is peculiarly hurtful to young persons, 99. Leads to all other vices, ibid.

Intermitting fever. See Ague.

Intestines, inflammation of, general causes from whence it proceeds, 291. The symptoms, regimen, and medical treatment, 292. Cautions to guard against it, 295.

Intoxication produces a fever, 96. Fatal consequences of a daily repetition of this vice, ibid. Persons who seldom get drunk, may nevertheless injure their constitution by drinking, ibid. Getting drunk, a hazardous remedy for a cold, 277. Often produces fatal effects, 623. Proper cautions for treating persons in liquor, 624. The safest drink after a debauch, ibid. Remarkable case, 625.

Johnson, Dr. extraordinary recovery of an infant seemingly killed by a strong convulsion fit, related by, 629.

Issues, how to make them take the best effect, 430.

Itch, the nature and symptoms of this disease described, 403. Sulphur, the best remedy against, ibid. Great danger of the injudicious use of mercurial preparations for, 405. Cleanliness the best preservative against, 406, note.

Juleps, the form of, explained, 678. Preparation of the camphorated julep, ibid. Cordial julep, 679. Expectorating julep, ibid. Musk julep, ibid. Saline julep, ibid. Vomiting julep, ibid.

K.

Kermes mineral, recommended by Dr. Duplanil for the hooping cough, 287, note.

Kidneys, inflammation of, its general causes, 301. Its symptoms and proper regimen, 302. Medical treatment, 305. Where it proceeds from the stone and gravel, ibid. Cautions for those subject to this disorder, ibid. See Gravel.

King’s evil. See Scrophula.

L.

Laborious employments, the peculiar disorders incident to, 40. The folly of men emulating each other in trials of strength, 41. Disadvantages attending their diet, ibid. How they expose themselves to inflammations, 42. Danger of sleeping in the sun, ibid. Long fasting hurtful to them, ibid. Injuries arising from poor living, 43. Many of the diseases of labourers, not only occasioned, but aggravated, by poverty, ibid.

Labour should not be imposed too early on children, 28.

Labour in child-bed, medical advice for, 534. Inconveniencies of collecting a number of women at, 535, note.

Laudanum, its efficacy in fits of an ague, 149, note. How to be administered in a cholera morbus, 311. In a looseness, 313. In a diabetes, 321. When proper for the head-ach, 356. How to apply, for the tooth-ach, 358. Will ease pain in the gout, 384. How to administer for the cramp in the stomach, 438. Is good for flatulences, 444. Effects of an over-dose of, 470. Medical treatment in this case, 476.

Leading-strings, injurious to young children, 23.

Leeches, may be successfully applied to inflamed testicles, 503, note. And to disperse buboes, 505, note. Are proper to apply to children where inflammations appear in teething, 560. Objections to bleeding with them, 572.

Lemons. See Oranges.

Leprosy, why less frequent in this country now than formerly, 398. Requires the same treatment as the scurvy, ibid.

Lientery, proper treatment for, 351.

Life may frequently be restored, when the appearances of it are suspended by sudden casualties, 601. 608. 613. 631.

Lightning, persons apparently killed by, might possibly be recovered by the use of proper means, 631.

Lime-water recommended to prevent gravel in the kidneys from degenerating to the stone in the bladder, 326. Is a good remedy for worms, 368. Happy effects of, in the cure of obstinate ulcers, 585.

Lind, Dr. his prescription to abate fits of an ague, 149, note. His directions for the treatment of patients under putrid remitting fevers, 212, note.

Liniment for burns, preparation of, 683. White liniment, 684. For the piles, ibid. Volatile liniment, ibid.

Liquors, strong, expose children to inflammatory disorders, 19. Fermented, the qualities of, examined, 68. The bad consequences of making them too weak, 69. Why all families ought to prepare their own liquors, ibid. Cold, the danger of drinking, when a person is hot, 131.

Liver, schirrous, produced by sedentary employments, 56.

Liver, inflammation of, its causes and symptoms, 306. Regimen and medical treatment, 307. Abscess in, how to be treated, 308. Cautions in the event of a schirrous being formed, ibid.

Lobelia, an American plant used by the natives in the venereal disease, 514.

Lochia, a suppression of, how to be treated, 537.

Longings, in diseases, are the calls of nature, and often point out what may be of real use, 146.

Looseness, habitual, general directions for persons subject to, 122. Its general causes, 312. A periodical looseness ought never to be stopped, 313. Medical treatment of, according to its various causes, ibid. Means of checking it when necessary, 314. In children, proper treatment of, 552.

Love, why perhaps the strongest of all the passions, 119. Is not rapid in its progress, and may therefore be guarded against at its commencement, ibid. To pretend to it for amusement, cruelty to the object, ibid. Children often real martyrs between inclination and duty, 120, note.

Lues, confirmed, symptoms of, 510. Mercury the only certain remedy known in Europe for this disease, 511. Saline preparations of mercury more efficacious than the ointment, 512. How to administer corrosive sublimate, ibid. American method of curing this disease, 513.

Lungs, injured by artists working in bending postures, 50. Studious persons liable to consumptions of, 56.

Luxury, highly injurious to the organs of taste and smell, 463.

M.

Mackenzie, Dr. his arguments in favour of inoculating in the small-pox, 231, note.

Mad dog. See Dog.

Magnesia alba, a remedy for the heart-burn, 419. Is the best medicine in all cases of acidity, 549.

Magnets, artificial, their reputed virtue in the tooth-ach, 359.

Malt liquors, hurtful in the asthma, 407. See Beer.

Man, why inferior to brutes in the management of his young, 1. Was never intended to be idle, 87.

Manufactures, the growth of, produced the rickets in children, 21. More favourable to riches than to health, 28. Some, injurious to health by confining artists in unwholesome air, 37. Cautions to the workmen, 38. Compared with agriculture, 48. Are injurious to health from artists being crowded together, 49. And from their working in confined postures, ibid. Cautions offered to sedentary artists, 50. Sedentary arts better suited to women than to men, 83, note.

Matrimony ought not to be contracted without a due attention to health and form, 8.

Mead, Dr. his famous recipe for the bite of a mad dog, 480. His character as a physician, ibid. note.

Meals ought to be taken at regular times, 72. Reasons for this uniformity, ibid.

Measles, have great affinity with the small-pox, 240. Cause and symptoms, ibid. Proper regimen and medicine, 242, 243. Inoculation of, might prove very salutary, 245, note.

Mechanics ought to employ their leisure hours in gardening, 54.

Meconium, the best mode of expelling it, 16. 546.

Medicine, the origin of the art of, xii. The operation of, doubtful at best, xiv. Is made a mystery of, by its professors, xxi. The study of, neglected by gentlemen, xxii. This ignorance lays men open to pretenders, xxiii. Ought to be generally understood, xxiv. A diffusion of the knowledge of, would destroy quackery, xxvii. Objections to the cultivation of medical knowledge answered, xxviii. The theory of, can never supply the want of experience and observation, 135.

Medicines have more virtue attributed to them than they deserve, 138. Ought not to be administered by the ignorant, nor without caution, 140. Want of perseverance in the use of, one reason why chronic diseases are so seldom cured, 392. Many retained, which owe their reputation to credulity, 649. Are multiplied and compounded in proportion to ignorance of the causes and nature of diseases, ibid. Disadvantages of compounded medicines, ibid. Are often adulterated for the sake of colour, ibid. The relative proportions of doses of, for different ages, 652. A list of such medical preparations as ought to be kept for private practice, 654.

Melancholy, religious, its effects, 120. Leads to suicide, ibid. Defined, with its causes, 426. Symptoms and regimen, 426, 427. Medicinal treatment, 428.

Menstrual discharge in women, the commencement and decline of, the most critical periods of their lives, 522. Confinement injurious to growing young women, 523; and tight lacing for a fine shape, 524. Symptoms of the first appearance of this discharge, 525. Objects of attention in regimen at this time, ibid. Ought to be restored whenever unnaturally obstructed, and how, 526. When an obstruction proceeds from another malady, the first cause is to be removed, 527. Treatment under a redundancy of the discharge, 528. Regimen and medicine proper at the final decline of the menses, 529.

Mercury, may be given in desperate cases of an inflammation of the intestines, 294. Cautions for administering it, ibid. note. Great caution necessary in using mercurial preparations for the itch, 405. Is seldom necessary in a gonorrhœa, 496. How to administer it when needful in that disorder, 497. Solution of mercury, how to make, 498, note. Is the only certain remedy known in Europe for the cure of a confirmed lues, 511. Saline preparations of, more efficacious than the mercurial ointment, ibid. How to administer corrosive sublimate in venereal cases, 512. Necessary cautions in the use of mercury, 515. Proper seasons for entering on a course of, 516. Preparations for, ibid. Regimen under a course of, 517.

Mezereon root, a powerful assistant in venereal cases, 513.

Midwifery, ought not to be allowed to be practiced by any woman not properly qualified, 534, note.

Midwives, historical view of the profession, 9. How they became intrusted with the care of bandaging infants, with the ill effects of their attempts at dexterity in this office, 10. Instances of their rashness and officious ignorance, 540, note, 544, note.

Miliary fever. See Fever.

Military exercise recommended for boys to practise, 26.

Milk, that of the mother, the most natural food for an infant, 15. Cows milk, better unboiled than boiled, 18. Is a good antidote against the scurvy, 66. Of more value in consumptions than the whole Materia Medica, 179. Its great efficacy in the scurvy, 396. A milk diet proper both for men and women, in cases of barrenness, 543.

Milk fever. See Fever.

Millipedes, how to administer for the hooping-cough, 287.

Mind, diseases of, to be distinguished from those of the body, 136. See Passions.

Miners, exposed to injuries from unwholesome air, and mineral particles, 38. Cautions to, 39.

Mineral waters, the danger of drinking them in too large quantities, 319. Are of considerable service in weaknesses of the stomach, 417. Cautions concerning the drinking of, 639–646.

Mixtures, general remarks on this form of medicines, 680. Composition of the astringent mixture, ibid. Diuretic mixture, ibid. Laxative absorbent mixture, ibid. Saline mixture, 681. Squill mixture, ibid.

Molasses, an intoxicating spirit much used by the common people at Edinburgh, 91.

Mothers, preposterous, when they think it below them to nurse their own children, 2. Under what circumstances they may be really unfit to perform this task, ibid. Importance of their suckling their own children, 3, note. Delicate mothers produce unhealthy short-lived children, 7. Their milk, the best food for children, 15. Ought to give their children proper exercise, 23; and air, 31.

Mouth, cautions against putting pins or other dangerous articles into, 603.

Muscular exercise a cure for the gout, 385.

Mushrooms, a dangerous article of food, as other funguses are often gathered instead of them, 488.

Music, the performance of, recommended as a proper amusement for studious persons, 60.

Musk, extraordinary effects produced by, under particular circumstances, in the nervous fever, 193. Is a good remedy in the epilepsy, 435. And for the hiccup, 437. Deafness cured by, 462.

Mustard, white, a good remedy in the rheumatism, 391.

N.

Natural history, the study of, necessary to the improvement of agriculture, xx.

Nervous diseases, the most complicated and difficult to cure of all others, 420. General causes of, ibid. Symptoms of, 421. Regimen, 422. Medical treatment, 424. A cure only to be expected from regimen, 426. The several symptoms of, though differently named, all modifications of the same disease, 453.

Nervous colic, its causes and symptoms, 299. Medical treatment of, 300.

Nervous fever. See Fever.

Night-mare, its causes and symptoms described, 439. Proper treatment of, 440.

Nightshade, an infusion of, recommended in a cancer, 469.

Nitre, purified, its good effects in a quinsey, 268. Is an efficacious remedy for the dropsy, 378. Promotes urine and perspiration, 429.

Nose, ulcer in, how to cure, 464. Stoppage of, in children, how to cure, 551. See Bleeding at.

Nurses, their superstitious prejudices in bathing of children, 30. The only certain evidence of a good one, 33. Their usual faults pointed out, 34. Administer cordials to remedy their neglect of duty toward children, 35. Their mistaken treatment of eruptions, ibid. And loose stools, ibid. Are apt to conceal the disorders of children that arise from their own negligence, 36. Ought to be punished for the misfortunes they thus occasion, ibid. Sensible, often able to discover diseases sooner than persons bred to physic, 135. Are liable to catch the small-pox again from those they nurse in that disorder, 218, note.

Nursery ought to be the largest and best aired room in a house, 31.

O.

Oil, an antidote to the injuries arising from working in mines or metals, 39. Sallad oil, the best application to the bite of a wasp or bee, 486. Camphorated, how to prepare, 684.

Oils, essential, of vegetables, the proper menstruum for, 694.

Ointment for the itch, 403. Use of ointments when applied to wounds and sores, 681. Preparation of yellow basilicum, ibid. Emollient ointment, 682. Eye ointments, ibid. Issue ointment, ibid. Ointment of lead, 683. Mercurial ointment, ibid. Ointment of sulphur, ibid. White ointment, ibid. See Liniment.

Ophthalmia. See Eye.

Opiates, efficacious in a cholera morbus, 311. In a diabetes, 320. When proper for the head-ach, 356. Recommended for the tooth-ach, ibid. Are delusive remedies in nervous diseases, 425. See Laudanum.

Orange and lemon-peel, how to candy, 665. How to preserve orange and lemon-juice in the form of syrup, 694.

Ormskirk medicine for the bite of a mad dog, remarks on, 485, note.

Oxycrate, the most proper external application in a fracture, 596.

Oysters of great service in consumptions, 182, note.

P.

Painters. See Miners.

Palsy, the nature of this disorder explained, with its causes, 430. Medical treatment, 431.

