* ■ «■ -»pt& ,. L ~ * y -■■". i^ruieu.nes driven by such means into a continued and dangerous fever. 5 grains ; I tea-spoonful; DOMZSVIC THYSICIAN. 15 Plunging into cold water, just before thec*ld fit would have come on, haa often put a stop to ague ; but in trying this, the person mu3t be very cau- tious to do it before the cold stage commences, otherwise it might be a fatal experiment. When the cold stage is en, it should be lessened in violence, and shortened in duration, by external and internal warmth. The person should go into the warm bath, or put his feet and legs into hot water ; he should drink copiously of warm liquids, and may take a little hot brandy and water, or a teaspoonful of aether or of sal volatile in a glass of pep- permint water. This will generally considerably moderate the cold fit, and in so doing lessens the violence of the succeeding hot fit, which is always proportioned in violence to that of the preceding cold stage. In like manner the hot fit should be moderated by suitable remedies, such as by drinking cold lemonade, keeping tho room cool, losing fourteen or sixteen ounces of blood from the arm, if the per-on be robust and the eyes and head much flusbed. Such medicines as produce sweating are also useful in this stage, as the following : — Take Spirit of Mindererus 2 table-spoonfuls; Laudanum, and Antimonial Wine, of each 20 drops ; Mix, and take after it acu\> of hot wine wiiey. Dr. Li id gave opium very successfully in the hot fit; he remarks, that it abates and shortens the fit relieves the head.ache, takes off the earning heat of the skin, and brirg.;: on the sweating stage more quickly, often producing a refreshing slee^, from which the patient did not awake till the fever had subsided. -Fifty or sixty drops of laudanum may be taken with this intention. During the sweating stage, the person should not be kept hot, no warm or heating li- quors should be given, but the perspiration should be supported, and the thirst allayed by taking cool acid drinks as lemonade, apple-water, im- perial, &.c., to each of which a little wine may be added. A wine-glass ful of infusion of cascarilla, taken duiing the sweating stage, will prevent the great debility that follows it. Such is the management of the different stfiges of the paroxysms. It now remains to describe the means of removing the disease altogether. Out of the great nu.nber cf remedies recommended to cure ague, Peruvi- an bark has proved to be the most certain and useful. . Previously to the administration of bn.rk, the stomach and boivels should ba thoroughly cleared, either by an emetic of20 grains of ipecacuanha with a grain of tartarised antimony or by a brisk, purgative, composed of three grains of calomel with fifteen grains of rhubarb, and the same quantity of jalap, to be worked off, if necessary, with a cup of senna tea, made by infusing a drachm of the leaves in a tea-cupful of boiling water until cold. The bark can only be administered in the absence of tbe fever, and should therefore be taken as q sickly and in as targe quantities as the sto- mach will bear. As soon as the sweating stage has subsided, ti* j pitient may take a drachm of the yellow bark in very fine powder, with as much powdered ginger as will lie ut on a six-pence. This dose may be taken in a decoction of liquorice-root, or in a little miik, and may be repeated every hour, if the stomach will bear it without sicklies?. If the ague should again return at the usual time, the administration of bark must ba 16 DOMB0TXC PHYSICIAN. interrupted until the paroxysm is terminated, when the remedy is to be again resumed. As soon as the ague fit is discovered to be stopped, the bark may be continued only every two hours, and on the following day eve- ry four hours ; after which it may be continued three times a day for three or four days, and then diminished to half a drachm at a dose for three or four days more, when the course may be completed by its being continued night and morning, for a fortninght longer, If the the powdered bark doos not sit comfortably on the stomach, the following draught may be tried : Take Decoction of Bark 3 table-spoonfuls j Tincture of Orange-peel 1 tea spoonful ; Extract of Bark IS grains; Mix for a draught. It may be taken as a general rule, that if the bark produces purging^ laudanum should be added, in the quantity often or twelve drops, three times a-day ; if costiveness, a few grains of rhubarb with each dose ; and if sickness or nausea, cinnamon, ginger, Cayenne pepper, or some other Bpice. But if the bark cannot be taken in any of these ways, the extract may be mixed with water in the quantity of a drachm to a quarter of a pint, with fifteen drops of laudanum, and may be used as a glyster five or six times a-day : for children this plan is particularly eligible, but the quantity of laudanum must not exceed four drops. The bark sometimes fails in success: it is then proper to combine with it some other medicine, and the pre* paratiods of iron seem to be most eligible— Take Peruvian Bark, powdered 1 ounce ; Rust of Iron 2 drachms ; Syrup of Ginger, a sufficient quantity to form an electuary, of which the size of a nutmeg may be taken every four hours, washing it down with a wine-glassful of decoction of Virginian snake-root. A new preparation of bark has been discovered, which seems to be free from the unpleasant effects of large doses of this substance, and cures the disease in a very few doses : it is called the Sulphate of Quinine : the dose is two grains four times a-day. In the treatment of ague, it must be kept in mind that many important organs are liable to be affected ; and bark, in such cases, except properly regulated, aggravates the complaint. If the countenance be yellow and bloated, with a tenderness under the ribs of the right side, the liver iff affected, and a dose of half a drachm of jalap, with three grains of calomel, should be taken every third day, and five grains of the blue pill every night at bed-lime. If the tongue be dry or furred, the bark must not be taken until this is removed by taking two drachms of Epsom salts, with twenty drops of antimonial wine in a glass of water three timea a-day. Arsenic is another useful medicine in curing ague, and in general is & much more certain remedy than Peruvian bark ; but its poisonous nature renders it a dangerous substance if injudici&usly employed. A prepara- tion is sold, called Dr. Fowler's solution of arsenic, eight or ten drops of which may be taken in a little water three times a«.day ; and, should it DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. 17 hot disagree with the stomach and bowels, we may gradually incree-aa the dose to fourteen or sixteen. This is what has obtained so much celebrity under the title of the mgco drops. It is at all times prudent to give the bark a trial first, and if it does not succeed, then the selulion of arsenic may be taken ; which, if successful, may in a few days be diminished in dose, by being combined with bark in the following manner : Take Solution of Arsenic 5 drops; Decoction of Bark 1 wine-glassful ; Tincture of Bark 2 lea-spoonfuls ; Laudanum 5 drops ; Mix for a draught to be taken three times a«day. Whatever medicine is used in the cure of ague, it must be continued d fortnight after the disease has subsided. AMAUROSIS, OR GUTTA SERENA. Amaurosis i3 a species of blindness, in which no visible change or remark, that in the apop'exy of old persons, or drop- sical .subjects, the effusion on the brain is not blood but water, and the lancet must be used with great caution, as it would be dangerous to les- sen the strength of the system by the injudicious abstraction of blood. An excellent mode of purging it is to give five gi jifi3 of jalap with five grains of subcarbonate of ammonia every four hours till it operates. ASI-ilYXIA. This word literally implies the want of pulse, p.i;-l is usually applied io designate the situation of those persons who are in a state of suspended animation fre^i inhaling noxious gases, from poisons, or fiom drowning; but as these will be separately discussed in their respective pi:, ri?, we shall proceed n :-re rm!y to consider the asphyxia of new borr infants. When a child i3 born uirler an apparent cessation of life, hav;i" been known to have been ali^e immediately previous to its birth, or if it sinks as soon as it is born, or shortly after, methods should be taken to re* store life and animation. If the infant, when born, is deprived of motion and respiration, or is so weak and faint as to show little sign of life, the navel string should not be immediately divided, but the child should be enveloped in hot flannels, its temples and nostrils stimulated with hartshorn, and its belly and chest rubbed with brandy, a tea-spoonful of which may be poured into the throat. If these fail, separate the child, plunge it into a tub or pan of warm water, and endeavour to excite respiration by inflating the chest by forcibly blowing into the lungs, pres- sing the chest with the hand after each attempt, continuing the inflation and pressure with the ban J, alternately, in imitation of ..;: piration and expiration, which the continuance of such efforts may at last artificially excite ; or, if a rurgeon can be obtained, he will be more likely to effect the inflation of the lungs, by introducing a silver catheter through the mouth into the windpipe. , Electricity or galvanism may be also tried. 9Q noM«»Tic physician. ASTHMA. This disease is of two kinds, the humoral and the dry ; the former being attended with expectoration, and the latter without. The disease consists in an unhealthy irritability of the membrane of the windpipe and air cells ; between which and the respiratory muscles a morbid sym- pathy is established, that creates an undue or violent action in the latter, whenever the former is excited by irritation ; and this sympathetic spasmodic action constitutes the disease ; while in many cases we find the structure of the air cells broken down ; that is, one large cavity, where there ought to be many : which accounts for the symptom of wheezing, as the air is never thoroughly expelled. Symptoms—A difficulty of breathing, attended with wheezing ; quick, short short respiration, with considerable efforts of the shoulders * tighness across the chest, and cough. All these symptoms are increased by lying down, especially if the head and chest be very low. This is the ordinary situation of asthmatic persons; but the disease occurs in paroxysms, during which all the symtoms are violently increased. These attacks are more frequent during the heats of summer, and the fogs and cold winds of winter. The paroxysm usually begining with a sense of tightness across the breast, impeding respiration; the difficulty of breathing increases, attended with a loud wheezing noise ; the cheeks become red ; the eyes prominent ; the fealing of suffocation so great that speech becomes very d iff cult; a prospensity to cough exists, but merely a little frothy matter is spit up ; and the patient is obliged to remain in an erect posture, labouring for breath, with his neck and forehead covered with a cppious sweat. These symptoms generally continue till the mcrning when they gradually cease, and after an expectoration of mucus, the patient falls asleep. Treatment.—Bleeding, though sometimes necessary in full and ple= thoric young persons, is nevertheless to be used with great caution ; it is more prudent to moderate the fit by cupping en the chest ; opening the bowels by an emollient injection combined with asafcetida, as th« following : Take of Thin Grtfel i pint ; dissolve in it Gum Asafoetida 2 drachma ; and add Castor Oil I ounce ; The patient should inhale warm steam from the spout of an inhaler or tea-pot, into which a boiling hot decoction of white poppy heads, "with a tea-spoonful or two of aether has been put ; the legs may be fomented with hot water, and the head rubbed with sal volatile. A cup or two of coffee should be drunk, made with the mocho berry,) an ounce to each cup,) without either milk cr sugar. The following medicine may be taken -. Take Ammoniacum Mixture 4 ounces ; Oxymel of Squills 3 drachms ; Antimonial Wine h drachm ; Vinegar I ounce; DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. ~\ Mix, and take two table-spoonfuls every now and then. In the absence of the fit, the bowels should be kept open by ths following pills : Take Compound Colocynth Pill 1 drachm ; Calomel ' 6 grains ; Mix,and divide into fifteen pills ; three to be taken twice a week, if requirr ed. The stramoniun, or a mixture of equal parts of dried hops and hedge hyssop, may be smoked twice or three times a day. A gentle emetic should sometimes be taken at night, composed of fifteen grains of ipecacuanha, four grains of white vitriol, tvvo drachms of oxymel of squills, and one ounce of peppermint water: the diet should be light and easy of digestion ; vegetables, spirituous liquors', tea, and wine avoid- ed. The tone of the stomach should be kept up by taking occasionally a wineglassful of decocticii of bark, an infusion of gentian root, or quasia chips, twice or thrice daily ; and if there is any heartburn, a tea-spoonful of magnesia with each dose. A burgundy pitch plaster to be worn on the chest, flannel next the skin, an issue in the arm ; and the irritabilihty of the lungs to be subdued by taking occasionally a table-spoonful of the oxymel of hedge hyssop. Garlic is very beneficial to asthmatic persons. ATROPHY. Symptoms.—A gradual wasting of the body, without fever, difficulty, of breathing or cough ; but accompanied by paleness of the contenance ; flushing of the face ; loss of appetite ; impaired digestion ; depression of spirits, fretfulness ; thirst ; and general debility. It is caused by a poor diet ; unwholesome air ; excessive sexual indulgence ; the whites in females; the flux, or any long-continued and violent evacuation ; too long suckling ; worms ; and enlargement of the glands of the bowels. Treatment.—The disease must be traced to its cause ; if from poor diet, the living must be improved ; if from unwholesome air, the« per- son must be removed to another situation ; if from sexual indulgence, the passion must be restrained ; if from the whites, the flux, worms, or enlarged glands, the remedies recommended in these diseases must be had recourse to ; and if from too long suckling the child must be wean- ed, and the mother live on milk, strong broths, jellies, eggs, and animal food ; with good ale or beer, and a little port wine ; taking also the following medecine : Take Columba Root i ounce ; Boiling Water i pint ; let them stand in a covered vessel for three hours ; and to the strained hquid add— Compound Tincture of Cinnamon £ ounee; Subcarbonate of Soda £ drachm ; Three table-spoonfuls to be taken twice or three timeB a day.—But the best plan in all th*se weaknesses is,to take a spoonful of the decoction domestic physician. pf bark acidulated with sulphuric acid, in the morning, and a course of the French remedy, the Tonic and Digestive Wine ; and the manner of iking it, recommended by the French physicians, is from half to a whole •ine-glass every day, with a little ginger cud a biscuit, at 11 o'clock. We are not fond of Patert medicines ; but this is an exception, and is a most useful adjunct to pharmacy. It is to bo had at the Patent Me- dicine shops. BITES AND 3TING3. To the bites of gnats, bugs,, wasps, bees, hornets, &x. apply the fol- lowing : Take Opium 1 drachm ; Olivo Oil 1 ounce ; Dissolve the opium by well rubbing with the oil, and apply it on a dos' sil of !"nt to the part, renewing it frequently : if the injury is extensive, a dose of Epsom salts should be given. Until this lotion can be procur- ed, apply vinegar or hartshorn. For the bite of aviper, the following directions are given by Mr. Scott, in the Journal of Public Health. " The fir^t step to be taken after receiv- ing the bite of a viper is, to tie a bandage very tight around the wounded limb, above the bitten part. A garter is generally at hand, and makes a very good ligature for this purpose. The wound should be immediately sucked with all the power the mouth is capable of exciting, and the saliva should be directed upon the part, to dilute and wash out the poison from the wound. The patient need be under no apprehension of the effect of the poision upon the mouth, for, that, it will only produce a temporary inconvenience, and often none at all. If the bite be inflicted upon a part upon which a ligature cannot be put, the wounded part should be im- mediately cut out; but should no surgeon or person be at hand to perform this operation, the wound shoula be cauterized without delay, ether by a redhot iron, the lunar caustic, or the pure potash. If these should be objected to, or cannot be readily procured, a little butter of antimony, oil of vitriol, nitric acid, or spirit of salts, may be poured into the wonnd ; or corrosive sublimate, or powdered cantharides, may be rubbed into it. An efficacious caustic may be speedily made by mixing together quick lime and soft soap ; this is to be spread upon a piece of bladder, and ap- plied to the injured part. It has often been a practice to lay gunpowder upon the part and explode it, and it has been done with the best effects. the internal remedies should be those that excite perspiration; fifteen or twenty drops of sal volatile may be taken every two hours, in a cup of warm white-wine whey, the patient remaining in bed, warmly covered, and every means taken to produce and encourage perspiration."'—(Vol. i. p. 184.) For the bite of a mad dog, the following should be practised :—Cut out the part instantly, or what is not so safe, scrape a piece of lunar caustic or pure potash to a pencil point, and pass it to ihe bottom of every wouud made by the annimal's teeth. No other j-'htn is of anv use .' For the treatment of the disease, see Hydrophobia. P0MESTIC P1IV.SIC1A.N 23 BLEEDIKG FROM THE NOSE. This complaint is of no consequence in young persons, but in those farther advanced in years, it often becomes so profuse, and returns so quickly, as to be serious in its effects.. Treatment.—In some diseases, as giddiness, headache, pleurisy, apo- plexy, fever, and other inflammatory diseases, bleeding at the nose often proves a salutary crisis ; when it proceeds from an overloaded state of the vessels of the head, or the system in general, a little blood may be drawn from the arm, and a dose of Epsom salts taken. One of the following powders may be repeated three times a day : Take Cream of Tartar 1J ounce ; Nitre 3 drachms ; Emetic Tartar 2 grains ; Mix, and divide into twelve powders. But if notwithstanding these means, the bleeding continues, or returns frequently, it will be proper, especially elderly persons, to restrain the hemorrhage, by plugging up the nose with a dossil of lint, wetted in vinegar. Cr apiece of moistened gr.t, tied at one end, should be pushed up the nostril, and then filled with cold water, by means of fastening the other end at the extremity of a syringe. But if these fail, obtain a plaster bougie pass it through one of the nostrils until you see it in the throat ly looking into the mouth ; then seize the end of the bougie with a pair of tweezers or fine pincers, and bring it out at the mouth ; take a piece of string about three or four inches long, fasten a piece of sponge to it about the sieze of a walnut., and tie it to that end of the bougie projecting from the mouth ; then, by withdrawing the bougie through the nose, the sponge is drawn back into the nostril, where it is to be left with the string hanging fVcui the nose, until the following day, when it may be pulled gently away. The other means usually adopted are, to piaee the person in a cool air ; to keep his head erect, rather leaning backwards ; to snuff cold wa- ter, or vinegar and water up the nose ; or, to throw up with a syringe the following injection : Take Tincture of Muriate of Iron H drachm ; Water 6 ounces ; Mix. The head and face may be covered with a nankin kept wet with cold water, in which a handful or two of salt has been thrown. Any thing that produces shivering has a tendency to check the bleeding ; there- fore, throw cold water upon the face, or push a large k*ey or piece of steel suddenly down the back. BLEEDING FSOM THE BLADDER. This arises from fall.:, blows, bruises, violent exercise, jumping, hard riding, stones or gravel in the kidnies or bladder, or from ulcerations of the latter organ. 24 DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. Symptoms.—If the bleeding proceeds from the kidnies, there is a paia in the back ; but if from the bladder, it is attended with a sense of heat and pain at the bottom of the belly. Treatment.—If the hemorrhage has been occasioned by any of the external injuries above enumerated, some blood should be drawn from the arm ; or if the kidney be the seat of the disease, a cupping glass or tivo should be applied over the part affected, and the following medicine taken : Take Infusion of Rosea. i pint ; Nitre 2 drachms ; Mix. A wine-glassful to be taken every six hours. The loins may be formented night and morning with hot water, or the patient may use the hip bath ; the bowels should be moved every other day with an ounce of castor oil or Epsom salts. When the hemorrhage continues after these measures have been tried, a quarter of a grain of opium in a pill, with half a drachm of the leaves of bear's whortle- berry, in powder, should be taken four times a day, and soda water drunk frequently. When the hemorrhage is occasioned by stone in the kidney or blad- der, it will be much more difficult to check, the treatment being then men-ly of a palliative nature. Drink plentifully of barley water, with gum Arabic dissolved in it ; take eight or ten drops of laudanum two or three times a day ; and give a glyster of a pint or more of water gruel repeatedly. The following medicine may also be of much benefit: Take Dried Peach Leaves 1 ounce ; Water 1 quart; Boil down to a pint and strain. This quantity may be taken daily in the pose of a wine glassful at a time, BLEEDING FK03I TUB LUNGS This is usually called breaking a blood-vessel ; it arises from the bursting of one or more of the fine vessels of the lungs, occasioned by violent exertion of the body, or singing, calling aloud, or blowing musi- cal instruments; but in persons of a delicate pulmonary texture, or of a scrofulous constitution, or whose lungs are injured by consumption, it often arises spontaneously. Symptoms.—The disorder is characterised by a flow of blood from the mouth brought up by a sort of tickling cough, or sometimes by a contin- ued hacking,occasioned by irritation in the throat, which brings mouthfula pf blood up at every effort, which is spit out frothy and of a crimson colour : which distinguishes it from that which is sometimes thrown up by the stomach, that being of a very dark colour. It is rarely fatal at the first attack, except the ruptured vessel is a very large one ; but if it return frequently, great danger is to be apprehended. Treatment.—Bleeding, if the person be young and full of blood, with a hard jerking pulse> with much fever, but if he be advanced in yearsg and feeble and weak, no operation of this kind should be performed,.-^* DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. 25 The bowels must be opened by an astringent, acidulated medicine, as fol- lows : Take Infusion of Roses 6 ounces ; Epsom Salts 1 i ounce ; Mix. Take a wine-glassful every two or three hours. When the bowels have been opened by the above, let one of the fol- lowing pwders be taken every three hours .- Take Cream of Tartar $ ounce ; Nitre 2 drachms ; Emetic Tartar 2 grains; Mix, and divide into twelve powders. The person should be kept very still in a cool room, and not allowed to talkor use any bodily exertion ; he should sip frequently a little cold lemonade ; eat nothing but vegetables and fruit ; and all liquids (which ought to be of the most simple kind) should be taken cool. If the hemorrhage continues, and should obstinately presist in re- turning at intervals, than it will be proper to try the effects of digitails. >vliich may be taken in the following manner : Take DrielFox-Glove Leaves 1 drachm; Boiling Water ^ pint; Let it stand two hours, and strain ; take two table spoonfuls" every six hours. Should this not succeed in stopping the flow of blood, styptic medicines must be tried, as follows : Take Sugar of Lead 2 grains ; Opium J grain ; beat them into a pill with crumbs of bread moistened with rose water, and take it three times a day. While the patient is taking these pills, he must avoid all acids except vinegar. Fox-glove and sugar of lead may be taken in combination, and pre- sent as powerful a remedy as can be consistently ventured upon as thft following : Take Infusion of Fox-Glove 6 ounces ; Sugar of Lead 10 grains; Laudanum 40 drops ; Mix ; and take two table-spoonfuls every six hours. A table-spoonful or two of common table salt, eaten dry, has often been very efficacious in this complaint. When the bleeding has been stopped by these means, let the person keep himself cool and quiet ; his bowels open, using moderate and easy exercise ; subduing cough by small doses of nitre and laudanum : fre- quently putting his legs into warm water ; losing a little blood, if his pulse become full and he has pain in the chest; and have an issue opened; in the arm, or a perpetual blister between the shoulders. in DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. BLEEDING FROM THE STOMACH. Vomiting of blood is distinguished from the preceding disease by a weight and pain at stomach, by there being no cough, and be the blood being of a dark colour and mixed with the contents of the stomach. Treatment —The same plan as advised for bleeding from the lungs, with the exception of the use of the fox-glove may be adopted ; and in addition that tincture of muriate of iron is highly recommended, in doses of twenty to thirty drops in a cup of cold water, every hour or two, un- til the bleeding ceases. It generally arises from the suppression of some accustomed evacuation, which must of course be restored. BLEEDING FROM THE WOUNDS. Lay a bit of lint upon the wound, and put a narrow roller or bandage round it. If it be upon a part that does not admit a bandage, bind the lii.t down with white sticking plaster, to be purchased at the druggist's, under the name of strapping, cut into strinshalf an inch wide, and four or five or six inches long. BLEEDING FROM LEECH-BITES. Scrape a bit of lunar caustic to a point, and pass it to the bottom of the woutid for an instant only, and the hemorrhage will cease. BLOODY FLUX, OR DYSENTERY. This is a purging of unhealthy, mucous, slimy, or watery motions mixed with blood, arising from an inflammation of the inner membrane of the large bowels. It chiefly occurs in autumn, and is occasioned probably by the effect of cold and moisture succeeding heat, or by the influence of some unknown principle or state of the atmosphere. When it attacks fleets or armies, it is highly contagious. Symptoms.—Frequent evacuations of slimy, mucous, frothy, or flatu- lent scanty motions mixed with blood, accompanied with griping pains ; frequsnt inclination to go to stool, while scarcely any or very little is voided ; great bearing down, and severe irritation of the anus. Treatment.—An emetic of twenty er thirty grains of ipecacuanha ; next open the bowels freely with the following mixture : Take Epsom Salts 1 ounce ; Magnesia 2 drachms ; Peppermint Water i pint ; Laudanum £ drachm : Mix, and take a quarter part every four hours ; this mixture to be repeated until the bowels are copiously evacuated. When the above have procured several free evac. uations, a glyster should be thrown up, composed of a tea-cupful of starch, with a tea-spoonful of laudanum, two or three times a day, at the same time Take Dover's Powder 5 grains ; Calomel 1 grain ; Mix, to betaken every four hours. If the bowels become cost' • , immediate recourse must be had la the mixture of Epsom salts and mag- nesia ; and afterwards, if any pain remains, the aLo"e po.vders maybe rescmed, assisting them by a Eoftening diet of barley broth, rice, milk, gruel, arrow root, &c; and hot fomentations to the belly. DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. 2< The advanced or chronic stage of dysentery is very difficult to cure, as it is generally accompanied by derangement of some interna! organ, but the most efficacious medicines are the following : Take Castor Oil, and Spirit Turpentine, of each 6 drachms ; Rub them down with the yolk of an egg, and gradually incorporate with it half a pint of lime water ; then add of Laudanum 30 drops ; Compound Tincture of Cinnamon | ounce ; Mix, and take a sixth part three times a day ; taking in addition the fol- lowing every night: Take Dover's Powders 7 grains ; Blue Pill 5 grains ; Extract of Henbane 3 grains ; Mix ; and divide into three pills to be taken at bed time. BOILS. Foment them with the decoction of poppy heads, and keep them., covered with a soft bread and milk poultice. Open them with a lancet or a large needle as soon as they are soft, and squeeze oui the core, which will remove the pain, and promote their healing. The compound galbanum plaster may be now applied : the bowels should be kept open with small doses cf Epsom salts, or cream of tartar and jalap made into an electuary with honey. If any hardness remains after the boil is healed, it may be rubbed three limes a day with the strong mercurial ointment, to which camphor has been added in the proportion of two drachms to an ounce. Boils are suspected to arise from a disordered state of the diges- tive organs. BRONCHOCELE, OR DERBYSHIRE NECIO This is a tumour on the fore part of the neck, upon the windpipe, just at that part called Adam's apple ; it is thought to be commoner in Derby* shire than any other part of England, and affects women oftener than men. Treatment.—The treatment that has been generally used is the follow- ing : rub the tumour with the hand for half an hour, twice a day, or have slight electrical shocks sent through it. Put one of the following lozenges under the tongue every night and morning, letting it dissolve slowly : Take Burnt Sponge f drachms ; Powdered Gurn Arabic 1 drachm ; Powdered Ginger £ drachm j Simple Syrup, a sufficient quantify to form the mass, which is to be cut into 12 lozenges. The mass must be well be a'f n, ord the lozenges dried on a i lute before the fire. The following efficacious remedy has been recently discovered: Take Pure Iodine 12 grains; Liquorice Powder £ drachm ; Treacle a sufficient quantity to form a mass, *o be divided into 2 1 pi!ls,of which, one is to be taken every night *$• n.ot.jing^ 2i, DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. or fifteen or twenty drops of the tincture of iodine may be taken three times a day. As an external application, the following ointment, in the bulk of a filbert, must be rubbed upon the swelling night and morning : Take Hydriodate of Potash $ drachm ; Hogslard li ounce ; Mix. The effects of iodine being very powerful, they should be narrowly watched, and the proper means taken to prevent their ill consequences ; for this information the reader may consult the Journal of Public Health No. XVII. p: 131. BRUISES. Bathe the parts with vinegar, opodeldoc, hartshorn and oil, Mindereruss spirit, arquebusade, or the following lotion : Take of Camphor 2 drachms; dissolve it in 4 ounces of rectified spirit of wine ; then add a pint of vine- gar ; keep the part constantly wet with this lotion, or make it into a poul- tice with bran. The common people are in the habit of applying black briony root for bruises about the face ; and it is by no means a bad remedy; the root should be cut into thin slices, and softened with boiling water, and then laid upon the part: it removes the discoloration of bruises more quickly than any other application in use. This swelling often takes place from irritation, such as chafing by riding or walking ; excoriation of some of the toes from a tight boot or shoe ; or from the irritation of gonorrhceal discharge in the urethra. Treatment.