Paraphrenitis, its symptoms and treatment, 170.

Parents, their interested views in the disposal of their children in marriage, often a source of bitter repentance, 120, note. See Fathers, and Mothers.

Passions, intemperance the abuse of, 94. Have great influence both in the cause and cure of diseases, 111. Anger, 112. Fear, ibid. Grief, 116. Love, 119. Religious melancholy, 120. The best method of counteracting the violence of any of the passions, ibid.

Peas, parched, good in cases of flatulency, 363.

Peruvian bark. See Bark.

Penis, ulcerated, cured, and partly regenerated, by a careful attention to cleanliness, 518, note.

Peripneumony, who most subject to, 171. Its causes, symptoms, and proper regimen, ibid. 172.

Perspiration, insensible, the obstruction of, disorders the whole frame, 126. The various causes of its being checked, ibid. Changes in the atmosphere, ibid. Wet clothes, 127. Wet feet, ibid. Night air, 128. Damp beds, ibid. Damp houses, 130. Sudden transitions from heat to cold, 131.

Philosophy, advantages resulting from the study of, xxiii.

Phrenitis. See Brain.

Phymosis described, and how to treat, 509.

Physicians, ill consequences of their inattention to the management of children, 5. Are liable to spread infection, 109, note. Their custom of prognosticating the fate of their patients, a bad practice, 115. Are seldom called in, until medicine can give no relief, 158. The faculty oppose every salutary discovery, 328.

Pickles, provocatives injurious to the stomach, 67.

Piles, bleeding and blind, the distinction between, 334. Who most subject to the disorder, ibid. General causes, ibid. Medical treatment of, 335. Periodical discharges of, ought not to be stopped, 336. Proper treatment of the blind piles, ibid. External ointments of little use, 337.

Pills, purging, proper form of, for an inflammation of the intestines, 294. The general intention of this class of medicines, 684. Preparation of the composing pill, 685. Fœtid pill, ibid. Hemlock pill, ibid. Mercurial pill, ibid. Mercurial sublimate pills, 686. Plummer’s pill, ibid. Purging pill, 687. Pill for the jaundice, ibid. Squill pills, ibid. Strengthening pills, 688.

Pins ought never to be used in the dressing of children, 13. Swallowed, discharged from an ulcer in the side, 603, note.

Plasters, the general intentions of, and their usual basis, 688. Preparation of the common plaster, ibid. Adhesive plaster, 689. Anodyne plaster, ibid. Blistering plaster, ibid. Gum plaster, ibid. Mercurial plaster, ibid. Stomach plaster, 690. Warm plaster, ibid. Wax plaster, ibid.

Pleurisy, the nature of the disorder explained, with its causes, 163. Symptoms, 164. Regimen, ibid. Medical treatment, 165. A decoction of seneka reckoned a specific in, 168. Bastard pleurisy, 169.

Plumbers. See Miners.

Poisons, the nature and cure of, a general concern, and easily acquired, 472. Mineral poisons, 473. Vegetable poisons, 475. Bites of poisonous animals, 477. Bite of a mad dog, 479. Bite of a viper, 485. The practice of sucking the poison out of wounds recommended, 486, note. Poisonous plants ought to be destroyed in the neighbourhood of towns, 487. Negro remedy to cure the bite of a rattle-snake, 488. General rules for security against poisons, 489.

Poor living, the dangers of, 43.

Porters subject to disorders of the lungs, 40.

Postures, confined, injurious to the health of sedentary artists, 50.

Poverty, occasions parents to neglect giving their children proper exercise, 23. Destroys parental affection, 24, note. Not only occasions, but aggravates, many of the diseases of labourers, 43. The poor great sufferers by the sale of bad provisions, 63. And by bad air in large cities, 77.

Poultices proper for inflamed wounds, 579.

Powders, general instructions for making and administering, 691. Astringent powder, preparation and doses of, 692. Powder of bole, ibid. Carminative powder, ibid. Diuretic powder, 693. Aromatic purging powder, ibid. Saline laxative powder, ibid. Steel powder, ibid. Sudorific powder, ibid. Worm powder, 694. Purging worm powder, ibid. Powder for the tape-worm, ibid.

Pox, small, who most liable to, and at what seasons, 214. Its causes and symptoms, ibid. 215. Favourable and unfavourable symptoms in, 215, 216. Regimen, 216. How the patient ought to be treated during the eruptive fever, 217. Children in this disorder ought not to lie together in the same bed, 219. Should be allowed clean linen, ibid. Patients under this disorder ought not to appear in public view, 220. Medical treatment, ibid. The secondary fever, 224. When and how to open the pustules, 225. Of inoculation, 227.

Pregnancy, how to treat vomiting when the effect of, 316. Rules of conduct for women under the disorders incident to, 530. Causes and symptoms of abortion, 532. How to guard against abortion, ibid. Treatment in cases of abortion, ibid. Childbirth, 533.

Prescriptions, medical, patients exposed to danger by their being written in Latin, xxvi.

Provisions, unsound, the sale of, a public injury, 63.

Puerperal fever. See Fever.

Purges, the frequent taking of them renders the habitual use of them necessary, 123. Their efficacy in agues, 150. Proper form of, for an inflammation of the intestines, 293. Cooling purges always proper in a gonorrhœa, 494. Midwives too rash in the giving of purges, 540, note. Form of a gentle purge for infants disordered in the bowels, 545. For the thrush, 547.

Pustules in the small-pox, favourable and unfavourable appearances of, 215, 216. The suppuration of, to be promoted, 221. When and how to open, 225.

Putrid fever. See Fever.

Q.

Quacks put out more eyes than they cure, 456.

Quackery, how to destroy, xxv.

Quakers, their mode of dressing recommended, 93.

Quinsey, a common and dangerous disorder, and to whom most fatal, 264. Its causes, ibid. Symptoms, 265. Regimen, 266. Medical applications, 268. How to promote suppuration, 269. How to nourish the patient when he cannot swallow, 270. Advice to persons subject to this disorder, ibid.

——, malignant, who most subject to, and its causes, 271. Its symptoms, 272. Regimen and medical treatment, 273.

R.

Rattlesnake, Negro remedy for the cure of its bite, 488.

Regimen ought to co-operate with medicine to accomplish the cure of diseases, xiii. Will often cure diseases without medicine, 140. See Aliment.

Religion, true, calculated to support the mind under every affliction, 120. The instructions in, ought not to dwell too much on gloomy subjects, 121.

Remitting fever. See Fever.

Repletion, impairs the digestive power, 72. Diseases occasioned by, 74. How to treat a looseness produced by, 312.

Resentment, the indulgence of, injurious to the constitution, 112.

Resins, and essential oils, the proper menstruum for, 695.

Respiration, how to restore in a drowned person, 609.

Rheumatism acute and chronic, distinguished, 388. Causes, ibid. Symptoms, 389. Medical treatment, ibid. Cautions to persons subject to this disorder, 390.

Rickets, the appearance of, in Britain, dated from the growth of manufactures and sedentary employments, 23. The causes of, 562. Symptoms, 563. Regimen, and medical treatment, ibid.

Rollers, pernicious tendency of applying them round the bodies of infants, 12.

Romans, ancient, their great attention to the cleanliness of their towns, 102, note.

Roses, conserve of, its great virtue against hæmorrhages, 336, 341.

Rosemary, the external application of, a popular remedy for the cramp, 451, note.

Ruptures, are chiefly incident to children and very old persons, 598. The causes respectively, ibid. Method of treatment, ibid. Cutting should be avoided if possible, 599. Cautions for persons afflicted with a rupture, 600. Often prove fatal before discovered, ibid. note.

Rutherford, Dr. his preparation for the cure of a dysentery, 347, note.

S.

Sailors, their health injured by change of climate, hard weather, and bad provisions, 45. Many of their diseases spring from intemperance, ibid. Ought to guard against wet clothes, ibid. How the ill effects of salt provisions might be corrected, ibid. Peruvian bark the best antidote to sailors on a foreign coast, 47. Cleanliness greatly conducive to their health, 103.

Sal prunellæ, its good effects in a quinsey, 268.

Saline draughts, of good use for stopping a vomiting, 318. Preparation of, for this purpose, ibid. Peculiarly good in the puerperal fever, 540.

Salivation not necessary in the cure of the venereal disease, 511.

Sarsaparilla, a powerful assistant in venereal cases, 513.

Scabbed head in children, difficult to cure, 555. Medical treatment, ibid.

Scarlet fever. See Fever.

School, sending children there too young, its bad consequences, 25. Ought to be seated in a dry air, and not to be too much crowded, 33.

Scirrhus in the liver, proper regimen in the case of, 308. See Cancer.

Scrophula, nature of this disease, and its causes, 398. Symptoms, and regimen, 399. Medical treatment, 400.

Scurvy, why prevalent among the English, 65. Where most prevalent, and the two distinctions of, 393. Causes of, ibid. Symptoms and cure, 394. Instructions to sea-faring men, 395. Extraordinary effects of milk, 396. Proper liquors, ibid.

Sedentary life, includes the greater part of the human species, 47. Few persons follow agriculture who are capable of other business, 48. Sedentary and active employments ought to be intermixed, for the sake of health, ibid. Artists suffer from unwholesome air, by being crowded together, ibid. The postures artists are confined to, injurious to health, 49. Disorders produced by, ibid. Cautions offered to the sedentary, 50. Sedentary amusements improper for sedentary persons, 51. Hints relating to improper food, 52. Exercise a surer relief for low spirits than drinking, ibid. Gardening a wholesome amusement for the sedentary, ibid. Disorders occasioned by intense study, 55. Dietetical advice to the sedentary, 71. Sedentary occupations better adapted to women than men, 83, note.

Sea water, a good remedy in the King’s evil, 400.

Senses, disorders of, 456.

Seton, sometimes has extraordinary effects in an inflammation of the eyes, 262. Is of service for preventing apoplexies, 413. The best method of making it, 430.

Shoes, tight, the bad consequences resulting from, 91. The high heels of women’s shoes, 92.

Sibbins, a venereal disorder so termed in the west of Scotland, how to cure, 518, note.

Sick, the mutual danger incurred by unnecessary visitors to, 106. Persons in health to be kept at a distance from the sick, 107. Proper nurses ought to be employed about them, 109. Instructions for avoiding infection, ibid. Physicians too unguarded in their visits to them, ibid. note. Tolling of bells for the dead very dangerous to, 114. Their fears ought not to be alarmed, 116.

Sight injured by studying by candle-light, 57.

Simples, a list of those proper to be kept for private practice, 654.

Sinapisms, the general intentions of, 660. Directions for making of, ibid.

Sleep, the due proportion of, not easy to fix, 87. How to make it refreshing, 88. Complaints of the want of, chiefly made by the indolent, ibid. Heavy suppers cause uneasy nights, ibid. Anxiety destructive of sleep, 89. That in the fore-part of the night most refreshing, ibid. Early risers the longest livers, 90, note.

Sleeping in the sun, the danger of, 42.

Small pox. See Pox.

Smell, injuries to which the sense of, is liable, with the remedies applicable to, 463.

Soap, Alicant, recommended in the stone, 327. Soap-lees, how to take, ibid.

Solanum. See Nightshade.

Soldiers, exposed to many disorders from the hardships they undergo, 44. Ought to be employed in moderate labour in times of peace, 44, note.

Spine, often bent by artists working in unfavourable postures, 50.

Spirit, rectified, the direct menstruum for resins and essential oils of vegetables, 695. Of wine, camphorated, how to prepare, 699. Spirit of Mindererus, ibid.

Spirits, lowness of, the general forerunner of a nervous fever, 189. The proper remedies for, 446. Cautions to persons under this complaint, 447.

Spirituous liquors, when good in the colic, 296. And for gouty complaints in the stomach, 363. Should be avoided by all persons afflicted with nervous disorders, 423. The use of, often fatal, 623.

Spitting of blood. See Blood.

Spunge, may be used to supply the want of agaric as a styptic, 577, note. Its use in extracting substances stopped in the gullet, 605.

Sports, active, far more wholesome than sedentary amusements, 85. Golf, a better exercise than cricket, ibid. note.

Spots in the eye, how to treat, 459.

Squinting, how to correct the habit of, 459.

Stays, a ridiculous and pernicious article of female dress, 14, 91. The wearing of, tends to produce cancers in the breasts, 467.

Sternutatories, preparations of, recommended for restoring lost smell, 464.

Sticking-plaster is the best application for slight wounds, 578.

Stomach, exercise the best cure for disorders of, 84. Inflammation of, a disorder that calls for speedy assistance, 289. Its causes, ibid. Symptoms, ibid. Regimen, 290. Medical treatment, ibid. Pain in, its causes, 362. Remedies for, 363. Instructions for persons subject to, 364.

Stone, the formation of, in the bladder, explained, 124. This disorder how distinguished from the gravel, 324. Causes and symptoms, ibid. Regimen, 325. Medical treatment, 326. Alicant soap and lime-water, how to take for this disorder, 327. The uva ursi, a remedy in present request for, 328.

Stool, loose, the benefit of, to children, 35. Proper treatment of, when excessive, 36. The discharge by, cannot be regular, if the mode of living be irregular, 121. One in a day generally sufficient for an adult, 122. How to produce a regularity of, ibid. Frequent recourse to medicines for costiveness, injurious to the constitution, 123.

Stork, Dr. his method of treating cancers, 469.

Strabismus. See Squinting.

Strains, proper method of treating, 597. The safest external applications, ibid. note.

Strangury, from a blistering plaster, how to guard against, 167. In the small-pox, how to relieve, 222. From a venereal cause, described, with its proper treatment, 507.

Strangulation, course of treatment for the recovery of persons from, 628.

Strasburgh, successful treatment of a miliary fever there, 208, note.

Strength, the folly of trials of, from emulation, 40. 44.

Study, intense, injurious to health, 54. The disorders occasioned by, 55. Character of a mere student, 58. Hints of advice to studious persons, 59. Danger of their having recourse to cordials, 60. Health often neglected while in possession, and laboured for after it is destroyed, 61. No person ought to study immediately after a full meal, 62. Diatetical advice to the studious, 71. The general effects of, on the constitution, 420.

Sublimate, corrosive, how to administer in venereal cases, 512.

Suffocation, by the fumes of charcoal, liable to happen in close chambers, 613. General causes of suffocation, 626. Overlaying of infants, 627.

Sugar, an improper article in the food of children, 18.

Sulphur, a good remedy for expelling worms, 368. And for the itch, 403.

Suppers, ought not to destroy the appetite for breakfast, 73. Heavy suppers sure to occasion uneasy nights, 88.

Surgery, many of the operations of, successfully performed by persons unskilled in anatomy, 569. Humanity induces every one more or less to be a surgeon, ibid.

Sweating, generally excited in an improper manner, in fevers, 146. 160.

Swoonings, the several causes of, described, 424. Proper treatment of this disorder, 425. 618. Cautions to persons subject to them, 622.

Sydenham, Dr. his method of treating fevers in children from teething, 560.

Symptoms, diseases better distinguished by, than by the systematical arrangement of, 135. The differences of sex, age, and constitution, to be considered, 136. Diseases of the mind to be distinguished from those of the body, 137.

Syncope, proper treatment in, 619.

Syrups, the general intention of, 695. How to make simple syrup, and to modify it for particular purposes, ibid.

T.

Tacitus, his remark on the degeneracy of the Roman ladies, 4, note.

Tallow-chandlers, and others working on putrid animal substances, cautions to, 39.

Tapping for the dropsy, a safe and simple operation, 379.

Tar, Barbadoes, its efficacy in the nervous colic, 300.

Tartar, soluble, a good remedy for the jaundice, 373. Cream of, a good remedy in a dropsy, 378. And rheumatism, 390.

Taste, how to restore the sense of, when injured, 465.

Taylors, are exposed to injuries from breathing confined air, 49. Are subject to consumptions, ibid. note. Often lose the use of their legs, 50. Hints of instruction offered to them in regard to their health, 51.

Tea, the customary use of, injurious to female constitutions, 7. Destroys their digestive powers, and produces hysterics, 66. The bad qualities of, principally owing to imprudence in the use of it, ibid. Green, chewing of, a remedy for the heart-burn, 419. Has a powerful effect upon the nerves, 431, note. Is bad for persons troubled with flatulences, 445.

Teething, the disorders attending, 559. Regimen, and medical treatment in, 560. Applications to the gums, and how to cut them, 561.

Temperance, the parent of health, 94.

Testicles, swelled, the cause of, 503. Regimen and medicine in, ibid. Treatment under a cancerous or scrophulous habit, 504.

Thirst, how it may be quenched when a person is hot, without danger, 132.

Thought, intense, destructive of health, 54.

Thrush in infants, the disorder and its causes described, 547. Medical treatment of, ibid.

Tinctures and elixirs, the proper medicines to exhibit in the form of, 696. Preparations of the aromatic tincture, ibid. Compound tincture of the bark, ibid. Volatile fœtid tincture, ibid. Volatile tincture of gum guaiacum, 697. Tincture of black hellebore, ibid. Astringent tincture, ibid. Tincture of myrrh and aloes, ibid. Tincture of opium, or liquid laudanum, ibid. Tincture of hiera picra, 698. Compound tincture of senna, ibid. Tincture of Spanish flies, ibid. Tincture of the balsam of Tolu, ibid. Tincture of rhubarb, 699.

Tissot, Dr. character of his Avis au Peuple, xiv. His medical course for the cure of the hydrophobia, 484. His directions for gathering, preparing, and applying agaric of the oak as a styptic, 577, note. Instances from, of the recovery of drowned persons, 611.

Tobacco, a clyster of a decoction of, useful to excite a vomit, 606. A clyster of the fumes of, will stimulate the intestines, and produce a stool, 300. 610.

Toes, the free motion of, destroyed by wearing tight shoes, 92.

Tooth ach, the general causes of, 357. Medical treatment of, ibid. When recourse must be had to extraction, 359. Directions for cleaning the teeth, 360.

Touch, injuries to which the sense of, is liable, with the remedies applicable to, 465.

Towns, great, the air of, destructive to the children of the poor, 30. Children bred in the country ought not to be sent too early into towns, 32. Cleanliness not sufficiently attended to in, 101. Ought to be supplied with plenty of water for washing the streets, 105, note. The best means to guard against infection in, 109.

Trades, some injurious to health by making artists breathe unwholesome air, 37. 49.

Transitions, sudden, from heat to cold, the ill effects of, to the constitution, 131.

Travellers, the use of vinegar recommended to, 46. Ought to be very careful not to sleep in damp beds, 128. Fevers why often fatal to, 144.

Trees should not be planted too near to houses, 79.

Trefoil water, a good remedy in the rheumatism, 391,

Tumours, proper treatment of, 574.

Turnbull, Dr. his method of treating the croup in children, 558, note.

Turner’s cerate, preparation of, 682.

V.

Vapour of fermenting liquors, noxious nature of, 613.

Vegetables, wholesome corrections of the bad qualities of animal food, 65. Their extraordinary effects in the scurvy, 397.

Venereal disease, why omitted in the first edition of this work, 489. Unfavourable circumstances attending this disorder, 490. The virulent gonorrhœa, 491. Gleets, 500. Swelled testicles, 503. Buboes, 504. Chancres, 509. Strangury, 507. Phymosis, 509. A confirmed lues, 510. American method of curing this disease, 513. General observations, 515. Cleanliness a great preservative against, 517. The use of medicines ought not to be hastily dropped, 519. Is often too much disregarded, 520.

Ventilators, the most useful of all modern medical improvements, 78.

Vertigo often produced by intense study, 57.

Vinegar, a great antidote against diseases, and ought to be used by all travellers, 56. Should be sprinkled in sick chambers, 109. 160. 199. Is of considerable service in the bite of a mad dog, 481; and in any kind of poison, 486. Its medical properties, 700. Is of use to extract the virtues of several medicinal substances, ibid. How to prepare vinegar of litharge, ibid. Vinegar of roses, 701. Vinegar of squills, ibid.

Viper, the bite of, the sufficiency of the grease for the cure of, doubted, 486. Method of treatment recommended, ibid.

Vitriol, elixir of, an excellent medicine in weaknesses of the stomach, 417. And for windy complaints, 425.

Vitus, St. his dance, method of cure of, 436.

Ulcers, proper treatment of, according to their different natures, 583. Lime-water a good remedy, 585. Dr. Whytt’s method of treating them, ibid. Fistulous ulcers, 586.

Vomits, their use in agues, 150; and in the nervous fever, 191. Caution for administering in the putrid fever, 201. Ought by no means to be administered in an inflammation of the stomach, 290. Are useful in cases of repletion, 312. Are powerful remedies in the jaundice, 372. Are the first object to be pursued when poison has been received into the stomach, 473. Their use in the hooping cough, and how to administer them to children, 286. Midwives too rash in the use of, 540, note. Form of a gentle one for infants disordered in the bowels, 545.

Vomiting, the several causes of, 315. Medical treatment of, 316. Saline draught for stopping of, 317. Causes of, in children, 551. How to be treated, 552. Of blood: See Blood.

Voyage, a long one frequently cures a consumption, 178. Voyages have an excellent effect on persons afflicted with nervous disorders, 423.

Ureters, and their use, described, 303, note.

Urine, the appearances and quantity of, too uncertain to form any determined judgment from, 123. Dr. Cheyne’s judgment as to the due quantity of, not to be relied on, 124. The secretion and discharge of, how obstructed, ibid. Bad consequences of retaining it too long, 125. Too great a quantity of, tends to a consumption, ibid. Stoppage of, its general causes, 305. Caution as to the treatment of, ibid. Diabetes, 319. Incontinency of, 322. Suppression of, medical treatment in, ibid. Cautions to persons subject to this disorder, 324. Bloody, causes of, ibid. Medical treatment of, 344. An obstinate deafness cured by warm urine, 462, note.

Urine doctors, their impudence, and great success from the credulity of the populace, 124, note.

Uva ursi, a remedy in present request for the stone, 328.

W.

Walls, high, unwholesome, by obstructing the free current of air, 79.

Ward’s essence, preparation of, 699. His fistula paste, a popular remedy that may deserve trial, 586.

Wars occasion putrid fevers, by tainting the air with the effluvia of dead carcases, 196.

Wasps, hornets, or bees, how the bite of, ought to be treated, 486.

Water, frequently unwholesome by mineral impregnations, 67. Cautions for the choice of, 68. Cold, the danger of drinking when a person is hot, 131.

Water in the head, is a disorder chiefly incident to children, 567. Its causes, symptoms, and proper treatment, ibid. The nature of the disorder seldom discovered in due time for cure, 568, note.

Waters by infusion, how to prepare: Lime-water, 701. Compound lime-water, 702. Sublimate water, ibid. Styptic water, ibid. Tar water, ibid.

Waters, simple distilled, their medical uses, 703. Preparation of cinnamon water, ibid. Pennyroyal water, ibid. Peppermint water, ibid. Spearmint water, ibid. Rose-water, 704. Jamaica pepper water, ibid.

Waters, spirituous distilled, how to prepare: Spirituous cinnamon water, 704. Spirituous Jamaica pepper water, ibid.

Watery eye, how to cure, 460.

Weaning of children from the breast, the proper mode of, 17, 18.

Weather, states of, which produce the putrid fever, 195.

Wells, caution to persons going down into them, 77, note. Deep, ought not to be entered until the air in, is purified, 614.

Whey, an excellent drink in a dysentery, 349; and in the rheumatism, 390. Orange-whey, how to make, 159. Alum whey, 321. 704. Mustard-whey, 705. Scorbutic whey, ibid.

Whitlow, 575.

Whytt, Dr. his remedies for flatulences, 444.

Wind. See Flatulences.

Windows, the danger of throwing them open on account of heat, and sitting near them, 133.

Wine, good, almost the only medicine necessary in a nervous fever, 190.

Wines, the medical properties of, 705. Their use in extracting the virtues of medicinal substances, 706. Preparation of anthelminthic wine, ibid. Antimonial wine, ibid. Bitter wine, ibid. Ipecacuanha wine, 707. Chalybeate or steel wine, ibid. Stomachic wine, ibid.

Womb, inflammation of, its symptoms, 536. Medical treatment of, 537.

Women, errors in their education pointed out, 4. Why subject to hysterics, 66. Are better adapted to follow sedentary occupations than men, 83, note. In child-bed, often die from their apprehensions of death, 113. Their disorders rendered epidemical by the force of imagination, 114. Every thing that can alarm them to be carefully guarded against, ibid. Evil tendency of tolling bells for the dead, ibid. How exposed to a miliary fever during pregnancy, 205. Their constitutions injured by living too much within doors, 521. Those who work in the open air almost as hardy as men, 522. Advice to, with reference to the menstrual discharge, ibid. At the commencement, 523. Fluor albus, with its proper treatment, described, 529. Advice to, at the ceasing of the menses, 530. Rules of conduct during pregnancy, ibid. Causes and symptoms of abortion, 531. How to guard against abortion, 532. Treatment in cases of abortion, ibid. Instructions at the time of child-birth, 533. Cause of the milk-fever, 537. How to guard against the miliary fever, 538. The puerperal fever, ibid. General cautions for women in child-bed, 542. Causes of barrenness, ibid.

Wool, the best external application in the gout, 383.

Workhouses poisonous to infants, 30.

Worms, how to treat a looseness produced by, 314. Three principal kinds of, distinguished, 365. Symptoms of, ibid. Causes, 366. Medical treatment for, 367. Remedy for children, 368. General cautions for preserving children from them, 370. Danger of taking quack medicines for them, ibid. note.

Wort, recommended for the scurvy, and proper to drink at sea, 396. Is a powerful remedy in cancerous cases, 471.

Wounds, are not cured by external applications, 575. Are cured by nature, 576. Proper course of treatment, ibid. How to stop the bleeding, ibid. Caution against improper styptics, 577. Method of dressing them, 578. Poultices for inflamed wounds, 579. Regimen in, ibid.

Writing, hints of advice to those who are much employed in, 56. 59.

Y.

Yaws, general hint for the cure of, 518, note.

Young animals, all exert their organs of motion as soon as they are able, 22.

Z.

Zinc, the flowers of, a popular remedy for the epilepsy, 435.

THE END.

-----

Footnote 1:

Observations on the Duties and Offices of a Physician.

Footnote 2:

Arbuthnot.

Footnote 3:

Many advantages would arise to society, as well as to individuals, from mothers suckling their own children. It would prevent the temptation which poor women are laid under of abandoning their children to suckle those of the rich for the sake of gain: by which means society loses many of its most useful members, and mothers become in some sense the murderers of their own offspring. I am sure I speak within the truth when I say, that not one in twenty of those children live, who are thus abandoned by their mothers. For this reason no mother should be allowed to suckle another’s child, till her own is either dead, or fit to be weaned. A regulation of this kind would save many lives among the poorer sort, and could do no hurt to the rich, as most women who make good nurses are able to suckle two children in succession upon the same milk.