—Apply six or eight leeches upon the tumour as soon as it is perceived, and keep it covered with linen rags, wetted with the following lotion : Take Extract of Goulard | drachm • Spirit of Wine 1 ounce ; * " ater 4 ounces ; Mix. Take three grains of calomel at bedtime, and work it off with an ounce of salts the next morning ; repeat it every other day if necessary. If matter forms, the suppuration should be encouraged by poultices, and the tumour opened early. These abscesses are sometimes very slow in healing, and require to be injected four or five times a day, with a mixture of tincture of cantharides and water, in the proportion of two drachms of the former to four ounces of the latter; the part being covered with the amtnoniacal plaster with quicksilver, and a bandage or slips of sticking plaster put over it, to maks a tolerable firm degree°of pressure. ; If the bubo arises from a chancre, then a course of mercury will be DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. S3 necessary ; and the patient should go into the care of an experienced surgeon. BURNS AND SCALD. Plunge the part into cold water the instant the accident has happened, or cover it with clothes dipped in water, and removed frequently or as 3oonas they begin to get warm. Persevere in this application until the pain no more returns upon discontinuing it, which will or never exceed 24 hours. A dose of laudanum, in a little brandy and water, should be taken immediately after the accident ; a child may take ten drops ; a grown person, forty. Do not pull away or open the blisters, and take care that the water be brought fresh and cold, and applied so sedulously as not to allow the pain to return for an instant. But should the accident be very extensive, the shock given to the constitution would be increased, were we to begin with cold applications ; and it will be advisable to use Gou- lard water, raiik-warm, for two or three hours, after which we may gradu- ally decrease the temperature till it is quite cold. When the irritation has been thus removed by these applications, they may be changed for a mix- ture of milk and lime-water, and as soon as the part begins to form matter, the surface should be covered with finely-powdered chalk, which should be sprinkled on from time to time, so as to absorb the moisture as fast as it is formed: And now it is necessary to take a purgative, and the diet, which has hitherto been of the low kind, must be allowed more freely ; light ani mal food and a little wine will support the strength and render the discharge healthy ; and should it be profuse, a wine-glassful of the decoction of bark must be taken three times a day. Should proud flesh arise, wash it with blue vitriol water (two drachms to half a pint of water,) or strong alum water, and dress it with yellow basilicon, making a tolerable pressure upon it with a bandage. If the accident has happened near the bend of a joint, keep the joint straight till it is healed ; or should it be upon the neck and breast, keep the head back : this prevents contraction. CANCER. Cancer affects various parts of the body, a3 enumerated in the following detail : Cancer of the Breast commences by a small, hard, and irregular knob, with darting pains, but without any alteration in the colour of the skin. Its increase is not uniform, but takes place at intervals, and is attended with a lancinating pain, as though a sharp instrument were passing into it ; in this stage it is called a schirrous tumour. At length tho skin becomes puckered, and shortly after red. next a shining purple, and lastly ulcerat- ed ; and this constitutes the cancerous stage. Treatment.—Very little is to be hoped for in the treatment of this di- sease more than to alleviate the pain, and a little retard the progress of the tumour. At every recurrence of pain, leeches should be applied; and the part covered with a lotion composed of the following : Take Spirit of Mindereru* 4 ounces ; Spirit of Wine 2 ounces ; Mix, So DOMESTIC rftYSICIAt*. But in the advanced state of the tumour, cold applications will be found to be injurious, and the " soap plaster," with a drachm of powder- ed opium mixed with it, will be the best application. Medicines do but little, but the following are the most likely to be efficacious : Take Compound Decoction of Sarsaparilla 1 pint ; Corbonato of Sola 1£ drac.'im ; Take a quarter of a pint three times a day : five grains of Plummer's pill to be taken also at bed-time. To improve the general health, three table-spoonfuls of Griffiths' mix- ture may be taken twice a day. When ulceration takes place, the remedy most advantageous is iron,both externally and internally. Mr. Carmichsel, of Dublin,recommends the sore to be covered with a paste made of carbonate of iron, or oxyphosphate of iron and water, and the patient to take ten grains of the sub-oxyphos- phate of iron, made into piils with white of egg and liquorice powder, three times a day. To lessen the burning pain of the sore, an ointment maybe applied, composed of two drachms of powdered opium with six drachms of spermaceti cerate. No reliance whatever can bo placed upon any application, and even the knife is but a doubtful remedy; but if the patient can make up her mind to the operation, she should determine quickly, for the only chance of saving her life is afforded by the removal of the disease before the constitution has become contaminated by the poison's being conveyed into the system ; and even this is but a forlorn hope. Cancer of the Womb begins with pain in the lov.s, a bearing down; d discharge resembling the whites, darting pains across the bottom of the belly : these are the symptoms of the first or schirrous stage. The ul- cerated state is known by a constant discharge of n. thin, acrid, fetid mat- ter, occasionally tinged with something resembling Hood, a burning heat in the part, and excruciating pain. As the ulceration goes en, the con- stitution becomes seriously affected ; tlje body becomes thin and emaciated , the bowels costive, and the stomach affected with almost con- stant and severe retching. No treatment has hitherto been effective. The bowels must be kept open by gentle and unirritating aperients, as salts with manna, or castor oil; the pain mitigated by laudanum and by opiate glysters. The offensive nature of the discharge maybe in some degree lessened by frequent injections of blue stone dissolved in decoc- tion of quince-seeds, one drachm to a pint. The hip bath may be used ; leeches applied near the part, and cupping upon the loins. Opium, dis- solved in opodeldoc, should be rubbed in upon the back. Cancer of the Tongue begins as a little pimple, which bleeds upon the slightest violence, but the disease sometimes commences at once with ulceration : excision of the pert is necessary, or removal by ligature. There a Variety of par;-, besides those above enumerated, that are subject to cancer ; as the eye, lips, nose, face, privates, among which t»i3 chi.nney sweepers' is*particularly formidable ; but as these require the Eid of a surgeon, no farther detail is necessary. BOMESTIC PHYSWIIAN. 31 CANINE APPETITS. Symptoms.—The person ha3 an insatiable appetite that scarcely any quantity, even of the most disgusting food, appeases. He will eat raw flesh, candles, soap, the entrails of anhnals, or any thing that lies in his way. A man under this disease ate 4lbs. of raw cow's udder. lOlbs. of raw beef, and 21bs. of candles in a day, besides taking large quantities of drink. Treatment.—The person should be allowed no food but fat and oil, and should be directed to chew as much tobacco (swallowing the saliva) aa the constitution would bear, CANINE MADNESS. Symptoms. — As it may be more useful to describe the symptoms of this disease as it affects animals, the following marks of hydrophobia in dogs are here presented. A dull heavy look ; endeavours to hide himself ; seldom barks ; angry and snarling at strangers ; refuses his food ; drOps his ears and tail, rind lies as if going io sleep. Then follows the second stage, in which he breathes quick and heavy, lolls out his tongue, froths at the mouth, runs in a curved line, and flies suddenly, but silently, at persons near him. Then his eyes become thick, dim, and watery ; hia tongue red ; he is faint and weak, falls flr.v;i and rises, becomes furious, and dies exhausted by horrible convulsions. Treatment. — It would be useless to take up the reader's time by relc.t- ing the several modes of cure adopted and recommended by various per- sons at various periods ; the truth is, that no remedy or treatment uf any description has ever yet, in a single instance, done any good, and we are at this moment in total ignorance of any means to cure this dreadful disorder ! The facts related of cures, by salt water and various other means, are utterly fallacious- The only means of saving life is to pre- vent the disease from appearing, by cutting out the bitten part, as advised for the bite of the viper, p. 22 ; for, if inoculation has been produced, no other means will save the victim from inevitable destruction. Sugar of lead, howcrer, from its sedative effect, appears as likely to do good as any thing that has ever been tried ; and were I affected with the disease, I would take it in large doses, as tsy only hope. CARBUNCLE* Heat and pain in some part of the body, on which arises a pimple. which becames a haiu deep inn; ur, of a red or purple colour. It some- times follows typhus and putrid fevers, but often appears without any pre- vious disease. Its most common seat is in the back, presenting a large, red, spongy, oozing tumour; or, if it has proceeds J farther, it is found black and putrid. Treatment.—Open the tumour freely, press out its contents, and cover it with a poultice, fomenting the part iwo or thrc- ires a day with a de- coction of poppy heads. Continue the poultice tili all the core has come away, and the cavity looks red, them dress it with dry lint and a bandage. Give half a Irachm of Feruvhn bark in a wine-glassful of camphor julep 32 DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN three or four times a day ; wine may be taken freely, and twenty or thirty drops oflaudanum at bed-time, if not disposed to sleep. CATALEPSY. Symptoms.—The person suddenly falls down, or remains fixed in the position he was in at the moment of the attack ; he loses all power of vo- luntary motion, but his limbs may be moved by any other person ; the senses are not, or at least not all of them, suspended ; the contenance is florid, the eyes open and fixed, the teeth are grinding upon each other, and tears sometimes fall from the eyes. This state sometimes only lasts a few minutes, but it is known occasionally to continue two or three days, when it is called a trance. Treatment.—This must be regulated according to the cause; if it is produced by fulness of blood, the person must be bled; if from suppres- sion of some evacuation, it must be restored ; if from terror, grief, fear, anxiety, anger, disappointment, profound meditation, &-c, the state of the nervous system, induced by these causes, must be corrected by bark, half a drachm, three times a day , by Griffiths' mixture, a wine-glassful twice a day ; by three table-spoonfuls of the infusion of valerian, with a tea- spoonful of fetid spirit of ammonia, every three or four hours; assisting these remedies by applying blisters, or issues, to the nape of the neck. During the fit, apply mustard poultices to the hands and feet. CATARACT. This is an opacity of the crystalline lens of the eye, occasioning blind- ness. Little or no hope can be offered of affording any benefit except by couching the eye ; but Mr. Ware states, that he has sometimes witnessed good effects from putting one or two drops of aether into the eye, once or twice a day, and occasionally rubbing the eye, over the lid, with a little volatile mercurial liniment. The mercurial liniment of the shops maybe used. CATARRH. This is what is commonly called a cold ; and consists in an increased irritation and discharge from the nostrils, throat, and windpipe. Symptoms.— Stoppage in the nose, pain and weight in the forehead, red- ness and stiffness of the eyes, and discharge of a thin fluid from the nose ; soon followed, if the attack be severe, by sore throat, hoarseness, sneezing, difficulty of breathing, cough, loss of appetite, dullness, aching and pain of the back and limbs, quick pulse, and fever. Treatment—If the attack be slight, remain in bed, drink plenty of warm gruel or barley water, acidulated with lemon juice, and abstain from all other nourishment. Lemonade made with tea is one of the best remedies. But if the attack be more severe, blood should be taken from the arm ; a dose of Epsom salts, to open the bowels ; and tho effervescing draught, with fifteen drops of antimonial wine, every three hours. If the cough be troublesome, the following mixture : DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. 3* Take Almond Confection 1 ounce ; Ipecacuanha Wine 2 drachms ; Manna £ ounce ; Laudanum 20 drops ; Oxymel 2 ounces ; Water g pint ; Mix ; take three table spoonfuls every two hour3. The steam of warm water should be often inhaled ; warm liquids fre- quently drunk ; the diet consist of water gruel, chicken broth, beef tea, and vegetables. If the person is hot and sleepless during the night, let him lake, at going to bed, twelve grains of Dover's powder in a basin of vine-* gar whey, or a tea-spoonful of hartshorn in a cup of wine whey, with twenty- five drops of laudanum. When this disease is very severe, and occasioned by a state of the at- mosphere that effects many persons at the same time, it is called influenza* CESSATION OF THE MENSESJ This is a very critical period of female life, and requires means to re- store the balance, the loss of which has been occasioned by the change that has taktn place. Avoid a full diet and malt liquors ; keep the bowels open by gentle dese." of senna tea, with Epsom salts and manna, or with lenitive electu- ary ; keep down fulness and pain in th3 head, by applying leeches to the temples, or what is better, to the anus ; put the feet frequently into hot water, and use regular exercise ; take no hiera pica, aloes, or other heating purgatives of that nature. If affected with giddiness, open an issue below the knee. CHANCRES. Undergo a course of mercury, and wash the sores frequently with a lotion, composed of a scruple of lunar causiic dissolved in half a pint of rose water. If they spread, or are painfid, discontinue the mercury and dress them with an ointment, composed of two drachms of opium rubbed up with an ounce of spermaceti cerate, until they show a kinder dispo- sition, when the mercury is to be resumed. CHALK STONES. These concretions, which accumulate in the joints of gouty persons, destroy the action of the part, occasion painful sufferings, ?nd often troublesome ulcerated openings. Trea'ment.— Moderate the inflammation of the part by an occasional application of two or three leeches ; put a plaster round it cor nosed of equal parts of diachylon and soap, and cover the whole v.': a p-ece of oiled silk ; avoid acids'and fermented liquors liable lo be... .;o acid in the stomach ; and take twenty grains of the subcarbenate of 3oda, in a cup of veal broth three times a day, or the following pills : ti domestic i'hysiciai Take Dried carbonate of soda, 3 (!ni(,ini>» , Extract of gentian, 1 f.'raclvm ; Mix, and divide into forty-eight pills ; take four, two or three limes a day. c:ii eased person being communicated to a healthy one. This effluvium mixes with the air, and extends itself to a certain dis- tance from the place whence it arises ; this distance is regulated by the nature of the disease. In typhus fever its deleterious influence does not reach to the next house, nor even to an adjoining room, and proba- bly would not extend from the body of the patient himself into his own room, if it were large, airy, and well ventilated. The infectious effluvi- um of small pox does not, according to the experiments of Dr. Haygarth, extend itself more than half a yard from its source in the open air ; and even when the distemper is malignant, he says, the infectious influence extends but a few yards from the poison. > From these data we conclude, that no infection extends far from its source, and that this distance has generally been much overrated. The infectious effluvium arising from persons labouring under small pox, measles, and other contageous fever, does not attach itself to the clothes of those who may be exposed to them, so as to be capable of infecting either themselves or others. Infection proceeds from the poison lodged in the clothes or utensils of the sick persons, as well as from their bodies also. From these facts we see, that contagion cannot be carried from place to place, by one person to another, except by those substances that have imbibed the poisonous matter discharged from the patient himself. Let us illustrate this fact :—Two young ladies at school had scarlet fever, with putrid sore throat ; the governess put them into a room alone, at- tended them herself, syringed their throats, and did what else was ne- cessary. She observed the precaution of washing her hands, and of avoiding taking away with her any contagious dirt from the chamber ; and the consequence was, that though she then mixed with sixty five other scholars, without changing her dress, not one of them caught the disease ! 02 #4 DOMESTIC THYSICIAN. It may be safely concluded from all this, that in all cases of infectious disorders, if there is room in the house for the sick to be put into sepa- rate apartments, the rest of the family may bo preserved from contagion, by proper management. To prevent Contagion. — Convey the sick person to a large airy room at the top of the house ; change his bed linen frequently, and wash them as soon as they are'removed, without suffering them to come near any of the rest of the family ; cleanse his body frequently. Take everything that comes from him quickly away, avoiding the family as in the former instance ; keep up a constant and thorough ventilation of the chamber, and fumigate it daily by one of the means described under'the article Fumigation; keep the bed-curtains drawn, and the door and windows open ; wash the floor, particular1;, around the bed, every day ; admit only the neeessary attendants, and caution them against sitting on the bed. Light no fire in the chamber. When a person dies, secure the body in the coffin as speedily as possible", having first envelopod it in waxed or pitched cloths. Make no use of the clothes of the deceased, until they have been washed and fumigated. A soon as the patient is convalescent, remove him to another apartment; cleanse the one he has left with warm soap and water, and if the walls be of plaster, let them, as well as the ceiling, be whitewashed ; wash and fumigate the bed-clothes, curtains, and hangings of the room ; and fumigate the fur- niture, by repeated applications of the fumigating gas.—See Fumigation, hereafter. Such are the means to prevent the diffusion of contagion through fa- milies and houses ; to prevent individual infection, the following pre- caution should be observed : Let the attendant or visitor keep a sponge or handkerchief moistened in vinegar, as near to the mouth and nose as consistent while in the room, or near the patient, and avoid if possible, receiving his breath, or the vapours arising from any of his evacuations. Persons should not visit the sick with an empty stomach ; after dinner is the most eligible time, but if the morning is obliged to be chosen, a glass of wine and a biscuit should be taken previously. Confidence goes a great way in preventing the reception of contagion. The attendants of the deceased should avoid all debilitating causes ; they should live on nutritive and easily digested food ; take two or three glasses of wine daily ; and keep the stomach and bowels open and healthy. The contagion of malignant sore throat is often repelled by gargling the throat frequently with the following :—Infuse two table-spoontuls of good Cayenne pepper, and a tea spoonful of salt, in half a pint of boiling vinegar, and the same quantity of boiling water ; strain through a fine cloth.—Journal of Pub- lic Health CONVULSIONS. These are involuntary contractions or spasms of the muscles, and are symptomatic of many disordered states of the body, and accompany many diseases, of which they are a lee ding feature ; of these last, they will be referred to in their proper places, and we shall therefore here proceed jio the consideration of the convulsions of infants and prparunt women. * DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. 45 Convulsions of Infants,—These are produced by acrid matter in the bowels ; by wind ; by worms ; by the irritation of teething ; by the strik- ing in of an eruption or rash, &c. Treatment.—When convulsions arise from irritating matter in the sto- mach and bowels, give a tea-spoonful of antimonial wine every ten minu- tes until it operates ; or, by a purgative of one grain and a half of calo- mel, to be worked off with a table-spoonful of infusion of senna, con- taining a drachm of manna, and twelve grains of tartrate of potass. A little of the common domestic glyster may be thrown up, if the above does not operate kindly. If convulsions arise from wind, then the remedies must be used that are recommended for the flatulency of infants. Should the cutting of a tooth, as is very often the case, appear to be the cause of convulsions, the gum should be scarified, so as to let the tooth through. Worms are frequently the cause of convulsions in children ; let the complaint be treated as advised under that head. If the convulsions are owing to the disappearance of an eruption or rash, ils return should be solicited by the warm bath, and other means, to be spoken of under their proper heads ; sometimes the drying up of excoriations behind the ears will produce them ; in this case, create an artificial discharge by putting a blister to the parts, and keep it open by dressings of savine ointment. . ,..,,,. < Inward fits, (as they are called,) which are too well known to need description, are best treated by giving the patient a gentle emetic of a small quantity of ipecacuanha wine, every two or three days, and to take the child up, awake it and rub its stomach and belly, whenever it is observed to be affected by them. To restore an infant in convulsions, there can be little more done than to put it into a warm bath, or cover its head with a napkin wrung' out in told water, or with a bladder of ice. A tea-spoonful of the tinc- tures of castor, or of valerian; or of asafoetida, in a little pyrup of red poppies, may be poured into the mouth ; but in most cases, if medicine can be administered' at all, an emetic is the best remedy. Convv^i^ns of Pregnant women.—The convulsions that occur during pregnancy are of an hysterical kind, and therefore require the remedies advised under the article Hysterics. Cut the convulsions that occur during labour, or after delivery, are very different and very formidable. If the convulsions have been preceded by a sense of fr!;ie?s in the* head, giddiness, drow. iness, dimness of the sight, or floatingr atoms be- fore the eyes, they a;e certainly occasioned by fulness of the blood-ves- sels of the brain ; and the first step necessary is to draw ten or twelve ounces of blood from the p.im, or from the jugular veiny or from the tem- poral artery. The bowels to be opened by half an ounce of Epsom salts* and half an ounce of manna, dissolved in a cup of senna tea. If, after this, the child is neither born nor the convulsions diminished, more' blood may be taken, a blister applied between the shoulders, and the head, having been shaved; enured with cloths, wetter in cold water, or a bladder of ice. Leeches also to the ternp'e, and the bleeding repeat- ed as long as the convulsions continue and the pulse will allow. The glyster recommended in Apoplexy* (p. 18 ) should be injected. 46 DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. Where there are no indications of over fulness of blood, then the convulsions are most probably occasioned by irritation. Bleeding cannot here be so freely used as in the former case ; but leeches may be applied to the temples, the patient put into the warm bath, or bottles of hot water applied to the soles of the feet, and the following glyster administered : Take Asafoetida 2 drachma ; Opium 6 grains ; Gruel 1 pint ; Mix. In both cases, delivery should be expedited with all safe and conve- nient dispatch, and the assistance of an experienced accoucheur obtained. If the convulsions continue after delivery, the same mode of treat- ment must be pursued : diminishing the quantity of blood, keeping the bowels open, and quieting the nervous system by opium, aether, asafoetida, musk, and camphor. Also, apply a blister between the shoulders, and mustard poultices to the soles of the feet. CORNS. Pare them close, and apply the following plaster : Take Gum Ammoniac, and Yellow Wax, of each £ ounce; Verdigris 1 £ drachm ; Melt the wax, and stir in the gum ammoniac and verdigris finely pow- dered. Corns are produced by pressure, and will return, however often they may be removed, if tight shoes be worn. Mr. Wardrop advises the corn to be cut or torn away, and the foot put into warm water for some time ; then the cut surface to be rubbed with lunar caustic, or moistened with a solution of oxymuriate of mer- cury in spirit of wine, with a camel's hair pencil. Two or three appli- cations of either will cure the corn. Mr. Samuel Cooper's plan is the following ; " A corn may also be certainly, permanently, and speedily eradicated, by the following method, especially when the plaster, and felt-sole with a hole in it, are employed at the same time. The corn is to be rubbed twice a day with an emollient ointment, such as that of marsh-mallows, or with the volatile liniment, which is still better, and in the interim, is to be covered with a softening plaster. Every morning and evening, the foot is to be put for half an hour into warm water, and whilst theie, the corn is to be well rubbed with soap. Afterwards, all the soft, white, pulpy, outside of the corn, is to be scraped off with a blunt knife ; but the scraping is to be left off the moment the patiem begins to complain of pain from it. The same treatment is to be per- sisted in without interruption, until the corn is totally extirpated, which is generally effected in eight or twelve days. If left off sooner the corn grews again." CORPULENCE. Excessive corpulence may be considered, as far as many of its mcon- DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. 47 leniences and consequences are concerned, as a positive disease ; and tour comforts, activity, and sound health, equally demand some attempts to prevent or lessen it; these are the following : •> Diminish the quantity of food ; drink little, particularly malt liquors ; take active exercise, regular in duration and time ; sleep no longer than necessary to recruit the strength. Medecines are out of the question, for such as tend to diminish the body will at the same time render it un- healthy. Vinegar, so often used for this purpose, is highly injurious. A system of training is the best of all possible methods ; or the means may be recommended in the following pithy advice—keep your eyes open, your mouth shut, and your legs in motion. Every one will see thr> t .actical bearing of this "rule. The tonic and digestive wine taken constantly for a few months will effectually prevent and remove corpulency, and is excellent in costive- ness ; it will relieve the latter when every other remedy has failed. COSTIVENESS. This state of the bowels is the consequence of sedentary habits, of de- ficiency of bile, of dry and heating food, of neglecting the calls of na- ture, of the use of Port wine, and of overloading the stomach. It occa- sions head aches, sickness, indigestion, giddiness, want of appetite, flatulency, disagreeably taste in the mouth, feverish state of the mouth, piles, aHd a Variety of other disagreeable and injurious disorders. Treatment.— Let the diet be principally of vegetables and fruit, with home-brewed ale ; solicit motions every morning at a regular hour, whether successful or not, and take proper exercise. A tea-spoonful of Epsom salts may be taken every night in a pint of cold water ; or a piece of the following electuary, the size of a nutmeg, every morning : Take of finely levigated Charcoal 3 drachms ; Carbonate of Soda 2 drachms ; Lenitive Electuary 3 ounces ; Mix. But the use of glysters are in every way preferable to purgative medi- cines, and those who are costive should provide themselves with Reed's p atent syringe, and administer a pint of the domestic enema every day at a certain hour, until the bowels act without. COUGH. When recent, should be treated by an abstemious diet; abstinence from heating liquors; the loss of a little blood, if the person be yoifhg and florid, or if there is pain in the chest ; the bowels to be kept gently open by two drachms of manna, a tea-spoonful of castor oil, and two drachms of powdered gum arabic, rubbed up with two tabie-spoonfuls of infusion of senna, and the same quantity of peppermint water; this may be taken ever other morning, if necessary. One of the following powders to be taken in a wine-glassful of almond mixture, three times a day : 48 DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. Take Nitre , -. . 1 drachm; Powdered Gum Arabic 6 drachm*; Powdered Ipecacuanha 6 grains ; Powdered Squills 9 grajns ; Mix, and divide into six powders. The steam of warm water should be breathed every now and then, by pouring hot water into a basin, inverting a funnel over it, and putting the spout of the funnel into the mouth. The following pills may be taken at bed-time : Take Antimonial Powder 6 grains; Extract of Hemlock, and Extract of Poppies, of each 5 grains ; Mix, and divide into three pills. If the cough continues, it degenerates into a chronic state that re- quires expectorants of a more stimulating nature ; viz : Take Ammonkcum Mixture } pint; Syrup of Tolu £ ounce; Tincture of Squills 3 drachms; Emetic Tartar 1| grains ; Mix, Sind take the eighth part three times a day. Elderly persons are subject to a cough arisirigfrom cold, the attacks of which are very violent every morning ; the expectoration is very profuse, so much so as sometimes absolutely to produce suffocation.—Let the following be taken: Take Gum Myrrh 1 i drachm ; White Vitriol, purified 10 grains ; Extract of Gentian, a sufficient quantity to form a mass, which is to be made into 20 pills. Take two, three times a day. The cough of infants should be treated by a gentle emetic every day, and a tea-spoonful of the following mixture every three or four hours ; Take Syrup of White Poppies, and Syrup of Tolu, of each 1 ounce ; Ipecacuanha Wine 2 drachms ; Mix, and give it either by itself or which a little almond mixture. cow POX. The cow-pox, though it has happily lessened the'ravages of the small pox, does not in all cases preserve those inoculated With it from small- pox ; in fact there are numerous daily examples of this. Whether this failure arises from the nature of the matter used, from the disease being produced imperfectly, or that the preservative influence secures some peculiar constitutions only for a limited time, is entirely unknown. It is probable that if the matter.was taken in every instance from the animal itself, and its different stages properly watched and ascertained to have proceeded agreeably to certain fixed laws—it is then probable that no cases of failure would occur ; but of this even we have no proof. DOMESTIC PHTSICIAN. 