Footnote 4:

Tacitus, the celebrated Roman historian, complains greatly of the degeneracy of the Roman ladies in his time, with regard to the care of their offspring. He says that, in former times, the greatest women in Rome used to account it their chief glory to keep the house and attend their children; but that now the young infant was committed to the sole care of some poor Grecian wench, or other menial servant.—We are afraid, wherever luxury and effeminacy prevail, there will be too much ground for this complaint.

Footnote 5:

The common opinion, that the diseases of infants are hard to discover and difficult to cure, has deterred many physicians from paying that attention to them which they deserve. I can, however, from experience declare, that this opinion is without foundation; and that the diseases of infants are neither so difficult to discover, nor so ill to cure, as those of adults.

Footnote 6:

Rousseau.

Footnote 7:

The Lacedemonians condemned their king Archidamus for having married a weak, puny woman; because, said they, instead of propagating a race of heroes, you will fill the throne with a progeny of changelings.

Footnote 8:

The Jews, by their laws, were, in certain cases, forbid to have any manner of commerce with the diseased; and indeed to this all wise legislators ought to have a special regard. In some countries, diseased persons have actually been forbid to marry. This is an evil of a complicated kind, a natural deformity, and political mischief; and therefore requires a public consideration.

Footnote 9:

A friend of mine, who was several years on the coast of Africa, tells me, that the natives neither put any clothes upon their children, nor apply to their bodies bandages of any kind, but lay them on a pallet, and suffer them to tumble about at pleasure; yet they are all strait, and seldom have any disease.

Footnote 10:

This is by no means inveighing against a thing that does not happen. In many parts of Britain at this day, a roller, eight or ten feet in length, is applied tightly round the child’s body as soon as it is born.

Footnote 11:

Stays made of bend-leather are worn by all the women of lower station in many parts of England.

I am sorry to understand, that there are still mothers mad enough to lace their daughters very tight in order to improve their shape. As reasoning would be totally lost upon such people, I shall beg leave just to ask them, Why there are ten deformed women for one man? and likewise to recommend to their perusal a short moral precept, which forbids us to deform the human body.

Footnote 12:

Children are always sickly in the fruit season, which may be thus accounted for: Two-thirds of the fruit which comes to market in this country is really unripe; and children not being in a condition to judge for themselves, eat whatever they can lay their hands upon, which often proves little better than a poison to their tender bowels. Servants, and others who have the care of children, should be strictly forbid to give them any fruit without the knowledge of their parents.

Footnote 13:

The nurse ought to be careful to keep the child in a proper position; as deformity is often the consequence of inattention to this circumstance. Its situation ought also to be frequently changed. I have known a child’s legs bent all on one side, by the nurse carrying it constantly on one arm.

Footnote 14:

If it were made the interest of the poor to keep their children alive, we should lose very few of them. A small premium given annually to each poor family, for every child they have alive at the year’s end, would save more infant lives than if the whole revenue of the crown were expended on hospitals for this purpose. This would make the poor esteem fertility a blessing; whereas many of them think it the greatest curse that can befal them; and in place of wishing their children to live, so far does poverty get the better of natural affection, that they are often very happy when they die.

Footnote 15:

It is undoubtedly the duty of parents to instruct their children, at least till they are of an age proper to take some care of themselves. This would tend much to confirm the ties of parental tenderness and filial affection, of the want of which there are at present so many deplorable instances. Though few fathers have time to instruct their children, yet most mothers have; and surely they cannot be better employed.

Footnote 16:

I am happy to find that the masters of academies now begin to put in practice this advice. Each of them ought to keep a drill serjeant for teaching the boys the military exercise. This, besides contributing to their health and vigour of body, would have many other happy effects.

Footnote 17:

I have been told that in China, where the police is the best in the world, all the children are employed in the easier part of gardening and husbandry; as weeding, gathering stones off the land, and such like.

Footnote 18:

It is amazing how children escape suffocation, considering the manner in which they are often rolled up in flannels, &c. I lately attended an infant, whom I found muffled up over head and ears in many folds of flannel, though it was in the middle of June. I begged for a little free air to the poor babe; but though this indulgence was granted during my stay, I found it always on my return in the same situation. Death, as might be expected, soon freed the infant from all its miseries; but it was not in my power to free the minds of its parents from those prejudices which proved fatal to their child.

I was very lately called to see an infant which was said to be expiring in convulsion fits. I desired the mother to strip the child, and wrap it in a loose covering. It had no more convulsion fits.

Footnote 19:

I have often known people so imposed upon, as to give an infant to a nurse to be suckled who had not one drop of milk in her breast.

Footnote 20:

If a mother on visiting her child at nurse find it always asleep, I would advise her to remove it immediately; otherwise it will soon sleep its last.

Footnote 21:

Armstrong.

Footnote 22:

When persons heated with labour have drank cold liquor, they ought to continue at work for some time after.

Footnote 23:

It is indeed to be regretted, that soldiers suffer not less from indolence and intemperance in time of peace, than from hardships in time of war. If men are idle they will be vicious. It would therefore be of great importance, could a scheme be formed for rendering the military, in times of peace, both more healthy and more useful. These desirable objects might, in our opinion, be obtained, by employing them for some hours every day, and advancing their pay accordingly. By this means, idleness, the mother of vice, might be prevented, the price of labour lowered, public works, as harbours, canals, turnpike roads, &c. might be made without hurting manufactures; and soldiers might be enabled to marry, and bring up children. A scheme of this kind might easily be conducted, so as not to depress the martial spirit, provided the men were only to work four or five hours every day, and always to work without doors: no soldier should be suffered to work too long, or to follow any sedentary employment. Sedentary employments render men weak and effeminate, quite unfit for the hardships of war: whereas working for a few hours every day without doors would inure them to the weather, brace their nerves, and increase their strength and courage.

Footnote 24:

Our countryman, the celebrated Captain COOK, has shewn how far, by proper care and attention, the diseases formerly so fatal to seamen may be prevented. In a voyage of three years and eighteen days, during which he was exposed to every climate, from the 52° north to the 71° of south latitude, of one hundred and eighteen men composing the ship’s company, he lost only one, who died of a phthisis pulmonalis. The principal means he used were, to preserve a strict attention to cleanliness, to procure abundance of vegetables and fresh provisions, especially good water, and to allow his people sufficient time for rest.

Footnote 25:

The appellation of sedentary has generally been given only to the studious; we can see no reason, however, for restricting it to them alone. Many artificers may, with as much propriety, be denominated sedentary as the studious, with this particular disadvantage, that they are often obliged to sit in very awkward postures, which the studious need not do, unless they please.

Footnote 26:

A person of observation in that line of life told me, that most taylors die of consumptions; which he attributed chiefly to the unfavourable postures in which they sit, and the unwholesomeness of those places where their business is carried on. If more attention was not paid to profit than to the preservation of human lives, this evil might be easily remedied; but while masters only mind their own interest, nothing will be done for the safety of their servants.

Footnote 27:

The poor, indeed, are generally the first who suffer by unsound provisions; but the lives of the labouring poor are of great importance to the state: besides, diseases occasioned by unwholesome food often prove infectious, by which means they reach people in every station. It is therefore the interest of all to take care that no spoilt provisions of any kind be exposed to sale.

Footnote 28:

In most eastern countries it was customary to bury the dead at some distance from any town. As this practice obtained among the Jews, the Greeks, and also the Romans, it is strange that the western parts of Europe should not have followed their example in a custom so truly laudable.

Footnote 29:

One cannot pass through a large church or cathedral, even in summer, without feeling quite chilly.

Footnote 30:

We have daily accounts of persons who lose their lives by going down into deep wells and other places where the air stagnates; all these accidents might be prevented by only letting down a lighted candle before them, and stopping when they perceive it go out; yet this precaution, simple as it is, is seldom used.

Footnote 31:

A year seldom passes that we do not hear of some hospital physician or surgeon having lost his life by an hospital fever caught from his patients. For this they have themselves alone to blame. Their patients are either in an improper situation, or they are too careless with regard to their own conduct.

Footnote 32:

It is not necessity, but fashion, which makes the use of carriages so common. There are many people who have not exercise enough to keep their humours wholesome, who yet dare not venture to make a visit to their next neighbours, but in a coach or sedan, lest they should be looked down upon. Strange, that men should be such fools as to be laughed out of the use of their limbs, or to throw away their health, in order to gratify a piece of vanity, or to comply with a ridiculous fashion!

Footnote 33:

Cheyne.

Footnote 34:

Sedentary occupations ought chiefly to be followed by women. They bear confinement much better than men, and are fitter for every kind of business which does not require much strength. It is ridiculous enough to see a lusty fellow making pins, needles, or watch-wheels, while many of the laborious parts of husbandry are carried on by the other sex. The fact is, we want men for laborious employments, while one half of the other sex are rendered useless for want of occupations suited to their strength, &c. Were girls bred to mechanical employments, we should not see such numbers of them prostitute themselves for bread, nor find such a want of men for the important purposes of navigation, agriculture, &c. An eminent silk manufacturer told me, that he found women answer better for that business, than men; and that he had lately taken a great many girls apprentices as silk-weavers. I hope his example will be followed by many others.

Footnote 35:

Golff is a diversion very common in North Britain. It is well calculated for exercising the body, and may always be taken in such moderation, as neither to overheat nor fatigue. It has greatly the preference over cricket, tennis, or any of those games which cannot be played without violence.

Footnote 36:

Men of every occupation, and in every situation of life, have lived to a good old age; nay some have enjoyed this blessing whose plan of living was by no means regular: but it consists with observation, that all very old men have been early risers. This is the only circumstance attending longevity, to which I never knew an exception.

Footnote 37:

That colds kill more than plagues, is an old observation; and, with regard to this country, it holds strictly true. Every person of discernment, however, will perceive, that most of the colds which prove so destructive to the inhabitants of Britain are owing to their imprudence in changing clothes. A few warm days in March or April induce them to throw off their winter garments, without considering that our most penetrating colds generally happen in the spring.

Footnote 38:

This madness seems to have pervaded the minds of mothers in every age and country. Terence, in his Comedy of the Eunuch, ridicules the Roman matrons for attempting to mend the shape of their daughters.

Footnote 39:

We often see persons, who are rendered quite lame by the nails of their toes having grown into the flesh, and frequently hear of mortifications proceeding from this cause. All these, and many other inconveniences attending the feet, must be imputed solely to the use of short and strait shoes.

Footnote 40:

The celebrated Boerhaave used to say, that no body suffered by cold save fools and beggars; the latter not being able to procure clothes, and the former not having sense to wear them. Be this as it may, I can with the strictest truth declare, that in many cases where the powers of medicine had been tried in vain, I have cured the patient by recommending thick shoes, a flannel waistcoat and drawers, a pair of under stockings, or a flannel petticoat, to be worn during the cold season at least.

Footnote 41:

Rousseau.

Footnote 42:

Addison.

Footnote 43:

We may form some notion of the immense quantity of ardent spirits consumed in Great Britain from this circumstance, that in the city of Edinburgh and its environs, besides the great quantity of foreign spirits duly entered, and the still greater quantity which is supposed to be smuggled, it is computed that above two thousand private stills are constantly employed in preparing a poisonous liquor called Molasses. The common people have got so universally into the habit of drinking this base spirit, that when a porter or labourer is seen reeling along the streets, they say, he has got molassed.

Footnote 44:

It is amazing that our improvements in arts, learning, and politeness, have not put the barbarous custom of drinking to excess out of fashion. It is indeed less common in South Britain than it was formerly; but it still prevails very much in the North, where this relic of barbarity is mistaken for hospitality. There no man is supposed to entertain his guests well, who does not make them drunk. Forcing people to drink, is certainly the greatest piece of rudeness that any man can be guilty of. Manliness, complaisance, or mere good-nature, may induce a man to take his glass, if urged to it, at a time when he might as well take poison. The custom of drinking to excess has long been out of fashion in France; and, as it begins to lose ground among the politer part of the English, we hope it will soon be banished from every part of this island.

Footnote 45:

Mr. Pot, in his surgical observations, mentions a disease which he calls the chimney-sweeper’s cancer, as it is almost peculiar to that unhappy set of people. This he attributes to neglect of cleanliness, and with great justice. I am convinced, that if that part of the body which is the seat of this cruel disease was kept clean by frequent walking, it would never happen. The climbing boys, as they are called, are certainly the most miserable wretches on the face of the earth; yet, for cleaning chimnies, no such persons are necessary.

Footnote 46:

In ancient Rome the greatest men did not think cleanliness an object unworthy of their attention. Pliny says, the Cloacæ, or common sewers for the conveyance of filth and nastiness from the city, were the greatest of all the public works; and bestows higher encomiums upon Tarquinius, Agrippa, and others who made and improved them, than on those who achieved the greatest conquests.

How truly great does the emperor Trajan appear, when giving directions to Pliny his proconsul, concerning the making of a common sewer for the health and convenience of a conquered city?

Footnote 47:

Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad; and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon: and it shall be when thou shalt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back, and cover that which cometh from thee, &c.

Deuter, chap. xxii. ver. 12, 13.

Footnote 48:

As it is impossible to be thoroughly clean without a sufficient quantity of water, we would earnestly recommend it to the magistrates of great towns to be particularly attentive to this article. Most great towns in Britain are so situated as to be easily supplied with water; and those persons who will not make a proper use of it, after it is brought to their hand, certainly deserve to be severely punished. The streets of great towns, where water can be had, ought to be washed every day. This is the only effectual method for keeping them thoroughly clean; and, upon trial, we are persuaded it will be found the cheapest.

Some of the most dreadful diseases incident to human nature might, in my opinion, be entirely eradicated by cleanliness.

Footnote 49:

Were the tenth part of the care taken to prevent the importation of diseases, that there is to prevent smuggling, it would be attended with many happy consequences. This might easily be done by appointing a physician at every considerable sea-port, to inspect the ship’s company, passengers, &c. before they came ashore, and, if any fever or other infectious disorder prevailed, to order the ship to perform a short quarantine, and to send the sick to some hospital or proper place to be cured. He might likewise order all the clothes, bedding, &c. which had been used by the sick during the voyage, to be either destroyed, or thoroughly cleansed by fumigation, &c. before any of it were sent ashore. A scheme of this kind, if properly conducted, would prevent many fevers, and other infectious diseases, from being brought by sailors into sea-port towns, and by this means diffused all over the country.

Footnote 50:

There is reason to believe that infection is often conveyed from one place to another by the carelessness of the faculty themselves. Many physicians affect a familiar way of sitting upon the patient’s bedside, and holding his arm for a considerable time. If the patient has the small-pox, or any other infectious disease, there is no doubt but the doctor’s hands, clothes, &c. will carry away some of the infection; and, if he goes directly to visit another patient without washing his hands, changing his clothes, or being exposed to the open air, which is not seldom the case, is it any wonder that he should carry the disease along with him? Physicians not only endanger others, but also themselves, by this practice. And indeed they sometimes suffer for their want of care.

Footnote 51:

The ancients would not suffer even the temples of their gods, where the sick resorted, to be built within the walls of a city.

Footnote 52:

The conduct of parents with regard to the disposal of their children in marriage is often very blamable. An advantageous match is the constant aim of parents; while their children often suffer a real martyrdom betwixt their inclinations and duty. The first thing which parents ought to consult in disposing their children in marriage, is certainly their inclinations. Were due regard always paid to these, there would be fewer unhappy couples, and parents would not have so often cause to repent the severity of their conduct, after a ruined constitution, a lost character, or a distracted mind, has shewn them their mistake.

Footnote 53:

It has long been an observation among physicians, that the appearances of the urine are very uncertain, and very little to be depended on. No one will be surprised at this who considers how many ways it may be affected, and consequently have its appearance altered. The passions, the state of the atmosphere, the quantity and quality of the food, the exercise, the clothing, the state of the other evacuations, and numberless other causes, are sufficient to induce a change either in the quantity or appearance of the urine. Any one who attends to this, will be astonished at the impudence of those daring quacks, who pretend to find out diseases, and prescribe to patients from the bare inspection of their urine. These impostors, however, are very common all over Britain, and by the amazing credulity of the populace, many of them amass considerable fortunes. Of all the medical prejudices which prevail in this country, that in favour of urine doctors is the strongest. The common people have still an unlimited faith in their skill, although it has been demonstrated that no one of them is able to distinguish the urine of a horse, or any other animal, from that of a man.

Footnote 54:

I never knew a more remarkable instance of the uncertainty of the weather in this country, than happened while I was writing these notes. This morning, August 14, 1783, the thermometer in the shade was down at fifty-three degrees, and a very few days ago it stood above eighty. No one who reflects on such great and sudden changes in the atmosphere, will be surprised to find colds, coughs, rheums, with other affections of the breast and bowels, so common in this country.

Footnote 55:

If a person suspects that his bed is damp, the simple precaution of taking off the sheets and lying in the blankets, with all, or most of his clothes on, will prevent all the danger. I have practised this for many years, and never have been hurt by damp beds, though no constitution, without care, is proof against their baneful influence.

Footnote 56:

People imagine if a good fire is made in a room after it has been washed, that there is no danger from sitting in it; but they must give me leave to say that this increases the danger. The evaporation excited by the fire generates cold, and renders the damp more active.

Footnote 57:

The tap-rooms in London and other great towns, where such numbers of people spend their evenings, are highly pernicious. The breath of a number of people crowded into a low apartment, with the addition of fires, candles, the smoke of tobacco, and the fumes of hot liquor, &c. must not only render it hurtful to continue in such places, but dangerous to go out of them into a cold and chilly atmosphere.

Footnote 58:

Dr. Lind says, that twenty or twenty-five drops of laudanum put into a cup of the patient’s drink, and given about half an hour after the commencement of the hot fit, promotes the sweat, shortens the fit, relieves the head, and tends greatly to remove the disease.

Footnote 59:

It has lately been observed, that the red bark is more powerful than that which has for some time been in common use. Its superior efficacy seems to arise from its being of a more perfect growth than the quill bark, and consequently more fully impregnated with the medical properties of the plant.

Footnote 60:

In intermitting fevers of an obstinate nature, I have found it necessary to throw in the bark much faster. Indeed the benefits arising from this medicine depend chiefly upon a large quantity of it being administered in a short time. Several ounces of bark given in a few days will do more than as many pounds taken in the course of some weeks. When this medicine is intended either to stop a mortification, or cure an obstinate ague, it ought to be thrown in as fast as the stomach can possibly bear it. Inattention to this circumstance has hurt the reputation of one of the best medicines of which we are in possession.

Footnote 61:

There is reason to believe, that sundry of our own plants or barks, which are very bitter and astringent, would succeed in the cure of intermittent fevers, especially when assisted by aromatics. But as the Peruvian bark has been long approved in the cure of this disease, and is now to be obtained at a very reasonable rate, it is of less importance to search after new medicines. We cannot however omit taking notice, that the Peruvian bark is very often adulterated, and that it requires considerable skill to distinguish between the genuine and the false. This ought to make people very cautious of whom they purchase it.

Footnote 62:

In obstinate agues, when the patient is old, the habit phlegmatic, the season rainy, the situation damp, or the like, it will be necessary to mix with two ounces of the bark, half an ounce of Virginian snake-root, and a quarter of an ounce of ginger, or some other warm aromatic; but when the symptoms are of an inflammatory nature, half an ounce of salt of wormwood or salt of tartar may be added to the above quantity of bark.

Footnote 63:

Arsenic has of late been recommended as an infallible remedy in the ague; but I would advise that it should be used only under the eye of a physician.

Footnote 64:

See Appendix, Saline mixture.

Footnote 65:

See Appendix, Pectoral decoction.

Footnote 66:

See Appendix, Pectoral infusion.

Footnote 67:

See Appendix, Volatile liniment.

Footnote 68:

See Appendix, Arabic emulsion.

Footnote 69:

See Appendix, Oily emulsion.

Footnote 70:

See Appendix, Solution of gum ammoniac.

Footnote 71:

See Appendix, Decoction of seneka-root.

Footnote 72:

Two things chiefly operate to prevent the benefits which would arise from sailing. The one is, that physicians seldom order it till the disease is too far advanced; and the other is, that they seldom order a voyage of a sufficient length. A patient may receive no benefit by crossing the channel, who, should he cross the Atlantic, might be completely cured. Indeed we have reason to believe, that a voyage of this kind, if taken in due time, would seldom fail to cure a consumption.

Footnote 73:

Though I do not remember to have seen one instance of a genuine consumption of the lungs cured by medicine, yet I have known a West India voyage work wonders in that dreadful disorder.

Footnote 74:

Sheffield.

Footnote 75:

I have often known persons of a consumptive habit, where the symptoms were not violent, reap great benefit from the use of oysters. They generally ate them raw, and drank the juice along with them.

Footnote 76:

See Appendix, Vulnerary decoction.

Footnote 77:

See Appendix, Chalybeate wine.

Footnote 78:

See Appendix, Mustard-whey.

Footnote 79:

See Appendix, Vomiting Julep.

Footnote 80:

See Appendix, White Decoction.

Footnote 81:

When the patient is low, ten grains of Virginian snake-root, and the same quantity of contrayerva-root, with five grains of Russian castor, all in fine powder, may be made into a bolus with a little of the cordial confection or syrup of saffron. One of these may be taken every four or five hours.

The following powder may be used with the same intention: Take wild Valerian-root in powder one scruple, saffron and castor each four grains. Mix these by rubbing them together in a mortar, and give one in a cup of wine-whey, three or four times a-day.

Footnote 82:

The bark may likewise be very properly administered, along with other cordials, in the following manner: Take an ounce of Peruvian bark, orange-peel half an ounce, Virginian snake-root two drachms, saffron one drachm. Let all of them be powdered, and infused in an English pint of the best brandy for three or four days. Afterwards the liquor may be strained, and two tea-spoonfuls of it given three or four times a-day in a glass of small wine or negus.

Footnote 83:

Deafness is not always a favourable symptom in this disease. Perhaps it is only so when occasioned by abscesses formed within the ears.

Footnote 84:

The late Sir John Pringle expressed a concern lest these cautions should prevent people from attending their friends or relations when afflicted with putrid fevers. I told him I meant only to discourage unnecessary attendance, and mentioned a number of instances where putrid fevers had proved fatal to persons, who were rather hurtful than beneficial to the sick. This sagacious physician agreed with me, in thinking that a good doctor and a careful nurse were the only necessary attendants; and that all others not only endangered themselves, but generally, by their solicitude and ill-directed care, hurt the sick.

Footnote 85:

Take two ounces of the shavings of hartshorn, and the same quantity of sarsaparilla, boil them in two English quarts of water. To the strained decoction add a little white sugar, and let the patient take it for his ordinary drink.

Footnote 86:

In the commercium literarium for the year 1735, we have the history of an epidemical miliary fever, which raged at Strasburgh in the months of November, December, and January; from which we learn the necessity of a temperate regimen in this malady, and likewise that physicians are not always the first who discover the proper treatment of diseases. “This fever made terrible havock even among men of robust constitutions, and all medicine proved in vain. They were seized in an instant with shivering, yawning, stretching, and pains in the back, succeeded by a most intense heat; at the same time there was a great loss of strength and appetite. On the seventh or ninth day the miliary eruptions appeared, or spots like flea-bites, with great anxiety, a delirium, restlessness, and tossing in bed. Bleeding was fatal. While matters were in this unhappy situation, a midwife, of her own accord, gave to a patient, in the height of the disease, a clyster of rain-water and butter without salt, and for his ordinary drink a quart of spring water, half a pint of generous wine, the juice of a lemon, and six ounces of the whitest sugar, gently boiled till a scum arose, and this with great success; for the belly was soon loosened, the grievous symptoms vanished, and the patient was restored to his senses, and snatched from the jaws of death.” This practice was imitated by others with the like happy effects.

Footnote 87:

The ingenious Dr. Lind, of Edinburgh, in his inaugural dissertation concerning the putrid remitting fever of Bengal, has the following observation: “Indusia, lodices, ac stragula, sæpius sunt mutanda, ac aëri exponenda; fœces sordesque quam primum removendæ; oportet etiam ut loca quibus ægri decumbunt sint salubria, et aceto conspersa; denique ut ægris cura quanta maxima prospiciatur. Compertum ego habeo, medicum hæc fedulo observantem, quique ea exequi potest, multo magis ægris profuturum, quam medicum peritiorem hisce commodis destitutum.”

“The patient’s shirt, bed-clothes, and bedding, ought frequently to be changed, and exposed to the air, and all his excrements immediately removed; the bed-chamber should be well ventilated, and frequently sprinkled with vinegar; in short, every attention should be paid to the patient. I can affirm, that a physician who puts these in practice will much oftener succeed than one who is even more skilful, but has not opportunity of using these means.”

Footnote 88:

Convulsion-fits are no doubt very alarming, but their effects are often salutary. They seem to be one of the means made use of by Nature for breaking the force of a fever. I have always observed the fever abated, and sometimes quite removed, after one or more convulsion-fits. This readily accounts for convulsions being a favourable symptom in the fever which precedes the eruption of the small-pox, as every thing that mitigates this fever lessens the eruption.

Footnote 89:

I have known a nurse, who had the small-pox before, so infected by lying constantly a-bed with a child in a bad kind of small-pox, that she had not only a great number of pustules which broke out all over her body, but afterwards a malignant fever, which terminated in a number of imposthumes or boils, and from which she narrowly escaped with her life. We mention this to put others upon their guard against the danger of this virulent infection.

Footnote 90:

This observation is likewise applicable to hospitals, workhouses, &c. where numbers of children happen to have the small-pox at the same time. I have seen above forty children cooped up in one apartment all the while they had this disease, without any of them being admitted to breathe the fresh air. No one can be at a loss to see the impropriety of such conduct. It ought to be a rule, not only in hospitals for the small-pox, but likewise for other diseases, that no patient should be within sight or hearing of another. This is a matter to which too little regard is paid. In most hospitals and infirmaries, the sick, the dying, and the dead, are often to be seen in the same apartment.

Footnote 91:

Though this operation can never do harm, yet it is only necessary when the patient has a great load of small-pox, or when the matter which they contain is of so thin and acrid a nature, that there is reason to apprehend bad consequences from its being too quickly resorbed, or taken up again into the mass of circulating humours.

Footnote 92:

I have of late been accustomed, after the small-pox, to give one, two, three, four, or five grains of calomel, according to the age of the patient, over night, and to work it off next morning with a suitable dose of jalap.

Footnote 93:

A critical situation, too often to be met with, first put me upon trying this method. A gentleman who had lost all his children except one son by the natural small-pox, was determined to have him inoculated. He told me his intention, and desired I would persuade the mother and grandmother, &c. of its propriety. But that was impossible. They were not to be persuaded, and either could not get the better of their fears, or were determined against conviction. It was always a point with me not to perform the operation without the consent of the parties concerned. I therefore advised the father, after giving his son a dose or two of rhubarb, to go to a patient who had the small-pox of a good kind, to open two or three of the pustules, taking up the matter with a little cotton, and as soon as he came home to take his son apart, and give his arm a slight scratch with a pin, afterwards to rub the place well with the cotton, and take no farther notice of it. All this he punctually performed; and at the usual period the small-pox made their appearance, which were of an exceeding good kind, and so mild as not to confine the boy an hour to his bed. None of the other relations knew but the disease had come in the natural way, till the boy was well.