43 Inoculation.—The matter should be taken from a genuine vesicle, ef:i the eighth, or not later than the ninth day. On the third day a small red pimple is just discerned. On the sixth the centre of the pimple becomes darkish, and on the tenth presents a circular elevated pustille, dimpled or depressed in the centre, covered with a brown or mahogany colored scab, and surrounded by a large circle of inflammation ; it becomes flattened by the thirteenth day, and the scab falls off in a fortnight. This is said to be the genuine cow-pox. On the fifth day after vaccination, matter should be taken from one arm and inserted into the other, when, if it be genuine, both pustules will ripen at the same time ; if they do not, the disease has not been genuine, and the patient must be inoculated again. Dr. Gregory says, no person is safe the mark in whose arm is large, irregular and smooth ; whereas the genuine pustule leaves a scar dis- tinct at its edges, circular, full of dimples, with lines running from the centre to the circumference., and should hardly be larger than a pea. Mr. James Churchill, an experienced vaccinator, lays down the fol- lowing rules: 1st. The person vaccinated must be in good general health. 2d Free from eruptions ; as the slightest affection of the skin some- times renders vaccination inert. 3d. The vesicle should be watched in its progress by the medical at- tendant, that it may be satisfactorily known to run its regular course ; and that the inflammation consequent on it be moderated by suitable applications ; as the fever accompanying such a state sometimes ren- ders the system unsusceptible of its pervading and securing influence. Treatment.—The cow-pox rarely requires medical treatment. The pustule should be defended with a bit of gold-beater's skin, and the surrounding inflammation, if violent, moderated by applying a bit of li- nen rag dipped in goulard water. CRAMP. Hysterical women are very liable to cramps in different parts of the body, the treatment of which will be found" hr the- chapter on hysterics. Pregnant females suffer much from cramps in the legs auu ^U^-lLiJfoj- the remedies the reader is referred to the article "Pregnancy." Cramp in the Stomach.—This spasmodic affection is attended with ex- cruciating pain : it arises f-om indigestion. ^Ether, laudanum, sal vola- tile, brandy and water, ginger tea, and a variety of other articles are re- sorted to, but sickness is the best remedy, and if vomiting can be pro- duced, it, generally speaking, removes the pain ; for this purpose give forty grains of the purified white white vitriol in a cup of warm water. The best medicine to prevent a recurrence of the spasm is the follow- ing : Take Infusion of Senna 2=] ounces ; Infusion of Gentian, compound 3£ ounces ; Liquor of Potash 1 drachm ; Mix, and take a fourth part three times a day. id DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. Cramp in the muscles of the calf of the leg is an affection that most persons have felt, and a great variety of remedies have been recommen- ded, none of which possess any efficacy, except what may be attributed to the effect of superstition. It mostly occurs during sleep, in which it is probable the imagination is engaged in the exercise of these mus- cles, and the influence thus derived having IvUle or no counterpoise, the action becomes too vehement, and spasm is the consequence. When this spasm seizes the leg , an effort, if possible should be made to draw the toes towards the knees, by the muscles situated on the fore part of the leg, and a shock should be given to the nervous structure of the leg, by putting the foot as quickly as possible on a cold floor, or the hearth- stone ; or, if convenient, the leg should be dashed with cold water; but, generally, the pain is too severe, and too quick'y over to allow of any thing being done. Some persons suffer almost night after night with it ; they might in a great measure prevent it by the following plan : put a piece of broad list round the leg, between the calf ana* the knee, and another round the toes ; then slip a ribbon under each, and tighten it by drawing the foot up as far towards the knee as is comfortable, and in this position secure it by a knot. The calf of the leg cannot, if this is done, be drawn into the usual lump, but an intimation is instantly given of any spasmodic tendency by the sensation occasioned at the ligatures, which awakes the person in time to prevent further violence. CROUP. The croup is.a violent inflammation of the nervous membrane that lines the internal surface of the windpipe. Children are most liable to its attacks, and it prevails most in damp situations, or during a moist atmosphere. Symptoms.—Pain at the upper part of the windpipe, generally after a day or two of drowsy fretfulness and frequent coughing ; then the breathing becomes difficult with a wheezing and ringing noise, as though the air were forced through a metal pipe ; it has not been inap- tly compared to the crowing of a cock, and is so peculiarly character- istic of this disorder, tho* xfter beings once wuvit,^^ M 9 &,c. Place the person in a recumbent position in a cool situation^ -and sprinkle the face with cold water. These are the means to restore the patient frc.n fainting ; but to obviate the recurrence of it, the causes that excite it shculd be avoided> which the experience of most persons sub- ject to it never faiis to point oaf. FEVER. Fever is the niQgt general of all diseases ; it is common to all ages and sexes, and all countries ar.A climates ; and has been calculated to form constantly two-thirds of the runiber of the prevailing disorders, at all limes and citron?, taken upon the aversTe of a year. Symptoms.—These are *;v<.r varying, being never found precisely alike i n two perse ts nor twice in the same ; and though the disease is com- pounded of v. great rr.y. y pymptomj, there is not one of these that is al- ways preseuf, or that ccn bs considered as characteristic of the disease. The general outline, hov ever, as usrnliy given of the phenomena cf fever, is the following : Increased frequency of the pulse; preternatural heat, preceded by sensation of cold ,• feeling of languor, lassitude, and general uneasiness ; pain of the head, back, and limbs ; memory andjuc-g- ment confused and indistinct ; the senses of taste, smell, touch, &c. im- paired or altered ; want of appetite ; defect ofcaliva ; thirst ; discolouia- tion of the tongue •, breathing frequent and anxious ; high coloured urine, ccc. But to prove that none of these symptoms are truly characteristic of fever, it i3 only necessary to bhow that symptoms entirely opposite in their charade occur : Thus in ague (which is true fever)—in the cold s'u-^e the pulee is c-lov:, r.'h'le in the hot stege ir. is g»:ck. In the cold stage, the fluids cf the boi-'y are diminished, at the end.of the f.., .they are increased. In the cold stage, tho temperature cl the b:Jy is very much reduced, but it next beccrres very much elevated beyond the na< tural standard In the cold stage., the nervous system is torpid, in the lot stage, the sensibili'y of the body is m jch inci eased, and the senses pain- fully acute. Chilliness i3 certainly one ol the first characteristics."of fever but '.he pulse is sometimes below the usual str-.ud&rd. This is is only by succession cr combination of some of lhs particular symptoms above-men tier.*-d that fever is known v< be present. The various hinds cf fever wilj be described in their proper order. . l FILMS IN THE HYE. \ . What is here meant by this expression is the appearance of certain ob- jects floating before the eyes, never fised, bet dancing perpetually about, sometimes resembling specks, flokes of foot, insocis' wings, ilics, small threads or worms, little globular cr leminous spots, cobwebs, &c. The disease is incurable, ,but being neither dangerous nor injurious, those who re affected with it should think as little about it as p.ossible. - FISTULA OF THE ANUS. A fistula is an unnatural passage, that forms in the solid parts, near the bowels, and running deeply, opens in a small sore upon the surface, near / 6Q DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN the verge of the anus, from which matter is discharged, and much pain and* irritation excited. These fistulas most commonly eat their way into the gut, so that a probe being introduced into the small opening on the skin, passes up into the interior of the bowel. The patient himself can act no farther in this matter than in the way of prevention, for when the disease is established, the aid of a surgeon is indispensable. Persons of a full, sanguine habit of body are liable to inflammation of the parts about the anus, which terminates in the formation of an abscess. When this hap- pens, leeches should be applied, the part fomented with poppy-head de- coction, and apoultrice applied twice a day. The bowels must be kept open, nothing but vegetable food taken, and all heating liquors avoided. If matter forms, it should be let out with a lancet, and fomented and poulticed after; 9trict attention being paid to the bowels, by rhubarb with Epsom salts, and all collections in the lower bowel prevented, by the daily use of the common glyster. The inflammation and irritation of piles often produce fistula, and should be repressed by the means recommended for that'disorder*" These are the general means foi the prevention of fistula, the surgical treatment does not form any part of our present considera- tion:* fISTULA OF THE TEAR DUCT. There is a canal leading from the corner of the eye into the nose, for fhe purpose of carrying off the tears. When this canal becomes obstruct- ed, the tears no longer passing into the nose, the patient finds he is under *Jie constant necessity of using his handkerchief to wipe them away as they toll over the eyelid, and inflammation taking place in the obstructed tube', matter forms within it, and bursts through the skin at the side of the nose just below the corner of the eye ; and this disease is called Fistula Lacry- mails. ' This disease comes entirely ujyjerthe care of the surgeon, and is only mentioned here, to inform the reader of the different nature and seat $f two diseases, each bearing the name of Fistula. FLATULENCE. The cause of flatulence is clearly a faulty action of the stomach, or the use of an improper kind or quantity of food or drink; but as the latter; quickly produces the former, flatulence, which is the common consequence of both, will be best considered as a symptom of Indigestion, to which dis- ease the reader is referred. FROST BITTEN. After exposure to intense cold, it is dangerous to warm the extremi- ties and limbs before a fire, for inflammation will be produced, and morti- fication will ensue ; it is in this way that chilblains, are caused. If the bands, feet, nose, or the whole of the body have been excessively dead- ened by exposure to freezing cold, the person should be kept from the * fix§, and, (rjction, with cold water or snow, used, until warmth is produced, Which should be preserved, at first, by flannel clothing rather than external ^arnjth, the l,»Uet being resorted to by very slow and cautious degrees. ' DOMESTIC PHiTS*---> 61 FUMIGATION. In contagious disorders the utility of fumigating articles have been clearly proved ; the following are the modes by which they are best em- ployed : Put half an ounce of oil of vitriol into a saucer, warm it over a lamp, and throw in, from time to time, small quantities of powdered nitre. Large volumes of nitric gas arise every time the nitre is thrown into the acid. Or, put a pound of oommon salt into an earthen pipkin, and pour over it, from time to time, a small quantity of oil of vitriol, until all the salt is moistened. Considerable quantities of muriatic vapour arise from the mixture. But the most effectual fumigation is the following : Take half an ounce.of powdered black manganese, and one Ounce of common table salt. Mix them together upon a plate or saucer, and sprinkle over it, first, a tea-spoonful and a half of water, and next, double the measure of strong oil of vitriol. Copious fumes arise. When infectious fevers appear, either in private houses,'boarding schools, or any public establishment, one of these fumigating niixtures should be used daily, and carried from room to room, until every;part of the dwelling has been well fumigated. Bed-linen, wearing apparel,' and every thing suspected of having imbibed the infectious matter; should, be hung upon a line directly over the fumigating materials, and subjected to the pTpcess two or three times. . # *. gall stones; ,-■"«• Gall stones, as they are called, are small lumps of hardened bile, Which form in the gall bladder. They create no particular uneasiness as long they remain in the bladder ; but, having protruded from it, their lodgement in the small canal leading from it to the bowels is attended with severe pain at the pit of the stomach, sickness, &c. As the stone passes through this canal, violent pain is felt about the region of the storriachj shooting through to the back between the shoulders ; the stomach is general/^ affected with sickness, but not always ; the patient cannot sit upright; btit leans forward, to relieve the agony of the spasms ; the pain sometimes lasts several hours, when the stone either gets back into the gall bladder, or is forced into the boWels, either of which puts an end to the fit. Il" the stone be left in the gall bladder, or there be others removing, the same symptoms often recur, more particularly in the afternoon, occasioned pro- bably by the pressure of the stomach after dinner. .If the obstruction oc- casioned by these bodies to the flow of bile be very considerable; the bowels will be obstinately costive,the motions pale and clayey, and jaundice will appear ,• to which disease the reader is referred for the treatment of gall stones. GIDDitfESS, OR VERTIGO* Proceeds from disordered stomach, from' undue fulness^.of the blood- vessels of the brain, or froira a nervous affection. When it proceeds fronl the first, the symptoms of indigestion will show the cause'; ia which cas ..-,. *i ^2 DOMESTIC fHYSICIAJ*. the remedies to be used are recommended for that complaint. When it arises from too much blood in the head, as showri by pain and throbbing, redness of the face and eyes, strong pulse, and other symptoms of ap- proaching apoplexy, the means must be immediately resorted to advised for that di-ease.' And when it arises as a nervous affection, then those remedies wLLh are recommended for hysterical and hypochondriacal com- plaints must be administered. Treatment.—Pills composed of equal parts of rhubarb and common tur- pentine, three to be taken thrice a day : or, balsam of capaivi ; or, fifteen drops of tincture of Spanish flies, three times a day ; and an injection of half a pint of decoction of oak bark, with two drachms of alum. *•_. GOUT. • Gout is an inflammatory disease, originating probably in the nerves, for it is the-roost.pafnful ipflammation that the- body is subject to. - Symptoms.—Pain, swelling, and bright .redness of the join!«, ofiho feett.9r.th.4nands,;but efq'iecially the ball of tho preat i.>o ; generally preceded by'st in proms''of indigestion, as flatulence, lo?s ofuppeiite, ~ ;bot of exercise, weak- ness of stomach, fermented liquors, particr.Lny if acid, these predispose to gout ; while excess in spirits or wiae, sudden changes of temperature, sprains or other injuries, passions of the mind, intense application to 'study or businecs,-excessive sexual indulgence, &c. produce it. - Treatment. — To. moderate the inflarn;3iii:::/ symptoms, first, by bleed- ing, if the patient be strong and otherwise healthy; secondly, by purg- ing, with castor oil, with rhubarb, or with twelve or fifteen grains of the compound extract of .colocynth ; thirdly, by relaxing the skin, and pro- ducing perspiration with the following : Take Mindererus' Spirit, and Carnphor Julep, of each 6 ounces ; Sw«l Spirit of Nitre " 3 drachms ; Suit of Hartshorn ' 30 'grains ; Mix ;.-a*Jd take three table-spoonfuls every* four hours. Fourthly, by he ApplicatioifoTcu/efteatef ta.the part affected, if the disease bo stea- lily fh&d, and thfcjfcoastittttion sound and unbroken, but otherwise, the M(»piij>Ias'terj^pcead.oii!*leaLher, should be applied, and covered with, dLgout suddenly leaves the extremities, and attacks some in* '■Uf DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. 63; ternal part, or when it fixes on an internal part instead of the extremi- ties it must be diverted as speedily as possible by blisters, or mustard pouiti- es applied to them. If the stomach or bowels be attacked, vine & brandy must be given ; a tea-spoonful ofselher, &.c, a tea-ppoonfui of hartshorn, mixed in a glas,•_». may be indulged with light fltcli rrica's, and a moderate allowance of g-^d madeira orsheny. jfcr In the ir.'.ci vah cf the attacks, there shou'd be an entire abstinence fvm, cr at least a ve;y moderate i.2e of, wine and strong liquors ; much fir.i.r.al feed ehovld be avciJcd, as we'll es excessive study and sexual pleasures ; great regularity in cxercips and sleep should be observed, and by avu.'ding cold and late hours, The cold bath should be used, and the body rubbed daily with the fio.f.h brush : strerw jcr;.ng medicines should be taken if necessary, ac the following : Take Ext r-ct of Bark, C: rbonatc of Soda, and Extract cf Gentirn, of each 1 drr.cpm ; Mix, and divide into 36 pills. Take three pills twice or thrice a day. The bowels should be kept open by a purgative, composed of 4 grains cf aloes, 4 grains cf sonp, W o grains of Cayenne pepper, o.vided into three pilij, to be taktn for a oo:-., as occasion requires. From the prevalence of acidity in the gout, it wonld rrrr-o?'. sre i as though it \.ere the grand mover of the d'sease ; k r no'. o;.ly abounds n he s-om:;ch, occuHonf"? heartburn and other r.r.casy sensations, bvr, t'»e biood cvrn is btror,g y impregnate.-! with it, as may be proved by dipping a -:~r? ot VI nus paper into the blood of a gouty pers.in. Ti.ij icd shcJd be kept u^d r by fifteen or tv/enly grains of the dried subcarbonate of sct!a bein if you observe that the deposite is of a greyish white colour, pour in a little lemon juice or muratic acid, and you will soon find that the gravel is dissolved. The red gravel, being acid, dissolves in alka- lies. In this experiment throw into the urine a little hartshorn, or a drachm or two of smelling salts, and the red gravel will disappear. Treatment.—Twenty or thirty drops of muriatic acid, taken in a glass of water three times a day, speedily diminishes the white gravel in the urine. A tea-spoon full of magnesia, three times a day, as speedily diminishes the deposit of red gravel. But, strange to say, you no sooner get rid of the white gravel, than you are afflicted with the red ; and as soon as you expel the fed, then you have a return of the white deposit. The cure of gravel» then, consists in a correction of the state of the digestive organs in partU eular, and the constitution in general, by the following means. Live upon a plain simple diet, avoiding an excess of animal food, at the same time making use of those vegetables that are least liable to disagree with the stomach; greens and carrots are particularly objectionable. In fact, as this disorder seems to arise principally from a faulty action of the stomach and bowels, the advice given under the head Indigestion, should be particularly attended to. Those who pass the white gravel, should by no means drink pump or any hard water, but the softest water they can obtain, which should always be boiled before it is used. Those troubled with the red gravel, should in addition to the cautions given to preserve the stomach in a healthy state, avoid acids of every description, fermented DOMESTIC rilYSICIAN. 65 liquors, and wines abounding with tartar: soda-water is a particularly eligible beverage. In a fit of the gravel, if the pain be so severe as to threaten inflammation, some blood should be drawn from the arm, and the person should go into a warm bath, or have hot fomentations applied to the part. An enema, lik'd the following, will generally diminish the pain and irritation: Take Decoction of Marshmallow Roots $ pint; Olive Oil i ounce j Laudanum 60 drops { Mix. Take also one of the following pills every three or four hoUfs : Spanish Liquorice 1 scruple ; Opium 6 grains ; Beat them together, and divide into six pills. Drink very plehtfully ol linseed tea, with gum arabic dissolved in it. If these means do not abate the disease in twelve hours, sixteen or twen- ty ounces of blood should be drawn from the loins by cupping. As soon as this plan has procured ease, the bowels shoidd be opened by a dose tif castor oil, or if that will not sit upon the stomach, a tea~spoonfull of Epsom salts, dissolved in a little weak broth, with three drops of laudanum, should be taken every two hours, and the common purgative enema fre- quently admistered. until the bowels are freely opened. Persons troubled with gravel have experienced great relief by taking a pint of the following decoction daily : Take a handfull of leeks, cut off the green part, put the roots, with a few sprigs of fennel, into two quarts of water; simmer it gently, Until only one quart remains, and strain. GREEN SICKNESS. Generally about the age of fifteen, in this country, an important function begins in the female consistution; It commences, however, sometimes a little earlier, and on the other hand, is often retarded two, three, or four years longer. But if the change do not take place, feelings of debili- ty and uneasiness ensue, and an unnatural apetite induces the patient to eat chalk, mortart* cinders and other extraordinary articles. The face be- comes of a pale yellowish green, or, as Shakspeare expresses it— " With a green and yellow melancholy in her countenance;"— a black circle surrounds the eyes, the feet swell, the breathing is hurried* the breath unpleasant, and there is generally a slight hacking cough. Treatment.—Before any internal remedies are used, it will be proper to stimulate the uterine organs, by throwing into the passage, by means of a female syringe, the following injection, several times a day : Take Liquor of Ammonia 12 drops; Warm Milk 2 table-spborifulle. Mix. This injection generally succeeds in producing the desired effect, which 66 DOMESTIC PllVSlCIAiN is Usually preceeded by some unpleasant sensations in the part ; if this fail, the state of the constitution may be attempted to be corrected by the following means :—If there i^ a superabundance of blood, by bleeding, and two or three of the compound pills of aloes with myirh, twice or three times a day ; or a drachm of the tincture of blaik hellebore, or the com- pound tincture of aloes, in pennyroyal water, two or three times a day. If the consti'ution be weak, a wine-glassfull of Griffith's IJeilurc, twice a day; or a scruple of myrrh, or a leaspoonfull of the Compound Decoction of Aloes. Deeoc-ion of Baik may be also given, keeping the bowels open with the pill cochia3, cr any other c!o< tic purge, such as Anderson's Serfs Pills, ox tin optics Female Pills; or, r.hat are beltei still, the Ed. io- rough Pills for Females. The p atietit should put her feet into waim wa- ter frequently, or sit over the steam cf hot water ; she should take regular exercise, live upon a wholesome nourishing diet, remove into a healthy air; and, if there be no obstacle, marriage should be recommended. HEAD-ACHE. Ihis very common complaint is most generally merely a symptom of some oilier disease, such as gout, rheumatism, fever, nervous and hyste- rical afnetions, and coa plaints of the stomach ; the latter furnish by far the grea'er number. Too much blood in the head will produce this pain, and v.ill, if neglected, occasion apoplexy; when therefore, tuis pain ia accon;pa::ied by redness of the eyes and face, throbbing of the temples, giddiness, and full strong pulse; leeches should be applied to the temples, or cupping on W.e back of the neck; a spare diet used, the bowels kept freely open with Epsom salts, cloths wetted in vinegar and water wrapped round the head, the feet put into warm water, and an issue of seton made in the reck. When hr-id-.-.the arises from gout or rheumatism, leaving the extremi- ties and s.-.^ing the brain, blisters should be applied to the extremities, and a warm purgative administered, as a wineglass full of tincture of rhubarb, or Daffy's eil.v:\ But rheumatic head-ache,, which some persons are very subject to, pnr;-ulariy hi changesof the weather, and during the prevalence of north er,?t winds, rcqt "res to be treated in the following manner: Take twenty grains of JL.me?' powder, and half an ounce of the tincture of guai- acum every ni^ht at bed-time; and wear a flannel cop. Kt ep the bowels open by taking a «u;^icient quantity of brimstone and treacle twico a day. Hysterical or nervous head ache requires for its cure a tea-spoonful of the tinctures of castor, of valerian, or of asafoetida ; of sal volatile, of laven- der jdrops, of set her or tinclu.t, of bak, three times a day ; and the temples to be bathed with sslher, and water, containing a small quantity cf roach alum. Periodical head-ache may be cured by taking three drops of Dr. Fowler's solution of arsenic, thr.e tines a day, increasing lie dose gradu- ally until ii omesto ebht or len. Head ache from costiveness should be removed by laki'ig a toa-spoonfill of Epsom salts every morning; addng tbe same qtianli'y of magnesia if it be attended with heart-burn ; but as this complaint is generally the consequence of indigestion, the reader is refer- red to this article for further information. Sick heed-ache is to be speedily removed by an emetic ; but as it is the effect of a foul stomach, the cures for indigestion can alone prevent it. The Tonic and Digestive Wine, (a DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. G7 patent mt-dicine) will be found effectual in most head-aches. It is the last security against the disease. HEART-BURN. Proceeds from scidity in the stomach, and may be removed by magnesh and chalk , or by fifteen or twenty drops of liquor of potass ; or thirty or forty grains of subcarbonate of soda ; but as it is a symptom of indigestion, it will be more particularly treated under that head. Tne following draught is particularly efficacious : Take Carbonate of Ammonia ------------Magnesia Cinnamon Water Laudanum Mix. HECTIC FEVER. This is a fever that arises in certain disorders from constitutional irritation : its treatment depending on the nature of the disease with which it is com- bined. HICCUPS. Common hiccups may be often removed by small and repeated draughts of cold water, by holding the breath, by eating a crust of bread, or by ta- king a teaspoonfull of an Per or sal volatile, or two or three drops of oil of cinnamon, on a lump of sugar. If it should not subside, eight or ten dropj of laudanum may be taken, and the feet put into warm water. When it con- tinues for hours, an emetic may be taken. When hiccups arise in cases. of malignant fever or mortification, it is a fatal symptom. HOOPING COUGH. Bleeding is the sheet ar.chor in this disease ; which should be done by applying !.?echc3 to the temples and behind the ears,and occasionally by open- ing the jugular vein. The bowels to be kept open by the following medi- cine : Take Powdered Rhubarb 5 grains; * Calomel 2 g ains ; Mix ; to be taken in honey. To mitigate the cough, give the following : Take Almond Mixture Tincture of Squills Antimonir.l Wine Syrup of White Poppies Mix ; a table-spoonfull to be taken every two hours. The chest and back may be rubbed with the following liniment, eve;y night and morning : 6 grains ; ]."> grains ; 2 ounces ; 5 drops ; 4 ounces; | drachm ; 30 drops; l ounce; bw DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. Take Emetic Tartar 1 scruple; Water 2 ounces; Tincture of Cantharides Jounce; Mix, If the cough continues obstinate, give the following : Take Laudanum 12 drops; Ipecacuanha Wine 1 drachm Carbonate of Soda 24 grains ; Syrup of Whiie Poppies 1 ounce ; Almond Mixture ; 6 ounces; Mix ; a table-spoonful to be taken every four hours. An emetic should be given twice a week, and the bowels kept welt opened with the rhubarb and calomel powder as above. When all these fail, and the child is too debilitated to bear a repeti- tion of bleeding, digitalis should be given, in the dose of four or five drops of the tincture three times a day. A considerable state of debility oftentimes prevails, when the disease has been long standing ; in this case, the child must take a table-spoon- ful of the decoction of bark, with half a tea-spoonful of tincture of castor, three times a day, and be removed into a healthy part of the country ; in fact, change of air will often cure the disease when medicine fails. HYPOCHONDRIASIS! This disease, called also the Vapours, consists in lowness of spirits, apprehension of evils, or a continual dread of some moral or physical danger ; melancholy, sadness, and the imagination constantly stirring up some cause for uneasiness and dejection. There is usually an ex- treme anxiety, depression of spirits, a belief of present or dread of future evil, directed particularly to the state of the health, always accompanied with symptoms of indigestion, and other marks of bodily disorder ; and generally also with various, irregular, and often unaccountable sensa- tions and affections, referred exclusively to the imagination. The Treatment required is principally of a moral kind, and shdutd therefore meet the particular exigences of individual cases. The stom- ach should be preserved healthy, the bowels open, and the general health supported by bark and nervous medicines, such as valerian, castor. asafoetida, &c. ; but the less the patient thinks of the apothecary's shop the better. Let him take regular exercise, and live in cheerful society^ and take the tonic and digestive wine, HYSTERICS. Symptoms.—Hysteric fits, except brought on very suddenly, are gen- erally preceded by lassitude, coldness of the feet, copious discharge of pale urine, pain in the head,, loins, or stomach ; wind, difficult breathing, a feehng of suffocation, as if there was a ball in the throat ; then convul- sions or fainting; and insensibility, and often alternate fiits of laughing and crying. DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. (39 freatment.