Footnote 94:

Mr. TRONCHIN communicates this disease by a little bit of thread dipt in the matter, which he covers with a small blistering-plaster. This method may no doubt be used with advantage in those cases where the patient is very much alarmed at the sight of any cutting instrument.

Footnote 95:

“Many and great,” says this humane author, “are the dangers attending the natural infection, from all which the inoculation is quite secure. The natural infection may invade weaker distempered bodies, by no means disposed for its kindly reception. It may attack them at a season of the year either violently hot or intensely cold. It may be communicated from a sort of small-pox impregnated with the utmost virulence. It may lay hold upon people unexpectedly, when a dangerous sort is imprudently imported into a maritime place. It may surprise us soon after excesses committed in luxury, intemperance, or lewdness. It may likewise seize on the innocent after indispensably watchings, hard labour, or necessary journies. And is it a trivial advantage, that all these unhappy circumstances can be prevented by inoculation? By inoculation numbers are saved from deformity as well as from death. In the natural small-pox, how often are the finest features, and the most beautiful complexions, miserably disfigured? Whereas inoculation rarely leaves any ugly marks of scars, even where the number of pustules on the face has been very considerable, and the symptoms by no means favourable. And many other grievous complaints, that are frequently subsequent to the natural sort, seldom follow the artificial. Does not inoculation also prevent those inexpressible terrors that perpetually harass persons who never had this disease, insomuch that when the small-pox is epidemical, entire villages are depopulated, markets ruined, and the face of distress spread over the whole country? From this terror it arises, that justice is frequently postponed, or discouraged, at sessions or assizes where the small-pox rages. Witnesses and juries dare not appear; and by reason of the necessary absence of some gentlemen, our honourable and useful judges are not attended with that reverence and splendour due to their office and merit. Does not inoculation, in like manner, prevent our brave sailors from being seized with this distemper on shipboard, where they must quickly spread the infection among such of the crew who never had it before, and where they have scarce any chance to escape, being half stifled with the closeness of their cabins, and but very indifferently nursed? Lastly, with regard to the soldiery, the miseries attending these poor creatures, when attacked by the small-pox on a march, are inconceivable, without attendance, without lodgings, without any accommodation; so that one of three commonly perishes.”

Footnote 96:

By a well-laid plan for extending inoculation, more lives might be saved at a small expence, than are at present preserved by all the hospitals in England, which cost the public such an amazing sum.

Footnote 97:

I do not know any disease wherein bleeding is more necessary than in the measles, especially when the fever runs high: in this case I have always found it relieve the patient.

Footnote 98:

Attempts have been made to communicate the measles, as well as the small-pox, by inoculation, and we make no doubt but in time the practice may succeed. Dr. Home of Edinburgh says, he communicated the disease by the blood. Others have tried this method, and have not found it succeed. Some think the disease would be more certainly communicated by rubbing the skin of a patient who has the measles with cotton, and afterwards applying the cotton to a wound, as in the small-pox; while others recommend a bit of flannel which had been applied to the patient’s skin, all the time of the disease, to be afterwards laid upon the arm or leg of the person to whom the infection is to be communicated. There is no doubt but this disease, as well as the small-pox, may be communicated various ways; the most probable, however, is either from cotton rubbed upon the skin, as mentioned above, or by introducing a little of the sharp humour which distils from the eyes of the patient into the blood. It is agreed on all hands, that such patients as have been inoculated had the disease very mildly; we therefore wish the practice were more general, as the measles have of late become very fatal.

Footnote 99:

Sydenham.

Footnote 100:

In the year 1774, during winter, a very bad species of this fever prevailed in Edinburgh. It raged chiefly among young people. The eruption was generally accompanied with a quinsey, and the inflammatory symptoms were so blended with others of a putrid nature, as to render the treatment of the disease very difficult. Many of the patients, towards the decline of the fever, were afflicted with large swellings of the submaxillary glands, and not a few had a suppuration in one or both ears.

Footnote 101:

See Appendix, White Decoction.

Footnote 102:

See Appendix, Spirit of Mindererus.

Footnote 103:

The country people in many parts of Britain call this disease a blast, and imagine it proceeds from foul air, or ill wind, as they term it. The truth is, they often lie down to rest them, when warm and fatigued, upon the damp ground, where they fall asleep, and lie so long as to catch cold, which occasions the erysipelas. This disease may indeed proceed from other causes, but we may venture to say, that nine times out of ten it is occasioned by cold caught after the body has been greatly heated or fatigued.

Footnote 104:

See Appendix, Decoction of Woods.

Footnote 105:

Any foreign body lodged in the eye may be expeditiously removed by passing a small hair pencil between the eye-lid and the ball of the eye. In some places, the peasants do this very effectually, by using their tongue in the same manner.

Footnote 106:

As most people are fond of using eye-waters and ointments in this and other diseases of the eyes, we have inserted some of the most approved forms of these medicines in the Appendix. See Appendix, Eye-water and Eye-salve.

Footnote 107:

Dr. Home.

Footnote 108:

See Appendix, Spanish Infusion.

Footnote 109:

In a former edition of this book I recommended, for an obstinate tickling cough, an oily emulsion, made with the paregoric elixir of the Edinburgh Dispensatory, instead of the common alkaline spirit. I have since been told by several practitioners, that they found it to be an excellent medicine in this disorder, and every way deserving of the character which I had given it. Where this elixir is not kept, its place may be supplied by adding to the common oily emulsion, an adequate proportion of the Thebaic tincture, or liquid laudanum.

Footnote 110:

Some complain that the pitch plaster adheres too fast, while others find difficulty in keeping it on. This proceeds from the different kinds of pitch made use of, and likewise from the manner of making it. I generally find it answer best when mixed with a little beeswax, and spread as cool as possible. The clear, hard, transparent pitch answers the purpose best.

Footnote 111:

See Appendix, Hiera Picra.

Footnote 112:

Some think the air ought not to be changed till the disease is on the decline; but there seems to be no sufficient reason for this opinion, as patients have been known to reap benefit from a change of air at all periods of the disease. It is not sufficient to take the patient out daily in a carriage. This seldom answers any good purpose; but often does hurt, by giving him cold.

Footnote 113:

See Appendix, Vomiting Julep.

Footnote 114:

Dr. DUPLANIL says, he has seen many good effects from the kermes mineral in this complaint, the cough being frequently alleviated even by the first dose. The dose for a child of one year old, is a quarter of a grain dissolved in a cup of any liquid, repeated two or three times a-day. For a child of two years the dose is half a grain; and the quantity must be thus increased in proportion to the age of the patient.

Footnote 115:

Some recommend the extract of hemlock as an extraordinary remedy in the hooping-cough; but so far as I have been able to observe, it is no way superior to opium, which, when properly administered, will often relieve some of the most troublesome symptoms of this disorder.

Footnote 116:

When quicksilver is given in too large quantities, it defeats its own intention, as it drags down the bottom of the stomach, which prevents it getting over the Pylorus. In this case the patient should be hung up by the heels, in order that the quicksilver may be discharged by his mouth.

Footnote 117:

See Appendix, Anti-hysteric Plaster.

Footnote 118:

As the smoke of tobacco thrown into the bowels will often procure a stool when all other means have failed, an apparatus for this purpose ought to be kept by every surgeon. It may be purchased at a small expence, and will be of service in several other cases, the recovery of drowned persons, &c.

Footnote 119:

The Ureters are two long and small canals, one on each side, which carry the urine from the bason of the kidneys to the bladder. They are sometimes obstructed by small stones of gravel falling down from the kidneys, and lodging in them.

Footnote 120:

I knew a gentleman who has had several abscesses of the liver opened, and is now a strong and healthy man, though above eighty years of age.

Footnote 121:

I have been twice brought to the gates of death by this disease, and both times it was occasioned by eating rancid bacon.

Footnote 122:

See Appendix, White Decoction.

Footnote 123:

See Appendix, Tincture of Roses.

Footnote 124:

See Appendix, Lime-water.

Footnote 125:

The caustic alkali may be prepared by mixing two parts of quicklime with one of pot-ashes, and suffering them to stand till the lixivium be formed, which must be carefully filtrated before it be used. If the solution does not happen readily, a small quantity of water may be added to the mixture.

Footnote 126:

The manner of making this broth is, to take a sheep’s head and feet with the skin upon them, and to burn the wool off with a hot iron; afterwards to boil them till the broth is quite a jelly. A little cinnamon or mace may be added, to give the broth an agreeable flavour, and the patient may take a little of it warm with toasted bread three or four times a-day. A clyster of it may likewise be given twice a-day. Such as cannot use the broth made in this way, may have the head and feet skinned; but we have reason to believe that this hurts the medicine. It is not our business here to reason upon the nature and qualities of medicine, otherwise this might be shewn to possess virtues every way suited to the cure of a dysentery which does not proceed from a putrid state of the humours. One thing we know, which is preferable to all reasoning, that whole families have often been cured by it, after they had used many other medicines in vain. It will, however, be proper that the patient take a vomit, and a dose or two of rhubarb, before he begins to use the broth. It will likewise be necessary to continue the use of it for a considerable time, and to make it the principal food.

Footnote 127:

The learned and humane Dr. Rutherford, late professor of medicine in the university of Edinburgh, used to mention this food in his public lectures with great encomiums. He directed it to be made by tying a pound or two of the finest flour, as tight as possible, in a linen rag, afterwards to dip it frequently in water, and to dredge the outside with flour, till a cake or crust was formed around it, which prevents the water from soaking into it while boiling. It is then to be boiled till it becomes a hard dry mass, as directed above. This, when mixed with milk and water, will not only answer the purpose of food, but may likewise be given in clysters.

Footnote 128:

I lately saw a young man who had been seized with a dysentery in North America. Many things had been tried there for his relief, but to no purpose. At length, tired out with disappointments from medicine, and reduced to skin and bone, he came over to Britain, rather with a view to die among his relations, than with any hopes of a cure. After taking sundry medicines here with no better success than abroad, I advised him to leave off the use of drugs, and to trust entirely to a diet of milk and fruits, with gentle exercise. Strawberries was the only fruit he could procure at that season. These he ate with milk twice, and sometimes thrice a-day. The consequence was, that in a short time his stools were reduced from upwards of twenty in a-day, to three or four, and sometimes not so many. He used the other fruits as they came in, and was in a few weeks so well as to leave that part of the country where I was, with a view to return to America.

Footnote 129:

See Appendix, Decoction of Logwood.

Footnote 130:

See Appendix, Decoction of Sarsaparilla.

Footnote 131:

When the pain is very violent, and does not yield to small doses of laudanum, the quantity may be increased. I have known a patient in extreme pain take three hundred drops in twenty-four hours; but such doses ought only to be administered by a person of skill.

Footnote 132:

This may always be prevented by the operator striking upon the teeth with any piece of metal, as this never fails to excite the pain in the carious tooth.

Footnote 133:

These are prepared by steeping or soaking pease in water, and afterwards drying them in a pot or kiln till they be quite hard. They may be used at pleasure.

Footnote 134:

That worms exist in the human body there can be no doubt; and that they must sometimes be considered as a disease, is equally certain: but this is not the case so often as people imagine. The idea that worms occasion many diseases, gives an opportunity to the professed worm-doctors of imposing on the credulity of mankind, and doing much mischief. They find worms in every case, and liberally throw in their antidotes, which generally consist of strong, drastic purges. I have known these given in delicate constitutions to the destruction of the patient, where there was not the least symptom of worms.

Footnote 135:

A medical writer of the present age has enumerated upwards of fifty British plants, all celebrated for killing and expelling worms.

Footnote 136:

A powder for the tape-worm resembling this, was long kept a secret on the Continent; it was lately purchased by the French king, and will be found under the article Powder, in the Appendix.

Footnote 137:

We think it necessary here to warn people of their danger who buy cakes, powders, and other worm medicines, at random from quacks, and give them to their children without proper care. The principal ingredients in most of these medicines is mercury, which is never to be trifled with. I lately saw a shocking instance of the danger of this conduct. A girl who had taken a dose of worm powder, bought of a travelling quack, went out, and perhaps was so imprudent as to drink cold water during its operation. She immediately swelled, and died on the following day, with all the symptoms of having been poisoned.

Footnote 138:

The very name of an operation is dreadful to most people, and they wish to try every thing before they have recourse to it. This is the reason why tapping so seldom succeeds to our wish. I have had a patient who was regularly tapped once a month for several years, and who used to eat her dinner as well after the operation as if nothing had happened. She died at last rather worn out by age than by the disease.

Footnote 139:

Some make a secret of curing the gout by muscular exercise. This secret, however, is as old as Celsus, who strongly recommends that mode of cure; and whoever will submit to it, in the fullest extent, may expect to reap solid and permanent advantages.

Footnote 140:

See Appendix, Warm Plaster.

Footnote 141:

The scrophula, as well as the rickets, is found to prevail in large manufacturing towns, where people live gross, and lead sedentary lives.

Footnote 142:

Sir John Pringle observes, that though this disease may seem trifling, there is no one in the army that is more troublesome to cure, as the infection often lurks in clothes, &c. and breaks out a second, or even a third time. The same inconveniency occurs in private families, unless particular regard is paid to the changing or cleaning of their clothes, which last is by no means an easy operation.

Footnote 143:

The itch is now by cleanliness banished from every genteel family in Britain. It still however prevails among the poorer sort of peasants in Scotland, and among the manufacturers in England. These are not only sufficient to keep the seeds of the disease alive, but to spread the infection among others. It were to be wished that some effectual method could be devised for extirpating it altogether. Several country clergymen have told me, that by getting such as were infected cured, and strongly recommending an attention to cleanliness, they have banished the itch entirely out of their parishes. Why might not others do the same?