— If the person be full of blood, draw blood from the arm j endeavour to get a little antimonial wine down the throat, so as to ex- cite vomiting ; this never fails of putting an end to the fit. A purgative should be given as soon as the emetic has operated, and the feet plunged into hot water, particularly if it happens at the time of menstruation. But in truth, little should be done during the fit, except taking care that the patient does not hurt herself ; she should be laid upon a bed and her clothes unloosed. If the fit lasts a very long time, the following glyster may be given. Take Oil of Turpentine | ounce ; Tincture of Asafoetida 2 drachms ; Water Gruel f pint ; Mix. As soon as she recovers, give a little sal volatile, or some of the nervous tinctures spoken of under Ilypochondriacism. Hysterical women should keep their bowels open, preserve their minds easy and cheerful ; and lose a little blood whenever the vessels are full and plethoric, occasioning oppression and head-ache ; but avoiding it, if they are weakly and delicate. The feet should be kept Warm, the digestion good, and the disposition cheerful. ILIAC PASSION. When a cholic acquires such extreme violence, that the bowels be- come entangled within each other, or the action of the whole alimen- tary canal is completely inverted, occasioning a discharge of its contents by vomiting, it is called Iliac Passion. In this extreme, in addition to the means recommended for Cholic,*it is usual to inflate the bowels with tobacco smoke, or to throw up an infusion of the herb ; as a glyster : Take Tobacco I drachm ;. Boiling Water f Dint; Let them Infuse a quarter of an hour, and strain. Should the bowels have become entangled, the tobacco infusion will prove highly injurious, a copious injection of six or eight; quarts of warm Water, or gruel, will be the most likely means of removing the obstruc- tion, restoring the bowels to their proper situation, and of softening and bringing away those hardened motions, which accumulate in the bowels, and occasion the complaint. For this purpose (as well as for the in- jection of the tobacco smoke) Read's patent Sjringe is preferable to all other instruments, and should be in the poaression of every family. IMPOTENCY. This generally arises, either from general debility of the constitution, pr from local weakness and irritability of the parts, or from fear and ap- Jirehension alone, without any bodily disorder. If it- arises from the brmer, the state of the constitution must be improved, by taking bark, steel, and other strengthening medicines ; by a generous, nourishing diet, and liberal use of good wine and wholesome malt liquor. If it arises from the second source* the cause of it, whether onanism, or any *id BOMESTIC PHYSICIA^f. other improper excitement, must be discontinued, and the parts strength- ened by the daily application of cold water, and the means recommended above should be used. Twenty drops of the tincture of cantharides given with each dose of the bark, three times a day, is often very succes- lul. As a general ru1.";, the following will came the nearest of any other to remove this dreadful evil : take a table-spconful of acidulated decoction of baik in the mornbg ; s; on^e \hf. huiy , chy rab it ;~at ll o'clock take a dose of the toni*- ; u J digestive wine, with a biscuit, and a little ginger ; —one glass-of Putt diluted at dinner. E.U moderately and drink little IXDICESTION, O?. BILIOUS COMPLAINTS. It has oflate years been fisMonable to designate every symptom of indi- gestion as a bilious disorder ; but the term is v\-;y improperly applied, and represents so many different affections, that its meaning ;3 vrguo and con- futed. The reader may, therefore, once lor all, understand that all the complaints usually referred to ' bile' aid ' bilious disorders,' ac mere symptoms of indigestion. The consideration of which we shall prodeei to enter upon. Symptoms.—Disorder cf the slomich occasions -::ch a host of nervous feelings, that I must, here confine myself to an enumeration of the most prominent symptoms, viiT. irregular but commonly c-e>ic;ent appo-.iie ; occa- sional craving but without relish , loathing of load; nausea, and some- times vomiiing; heartburn; load and dimension after meals ; belchings of acid, putrid, or insipid air; t.;>:Mh and throat generally dry ; tongue white or yellow ; bo.voi^ generally irregular, oiienest costive, sometimes loOiO or each by turns. These symptoms, or some of iiv?.n, attended by head-ache, flying pain?, noise i;i the ez.3, ^idcine^, temporary absence of mind, impaired nuinory, unrefi-eshing sleep, teniae dreams, unusual timidity, and despondency of mind. Causes.— Original constitution ; want of due mar.li: ,;;icn of the foi>d ; the use of aliments difficult of digestion ; ovei cV.^K-".-ion of the stomach ; compression of the stomach i.om posture ; oxerciae after a full nier! ; abuse of acid articles, of diet, oi'spces, of wine, of spirituous liquors, of warm fluids, of ceriain narcojic articles, as tobacco, tea, opium, bi„- tji-ji, &,::.: sedan Uiry life ; cola * damp atmosphere, grief, anxiety, and other depressing pa..slcj^pmtense application to o:udy or business ; excess in sexuaMf^B^'u^jpation; and the luxunous'dissipation of fashion- able life. * *Tfe Treatment.—A-r^W, if possible, tho causes of the disease, an 1 obviate the effects in the following mariner. If the stomach be foul, give an em- etic of twenty grains of Ipecacuanha. Acidity.—To removs heartburn, take a wine-glassful of lime water, three or four time3 a day : or, ■•■'. : Tuka Magnesia 3 drachms ; Cinnamon Water 1 ounce ; Epsom Salts 6 drachms ; Common Water 5 ounco; • DOMESTIC! PHYSICIAN. 71 Mix ; take a sixth part, three times a day. This will be proper if the bowels are confined ; if they are relaxed, the following will be prefer- able'^ • Take PreDared Chalk, 2 drachms ; Powdered Rhubarb 20 grains ; Spirit of Nutmeg, \ ounce ; Powdered Ginger, f drachm ; Water 6 ounces ; Mix ; a sixth part to be taken twice or three times a day. I'latvience.--To assuage pairi and flatulence in the stomach and bow- els, it will be proper to take carminative medicines joined with antispas- modics ; viz : Take Tincture of Valerian 2 drachms ; . Mthet 1 drachm ; Salt Volatile 1 drachm ; Dill Water, and Cinnamon Water, of each 2 ounces ; Mix. Take two table-speonfuls whenever the stomach is oppressed with wind, adding a few drops of laudanum if the pain be severe. Very Often the following will succeed better than the foregoing : Take Compound Extract of Colocynth 24 grains ; Blue Pill 12 grains ; Cayenne Pepper 1 scruple ; Opium 3 grains; Beat them together, and form them into twelve pills. Take fiom two to four pills every six or eight hours. Costiveness.—In addition to the means recommended in pa^e 102, the following pills may be used : Take Powdered Ipecacuanha 20 grains ; Compound Extract of Colocynth, and Castile Soap, of ,ach 2 scruples j Mix ; and divide inte 24 pills ; two, three or more of which may be taken at bedtime, for the purpose of supporting a regular action of the bo;vels. But habitual costiveness will be more effectually removed by the Tonic and Digestive Wine, which is a patent medecine of great value in all cases of indigestion and those diseases arising from it. Purging.—is to be restrained by the means recommended under that head. Vomiting. —This may generally be checked by the following medicine: Take Dried Spearmint ]i ounce ; Red Rose Leaves, dried j drachm ; Boiling Water 1 pjnt ; Elixir of Vitriol 2 drachms ; Lump Sugar i£ oUnce ; Infuse the mint and rose leaves with the acid and water, in a covered jug, for half an hour, then strain it : dissolve the sugar, and take a wine- "J«» DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. glassful every now and then ; if this fails, apply a blister to the pit ol the stomach, and take a pill, composed of three grains of camphor with one grain of opium. But the main objects are to preserve a proper action of the stomach and bowels, and to give them a due degree of strength and vigour ; this may be attempted by combining tonic and aperient medicines, as fol- lows : Take Infusion of Senna 2 ounces ; Compound Infusion of Gentian 4 ounces; Liquor of Potash 1 ounce ; Compound Tincture of Cardamoms. 2 drachms ; Mix ; take a sixth part three times a day. The liver being generally deficient in its action, as shown by pale, clayey, and sometimes very dark looking motions; a little mercury may be advantageously combined with the above, by taking five grains of the blue pill, or of Plummer's pill, every other night at bed time ; and if the bowels are not sufficiently moved under this plan, they must be opened by taking as occasion requires the following purgative : Powdered Rhubarb 10 grains ; Powdered Jalap 15 grains j Magnesia (calcined) | drachm j Pftwdered Ginger 8 grains ; Mix for a PPWder to be taken in a wineglassful of peppermint water. Qr the following pills may be taken at bed time, often enough to prevent any accumulation in the bowels : Take ipecacuanha, in powder 4 grains ^ Rhubarb, and Jalap, in powder, of each 10 grains; Syrup, or Treacle, a sufficient quantity to form the mass; which is to be divided into five or six pills, for one dose. No medicines succeed so well in the treatment of indigestion as pur- gatives, preserving the strength and quiet of the stomach at the same time, if required, by bitters and aromatics : to effect this, a drachm of sub-carbonate of ammonia (commonly known as smelling salts) and a tea-spoonful of tincture of ginger, may be taken in a wineglassful of an infusion of camomile flowers, of orange peel, of wormwood, of columbo, of gentian, of quassia, &e. three times a day. What are termed the nervous symptoms of indigestion may be treated by taking castor, myrrh, valerian and asafoetida, especially palpitation of the heart. The diet should consist principally of animal food, (which should be well masticated,) and stale bread or biscuit ; salted provisions avoided ; fish and young meats eaten sparingly ; green vegitables, unripe fruits, pastry, sallads, fat meat, nuts, &c. entirely prohibited ; no fluid should be drunk at meals, and oniy except when urged by thirst ; and never but in small quantities. Exercise should not immediately precede or suc- ceed a meal; one hour should elapse between the former, and two hours betwep^ '.he latter : frictions are extremely useful, and should alwavg DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. 7S be used before dinner. An infusion of toasted biscuit is the best beverage, but if there is much languor and debility one or two glassee of Madeira of sherry wine may be taken two hours after dinner, or if wine turns sour on the stomach, brandy and water with nutmeg should be substi- tuted. An infusion of ginger should be used in the morning, instead of tea, which with an egg and biscuit forms the best breakfast. The warm bath proves serviceable when used twice or three times a week, combined with early rising, regular exercise, moderate eating, agreeable society, pure air, and the use of the saline waters of Bath or Cheltenham. INFLAMMATION. The characters of inflammation are pain, increased redness and heat* and swelling. All the different structures of the body are liable to in- flammation, but the most prominent only need be particularly described. Eye.—Inflammation of this organ is called ophthalmia, and arises from constitutional irritability of the eyes, blows, foreign bodies or inverted eyelashes, cold, intense light, certain winds, contagion, &,c. &c. Symptoms.—Pricking, shooting, and redness of the eye, attended by beat* swellings discharge of tears, and ocasionally head-ache and fever. Treatment.—Leeches round the eye, or cupping on the temples, pur- ging by the following ; take three grains of calomel, in a pill, and two hours afterwards, half an ounce of Epsom salts, with ten grains of pow- dered jalap in a little mint water. Apply to the ey^e the following cooling wash ; Take Sugar of Lead aai White Vitriol, of each 8 grains ; Rosa Water 6 ounces ; Mix, and apply it by means of an eye-cup every hour, keeping m the interval the eye covered with a pledget of lint wetted in the lotion ; put a blister behind the ear, and the feet into hot water. If it be attended with fever, the means heareafter to be recommended for that disease must be resorted to. Chronic inflammation.—If the inflammation of the eye remains unsub-. dued for some days, it looses its former character, and becomes chronic, as it is called, requiring a different mode of treatment. Leeches may be applied ; three grains of calomel taken at night, and purged off the next morning with three drachms of Epsom salts, five grains of powdered. jalap, and a wine-glassful of infusion of senna. The following lotion to be applied with the eye-cup frequently : Take of Alum- K grains ; Qpium 1 drachm ; Rose Water * pint ; Dissolve the alum and opium, and filter through paper. If the eye bo very much loaded with blood, so as to resemble the surface of a piece •A velvet, the following lotion may be substituted: Take of Lunar Caustic i§,grain« ; Rosa Water fpint; F. n bomkstic rn\siGii.s'; Mix: Apply blisters behind the ears and to the temple, and take half arf ounce of the liquor ofoxymuriate of quicksilvet in a basin of warm gruel, at going to bed. Two drop-5 of the wine of opium mr~y be put into the eye twice a day. This plan may be continued daily, until the inflamma- ion subsides. When the eyelids are glued together at night, their edges may be smeared with a little of the following ointment upon a camels' hair pencil every night i Take of Citron Ointment, and Hog's lard, of each | ounce ; Mix them. If the eyes continue watery and weak, they may be often washed with a little weak brandy and water. If a speck be left upon the eye, it may be touched once or twice a day with a camels' hair pen- cil dipped in bullocks'gall, or wich a lotion composed of four ounces of water and two grains of the oxymuriate of quicksilver, or with a bit of lunar caustic scraped to a very fine point. During the active, or first state of the disease, the diet should be low, and light should be excluded ; but in the chronic stage, a more li- beral regimen maybe taken, and the eyes should be accustomed to the irritation of light. Infants are often, soon after birth, attached with severe inflammation of the eyes,attended by an immense discharge of matter that terminates, in a few days, in incurable blindness : the disease is called purulent ophthalmia. Treatment.—As soon as the disease begins, apply leeches upon each temple, near the internal corner of the eye, and a blister on the nape of the neck. The child must be kept in a cool room, and if the bowels are relaxed it should have a little rhubarb and magnesia ; ir confined, two grains of calomel and three of rhubarb ; the eyes to be covered with the curds of milk turned with alum, spread upon linen, or with soft ra^s wetted with the following lotion : Take Sugarof Load, and White Vitriol, of each 4 grains; Rose Water 6 ounces ; Mix. If the discharge has commenced, the following lotion must be inject- ed between the eye-lids every hour, and every particle of matter wash- ed away by it that might loJ^e upon the ball of the eye : Take Bliw Vitriol, and Bole Armenian, of each 8 grims; Camphor 2 grains ; Rub them together in a mortar, and add half a pint of boiling water, and filter it through blotting paper. Bladder—Inflammation of this organ is know by pain at the bottom of the belly ; frequent desire of making water, with difficulty of voiding it, and sometimes total suppression ; bearing down, and fever. The treatment is much the same as in the following disease. Kidney.—Inflammation of the kidneys occasions pain in the loins ; DOMESTIC l'HYSICIAN. ^5 numbness of the thigh ; retraction and pain of the testicle on the affect- ed side ; frequent passing of urine ; sickness and fever. Treatment. — Bleeding from the arm, and if but little or no relief ob- tained, cupping on the loins, or the application of a great number of leeches* Give mild purges, such as twc drachms of the phosphate of soda, or of Epsom salts, with fifteen or twenty drops of antimonial wine in a cup of linseed tea every two or three hours. Use the warm bath at 98 ° of heat,and give an anodyne glyster, after the bowels have been opened, composed of two drachms of laudanum with three-quarters of a pint of gruel. If vomiting prevail, quiet it by taking frequently effervescing draughts, and open the bowels with glysters of two ounces of castor oil rubbed up with yolk of egg and water gruei. Brain.—Inflammation of the brain, or Phrensy, is dstinguished by intense pain in the head ; redness of the eyes and face; impatience of light and ncici ; continued watchfulness ; fierce delirium and fever. Treatment.—Bleed very largely (thirty or forty ounces) from the tem- poral artery ; shave the head, and cover it with napkins wrung out in cold water ; apply a blister to the nape of the neck, and ano her u> the angle of each jaw ; preserve the patient in an upright p >si ion ; keep out light and noise, and apply mustard poultices to the f et. Give the following medicines: Ten grains of calomel with twenty grains of jalap, to open the bowels ; or two ounces of the syrup of buckthorn. Admi- nister ten drops of t'u "lure of digitalis, and ihe same quantity of antimo- nial wine, everv three nours. Lcngs—Inllamm:'ion of the lungs, or Pleurisy, begins with pain m some part of t'..e chest, difficulty of breathing, and is soon followed by fever, and generally by cough ; there is loss of appetite, and the tongue is covered with a yellow coat. Treatment.__Begin by one bold blood-letting, to the quantity of from twentvtT thirty ounces ; then purge with two drachms of soluble tartar dissolved in a wine-glassful of infusion of senna, and excite a sweat by giving the following medicine : Take Tartar Emetic 2 grains; Pure Water 6 ounces ; Mix, and take two takle-spoonfuls every three hours, adding ten drops of tincture of digitalis to each dose, to moderate the action of the heart and blood vessels. Apply a large blister to the part in pain, and repeat the bleeding in small quantities as often as the pain becomes violent or the cough increased ; let the patient's diet be of gruel, r'.v/-root, and othor simple food, and let him drink plentifully of barley--, vter, contain* ing a drachm of nitre to a pint, with as much lemon juice is is sufficient to make it pl^a^antly acid. When the indammatory symptoms subside, a free expectoration should be promoted. 1'or this purpose, give the following : Take Ainmoniacilm Mixture 5 ounce * Vinegar of Squills, &nd Syrup of Tolu, of each \ oun«e i, ^ J Ff. ?$ B0ME9TIC 1'HYSICIAN. Mix ; take three table-spoonfuls every six hours, and the following pill at bed-time : Take Calomel Opium Emetic Tartar Make a pill with a drop or two of syrup. Heart.—The symptoms are the same as those of inflammation of the lungs, to Avhich are added faintness, anxiety, oppressive pain, and pal- pitation of the heart, with a quick, small and irregular pulse. The treatment the same as the foregoing. Stomach.—Inflammation of this organ is accompanied by acute burn- ing pain in the stomach,increased by pressure or by swallowing food ; fre- quent retching ; occasional hiccup ; quick, small, and hard pulse ; great anxiety and debility ; violent fever and delirium. Begin the treatment by bleeding, and repeat it every five or six hours, as long as the pain and inflammation exist. Cupping and leeches may be applied to the pit of the stomach, which is to be next covered by a large blister ; foment the whole of the belly with hot fomentations; put the patient in a warm bath, and throw up the common domestic glyster every four hours ; no medecine can be ventured on. Bgwels.—The symptoms of inflammation of the intestines are, acute and fixed pain, with sense of heat round about the navel, increased on pressure, attended by fever, nausea, vomiting, obtinate costiveness, and sometimes by a flatulent swelling of the whole belly ; this last symptom indicates great danger. Treatment.—Bleeding, if the hands and feet are not cold ; apply 30 or 40 leeches upon the part, and when they are removed, cover each bite with a bit of black sticking-plaster, and put a large blister over the whole of the belly. To allay the pain and spasm, give a grain of calo- mel, a grain of opium, and two grains of James's powder every three hours. When the inflammatory symptoms have, by these means, been reduced, the bowels must be acted on by the following mixture : Take Castor Oil | ounce ; Beat it up with the yolk of an egg : then add— Infusion of Senna, and Mint Water, of each 3 ounces ; Tincture of Jalap $ ounco ;j Mix, and take three table-spoonfuls every three hours, assisting the in- tention by throwing up the following glyster : Take Infusion of Senna 11 ounces ; : Glauber's Salts r J ounee .' Castor Oil Jounce; Mix. The patient must take nothing but barley-water, beef-tea, and such* Simple things ; and during his recovery he must avoid all improper food; as the disease is very liable to return* Liver.—The character of inflammation of the liver is, violent or dull; 3 grains ; 1 i grain ; i grain ; "DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. 'n 'and heavy pain in the right side of the abdomen, increased on pressure faking a deep breath, or leaning to that side ; there is generally pain on the point of the right shoulder, slight difficulty of breathing.; some de- gree of cough ; occasionally sickness, vomiting, and hiccup, a sallow countenance, and fever. Treatment.—Lose blood, by cupping upon the margin of the ribs ; then apply a blister, in size eight inches in length and six in breadth ; next take a purgative, as the following : Take Epsom Salts 3 drachms; Tincture of Jalap 1 drachm ; Magnesia 1 drachm ; Infusion of Senna 1J ounce ; Mix for a draught ; or, if the the stomach be irritable, the purgative taken in divided doses according to the following form : Take Epsom Salts 1. ounce ; Lemon Juice S table-spoonfuls ; Tincture of Senna £ ounce ; Cinnamon Water 4 ounces ; Mix. Take two table-spoonfuls every hour till it operates. When, by a continuation of this plan, the activity of the disease has been subdued, or in any case where a chronic affection of this organ remains, the use of mercury is necessary ; it may be administered so as to affect the con- stitution, and at the same time to keep up a salutary operation upon the bowels, as follows : TakeCalomel 2 scruples ; Emetic Tartar 5 grains ; Extract of Colocynth 1 drachm ; Opium 15 grains ; Syrup, a sufficient quantity ; Beat them together, and form the mass into 3© pills; take two ev» ry hight at bed time, and follow it in the morning with a tea-spoonful cf Epsoni salts, if the bowels are not sufficiently open without. For chronic affections of the liver, the chalybeate waters of Cheltenham are particus larly efficacious. ■ ■■■ 0 Skin.—When inflammation attacks the covering of the body it is of two kinds, the erysipelatous and phiegmornous ; the former will be dis- cussed under the title of Saint Anthony's Fire, and the latter we shall proceed to describe as follows. It is a circumscribed swelling, (affecting the skin and soft parts beneath,) of a bright red colour, attended with pain, and giving rise to the formation of matter. If the attack be severe or extensive, the person is seized with shivering and other symptoms of fever, the part affected begins to have its surface elevated, and becomes soft and whitish r.this denotes the existence of matter. Treatment.— Apply leeches near the part, or open a vein of the arm. Take the following opening medicine : Take Calomel Compound Extrafct of Colocyntk 1 grain ; 4 grain! ; 78 POMESTIC PHYSICIAN. Make a pill, to be taken at bed time, and purge it off in the morning with Epsom salts. Let the following mixture be taken in the intervals : Take Spirit of Mindererus 3 ounces ; Saltpetre 1 drachm ; Antimonial Wine 1 drachm ; Camphor 5 ounces ; Mix ; take a wine-glassfull every four hours. As an external application, use the following lot"on : Take Extract of Goulard f drachm ; Spirit ofWme § ounces; Water 6 ounces ; Mix. If the inflammation still proceeds and a softness and whiteness of the part ensues, then the treatment recommended for abscess must be a- dopted, INFLAMMATORY SORE THROAT OR QUINSY. Symptoms.—Bi'TicuIfy cf swallowing and breathing ; redness and swelling of the tonsil glands in tne throat; dryness oiii.e throat; foul- ness of the tongue ; head-ache, fever, and sometimes delirium. Treatment.—Bleed from the jugular vein or appi) 20 leeches to the neck, beP'nv the ears ; gi\e an emetic of antimonial wine, and next ap- ply a blister arou-iU the throat. Purging is tben to be effected by giving four or five grains of calomel, and after two hours work it off r»H.h twen- ty grains of jalap and half an oun e of Epsom salts. Promote perspira- tion by taking twenty diops of antimonial wine in a cup of warm gruel every three hours. Scarify the throat, and inhale the steam cf hot vine- gar. Let the following gargle be used very frequently : Take Purified Nitre 2 drachms; Water £ pint; Honey 1 ounce ; Mix- The cor.)7y.on drink should be barley water acidulated with lemon. juu e, and a drachm of saltpetre dissolved in every pint. If the disease proceeds to the formation of matter iind cf ulcers, then a little wine and broth may be allowed. For ulceration the following g argle is useful: Take Infusion of Rcses i pint; Tincture of Myrrh £ ounco j IL.ney of Roses 1 ounce ; Borax 2 drachms ; Mix. Tc abate the tumefaction, a gargle of horseradish tea may be used, or the following : Take Do. octim of Bark i pint; Alum 1 drachm ; m- domestic raxuciAjr. 79 INSANITY. The treatment of insanity is of two kinds, corporeal and mental. In the former the objects are, 1st, to lessen the excitement of the blood- vessels and nerves, when too great, by bleeding, purging,moderate diet, &c; 2dly, to increase them when defective, by a generous diet, mode- rate allowance of wine, and by stimulating medicines, as aether, ammo- nia, bark, myrrh and other tonics, by cold bathing, friction, and exercise. The mental treatment is directed to the infliction of punishment and privation, or the granting of indulgence and reward; to impress awe; to excite a conviction of the exercise of power ; t« inspire confidence ; to humour false notions ; to counteract capricious resolutions; to in- duce a reasonable train of ideas ; but above all, to act with feeling and humanity. Character. — Pimples about the joints, chiefly the wrists, hams, bend of the arms, the waist, and between the fingers : these pimples are at first coming, hard, but afterwards become watery; intolerable itching, especially when warm. Treatment.—The following different preparations are all successful: Take Sulphur Hog's Lard Mix; Take Salt of Tartar Rose Water Red Precipitato Oil of Bergamot Sulphur and Lard, of each Mix ; or, Take Oil of Vitriol Hog's Lard Mix ; or, Take White Precipitate Hog's Lard Mix ; or, Take Sal Ammoniac Nitre, powdered Oxymuriate of Quicksilver Boiling Water 1 ounce, 3 ounces; \ ounee; 1 ounce; 1 ounce; g ounce; y ounces ; 1 drachm 3 ounces; 1 drachm ) j ounce ; 2 drachms ; 1 ounce; 1 drachm; i pint; Dissolve and strain. The bowels should be kept open during the cure, either by an occa- sional purge, or by taking, two or three times a day, a tea-spoonfull of sulphur. «e ©0M63TI0 PIIYSICIAN*. JAUNDICE. The cause of this disorder is an obstruction to the flow of the bile into the bowel sf and consequently its absorption into the blood. Symptoms.—Yellowness of the skin, first at the roots of the nails and in the white of the eyes, urine thick, and of a deep yellowish brown colour, bowels costive, stools clay coloured, bitter taste in the mouth, languor, and generally impaired appetite. Treatment.—If there is pain below the ribs on the right side, take blood from the arm by cupping on the part. If there be acute pain near the pit of the stomach, shooting through between the shoulders, the spasm' must be assuaged by twenty drops or more of laudanum. A large blister may be put upon the right side, or a piece of tartar emetic ointment rubbed over it twice a day till a crop of pimples appear. To relax the bile passages and dislodge the obstructing causes, whether it be mucus, hardened bile, or gall stones, use the following medicines : Take Calomel 18 grains ; Antimonial Powder 1 drachm ; Opium, in powder 6 grains ; Extract of Hemlock £ drachm ; Mix, and divide into twenty-four pills ; take two pills every four hours* The person should go into the warm bath every day, and an emetic of twenty grains of Ipecacuanha be taken every other day. The bowels must be kept open by the following : Infuse two drachms of grated rhubarb in a pint of boiling water for two hours, then strain, and add two drachms of cream of tartar, and half an ounce of tincture of jalap. Take a quarter of this mixture at a dose, and repeat it, if necessary, so as to give two motions daily. If there be nausea and vomiting, the effervescing draught, with four or five drops of laudanum, may be taken every five hours till it subsides ;- and if the pain be very urgent, with tenderness on pressure, or attended with fever, the bleeding may be repeated, and hot fomentations applied to the pit of the stomach. The drink of the patient should be soda water, and the diet soft. A continuation of the above means is the plan by which a recent at- tack of jaundice may be removed ; if the disease has been of long stand- ing, the treatment to be as follows : Take Blue Pill 1 scruple ; Extract of Hemlock 1 drachm; Mix, and divide into 24 pilk ; take three pills every night and morning : or, Take Calomel i drachm ; Powdered Rhubarb 1 drachm ; Soap (Castile) 2 drachm. ; Oil of Juniper 10 drops; Mix, and divide into 50 pills. Take four pills every night and morning. The Mowing mixture to be taken with either of the preceding pills ; DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. 81 Take Infusion of Gentian, compound i pint; Subcarbonate of Soda 2 drachms ; Tincture of Columba 6 drafehms ; Mix, and take a wine-glassful three times a day. Horse exercise should be used, electricity tried, the kidnies excited by drinking parsley root tea, and the Cheltenham waters taken. Jaundice in infants should be treated with an emetic of ipecacuanha Wine, and the next day a grain of calomel, with five grains of rhubarb ; these medicines to be continued alternately every day, using frictions to the belly, and the Warm bath, until the disorder be removed. This disease consists in an eruption of copper-coloured spots upo;i the body ; but not being a disorder that occurs in England, it is unneces- sary to go into a detail either of its symptoms or treatment. LOCKED JAW OR TRISMUS. Locked jaw is merely one of the symptoms of Tetanus, which is a Violent spasmodic affection of the muscles, especially of the neck and the trunk of the body. In warm climates it arises from a variety -*bf natural causes, but in England it is caused only by punctures, wounds, surgical operations, and bad fractures of the limbs. The treatment of locked jaw is at present by no means satisfactory; and all that can be urged in this place on the subject is, to recomrbnd large and repeated doses of laudanum, and to salivate the patient as speedily as possible, by rubbing in considerable quantities of mercurial ointment. A cure has lately been reported, as effected by acupuncluration. MEASLES. Synipioms.—Measles begin with chilliness, shiverings, pains in the ' head, back and loins, thirst, redness of the face and eyes, swellino- of the eyelids, the eyes are watery and hot, the stomach nauseated,&the breathing quick, there is a dry ccugh, hoarseness, frequent sneezing, and discharge from the nose. The pulse is quick and fuli, there is °a sense of tightness over the chest, and fever; and sometimes delirium or stupor. About tho fourth day small red spots, resembling flea bites, appear in clusters about the face, neck and breast, and successively on the lower parts of the body, running together into large patches ; those spots are not visibly elevated above the surface of the skin, but if touched gently they may be felt to be elevated into little pimples. The cough, hoarseness, difficulty ■ of breathing, discharge from the eyes and nostrils, and fever increases, and on the sixth day, or the se- cond or third from the time of the eruption, the spots lose their brio-ht redness, and acquire a brownish hue ; and in three days more they be- gin to disappear, first on the breast, and leave a dry mealy scurf upon the skin. Treatment.—If the complaint be mild, it will be necessary merely to keep the child from exposure to cold or heat, from heating liquors and ■olid animal food, and to preserve the bowels open. But if the symp- 82 DOMESTIC riIY?ICIA>\ toms are urgent, the fever running high, tho cough severe, the breath, ing oppressed, and tho pulse increased, a tea-cup?ul of blood should be taken from the arm ; or leeches or cupping-glasses, applied to the chest, and a blister to be afterwards put on, or laid between tho should- ers ; the bowels opened by the following medicine : Take Fpsoro Sal.s ! drachm; ^anna a drachms ; Infusion of Senna 1 ounce • Mix, for a draught. The cough and fever to he moderated by the following mixture : TAe Almond N'ixtm-e 3 ounces • Antimonia. Wine 1 drachm'; Powdered Gum Arabic 2 drachms- Oxymel 1 ounce . Laudanum jq drops ; Mix, Take a table-spoonful every two hours. The air of the room to be kept cool ; the diet to consist entirely of vegetables and fruit, and the drink to be lemonade or apple water. If, notwithstanding these mean?, the severity of the disease increases, bleeding should be again resorted to, either by the lancet, by leeches,, or by cupping, and the fox ghjve administered as follows : Take Tincture of Digitalis 30 drops ; Antimonial Wine 25 drops • Spirit of iWinderfrus ]£ ounce; Syrup of White Poppies £ ounce ; W^ter 3 ounces ; Make a mixture, of winch the chili is to take a table-spoonful every four hours. If purging arises and becomes excessive, it must be checked byjbleect- ing only. When the eruption suddenly strikes in, or recedes too early, the warm bath must be used, blisters applied to the legs, a little wine and; water given, and the following medicine administered : Take Antimonial Powder, and Camphor, of each '2 grains; Subcarbonate of Ammonia 3 grains ; Mix for a powder ; give the child one of these powders every four hours, until the danger is passed. When the eruption hns disappeared at its proper dm?, the child should take a dose of E >som silts and infusi-m of senni, which should be repeated every morning. This prevents the bad effects of the disor-. der upen the eyes and the lungs. When measles assume the putrid or typhus type, they must be treat- ted as recommended for thoie disorders. In some cises, the measles 'aa-'e the lungs in such a state of engorge- ment, t.,at the child, after days of iuf.ouied breathing, dies exhausted ; in this.case,give the powder recommended above ; substituting one grain of Ipecacuanha for the antimonial powder. DOMESTIC PIIY3IOLAX. 33 MESENTERIC DISEASE. When the glands of the bowels (called the mesenteric glands) are diseased, the child suffers pain in the belly, the eyes become glassy and sunken, the nose sharpened, the face pale, the lips often tumefied, and the belly enlarged. The bowels either costive or relaxed, but general- ly the latter : and though the appetite commonly remains good, often voracious even, yet the child rapidly emaciates. As the disease goes on, the child becomes peevish and fretful, the skin hot and dry, the tongue white, the motions pasty, or frothy and offensive, and towards evening fever comes on, which abates a little in the morning. It at- tacks children from a few months old to ten or twelve, and is a very for-' midable disorder. It is very apt to occur in infants after weaning. Treatment.—A grain of cpJomel thould be given every night ; and if the bowels are relaxed two or three grains of Dover's powder twice a day ; or a glyster, composed of a tea-cupful of starch jelly, with fifteen or twenty drops of laudanum ; the child should be put into the warm bath, every second or third day, and the belly rubbed with opodeldoc night and morning. If a little opium be dissolved in the embrocation, it will assist in checking the purging. On the other hand, if the child be ccstrve, the bcwelsshould be opened by three grains oi colomel, ai d six of rhubarb (or ten cr twelve grains, if the patient be of an age to require it.) as often as is necessaiy ; or the following powder may be given, to open the bowels, and, at the same time, recruit the strength : Take Sal Polychrest 1 Scruple ; Powdered Columba % drachm ; Powdered Rhubarb 10 grains; Mix; and divide into six papers. Take one powder, three limes a day, in a little wormwood tea, continuing the use of the calomel at night. But there is nothing so necessary as pure air ; the child, if inhabiting a city should be removed into the country ; if it has been recently weaned, it should be put to the breast again. The diet, in allc'ases, should consist of new milk, good stale bread, and animal broths, If the enlargement of the belly does not readily subside, the quicksilver liniment pf the shops may be rubbed over the belly twice a day, MILIARY FEVER. Symptoms.—Fever, with an eruption of very small spots, like millet seeds, over the whole of the body ; the perspiration is sour, and of a rank smdl ; and there is great depression of spirits and strength. Al- though this fever attacks both sexes, it is lying-in women (hat are princi- pally affecti d with it, and it is supposed to arise from external heat. Treatment.—The patient should be lightly covered, the chamber kept cool, all liquids taken should be cold, and the bowels kept moving by small doses of Epsom salts. The strength must be supported by wine, and the use of decoction of bark, with elixir of vitriol ; and if there be sickness, a wine-glassful of camphor julep, with a tea-spoonful of tincture of snake K>Qt, three or four times a day. If delirium comes on, apply blisters ta 54 domestic rnrskiAi?. the legs, put them into hot water, and administer a tea-spootfful of harts'- horn in camphor julep ever} five hours. mortification. Mortification or gangrene is the consequence of previous inflammation, and consists in the death of the part. The Appearance is too well known to need description. Treatment.—As soon as this effect is threatened, by the part assuming a black or livid hue, a poultice should be applied, made with linseed mpal and stale beer grounds ; the constitution must be supported, by giving ten grains of subcarbonate ol ammonia, with twenty drops of laudanum, in a* Wine-glassful of camphor julep, every five or six hours ; or the ammonia' may be combined with an equal quantity of niusk, and made into a bolus, the! laudanum and camphor being taken after it. When the beer grounds fail in correcting the state of the mortification, the poultice should be made with port wine. The part may also be bathed twice a day, with hot spirit of turpentine. When tbe mortification has stopped, the following appli- cation is very useful : Take Conserve of Roses . • 1 ounce ; Honey of Roses, L'aifdanum, arM Extract of Goulard, of each 2 drachms ;' Mix. As soon"as tho dead part begins to loosen, the following lotion shoulrf be applied : Take Nitric Acid 50 drops ; Water 1 pint; Mix. The patient's diet must be liberal, and wine must be allowed him'.' Bark, which was formerly considered as the sheet anchor, is now aban-. doned ; but Sir Astley Cooper suggests, that the use of the sulphato of quinine, (as advised for Ague, p. 16,) might bo of great service. Mortification of the toes of old persons is of a peculiar nature. The first appearance is redness, in a few days the skin peels off, and a dis- coloured ehocolate-looking fluid oozes out. Red lines are now seen run- ning from the part up the foot and leg, and the glands in the groin become inflamed and enlarged. Then the toes turn black, and the gangrene seizes the foot and extends up the leg, but seldom reaches tbe thigh: The person is feverish and his cheeks flushed, The treatment should be a port wine poultice; and tbe medicines of atnrhonia, musk, opium' and camphor, as advised for other cases of mortification; but it is gen- erally fatal. MUMPS. Chiefly attacks children, and is very contagious. It is a swelling of the glands of the neck, in Ecme instances confined to one side, but most commonly attacks both. The disease comes on with lassitude, restless- ness, chills, and slight fever ; stiffness and pain about the lower jaw ; thef DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. S£ glands then begin to enlarge, and continue to increase till the fourth day, and then decline, and in a few days more it goes entirely off. If the swelling subsides suddenly, more fever ensues ; and the disease attacks the breast of females, and the testicles of males. The tumours in tbe neck, in some instances, but very rarely, proceed to the formation of mat- ter, and cases have occured where they have burst inwardly, and suffo- cated the patient. Treatment.—In general, the disease is so slight that no medicine is required, but where the symptoms are severe, the parts should be kept warm and covered with a blister. The bowels opened by a little salts and senna ; and if the fever runs high, a little blood may be taken from the arm, and five or six grains of nitre, with five or six drops of antimon- ial wine, may be given every four hours. When the disease quits the neck and attacks the testicle or the breast, leeches must be applied to the newly attacked parts, cooling physic administered, and goulard water used as a lotion. NETTLE RASH. Symptoms.—A slight degree of fever either precedes or attends an eruption which resembles that produced by the stinging of nettles ; dis- persed over various parts of the body, and accompanied by a consider- able degree of heat and itching. Treatment.—-It is a very mild disease, and merely requires the bowels $o be opened, and nitre and antimonial wine administered, as recom- mended for Mumps ; sometimes, however, it assumes a chronic form, lasting for months ; in this case, five grains of Plummer's pill should be taken every night, and a wine-glassful of the infusion of Virginian snake foot, with ten or fifteen drops of elixir of vitriol, two or three times a day. There is a slight kind of nettle rash that attacks infants, but re- quires no other treatment than the precaution of preventing exposure to eold. NIOHTMARB. Symptoms.—In slight degrees of this affection, the patient is awaked py a harrassing dream: but in the more severe cases, he is sensible during sleep (or in a state between sleeping and waking) of an oppress- ion or weight about the chest. This sensation increases, he strives to move, or call out, but is unable to do either. At length the patient throws off his weight, starts, so as to awake himself, or merely changes his position, and falls to sleep again ; but in the latter case, he is liable to a return of the paroxysm. Treatment.—This complaint arises from indigestion ; and therefore the means as advised for that complaint, p. 71, must be used ; care- fully avoiding all kinds of food, either indigestible or flatulent; intempe- rance, sedentary life, intense study, gloomy contemplations, late hours, and heavy suppers. Where the patient wakes disturbed and oppressed with feelings of nightmare upon him, he should take a little aether or l$andy and water,. Bn DOMESTIC I'UXSICIAK. NOCTUHNAL EMISSIONS. Treatment.—Occasional cold applications to the parts ; cold bathing ; attention to the general health ; a blister to the lower part of the back ; a pill at bed time, composed of three grains of camphor, one grain of opium, and a quarter of a grain of emetic tartar. The mind should be allowed lu dwell as litlio es possible on the subject likely to produce the effect ; and marriage may be advised. The plan laid down under the head of hnpoiency,"should be hero followed. The Tonic Wine has had great success in this complaint. OBSTRUCTION OF THE MENSES. Under this head rnav be ranked three disorders—!. Retention of the Menses, or Green Sckaess, (this has already been described at p. 65 J) 2. Suppressed Menstruation. 3. Irregular A'-nsttualion. Suppressed Menstruation. —After menstruation has once commen- ced, if it does not continue to appear at the proper periods, it is denominated suppressed menstruation. The injection'advised for green sickness should be first tried ; fol- lowed by the same means there recommended. Irregular Menstruation.—If the menstrual period recurs oftenef than from twenty-seven to thirty day;, or returns after a longer time only, this state may be called Irregular. If the constitution does not appear to suffer; nature should be left alone ; but where the interference of art is called in, it should be' employed to strengthen the general system and improve the health, without any direct means being employed in reference to the complaint itself. Paineul Menstruation.—Some females suffer, on the approach of the period of menstruation, severe pain in the back, loins, and bottom of the belly. To obviate this, the patient should take, a day or two previous to its expected approach, the following pill : Take Sulphate of Iron f drachm ; . , r 1 scruple ; Aloes „ ■ r . ~, . 3 grains Opium „ . 6 Syrup a sufficieat quantity to form a mass , To be divided into twelve pills ; take one pill three times a day The hip bath should be used, or the belly and loins fomented with hot water; and if the bowels are not open, the quantity of aloes in the above pill may be increased. -palpitation or tiie heart. This arises from-hystcncal and nervous disorders, and may be treat- ed by the nervous medicines recommended for hyste cs at PJ but Jit proceeds from an enlargement or disease of the I>e* < ^£ or of if v-ssel- which may be known by the difficulty of breathing, pur°pl h e of the lips an/cheeks, pain about the heau and over t e chest, and cramp of the legs, tben the disease is very ft>rmidable, and requires the aid cf an experienced physician. In bihous constitutions, a table-spconful of lemon juice will sometimes remove it. »OMKSTftl PKYSIOIAN, s? PALSY. Symptoms.—The motion of some part of the body greatly diminish- ed, or entirely suspended, and the sense of leeling impared. It most frequently attacks the whole of one side, but sometimes the arm only, rarely the Irg and thigh alone ; uud often individual parts, as the tongue, occasioning stammering and loss of speech ; the bladder and lovv'ef bowel suffering the urine and stools to pass off involuntarily.- It is most commonly the effect of apoplexy. Treatment.—As the disease is produced by commpression of the brain or spinal marrow, this should bo relieved by taking away blood, by cuppir.g or leeche?, from the head cr back part of the neck, or by openi'ig the temporal artery or jugular vein. A blister should be kept open in the neck, or an iaaue or a scaton. The bowels preserved open by taking a grain of calomel at nif the heart or its vessels, an issue should be made in each thigh, or a -eatoa on the chest, the bowels kept open, and the following medicine admi- nistered : Take White Vitriol 15 giains ; Extract of Hops 2 drachms ; 68 DOMESTIC P1IYSICIAX. Mix ; and divide into thirty pills. Take two pills three times a day. The directions given in the preceding article should be scrupulously observed in this disease, substituting the warm instead of the shower bath. PILES. Treatment—Prevent Costiveness by taking the following :. Take Lenitive Electuary 2 ounces ; Powdered Jalap 2 drachms ; Nitre )£ drachm; Mix ; take a tea-spoonful e\erv morning, or as often as is requisite. Relieve the pain and fulness by applying leeches to the part, and; goulard water ; when the iritationof the part has been thus somewhat subdued, use the following soothing, and astringent ointment: Take Powdered Galls 2 drachms ;, Opium powdered 1 drachm ; Sugar of Lead £ drachm ; White Wax 2 drachms ; Sweet Oil 1 ounce ; Melt the wax in the oil, and then stir in the other articles. Hot port wine is an efficacious fomentation. Where the piles have remained some time, occasioning much relaxa- tion of the part, use the following injection :. Tuke Oak Bark bruised, 1 ounce ;. Water 1± pint; boil to one pint and strain, then add, Alum 1 draehm. In the bleeding piles do nothing but keep perfectly quiet, and use a^ cooling vegetable diet. The treatment of internal piles requires the attendance of a surgeon. Those afflicted with piles should prevent either costiveness or loose-, ness, and avoid all opening medicine containing aloes. The antidotes for the various poisons are as follow : Arsenic—Give large draughts of linseed tea, :*s soon as vomiting has been procured by twenty or thirty grains of white vitriol. After the sickness is over, give castor oil, and drink largely of lime-water, or of milk. Corrosive Sublimate.—Beat up the whites of fifteen eggs with a quart of cold water ; take a wine-glassful every two or three minutes, until sickness ensues ; flour and water, or soap and water, may be taken in a similar manner. DOMESTIC ynusiciAN. 8U Deadly Nightshade—Emetic of white vitriol ; then a purgative of jalap, and drink plentifully of vinegar and water or lemon juice. Foxglove. — Brandy and water and a blister to ihe stomach. Fool's Parsley.—Emetic of white vitriol, a jalap purge, and plenty of linseed-tea. Poisonous Mushrooms. — Emetic of three grains of tartar emetic, with a scruple of ipecacuanha ; next a purge of castor oil, and lastly vinegar and water. Hemlock.—Emetic of white vitriol, and then plenty of vinegar and water. Henbane.—Emetic of white vitriol, and next vinegar and water in frequent draughts. Laurel Water.—Brandy. Lime.— Vinegar, lemon juice, or other acids. Meadow Saffron. — Emetic of warm water, and then ten drops of laudanum every two or three hours. Monkshood.—Emetic of white vitriol, and afterwards draughts of vine- gar and water. Spirits of Salts or Muriatic Acid.—Give soap and water, or large quantities of calcined magnesia, with plenty of linseed-tea. Butter of Antimony.—Very large draughts of linseed-tea, to produce vomiting, and then thirty drops of laudanum to quiet the stomach. Mussels.—Emetic of white vitriol ; purge next with castor oil ; take plenty of vinegar and water, and every now and then thirty drops of aether. Nitre or Saltpetre.—Drink largely of milk, so as to produce sickness ; give glysters of gruel repeatedly ; lastly, brandy and water, with five or six drops of laudanum repeatedly. Aqua Fortis, or Nitric Acid.—Large quantities of soap and water, or calcined magnesia in linseed tea ; drink either of these until sickness ensues. Laudanum.—Emetic of white vitriol or of blue vitriol, forty grains of the former, or ten grains of the latter; after the stomach has been empr tied, drink strong coffee, vjnegar and water, a little brandy and water occasionally ; and the person should be kept walking about as long as the propensity to sleep remains. Oxalic ylcid.—Give copious draughts of chalk and water, and produce vomiting by tickling the throat with a feather. Sugar of Lead.—Give an ounce of castor oil in milk, drink plenty of linseed-tea, and throw up repeated glysters of water-gruel. Oil of Vitriol.—Large draughts of milk with calcined magnesia, or soap, or salt of tartar, half an ounce of the latter to a pint of milk. Emetic Tartar.-r-Drink large quantities of decoction of bark. Tobacco.—=G\ve three grains of tartar emetic to excite vomiting, and afterwards plenty of vinegar and water. If the patient be stupificd, rouse him with brandy and aether. Verdigris.—Give large draughts of sugar and water, until sickness is produced. White Vitriol.—Drink freely of milk. Though the mention of linsced-tea frequently occurs, any soft thick fluid will anwer the puropses*; such as gruel, arrow-root, gumarabicf decoction of mallow roots or quince seeds ; and, in all casts, the stom- G [JO DOMESTIC PlIViLClAtf. ach pump invented by Messrs. Scott and Jukes, should be resorted to if possible. PHEGNANCY. The disorders of pregnancy are as follows : 1st. Sickness and Vomiting.—if these symptoms are moderate, nothing more is necessary than to keep the bowels open by a tea-spoonful ofcas- orod, if necessary, every morning ; but if they be severe, blood must be taken from the arm, or three or four leeches applied to the pit of the stomach ; a drachm of laudanum, mixed with a tea-cupful of thin starch, used as a glyster. The drink may be soda water, lemonade, saffron tea camom.le tea, &c. A wme-glassful of the infusion of Colomba, taken three or four times a day is an efficacious remedy 2. //,arj-6«rn.--Magnesia to be taken, or, if the bowels are too open, prepared chalk is used. Vide p. 67. V 3. Pain in the Stomach requires'25 drops of laudanum with a tea. spoonful of tether ,n a g ass of peppermint water, followed by a glyster of two ounces of Epsom salts ,„ a pint of gruel, and an application of a mustard poultice to the pit of the stomach 4 Jaundice-If the pulse be full, bleed, apply fomentations to the pit of the stomach, and give the glyster recommended in the last paragraph ; and lessen the pain with a laudanum and starch glyster 5. Coshveness.-To prevent this effect, one or more of the following pills may be taken at night : b Take Aloes , . , Gamboge * dra 18. 13. Looseness.—Administer the common glyster, and after it has Come away, throw up two drachms of laudanum with a tea-cupful of thiu starch ; put a bandage firmly round the belly, and take the mixture re- commended at p. 96. 14. Costiveness—-To be prevented either by the common domestic glyster ; or by taking a table-spoonful of castor oil, or three drachms of Epsom salts, with two drachms of manna in a little peppermint-water, and repeating it three or four hours afterwards, if necessary. 15. Milk Fever--Tins commences with cold shivering succeeded by heat, about the third day, when the breasts become full, hard, and painful. The treatment consisis in giving warm gruel or lemonade, open- ning the bowels freely with Epsom salts, and administering ten grains of nitre, with four or five of antimonial powder every four hours. This fever is to be avoided by putting tbe child to the breast soon after delive- ry, and if the milk forms faster than the infant can remove it, the breast should be drawn three or four times a day. If the mother does not suckle her infant, she should live on a very spare diet, drink but little, keep the bowels loose by taking a tea-spoonful of Epsom salts twice or three times daily, have the breasts gently rubbed with warm sweet oil and a little brandy, and if they are hard and painful, fomented with vine- gar and water. 16. Inflammation of ihe Breasts.—The pain, hardness, and knotty swelling, is best relieved by the following plan. Let the breasts be emptied, as far as it can be done without much pain, two or three times a day, then gently rubbed with warm sweet oil, and lastly a warm poul- tice made by dissolving a drachm of sugar of lead in a pint of water, and thickeningit with crumbs ofbread, If the inflammation be violent, thtp brests being red and very painful, instead of a poultice, leeches must be applied, and the parts kept covered by a piece of folded linen wetted in tho following lotion : ; .....'''■ " Take Spirit of Mindererus, Spirit of Wine, and Water, of each 2 ounces ; Mix. The bowels must be freely opened by Epsom salts, and the fol- lowing mixture taken: DOMESTIC PHYSIOIAX. 9i Take Nitre 1 drachm ; Antimonial Wine I drachm « Syrup of White Poppies 1 ounce; Water 6 ounces ; Mix ; take three table-spoonfuls every four hours. If matter forms, the abscess must be opened, and treated by poultices and hot fomentations. 17. Sore Nipples.—Use a cow's teat, and keep the nippies cool with a lotion of fifteen grains of white vitriol in four ounces of rose-water ; or of alum, instead of vitriol ; or with port wine, or brandy and water, or goulard water, or Hollands gin, or a mixture of equal parts of cream and extract of goulard. The nipples may also be sprinkled with a powder composed of half an ounce of gum arabic and five grains of alum, or with tutty powder, or with oxide of bismuth, or oxide of zinc. Or the nipples may be dressed with a little honey thickened with flour, and containing a little powdered borax. It is necessary to remark, that the applications require frequent change and the nipples should be washed whenever tho child is about to be placed to the breasts. 18. Inflammation of the Womb.—Bleeding in small quantities, and frequently repeated ; give a drachm of Epsom salts with fifteen drops of antimonial wine every two hours, and apply cold wet cloths constantly over the whole of the belly. If the pain and tenderness remain unsub- dued, bleeding must be employed again, or thirty or forty leeches ap* plied to the part. 19. Inflammation of the Bowels.—To be treated as directed at p. 76. 20. Miliary Fever.—For the treatment refer to p. 83. 21. Puerperal Fever.—^-This is the most dangerous disease that at- tacks lying-in women ; the symptoms are, great tenderness and constant pain of the belly, short breathing, pain in the forehead, wildness of the eyes, anxiety of face attended with a peculiar expression of countenance, great weakness, suppression or lessening of the discharge, emptiness of the breasts, and an unnatural smell in the evacuations. The disease comes on sometimes a few hours after delivery, but generally two or three days, and sometimes a week ; the danger is greater as it comes on earlier. Treatment.—Take blood from the arm as soon as the disease shows itself, or apply twenty leeches to the belly if the pain is not mitigated in six hours. Give five grains of calomel with twenty grains of jalap, and administer a small tea-spoonful of Epsom salts every hour afterwards, until the bowels are thoroughly opened ; to assist which a glyster may be given, and repeated, if necessary. When flee evacuations have been produced, give five grains of Dover's powder, in a pill, with the efferve- scing draught every four hour. If the pain be severe, although the bow- els have been freely opened, give ten drops of laudanum with the above, and at bed-time, fifty drops may be administered. If there is vomiting, a drachm of Rochelle salts, with three or four drops of laudanum, should be taken in the effervescing draught every hour. If purging be obstinate, give the chalk mixture, with ten drops of laudanum at each dose, The treatment above advised niU3t be pursued daily, until the disease is removed; keeping the bowels freely opened by purgatives, and les- sening the pain by opiates. When the patient is convalescent, she majp 9-fi DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN.' take bark, wine, and a nourishing diet. The disease is highly conla gious, and may be carried in the clothes of persons from one lying-in woman to another; pregnant females likewise will receive the infec- tion, producing miscarriage, and oftentimes death. 22. Convulsions.—These have already been spoken of at p. 44. 23. Madnfss. — Apply leeches to the temples, open the bowels with calomel and jalap, and allay irritation by giving a pill composed of three grains of camphor, and four grains of extract of henbane, every four hours, washing them down with thirty drops of aether in a little cinnamon-water. Grertt difficulty arises to lion-medical persons in distinguishing the real cause of this disorder, and therefore the treatment here recommended is such as may safely be used in most attacks of this disorder ; first give in the evening an emetic of twenty grains of powdered ipecacuanha ; ihe next morning twenty-five or thirty grains of rhubarb in a draught of cinnamon water may be taken, and at bed-time twelve grains of Dover's powder. If this does not remove the complaint, take the following : Take Chalk Julep £ pint ; Compound Tincture of Cinnamon $ ounce; Laudanum | drachm ; Mix, and take a wine-glassful after every relaxed motion. A glyster may be also injected, composed of two drachms of laudanum with a tea-cupful of thin starch. The feet should be put into licit water, the body preserved warm by pro- per clothing, and the diet should be soft ami nutritious, as bread and milk, arrow root, sago, rice, batter or bread pudding, custards, beef or mutton broth, gruel. &c. Meat, fruits, vegetables, pastries, malt liquors, acid drinks, &c. must be avoided : the (liilds proper for drinking are barley water, toast and water, lea and coffee, decoction of Iceland moss, of cal- cined hartshorn, of mallow roots, of linseed, of gum arabic, or of quince seeds. When the disease resists these means, or has been of long standing, as- tringents must be resorted to : Take Tormentil Root (bruised,) and Common Bistort, of each 6 drachms ; Water 3 pints ; boil to a quart, and strain : a wine-glassful to be taken fbur times a day ; <>ue ot ihe following boluses to be added to each dose, if necessary : ISiko Ahim, powdered LO grains ; Extract of Logwood j drachm ; Mix. The fallowing tonic astringent medicine is also useful Take Pomegranalo Bark f ou Boiling Water j pii infuse in a covered vessel for two hours, then stvain and add domestic nnrsiciAX. 97 Tincture of Gum Kino 1 ounce ; Mix ; take a wine-glassful three or four times a day- The warm bath should be frequently used, and all the cautions before mentioned with regard to diet, strictly attended to. The purging of children, if arising from teething, should not be check- ed, except very immoderate, when the following may be given : Take Powdered Rhubarb I drachm ; Calcined Magnesia 1 drachm ; Dill Water 4 ounces : Sal Volatile, and Jiaudanum, of each i drachm ; Mix; take a desert-spoonful after every motion. The purging of chil- dren brought up by hand should be treated with the above ; the milk used should be boiled and the bread toasted. Green* sour smelling stools, which generally arise in childen from disordered digestion, should be corrected by first giving a smart dose of rhubarb and magnesia, and af- terwards the following : Take Prepared Chalk 4 grains ; Calomel i grain ; Mix ; to be taken every night and morning. When a purging of slimy, frothy matter, sometimes tinged with blood, ensues, and the child becomes thin and emaciated, an emic of ipecacu- anha should be given^ and the above powders administered. Thirty drops of laudanum in thin starch should be used as a glyster every day ; the warm bath used ; diet of beef broth, boiled milk, with calf-foot jelly disolved ; wine whey, &c. : change of air sometimes removes the dis- order. PUTRID OR MALIGNANT FEVER. Symptoms.—Languor, lowness of spirits, weariness, debility, and sore- ness, are the earliest symptoms ; then succeed chillness, burning heat, quick breathing, sickness, sometimes vomiting of bile, distressing head- ache, noise in the ears, throbbing »>f the temples, eyes sunk and dti'l. countenance sallow or reddish, restlessness, delirium, tongue foul, often brown or black, blackness and incrustation of the teeth and lips, urine scanty, strong, and deeply coloured, stools dark and offensive, often purple spots on various parts of the body. Is this disease contagious ?