Footnote 144:

After copious evacuations, large doses of æther have been found very efficacious in removing a fit of the asthma. I have likewise known the following mixture produce very happy effects: To four or five ounces of the solution of gum-ammoniac add two ounces of simple cinnamon-water, the same quantity of balsamic syrup, and half an ounce of paregoric elixir. Of this two table-spoonfuls may be taken every three hours.

Footnote 145:

I knew a woman who in a violent fit of anger was seized with a sanguine apoplexy. She at first complained of extreme pain, as if daggers had been thrust through her head, as she expressed it. Afterwards she became comatose, her pulse sunk very low, and was exceeding slow. By bleeding, blistering, and other evacuations, she was kept alive for about a fortnight. When her head was opened, a large quantity of extravasated blood was found in the left ventricle of the brain.

Footnote 146:

The learned Dr. Arbuthnot advises those who are troubled with costiveness to use animal oils, as fresh butter, cream, marrow, fat broths, especially those made of the internal parts of animals, as the liver, heart, midriff, &c. He likewise recommends the expressed oils of mild vegetables, as olives, almonds, pastaches, and the fruits themselves; all oily and mild fruits, as figs; decoctions of mealy vegetables; these lubricate the intestines; some saponaceous substances which stimulate gently, as honey, hydromel, or boiled honey and water, unrefined sugar, &c.

The Doctor observes, that such lenitive substances are proper for persons of dry atrabilarian constitutions, who are subject to astriction of the belly, and the piles, and will operate when stronger medicinal substances are sometimes ineffectual; but that such lenitive diet hurts those whose bowels are weak and lax. He likewise observes, that all watery substances are lenitive, and that even common water, whey, sour milk, and butter-milk, have that effect;—That new milk, especially asses milk, stimulates still more when it sours on the stomach; and that whey turned sour will purge strongly;—That most garden fruits are likewise laxative; and that some of them, as grapes, will throw such as take them immoderately into a cholera morbus, or incurable diarrhœa.

Footnote 147:

Many people imagine, that tea has no tendency to hurt the nerves, and that drinking the same quantity of warm water would be equally pernicious. This however seems to be a mistake. Many persons drink three or four cups of warm milk and water daily, without feeling any bad consequences; yet the same quantity of tea will make their hands shake for twenty-four hours. That tea affects the nerves, is likewise evident from its preventing sleep, occasioning giddiness, dimness of the sight, sickness, &c.

Footnote 148:

See Appendix, Electuary for the Epilepsy.

Footnote 149:

Many nervous people find great benefit from eating a dry biscuit, especially when the stomach is empty. I look upon this as one of the best carminative medicines; and would recommend it in all complaints of the stomach, arising from flatulence, indigestion, &c.

Footnote 150:

Though the patient may begin with this quantity, it will be necessary to increase the dose gradually as the stomach can bear it. Æther is now given in considerably greater doses than it was in Dr. Whytt’s time.

Footnote 151:

When hysteric fits are occasioned by sympathy, they may be cured by exciting an opposite passion. This is said to have been the case of a whole school of young ladies in Holland, who were all cured by being told, that the first who was seized should be burnt to death. But this method of cure, to my knowledge, will not always succeed. I would therefore advise, that young ladies who are subject to hysteric fits should not be sent to boarding schools, as the disease may be caught by imitation. I have known madness itself brought on by sympathy.

Footnote 152:

Though antispasmodics and anodynes are universally recommended in this disease, yet all the extraordinary cures that I ever knew in hysteric cases, were performed by means of tonic and corroborating medicines.

Footnote 153:

Some persons afflicted with cramps pretend to reap great benefit from small bundles of rosemary tied all night about their feet, ancles, and knees.

Footnote 154:

Armstrong on Health.

Footnote 155:

It is a pity those who have the misfortune to be born blind, or who lose their sight when young, should be suffered to remain in ignorance, or to beg. This is both cruelty and want of economy. There are many employments of which blind persons are very capable, as knitting, carding, turning a wheel, teaching languages, &c. Nor are instances wanting of persons who have arrived at the highest pitch of learning, without having the least idea of light. Witness the late famous Nicholas Sanderson of Cambridge, and my worthy friend Dr. Thomas Blacklock of Edinburgh. The former was one of the first mathematicians of his age, and the latter, besides being a good poet and philosopher, is master of all the learned languages, and a very considerable adept in the liberal arts.

Footnote 156:

Though those who have the misfortune to be born deaf are generally suffered to continue dumb, and consequently are in a great measure lost to society, yet nothing is more certain than that such persons may be taught not only to read and write, but also to speak, and to understand what others say to them. Teaching the dumb to speak will appear paradoxical to those who do not consider that the formation of sounds is merely mechanical, and may be taught without the assistance of the ear. This is not only capable of demonstration, but is actually reduced to practice by the ingenious Mr. Thomas Braidwood of Edinburgh. This gentleman has, by the mere force of genius and application, brought the teaching of dumb persons to such a degree of perfection, that his scholars are generally more forward in their education than those of the same age who enjoy all their faculties. They not only read and write with the utmost readiness, but likewise speak, and are capable of holding conversation with any person in the light. What a pity any of the human species should remain in a state of idiotism, who are capable of being rendered as useful and intelligent as others! We mention this not only from humanity to those who have the misfortune to be born deaf, but also in justice to Mr. Braidwood, whose success has far exceeded all former attempts this way; and indeed it exceeds imagination itself so far, that no person who has not seen and examined his pupils, can believe what they are capable of.—As this gentleman, however willing, is only able to teach a few, and as the far greater part of those who are born deaf cannot afford to attend him, it would be an act of great humanity, as well as of public utility, to erect an academy for their benefit.

Footnote 157:

A gentleman, on whose veracity I can depend, told me, that after using many things to no purpose for an obstinate deafness, he was at last advised to put a few drops of his own urine warm into his ears every night and morning, from which he received great benefit. It is probable that a solution of sal ammoniac, in water, would produce the same effect.

Footnote 158:

London Medical Essays.

Footnote 159:

In a cancer which had set all medicines, and even surgery, at defiance, I lately saw remarkable effects from an obstinate perseverance in a course of antiseptics. I ordered the deep ulcers to be washed to the bottom by means of a syringe, twice or thrice a-day, either with an infusion of the bark, or a decoction of carrot, and that the patient should take four or five times a-day, a glass of good wine, with half a drachm of the best powdered bark in it. The sores, after being washed, were likewise sprinkled with the same powder. When the patient began this course, her death was daily expected. She continued it for above two years, with manifest advantage; but being told by an eminent surgeon, that the bark would not cure a cancer, and that the sores ought not to be washed, she discontinued the practice, and died in a few weeks. This course was not expected to cure the cancer, but to prolong the patient’s life, which it evidently did almost to a miracle.

Footnote 160:

As hemlock is the principal medicine recommended in this disease, we would have given some directions for the gathering and preparing of that plant; but as its different preparations are now kept in the shops, we think it much safer for people to get them there, with proper directions for using them.

Footnote 161:

Though we give this prescription on the credit of Dr. Mead, yet we would not advise any person, who has reason to believe that he has been bit by a dog which was really mad, to trust to it alone. Mead was an able physician, but he seems to have been no great philosopher, and was some times the dupe of his own credulity.

Footnote 162:

The Ormskirk medicine, as it is called, seems to me to consist chiefly of cinnabar. Though it is said to be infallible, as a preventive; yet I would not advise any one to trust to it alone. Indeed it is ordered to be taken in a manner which gives it more the appearance of a charm than of a medicine. Surely if a medicine is to produce any change in the body, it must be taken for some considerable time, and in sufficient quantity.

Footnote 163:

The practice of sucking out poisons is very ancient; and indeed nothing can be more rational. Where the bite cannot be cut out, this is the most likely way for extracting the poison. There can be no danger in performing this office, as the poison does no harm unless it be taken into the body by a wound. The person who sucks the wound ought however to wash his mouth frequently with salad-oil, which will secure him from even the least inconveniency. The Psylli in Africa, and the Marsi in Italy, were famed for curing the bites of poisonous animals by sucking the wound; and we are told, that the Indians in North America practise the same at this day.

Footnote 164:

Although it is now very common to cure the gonorrhœa by astringent injections, there are still many practitioners who do not approve this mode of practice. I can, however, from much experience, assert, that it is both the most easy, elegant, and efficacious method of cure; and that any bad consequences arising from it must be owing to the ignorance or misconduct of the practitioner himself, and not to the remedy. Many, for example, use strong preparations of lead, all of which are dangerous when applied to the internal surfaces of the body; others use escharotics, which inflame and injure the parts. I have known a gonorrhœa actually cured by an injection made of green tea, and would always recommend gentle methods where they will succeed.

Footnote 165:

If the patient can swallow a solution of salts and manna, he may take six drachms, or, if his constitution requires it, an ounce of the former, with half an ounce of the latter. These may be dissolved in an English pint of boiling water, whey, or thin water-gruel, and taken early in the morning.

If an infusion of senna and tamarinds be more agreeable, two drachms of the former, and an ounce of the latter, may be infused all night in an English pint of boiling water. The infusion may be strained next morning, and half an ounce of Glauber’s salts dissolved in it. A tea-cupful of this infusion may be taken every half hour till it operates.

Should the patient prefer an electuary, the following will be found to answer very well. Take of the lenitive electuary four ounces, cream of tartar two ounces, jalap in powder two drachms, rhubarb one drachm, and as much of the syrup of pale roses as will serve to make up the whole into a soft electuary. Two or three tea-spoonfuls of this may be taken over-night, and about the same quantity next morning, every day that the patient chuses to take a purge.

The doses of the above medicines may be increased or diminished according as the patient finds it necessary. We have ordered the salts to be dissolved in a large quantity of water, because it renders their operation more mild.

Footnote 166:

Take quicksilver one drachm, gum-arabic reduced to a mucilage two drachms; let the quicksilver be rubbed with the mucilage, in a marble mortar, until the globules of mercury entirely disappear; afterwards add gradually, still continuing the trituration, half an ounce of balsamic syrup, and eight ounces of simple cinnamon-water. Two table-spoonfuls of this solution may be taken night and morning. Some reckon this the best form in which quicksilver can be exhibited for the cure of a gonorrhœa.

Footnote 167:

The Peruvian bark may be combined with other astringents, and prepared in the following manner:

Take of Peruvian bark bruised six drachms, of fresh galls bruised two drachms; boil them in a pound and a half of water to a pound; to the strained liquor add three ounces of the simple tincture of the bark. A small tea-cupful of this may be taken three times a-day, adding to each cup fifteen or twenty drops of the acid elixir of vitriol.

Footnote 168:

Take Venice turpentine, boiled to a sufficient degree of hardness, half an ounce, calomel half a drachm. Let these be mixed and formed into sixty pills, of which five or six may be taken night and morning. If, during the use of these pills, the mouth should grow sore, or the breath become offensive, they must be discontinued till these symptoms disappear.

Footnote 169:

I have been accustomed for some time past to apply leeches to inflamed testicles, which practice has always been followed with the most happy effects.

Footnote 170:

The extract of hemlock may be made into pills, and taken in the manner directed under the article Cancer.

Footnote 171:

For the dispersion of a bubo, a number of leeches applied to the part affected will be found equally efficacious as in the inflamed testicle.

Footnote 172:

When venereal ulcers are seated in the lips, the infection may be communicated by kissing. I have seen very obstinate venereal ulcers in the lips, which I had all the reason in the world to believe were communicated in this manner.

Nurses ought to beware of suckling infected children, or having their breasts drawn by persons tainted with the venereal disease. This caution is peculiarly necessary for nurses who reside in the neighbourhood of great towns.

Footnote 173:

I have found it answer extremely well to sprinkle chancres twice a-day with calomel. This will often perform a cure without any other application whatever. If the chancres are upon the glans, they may be washed with milk and water, a little warm, and afterwards the calomel may be applied as above.

Footnote 174:

The sublimate may be given in distilled water, or any other liquor that the patient chuses. I commonly order ten grains to be dissolved in an ounce of the spirit of wine, for the conveniency of carriage, and let the patient take twenty or thirty drops of it night and morning in half a glass of brandy or other spirits. Mr. Debraw, an ingenious chymist of this place, informs me, that he prepares a salt of mercury much more mild and gentle in its operation than the sublimate, though equally efficacious.

Footnote 175:

See Appendix, Decoct. of Sarsaparilla.

Footnote 176:

Though we are still very much in the dark with regard to the method of curing this disease among the natives of America, yet it is generally affirmed, that they do cure it with speed, safety, and success, and that without the least knowledge of mercury. Hence it becomes an object of considerable importance to discover their method of cure. This might surely be done by making trials of the various plants which are found in those parts, and particularly of such as the natives are known to make use of. All people in a rude state take their medicines chiefly from the vegetable kingdom, and are often possessed of valuable secrets with regard to the virtues of plants, of which more enlightened nations are ignorant. Indeed we make no doubt but some plants of our own growth, were proper pains taken to discover them, would be found as efficacious in curing the venereal disease as those of America. It must however be remembered, that what will cure the venereal disease in one country, will not always be found to have equal success in another.