—The fever is not in itself contagious, but is capable of producing infection under certain circumstances : if the precautions given, under the article " Contagion," (p. 43,) were obsei v* ed,or could be enforced, no instance, perhaps, would be known of one person becoming infected by another in this disorder.; but where a pa- tient with putrid fever lies confined in a small unventilated room, crowd- ' ed by other inmates who are breathing the air contaminated by the nox- ious exhalations from the piiient's breath, body.and evacuations.and them* selves unhealthy from improper food and a want of cleanliness, no wonder that the disease spreads and attacks whole families and neighbourhoods, S8S DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. as is but too often witnessed in the wretched garrets and cellars of Giles," and some other parishes of Westminster and London. Treatment. — In the first twenty-four hours after the attack, bleeding is decidedly useful, but after this time, great caution is necessary in re- sorting to it- The first medicine given should be twenty grains of ipeca- cuanha, to produce vomiting, and after its operation is over, a purgative of five grains of calomel, with ten grains of the compound extract of co- locynth made into pills, and should it not operate in three or four hours, a wine-glassful of senna tea may be taken to hasten it, and the common house glyster administered. The head is next to be shaved and kept cool by being covered with a napkin dipped in cold vinegar and water. In the evening, when the fever is usually at its height, the patient should he sponged over the whole of the body with vinegar and water, or he should be seated in a tub, and two or three pailfuls of cold water poured over tbe head ; or it may be done at any time of the day when the pa- tient is neither cold nor sweating, and should be repeated daily. Perspiration may be encouraged by giving a grain of calomel, three grains of antimonial powder, and five grains of confection of opium, made into a pill every three hours. The patient should be covered very lightly, and his diet should consist simply of gruel, panado, arrow-root, custard, veal broth, riced mjlk, pudding, vegetables, and fruit; the drink, barley water, lemonade, cider, apple tea, toast and water, and other simple liquids. This is the plan necessary during the first week or ten days ; which having elapsed, the patient must be supported by wine or beer ; but the former should not be given in large quantities, but half a glass should he mixed with water, or made into negus, or added to soda water and administered every hour or two ; the cold affusion to be continued, the L«»els opened by the calomel and colocynth pills, and the following medi- cine given : Take Angelica Root Water boil to a quart, and strain; then add Muriatic Acid 6 drachms ; Laudanum 2 drachms; Mix; a pint to be taken daily in the quantity of a wine-glassful at a time. A decoction of the common avens may be substituted for the above ; or should neither of these roots be procurable, an infusion of cascarilla or *■- colomba may be used instead, and when the disorder begins to decline, a decoction of bark may be substituted ; but the latter must not be given while the tongue is dry and hard. During the disease, if pain or tenderness of any part arises, leeches and blisters should be applied, whether to the temples, the chest, the side, the pit of the stomach, or the belly. If purging ensues, that does not appear to assist in bringing the disorder to, a crisis, it should be checked by the following: 1 ounce ; 3 pints; Domestic physician 99 Take Decoction,of Tormentil and Bistort, described in the article on purging 1 pint ; Tincture of Kino i ounce ; Laudanum 1 drachm ; Mix; a wine-glassful to be taken every four hours. To procure sleep and quiet at night, take two table-spoonfuls of Min- dererus's spirit, thirty drops of laudanum, the same quantity of antimoni- al wine, and a wine-glassful of camphor julep. For ulcers in the mouth and throat, use the following gargle : Take Bugle Leaves 1 ounce ; Boiling Water 1 pint ; let them stand till cold, and add — Borax 2 drachms ; Honey of Roses 2 ounces ; Mix : or a mixture of an ounce of alum to a pint of water, sweetened with honey, forms a good gargle. For moistening and cooling the mouth and throat, and thereby lessen- ing the progress of ulceration, a very efficacious remedy is a syrup made by boiling a pint of the juice of barberries with a pound and a half of loaf sugar ; it may be put into the mouth alone, or mixed with water. PUTRID OR MALIGNANT SORE THROAT. This disorder being merely one of the symptoms of scarlet fever, will be treated of under the latter head. RASHES, OR CUTANEOUS AFFECTIONS OF CHILDREN. 1. Yellow Gam.—This is merely a species of jaundice, the treatment of which has been considered at p. 81. 2. Red Gum—Consists of a number of small red elevated spots ap- pearing soon after birth, and scattered over the body, and sometimes on the face and the feet, on the latter of which they are sometimes very large, bearing quite a head of clear fluid, and very red for some space on the skin around them, so as to give almost the appearance of measles. Treatment.— Medicine is unnecessary, except the eruption suddenly disappears and the child denotes pain or spasms, when an emetic of two or three grains of ipecacuanha may be given, afterwards a little rhubarb and magnesia to open the bowels, and the child should be put ihto warm water. 3. White Gum.— This is an eruption of white, hard, and elevated spots, resembling the itch, and sometimes, if rubbed or scratched, a clear water oozes out, but not always. Treatment.— Frequent washing with soap and water, and touching the parts three times a day with a little lemon juice. 4. Tooth-rash.— Small red spots, set so close on the extremities as to resemble patches.but on the body they are larger and distinct like measles. Treatment.—Rhubarb and magnesia occasionally. tf 100 DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN, 5. Galling.— This has been considered under the article Excoria- tions, p. 58. 6. Milk Blotches —These are eruptions, red at the top. containing matter like honey, sometimes large and distinct, at others running into patches, becoming covered with yellowish-brown scabs, appearing on the forehead and face. Treatment.—The disease is owing to a full diet, which must there- fore be reduced ; and if the child be at the breat, the nurse must les- sen hers. One grain of calomel and three of jalap may be given every third day, and the eruption bathed with lime-water frequently. 7. Syphiitic Eruptions.—Very soon after birth, copper coloured blotches appear, which end in ulcers and scabs ; the mouth and throat become ulcerated ; the gums turn purple, and discharge an offensive matter ; the voice hoarse ; the fundament sore and chapped ; the eyes inflamed, and the child emaciated, with the countenance of an old man, or rather of an ape. Treatment.—The child must either have been infected by the nurse, or one of its parents could not have been in a proper state of health *. let it be taken to a judicious surgeon, as a course of mercury can alone save its life. 0. Erysipelas.—See article " St. Anthony's Fire." 9. Blisters.—These affect sickly children, and are symptoms of de- bility and fever. They should be opened with a needle, and the child's strength supported by a nourishing diet; but few recover. 10. Boils.—Pursue the treatment advised at p. 27, and improve the plate of the constitution by diet, good air, and decoction of bark. 11. Itch. — Infants with this disease maybe treated with any of the applications advised at p. 79. 12. Roseola is an eruptive disease somewhat resembling measles or scarlet fever, but is without sneezing, cough, watery eye, sore throat or fever ; the child is, however, sometimes seized with convulsions, drow- siness, and even delirium ; but these soon yield to an opening glyster, tire warm bath and a purgative, composed of three grains of calomel with foHr or five of rhubarb. It is, however, in general, so harmless a disease, that no medicine is necessary. 13. Skin-bound.—The symptoms of this are, that the skin becomes more light than usual, particularly about the mouth and neck ; then bard, shi- ning, and of a yellow waxy appearance, and cannot be pinched up between . When the pressure of the truss occasions a swelling towards the testicle, or of the testicle itself, loosen the thigh strap, or weaken the force of the spring a little. 7. Whoever wears a truss, must never be without it, either by night or day, for if the rupture onaes down but once, it destroys all the good effecta towards a cure that the truss may have procured in months. When a euro has been effected, the truss should be laid by cautiously, at first, only at night, and, when omitted in the day, great care should be taken against strains or violent exertions. P. S. —Cole's truss is the best that is in use. st. Anthony's fire, or erysipelas. This disorder is an inflammation of the skin, and commences generally with fever, and drowsiness, oftentimes delirium ; then a shining redness of the skin, of a florid yellowish hue, becoming white on pressure of the finger, but resuming its crimson colour as soon as the pressure is removed. It is attended with a burning pain, and at length numerous watery pimples or blisters ensue. The inflammation having increased for two or three days, generally begins to decline, and the skin peels off in scales ; but it sometimes continues to increase for eight or ten days and endangers the patient's life„ by attacking the brain, when delirium often fatally closes the scene. Tho skin does not always begin to peel at the decline of the inflammation, but the thick fluid formed in the blister adheres to the skin and leaves dry and troublesome scabs, which sometimes degenerate into obstinate ulcers that now and then become mortified. The causes of Erysi- pelas are various ; such as exposure to heat; excess in fermented liquors ; the application of blisters or mustard ; some articles of food in certain per- sons ; stings of insects ; bite of leeches ; burns and scalds ; wounds; fits of anger ; sudden cooling when overheated ; stoppage of customary dis-. charges ; repressing habitual eruptions; particular state of the atmosphere , and contagion. Erysipelas obtain;! a name according to the part that it attacks; if it be the foae, it is called a blast : and if it be the trunk of the body, it is called shiitgUsj if it be the cxtrtmeties, it is called the rose, &c. &c. DOJlfesl'IC PHYSICIAN. 107 Treatment.—When it attacks «he face, the patient should preserve the head in an erect position, keep the bowels open by gentle doses of Ep?om walti, and induce perspiration by drinking frequently bailey water andsimilar fluids, assisted by the following medicine ; y Take Spirit of Mindercrus 3.J ounces ; Camphor Julep ii± ounces ; Antimonial Wine 1 drachm ; Mix. Take a sixth part every four hours. The part affected should be covered by a piece of linen, dipped in a lo- tion composed of equal parts of spirit of mindererus and water, made warm. A fomentation of a decoction of poppy heads and elder flowers, mav bo also used twice or thrice a day. When the blisters begin to discharge, wash the parts often with milk, or with bran and water boiled together, and absorb the discharge by sprinkling the surface with oatmeal, but be careful to wash it off frequently with bran-water, milk, or gruel. Son 9 persons received more benefit from a soft bread and milk poultice than from any other application. The irritation is sometimes much subdued bv applying a lotion of a decoction of poppy heads and oak bark. No greasy applications should be used ; and if dry ones are preferred, oatmeal is the best, and next to it, powdered starch or pipe clay. A vegetable diet should be observed, and simple liquids only taken. Bleeding in this disease must be resorted to with great caution, and only in those cases in which the fever is very violent, and the head affected with great pain and delirium ; in this case the feet must be put into hot water, and mustard poultices applied to the soles of the feet. After a few days, when the fever has subsided, the patient should open the bowels with three grains of calomel, and twenty of rhubarb, and com- mence taking bark in the quantity of a wine-glassful of the decoction with a tea-spoonful of the tincture of cinnamon every six hours, and a little good wine may be allowed him. If a tendency to mortification shows itself during any period of the disease, bark and wine should be immediately administered, and the plan advised for mortification, p. 84, adopted. Erysipelas of any other part of the body may be treated in the above manner, except that half a drachm of laudanum may be added to the mix- ture, which mitigates the pain and irritation. For the treatment of '■ Shin- gles," see that article. Accidental erysipelas claims the attention of the surgeon. The erysipelas of infants generally begins a few days after birth, and ends in mortification. The part should be dusted with oatmeal, the bowels opened by two or three grains of calomel, and the strength supported by giving frequently a little wine wbey. If the part becomes dark-coloured a lotion of camphorated spirits of wine must be constantly applied, and a tea-spoonful of decoction, of bark, with two or three drops of sal volatile administered every two hours. The disease is very formidable and dan- gerous. ST. VITUS'S DAKCL. Symptoms.—Convulsive actions of the arms, legs, and head ; tbe speech 112. 108 DOMESTIC PHiSICIAK. sometimes indistinct, and the mind almost approaching to idiotey : it is chiefly confined to children, between ten and fourteen years of age, and often passes into epilepsy, or terminates in watery head. Treatment.—It generally arises from irritation in the bowels, which should therefore be kept well cleared by purgatives, proportioned in strength to the degree necessary ; but in general the torpor of these parts calls for very powerful doses of the strongest purgative medicines ; these may be administered twice or three times a week, in a sufficient quantity to pro- duce four, five, or more copious stools; if there be pain in the head, it should be shaved and leeches applied to the scalp ; a seton should also be made in the neck. If the child be much weakened, he should take the zinc powder, directed for Rickets, p. 104. Lunar caustic has often been employed with great benefit : dissolve twelve grains in a tea-spoonful of rose-water, then mix as much flour with it as will form a mass, to be divi- ded into thirty-six pills ; one of which is to be taken three times a day, and washed down with a tea-cupful of gruel. Worms are sometimes the cause of this disease; in this case let the treatment be such as directed under this head. SCALD HEAD. Soften the scabs by poulticing, then shave the head, and use the applications and other methods of treatment recommended for Ringworm, page 100. SCARLET FEVER WITH SORE THROAT. Symptoms.—This disease begins with lassitude ; chills followed by great heat ; quick pulse ; sometimes vomiting ; generally head-acbe ; restless- ness ; tendency to delirium : next, eyes red and watery ; countenance flushed ; face and head 3welled ; neck stiff; breath hot ; breathing short ; throat sore, red ahd swelled ; and the speech thick and guttural. Between the second and fourth day, the skin becomes covered with a bright scarlet eruption, and about the fifth day swelling of the glv.ds of tbe neck, with deafness, often takes plaee. The throat ulcerates, and delirium frequently occurs towards evening. The eruption, after a few days, changes to a dusky brown colour, the skin peels off, and a dropsical swelling of the feet, legs and other parts sometimes succeeds. Simple scarlet fever, as it is called, is not attended with sore throat, nor do any of the other symptoms become severe. Treatment.—This does not differ in the least from that advised for putrid or Malignant Fever, p. 97, except that the administration of bark and wine is generally requ^pd at an early period, and should be commenced as soon as the throat begins to ulcerate. The bowels must be kept open during every stage of the disease, by two or three grains of calomel, and twelve or fifteen of rhubarb. The muria- tic acid and laudanum may be combined witb decoction of bark, as ordered with that of Angelica, p. 98. The applications for the sore throat are first to abate the inflammation by the use of the following gargle : ' P domestic pnvsreiAar. 109 Take Infusion of Roses . 1 p;nt, Elixir ot Vitriol 30 dpr01);j Mix. id* he? ul?emion 1,as taken place, a gargle should be used, made by tit & ° the above half an ounce of tincture of myrrh and the same quail- ny ot iioney ; and in very severe cases, where the ulcers in the throat are numerous and spreading, becoming of a dark purple hue, interspersed wan white specks that become deep ulcers, the following is the best gar- Take Cayenne Pepper 20 grains; infuse it in a tea-spoonful of boiling water; when cold, strain it off; and to the liquid add half the quantity of decoction of bark and a tea-spoonful of muriatic acid. If the patient has any difficulty in using this gargle, the throat should be cleansed with it by means of a bit of sponge or soft rag, fastened to a piece of whalebone. The parts may be also touched occa- sionally with a camel's hair pencil dipped in a mixture of honey and alum. To remove the dropsical swellings left by the disease, give the child, twice a week, a purge of jalap and cream of tartar, and one of the following powders, three times a day : Take Powdered Columb* 8 grains; Powdered Ginger 4 grains; Powdered Squills A grain ; Cream of Tartar 25 grains; Mix. Fumigate the room, twice a day, as directed at page 57 ; seperale the rest of the family from the patient, and let them gargle their throats frequent- ly with the cayenne infusion, directed at page 44, which diminishes the danger of contagion. SCIATICA AND LUMBAGO. The former is a Rheamatic affection of the large nerve in the back part of the thigh; the latter is rheumatism of the loins. To remove sciatici, blood should be drawn from the part by cupping glasses ; afterwards the tartar emetic ointment should be rubbed on till pimples appear ; but above all, the limb should be put daily into the vapour of hot water. Lumbago should be treated by hot fomentations, or by covering the skin with a piece of brown paper, and then rubbing over it a hot ironing flat ; scarification and cupping, or cupping without scarification. Thr operation ofacupunc- iuration often removes the disorder instantly. Take thirty drops of balsam of Peru, or fifteen of balsam copaiva, with a tea-spoonful of the volatile tincture of guiacum, in a cup of mustard svhey, three times a day, and rub the part with flour ol mustard, or cover it with a large plaster made with an ounce of Burgundy pitch, and a drachm cf powdered euphorbium, softened with a little yenetian turpentine. 110 BOMKaTIC PHY.-iK'IAX. SCORFULA, OR KIXG's EVIL. This disorder usually begins between the age of three and seven, but oftentimes many years later. It attacks delicate children, who have smooth and soft skin, light and fine hair, fair complexion (but dark complexions are not exempt,) white teeth, projecting forehead, thick upper lip, large belly, and other marks of weakness of constitution. Symptoms.—These are extremely various, but the most prominent are the formation of tumours in various parts of the body, but chiefly in the neck, behind the ears, and under the chin ; which after a long slow progress, break and discharge matter, resembling curdled milk, and when healed, leave the skin scarred and puckered ; the disease also attacks the eyes, produ- cing a peculiar inflammation ; it affects the joints, occasioning swelling, abscesses, and ultimately stiffness and contraction and sometimes rotten state of the bones, which come away piecemeal. Treatment.—It is impossible to convey to the general reader an outline even,of the treatment necessary in the very various forms and stages of this complaint; it must therefore suffice to remark, that the disease should be prevented or lessened by a strict attention to the general health ; by regu- lar exercise, healthy air, good wholesome food, keeping the bowels open, early rising and going to bed, warm clothing, particularly to the neck and extremities, (cold bathing, except the shock be too gteat,) and by avoiding cold and damp air, night exposure, crowded rooms, and all articles of food that disagree with tbe stomach, or are indigestible or innutritious. The external applications vary with the state of the part. To a hard glandular swelling, salt and water may be applied, or a poultice made by dissolving a drachm of sugar of lead in water, and thickening it with a crumb of bread. A new method has been proposed to promote the ab- sorption ; viz : Takn Ilylriodate of Potap<« } drachm; Spermaceti Ointment 1§ ounce; Mix ; rub a piece tbe size of a nutmeg over the part every night and morn- ing. When abscesses have broken, they should be fomented twice a day with a decoction of hemlock, and preserved covered with a wash composed of a drachm of calomel and half a pint of lime-water. Poultices generally re- lax the wounds and keep up the discharge. For other forms of the disease a surgeon must be consulted. A medicine that will generally be advantageous, and is highly receom* mended by Sir Astley Cooper is the following : Take Tincture of Rhubarb, and Tincture of Bark, of each 1 ounce ; Oxy muriate of Quicksilver 1 grain; Mix ; one tea-spoonful to be taken three times a day. The French have lately introduced the tonic and digestive wine as a specific cure in this disease. We have seen great benefit from it; but it mast be given so as to produce one motion daily, and should be continued until the symptoms of the disease get tbetter. DOMESTIC phyjiciax, ill scurvy: This is a disease of sailors, arising principally from want of fresh vege. tables and wholesome food. The symptoms are, debility, low spirits, offensive breath, sallow bloated countenance, tender and spongy gums swelling of the legs, purple spots and ulcers on various parts of the body, bleeding from the mouth and nose, and contraction of the joints. Treatment.—The diet should consist of plenty of fresh vegetables and herbs, with a suitable quantity of good roasted beef and mutton. Oranges should be eaten freely, and acid fruits of every kind that can be procured. The common drink should be acidulated with lemon juice, and vinegar and other vegetable acids used liberally. Spruce beer, infusion of maU, sweet wort, water sweetened greatly with treacle, should be drunk freely. Dis- solve an ounce of nitre in a quart of vinegar, and take a tea-cupful or more daily ; the sores may be washed with the same. The land scurvy (which is an improper term) is an eruptive disease of the skin. A great variety of these cutaneous eruptions are confounded un- der the name of "scorbutic :" they most commonly arise from a defective state of the digestive organs, and the cure therefore consists in clear- ing the stomach and bowels, and preserving their functions regular, in a strict attention to diet and exercise in the open air; in fact, the direction for treating Indigestion is the best guide in curing these scorbutic erup- tions. SHINGLEF. Apply house leek and cream, or camphorated spirit of wine, or a lotion composed of white vitriol, and sugar of lead, of each, a scruple ; rose-water, half a pint. Take a cooling purge of Epsom salts and magnesia ; and ten Or fifteen drops of antimonial wine, in a little gruel, or wine whey, three or four times a day. SIMPLE CONTINUED FEVER. This fever is more frequem in this country than a«y other, and is charac-, terized by shivering, followed by heat, flushed countenance, redness of the eyes and skin, quick pulse, pain in the head and back, aching of the limbs, white and dry tongue, thirst, costiveness, high coloured urine, rest-! lesssnes, or disturbed sleep, and sometimes delirium. But these symptoms are varied according to the season of the year, the constitution and habiu of the patient, and other circumstances. Treatment.—Bleeding at the first attack, but must be resorted to wiih caution afterwards ; leeches to the temples, or cupping on ihe back of the neck ; purging with Epsom salts. The effervescing draught, with ten 4>r fifteen drops of antimonial wine every four hours. Blisters between the shoulders, if the brain be much affected, and cold napkins to ihe head, and hot fomentations to the feet and legs. The diet of vegetables and fruit, with sago, arrow root, gruel, &c, and the drink, barley water, containing a drachm of nitre and the juice of a lemon to every pint. When the fever hat subsided, a strengthening diet may be adopted, and a wine- 112 DOMESTIC FnYSICIAIf. glassful of decoction of bark, with fifteen drops of elixir of vitriol, and a tea-spoonful of sweet spirits of aether, taken twice or three times a day. SMALL POX. Symptoms.—Languor, drowsiness, fever, pain in the head and back ; redness of the eyes ; vomiting ; tendency to sweat, in grown up persons ; soreness of the stomach on pressure; convulsive fits sometimes, in children ; on the third day small red spots, like flea-bites, appear on the face, neck, and breast, and then over the rest of the body; the throat becomes sore, and the fever abates. The spots gradually-rise into pimples; and, about the sixth day they begin to contain a colourless fluid upon the top ; and, on tbe ninth, are filled with a thick yellow matter, the skin between them is red and inflamed and the eyelids and face swelled and puffed up. About the eleventh day (or the seventh of the eruption) the pock is at its height, the tumefaction of the face subsides; the hands and face swell (and if tho eruption is very numerous, fever again comes on,) the pustules break, or dry and scale off, and by tbe fifteenth day they generally disappear. When the small pox is confluent—that is, the pustules are so numerous as to run into each other, the symptoms are more violent, and others arise of a dangerous tendency. Treatment.—A3 soon as it is known by the symptoms, that small pox is approaching, give a purgative of two or three grains of calomel, and eight or ten of rhubarb, expose the patient to free air, let him be lightly clothed and covered ; his food should be entirely of vegetables and fruit ; and bis drink, cold acid liquors, as apple-tea, lemonade, &c, or cold water. If the fever be high, blood should be taken from the arm. The purgative may be given every third day, and a cup of cold barley-water, with six or eight grains of nitre, and as many drops of antimonial wine (a proportion* ably larger dose for an adult) every five or six hours. The patient should not keep his bed nor remain in the house, if he is able to leave it, but should at all times be preserved cool and exposed freely to the open air, whether at home or abroad. When the pustules are full, (the turning of the pock as it is called,) the usual diet may be allowed, and a little wine added, and the purgatives should be taken again. It is a good practice to open the pus- tules with a needle to let out the matter, keeping the skin quite clean by washing it with milk and water, or to anoint them with a little spermaceti ointment, which helps to prevent their pitting tbe skin. This is the plan to be observed in a mild attack of small pox. The following methods roust be observed in unfavourable cases : If convulsions occur previous to the appearance of the eruption, it is by no means unfavourable, but if they lake place afterwards, and recur fre- quently, five drops of laudanum or more, according to the age of the child, should be given. If the eruption does not come out properly, the feet should be put into warm water. Where the eruption is very numerous, and the patient very much loaded and oppressed, the diet must be nutritive, wine whey allowed, and a table-spoonful of decoction of bark, with half the quantity of spirit of mindererus, admininistered three or four times daily ; and after a few days, the bark and wine may be given more freely, and the diet be rendered still more generous. If there is much sore throat, fumi- DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. 113 gate it with the steams of hot vinegar. If the eruption strikes in, wine must be allowed; mustard poultices applied to the feet, and blisters to the body ; and three grains of carbonate of ammonia, in camphor julep, administered every three hours ; or six or eight drops of sal volatile in a little wine whey ; the child should also be put into a warm bath. While the pustules are filling, if the patient is very restless and sleepless, two or three tea- spoonfuls of tbe syrup of white poppies should be given at bed time. De- lirium, with restlessness and difficulty of breathing, corning on when the disorder is at its height, requires that the legs should be put into warm water, and blisters applied to the arms and legs. Vomiting should be al- layed by the effervescing draught. Purging must not be checked unless it remain very violent and exhaust the patient; in this case, take a dessert- spoonful of the pomgrenate mixture recommended at p. 96. If the fever continue after the appearance of the eruption, let it be treated by opening the bowels, and the other means advised for simple fever, p. 111. Inoculation.—The matter should be taken about the seventh or eighth day, and it is of no consequence from what subject, whether young or old, with a slight disease or with a serious one; in fact, the matter from a sub> ject dead, of the worst kind, is as eligible as any other. The person to be inoculated should begin to live on puddings, gruel, sago, milk, rice, fruits, vegetables, &.C., and drink only tea, coffee, chocolate, and toast and water. A dose of physic, calomel and jalap, should be taken, and repeated every third day, until three doses have been administered and the inoculation should be performed the day after the last dose. When this has been done, give the child a grain of calomel with five grains of chalk every night and morning for seven days (giving onct' in the time a purge of jalap and cream of tartar,) at the end of which period the eruption appears ; then keep the patient out of doors, and 'reat him as recommended for natural small pox. After the disease ha* terminated its periods, the course of three purgatives may be given as before the inoculation. The hot summer months should not be chosen for the time of inoculation, nor should it be performed upon infants under two years old. Remark.—It must h,e understood that all the specified doses of medicine in the above chapter refer to children ; they must therefore be increased when tbe subject is an adult. STONE IN THE KIDNIES AND BLADDER. Stone in the Kidney.—The symptoms are, pain in the loins, tenderness upon pressure, numbness of the bowels between the loins and the navel, frequent inclination to make water, the urine frequently of a dark colour from being mixed with blood, the stomach sometimes affected with sick- ness, and stooping is attended with inconvenience and pain. The treat- ment necessary may be learnt by a reference'to the article Gravel, p. 64, according to which the symptoms may be lessened or mitigated. No cure can be affected by medicine. Stone in the Bladder.—The symptoms of stone in the bladder are, pain at the extremety of the passage, sometimes as violent as the cutting of an instrument, frequent inclination to make water, which is often mixed with blood, especially if the bladder has beenjrritated by any great ex- in DOMESTIC- PHYSICIAN, ertinnp, ?nch as riding on horseback or in a rough carriage, &v. In making water the patient is obliged to stoop the body forwards, to bend the arms and legs, and support his head upon something before him; the act is attended with great pain, and the stream of urine is suddenly stop- ped, and no more at that time can be voided except in drops. These are spmptoms that cannot be mistaken. The treatment of stone in the bladder resolves itself into two kinds, the one the removal of the stone by an operation, the other to lessen the pain and irritation occasioned by it; the latter only of which is our province to consider. The irritability of the bladder may be lessened by half a drachm of the dried subcarbonate of soda being taken in a cup of decoction of Iceland moss three or four times a day ; or by taking a tea-spoonful of the fol lowing, night and morning, or oftener : Take Liquor of Potaeh 6 drachms ; Laudanum ii drachms ; Mix ; take 25 drops in a wine-glassful of almond milk, or of an infusion made with three drachms of the dried leaves of bear's whortleberry in a pint of boiling water. During violent fits of the stone, the patient should go into the warm bath, and two drachms of laudanum, in half a pint of thin starch, may be used as a glyster, or injected into the bladder with Reed's syringe and catheter. Persons with stone should live upon a sim- ple diet, avoiding wine and fermented liquors, drinking nothing but dis- tilled water. Soda water is proper at all times. There are no means known of dissolving a stone while in the body. STRANGUAR!*. Heat, pain, and difficulty in making water arises from a variety of cau- ses, most of which have been already considered. When it arises from the application of a blister, or from excess in liquor, the patient should drink copiously of barley-water, linseed tea, &,c„ containing an ounce of gum arabic to each quart. STVJES. Cover the eye with a soft bread and milk poultice, and when the little white speck has burst, gently press out the contents of the tumour. If the core cannot be detached, touch it with a camel's hair pencil dipped in oil of vitriol, and then apply goulard water until the redness and swel- ling disappears. A dose or two of opening medicine should be taken, SUN-BURNS OR FRECKLES. Use the juice of lemons mixed with sugar and borax ; or the juice of the cherry-tree dissolved in vinegar; or an infusion of cabbage-seed ; or tbe following lotion : Takr Carbonate of Potash 20 grains ; Milk of Bitter Almonds 3 ounce* ■ Oil of Sassafras 3 drops ; Mix. To be applied two or three times a day. DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. US SWELLED TESTICLE. Apply leeches to the part, and afterwards keep it cool with the follow- ing lotion : Take Spirits of Wine 1 ounce ; Water 5 ounces ; Mix. Wear a suspensory bandage ; take a purge of three grains of calo- mel with ten of the compound extract of colocynth, and purge it off with Epsom salts in infusion of senna ; remain in a recumbent position, and if the pain prevents rest, take an ounce of Mindererus' spirit, 30 drops of laudanum, and 25 drops of antimonial wine at bed-time ; or, what is per- haps better, ten grains of Dover's powder, with two grains of calomel, night and morning, being careful to keep open the bowels by the above purgative. If the swelling has been of long standing, apply leeches ; use the purgative as above recommended, and take every night two grains of calomel and two grains of opium, and in the morning two grains of calomel with one of opium, until the mouth is sore ; strictly adhere tu a recumbent position, and keep the part covered with the tollowing lo- tion : Take Sal Ammoniac J ounce; Vinegar 4 P'nt 5 Spirits of Camphor 2 ounces; Mix. Let the part be suspended by a net truss. TEETHING. The disorders occasioned by teething have been already described ; we have only here to consider the means of lessening the pain and diffi- culty of this process. The gums should be scarified ; leeches-or blisters applied behind the ears ; the warm bath used ; an emetic given, and a little syrup of poppies occasionally. When the gums are swelled, the part covering the projecting tooth or teeth: should be divided by a cut made down to the tooth by a double incision crossing each other. Co- rals should not be used, but the infant should have a crust of bread or a piece of wax candle to bite. TETTERS. This affection has been treated under the name of Ring-Worm and the remedies may be seen at p. 104. As, however, tetters in general arise from disorders of the digestive organs, a course of the tonic and dig*s tive wine will materially serve. The French ladies have great confi- dence in it. THRL'JH. The thrush consists of white specks on the tongue, inside of the mon:h and throat, and often extending through the whole extent of the bowels ; UG DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. it is accompanied by fever, which has been called apthous fever. When it attacks grown persons, it is generally the effect of a long protracted or a violent disease, that has reduced the strength of the system, and indi- cates great depression and debility, particularly of the stomach and bow- eis ; whenever therefore, it occurs during the progress of the disease, it is looked on as a formidable and usually fatal symptom. Its appearance denotes the necessity of tonic remedies, which must, of course, be ap- plied according to the nature of the disease by which it is accompanied. Cascarilla, columba, and other bitters, with tincture of bark, are usually prescribed. Acidity in the stomach should be removed by frequent do- ses of magnesia ; and if there be purging, a wine-glassful of chalk julep, with a scruple of aromatic confection, and five or six drops of laudanum, three or four times a day. The mouth may be washed freqently with the following gargle : Take Barley Water 8 ounces ; Honey of Roses 1 ounce ; Vinegar 1 ounce ; Tincture of Myrrh £ ounce ; Mix. The thrush of infants should be treated first by a dose of ipecacuanha to excite vomiting and then the following mixture : Take Magnesia 20 grains ; Mint Water, and Cinnamon Water, of each, 1 ounce ; Syrup ef Poppies | ounce ; Laudanum 15 drops; Mix ; a tea-spoonful to be taken every four hours. If the bowels should be relaxed, two ounces of chalk julep should be substituted for the three first articles in the above receipt ; but if they should be confined, two grains of calomel and three of rheubarb should be given, and the magne- sia mixture continued as directed. The child's diet, besides the breast milk, should be of veal or beef broth, or a little calf's-foot jelly, or isin- glass dissolved in milk, with a tea-spoonful of white wine.. The ulcers should be frequently touched with an application made by mixing a drachm of borax in an ounce of syrup of mulberries. TIC DOLOUR EUK. Symptoms.—Acute and violent pain in the nerves of the face, gene- rally in the cheek just below the eye, darting through the part like light- ning, occasioning the most horrid sensations by reiterated strokes resem- bling electric shocks. Treatment. —Except the operation of dividing the nerves, no plan baa hitherto afforded much relief, but that of taking large doses of iron. A drachm of carbonate of iron, taken in a little honey or treacle, three times a day has been successful in a great many cases, TOOTH-ACHE, If pain attack a sound tooth, it is the result of inflammation ; in this case purge with Epsom salt3 and senna, put leeches on the side of the DOMESTIC rilYSICIAN. in face, afterwards hot fomentations, rub the skin with strong hartshorn and oil, or apply a blister, and hold cold water in the mouth. Persevere with this plan daily. If the tooth be decayed, fill it with a tent wetted with the following: Take Camphor, and Oil of Anniseeds, of each, 1 drachm ; Muriatic Acid 20 drops ; Opium 36 grams ; Oil of Cloves, and Sulphuric/Ether, of each, 1 drachm; Rectified Spirits of Wine 1 ounee ; Dissolve the camphor in the spirits of wine, and next the opium, then add the oils of anniseeds and cloves, and lastly the acid and aether. The above rarely fails after the third or fourth application. TYMPANY. Symptoms.—violent distensioA of the belly by wind, attended with ex- pulsions of air, colicky pains, difficulty of urine, costiveness, heat, thirst. fever, difficult breathing, generally cough, and the belly, when struck, sounds like a drum : it is highly dangerous. Treatment.—Evacuate the wind, if possible, by passing a hollow tube, such as the elastic gum tube, used for extracting poison from the stomach, a considerable distance into the bowels, or perform the operation of acu- puncturation upon the abdomen with needles three inches long or more. Procure evacuations by giving five grains of calomel and fifteen of the compound extract of colocynth, and then throw up the following enema : —Boil three drachms of bruised anniseeds and half an ounce of camomile flowers in a pint and a half of water, till reduced to one half, then add half an ounce of Glauber's salts and two drachms of oil of turpentine. The patient should take a wine-glassful of the infusion of columba with a drachm of sal polychrest and a drachm of aether every four hours ; and his drink should be a mixture of horseradish tea and ginger tea, with a little brandy, and slightly acidulated with the aromatic elixir of vitriol; his diet should be small quantities of roasted beef, muttom, venison, or chicken, with biscuit toasted and peppered. TYPHUS OR NERVOUS FEVER. This differs only from the putrid or malignant fever, described at p. 97, by the attack being less rapid and the symptoms not so violent. Languor, loss of appetite, chills, flushings, quick breathing, dulness, and disturbed sleep continue for several days before the patient is confined, and during this time there is little or no thirst or heat of skin ; the tongue then is moist, white and trembling, but soon becomes dry and brown or very red, the urine of a dusky colour ; sweating or purging succeeds, with deafness, drowsiness, delirious sleep, thready pulse, cold extreme- ties, clammy sweats, involuntary discharge of urine and stools, slight convulsions and death. Treatment.—Twenty leeches maybe applied to the temples at the be- ginning of the disorder, then vomit with ipecacuanha, and next purge 118 »03I ESTIC PH V SICI AN. with three or four gins of calomel, followed by a fduplc of rhubarb and half a drachm of magnesia ; apply a blister between the shoulders and put the feet into hot water. The cold affusion may be used, as advised for putrid fever. Medicines to promote perspiration must be uduiiitered, as the following : Take Carbonate of Ammonia 20 grains ; Aromatic Confection 10 grains ; Cinnamon Water J ounce ; Tincture of Columba I drachm ; Mix for a draught, and then add a table-spoonful of lemon juice, and swallow it in the act of effervescence : repeat this "draught every four hours. After continuing these saline draughts, the daily affusion of cold water, the use of calomel and rhubarb, to keep the bowels open, with the mild diet recommended in the first stages of putrid fever, if the disorder does not abate after some days, but seems to be acquiring greater malig- nity, then wine must be allowed, about half a pint daily diulated with water, or given as advised at p. 98, and the following tonic medicine taken : Take Infusion of Cascarilla | pint ; Carbonate of Ammonia 20 grains; Tincture of Snake-root £ ounce; Mix ; take a sixth part three times a day ; let the common drink be mus- tard wbey ; keep the bowels open with calomel and rhubarb, and take every night, at bed-time, an ounce of Mindererus' spirit, an ounce of camphor julep, half a drachm of ipecacuanha wine, and half a drachm ot laudanum, and foment the legs with flannels wrung out in hot water. It any particular symptoms arises, treat it as advised in malignant fever. ULCERS. These are so various in their nature, that it would far exceed the limits of these pages to describe them, we shall therefore only remark, that ulcers of loftfc standing are most successfully treated by covering them with strips of sticking plaster long enough to go round the limb and to overlap at their ends ; these strips to be about two inches wide, and drawn as tightly over the sore as the patient can bear, and a calico roller, five yards long and three fingers breadth in w^dth, evenly and firmly bound round the limb, from the toes to the knee, and kept wet with cold water. Every other day is often enough to renew the dressing, when the part should be well cleansed with warm water. VARICOSE VEIX&. An enlarged and knotted state of the veins is treated by opening them, cr tying them with the use of bandages and laced stockings; bu» this treatment car.net be ventured upon without the assistance of a surgeon. •0MESTIC PIlTalCIAN. 113 WAP.T3. Young people ire very liable to these excrescences ; they arc an exu berant growth of the akin. If they will admit of it, a silk thread should be tied as tightly round them as can be borne, and they will soon fall off, when the spot should be touched every day or two with a bit of lunar caustic. Or they may be cut off with a pair scissors, and treated in a similar manner. Where they cannot be removed in this way, the warts should be moistened now and then with a little aromatic vinpgar. or the juice of celandine. Those bluish warts that occur on the face, lips, and eyelids, should not be touched. WATERY HEAD. This disease is almost peculiar to children, seldom occurring after twelve or fourteen years of age : it is characterised by lassitude, heavi- ness, pain in the head, intolerance of light, costiveness, sickness, and, as it increases, starting in the sleep, screaming, convulsions, squinting, enlargement of the pupil of the eye, stupor, and death. Treatment.—Bleeding, leeches to the temples, cupping between the shoulders, a blister over the whole of the head, keeping it open by dress- ing it with savine ointment, purging by two or three grains of calomel, eight of jalap, and twenty of cream of tartar ; and repeated every other day, or oftener if necessary ; giving eight or ten drops of the tincture of digitalis three times a day. This is the treatment necessary to subdue the inflammatory action of the first stage ; in the next stage, the water in or on the brain should be removed by the following plan. Rub a scru- ple of strong mercurial ointment into the skin of the inside of the thighs every night and morning, until the signs of mercury appear, and adminis- ter ten grains of magnesia, two grains of the blue pill, and three drops of ladanum in a little jelly, three times a day : purge the bowels occa- sionally, and support the strength with beef broth, arrow-root, wine, and other similar articles. WATER BRASH, Symptoms.—Heat and pain at the pit of the stomach, belching, and a discharge of a thin watery fluid resembling saliva, which flows from the stomach, gullet, throat, and mouth, in considerable quantities. It occurs frequently in Ireland and Scotland, and has been supposed to arise from the immoderate use of potatoes, or oatmeal, with whishey. Treatment.—The spasms to be relieved by taking thirty or forty drops of laudanum, and smoking or chewing tobacco ; and the disordered state of the stomach corrected by the following means. Clear the stomach by an emetic of ipecacuanha, and take in the following pills : TakeOxydo of Bismuth 2 drachms; Aromatic Confection 1 drachm ; Mix, and divide into 18 pills ; the dose of which is two pills, three times 120 DOMESTIC rHYSIdAN. a day, followed by a wine-glassful of infusion of gentian, with twenty drops of liquor of potash. A pint or more of tar-water should be drunk daily, wine and spirits abandoned, and the utmost attention paid to wholesome food, and a proper state of the stomach and bowels, as advised for indi- gestion. WEANING BRASH. Symptoms.—After weaning, griping and purging come on, and some- times vomiting, and the motions whitish and fetid. Treatment.—Put the child to the breast again ; or feed it upon strong broth jellies, &c. ; prohibit vegi'able food, fruits, and sugar. Send the child into a pure air. exercise it regularly, rub its body daily and put it into the warm bath twice a week, and administer half a grain of calomel, the same quantity of ipecacuanha, two grains of ginger, and three grains of magnesia or chalk (the former, if the bowels are costive) every night. In other respects the child may be treated as advised for the purging of children, p. 97. WHITES. As this complaint arises more from irritation than weakness, let the following plan be first tried. Take a grain of calomel with four or five of antimonial powder every night at bed-time, and a tea-spoonful of Epsom salts in the morning, or a quantity sufficient to open the bowels twice a day. Ten grains of nitre, and twenty grains of cream of tartar may be taken also in a tea-spoonful of gum water three times a day. Let the following injection be nsed very frequently. Dissolve a drachm of opium in a pint of boiling water, and strain ; then add two drachms of sugar of lead. Observe Regular hours, take proper exercise, and avoid heating liquors and spices. Married females should keep a seperate bed. If this plan fail of success, tonic and astringent medicines may be tried. For an injection use decoction of bark, containing two drachms of alum in a pint, or a decoction of half an ounce of galls in a quart of water, or of pomegranate bark, with a drachm of alum to a pint. Take the quan- tity of a nutmeg ot the following electuary three times a day : Take Common Turpentine 2 drachms ; Powdered Bark, and Honey, of each, 1 ounce ; Mix. The above to be washed down with a glass of infusion of gentian root. Adopt a strengthening diet, and apply a plaster to the back, made with equal parts of diachylon,' frankincense and myrrh, melted together and spread upon leather. A broth made of the leaves of clary, dead nettle, purslain and chervil, a handful of each, with a piece of veal sufficient for two basinfuls has been highly recommended to be taken daily, one in the morning the other at night. The tonic and digestive wine will o-o a considerable way in curing Whites. WHITLOW Is an inflammation about the end of the fingers and toes, exceedingly DOMESTIC PHYSICIAN. 121 painful, and disposed to go on to the formation of matter. Apply four or five leeches to the finger, then cover it with a small linen roller bound round it as tight as can be borne, and keep it constantly moistened with water and vinegar; or water, vinegar, and spirits of wine (or aether) equal parts. Suspend the arm in a sling, take three or four grains of calomel; and purge it off with salts and senna. If this plan does not remove the disease in three days, a surgeon must be applied to, as the parts must be opened, whether there is matter or not. WORMS. Symptoms. — Appetite diminished, at other times ravenous ; pains in the stomach and belly ; offensive breath ; foul tongue ; grinding of the teeth, and starting during sleep ; the eyes heavy and dull ; itching of the nose and fundament ; dry cough ; fulness of the belly ; slimy stools, and slow fever. Treatment.—There are three kinds of worms—the round worm, the tape worm, and the small white or thread worm. For the cure of the round worms, the hairs of the dolichos, or cowage, is an excellent remedy : the medicine is prepared by scraping the down into treacle, until it becomes as thick as honey ; a tea-spoonful to be ta- ken three times a day. A purgative of calomel and jalap should be taken twice a week to bring away the dead worms. Or turpentine may be taken in the following manner : Take Spirits of Turpentine f ounce; Powdered Gum Arabic, and Lump Sugar, of each, 1 ounce; Cinnamon Water 4 ounces; Mix the gum arabic and sugar with the cinnamon-water, and add gradu-1 ally the turpentine. Two table-spoonfuls for children under ten or twelve years old, three times a day ; interpose a dose of castor oil every third day. For the tape worm, large doses of the oil of turpentine should be ad- ministered ; a female may take an ounce ; a man an ounce and a half, early in the morning, fasting, in milk ; it may be also given at night, and worked off in the morning with castor oil. The thread worms may be destroyed by glysters of aloes, dissolved in milk (two drachms to a pint) decoctions of rue, wormwood, and tanzey ; or camphor, asafoetida, liver of sulphur, common salt, Venice turpentine (two drachms to a pint;) cowage (half a drachm to a pint) mixed in gruel, and afterwards a purge to bring them away. To prevent worms, children ought not to be allowed to eat trash, but should have salt given them with their food, particularly with their meat and vegetables. Parents would do well to give their children a small glass of the tonic and digestive wine every day, at eleven o'clock, with a biscuit; this will prevent as well as remove worms. I j 22 DOMi:STTl' rHYSlCIAN. TONIC AND DIGESTIVE WINE. I have recommended this medicine in several diseases throughout this treatise, because, from examining its principles, and taking it myself, 1 feel so far warranted ; nor is it because it is a patent medicine I think the less of it. 1 unequivocally assert, that it is the greatest benefit and use yet introduced into medicine. The inventor is an ingenious French- man, who has had great difficulties in forwarding his views ; but now is patronised by the regular practitioners of the Continent, and is usually sold by the patent medicine venders of this country. NOT KS. Abortion or Miscarriage, p. 1". I eannot concur in the propriety of recommending any other measure to a female apprehensive of miscarriage, than sending, without deknj, l'cr her medical adviser; In no situation in lite is tne loss of a few moments, cr the adoption <:t an inefficient, or erroneous plan of treatment more likely to bo attended with consequences the most disastrous—consequences, involving not merely th°. loss of the embryo, but the per- manent misery, perhaps the death of tho mother. The most common symptom of abor- tion is hemorrhage from the womb, art occurrence which can never be regarded with indifference, and which calls for the prompt and efficient exertion of the most ample resources of the physician. Early and judicious means will frequently check this dis- charge, and altogether prevent miscarriage ; and where they fail to effect this object they will in most cases save the life of the suffering woman. There io one circum- stance of great importance to which it is proper, to advert in this place, and it forn.'s an additional argument in favour of a speedy application to a physician. Tha danger of abortion's taking place, is never to bo estimated by the pertinacity and extent of the flooding, as it is a fact well known to accoucheurs, that a very copious hemorr- hage is sometimes not followed by the los3 of the foetus, while one much less in quan- tity and without any threatening aspect will eventuate in it. Pain is a far more certain guide in making up an opinion. Where difficulties thus surrounds the subject, ren- dering it one of great nicety even to the most expert practitioner, and not without danger to his reputation and success, will any husband or father consent to risk tho life of a female through an illusory hope of procuring relief without the aid ofrreclicul advice ? Nor should the advice of one physician alone be always relied on. Or. Bard has properly observed that " the real danger and circumstances of alarm and terror which frequently accompany these cases, are such as to call for all our ex, crience ; for calm reflection, and steady resolution ; and they, above all others, are the cases in which the most experienced practitioner will always wish, and the young and inexperienced, always should require, the aid and consolation to be derived from consultation." One word with respect to the employment of midwives. It may not perhaps be generally known that the bills of mortality in London and Dublin establish V.,<.>. important fact, that one in seventy of those women perish in childbirth who trust themselves to female practitioners, while not half that number suffer of those who are attended by males. And how can it well be otherwise ? Without a knowledge of anatomy, or of the very principles of the art she professes to practice, devested, to<>, by nature of that moral strengh and resolution, the utmost exertion of which will scarcely suffice to meet the dangers which press on every side, how can an uneducated female hope to conduct a difficult labour with safety and success? Apoplexy, p. 18. General blood-letting should be always preferred in the first instance to local, and it should be continued until decided effects are perceptible on the system. Bleeding from ihe Nose. p. 23, In a very interesting caso of this affection, communicat d by the late Dr. James K.mt Piatt, to his friend Professor J. B. Bock, of this c.ty, and which threatened to terminate fatally, tho affusion of cold water, by pailful over the head and shoulder?, proved almost immediately successful. 124 Bleeding from the Lungs, p. 24. The Bugle Weed, (Lycopus Virginicus,) has been found exceedingly useful in re straining this formidable affection. After all febrile excitement has been subdued, an infusion of this plant prepared by digesting one ounce of the leaves and stalks, in a pint of boiling water, may be used as a common drink. This remedy has been pre- scribed pretty extensively in the New-York State prison, and with very beneficial effects. Burns, p. 29- In cases of extensive injury from this cause, one of the most successful applications hitherto resorted to, has been the oil of turpentine. In the action which occurred in 1815, between the U. S. frigate Guerriere and an Algerine frigate, nearly fifty men belonging to the former were severely burnt, by the explosion of one of the large guns. Some of the men were in a most pitiable condition, and suffered tho mosc exquisite torments. They were taken down to the cockpit, and spirits of turpentine freely poured over their naked wounds. They all did well. Hooping Cough, p. 67. Whatever may be the case in Great Britain, it is an indisputable fact, that in the United States a large majority of those affected with this disease recover without the aid of the lancet. It is only in those instances which are complicated with inflam- mation of some vital organ, that recourse must be had to this severe expedient. In the summer and spring, those are very rare occurrences, and emetics and expectorants an- swer every purpose. Let it not be thought hence, that Hooping Cough is considered a trivial or unimportant disease. However light most cases of it may be rendered under proper management, there is no disease incident to children which will so readily de- generate into a tedious and intractable state. Nor can this appear surprising to those who are aware of the peculiar irritability of infancy and the thousand accidents to which it is liable, as from teething, worms, &c. &c. It is, therefore, incumbent on every parent, who values the life of his offspring at a pin's fee, to have skilful advice always at hand on the first appearance of this insidious disorder. To the ne- glect of this precaution many lives are annually sacrificed. Digitalis is freely recommended in the text on this and other occasions. Without indulging in the pusillanimous fears entertained of this article by prejudiced writers, it is the duty of the author of these notes to caution his readers against this article. In the wide range of medical substance, there is not one so uncertain in its operations and the effects of which, on different individuals, vary so greatly, and are in conse- quence so difficult to be estimated, as the foxglove. The same dose which would prove innocuous to one constitution, will induce in another symptoms of debility and exhaustion within a very short space of time, which no after treatment can remove. This has occurred a thousand times to adults, as admitted by the warmest advocate of the remedy, Doctor Withering. What must not be the danger of administering it to infants, and that without the advice of a physician ? Inoculation—Vaccination, p. 113. To those who are acquainted with the history of Small Pox and Vaccination for the last thirty years, it must appeat a matter of" perfect astonishment, to find inocu- lation of the former seriously treated of in a book professing to offer medical advice to the public. Happily, in this country, the diffusion of knowledge is so extensive, that there will be little danger of many being led away by the advice implied in this case. Yet as there is such danger, and as the evils which may thence arise are incalculably fearful, it becomes an imperative duty to warn the uninformed and the sceptic, and to acquaint them with the true state of the question, respecting the rela- tive merits of inoculation of the small pox and vaccination, This may be done in a few words. The success cf vaccination in nearly exterminating the small pox from the face of thosei portions of the earth in which it was generally practised, had been uninterrup. 125 ted and undisputed, until within a very few years, when the vhnoibhh or modified small pox, made its appearance, and renewed the 'clamours 'of the piejd'tiieed ahd the sceptic, againsr the Jennerian antidote. No sooner was it discovered that small pox, though in a/modified form, could possibly occur after vaccination-, than all the h it life r to acknowledged virtues of this process in guarding the system against the ravages of small pox were brought into disrepute, and many were precipitately led to conclude that they had all been an idle dream—a tissue of misrepresentations, which could hot withstand the touchstone ot time and experience. But does the occurrence of the varioloid in- deed lead to this inference, or to any inference that is decisively and ebhclusi vely con- tradictory of the benefits to be derived from vaccination ? In order to reply to this ques- tion let us ask, what is the varioloid—what is this monster that is to destroy the fond hopes of deluded mankind, and overturn the glowing anticipations of one wfofr has been almost canonized as the benefactor of the human race, whom We had all delighted to style the immortal Jenner ? It is a mild form 'of pox, Occurring occasionally in persons who have been previously vaccinated, and devested by that profcesfc Of all the fearful accompaniments of the original affection, neither carrying death nor defor- mity in its train, not being fatal in one case out of a thousand, and very feehtafti lea- ving the traces of its attack in a few slight impressions on the skin. IF this alone were the effect of vaccination, it were surely one of the greatest blessings everceft-- ferred on man by his provident Creator. This is not its only advantage; ih sup- planting inoculation for the small pox, it has removed one of the greatest evils formerly incident to man, and which has been very falsely deemed a sure Safeguard against the inroads of that fell disease. Certain it is, that thd varioloid has tout attacked the vaccinated only, but likewise the inoculated, and even thftse V ho had laboured under the natural small pox. The difference in the effects pYoifoiced i\\ the two last, and in the first case, or in those vaccinated, has been great indeed^ and is sufficient of itself to settle the dispute, 'the varioloid in the twoforstinstaheesi that is, occurring in persons who have had the small pox, whether iiaturahv or by inoculation, assumes the form of the regular small pox, and is equally terrific in its effects. One of the worst cases of this disease which the author of these hW.es recollects to have seen, occurred in a young man who was previously deeply pitted with the small pox, of which he had suffered an attack in early lire. The records of the varioloid, in the public journals, also testify to the fact, that a previous attaeli is no security against a recurrence in the form spoken of, ahd does not, like vacci- nation, protect the constitution against deformity or more fatal consequence*. It should also be recollected, that inoculation of the sihall pox has frequently served to spread the disease in its natural form, and introduce it where otherwise it would have never appaared. As early as 1796, before vaccination was promulgated by Jenner, an eminent physician of London informed the bnbli'c, that ua child wa^ inoculated in April, whose parents kept a shop in a court consisting of"ahoht IvVeflty houses. As the inhabitants repaired every day for necessary articles to 'the kettle $t' infpction, the consequence was, that sixteen of then! Were affected With the sftmli !j}e-x in the natural way, within a fortnight after the child's i-eroverys ahd foh£ of them died of the disease-"—See Monthly Magazine for l/9(i, ft: 326. It should not be forgotten, likewise, that many cases adduced as £dlures cTvaeeina-- tion are of a very doubtful character. Vaccination, after it came Very generally into vogue, and had succeeded in nearly extirpating its great antagonist, was efteft YeJ-V carelessly performed, and without attention to the laws governing this process^ ahd which alone can render it successful. The qualities of the vaccine lymph are hot sufficiently attended toon all occasions, nor the circumstances of the individual te he vaccinated. In order to prevent as far as in our power lies, a reeuriehce el"such negligence, it will be proper to lay down, explicitly, the rules to foe observed ir. Vacci- nating. We borrow them from one of the highest sohrv.es in threat Britafft^ Dr. Gregory, who has probably paid more attention to this subject than any other physi- cian in his own, or perhaps any other country. His situatioh ill the "Small l\.'