Footnote 177:

I have not only often seen a recent infection carried off in a few days by means of cleanliness, viz. bathing, fomentations, injections, &c. but have likewise found it of the greatest advantage in the more advanced stages of the disease. Of this I had lately a very remarkable instance, in a man whose penis was almost wholly consumed by venereal ulcers; the matter had been allowed to continue on the sores, without any care having been taken to clean them, till, notwithstanding the use of mercury and other medicines, it had produced the effects above mentioned. I ordered warm milk and water to be injected three or four times a-day into all the sinuous ulcers, in order to wash out the matter; after which they were stuffed with dry lint to absorb the fresh matter as it was generated. The patient at the same time took every day half a grain of the corrective sublimate of mercury, dissolved in an ounce of brandy, and drank an English quart of the decoction of sarsaparilla. By this treatment, in about six weeks, he was perfectly cured; and, what was very remarkable, a part of the penis was actually regenerated.

Doctor Gilchrist has given an account of a species of the lues venerea which prevails in the west of Scotland, to which the natives give the name of Sibbins or Sivvins. The Doctor observes, that the spreading of this disease is chiefly owing to a neglect of cleanliness, and seems to think, that by due attention to that virtue, it might be extirpated. The treatment of this disease is similar to that of a confirmed lues or pox. The yaws, a disease which is now very common both in America and the West India islands, may also be cured in the same manner.

Footnote 178:

It is the duty of mothers, and those who are intrusted with the education of girls, to instruct them early in the conduct and management of themselves at this critical period of their lives. False modesty, inattention, and ignorance of what is beneficial or hurtful at this time, are the sources of many diseases and misfortunes in life, which a few sensible lessons from an experienced matron might have prevented. Nor is care less necessary in the subsequent returns of this discharge. Taking improper food, violent affections of the mind, or catching cold at this period, is often sufficient to ruin the health, or to render the female ever after incapable of procreation.

Footnote 179:

Two drachms of allum and one of Japan earth may be pounded together, and divided into eight or nine doses, one of which may be taken three times a day.

Persons whose stomachs cannot bear the allum, may take two table-spoonfuls of the tincture of roses three or four times a-day, to each dose of which ten drops of laudanum may be added.

If these should fail, half a drachm of the Peruvian bark, in powder, with ten drops of the elixir of vitriol, may be taken, in a glass of red wine, four times a-day.

Footnote 180:

Every mother who procures an abortion does it at the hazard of her life; yet there are not a few who run this risk merely to prevent the trouble of bearing and bringing up children. It is surely a most unnatural crime, and cannot, even in the most abandoned, be viewed without horror; but in the decent matron, it is still more unpardonable.—Those wretches who daily advertise their assistance to women in this business, deserve, in my opinion, the most severe of all human punishments.

Footnote 181:

Though the management of women in child-bed has been practised as an employment since the earliest accounts of time; yet it is still in most countries on a very bad footing. Few women think of following this employment till they are reduced to the necessity of doing it for bread. Hence not one in a hundred of them have any education, or proper knowledge of their business. It is true, that Nature, if left to herself, will generally expel the fœtus; but it is equally true, that most women in child-bed require to be managed with skill and attention, and that they are often hurt by the superstitious prejudices of ignorant and officious midwives. The mischief done in this way is much greater than is generally imagined; most of which might be prevented by allowing no women to practise midwifery but such as are properly qualified. Were due attention paid to this, it would not only be the means of saving many lives, but would prevent the necessity of employing men in this indelicate and disagreeable branch of medicine, which is, on many accounts, more proper for the other sex.

Footnote 182:

We cannot help taking notice of that ridiculous custom which still prevails in some parts of the country, of collecting a number of women together upon such occasions. These, instead of being useful, serve only to crowd the house, and obstruct the necessary attendants. Besides, they hurt the patient with their noise; and often, by their untimely and impertinent advice, do much mischief.

Footnote 183:

In a violent flooding after delivery, I have seen very good effects from the following mixture: Take of penny-royal water, simple cinnamon-water, and syrup of poppies, each two ounces, elixir of vitriol a drachm. Mix, and take two table-spoonfuls every two hours, or oftner, if necessary.

Footnote 184:

Take of crabs claws prepared half an ounce, purified nitre two drachms, saffron powdered half a drachm; rub them together in a mortar, and divide the whole into eight or nine doses.

When the patient is low-spirited, or troubled with hysterical complaints, she ought to take frequently twelve or fifteen drops of the tincture of asafœtida in a cup of penny-royal tea.

Footnote 185:

Midwives ought to be very cautious in administering vomits or purges to women in child-bed. I have known a woman, who was recovering extremely well, thrown into the most imminent danger, by a strong purge which was given her by an officious midwife.

Footnote 186:

Dr. Cheyne avers, that want of children is oftner the fault of the male than of the female, and strongly recommends a milk and vegetable diet to the former as well as the latter; adding, that his friend Dr. Taylor, whom he calls the Milk-doctor of Croydon, had brought sundry opulent families in his neighbourhood, who had continued some years after marriage without progeny, to have several fine children, by keeping both parents, for a considerable time, to a milk and vegetable diet.

Footnote 187:

Of the officious and ill-judged care of midwives, we shall adduce only one instance, viz. the common practice of torturing infants by squeezing their breasts, to draw off the milk, as they call it. Though a small quantity of moisture is generally found in the breasts of infants, yet, as they are certainly not intended to give suck, this ought never to be drawn off. I have seen this cruel operation bring on hardness, inflammation, and suppuration of the breasts; but never knew any ill consequences from its being omitted. When the breasts are hard, the only application that we would recommend is a soft poultice, or a little of the diachylon plaster, spread thin upon a bit of soft leather, about the size of half a crown, and applied over each nipple. These may be suffered to continue till the hardness disappears.

Footnote 188:

See Appendix, Laxative absorbent Mixture.

Footnote 189:

Some nurses remove this complaint by sucking the child’s nose. This is by no means a cleanly operation; but when nurses have the resolution to do it, I am far from discouraging the practice.

Footnote 190:

I some time ago saw a very striking instance of the danger of substituting drying medicines in the place of cleanliness and wholesome food, in the Foundling Hospital at Ackworth, where the children were grievously afflicted with scabbed heads and other cutaneous disorders. Upon inquiry it was found, that very little attention was paid either to the propriety or soundness of their provisions, and that cleanliness was totally neglected; accordingly it was advised that they should have more wholesome food, and be kept thoroughly clean. This advice, however, was not followed. It was too troublesome to the servants, superintendants, &c. The business was to be done by medicine; which was accordingly attempted, but had nearly proved fatal to the whole house. Fevers and other internal disorders immediately appeared, and at length a putrid dysentery, which proved so infectious, that it carried off a great many of the children, and spread over a considerable part of the neighbouring country.

Footnote 191:

In this disease bleeding is not always proper; but in very full habits it must certainly be of use.

Footnote 192:

I was lately favoured with a letter from Dr. William Turnbull in London, a physician of great experience, and who, from his former situation on the north-east coast of England, had many opportunities of observing the symptoms and progress of this dangerous disease. I am sorry the letter came too late to be inserted at length; but as the Doctor’s sentiments differ very little from my own, this misfortune is the less to be regretted. The Doctor indeed observes, that he never found blistering of any service; but recommends cataplasms of garlic, camphor, and Venice treacle, to be applied both to the throat and soles of the feet. He likewise recommends boluses of camphor, castor, valerian root, salt of hartshorn, and musk, adapted to the age, strength, &c. of the patient; after which he advises two spoonfuls of the following decoction:—Take of garlic and distilled vinegar each an ounce, hysop-water eight ounces; beat up the ingredients together, gradually mixing the water, and adding three ounces of honey. Let the whole be simmered over a gentle fire, and afterwards drained for use.

Footnote 193:

One reason why this disease is seldom or never cured, may be, that it is seldom known till too far advanced to admit of remedy. Did parents watch the first symptoms, and call a physician in due time, I am inclined to think that something might be done. But these symptoms are not yet sufficiently known, and are often mistaken even by physicians themselves. Of this I lately saw a striking instance in a patient attended by an eminent practitioner of this city, who had all along mistaken the disease for teething.

Footnote 194:

Dr. Tissot, in his Advice to the People, gives the following directions for gathering, preparing, and applying the agaric.—“Gather in autumn,” says he, “while the fine weather lasts, the agaric of the oak, which is a kind of fungus or excrescence issuing from the wood of that tree. It consists at first of four parts, which present themselves successively: 1. The outward rind or skin, which may be thrown away. 2. The part immediately under this rind, which is the best of all. This is to be beat well with a hammer, till it becomes soft and very pliable. This is the only preparation it requires, and a slice of it of a proper size is to be applied directly over the bursting open blood vessels. It constringes and brings them close together, stops the bleeding, and generally falls off at the end of two days. 3. The third part adhering to the second may serve to stop the bleeding from the smaller vessels; and the fourth and last part may be reduced to powder as conducing to the same purpose.”—Where the agaric cannot be had, sponge may be used in its stead. It must be applied in the same manner, and has nearly the same effects.

Footnote 195:

See Appendix, Wax plaster.

Footnote 196:

See Appendix, Yellow basilicum.

Footnote 197:

See Appendix, Turner’s cerate.

Footnote 198:

In ulcers of the lower limbs great benefit is often received from tight rollers, or wearing a laced stocking, as this prevents the flux of humours to the sores, and disposes them to heal.

Footnote 199:

Various pieces of machinery have been contrived for counteracting the force of the muscles, and retaining the fragments of broken bones; but as descriptions of these without drawings would be of little use, I shall refer the reader to a cheap and useful performance on the nature and cure of fractures, lately published by my ingenious friend Mr. Aitken, surgeon in Edinburgh; wherein that gentleman has not only given an account of the machines recommended in fractures by former authors, but has likewise added several improvements of his own, which are peculiarly useful in compound fractures, and in cases where patients with broken bones are obliged to be transported from one place to another.

Footnote 200:

A great many external applications are recommended for strains, some of which do good, and others hurt. The following are such as may be used with the greatest safety, viz. poultices made of stale beer or vinegar and oatmeal, camphorated spirits of wine, Mindererus’s spirit, volatile liniment, volatile aromatic spirit diluted with a double quantity of water, and the common fomentation, with the addition of brandy or spirit of wine.

Footnote 201:

I would here beg leave to recommend it to every practitioner, when his patient complains of pain in the belly with obstinate costiveness, to examine the groins and every place where a rupture may happen, in order that it may be immediately reduced. By neglecting this, many perish who were not suspected to have had ruptures till after they were dead. I have known this happen where half a dozen of the faculty were in attendance.

Footnote 202:

A woman in one of the hospitals of this city lately discharged a great number of pins, which she had swallowed in the course of her business, through an ulcer in her side.

Footnote 203:

These accidents are not always the effects of carelessness. I have known an infant overlaid by its mother being seized in the night with an hysteric fit. This ought to serve as a caution against employing hysteric women as nurses; and should likewise teach such women never to lay an infant in the same bed with themselves, but in a small adjacent one.

Footnote 204:

The Author is happy to observe, that, since the first publication of this work, several societies have been instituted in Britain with the same benevolent intention as that of Amsterdam, and that their endeavours have proved no less successful. He is likewise happy to observe, that premiums have been awarded to those who have been active in their endeavours to restore to life persons who had been drowned, or suddenly deprived of life by any accident. How much is this superior to the superstitious institution, which allows any man a premium who brings a dead person out of the water, so that he may receive Christian burial; but allows nothing to the person who brings him out alive, or who recovers him after he has been to all appearance dead.

Footnote 205:

The late celebrated Dr. Smollet has indeed said, that if he were persuaded he had an ulcer in the lungs, he would jump into the cold bath: but here the Doctor evidently shews more courage than discretion; and that he was more a man of wit than a physician, every one will allow. A nervous asthma, or an atrophy, may be mistaken for a pulmonary consumption; yet, in the two former, the cold bath proves often beneficial, though I never knew it to in the latter. Indeed, all the phthisical patients I ever saw, who had tried the cold bath, were evidently hurt by it.

Footnote 206:

The celebrated Galen says, that immersion in cold water is fit only for the young of lions and bears; and recommends warm bathing, as conducive to the growth and strength of infants. How egregiously do the greatest men err whenever they lose sight of facts, and substitute reasoning in physic in place of observation and experience!

Footnote 207:

The greatest class of mineral waters in this country is the chalybeate. In many parts of Britain these are to be found in almost every field; but those chiefly in use, for medical purposes, are the purging chalybeates, as the waters of Scarborough, Cheltenham, Thorp Arch, Nevil Holt, &c. Of those which do not purge, the waters of Tunbridge stand in the highest repute. The saline purging waters, as those of Acton, Epsom, Kilburn, &c. are also in very general esteem; but the fountains most frequented by the sick in this country, are those to which the minerals impart a certain degree of heat, as Bath, Bristol, Buxton, &c.

Footnote 208:

When I speak of drinking a glass of the water over-night, I must beg leave to caution those who follow this plan against eating heavy suppers. The late Dr. Daultry of York, who was the first that brought the Harrowgate waters into repute, used to advise his patients to drink a glass before they went to bed; the consequence of which was, that having eat a flesh supper, and the water operating in the night, they were often tormented with gripes, and obliged to call for medical assistance.

Footnote 209:

See a paper on this subject in the Edinburgh Physical and Literary Essays, by the ingenious Dr. John Gardener.

Footnote 210:

A very good tincture of guaiacum, for domestic use, may be made by infusing two or three ounces of the gum in a bottle of rum or brandy.

Footnote 211:

See Collyrium of Lead.

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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

Page Changed from Changed to

161 If the patient be afflicted with If the patient be afflicted with reaching, or an inclination retching, or an inclination

357 sitting with the head bear near sitting with the head bare near an open window, or an open window, or

415 as wearing flannel, lying to as wearing flannel, lying too long a-bed long a-bed

533 but induces a plethora, or two but induces a plethora, or too great a fulness of great a fulness of

● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. ● Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last chapter. ● Enclosed italics font in underscores.

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