% Hospital, gives him peculiar advantages. Dr. Gregory thinks the most general cause of the failure of VaceW-dioh is the qestion it, Dr John- V'!i ftfi^l'ds the foUqwipg PF°ff: " Let two beds be placed in the same room—at Madras >\e will say, when the thermometer stands at 90 ° ; and let one be covered with a \ir nf biqhkets, {he. other with a pair of linen sheets, during the day. On removing [itjl coverjpgs \a the evening, the bed on which was placed the blankets will be found 6H"l ftRfi W-easant, the other uncomfortably warm. The i eason is obvious. The linen readily transmuted the heat of the atmosphere to all parts of the subjacent bed; the Wf»q!!e"fl» op thg contrary, as, a non-conductor, prevented the bed from acquiring the at'RK^Bherjgaj range pf temperature, simply by obstructing the transmission of heat ftefii wHR9H|> " U rnjght be inferred froni this course of reasoning, that flannel and %\%i\\ Wgfg §t}pgrior t9 cotton ; aijd so tiiey undoubtedly would be were it not for their weight- Dr. Johnson ajsq recommends, that if linen or cotton be changed often in the course (if the &&3fi H fee RPt uiQShetf immediately, but carefully dried, and then worn again 3f»4 f^i'li a^ it if not soiled anlpxcites perspiration less than when it is fresh from the mangle. Thus q^e great object in tropical prophylactics is answered; to moderate, uijttifwt ekeekitief the piftiaitfqr discharge. This 4§ !h§ pVpf, perhaps, to recommend parasols to those who are compelled to Walk flu| during midrday. Tb,§ best rule is to avoid exposure to the hctsun as much a§ p8§f jblg.. t)ifif.=Yw FgrMFHs, are necessary on this head It was formeily a very generally FBpgivo I qpiijign, tiVat wafm climates induced a disposition to putridity in the human fluids, an(| that it syas tfieiefore necessary to guard against this, by stimulation and high mi»g: Whether this was in fact the case at any period ; or rather, whether it WJt§ 0Wf»gn8t$8 5BPSI4 atjve opinions entertained in European closets I shall not now Stop to i-tQ'ujrer 'Vrb case is most assuredly different in these times, and the prevailing $i§pgsitiof} is, fp inflammation and its consequences. This is sufficiently established by triSgj|a*acter of the prevalent diseases among new comers, and by the methods of IrpatmentmQSt.surGe.ssfuj. ft is therefore incumbent on every person freshly ai rived ft'SSl a pprthcrn cljniate? to abate, rather than to increase the force of the circulation, 129 raarir^ nil % ■ do"*bJ">wnsofoecasional laxative*, refrigerant chinks, and a krenoilt Ek anima- f°°d and ,i(luors» and ■ total abstinence from voluptuous indul- l2'tBieWi are Sltua*10ns» however, in which a spare diet might prove insalutary. r«ntlPt« • marshy countries, where intermittents are prevailing. Here a Si A. £'■ M ? ? > ° W,ine and a CUP of ^momile tea will be fonnd highly benefi- «!■« f iV T.!-" ,rU1!"' altfrouSh lhe7 ha™ indiscriminately been forbiddin to stran- Thl'mih? Au that' With a few exceptions, they are ever injurious, whin ripe. frlZTl u coeoanutisa grateful and wholesome beverage. The sapotilla is aW inendly to all Constitutions. i« SnG °fi!he g™atest obstacles to the observance of the rules of Hygiene on the tropics, nli H k .? I hosPitalitv which tbro^s open its doors, and spreads its richly sup- piiea Doara to the ready appetite of the warmly-welcomed stranger, which presses him to a gratification of his not very backward desires, and too frequently leaves him a prey to mistaken indulgence. Precedents are quoted 5 and the host himself is adduced aa an example of the impunity with which temperance may be offended in the burning c unes. But recol.ect that for one such precedent, there are hundreds silent in their graves, that could a tale unfold ot severe penalty incurred for such offence, and per- haps the boastful host himself might, if pressed, or conscience-struck, acknowledge himself no ordinary sufferer, enjoying life indeed, but at the annual cost of a bilioue Ibver, or the hemorrhoids, or a scirrhous liver. *' By keeping the body quiet and cool within, as well as without, the first object of seasoning in hot climates will be attained ; whichi>, to moderate the action of the solids, and to diminish tho volume and density of the fluids. Thus the serum of the blood is neither heated nor rendered acrid; less thirst is excited, and also less perspiration : by which means both the risk and the danger of checking perspiration suddenly, are obvi- ated." Tho choice of a residence is of some consequence. In a place where an epidemic prevails, a stranger should either not sleep ashore at all, or choosesome lofty situation remote from the seat of disease. A lofty and spacious house in a dry situation, well ventilated, and not in the neighbourhood of stagnant waters nor filth, is particularly desirable. An eminent physician says: "Living in a house with lofty and spacious rooms, in a dry situation ; keeping within doors as much as possible during the middle of the day; never travelling on a full stomach, or when heated with wine; avoiding the night air in general, but in particular after travelling much, or having been much exposed on the same day to tho heat of the sun; never sitting down, or remaining in a current of air with wet linen »n, or when much heated ; nor suffering the body to cool suddenly, by unbuttoning or throwing off the coat, or any other part of the dress ; never going«out when it rains, and if by accident overtaken in it, to get as soon as possible to bed, and remain there an hour or two, first putting the feet in warm water, arid drinking a basin or two ©1 warm tea; pursuing some amusement in Vacant hours from business that is not fatiguing and docs net agitate the mind ; going to bed, and rising at early hours ; 'taking much rest, for that is necessary; sleeping as coolly as possible, but never upon a ground floor, if it can be avoided ; using gentle exercise early in the morning; drinking but little wine, and that claret or madeira, but no spirituous liquors, nor punch, for acids are, in the end, destruction to the stomach ; eating light food of easy digestion, roasted in preference to boiled, and of whatever sort agrees best with the stomach, (for those countries have a great variety of luxuries as well as necessa- ries of life;) using but little butter; vegetables well boiled ; fruits sparingly ; tea or coffee for breakfast; avoiding suppers, with now and then a dose of salts, and making that day a day of abstinence, are the best cautions and precepts I can give." Among the first effects of a warm climate, is the prickly heat, a most unmanage- able and torturing disease. There is pricking, itching, tingling altogether, and the worst of it is, these sensations are incessant, and intrude thtmselvcs on the hours of sleep but mostly on those of exercise. The only, effectual methods of allaying them are iio-ht cloathing ; temporance, open bowels, and above all, keeping coot. The cold bath has been denounced by the highest authorities, but without apparent cause. In broken down constitutions, or those affected with local disorganizations it may prove injurious, not otherwise. The tepid bath, although at first eeems to increase tbe euf. ferings, afterwards very much mitigates them, K 130 The next troublesome affection is a vitiated condition of the biliary secretion, R» evinced by want of appetite, foul tongue, sordes on the teeth, and derangement m the functions of the bowels. This should be promptly attended to. To force the ap. petite by condiments and stimulating beverages is dangerous—too frequently fatal. Attend lo the bowels : let one or two of the following pills be taken at bed time, and a dose of Epsom salts in the morning after. Take of Calomel 20 grains; Tartar Emetic 2 grains ; Compound Extract of Colocynth 1 drachm; Oil of Mint 5 drops ; Mixt into a mass, to be divided into twenty pills. The tepid bath, and abstinence from animal food, will also prove valuable auxili- aries. In recommending these measures, I would not by any means be understood to recommend a constant recourse to medicine, or a childish fear of the least uneasi- ness occurring in the feelings. Too much medicine may do as much harm as too little. Discrimination becomes necessary in this, as in all the other concerns of life. And if there is any doubt, have recourse to a physician. This is particularly requi- site, in times of epidemic diseases ; or if you are attacked! suddenly by shiverings, vertigo, and pains in the head, back and calves of the legs, delay not a moment -it may cost you your life, If any relief can be afforded in tropical diseases, it must be early in the disease, during the first twenty-four hours. All beyond is Shadows, clouds and darkness. There is a small tropical insect which frequently attacks the feet and toes of new ■comers, and causes a most surprising sense of itching and irritation. The permanent inhabitants are also subject to them ; and many a lame subject owes his deformity to a neglect of the early means pioper to get rid of these small, but very troublesome animals They are known by the name of chigoes or chigers. They love dirty places, and are generally found in the crevices between the bricks which compose the pave- ments of many apartments, especially in South America. They are about the 6ize of a cheese-mite: they pierce the skin very insensibly, about the toe nails, and and insinuate themselves into the cutis : there they deposit their eggs, and are with them included in a bag, which increases to the size of a small bean ; it then is first perceived, causing much itching, and on being examined, presents the appearance of a bluish tumour. If incautiously broken into, it is found to contain an innumerable quantity of little animalculae, if any one be left behind^ it is sufficient to create all the distress and trouble arising from the whole together. The negroes are, in general, well acquainted with the method of taking them out entire, which is done by the point of a needle, without piercing the bag, but removing it gradually and carefully from the surrounding skin, and then drawing it out. The hole left is filled with tobacco ashes. The most proper season for visiting the West Indies, is the earlier months of the year. The most unhealthy months are July, August, and September, when dead calms prevail, and the sun acts without abatement of his force from clouds or refresh- ing breezes. If rains are heavy during these months, severe sickness is sure to follow. To those who are compelled to remain within the tropics during the sickly season, a visit to the Spanish Main—say to the mountains of Caraccas—will prove both agreeable and salutary. DISEASES OF THE TROPICS. Befote proceeding to notice tho diseases of the tropics in detail,, it is proper to mention a circumstance of some importance to be known by those who visit thosa regions. Although, as has been before observed in these pages, no precaution will, in every case, suffice to ward ofl the attack of disease; though the temperate on many occasions, to fall victims ali!:2 with the intemperate, it is nevertheless a notorious and indisputable fact, that the French and Spanish do not suffer from the effects of a residence in the tropics in the same proportion as the Ei.g.ish and North Americans. That their exemption is, in part, owing to constitutional causes, will not be denied; but this very constitutional safeguard has been obtained by means which still continue to operate, and afford additional protection from disease : These means are, a prudent, active, and temperate life. This is in general despised by the Englishman and the Anglo-American. They drink more wine and spirits, and consume more animal food, than the French, and these last more than the Spaniards ; and this is an excel- lent test by which to calculate the mortality of each. It is on the same principle we must explain the comparatively superior health which northern females enjoy in those climates—their habits and occupations being so much less exciting than those of the opposite sex. THE YELLOW FEVER, OR CAUSUS OF THE TROPICS. Symntmns.—Whenever a stranger in the torrid zone experiences the least change in his feeling, of health, it is necessary that he be immediately on his guard. However slight such change may appear in the first instance, it is impossible to foresee the extent to which the evil will reach ; and it is therefore imperatively necessary that the worst should be apprehended, and, as far as may be possible, guarded against. A sudden loss of strength and great restlessness, perhaps a slight chill, and a giddiness in the head, are the first symptoms which announce the invasion of this frightful disease. It not unfiequently happens, however, that a person is seized suddenly, either at his meals, or during his sleep, with all the confirmed symptoms of the affection. These are a violent excitement in the whole system, great heat of skin, quickened circulation, sharp pains in the head, over the eyeball, down the spine, and extending thence along the thighs to the calves of the legs, flushing of the face, red eyeballs, and beating of the arteries in the temple, tingling of the ears, great thirst, and white fur on the tongue. These are followed by sickness ot the stomach, and a sense of heaviness amounting in many instances to pain, and burning at the pit of the stomach. Retching and vomiting soon succeed, first of the ordinary contents of the stomach, soon becoming darker coloured, and finally black matter, with a slate. coloured sediment. The patient breathes heavily, sighs, and is very restless, finding no ease in any position in which he may lie. The bowels are bound, and the urine is scanty and very high coloured. This is the first stage and lasts from twenty-four to sixty hours. The second stage is that in which an apparent abatement of all the symptoms takes place, and seldom lasts longer than twelve or twenty hours Thee is a deceitful calm ; but it is disturbed by the increased distress of the stomach. The pulse is not so quick, nor the heat of the skin so great, and there is a tendency to dose ; but the moment the patient falls asleep, he is awakened by the. pain and retching. Now, after every effort at vomiting, a yellow tinge may be perceived about the angles of the mouth, and the neck and breast. The countenance is very much distressed, and a dark dirty shade is perceptible in it. The matter thrown up is dark, and every attempt to gratify the urgent thirst excites vomiting. Delirium sometimes comes on-not always. 132 The third stage is announced by a perfect sinking of all the vital powers, excepting the muscular. This is frequently retained to tho last moment. The pulse flags, or is very quick and intermittent. The vomiting is incessant; and tho matter thrown up exceeds very much in quantity, the drinks of the patipnt A sense cf gnawing and hunger is often felt, the tongue becomes black in the centre with red edges; there are cold clammy sweats, dirty yellowness of skin, hemorrhages from tho ncse, bowel3 and stomach, hiccup, convulsions—and death closes the sctno. Sometimes these symptoms do not all appear. The patient is drowsy, perhaps, for a day or two, and is suddenly seized with the final symptoms, which quickly end his Bufferings, ere the nature of the disease has been even suspected. In other cases the whole train of phenomena is milder, and ths recovery very speedy. Causes.—These it is impossible to enumerate. Medical philosophers have not yet decided upon what shall be deemed the essential cause of the yellow fever. The large majority of them, however, concur in rejecting contagion and importation from the East Indies, es the original cause. It arises anew among every eoncourse of new comers, where no previous case exists to warrant the suspicion of its personal com- munication. It has even originated on ship board, before vessels have reached land. It is to be distinguished most carefully from the bilous remittent fever, which affects natives and seasoned residents as well as strangers, which occurs only in low marshy or clayey ground, and after abundant rains, and which occurs oftener than ©nee, nay, sometimes every year, in the same individual. Strangers need never fear the effects of contagion. But if they observe yellow fever breaking out among new comers, it would be well for them to change their residence. Treatment.—This is the most difficult and least satisfactory part of the subject. A severe attack of yellow fever is seldom recovered from. Three, five, or seven days, in general witness its fatal termination. And if relief is to be given in any case it must be done in the first twenty-four or thirty six hours. Beyond this period nature may sometimes struggle successfully against the foree of the disease; but there are fearful odds against her triumph. This consideration is not to be allowed to favour inactivity or neglect. The moment there is room for apprehension, medical advicft should be resorted to. And where this is not to be had, the following plan is to be pursued: At the first onsot of the disease, let the patient immerse his feet in warm water, drink plentifully of weak teas, whieh favour perspiration, and of which there is no deficiency in all the West India Islands, and let him take the following powder, mixed in syrup or molasses : R Calomel, gr. xv. Jalap, gr. xx. Cream of Tartar, g. xx. Mix— If the boVels have previously been very costive, let a domestic injection be admin- istered, made so as to act very powerfully. Should the above powder fail to act, it may be repeated; and if tha stomach be not much disordered as yet, an ounce of epsom salts may be given to expedite the above action. When the bowels are once opened, they should be kept in that condition by an occasional repetition of the above dose, or by a solution of cream tartar. If the excitement be very great, the pulse full and hard, and the pain in the head severe, a large bleeding from the arm, and cups to the temples, will prove decidedly beneficial. These means early resorted *?, have often cut short the disease, as the author well knows. If any delay has taken place, and the stomach be already very much disordered, the case is not so promising. In this case, neither the above powders nor salts will remain on the stomach; To allay the heat about the head, let it be shaved, and cloths dipped in cold vinegar and water kept constantly wet to it. Let leeches be applied to the pit ot the stomach* and the feet immersed in very hot water. The following pills will then be adminis- tered : Take of Calomel, gr. xxiv. Rhubarb, gr. xxx. Opium, gr. iv. Mix with syrup into eight or ten pills and of these let two or three be taken every two hours until they operate. Their effect may be assisted by injections as before. Six or eight copious evacuations should be procured within as many hours. 133 If the skin br very hot, the cold affusion may be tried, it has often proved successful. The force with which the cold water is thrown upon the naked body should be great. Those means must be tried within the first stage, or they will be worse than use- less. If they prove serviceable, the heat of skin will be abated, the thirst diminished, a general perspiration will break out, all the feelings of the patient will be agreeably relieved of their severity. Recovery after this is characteristically rapid. If they fail in thiir favorable effects, or have bee.i omitted till it is too late, the danger is very great. If the vomiting i- very urgent, it will be almost impossible to keep down medicine. Calomel in email doses frequently repealed, leeches, blisters to the back and shoulders, the blue mercurial ointment frequently rubbed over tho bowels and along the inner thighs must be n.ainly relied en. A table specnful or two of arrowroot wil sit better on the btomach than any other article. H.uch drink is to be avoPed. If tho third stage have come on, and the pulse begins to sink, etrong stimulants, as wine, brandy, porter, cayenne pepper internally, and cataplasms externally are to be used. In those cases, in which there is little external excitement, and the skin is cool and clammy, and the pulse tmiJl and weak, the stimulants last mentioned must also be employed. At the same time if there is distress in the head, cold napkins may be applied to it, after it has been shaved. Some have recommended captor oil and catmint tea, as the only remedies in this disorder! They know little of the yellow fever, who hope to retain either the one or tho other en the stomach of their patient. A nauseous drug, like oil, or drenching the stomach with herb teas, is the su.est way of inducing the symptom most to be dreaded in yellow fever, irritation and inability of retention in the stomach. Such remedies may however do in imaginary cases. DYSENTERY. Symptoms.—Although every one is familiar with the nature of this disease, few persons, who have not been within the tropics will be prepared, from their previous knowledge of it acquired in northern climates, to meet with so dreadful a malady as the dysentery of hot climates. Sometimes, indeed, a solitary case of uncommou se- verity may be met with in the north, but it is seldom. The most general symptoms of the disease are, a chill or rigor, followed by great heat, griping pain in the bowels, constant inclination to go to stool, but the attempt to effoct a dejection is attended without success, and with great pain, nausea, and vomiting. After a while, copious stools of pure blood, or green water, mixed with mucous and cheeselike cakes, of horrible stench, and the gripping and tenesmus in- sufferably painful. The gut protrudes sometimes, and cannot be returned, and thi» adds much to the pain. Cold clammy sweats accompany this state, but they afford no relief. Causes.—Marshes, damp low grounds, poor diet, intemperance, foul camps ana jails or barracks, checked perspiration, disordered bile. Treatment.—In a full-blooded northern man, bleeding is necessary. After this, if the pain be very severe, apply leeches to the ab lomen, warm fomentations, &c. If the Btomach be foul, a brisk emetic of tartrate of antimony, one grain, and ipecacu- anha, twenty grains, should be administered. Calomel must then be relied on; Take of Calomel, gr. xxxvi. Ipecacuanha, or, Antimonial Powder, gr. xv. Opium, gr. vi. Mix into nine pills. Of these, let one be taken every two, four, or six houre, according to the urgency of the symptoms. After every second pill, a dose of castor oil, or epsom salts, should be interposed, and a copious bilious natural stool will be the consequence. Barley water, warm, or flaxseed tea, should be drunk freely ; and by these means the disease will be overcome after the second or third day. A bolder plan has been tried: that of administering calomel in twenty grain doses, frequently repeated. This is perfectly safe ; but it need not be resorted to on ordinary occa- sions. Diaphoretic, or powerful sweating medicines, also succeed—as Jamta' Pow- ders, &c 134 ADVICE TO PERSONS DRINKING COLD WATER IN' WARM WEATHER. The thermometer seldom rises in any of our large cities, above eighty.five degrees of Fahrenheit that we do not hear of some instances of deaths from drinking cold water. In the country this accident rarely happens. The cause is that the water drunk there is never so extremely cold, or so much below the temperature of tho heated body, as it is in large cities, where ice is added to it, to render it more palata- ble-and more injurious to the human system. It must be observed, too, that this effect takes place, in general, among hard work- ing people only, and of this class the greatest portion of those who suffer from the cause we are now considering, are either addicted habitually to the use of spiritous liquors, or have indulged in tnem on that particular occasion. I believe with Dr. Currie, therefore, that those persons who are thus affected by drinking cold water are in a state of debility induced by the relaxing effects of hot weather and fo'.igue from active labor; and I believe with Dr. Rush that they are in a state of excitement indu- ced by ardent potations. Hence the treatment of such persons should be modified according as one or other of these states, either of debility or of excitement, has the preponderance. In the first case—that of debility—there will be great irritability, displayed first in the stomach, as evinced by the spasmodic action of that powerful muscular organ - by the same affection attacking the extremities, &c. In this-case the nervous sys. tern participates in the affection, and general spasms take place. In the second caso, that of excitement—apoplexy, phrenitis, or perhaps instant death, from an overflow of blood on the brain, wiil take place. The treatment must vary according as one or other of these states prevail. In the first case, laudanum, as recommended by Rush, in doses of from a teaspoon. ful to a tablespoonful are frequently necessary. External stimulants, as mustard cataplasms, nitric acid diluted poured on the abdomen, Wanket3 dipped in very hot water wrapped round the extremities, sternutatories, &c. are called for. Warm drinks should also be given. If the patient cannot swallow, the same remedies with the addition of tho oil of turpentine in half ounce doses may be thrown up by injac- tions. If the patient is recovering, and, as sometimes happens,.sinks from exhaus- tion, give him hot gin toddy—rub the suiface well—and throw up stimulating injec- tions. In all cases let the room be cleared of the crowds which usually press around to offer assistance, or satisfy a gaping curiosity. In the second case—that of excitement—-as announced by the apoplectic stu- por, and stertorous breatking, the full slow pulse, the throbbing of the arteries about the temple, and the hot skin—let the lancet be inserted-without delay into the arm, or, if it please the surgeon, into the jugular vein, (but this last is dangerous in ease fits should supervene,) let active injections be administered, and cold applications made to the head, cataplasms of mustard to the extremities, and as soon as the patient is sensible, powerful purgatives. In both cases, after the paroxysm ha3 subsided, it will be necessary, as soon as strength is sufficiently lestored, to let a quantity of blood, in order to obviate the occurrence of innamation in a vital organ. The patient should also be kept quiet for some time after and avoid all exciting causes. The following rules from Dr. Rush will be an appropriate close to this article : " If neither the voice of reason," says that excellent and justly celebrated physician, " nor the fatal example of those who have perished from this cause, are sufficient to produce restraint in drinking a large quantity ot cold liquors when the body is preter- naturally heated, thnn let me advise to, " 1, Grasp the vessel out of which you are about to drink for a minute or longer, with both hands. This wi'l attract a portion of heat from the body, and impart it at the same time to the cold liquor, &,c. "2 If you are not furnished with a cup, and are obliged to drink by bringing your mouth in contact with the stream which issues from the pump, or a spring, always ivash your hands and face, previously to your drinking, with a little of the cold water. By receiving the shock of the water first upon those parts of the body, a portion of ils heat is conveyed away, and the vital parts are defended from the action of cold." !V. B- The addition of liquor or acids to vory cold water is no security against ite bad effects. 135 PREPARATIONS REFERRED TO IN THE PRECEDING PAGtf& Infusion of Senna.—Take Senna Leaves, 1 ounce ; Ginger Root, grated, 1 drachm j Boding water, 1 pint: let thorn stand one hour, and strain. Spirit of Mindererus.—Take Distilled Vinegar, any quantity, and throw into it, by degrees, small quantities of Subcarbonate of Ammonia, until it no longer effervesces. Chalk Julep.—Take Prepared Chalk, half ounce ; Lump Sugar, 3 drachms; Gum Arabic, powdered, half ounce; Water, 1 pint—mix. Camphor Julep.—Take Camphor, half drachm : rub it first with 10 drops of Spirit of Wine, and then gradually weigh a pint of Water and strain through linen. Ammoniacum Mixture.—Take Gum Ammoniac, 2 drachms; Water, 1 pint: rub them together. Griffith's Mixture.—Take Powdered Myrrh, 1 drachm; Pub-carbonate of Potash, 25 grains ; Rose Water, 7 and half ounces; Sulphate of Iron, 1 scruple—mix, and add Spirit of Nutmeg, half ounce; Lump Sugar, I drachm. Almond Emulsion.—Take Almond Confection, 2 ounces; Water, 1 pint—mix. Infusion of Roses.—Take Dried Red Roses, half ounce; Boiling Water, 2 and half "pints; Elixer of Vitrol, 3 drachms ; Lump Sugar, 1 and half ounce : pour the water on the roses and acid} and, after half an hour, strain it off, and dissolve the sugar. Infusion of Foxglove.—Take Foxglove Leaves, dried, 1 drachm; Boiling Water, 1 pint: let them stand for two hours ; then strain, and add half ounce of Spirit of Cin- namon. Compound Infusion of Gentian.—Take Gentian Root, and sliced dried Orange Peel, of each, 1 drachm ; fresh Lemon Peel,'2 drachms; Boiling Water, three-quarter pint j let them stand for an hour, and strain. Infusion of Columba.—Take Columba Root, sliced, 1 drachm ; Boiling Water, half pint: let them stand for two hours, and strain. Infusion of Cascarilla.—Take Cascarilla Bark, bruised, half ounce ; Boiling Water, half pint: let them stand two hours, and strain. Decoction of Bark —Take Cinchona Bark, bruised, 1 ounce; Water, 1 pint: boil for ten minutes, in a covered vessel, and strain. Decoction of Broom Tops.—Take common Broom Tops, 1 ounce ; Water, 1 pint: boil to half a pint, and strain. Decoc*ion of Juniper.—Take Juniper Berries, bruised, 2 ounces; Water, 1 pint: boil for a few minutes, then set it by till it is cold, and strain. Decoction of Iceland Moss.—Take Iceland Moss, 1 and half ounce; Liquorice Root, 3 drachms ; Water, 1 quart: boil to a pint and half, and strain. Decoction of Oak Bark.—Take Oak Bark, bruised, 2 ounces; Water, 2 pints ; boil it down to a pint, and strain. Tartar Emetic Ointment.—Take Tartar Emetic, 3 drachms; Hogs-lard, 1 oz.—mix. Effervescing Draught.—Take Salt of Tartar, J scruple ; Mint Water, 1 ounce- mix ; then add, fresh Lemon juice, sweetened with sugar, 1 table-spoonful: to be taken in the act of effervescence. Domestic Glyster.—Take Olive Oil, and Treacle, of each a large table.spoonful; Salt, half ounce; Warm Water, 1 pint—mix. -0's Powder Lemons Laudanum Lunar Caustic Liquor of Potash Liver of Sulphur Linseed Meal Linseed Leopard's Bane Lint Lime lame Water Lenitive Electuary Liquor of Ammonia Logwood Lesser Centaury Magnesia Mint Water Muriatic Acid LVIustard Myrrh Manna Manganese Mallow Roots Mercurial Ointment strong Nitre Nettle L"aves, dead Nitric Acid ---Oxyde of Quick- silver Oil of— Vitriol Sassafras Aniseeds Clove Turpentine Carraways Juniper Cinnamon Opium Oxyde of Bismuth Oak Bark Oxymel of Squills Hedge Hyssop Oxymel ISyrup of Ginger Olive Oil Solution of Arsenie Oxymuriate of Quick Syrup, simple silver Sweet Oil Ox-gall Stramonium Ointment of Nitrated Spirits of Salte Quicksilver Soap Plaster Oxyde of Lime Ointment of Nitric Oxyde of Quick- silver Pearl Barley Pomegranate Bark Peruvian Bark Purslain Leaves Pennyroyal Water Poppy-heads Pure Potash Peach Leaves Plummer's Pill Peppermint Water Paregoric Prussic Acid Phosphate of Lime Phosphate of Soda Quince Seeds Quassia Chips Rhubarb Rue Rose Leaves Rust of Irori Rose Water Rochelle Salts Roch Alum Red Precipitate Red Ointment Quicksilver Spirit of Wine enna Leaves Spirit of Mindererus Sugar Sal Ammoniac Spirit of Camphor Syrup of Poppies ----Mulberries Spirit of Turpentine Sal Polychrest Salt of Hartshorn Snake Root Sticking Plaster Sugar of Lead Saltpetre i Syrup of Buckthorn Spirit of Aniseeds Squills Syrup of Tolu Poppies Opodeldoc Oxyphosphate of Iron of ulphur Soap Spirit ofCarraway Salt of Tartar Sal Volatile Sulphate of Quinini Suboxyphosphate of Iron Spermaceti Cerate Spirit of llosemary Spearmint Solution^of Ammonia Scammony Sweet Spirits of.\itre Spirits of Lavender ---Horseradish Savin Sulphate of Iron Spirit of Nutteeg Tincture of—- Bark Myrrh Columba Snake Root Valerian Senna, compound Castor Orange Peel Jilap Cinnamon com* pound Muriate ot Iron Black Hellebore Asafoetida Aloes Squills Aloes, compound Valerian, volatile ;>Tron, Ammoniated Tartarised Antimony Tar Water Tartrate of Potash Tincture of Digitalis -------Cantharides ----—-Cardamoms Tormentil' Root Treacle Tansey Valerian Root Venice Turpentine -------Soap Verdigris Volatile Mercurial Liniment Wormwood White Vitriol ———•Precipitate iVax Wake Robin STellt w Basilicon --------Wax ■ I, — Resin. «S;,I * * '^ //?#■ k ■tf' ifC- ♦ 4 *rvt ■ >» v. *-%* \\*i »V«i^ ••■•'>".«-*?^-*